WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.320 Episode 89 of the Church Digital Podcast, powered by Stadia Church Planting. 00:00:04.700 --> 00:00:05.360 Jeff here. 00:00:05.460 --> 00:00:07.000 Okay, we did something with this podcast. 00:00:07.460 --> 00:00:09.760 Never done before in the history of the Church Digital Podcast. 00:00:10.280 --> 00:00:12.660 We went multi-continent with this one. 00:00:12.700 --> 00:00:13.080 That's right. 00:00:13.360 --> 00:00:16.800 We were having a conversation with the guy literally on the other side of the planet, 00:00:17.260 --> 00:00:19.160 Australia, in fact. 00:00:19.260 --> 00:00:20.620 As a matter of fact, it's winter. 00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:24.380 So it's summer here, July, August, somewhere around that right now. 00:00:24.520 --> 00:00:27.260 And it's literally like snowing outside where he is. 00:00:27.660 --> 00:00:29.200 We're talking with Steve Fogg. 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:32.080 Now, Steve may be familiar with some of you guys. 00:00:32.400 --> 00:00:38.180 Steve did the Church Online Summit in April, May of 2020. 00:00:38.420 --> 00:00:43.220 Really the first time that a lot of churches got exposure to how to do church online was 00:00:43.220 --> 00:00:46.320 this massive conference, 4,000, 4,500 churches. 00:00:46.420 --> 00:00:47.700 He talks about it in the podcast. 00:00:48.180 --> 00:00:49.520 Steve's a really great guy. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:54.380 Australian does a lot of digital communication, digital marketing, that sort of thing. 00:00:54.680 --> 00:00:56.440 Just really has a passion for church online. 00:00:56.440 --> 00:01:01.120 And so we were talking recently, just catching up, you know, like I always do with people 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:05.120 who are on other continents and just exploring and talking about what we're learning in church 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:05.720 online season. 00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:14.660 And I realized, hey, we really haven't talked much about really marketing church or church online or how to do effective digital marketing. 00:01:14.660 --> 00:01:23.600 And a lot of this is so necessary in this COVID season as really things like Facebook and things like YouTube. 00:01:23.600 --> 00:01:28.300 We've talked with Dave Adamson and also things like Google in general. 00:01:29.020 --> 00:01:30.820 Really, this is the platform. 00:01:30.820 --> 00:01:37.720 This is the opportunity for us to connect with new ones that are out there if we utilize it properly. 00:01:38.420 --> 00:01:40.520 And so I wanted to bring Steve on the podcast. 00:01:40.740 --> 00:01:44.940 And we're going to talk about like the Google AdWord grants that you can get. 00:01:45.080 --> 00:01:49.360 Google's literally writing you a check every month for you to promote your church, 00:01:49.460 --> 00:01:53.720 but also to do ministry, to connect with people and build relationships. 00:01:53.720 --> 00:02:00.440 And Steve really just in this podcast really just scratches the surface of what could be for your church 00:02:00.440 --> 00:02:06.280 to figure out how to effectively market your church, your services. 00:02:06.280 --> 00:02:12.280 But really more than that, utilize these techniques to connect with people in a different way. 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:15.680 And so I'm bringing into the conversation Ray D'Armas, of course, 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:20.420 digital pastor, Christ Fellowship Miami, as well as a regular co-host here on the Church Digital Podcast. 00:02:20.900 --> 00:02:29.740 Bringing in Steve Fogg, Church Online Summit founder, Australian, great accent, regular marketing guru guy. 00:02:29.880 --> 00:02:33.180 And I'm bringing in myself, of course, Jeff with the Church Digital and Stadia Church Planning 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:38.280 in a conversation that I'm simply calling Ministering to People on Google's Dime. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.240 Okay, everybody, here you go. 00:02:40.620 --> 00:02:43.640 Hey, Steve, maybe just even to open up, just tell us a little bit about yourself, 00:02:44.760 --> 00:02:50.380 who you are, literally on another continent, on the other side of the planet from Ray and I. 00:02:50.740 --> 00:02:52.120 Here on the East Coast. 00:02:52.300 --> 00:02:54.000 Tell us your ministry story. 00:02:54.760 --> 00:02:59.480 Yeah, so my ministry story, so I'm here in Melbourne, Australia. 00:02:59.720 --> 00:03:00.560 So, g'day, everybody. 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:01.840 Nice to meet you all. 00:03:02.880 --> 00:03:05.340 We're currently in lockdown stage four. 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:07.380 Everything's shut up. 00:03:07.420 --> 00:03:09.220 We've got nighttime curfews. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:12.260 Our state's a bit of a mess at the moment. 00:03:13.640 --> 00:03:15.200 I served on my staff. 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:22.660 In fact, rewinding a bit before that, I became a Christian in my late 20s, had no real church upbringing, 00:03:23.340 --> 00:03:29.560 got captured by the gospel, who my wife, my then girlfriend, my wife, introduced me to. 00:03:30.300 --> 00:03:33.580 I felt the call quite quickly leading into ministry. 00:03:34.920 --> 00:03:36.660 Passionate, wanted to serve the Lord. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:39.220 Thinking I'd be a pastor. 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:42.740 So I did an internship at my church. 00:03:43.440 --> 00:03:51.100 And after that internship was coming to a close, two positions on staff came up in my team. 00:03:51.640 --> 00:03:55.680 And I thought, well, hello, I'm going to get one of these roles. 00:03:56.400 --> 00:04:01.120 And my pastor, who led the team, had to take me aside and said, 00:04:01.180 --> 00:04:04.120 Steve, you're not going to get either of those roles. 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:07.300 Even though I'd literally been doing them for the last few years. 00:04:07.860 --> 00:04:09.360 We don't think this is you. 00:04:09.980 --> 00:04:11.900 We think this is you. 00:04:12.700 --> 00:04:16.500 And fast forward six months later, I became a commons director for my church. 00:04:18.480 --> 00:04:26.220 And started off with half time, half a day a week in graphic design, half a day a week in web support. 00:04:26.640 --> 00:04:31.060 So those were the two assets I had to work with, plus my graphic design background. 00:04:32.280 --> 00:04:38.560 And basically, from there, I grew to a team of seven part-time, full-time staff, including videographers. 00:04:39.760 --> 00:04:44.480 And all along, this thing called digital was emerging as a concept. 00:04:45.620 --> 00:04:55.060 And I got captured by the thought of how social media could really accelerate the gospel out there. 00:04:55.220 --> 00:05:02.740 And that was when Facebook didn't have its kind of, you know, gated approach in terms of its algorithms and all that sort of stuff. 00:05:02.880 --> 00:05:06.260 So I was fascinated by it and saw the potential. 00:05:07.260 --> 00:05:16.760 And I remember one day, one Sunday morning, I was actually, you know, underneath the surface, I'm like any duck, I'm paddling like mad, right? 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:22.060 I was doing a social media post for our Facebook page back in when we got Decent Reach. 00:05:22.820 --> 00:05:24.520 And it was St. Patrick's Day. 00:05:25.080 --> 00:05:26.640 And I just remember creating a post. 00:05:26.780 --> 00:05:30.020 So, again, design, I can do something, whip something up pretty quickly. 