May 24, 2026

Using AI For Evangelism and Ministry, The Power of Old Testament Lamentation, Dead Billionaire Soda and World Cup Evangelism with Pastor Anthony Ferguson

Show Notes
Transcript

Today we have Pastor and Professor and Everton Blues superfan Anthony Ferguson with us again, and we are talking to him about World Cup evangelism with the Yellow Card Initiative, and a few other things also, including the Great Commission Value of Artificial Intelligence and the importance of preaching about the OLD Testament in church.

We’ve also got Cal Baptist ministry student and Valley Baptist Youth minister JC Thompson with us today to review a soda that USED to be called Armless Palmer. What is it called now? Will it muster enough Spurgeons to be recommended? Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out. If you like the show, please tell a friend about it…that’s how podcasts like ours grow - by word of mouth. That said, let’s jump into our interview now.

To get some yellow cards of your own to equip your church for evangelism! Two ways:

⚽️ visiting the YCI website www.yellowcardinitiative.com

⚽️ emailing us at missionadvance@gcasbc.org

⚽️Then, get trained via YouTube training videos @yellowcardinitiative on YouTube.

Seeking GCA’s next Executive Director of Missions

GCA’s current Executive Director of Missions, Dr. Mike Stewart, has faithfully led our association for nearly three decades. As he prepares to step into retirement in the coming year, we are prayerfully seeking the next Executive Director of Missions to build on this legacy and help lead GCA into a fruitful future of ministry.

Learn more about the role and consider how God might be calling you or someone you know to join the mission in California. Initial review of candidates begins May 21.

https://www.vanderbloemen.com/job/executive-director-of-missions-edm-great-commission-association-of-southern-baptist-churches/

WEBVTT

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We've got Dr. Anthony Ferguson back with us again on the podcast today.

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He's a professor and a pastor, an author, and an evangelism pioneer.

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And we're going to talk about artificial intelligence and its role in evangelism.

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We're going to talk about the Old Testament book of Amos and pastoring the church

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through the Old Testament.

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And we're going to talk about the Yellow Card Initiative, which is this innovative

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way to share the gospel with people. One thing Dr.

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Ferguson said that really stood out to me, I want you to hear at the very beginning

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so you can hear it twice. And I love the word he invented.

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So God has the power to perfect us. He's chosen not to do it right now for a purpose.

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Namely, as we wrestle with sin, as we seek to overcome sin, as we do this wrestling

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match of sometimes doing well and failing other times, our dependency on him is growing, right?

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So God is at work to do something in our toddlerness.

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And resources that work together to build up your local fellowship and the broader kingdom of God.

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Join hosts, Pastor Chris Cole

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and Dr. Chase Thompson from the Great Commission Association, led by Dr.

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Mike Stewart, as they explore the frontiers of ministry and aim for the goal

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of making every church flourish.

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Hello, everybody, and welcome into episode number 19 of the Every Church Flourishing podcast.

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We are a ministry of the Great Commission Association in Northern and Central

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California, And we are always looking for gospel partnerships,

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whether you are in state, in our area, or out of it.

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Reach out to us at our website, gcasbc.org. That's gcasbc.org,

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just like a High Point University in North Carolina professor did this week,

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who will be a potential upcoming guest on the podcast.

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But today, we have pastor and professor and Everton Blues superfan Anthony Ferguson with us again,

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and we're talking to him about World Cup evangelism with the Yellow Card Initiative

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and a few other pretty fascinating things also,

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including the Great Commission value of artificial intelligence and the importance

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of preaching about the Old Testament in church and the beauty of the Book of

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Amos and the Psalms and the Lamentations.

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We've also got Cal Baptist ministry student and Valley Baptist youth minister J.C.

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Thompson with us today to review a soda that used to be called Armless Palmer.

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What is it called now? Will it muster enough Spurgeons to be recommended?

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Well, you'll just have to listen and find out. If you do like the show,

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please tell a friend about it.

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That's how podcasts like ours grow by word of mouth. That said,

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let's jump into our interview now.

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And we are back with soccer expert, evangelism guy, pastor, and textual criticism, Bible nerd, Dr.

