Episode 1: You Need a Team! Introducing the ECF Podcast, the Great Commission Association Directors and A Fascinating Korean Soda.

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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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So today we're talking about the benefits of not being alone,

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being in mission together.

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And that's really important wherever you are in the world, in the body of Christ.

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Jesus always sent out his disciples two by two, never alone.

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And especially if you're on the West Coast, where we are, the Central Coast

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of California is almost like another country compared to the Southeastern states.

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Moving from the Southeast to California, it's been really important to be part

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of a team, to be part of an association.

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I was in an association in Alabama, never saw anybody.

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But out here in Salinas, in the Central Coast, I'm part of the Great Commission Association.

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And for today's episode, we have a real treat for you. We have gathered together

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the senior directors of the Great Commission Association, and they'll tell you

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all about themselves, so I don't want to preview that.

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But I do want to ask you, Chris, give us just a really quick overview of who

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the GCEA is and what it does.

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Well, Great Commission Association is a family of churches,

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a missional network of churches There's about 90 churches spread out over 290

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miles from the border of San Francisco on the peninsula,

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the San Francisco Peninsula there.

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All the way down through Silicon Valley, all the way down California's central

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coast, all the way into Santa Barbara County.

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So it's a massive association geographically, and it's a very diverse association,

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a family of churches that includes highly,

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highly educated communities ministering to people that are in the middle of the tech industries,

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that the center of much that shapes global culture all the way down into agricultural

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workers working in communities where a huge amount of the U.S.

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Agriculture comes from, our produce comes from these places,

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like where you serve, Pastor Chase.

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So the Great Commission Association is that family of churches trying to reach

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those communities with the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And we've been doing that since 1947.

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And we plan to, by God's grace, to continue that until Jesus returns or he has a reassignment for us.

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But we're excited about all that God is doing in that missional network.

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Well, Pastor Chase, one of the most exciting things that happens in our churches

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is what happens on a Sunday morning.

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And you had a really special Sunday morning this past week.

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And we did. Yeah. Just real quick. We're at Valley Baptist Church in Salinas. we have a service order.

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We have like kind of an order of operations we do on a Sunday.

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You don't really find that in Scripture, so I wrestle with that a little bit.

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But it's good to be decent and in order, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12 and 14.

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And this Sunday kind of things went far different than the service order,

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different than the way I expected.

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We had a really good, deep worship time.

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And after worship, we usually transition into the preaching portion of the gathering.

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And I don't know, the Spirit of God was there just in a thick way,

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To the point where I just kind of looked around like, whoa, like people are crying.

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People are bowed down and seeking the Lord, which, you know,

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that doesn't happen every Sunday with us.

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And my wife is one of the worship coordinators on the team.

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And she told me that before the service started, there was a family that comes

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with several kids, one of whom is in the worship band and helps us out with percussion.

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And another of whom was just in the seats, kind of listening to the worship team rehearse.

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And my wife said that this young man, Sage is his name.

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It was like he was completely enraptured with worship as the worship team was playing.

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And she felt like that was in a sense a catalyst for what happened next,

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to a degree, at least from a human perspective.

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And after worship, people were just crying out to God. And you've probably heard

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stories of pastors going ahead and giving an altar call or whatever.

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And that could sound corny if you weren't there, but I really had a message.

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I was looking forward to preaching, but the only thing we could do is just invite

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people to come down and bow down and seek the Lord as the worship team played.

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They had all left the stage.

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None of this was scripted or set up or anything like that.

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And just all across the sanctuary, people were either up front,

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you know, seeking the Lord or weeping in their seats.

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There were so many tears and presence of the Lord was just there in a really

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thick way and not engineered by any human hand or human idea.

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And it was a very refreshing, encouraging kind of gathering on Sunday.

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What about you? Where were you this Sunday?

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Oh, well, most Sundays I'm usually traveling between a number of our different

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churches, part of the work of being an associate director of missions.

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And so I got to share God's word with the saints at one of our Renew churches, Calvary

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Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California, a wonderful community and gathering

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of saints right there in the heart of Silicon Valley.

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I got to do a Bible study beforehand and then preach and be a part of that worship

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service, and it was a blessed time together there with that diverse family.

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And then I got to go have a fellowship lunch with Foothill Baptist Church as

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they are welcoming their new pastor to their church, and we're super excited

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about all that God's doing with that community as well.