00:05:30.820 --> 00:05:37.740 So I just created it, like a picture post and just said, St. Patrick's Day isn't about leprechaun, some green beer. 00:05:37.840 --> 00:05:41.600 It's about one man who was passionate at reaching a whole continent for Jesus. 00:05:42.340 --> 00:05:45.320 I just posted that on our Crossways Facebook page. 00:05:46.080 --> 00:05:55.420 And by the end of the day, it travelled all the way around the world, reached over 100,000 people, gone into Ireland, gone into the United States and come all the way back again. 00:05:55.420 --> 00:06:03.800 And it was at that moment where I went, oh, this thing's got a chance to really go a lot more than I thought. 00:06:05.580 --> 00:06:10.420 And I kind of, church online, I've been kind of in my periphery then. 00:06:11.360 --> 00:06:19.060 And then a couple of years later, I kind of whispered into my head, maybe we should do it. 00:06:19.580 --> 00:06:20.820 Steve, maybe we should do it. 00:06:21.320 --> 00:06:29.340 And then I got a bit braver when I actually, in this room, so we care for my mother-in-law and she, this used to be her bedroom. 00:06:29.900 --> 00:06:35.700 And she could come to our church on our app, but that was it. 00:06:36.400 --> 00:06:39.180 And I just thought there's something more she needed, that community. 00:06:39.760 --> 00:06:42.860 And I thought, ah, church online, because you can make those next steps. 00:06:44.200 --> 00:06:53.200 And we had a church app and it was cool when we had thousands of downloads, but it's all quite, you know, kind of like what life is like right now with COVID. 00:06:53.660 --> 00:06:54.800 It's kind of all screens. 00:06:56.900 --> 00:07:05.200 And anyway, at that moment when I'm sitting there helping her connect to a sermon on her iPad, 00:07:06.040 --> 00:07:08.020 the Lord just whispered to me, church online. 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:14.020 So I went the next day to talk to my pastor and said, I think we should start a church online campus. 00:07:16.020 --> 00:07:20.040 And, you know, we'd had a couple of chats about it a year or so before that. 00:07:20.160 --> 00:07:21.060 And he said, okay, great. 00:07:21.320 --> 00:07:22.560 Well, get me a board paper. 00:07:23.620 --> 00:07:25.640 I'll present it at our next board meeting. 00:07:27.380 --> 00:07:29.520 We're a church for about 4,000 people. 00:07:29.520 --> 00:07:34.920 So going from like a discussion to a board meeting in one conversation is quite a big leap. 00:07:35.740 --> 00:07:37.420 And I was kind of like, oh, wow. 00:07:37.660 --> 00:07:39.920 Okay, I really need to get smart on this. 00:07:40.200 --> 00:07:44.660 So all of a sudden I'm contacting all the big churches out there that were doing this. 00:07:44.720 --> 00:07:46.200 This is six years ago, right? 00:07:46.280 --> 00:07:47.580 So no one's really doing it here. 00:07:48.200 --> 00:07:51.540 So all the people I knew, I'm going, okay, need to find out more. 00:07:51.720 --> 00:07:56.900 I'm madly putting this board paper together with the best of a lot of ignorance. 00:07:57.900 --> 00:08:07.520 And then I got invited along to the board meeting, presented, and then we hopped onto Life Churches Church Online. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:13.580 And so all these heavyweight corporate types in this board meeting, all of a sudden sit in front of them. 00:08:14.580 --> 00:08:18.560 And we jump on the prayer and just ask for prayer. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:22.180 And this person said, oh, I'd love to be able to pray for your church board right now. 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:24.800 And that person prays for everybody in this room. 00:08:24.800 --> 00:08:29.840 And all of a sudden everyone's like, oh, okay, we get this now. 00:08:31.060 --> 00:08:33.300 So green light, green light, green light. 00:08:34.120 --> 00:08:35.720 Churches Online starts six months later. 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:46.320 We grow to about 2,500 people in a couple of years using digital marketing strategies that kind of really were forming in my own mind. 00:08:46.380 --> 00:08:47.480 I didn't really have any training. 00:08:48.040 --> 00:08:50.240 But I knew enough about the Google Ad Grant. 00:08:50.420 --> 00:08:59.420 I knew enough back then in the early, early days of Facebook ads and just thought about how I'd do a global approach. 00:09:00.060 --> 00:09:01.280 We were very blessed. 00:09:01.400 --> 00:09:07.120 We had some kind of gospel sponsors in terms of budgets to do that. 00:09:07.980 --> 00:09:09.720 And we grew like crazy. 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:15.300 We, you know, by the time I stepped off staff, we had like 14 services on the side. 00:09:16.060 --> 00:09:20.540 Had all of the people who were supporting that, hosting, following up. 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:28.480 So really built a team quite rapidly when kind of for everybody else, people are still going, what's Church Online? 00:09:30.020 --> 00:09:37.000 And then fast forward to this year, I've been out of kind of ministry per se in terms of a ministry role for a few years. 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:50.300 I'm now in a digital marketing agency and all of a sudden COVID hits and all of a sudden this February, I get like a bazillion churches say, Steve, Steve, hello. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:52.540 I'm like, oh yeah, sure. 00:09:52.600 --> 00:09:53.280 Let's have a chat. 00:09:53.560 --> 00:09:57.540 And just, and I threw out, I set up one of those calendar type things. 00:09:57.860 --> 00:10:02.540 I just, just book a time and foolishly sent it to my email list. 00:10:02.580 --> 00:10:03.720 Just book a time if you need help. 00:10:03.780 --> 00:10:05.680 And then three weeks just went bang like that. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:09.160 All of a sudden, there are lots of very busy people wanting to contact me. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:13.900 And I just went, oh, there's a, there's a, there's a real need out here. 00:10:14.760 --> 00:10:17.000 So how do I, how do I do that? 00:10:17.100 --> 00:10:25.760 And three weeks into having these sorts of conversations, which were great, great, love talking with church leaders, but very one-on-one. 00:10:26.080 --> 00:10:31.300 And they only got to talk to me, you know, so I wanted other voices to speak into their world. 00:10:31.720 --> 00:10:37.420 And that's how kind of an Easter this year on Good Friday, the Church Online Summit was born. 00:10:38.560 --> 00:10:42.960 Because I got to the end of that three weeks and I was exhausted because I was doing all my other work as well. 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:46.980 I'm like, oh man, like morning and night, morning and night. 00:10:47.040 --> 00:10:49.100 And of course, you know, they all live where you guys are. 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:54.400 So I'm trading both ends of the day, plus my work, plus family. 00:10:55.640 --> 00:10:59.220 So the Lord just dropped into my head on Good Friday, do your summit. 00:10:59.560 --> 00:11:00.080 And I went, okay. 00:11:00.220 --> 00:11:03.940 So I just reached out to a few people, said, would you be interested in speaking? 00:11:04.940 --> 00:11:06.880 And three weeks later, the summit started. 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.580 We had, I don't know, 30 speakers. 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:20.940 We had lots of hugely experienced people like yourselves and four and a half thousand churches who turned up. 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:23.220 And it was awesome. 