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Anthony Ferguson. And we have been talking to him about evangelism and the World Cup.

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We're so excited, Anthony, to have you back with us and to hopefully maybe we'll

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hear some more about your fandom of Everton.

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But we really want to hear because we know you're a fan of Jesus.

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You're a fan of having people hear about the hope of Jesus Christ and the gospel,

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and that's why we've brought you on today.

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We're so glad to have you back on this episode.

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I think where we left off in last week's discussion, I wanted to bring out the

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comment that this is not just something for people who want to share the gospel

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in English, that But in fact,

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the Yellow Card Initiative has been designed in many of its elements for people

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to use and share in many different languages.

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So what can you tell us, Anthony, about those tools for people who want to share

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the gospel in Spanish or Dari or other languages?

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We have been able, by God's grace, to translate and quality check our resources in multiple languages.

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I think we're at 13 languages right now. I mean, I think from a theological perspective,

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I would just want to impress onto the hearts of anybody listening that we are,

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by God's grace, through technological innovation, namely the advent of artificial intelligence.

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And if we were to have tried to produce the Yellow Card Initiative four years

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ago, it would have been impossible for 11th Street Baptist to produce what we produced in 2026.

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If it was possible for the IMB to do it, it would have cost them,

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I would imagine, millions and millions of dollars to do so.

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But because of not agenic generative AI, I'm sure agenic AI will be able to

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do a lot in the future for us.

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But we literally are able to

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take the gospel into as many languages as we want. The sky is the limit.

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So for example, we have training in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

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It's really interesting because one of the people in our videos is from Brazil.

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And it's really funny because he is speaking English, but then we've dubbed

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over his voice in a Brazilian voice, but it's not his voice.

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So that's really funny. But we have training resources in English,

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Spanish, and Portuguese.

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But then we've translated the video and the website into 13 languages.

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I probably will miss a few, but English, Spanish, Portuguese,

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French, German, Italian, Dari, Farsi, Arabic, Korean, Mandarin,

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Cantonese, Pashtun, Arabic.

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So, I mean, and these are a lot of languages. And it's remarkable that when

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I had each of these checked for quality, very few needed any edits.

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Now, they might not be like pristine Arabic. Like I have, there's several,

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there's a handful of people at the church I pastor who are from, from the Middle East.

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And one guy was like, yeah, you know, like it makes complete sense.

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Everything you're saying,

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There's one issue I'm not so sure. So he had his mom listen to it.

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She was like, oh yeah, that's fine.

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So it's like AI had very, we had to correct AI seldomly, which it's just insane.

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And I think, again, this is just another talent God is giving to the churches.

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He's giving us this talent, this ability to do great commission work in a way

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that we would never have been able to have done four years ago.

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But in this moment, we can leverage the moment and we really can give a tool

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now to somebody who knows zero English and they could hear the gospel.

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So when I was in San Jose, I think it was San Jose, my Uber driver from the

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airport was from China, from Beijing.

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And his English was very poor. And we were talking through, I think Gemini was the AI he was using.

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And we were talking and then I gave him the card and he was able to listen in,

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I don't know if it's Mandarin or Cantonese, and he was able to listen to the video.

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And we were able to try to walk through a conversation.

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And I don't know Chinese culture. Maybe this is typical, but when he left, he gave me a big hug.

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I don't know if that's typical or not typical in Chinese culture.

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But I think the point is simple, is that like the gospel was shared to this

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Uber driver from Beijing in San Jose because of AI.

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I don't know any Mandarin. I don't know any Cantonese. I have the yellow card. Yeah.

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And he heard the gospel. So what a moment, what an opportunity for us and really

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excited to see what God does.

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Because again, this is just all stating, look what God did.

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You know, it's such an amazing testimony, Anthony, that you've got there.

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And you're talking about the reversal of Babylon. When you talk about the reversal

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of Babylon, I always think about Revelations 5 and Revelations seven.

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Every tribe, every people around the throne claiming the glory of God,

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saying worthy is the lamb to receive all glory and honor and power and dominion.

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And that's our heartbeat, right?

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To see every person come to saving faith that we can share the hope of the gospel

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with and being able to do it in so many different languages.

