Church Planting

I've been thinkingabout something nowthis is not going to bea benefit to many of youon this call, whichis I've been listeningto the church planting podcaston startup from Gimlet Media.If you guys havelistened to that,I'd encourage youto listen to it.It's very interesting.You're drawing parallelsbetween the church and startupcompanies in Silicon Valley.So check it out, listen to it,especially if you're Christian.Check it out.I thought something interesting.Look, I do a lot of longdistance, time neutralbased teaching, which is recorda video put it out there,but there issomething when I waslistening to that series abouthuman to human connectionand building acongregation around peoplewho have shared values.And I was thinking,why do people give somuch of their money to church?It's totally voluntary basis.Yeah, Joel Osteen canbuild a megachurch.Why do they do that?And I think fundamentally.Especially if some of thesemore progressive churches,besides giving you somespiritual guidance,they're also this massform of self-help.That I've listened tosome of the Joel Osteensermons, and they really tryto help you get your lifetogether to takeresponsibility for what you doand to align yourpersonal spiritual self.So that you can achieveand be successful.The church dependson you to do that.If you get apromotion, that meansyou'll be able todonate and give more.So I've beenthinking about this.Could we do something?And on a Saturday on aSunday and just have peoplecome together foran hour and a half.Kind of construct.The conversation, similar towhat I did today with you,which is I have a thought,I won't involve youin that dialogue.Would that bemeaningful for people?To have a sense of communityto come and physicallybe next to each other andto do something like this.I don't know somethingI've been thinking about.You guys have any thoughts?Let me offline.Hit me up, or you can just comeonline right now and tell mewhat you think.Otherwise I'm going tohave to say goodbye.Anybody isn't that somethingwe already do in the program?Or do you mean inperson in person?Like, literallyright to the office,we're going to gettogether and we'regoing to work throughsome problems,but we're not goingto talk about God.I'm not going to talkabout spirituality justto get your mind right to giveyou the tools that you need.So that you canachieve your goals.So like an in-person group.Totally free.Donations only.I don't know, I'mjust spit balling.See, I'm influencedby the things I hear.I'm like, if that'sa good idea for them,why could it not bea good idea for us?How can I make thatso that I can work?I'm not saying I'm doing itbecause I'm just listeningto the podcast and I'm enjoyingit, and it just makes me think.You know, the churchhas done a very good jobof spreading their ideas.That's what's reallyimportant to them.We're at 200 plus members here.Like, how do I help more people?How do I grow this thing, right?Chris, what wasthat podcast again?It's called.I think it's called the startup.And it's from Gimlet Media.And the series iscalled church planting,and there are six episodesin church planting.It's really good, really good,well-produced, well, edited,and if you haven't been turnedon to the startup before,they basically do a deep diveand they embed themselveswithin a company duringits startup phaseand tell you all aboutit, from raising moneyto staffing issues to growthproblems, personnel things,exit scenarios, all that stuff.Really recommend it.Check it out, the startup.One thing the church doesright is to have branches,and that's how theyspread so fast.And they talk about thatit's a franchise model.Yeah and then yougo to seminary,you learn and you get trainedon how to teach the word of Godand help people, right?And they cherrypick the very best.Rookies or people intraining, and theysupport themfinancially to supportto start another church that'scalled the Church planting.And that's how theygrow the congregation,how to spread the word of God.It is fascinating to mebecause what I want to dois to help people,to spread an idea,to support people in theirgrowth and their pursuit.So I want to learn from that.So if anybody's gone to seminaryschool, talk to me later,I want to hear from youwhat you're learning, chris?Yes, I know.I thought, you come.Here you are.Go ahead.Drop it on me, dude.Well, I think there's a lot.There's a lot there.That's positive, andthere's a lot of things thathave gone sideways, obviously.Right I'm in the process.I mean, I come from that world.I actually went to seminaryand have a masters of divinityand whatever.I'm not practicingright now as a clergy,but I've in thelast couple of yearsbeen deconstructing my processand my sort of involvementin that world.So I know you don't havemuch time left here,but I have lots ofthoughts on that.OK Dave, you and I will talk.Yeah, I knew that if youwant to catch a Christian,you talk about congregation.I'm just kidding.You dangle the right bait.And then but that's I think ifyou want to really get to it,it's not that large church,massive Joel Stein type modelhas sort of beenphasing out now.It's not, is it?Churches are dying.Well, it's people are nowgetting real about their faithand it's opening up to kind ofinterfaith and not just one wayor like you have to believeexactly what we believe.But I think what themajor driver behind itis, everyone has a commongoal for the good of humanity.So there's a large like abigger purpose other than justlike self serving.And I think the large that.The Joel Osteen sort of modelof this mass massive churchhas been.Has attracted alot of people whoare looking forlike self service,they're looking for somethingto upgrade their life,they're looking for.They give so they can receive,and that's the mentality.But that's not if you goback to the original whatJesus is teaching, it'snot really has nothing.All right now,thank you very much.I'll definitelyfollow up with you.I want to have a deeperconversation with you,what I can learn, what'sgood and what's bad.So I don't do repeat thesins, that kind of thing.I do want to say thisthat I love you guys thathave been able to post a video.Now the idea is toget into this routineto be much morecomfortable on camera,and I can see you guysblossoming before my eyes.Now, each week, it's nota race to produce it.The first is to continuallyto make progress.Ok?I don't want tostress out over thisor make you stressedout, but every week,try to up your game, change onething, improve your lighting,improve the editing andimprove your sound qualityor something.So eventually, you'regoing to come outjust making superpolished things,and you're going to bevery clear, communicator.So emphasize this once again,you only have one minute.Do not waste any time on.Well, so here's mychallenge for the weekand just get right to it.Get straight to it.Use visual aids.Use graphic design.Use handmade signs.Use anything thatyou can to helpyou tell your story better.Use metaphors.Change the scenery.Use editing software.It's a first I'm justhappy that you're doing it,but I want to start acceleratingour learning curve here.So that you guysare going to getmore out of this eachand every single week.I hope that makes sense.Like many of youguys know that youhave to record it like fivetimes and then you edit it.Then you cut somethingfunny togetheror you're thinking it through.So don't just be like,boom, I recorded, I'm donehomework done.You only get so much basedon what you put into it.OK, so when I encourageyou to keep goingand to challengeyourself individually,what can I do this week tomake it a little bit betterthan last week?And if you haven'tproduced a video yet,what the heck areyou waiting for?Get on it.Get on it.