00:11:23.480 --> 00:11:27.820 So for me, my heart was full in terms of being able to serve the church around the world. 00:11:28.660 --> 00:11:36.760 We had churches in Africa come along who were doing church online, which is a new, kind of, I tilted my head out and going, hmm, that's new for me. 00:11:37.540 --> 00:11:49.700 You know, the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, Singapore, the United States, obviously Canada, South America. 00:11:49.820 --> 00:11:51.140 So from all over. 00:11:53.380 --> 00:11:56.700 And I learned in three weeks what it means to put on a conference. 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:03.180 Rob and I thought, oh, this would be all right, you know, set up a website, put some talks on there. 00:12:03.260 --> 00:12:07.720 There'll be a few hundred people who'll turn up and then just like, oof. 00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:09.700 That was a fun conference. 00:12:09.880 --> 00:12:11.480 I enjoyed speaking at that one. 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:18.640 And yeah, it was literally like three weeks just from birth of an idea to, hey, you know, the content's got to get in. 00:12:18.660 --> 00:12:19.920 Oh, we're doing it live. 00:12:20.020 --> 00:12:26.680 I remember, I remember, I'm not going to tell you who, but a couple of online pastors, we were on a Zoom watching this happen in real time. 00:12:26.880 --> 00:12:28.900 We're like, is he going to make this? 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:30.440 I think he's going to make this. 00:12:30.560 --> 00:12:32.460 I'm not sure he's going to be able to make it in time. 00:12:32.620 --> 00:12:34.080 I don't, is that website up yet? 00:12:34.140 --> 00:12:35.100 I haven't seen it. 00:12:35.180 --> 00:12:39.560 But just even seeing how you had that passion, you went for it. 00:12:39.560 --> 00:12:45.320 And as a result, it came together in literally thousands of churches, it sounds like, on multiple continents. 00:12:45.560 --> 00:12:52.140 It was so throw and go at the beginning, like just the amount of hours and people asking questions. 00:12:52.540 --> 00:13:07.480 And I think every online pastor that I know of at the time in that early COVID season was putting in the 18, 20-hour days, answering as many help of just churches as possible, trying to help as many as they could individual. 00:13:07.480 --> 00:13:14.880 And so you kind of helping to start to gather together to say, hey, let's work together towards this, being one of those early voices. 00:13:15.140 --> 00:13:18.100 Man, that really made a difference in the COVID season. 00:13:18.480 --> 00:13:20.360 Just even to help put a dent in that. 00:13:20.460 --> 00:13:24.480 Now we've seen others kind of do the same thing and Stadia's going to that approach. 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:32.520 But man, thanks for, even just before we get to the podcast, thanks for like being the guy to help churches and to realize, hey, we need to like help others through this. 00:13:32.540 --> 00:13:38.640 And let's work together on different continents to figure out how to help the Big C Church get through this. 00:13:38.880 --> 00:13:41.240 And that's the one great thing about digital, right? 00:13:41.320 --> 00:13:45.120 Like I'm here, you're there, and we can do it together. 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:51.200 Like the reality is that, you know, we all have a gifting in something. 00:13:52.220 --> 00:13:58.400 And that was kind of what I was concerned of is everyone's just getting my lens and my particular angle. 00:13:59.140 --> 00:14:01.000 But they needed your angle, Jeff. 00:14:01.060 --> 00:14:04.080 They needed, you know, the worship guy that does incredible mixing. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.620 They needed the live stream guys. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:08.620 They needed the pastoral part. 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:09.960 They needed the leadership part. 00:14:10.160 --> 00:14:14.720 And that's where I think that's the beauty of the church right there. 00:14:15.660 --> 00:14:23.360 And that's what I love is that, you know, I was talking to a pastor a couple of weeks ago on something completely unrelated. 00:14:24.400 --> 00:14:27.600 And he goes, I could hear the brain ticking. 00:14:27.840 --> 00:14:28.720 It's just a phone call. 00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:30.860 He goes, are you asleep, Fogg? 00:14:31.380 --> 00:14:32.240 I went, yeah. 00:14:32.800 --> 00:14:36.700 He goes, I attended your church online somewhere a couple of months ago. 00:14:37.220 --> 00:14:39.520 I'm like, okay, great. 00:14:39.520 --> 00:14:40.220 Was it useful? 00:14:40.820 --> 00:14:42.260 Yeah, we're still going through it. 00:14:42.280 --> 00:14:42.900 It's awesome. 00:14:43.160 --> 00:14:44.040 Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:14:44.360 --> 00:14:49.740 And I just went, that's the moment I live for in terms of serving the church. 00:14:49.740 --> 00:14:56.140 Because, you know, this guy's eight hours drive from where we are in the middle of nowhere. 00:14:56.700 --> 00:15:00.780 But if they can do it, anyone can do it. 00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:06.920 And that's the heart of kind of why we're doing this right now, right? 00:15:07.100 --> 00:15:14.860 So, you know, let's equip churches to just, there's that phrase, when the tide rises, all boats rise. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:15.520 Yep. 00:15:15.540 --> 00:15:23.880 And that's really the, that's what I love is all those boats rising because all those boats are full of people who love Jesus and want to reach the world for Jesus. 00:15:24.440 --> 00:15:24.920 Love that. 00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:29.420 So, Steve and I were having a conversation, I don't know, a couple weeks ago, catching up. 00:15:29.940 --> 00:15:36.960 And Steve, you started talking about this idea of digital missions and really utilizing the Google grant. 00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:40.140 We were talking about that a little earlier as we were getting started. 00:15:40.500 --> 00:15:47.980 You know, and this is a thing that I don't think churches, first off, I don't think a lot of churches even really understand that it's there. 00:15:48.920 --> 00:16:00.080 But then really how to like utilize this and the capacity that we have to really look at the mission field in a different way and utilize this to reach maybe a different type of person. 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:06.240 So, man, I just would love to just dialogue through here and start to unpack, but even just maybe to start off. 00:16:06.800 --> 00:16:08.000 Tell us a little bit about this. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.440 What's this Google ad grant, the AdWord grant? 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:12.800 What is this thing really about? 00:16:13.220 --> 00:16:23.560 Yeah, so I think it was about 10 years ago now, Google, in their benevolence, when they said, when they had the old corporate phrase, do no harm. 00:16:23.920 --> 00:16:25.280 It's something, do no evil or something. 00:16:25.440 --> 00:16:26.280 Yeah, something like that. 00:16:26.640 --> 00:16:30.680 Anyway, they set up a, which is basically a tax write-off for them. 00:16:31.380 --> 00:16:34.240 So, in their benevolence, actually, it's also a tax write-off. 00:16:34.640 --> 00:16:38.880 They set up an ad grant or a Google for non-profit scheme. 00:16:39.280 --> 00:16:46.980 And that Google for non-profit scheme encompasses a few really cool things for eligible non-profits generally. 00:16:47.160 --> 00:16:57.760 So, in the United States, if you're a 5013C, I think it is, in Australia, you need to be registered with the ACNC for Purpose Charity. 