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And I so appreciate your heart of talking about AI, not as something to be scared

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of, while we want to be wary and wise and careful, wise as serpent,

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innocent as doves, as Jesus has commended to us.

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I know you're speaking also to one of Pastor Chase's big passions.

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He loves the idea of using AI in appropriate ways, healthy ways,

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one of our topics here on Every Church Flourishing.

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How can we use this next tool to advance the gospel? So thank you for giving us that example.

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And this opportunity to talk about that. So I know that in the process of developing this yellow card,

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this yellow card right here, and it's got a QR code and it says North America 2026 on it.

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There's some ramifications of using the wording around the World Cup event itself, but also

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We wanted to use the yellow card as an opportunity to speak into so many different

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things, not just the World Cup.

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But I know that you, while you were beta testing this, you took some beta test

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yellow cards out to some MLS games and you had some chances to share.

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What would you tell us about those experiences?

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Me and a couple of friends went two times down to San Diego for the MLS playoffs.

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We, on one occasion, brought, they were just like paper cards.

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The next was, I think, cardstock cards. So it wasn't good quality.

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And it definitely had a big QR code on the card. So the design was very, very different.

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So I would say it was a less strategic card. So we learned a lot from those beta tests.

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And I think we implemented what we learned to make the card that we have now in our hands.

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And so I went down twice, once with my uncle and then once with two friends from the church.

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And on average, I think a normal person, so if you're in a place where there's

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thousands of people, you can expect to hand out 80 to 100 cards per hour per person.

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And that's about what we did. We handed out around 300 cards.

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We had 30 people view the video, roughly.

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And then three people said they wanted to become Christians.

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So I took that information and I gave it to a church in San Diego,

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Grace Church, San Diego, a church that's connected to Gateway Seminary.

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And I don't know what came of that.

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But definitely seeds were planted and we can pray to Jesus that those seeds

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are being watered. So this is people were eating carne asada.

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They were drinking modelos. they were people were smoking weed partying

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and here i'm like hey get on your phone look at my qr

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code so there's definitely a lot of reflections about that

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but then the second time we went down there we did the parking lot but before that

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we did the train station so we took the metro from downtown

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san diego i can't remember the stop into snapdragon stadium and handed out cards

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on the metro to see how people would receive that if they would receive it better

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or or less so what reflections did i have so i think the first thing is that

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okay 10 of the people who got the card viewed the video. I mean,

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that's not a great statistic.

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But then 10% of the people who watched the video wanted to become Christians.

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That's a really great statistic, right? And if that statistic holds,

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that's 1% of the people who got cards wanted to become Christians. That's amazing.

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So when we were reflecting on that, we were thinking, okay, how do we increase

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the amount of people who got a card and then they get to the watch video category?

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So if you think about this in terms of a funnel, right?

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300 people got the card, but then the funnel got very narrow.

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Only 30 people watched the video and then three people became Christians.

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Like, what can we do to reduce those bottlenecks to make the funnel wider?

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So it's not a funnel, but it's like a four inch PVC pipe, right?

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So the water is just flushing through.

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And so we reflected on that and we said, okay, so the paper card,

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the cardstock card, I mean, that's trash.

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You know what I mean? It wasn't super well designed. It's not good quality.

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They held it up during the game to dissent the referee, to tell the referee

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what they thought. But then they throw it away in the trash afterwards.

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So we're like, okay, if we can make this vinyl, if we can make it plastic,

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and if we could, in a creative way, make it World Cup themed.

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Now, as you mentioned, there's lots of copyright infringement things here,

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which prohibited us from using certain language.

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But I think it's pretty obvious. North America, 2026, most people are going

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to recognize that in a yellow card. They're going to understand that's FIFA, that's World Cup.

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And so we tried to make it thematic. We made it vinyl.

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We made it very official. And we gave it a minimalistic design.

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So it's not being intrusive.

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Like somebody can actually use this as a prop in the game and it will look like a prop in the game.

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So our hope in making those changes is that we'll widen the funnel, right?

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So instead of it being 10% of the people who watched it, because it's something

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they're gonna keep and hopefully keep as a souvenir, you know,

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we can hopefully widen that 10% to be 100%.