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And then a little bit later in the day, I got to spend some time helping do

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a Renew consultation with another one of our churches.

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So it's a very full day, very exciting day. It's always good to see God's people

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growing in many different ways and to see the Spirit moving.

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So I love church. I love other churches.

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But for the last, I guess, 18 years at least, and really probably dating back

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before that, I have been in the same church on average 49 Sundays a year.

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I mean, I might be on vacation or whatever, but it really, it's on average.

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I don't miss a lot of Sundays at our own church. And I know you,

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prior to coming on with the Great Commission Association, you pastor churches.

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So what's it like that transition from being in the same place pretty much every

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Sunday of the year to being in a different place every Sunday of the week.

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Yeah, it's very different. It's a different kind of ministry.

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It's a lot more perhaps like I think of the old Methodist circuit writer preachers

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or different times and seasons in American church life where churches may not

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have had a pastor of their own. It feels a,

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know for sure how the congregations are going to engage with me.

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Although I'm very familiar with many of our churches, I'm getting more familiar with them.

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When I'm not preaching, I'm usually visiting one of our partner churches in

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some way just to bring them greetings from the association, seek to encourage

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the pastor, build them up.

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And that's very different than sitting with the same congregation week in and

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week out, which has its own beauty and joy and rhythms and challenges,

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which is, you know, what I've done in two separate lead pastorates.

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And you're right, that's a very different kind of ministry, but both have their

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joys and both have their challenges.

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Yeah, I bet they do. I bet they do. Well, I tell you what, probably the deepest

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theological and ecclesiological thing we do on this show is every week we pick a different, odd,

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strange soda.

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And And although, you know, we're not probably going to put out the Calvin's

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Institutes of Religion or author an epistle that's up there with 1 Corinthians or Romans,

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I think maybe one of our major contributions to the body of Christ,

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Chris, after we're gone, is going to be our catalog of weird soda reviews.

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If I have a chance of being a saint in the Catholic or the Orthodox Church,

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it might be because of these soda reviews.

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Well, that would be an amazing sainthood right there to advocate for the overconsumption

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of sugary beverages that are probably very toxic to our bodies and our system.

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Bring us great joy as reminders of the goodness of God's grace.

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And today we have one that's pretty fun, right? Is that cherry bubblegum flavor?

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Yeah, cherry.

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How did we find this one?

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I think Miss Grace, the podcast overlord and coordinator gets these sodas for us.

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She gets them from parts unknown in her travels across Mongolia,

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Siberia, and the deserts of Africa, probably from street vendors.

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Speaker0:
Well, this one here is made in Korea.

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Speaker1:
Are you kidding?

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Speaker0:
No.

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I did not notice that.

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This is coming to us from Korea. And you know, like all K-pop,

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it's probably pretty good. Sorry. Little pun there.

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I would have expected more Korean on the can if it was made in Korea. But you know what?

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Speaker1:
I'm going to take your word for it. I believe you because I've never. Oh, yeah.

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Made in Republic of Korea. I've never seen this soda.

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In the United States of America. So this is going to be a trip.

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Speaker1:
And it's 345 milliliters instead of 12 ounces. That's another tip off.

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Speaker0:
Right. And I'm looking forward to this one. I like cherry.

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When I was a young guy, I really liked bubblegum.

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But I don't know that I've had a lot of fruit flavored bubblegum.

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But when I was in seventh and eighth grade, man, I loved bubblegum.

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Would pack my mouth with it.

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Me too. You know, this is the same thing, you know, and one of the great joys

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of life, in my opinion, even though it only lasts for about seven or eight seconds,

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is a big mouthful of fruit stripe gum that if you've never had that,

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boy, that stuff's incredible.

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And the flavor, it just turns into garbage in your mouth within a minute.

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But the first few seconds, what a thrill. Let's drink.

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Speaker0:
Let's do it.

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Speaker1:
All right. Got an interesting smell. I can smell some chemicals.

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Speaker1:
Oh, that's a dessert beverage right there.

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Speaker0:
I'm looking at it. It seems like it's a light pink, but I didn't get a ton of

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flavor on my first sip there. Did you?

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Speaker1:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I got flavor. You know what? And I can tell this is not a can

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made for American mouths.

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Speaker1:
This can has got a smaller opening than my can of Coke Zero by about 25% to

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35%. So that's one difference right off the bat.