00:16:58.140 --> 00:17:04.500 And most First World countries are covered and it's all whether you're eligible or not within those countries. 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:11.380 But basically, for churches, where churches get the benefit out of it, there's something called a Google Ad Grant. 00:17:12.380 --> 00:17:15.500 So, most people have heard of Google Ads, right? 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:17.560 So, Google Ads are great. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:19.160 Marketers love them. 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:21.560 But you've got to pay for them. 00:17:22.500 --> 00:17:24.000 And you pay per keyword. 00:17:24.340 --> 00:17:31.580 So, if someone searches for shoes in your area, then you've got to pay for that keyword if they click on your ad. 00:17:32.580 --> 00:17:40.160 And that range of the value of that ad can cost you anywhere from a couple of dollars up to some ads that I do, which are like 50 bucks a click. 00:17:40.780 --> 00:17:44.000 So, there's real money that you're paying if you're a commercial organization. 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:51.700 What Google says is, to churches, we will give you – so, imagine they come with a big suitcase, pop it on your desk and say, 00:17:51.780 --> 00:17:58.080 here's $10,000 per month ongoing, we will give you this to advertise your church. 00:17:59.360 --> 00:18:09.340 And so, $120,000 per year, $329 per day up to advertise your church. 00:18:09.580 --> 00:18:17.000 So, that's like a local council coming to your church and saying, we want you to put a big sign outside your church and we're going to pay for it. 00:18:17.320 --> 00:18:19.180 And we're going to bring – supply all the crew. 00:18:19.580 --> 00:18:25.880 We're going to bring that and all the people that drive by are going to be able to see your church now. 00:18:26.020 --> 00:18:31.540 Because, you know, that little sign you had which was stuck behind a bush, which wasn't lit very well, no one saw it. 00:18:31.540 --> 00:18:34.120 We're going to put this great whacking sign out there. 00:18:34.700 --> 00:18:42.120 And when people are searching online, for all sorts of different reasons, it enables your church to be in front of them. 00:18:43.020 --> 00:18:48.360 So, what I mean by that is that on – let's say someone's searching for a church. 00:18:48.560 --> 00:18:49.680 So, this is pre-COVID. 00:18:50.380 --> 00:18:52.380 Someone's searching for a church locally. 00:18:52.940 --> 00:19:03.460 For most churches, unless you have a geographic name in your title, you know, lots of churches have, you know, something point to church or something like that, you know. 00:19:04.300 --> 00:19:08.880 That church will not appear high up in the search results. 00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:17.120 So, what that means is if you're not in the top three results of any search, that takes 90% of search traffic. 00:19:17.860 --> 00:19:21.420 So, every result after this – this is Google's own research. 00:19:22.020 --> 00:19:31.240 Every result after those first three results on the first page, on the second page, on the third page, they're all collectively fighting for 10% of traffic. 00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:42.980 So, what that means is that the Google Ad Grant basically enables your church to go from the depths of the jungle on page six up to the top of page one. 00:19:44.620 --> 00:19:48.300 Therefore, on a local search, increasing your visibility. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:49.980 Therefore, more people see it. 00:19:50.360 --> 00:19:52.900 Those who are interested will potentially more come along. 00:19:53.260 --> 00:20:01.260 So, that's kind of like a localised campaign pre-COVID and if you're locked down, obviously, it doesn't – it's not quite as relevant at the moment for some churches. 00:20:02.260 --> 00:20:08.000 For churches who are doing church online, that's another great way to get found. 00:20:08.340 --> 00:20:17.560 So, you know, I work with churches all over the world and we spend the Ad Grant on people who are searching for churches online and it works. 00:20:18.220 --> 00:20:32.960 And the churches that I'm working with see spectacular success with visitor numbers and they're curious why Miguel from South America is visiting their church here in Adelaide in Australia. 00:20:34.120 --> 00:20:40.200 And they're now piecing together this concept where the sign isn't just outside their door. 00:20:40.300 --> 00:20:42.520 The sign is on this big search engine called Google. 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:55.140 And there are lots of different types of searches that we set campaigns up for where we're putting these – basically these digital signs in front of people who are searching online. 00:20:56.080 --> 00:21:02.760 One of the cool ones I personally really love is very much – have you guys heard of the Alpha Course? 00:21:03.940 --> 00:21:06.600 So, it's – yeah, people are finding out about Christianity. 00:21:06.940 --> 00:21:07.040 Okay. 00:21:07.300 --> 00:21:12.500 So, the Alpha Course asks questions in quite a different way. 00:21:12.640 --> 00:21:22.540 And what most churches do is they ask questions from a Christian point of view, whereas most people are asking from a non-believer point of view. 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:25.960 And they're typing that into Google now. 00:21:26.780 --> 00:21:37.520 So, what we do is that we figure out what types of searches they're using and we go and answer their questions for those people who are spiritually searching online. 00:21:37.800 --> 00:21:39.680 So, this is the concept of digital missions. 00:21:40.360 --> 00:21:46.440 We're not necessarily wanting them to come to our church service, but what we wanted to do is answer that question. 00:21:47.460 --> 00:21:54.540 So, you know, and there are also ranges of questions that people are asking courses like Alpha or Exploring Christianity. 00:21:56.020 --> 00:22:04.260 And basically what we do is we work with that church from a strategic level and say, how do we get you from here? 00:22:04.640 --> 00:22:09.260 How do we get the church leader or the gifted preacher to answer the question? 00:22:10.100 --> 00:22:13.840 And then what steps does that person take after that? 00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:23.380 So, that's really one small kind of part of digital mission, which is very much what they call intent-based. 00:22:23.540 --> 00:22:29.040 So, what we're trying to do is meet that person as they're driving down that virtual highway. 00:22:29.580 --> 00:22:31.900 They're intending to do something. 00:22:32.360 --> 00:22:34.800 And what we're doing is putting that sign in front of them. 00:22:35.400 --> 00:22:35.640 Okay. 00:22:35.840 --> 00:22:38.000 So, that's intent-based communications. 00:22:38.780 --> 00:22:41.440 Most churches aren't conscious of that. 00:22:42.120 --> 00:22:49.140 What they're conscious of doing is reaching their church family and hoping somehow that the message will leak out somehow. 00:22:49.720 --> 00:22:51.540 That's for them what mission is about. 00:22:51.760 --> 00:22:56.200 The word of mouth, which is great, and the invitation to a church service is great. 00:22:56.540 --> 00:22:58.440 But lots of people aren't ready for that. 00:22:59.100 --> 00:23:04.380 But what they're ready to have is that question answered where they can lurk online. 00:23:05.060 --> 00:23:12.180 There's no pressure to attend a physical location, but they can get a question answered, maybe watch a video. 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:18.300 Their curiosity is sparked again, and they start to ask multiple questions about faith. 