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And then if the statistic holds that 10% of the people who watched the video

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become Christians, I mean, you can just do the math, right?

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I mean, and of course, God's not mechanical. God's not a genie.

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This isn't magic. It's not mathematics. This is relational.

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People are going to be different, and God can do whatever he wants.

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But I think we reflected on those statistics, and that's why we developed the card that we have now.

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So also, we also thought about, well, where else can we share the gospel besides a venue site?

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A venue site's important, but

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what about Uber and Lyft drop-off stations where people are hanging out?

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What about tourist hotspots? What about places where people are still kind of on their phone, right?

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When you're tailgating, people aren't on their phone, and that's probably a good thing.

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But how do we infiltrate areas around venues or into our community where people

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are still going to watch their phone?

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So I think it kind of expanded our thoughts about where we should distribute the card.

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Those were some of our reflection. I think maybe another reflection is that people want the card.

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What I love about this strategy is it's like a value add. You know,

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I used to be a waiter at Cheesecake Factory for a long time,

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and sometimes people would get like the million-dollar bills, right?

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And, you know, maybe people love getting the million-dollar gospel track videos. That's possible.

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I mean, God can work in a million ways, but the waiters who got that were non-Christians

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typically didn't like that.

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So what I love about this is it's a value add. So in soccer culture,

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people like going to the stadium and holding up a yellow card.

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And they like it as a prop. Because when the referee makes a bad call,

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they want to hold up their yellow card and say, hey, referee, give me a yellow card.

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Or if they want to be really funny, they give him the red card.

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So when we went and beta tested this, we didn't have the red card.

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Multiple people asked for the red card. People wanted the red card.

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That's why we did yellow on one side, red on the other. Because when somebody

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delays the game, somebody kicks the ball, talks back to the referee,

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they want to hold up the red card and say, get him out of the game,

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referee. Come on, come on, get him out of there.

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So people already do this in soccer culture. And so it's a prop, it's a value add.

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Like when you go up to somebody, some people are like, well, how much does it cost?

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Like they're genuinely thinking like there's a cost. And we're like,

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no, this is free today in the game.

00:15:17.504 --> 00:15:20.724
When the referee makes a call, like, let's hold this up and tell him what he thinks.

00:15:20.824 --> 00:15:24.484
And then honestly, even with the cardstock and the paper cards that we hand

00:15:24.484 --> 00:15:28.004
down in San Diego, 80 to 90% of the people wanted the card.

00:15:28.224 --> 00:15:31.784
And I think the statistic will go up even more once they see it's plastic,

00:15:31.964 --> 00:15:33.244
it's vinyl, it's a souvenir.

00:15:33.943 --> 00:15:39.443
So, and it's, it's, it's incredibly high quality what you've been able to produce

00:15:39.443 --> 00:15:45.983
here and soccer fans, everybody has just been amazed at the quality of it.

00:15:46.163 --> 00:15:50.643
That's been able to be engaged with it. So thank you for doing that reflection,

00:15:50.943 --> 00:15:55.003
Anthony, and, and doing those beta tests and doing the, the practice runs.

00:15:55.183 --> 00:15:58.763
And, and again, I just want to commend you brother. I know that you didn't come

00:15:58.763 --> 00:16:04.623
on the show to in any way be puffed up, but hopefully we want to build you up.

00:16:04.763 --> 00:16:09.523
And I just want to commend you again for having the humility to go out and practice.

00:16:09.523 --> 00:16:14.163
Because I think so often in my experience as a pastor, as a church leader,

00:16:14.443 --> 00:16:20.403
one of the reasons believers don't go out and share the gospel is because they're

00:16:20.403 --> 00:16:24.783
very averse to the idea of being humbled,

00:16:24.783 --> 00:16:30.563
that they might try something and it may not work very well the first few times.

00:16:30.583 --> 00:16:35.103
And so as a pastor, you know, when I'm trying to train or coach people on sharing

00:16:35.103 --> 00:16:40.643
the gospel, I'm like, listen, you know, look at babies, look at toddlers when they're trying to walk.