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Speaker0:
Well, I don't know if you noticed this, but there's Braille on the can's lid.

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Speaker1:
There sure is.

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Speaker0:
There's Braille right there. That's interesting.

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Speaker1:
It is interesting because I've got my Coke Zero can here and there's no Braille on that.

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Speaker1:
No Braille. Braille for those that are watching the video.

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Speaker0:
Which, by the way, Chase, I think we didn't give our Spurgeons on this.

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Speaker0:
I'm going to give our Chupa Chups Cherry Bubblegum, because it's very drinkable.

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Speaker0:
I'm going to give it four out of five Spurgeons.

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Speaker0:
Not five, but I'm going to give it maybe a 3.5.

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Speaker0:
Let's go with, I'll lock in 3.5 Spurgeons. How about you?

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Speaker1:
That's a great question. And Chris, you've been so faithful to remember our

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Spurgeon scale, named after one of our great heroes, Charles Spurgeon.

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Speaker1:
I am going to agree with you. It's a very drinkable soda. It's fun.

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Speaker1:
It had a little chemically smell, but I would say it tastes smoother than it smells.

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Speaker1:
I could drink this, but this has a good taste.

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Speaker1:
It's a unique taste. It's not weird.

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Speaker1:
We try to go for weird. It's not weird. It's tasty and normal.

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Speaker1:
I'm going to say three and three quarters Charles Spurgeon's for this soda.

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I would happily drink this on a dinner date or a lunchtime.

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Speaker0:
Well, it's 100 calories, by the way, which is pretty low.

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Speaker1:
Could be worse. Could be worse, right? Got some questions for you.

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Speaker1:
You've already brought up one of them.

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Speaker1:
So let's see what kind of scientist of bubblegum you are.

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Speaker1:
Question number one, bubblegum is almost universally pink. And maybe you think

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Speaker1:
that's intentional, but when Walter Deimer invented the first commercial bubble

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gum, which was Double Bubble in 1928, he colored it pink, Chris, because?

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Speaker0:
Because he thought people wouldn't want to see something that looked different

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Speaker0:
than the inside of the mouth.

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Speaker1:
That's a good guess. How close am I? You're not there. But that's okay.

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Speaker1:
Oh, for one. Here's the thing.

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Speaker1:
Mr. Deimer was not a chemist. He was an accountant and he was messing around

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Speaker1:
in his home lab. He had a shelf full of ingredients, but the only food coloring

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Speaker1:
he had on hand was pink and the tradition stuck.

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Speaker1:
So question number two, this is about Singapore. I love Singapore.

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Speaker1:
Yeah, you probably love it.

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Speaker1:
And it's lovely in part because you cannot get or chew chewing gum in Singapore, but there's a loophole.

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Speaker1:
You can legally buy gum in Singapore, but not at the candy store,

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Speaker1:
gas station, or grocery store.

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Speaker1:
You have to purchase it from a pharmacist and you need to provide your ID and

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Speaker1:
what kind of reason in Singapore is the only valid reason to buy gum.

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Speaker0:
Well, I know a good bit about Singapore. And as a child there,

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Speaker0:
we were instructed very much like, you know, you couldn't drop trash on the streets.

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Speaker0:
And when my kids were going through Singapore, when they were really little

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Speaker0:
and we were living overseas, we would go there very often.

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Speaker0:
They were terrified that they might drop gum on the street because there's a

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Speaker0:
stiff fine associated with it and you can even get in really big trouble.

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Speaker0:
So I'm going to guess that the answer is you have to have a prescription,

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Speaker0:
type reason, like you have to have medical halitosis or something like that.

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Speaker0:
You got really bad breath and the doctor says, hey, this person needs some help.

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Speaker1:
How did I do? You nailed it. So you're one for two batting 500.

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Speaker1:
You have to have a medical reason

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Speaker1:
in Singapore to get gum. You lived in Singapore or you just visited?

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Speaker0:
Well, we lived in Indonesia, which surrounds Singapore.

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Speaker0:
The other north side of it is

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Speaker0:
Malaysia. The rest of it is surrounded by Indonesian territorial waters.

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Speaker0:
So we would go there because it's a wonderfully advanced, world-class city with amazing medical care.

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Speaker0:
So a lot of our INB missionaries ended up going there for medical care,

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Speaker0:
which is the reason we were there very often.

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Speaker0:
I had a child that needed some ongoing medical care, so we would go there.