00:23:18.300 --> 00:23:23.000 So, that intent-based type search, which is what Google search is great for. 00:23:23.820 --> 00:23:34.620 And then on another channel is Facebook, which is a disruptive type of search where you've got the ability to put your church in front of someone just by the geography. 00:23:35.000 --> 00:23:42.300 So, if someone's in your town, you can put a message in front of them just because they live in your town. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.420 Now, the challenge here, most churches want to preach the gospel right at that moment. 00:23:47.600 --> 00:23:48.280 That's great. 00:23:48.580 --> 00:23:51.680 And I don't discount preaching the gospel at any time. 00:23:51.740 --> 00:23:56.600 But, you know, there's a little bit of social awkwardness that goes on right there in that moment. 00:23:57.060 --> 00:24:00.680 When you first meet someone at a party, you kind of do a nice introduction. 00:24:01.180 --> 00:24:02.880 And you say, hey, nice to meet you. 00:24:03.020 --> 00:24:03.860 This is who I am. 00:24:03.860 --> 00:24:05.860 I mean, you have a kind of a bit of a chit-chat interaction. 00:24:06.040 --> 00:24:07.160 And that's what social media does. 00:24:07.240 --> 00:24:07.720 That's Facebook. 00:24:08.580 --> 00:24:17.180 So, if you're looking to serve someone on Facebook with an ad, don't make it about just coming to an event. 00:24:18.540 --> 00:24:24.600 Introduce yourself as a church that you're here to serve, and especially during the COVID period. 00:24:24.600 --> 00:24:36.260 So, for example, with my church, we're putting a Facebook ad out right now about if you need food hampers, if you need help, if you need online counselling, we're here for you. 00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:42.000 And all you need to do is click on this button, and you can get some free counselling, some free help. 00:24:42.760 --> 00:24:43.700 We're here for you. 00:24:43.760 --> 00:24:46.180 So, we're serving the community, but we're doing it for an ad. 00:24:46.840 --> 00:24:59.480 The community is much more likely to engage with that kind of ad, which is ministering to them, rather than just an ad that is inviting them along to a service. 00:25:00.100 --> 00:25:01.140 The invites do work. 00:25:01.220 --> 00:25:06.840 I've done invite ads before, but they tend to be less effective. 00:25:07.780 --> 00:25:12.820 You've got to do a combination of, it's not just social media marketing, it's social media ministry. 00:25:14.380 --> 00:25:22.540 And, yeah, so, they're two very different channels, and when I talk about channels, Facebook's one channel, Google's another channel. 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:33.940 Two very different channels about how people interact with those channels, and it's just about having the smarts about utilising those channels in what I call like an emotionally intelligent way. 00:25:35.200 --> 00:25:49.920 And a smart way to look at how people use Facebook, which is a very visual medium, versus looking at how people are using Google's search, which is literally, you know, 60 characters in a heading. 00:25:50.320 --> 00:25:53.220 And you've got to try and capture the attention in that moment. 00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:55.440 Steve, you dropped a lot of knowledge there. 00:25:55.540 --> 00:25:57.820 I mean, there was so much that I got to unpack. 00:25:57.820 --> 00:26:08.960 But I'm going to focus just on the last little bit that you kind of dropped there in terms of the difference between dropping an ad for, hey, come and check out our service, versus, hey, this is a way that we want to help you. 00:26:09.340 --> 00:26:13.900 What have the results been, like, for that in terms of the free counselling, like some of those other things? 00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:17.480 Because that, to me, it shouldn't be innovative, but it seems pretty innovative. 00:26:18.120 --> 00:26:31.180 Yeah, look, so we're just setting those campaigns up, but the social ministry, so the organic posts that are done get huge responses. 00:26:32.080 --> 00:26:34.680 They're shared by local authorities. 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:35.960 So think about that. 00:26:36.120 --> 00:26:38.220 A counsellor sharing your social media posts. 00:26:38.220 --> 00:26:39.760 They're shared by the police. 00:26:40.760 --> 00:26:51.360 The police are beneficiaries of these kind of care packages, and they're actually going out into the neighbourhoods and passing them on. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:54.200 So it's not just like a PR stunt. 00:26:54.360 --> 00:27:02.260 It's like they want to help the community, and for them, it's a community service because they're interacting with those mostly in need on the front line. 00:27:02.320 --> 00:27:03.840 So we provide the resource for them. 00:27:04.100 --> 00:27:12.460 But imagine that the police are sharing your content, the local politicians are sharing your content, the councils are sharing your content. 00:27:13.040 --> 00:27:20.180 All of a sudden, there's this emotional intelligence to the content that you're putting out there, which says, we're here to serve. 00:27:20.760 --> 00:27:26.500 Now, you can back that up just through paid ads, and, you know, that's what we're starting to do now. 00:27:27.100 --> 00:27:29.840 You can back it up through prayer as well. 00:27:29.940 --> 00:27:31.380 Hey, we'd love to be able to pray for you. 00:27:31.380 --> 00:27:41.780 All of a sudden, you're creating a relationship with people where before it's been a little bit transactional in terms of we want you to come to us only. 00:27:42.060 --> 00:27:45.180 And I'm not saying that's a bad ad at all because I do that. 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:55.640 It's just you've got to think about the whole journey that a person is taking online, and it's a little bit like an ATM. 00:27:55.640 --> 00:28:03.800 So I don't know if you call them ATM machines where you withdraw money, but, you know, you've got to put credit in before you can take credit out. 00:28:04.100 --> 00:28:04.640 Yeah, I love that. 00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:09.560 You're just, you're slowly building the relationship using something as simple as, man, how can I pray for you? 00:28:09.620 --> 00:28:12.300 How can, how can as a church, how can we serve you? 00:28:13.320 --> 00:28:27.940 The perception is that the church is caring for the individual and wanting to build the relationship, not to get them to a building to consume a content, but it's far more relational in that approach, which of course means I love it. 00:28:27.940 --> 00:28:38.820 Now, one of the things even in that, that I've, maybe I'm doing it wrong and cause I, I am not the church marketing guy or just marketing it in general. 00:28:38.820 --> 00:28:43.660 It's one of my weak spots, but like Facebook seems to be overly saturated. 00:28:44.140 --> 00:28:53.340 Do you have churches that, that are experiencing, especially in ads and, you know, social media being what it is, everybody's yelling at everybody and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. 00:28:53.540 --> 00:28:57.140 Do you have churches that, that are really utilizing it well in this season? 00:28:57.320 --> 00:29:04.840 Is it regionally where, you know, where you are in Australia may be different than a North American experience? 00:29:04.840 --> 00:29:07.140 Like, how does that actually work? 00:29:07.320 --> 00:29:10.260 Yeah, look, are you talking just in terms of paid ads? 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:10.900 Yeah, paid ads. 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:11.080 Yep. 00:29:11.740 --> 00:29:14.580 So, so I help one church. 