00:16:40.883 --> 00:16:48.123
Do you get mad when someone doesn't do a great job walking as a toddler? And the answer is no. No.

00:16:48.256 --> 00:16:52.836
God's not going to be mad at you when you're out there trying to share your

00:16:52.836 --> 00:16:57.076
faith for the first few times, and you're likely to stumble around.

00:16:57.396 --> 00:17:03.016
You can't assume that you're going to be really, really great at it the first

00:17:03.016 --> 00:17:05.936
few times. That's not the way most of us learn.

00:17:06.176 --> 00:17:11.516
Very few of us are going to be intuitively very good at sharing the gospel personally

00:17:11.516 --> 00:17:16.776
one-on-one or to a group the first few times that we do it, but we want to grow.

00:17:16.776 --> 00:17:21.236
And you've modeled that and demonstrated that, even in how you talked about

00:17:21.236 --> 00:17:23.716
reflecting on how we could improve this.

00:17:23.856 --> 00:17:28.816
And so when we get that spirit of humility and we're willing to be humbled and

00:17:28.816 --> 00:17:34.736
we're willing to try things and maybe not be so perfect, but do critical self-evaluation.

00:17:35.396 --> 00:17:39.916
This is time for me to chase a rabbit trail and just say, if you don't know

00:17:39.916 --> 00:17:44.456
how you can share your faith and you want to practice some of this,

00:17:44.656 --> 00:17:46.736
the North American Mission board, believe it or not,

00:17:46.996 --> 00:17:51.336
has an AI that you can practice sharing your faith with.

00:17:51.616 --> 00:17:56.356
And you could tell it, hey, I want to share my faith with an atheist.

00:17:56.416 --> 00:18:02.116
And you could set it literally to levels, really easy to medium to hard,

00:18:02.116 --> 00:18:07.096
or I want to share my faith with a Muslim or a Confucius Buddhist or whatever.

00:18:07.296 --> 00:18:12.436
And the AI will practice having that gospel conversation with you.

00:18:12.536 --> 00:18:19.576
And I'm sure Pastor Chase can put that link in our show notes and in the link to this.

00:18:19.736 --> 00:18:23.756
But that sort of leads me into that next question that I have for you,

00:18:23.916 --> 00:18:25.436
Pastor Anthony, and that is this.

00:18:25.556 --> 00:18:29.916
What do you say you say to people who are evangelism shy?

00:18:30.056 --> 00:18:33.836
How can they become a person that moves from just sort of like,

00:18:34.016 --> 00:18:36.736
I'm not really good at this. I'm not going to share my faith.

00:18:37.056 --> 00:18:43.096
How can they take that next step into actually not just thinking of evangelism

00:18:43.096 --> 00:18:45.696
as a good idea for other people, but

00:18:45.817 --> 00:18:48.497
but something they can do themselves?

00:18:49.017 --> 00:18:52.957
I think first they need to be motivated because it is scary, right?

00:18:53.237 --> 00:18:58.077
I mean, and if we really believe that somebody's eternal destiny can be altered

00:18:58.077 --> 00:19:03.677
by somebody speaking words and then simply believing them, turning,

00:19:03.957 --> 00:19:07.437
repenting from sin and trusting those words, trusting in Christ,

00:19:07.817 --> 00:19:10.997
then I think Satan is going to make that the hardest thing to do in the world.

00:19:11.257 --> 00:19:15.397
So I think how do you stay motivated to do a really difficult thing?

00:19:15.397 --> 00:19:18.917
I think you need to remember why you're doing it.

00:19:19.037 --> 00:19:22.057
So I would say the first thing, if I were trying to motivate a member of 11th

00:19:22.057 --> 00:19:25.217
Street is like, yeah, like I'm not excited about sharing the gospel.

00:19:25.417 --> 00:19:28.437
Like how do I move from like, I know I should do it and I don't want to do it

00:19:28.437 --> 00:19:31.037
to I know I should do it and I want to do it.

00:19:31.117 --> 00:19:34.857
I would say the first thing is they probably need to know the biblical foundation

00:19:34.857 --> 00:19:38.337
and the theological foundations of why we do what we do.

00:19:38.497 --> 00:19:42.717
So I think I would quickly give them a biblical theology of God's desire to

00:19:42.717 --> 00:19:43.737
spread his glory to all people.

00:19:43.857 --> 00:19:47.757
I'd start in Genesis and I'd end right where you did with Revelation 7 and Revelation,

00:19:48.077 --> 00:19:50.917
you know, this idea of a new earth, Revelation 22, 20 through 22,

00:19:50.937 --> 00:19:52.797
and I would just walk it through.

00:19:52.997 --> 00:19:58.517
I would probably also talk about some theological things like God's glory, God's majesty,

00:19:59.057 --> 00:20:02.397
the concept of being made in God's image and the dignity of that,

00:20:02.637 --> 00:20:08.757
the fact that God doesn't entrust the proclamation of his glory for salvific reasons to the clouds.

00:20:09.077 --> 00:20:12.277
The clouds proclaim the glory of God according to Romans 2 and 3,

00:20:12.277 --> 00:20:13.817
but they can't save people.

00:20:14.597 --> 00:20:18.217
And yet when we proclaim the glory of God, it could save people.

00:20:18.357 --> 00:20:21.717
And so I think I would want to really hone in on the dignity of what it means to be human.

00:20:21.917 --> 00:20:26.197
And I would go as far as to say like, you've been saved, you've been created,

00:20:26.417 --> 00:20:28.817
and you've been saved to proclaim the excellencies.

00:20:29.157 --> 00:20:32.477
And that's obviously 1 Peter 2 verse 9, where you are a chosen race,

00:20:32.477 --> 00:20:34.997
a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for his own possession.

00:20:35.402 --> 00:20:39.622
That you may proclaim. And of course, Peter's picking up on Exodus 19 there.

00:20:39.702 --> 00:20:42.382
So I think I'd really, I would spend time educating the person.

00:20:42.802 --> 00:20:46.262
I think next I would do exactly what you did, Chris. I would talk about,

00:20:46.502 --> 00:20:50.102
I honestly say the exact same thing you just said, I say, listen,

00:20:50.182 --> 00:20:51.642
it's okay not to be good at evangelism.

00:20:51.902 --> 00:20:54.722
I mean, honestly, that's like a strategy I have in all of my discipleship.

00:20:54.862 --> 00:20:59.262
I'm talking to a guy who is getting, he's a drunkard. He's addicted, he's smoking weed.

00:20:59.682 --> 00:21:02.882
You pick the sin and starting to disciple him. He's like, Pastor Anthony,

00:21:02.882 --> 00:21:06.802
I fell again last night. I'm this, I'm that. I'm like, hey, bro, you're a baby.

00:21:07.302 --> 00:21:10.922
Yeah, you got it. You're getting an F right now, but you're a baby.

00:21:11.222 --> 00:21:14.622
So let's try to get a D next time. And then let's try to get a C.

00:21:14.842 --> 00:21:18.322
And in one sense, it's not okay, but in another sense, it really is okay.

00:21:18.422 --> 00:21:21.022
Because let's remember that God could perfect us in a moment if he wanted to.

00:21:21.262 --> 00:21:25.382
1 John 3, verse 2 tells us he will perfect us one day. When we see him in glory,

00:21:25.522 --> 00:21:27.562
we will be made like him because we will see him.

00:21:27.822 --> 00:21:32.042
So God has the power to perfect us. He's chosen not to do it right now for a purpose.

00:21:32.762 --> 00:21:37.862
Namely, as we wrestle with sin, as we seek to overcome sin, as we do this wrestling

00:21:37.862 --> 00:21:42.522
match of sometimes doing well and failing other times, our dependency on him is growing, right?

00:21:42.862 --> 00:21:47.542
So God is at work to do something in our toddlerness, in our babiness,

00:21:47.902 --> 00:21:49.322
in our trying to learn to walk.

00:21:49.442 --> 00:21:54.742
So I would want that person to understand that in a sense, it is okay, just like you said.

00:21:55.062 --> 00:21:59.662
And as you cling to Christ amid the struggle, that is doing something in you

00:21:59.662 --> 00:22:03.322
that's more beautiful than if God would have just perfected you from the beginning.