00:29:15.320 --> 00:29:23.520 So again, they were in lockdown and that they said, what are the ways that can we work together? 00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:36.440 And one of the things I saw was with that Facebook Live was just even the way the content, where the church service was formatted, it was formatted for the in-person attendance. 00:29:36.800 --> 00:29:41.360 So they had a 10 minute countdown at the start of their Facebook Live with nothing happening. 00:29:42.100 --> 00:29:47.660 Nothing was happening at all, which is great, right, for the person that attends that church. 00:29:47.760 --> 00:29:50.920 They're prepared to endure 10 minutes of TikTok. 00:29:51.720 --> 00:29:59.340 But when you're dealing with content that's going out there to the general public, you've got to look at the way you present online differently. 00:29:59.340 --> 00:30:13.400 So part of my coaching was, hey, why don't you, while you've got a countdown on, why don't you just put two really fun people on camera and they can have a bit of banter together while the service is counting down. 00:30:14.180 --> 00:30:24.260 And they can interact with people as they make it more on camera and that works massively because they welcome people as they see people join. 00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:26.340 Hey, Jimmy, good to see you. 00:30:26.340 --> 00:30:27.240 Where are you watching from? 00:30:27.800 --> 00:30:35.040 And kind of, it starts to develop into that real social part of social media, which is all about interaction. 00:30:35.760 --> 00:30:40.140 Then what we do behind that is put some paid support behind that content. 00:30:41.220 --> 00:30:51.700 And we put paid support behind that content because Facebook obviously reduces normally the reach of your posts to 10% to 20% of people. 00:30:51.700 --> 00:30:54.260 So what we do, we put a bit of paid support behind that. 00:30:54.480 --> 00:30:59.620 With that paid content, they got 10 times the reach. 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:02.820 So they went from, actually, probably more than that. 00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:08.300 They went from, like, 500 views of their Facebook Live through to 10,000 views. 00:31:10.660 --> 00:31:13.640 Obviously, some of that is people checking their church out. 00:31:14.040 --> 00:31:18.160 So there are quick, you know, there's a few three-second plays and all that sort of stuff. 00:31:18.460 --> 00:31:22.720 But quite a lot of them become one-minute plays that become longer than that. 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:28.220 So really, the value for churches is looking at the whole. 00:31:28.360 --> 00:31:29.900 It's not just boosting a post. 00:31:30.320 --> 00:31:38.000 It's actually looking at the way that the content's put together, make it more engaging, make it more context-specific. 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:43.100 Because the context should determine that communication and the way we communicate. 00:31:44.180 --> 00:31:48.980 And then how do you support that paid ads, basically? 00:31:49.340 --> 00:31:58.560 So Facebook makes sense, kind of, like, promoting, reinforcing kind of that paid service content because it's on the Facebook platform. 00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:12.060 What types of, if I'm doing Google, which is more search, you know, and I hear we actually had the conversation with YouTube, Dave Adamson, what was on from North Point. 00:32:12.560 --> 00:32:15.200 You know, and he's like, nobody's searching for your sermon series. 00:32:15.580 --> 00:32:18.800 And just from a YouTube context, Google, same thing. 00:32:19.020 --> 00:32:23.300 All those creative sermon series titles that we try to come up with, nobody cares. 00:32:23.500 --> 00:32:25.700 They're not looking for that on Google. 00:32:25.700 --> 00:32:33.600 So even as we're, like, what are we, even to ask that, what are we really marketing in the Google context? 00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:40.140 Are we marketing a church service, the church overall, the physical locations in this COVID season? 00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:41.900 Physical, it's not worth much. 00:32:42.080 --> 00:32:49.440 So, like, where are we investing this dollars in Google, either the grant or paid? 00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:53.260 Like, what are the things that we should be highlighting as a church? 00:32:54.180 --> 00:32:57.560 Yeah, look, again, Google's different because it's intent-based searches. 00:32:57.700 --> 00:33:05.060 So, what you're joining in with, in terms of the ad, if you like, you're joining in with what someone's already doing. 00:33:05.720 --> 00:33:09.460 So, what you have to intersect is what they're already doing with the opportunity. 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:20.000 And in that little part of the X, which I just drew for listeners, in that center part is where God is. 00:33:20.520 --> 00:33:23.540 And so, if, let's say, it's a spiritual searcher campaign. 00:33:23.880 --> 00:33:35.740 So, like Dave would say on YouTube, really, that it's in the title because, you know, YouTube is basically one big how-to platform. 00:33:37.040 --> 00:33:44.180 So, you know, your obscure random sermon series isn't going to title that well in that sort of a frame of search. 00:33:44.240 --> 00:33:46.680 So, really, all you're doing is you're tying in with someone's search. 00:33:47.640 --> 00:33:51.900 So, for a church service online, Google that. 00:33:52.780 --> 00:33:56.180 You're intersecting where people are searching for that. 00:33:57.320 --> 00:34:02.300 You're intersecting where people are asking the big questions of life. 00:34:02.380 --> 00:34:03.680 So, those alpha-type questions. 00:34:04.980 --> 00:34:08.600 So, there are different stages of the funnel, what I call the funnel. 00:34:08.860 --> 00:34:16.180 So, if listeners aren't aware, every funnel has a wide entry point and gets narrower and narrower. 00:34:17.180 --> 00:34:23.840 And Google ads really can be at the top of the funnel and in the middle of the funnel and at the bottom of the funnel. 00:34:24.660 --> 00:34:29.660 So, the intent-based search of a spiritual searcher is at the top of the funnel where they're just exploring. 00:34:31.000 --> 00:34:35.080 The church online type ads that we do are at the bottom of the funnel. 00:34:35.200 --> 00:34:41.320 People are taking action and are visiting and they're attending and they're engaged and they'll come back. 00:34:42.020 --> 00:34:47.380 So, there's different levels of the funnel which different ads and opportunities are there for. 00:34:47.460 --> 00:34:50.440 We run a prayer request campaign for people, for churches. 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:53.120 So, you know, it's really interesting. 00:34:53.580 --> 00:34:58.500 Churches, again, you can do on Facebook with ads is, you know, we'd love to be able to pray for you. 00:34:58.620 --> 00:35:01.560 You've probably seen those organic posts on Facebook, right? 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:08.860 You can do the same on Google in your location because people are Googling, I need prayer. 00:35:10.260 --> 00:35:12.320 And, bang, there's your church. 00:35:12.580 --> 00:35:13.860 Oh, we'd love to be able to pray for you. 00:35:14.040 --> 00:35:15.060 People want that. 00:35:15.620 --> 00:35:17.100 Just intersecting the need. 00:35:17.240 --> 00:35:20.800 That's kind of the unique opportunity that you've got. 00:35:22.020 --> 00:35:31.140 And, you know, that's really the smarts of digital mission is being where people already are. 00:35:31.460 --> 00:35:31.660 Yeah. 00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:38.240 So, Steve, as you walk with churches through this, because I know that this conversation has come up multiple times on our podcast. 