00:22:03.502 --> 00:22:09.042
So I think I try to create this spirit of, you know, you're safe to be a baby.

00:22:09.302 --> 00:22:13.642
Now, third, from the pulpit, I try to create a culture where we celebrate our

00:22:13.642 --> 00:22:16.622
successes and we also are honest about our failures.

00:22:16.962 --> 00:22:20.042
I will be super honest from the pulpit and I'll say something like,

00:22:20.142 --> 00:22:24.222
hey, this week I had an opportunity to share the gospel and I did not take it.

00:22:24.322 --> 00:22:26.282
And I'll tell people that from the pulpit.

00:22:26.762 --> 00:22:29.882
And so I think if we create an environment where we're only talking about our

00:22:29.882 --> 00:22:34.782
successes, well then that's not a place for people to grow right if you haven't

00:22:34.782 --> 00:22:38.082
arrived then this you're not in the club and it's not for you

00:22:38.418 --> 00:22:41.678
So, we at 11th Street, we talk about it.

00:22:41.738 --> 00:22:44.498
You know, there are Christians who know what they should do,

00:22:44.558 --> 00:22:46.938
and they don't do it. So, what is their strategy?

00:22:47.158 --> 00:22:50.058
They just don't talk about it. And at 11th Street, we talk about it.

00:22:50.798 --> 00:22:53.658
Hey, we know what we should do. We're not doing it. Well, let's just talk about

00:22:53.658 --> 00:22:58.038
it. Let's just bring it out. And I think that's a big blessing to the church, right?

00:22:58.278 --> 00:23:01.718
People are safe. So, I have a dear, beloved brother at the church.

00:23:01.818 --> 00:23:05.038
You know, I talk about evangelism a lot at 11th Street and the mission.

00:23:05.238 --> 00:23:09.738
And the brother, a recently retired guy, and he said, like, I am never around any non-Christians.

00:23:09.958 --> 00:23:14.178
So what the brother did, decided he was going to go in his front yard and water

00:23:14.178 --> 00:23:18.798
his grass with a hose and hope that a non-Christian would walk by. And I'm like, high five.

00:23:19.458 --> 00:23:24.378
That is amazing. I'm so proud of you. Like a father with their son who would

00:23:24.378 --> 00:23:27.038
speak his first words. I was so proud of him.

00:23:27.158 --> 00:23:30.898
And then he signed up to do the Good News Club at the local public school across

00:23:30.898 --> 00:23:32.818
the street, which is the Varsity Christians.

00:23:33.138 --> 00:23:37.318
Like I did that for one year and man, I can't do the Good News Club.

00:23:37.318 --> 00:23:43.418
Oh, it is, I get in a school cafeteria after school and the kids are rowdy and

00:23:43.418 --> 00:23:45.918
it just brings out the kindergarten Anthony.

00:23:46.278 --> 00:23:51.278
But this brother, he joined that and he's been faithfully going there,

00:23:51.498 --> 00:23:54.478
sharing the gospel every week during the school year.

00:23:54.738 --> 00:23:59.658
So, you know, you create an environment where it's okay to be a learner. We're all learners.

00:23:59.918 --> 00:24:03.498
It's okay to be a grower. But I think you don't move like the goal.

00:24:03.618 --> 00:24:08.298
Like the goal is for us in the capacity that God entrusts to us evangelism is to be faithful.

00:24:08.518 --> 00:24:12.518
We don't move the goalpost. It's not like it's okay to move the goalpost,

00:24:12.638 --> 00:24:16.178
but there's grace. There's lots of grace. We're going to be gracious to each other.

00:24:16.458 --> 00:24:19.798
And I think those are some things that I have done and would do as somebody

00:24:19.798 --> 00:24:21.038
who's evangelism shy to,

00:24:21.314 --> 00:24:27.854
to help move them from, hey, I know I should do it, but I'm not to. I want to do it and I know

00:24:27.854 --> 00:24:32.094
I need to. Yeah. Fantastic. Fantastic. Well, let's get practical.

00:24:32.774 --> 00:24:38.914
Evangelistically speaking, millions of pastors and church leaders listen to this podcast.