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:42.580 How do you get them to embrace local versus global in terms of who they're pulling in? 00:35:42.580 --> 00:35:47.360 Because, obviously, with search, with ads, with so many different things, how are they embracing that? 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:49.460 And how do you help them work through some of those issues? 00:35:49.920 --> 00:35:52.900 Yeah, look, it's a really good question, Ray. 00:35:53.540 --> 00:35:54.800 I love this question. 00:35:55.760 --> 00:36:02.380 So, if you think of the church growth movement that Peter C. Wagner kind of birthed in the 80s, 00:36:02.940 --> 00:36:07.240 before that, it was local traffic where people would walk to church, right? 00:36:07.800 --> 00:36:09.960 And then the church growth movement happened. 00:36:10.080 --> 00:36:11.380 People started to drive to church. 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:16.260 Now, some people probably were driving to church before that, but then those journeys got longer and longer, 00:36:16.360 --> 00:36:19.720 and it went from a 10-minute car journey to a 20-minute car journey. 00:36:20.580 --> 00:36:27.780 If you think of the same way with church online, it's just a different context where, actually, 00:36:28.180 --> 00:36:32.080 the church growth movement said, well, you can drive 20 minutes or 30 minutes to church, 00:36:32.740 --> 00:36:38.180 and we can take a lot of people, but only as many people that can fit in our car lot. 00:36:38.400 --> 00:36:43.280 You know, church online is basically, well, you can come from anywhere, 00:36:44.060 --> 00:36:47.380 and there's no car parking limits in our church. 00:36:47.860 --> 00:36:48.840 Just come on in. 00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:51.960 So, it's a different mindset. 00:36:54.280 --> 00:37:01.540 It's more complex when it comes to ministry and ministering to people who are in different geographic locations. 00:37:02.900 --> 00:37:06.120 But let's deal with those complexities separately. 00:37:06.180 --> 00:37:14.400 If you want to reach someone and they're interested in discovering who Jesus is, 00:37:15.240 --> 00:37:19.120 are you not going to do it because they live in a separate country? 00:37:20.260 --> 00:37:24.620 And I'd say most pastors are red hot and go, if people are searching for Jesus, 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:26.340 I don't care where they are. 00:37:26.760 --> 00:37:28.260 We want to introduce them to Jesus. 00:37:28.980 --> 00:37:29.220 Okay. 00:37:29.600 --> 00:37:31.400 We want to be able to answer their questions. 00:37:31.960 --> 00:37:34.100 Now, does that mean they just attend church online? 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:40.120 Not necessarily, but you want to be able to at least answer that question. 00:37:40.620 --> 00:37:42.320 I don't care where they live in the world. 00:37:42.980 --> 00:37:48.880 You know, I did some research on one of the search terms we're doing for one church at the moment, 00:37:49.700 --> 00:37:53.320 and there's 250,000 searches every single month for this search term, 00:37:54.080 --> 00:37:56.280 which is a pre-Christian type of search term. 00:37:57.700 --> 00:38:04.220 That's a lot of ad grants to spend to reach, to answer that question. 00:38:05.800 --> 00:38:10.440 So, you know, I think I worked it out to be about 200 ad grants. 00:38:10.680 --> 00:38:16.400 If every church did it, we'd probably get all the search impressions people are doing. 00:38:17.100 --> 00:38:20.720 So, there's lots of opportunities for churches out there online. 00:38:21.620 --> 00:38:27.900 And, you know, so you've just got to change the mindset that some churches I work with just want a national approach. 00:38:28.080 --> 00:38:28.580 And that's fine. 00:38:28.640 --> 00:38:29.140 I get that. 00:38:29.640 --> 00:38:34.900 But really, the thing about online is your parish is the globe. 00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:42.940 And it's just your, I don't doubt every church has the evangelistic heart to do it, 00:38:43.340 --> 00:38:46.260 but they don't necessarily have the vision to do it. 00:38:47.260 --> 00:38:54.540 And that's really the next step for churches where, and you'll see some churches who are doing that right now, 00:38:54.780 --> 00:39:02.340 and they're just going, man, the whole earth is there for the Lord to communicate the gospel to. 00:39:02.420 --> 00:39:03.580 So, why don't we just go do that? 00:39:03.640 --> 00:39:08.260 We'll figure out the complexity of doing that along the way, and we'll work that out. 00:39:08.260 --> 00:39:15.920 Have you worked with any churches that are doing maybe like a custom landing page designed to meet particular need, 00:39:16.100 --> 00:39:20.620 like a divorce-specific page with divorce-specific content? 00:39:20.740 --> 00:39:21.580 That's what we do, yeah. 00:39:21.600 --> 00:39:23.220 It's more of an intentional approach. 00:39:23.300 --> 00:39:28.660 Why don't you just talk a little bit about the intentionality of landing pages coupled with the ad grant? 00:39:29.020 --> 00:39:31.460 Yeah, so it is, yeah, spot on. 00:39:31.640 --> 00:39:35.280 So, if you've got a question, let's say just, who is Jesus? 00:39:35.940 --> 00:39:37.000 Just that simple question. 00:39:37.580 --> 00:39:43.700 So, the ad has to relate to the page, and the page has to relate to the ad. 00:39:44.160 --> 00:39:49.200 You can't get a who is Jesus going to a sermon series where a kind of Jesus is mentioned, 00:39:49.340 --> 00:39:50.960 and it's some obscure sermon title. 00:39:51.540 --> 00:39:53.060 It's got to relate directly to it. 00:39:53.080 --> 00:39:53.900 So, who is Jesus? 00:39:54.260 --> 00:39:55.240 Get your questions answered. 00:39:55.460 --> 00:39:56.280 Explore more here. 00:39:56.980 --> 00:39:58.880 Then it lands on a specific landing page. 00:39:59.020 --> 00:40:03.200 That page is obviously on the church website, but it doesn't need to be in the menu system, 00:40:04.100 --> 00:40:05.780 and it's just a simple title. 00:40:05.920 --> 00:40:06.820 It says, who is Jesus? 00:40:06.980 --> 00:40:07.480 Question mark. 00:40:08.020 --> 00:40:08.980 Get your questions answered. 00:40:09.200 --> 00:40:13.080 And it's a video of your pastor where he just introduces who Jesus is, 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:17.080 explains the gospel to them, and then gives them an opportunity to respond. 00:40:17.220 --> 00:40:19.200 So, you just set up a simple contact form. 00:40:19.740 --> 00:40:22.060 It can be as simple as fancy as you want to be, 00:40:22.840 --> 00:40:26.340 whether it's radio buttons, whether it's a Google form, whatever. 00:40:27.380 --> 00:40:35.680 And the communication in the video or even in copywriting leads them to respond, 00:40:36.180 --> 00:40:38.800 and then they respond on that page. 00:40:39.200 --> 00:40:41.180 And then that's an opportunity for ministry. 00:40:42.240 --> 00:40:42.480 Okay? 00:40:42.580 --> 00:40:45.820 So, if you think back to the telephone ministry of the 1980s, 00:40:46.240 --> 00:40:47.280 where people were calling, 00:40:47.520 --> 00:40:50.720 this is exactly the same thing. 00:40:51.300 --> 00:40:54.180 It's just answering very specific questions. 00:40:55.100 --> 00:40:57.140 And the globe is your parish. 00:40:58.440 --> 00:40:59.460 That's the reality. 00:40:59.940 --> 00:41:04.200 So, whereas, you know, I've seen some people call this number now, 00:41:04.640 --> 00:41:08.880 and it's like, well, you're only going to get a national approach to that in the States 00:41:08.880 --> 00:41:12.060 because no one's going to call internationally to get that answer. 