00:24:39.154 --> 00:24:44.374
Real numbers, it's much less than that. But if a pastor or church leader is

00:24:44.374 --> 00:24:52.494
listening right now and you have with your compelling winsome speech have sparked

00:24:52.494 --> 00:24:57.034
in them a great desire to participate in the Yellow Card Initiative.

00:24:57.334 --> 00:25:00.414
And they want some of the cards and they want to train their people.

00:25:00.814 --> 00:25:07.174
Can you briefly walk us through what that looks like and how that pastor gets

00:25:07.174 --> 00:25:10.074
in touch with you and what would happen afterwards?

00:25:10.414 --> 00:25:14.994
It's really simple. You would go to yellowcardinitiative.com and there is a

00:25:14.994 --> 00:25:19.154
get involved form where you would explain it's multiple choice, right?

00:25:19.294 --> 00:25:22.134
How you want to be involved and how you want me to contact you.

00:25:22.374 --> 00:25:26.774
And I get notified of those forms. I check them every couple of days, maybe once a week.

00:25:26.894 --> 00:25:31.134
And I'll then respond via text or email, whatever you request.

00:25:31.514 --> 00:25:36.934
And I'll set up a phone call, a Zoom conversation. And so that would be the next steps.

00:25:37.374 --> 00:25:42.894
And then if you wanted to purchase cards or receive cards, either of those options would be appropriate.

00:25:43.114 --> 00:25:46.354
You would just connect with me through the text and phone and we'd either get

00:25:46.354 --> 00:25:49.914
those snail mailed to you or we can have the printer send them to you.

00:25:50.174 --> 00:25:54.274
Or if you're close to me in Southern California, close to Chris.

00:25:54.829 --> 00:25:58.109
Close in Dallas to our person in Dallas, close to Kansas City,

00:25:58.189 --> 00:26:00.949
to who we have in Kansas City, close to Vancouver, British Columbia,

00:26:01.209 --> 00:26:05.249
or close to Seattle, and hopefully Virginia too.

00:26:05.469 --> 00:26:08.669
Hopefully, we can pray about that. If you're close to one of those epicenters,

00:26:08.829 --> 00:26:11.509
I guess, then you can just meet up with those leaders to get cards.

00:26:11.769 --> 00:26:15.009
And here at Great Commission Association, we just want you to know,

00:26:15.149 --> 00:26:20.829
if you are part of our church family and you haven't gotten the card yet,

00:26:20.829 --> 00:26:22.249
or you need to get some more,

00:26:22.449 --> 00:26:27.769
you can contact our team, and we're happy to get you those cards and make sure

00:26:27.769 --> 00:26:30.849
that you've got all the resources that you need for that.

00:26:31.029 --> 00:26:35.049
We're excited about this. I think we've already given out, Pastor Anthony,

00:26:35.189 --> 00:26:38.109
I think at this moment we'd have to check, but I believe we've already given

00:26:38.109 --> 00:26:43.529
out to our churches for distribution somewhere over, closing on 5,000 cards.

00:26:43.689 --> 00:26:48.149
We've had to order more cards to be shipped to us from the printer.

00:26:48.389 --> 00:26:53.449
So we're excited about it. We've got churches that are pretty much on board.

00:26:53.609 --> 00:26:59.489
We don't have a ton of time left. So we do kind of want to talk to you about the...

00:27:00.510 --> 00:27:03.610
Insight, unique gifts that you have.

00:27:03.810 --> 00:27:10.730
And we know that recently, in your own pulpit, you've been preaching through the book of Amos.

00:27:10.950 --> 00:27:15.190
So you're an Old Testament scholar, you're preaching through the book of Amos.

00:27:15.330 --> 00:27:19.890
So what are some of the most powerful insights that maybe you've gained from

00:27:19.890 --> 00:27:22.410
that book or that you would like to share?

00:27:22.610 --> 00:27:27.790
And by the way, why should pastors also preach through Old Testament books?

00:27:27.790 --> 00:27:31.450
That's a great question. So yes, we should preach through Old Testament books.

00:27:31.590 --> 00:27:36.770