00:41:12.740 --> 00:41:18.560 But, oh yeah, Church, could we maybe WhatsApp together or Facebook message, 00:41:18.980 --> 00:41:20.200 do a Facebook message call? 00:41:21.180 --> 00:41:22.100 Everyone will do that. 00:41:22.620 --> 00:41:24.700 Yeah, I love how with some intentionality, 00:41:24.800 --> 00:41:30.440 maybe we can redefine what a mission or approach is utilizing digital technology, 00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:34.700 where we can be almost like treating it like it's the mission field, 00:41:34.860 --> 00:41:39.040 doing a targeted approach or a intentionality, 00:41:39.460 --> 00:41:42.420 intentionally reaching who is Jesus? 00:41:42.540 --> 00:41:43.540 How do I pray? 00:41:44.020 --> 00:41:45.820 I'm thinking about getting a divorce. 00:41:46.660 --> 00:41:47.760 How do I recover? 00:41:48.100 --> 00:41:49.400 I'm addicted to pornography. 00:41:49.640 --> 00:41:52.620 Starting to create some of these pages. 00:41:53.240 --> 00:41:59.520 And with marketing, you can fine-tune your church to reach a particular type of person 00:41:59.520 --> 00:42:03.000 and through relationships, through the content, 00:42:03.220 --> 00:42:05.980 getting them connected into the church overall. 00:42:06.560 --> 00:42:12.140 It's part of that value that I think really will make a church online succeed and shine. 00:42:13.220 --> 00:42:15.020 Getting all the way back to the place of, 00:42:15.080 --> 00:42:17.040 you're not inviting them to be part of some service. 00:42:17.220 --> 00:42:21.220 You're really trying to meet the need of that person 00:42:21.220 --> 00:42:23.880 and to, through that need, build a relationship. 00:42:24.500 --> 00:42:26.300 And so, Steve, man, I love the time. 00:42:26.460 --> 00:42:30.500 I know we need to keep it deep and short because of other scheduling things. 00:42:30.600 --> 00:42:32.700 But, man, once again, thanks for jumping on this. 00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:35.220 If people have questions, if they want to dialogue with you 00:42:35.220 --> 00:42:38.680 and talk more about Google or Facebook, 00:42:39.160 --> 00:42:40.360 Steve, how can they get in touch with you? 00:42:40.620 --> 00:42:43.460 You can just email me, steve at stevefogg.com. 00:42:44.680 --> 00:42:47.060 And, yeah, and we can chat, really. 00:42:47.480 --> 00:42:49.500 I've got a blog, stevefogg.com. 00:42:50.320 --> 00:42:51.800 So, it's F-O-G-G. 00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:57.700 But, yeah, just hit me up on email, Facebook me, tweet me. 00:42:58.380 --> 00:42:59.880 Pretty much it's all the same handles. 00:43:00.380 --> 00:43:01.840 Hey, thanks, Steve, for the conversation. 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:03.100 This was great, Ray. 00:43:03.200 --> 00:43:04.500 Thanks for the time as well. 00:43:04.840 --> 00:43:08.220 Church, we've got an opportunity here to look at it differently. 00:43:08.300 --> 00:43:12.740 Really, this podcast just scratched the surface of a much deeper conversation 00:43:12.740 --> 00:43:16.860 that's centered around what ministry looks like digitally. 00:43:17.640 --> 00:43:19.720 We can promote our church services. 00:43:19.900 --> 00:43:21.540 We can promote our physical locations. 00:43:21.980 --> 00:43:25.620 In COVID season, this is really not a great place to go. 00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:29.740 But what if we could figure out how to create content 00:43:29.740 --> 00:43:33.900 and market that content that could reach people in a unique way? 00:43:34.580 --> 00:43:36.440 We talked about this with Dave Adamson, 00:43:36.540 --> 00:43:40.700 where very few churches were actually creating content for people, 00:43:40.800 --> 00:43:43.480 even though the people through YouTube were asking questions like, 00:43:43.900 --> 00:43:45.100 how do I pray? 00:43:45.600 --> 00:43:47.680 And churches weren't meeting that need. 00:43:48.380 --> 00:43:50.460 There's a chance for us, there's an opportunity for us 00:43:50.460 --> 00:43:53.860 to change the way that we church that we're thinking 00:43:53.860 --> 00:43:56.840 and instead start to create content 00:43:56.840 --> 00:44:00.100 and position it in a way to meet people where they are. 00:44:00.860 --> 00:44:02.080 I'm addicted to pornography. 00:44:02.640 --> 00:44:04.140 How do I get out of this? 00:44:04.760 --> 00:44:06.660 I'm thinking about getting a divorce. 00:44:06.940 --> 00:44:07.900 What do I do? 00:44:09.080 --> 00:44:10.240 Who is God? 00:44:10.780 --> 00:44:11.520 Who is Jesus? 00:44:11.660 --> 00:44:13.020 And what does he want with my life? 00:44:13.520 --> 00:44:15.280 I'm thinking about ending my life. 00:44:15.580 --> 00:44:16.720 Where should I go? 00:44:17.640 --> 00:44:19.620 I'm depressed, I'm sad, I'm alone. 00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:21.440 Who can I talk to? 00:44:22.200 --> 00:44:24.260 These are the things that people are searching for. 00:44:24.340 --> 00:44:25.780 And we at church, we have an opportunity 00:44:25.780 --> 00:44:28.220 to create content. 00:44:28.460 --> 00:44:30.940 Landing pages is a term, we said it in the podcast, 00:44:31.160 --> 00:44:34.180 to create content that's aimed towards that. 00:44:34.500 --> 00:44:36.600 Now that's not going to funnel into a church service 00:44:36.600 --> 00:44:40.260 and that's not going to redirect into some sermon series, 00:44:40.260 --> 00:44:43.340 although pieces of the sermon may work for it. 00:44:44.220 --> 00:44:47.380 But if we start to create content and market content, 00:44:47.640 --> 00:44:48.660 you know what we'll find? 00:44:48.760 --> 00:44:50.200 We'll be able to reach people 00:44:50.200 --> 00:44:52.600 who are looking for something. 00:44:53.000 --> 00:44:54.320 And the something they're looking for 00:44:54.320 --> 00:44:55.980 probably is not your church. 00:44:56.420 --> 00:44:59.180 They're looking for help solving the real world problems 00:44:59.180 --> 00:45:00.240 that they're going through. 00:45:00.780 --> 00:45:03.360 And utilizing the AdWord grant like we have here, 00:45:03.500 --> 00:45:05.520 or even some of the Facebook ads 00:45:05.520 --> 00:45:07.040 to connect with people in a unique way, 00:45:07.360 --> 00:45:09.160 just to even ask a simple question like, 00:45:09.280 --> 00:45:11.500 hey, if you need prayer, click on this 00:45:11.500 --> 00:45:13.100 and let's get you connected to a pastor. 00:45:13.560 --> 00:45:15.860 There's an opportunity to think differently, 00:45:16.180 --> 00:45:19.860 to create content that's not going to drive people 00:45:19.860 --> 00:45:21.540 to experience a church service, 00:45:21.740 --> 00:45:24.080 but it's going to enable you to shepherd, 00:45:24.700 --> 00:45:27.820 to pastor, to care for people digitally. 00:45:28.120 --> 00:45:30.400 It's a completely different viewpoint. 00:45:30.880 --> 00:45:31.920 We've got local missions, 00:45:32.040 --> 00:45:33.040 we've got global missions. 00:45:33.180 --> 00:45:36.180 At some level, Google opens up an opportunity 00:45:36.180 --> 00:45:38.700 for you to be digital missions. 00:45:38.700 --> 00:45:41.420 And that's really the underlying course 00:45:41.420 --> 00:45:43.080 of what we're even just introducing 00:45:43.080 --> 00:45:44.260 with this podcast here. 00:45:44.440 --> 00:45:45.820 So, hey, I want to thank Steve 00:45:45.820 --> 00:45:46.840 for jumping on the podcast. 00:45:47.460 --> 00:45:48.560 Once again, this was great, 00:45:48.660 --> 00:45:51.000 even from Australia, time zones, crazy. 00:45:51.620 --> 00:45:52.520 For Ray, for Steve, 00:45:52.600 --> 00:45:54.360 this is Jeff with The Church Digital. 00:45:54.760 --> 00:45:56.700 Thanks for joining on the podcast here 00:45:56.700 --> 00:45:58.900 and we'll catch you next time here at the show. 00:45:59.040 --> 00:45:59.560 Y'all have a good day.