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Speaker0:
And also it's a great place to vacation. So a lot of us would end up going there

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Speaker0:
because you could get far more American goods and beautiful parks, beautiful zoo great.

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Speaker1:
Internet i hear

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Speaker0:
Phenomenal internet and world-class transportation system you don't need a car

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Speaker0:
in singapore hey that's fantastic literally do not.

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Speaker1:
Might be a little bit jarring for you, but that was a good appetizer for what we've got ahead.

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Speaker1:
We gathered the entire senior directors, all four of them, of the Great Commission

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Speaker1:
Association for this episode.

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Speaker1:
We've got part one of the interview today, and I normally wouldn't point out

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Speaker1:
something like this, but I'm not sure if you don't watch the video,

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Speaker1:
you're going to see this.

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Speaker1:
You're going to realize what's going on. But early on in the interview, we asked Dr.

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Speaker1:
Stewart a question, and the answer comes haltingly and hesitatingly.

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Speaker1:
And I'll just say I was in the room, and it's not because he was thinking or

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Speaker1:
stumbling over his words.

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Speaker1:
It's because he's so invested emotionally and passionately in care of churches.

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Speaker1:
And the only reason I point that out is not in any sort of make fun of way,

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Speaker1:
but I was impressed by that.

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Speaker1:
Dr. Stewart is not the kind of man I would normally associate with tears of

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Speaker1:
emotion, but I was just grateful to see his emotion and passion for the church

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Speaker1:
come out in this interview we've got upcoming.

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Speaker0:
Yeah, he was being very transparent, very real.

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Speaker0:
And for those of us that get the privilege of working with him day in and day

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Speaker0:
out, one of the things that we get to know about him is that he cares maybe

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Speaker0:
more deeply than anyone could really understand, except the Lord,

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Speaker0:
about the churches of our association and the work of God amongst them.

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Speaker0:
You know, you get to taste in this interview of what the interactions are like

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Speaker0:
with our senior director team.

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Speaker0:
And we know and trust that it's going to be an encouragement and a blessing

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Speaker0:
to everyone that gets to listen to this segment.

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Speaker1:
All right. So we got the whole big group together now. Everybody that's a senior

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Speaker1:
director of the GCA is here.

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Speaker1:
I would like to ask you guys to introduce yourself and tell everybody just a

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Speaker1:
bit about you, starting with you, Dr. Michael Seward.

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Speaker4:
I'm the executive director of missions at GCA, have been for the last 28 years.

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Speaker4:
And I'm happily, happily married to Sheila for over 40 years.

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Speaker4:
And I love being a part of GCA.

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Speaker1:
I've heard your story about how you got here in maybe about two minutes.

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Speaker1:
Give us a nutshell. How did you come to be the director of GCA?

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Speaker4:
My director of missions when I was serving in Texas was Dr.

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Speaker4:
Larry Rose. And he was instrumental in my life. In fact, directors of missions

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Speaker4:
in my ministry life were really important to me. They were the people I knew.

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Speaker4:
And they knew me, and they talked to me about what God could do in my life.

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Speaker4:
And he mentioned that he thought I should think about and pray about becoming director of missions.

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Speaker4:
And growing up in Southern Baptist Church, I never even knew what an association

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Speaker4:
was, but these men were influential.

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Speaker4:
And I began to pray about that, and he offered me an opportunity to go to training

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Speaker4:
with the Home Mission Board at that time.

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Speaker4:
And I went to it and called Sheila on a real phone, a landline phone,

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Speaker4:
and told her what had happened.

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Speaker4:
That she had been praying and she told me that God had spoken to her,

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Speaker4:
that we were supposed to pursue this ministry and had no destination in mind,

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Speaker4:
but it wound up being, in fact, she had told me she wanted to serve anywhere except in California.

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Speaker4:
And I said, all right, took my orders. And the first thing they talked to me

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Speaker4:
about is, how would you like to go to California? I said, no.

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Speaker4:
My lieutenant general tells me we are not going there. And they talked to me

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Speaker4:
about several different locations.

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Speaker4:
And when I called Sheila that night, I told them, yeah, they kept talking to

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Speaker4:
me about going to California.

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Speaker4:
And she said, where at in California? And I said, the San Jose area.

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Speaker4:
And she said, that's the one area I would be interested in living.

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Speaker4:
And I said, that would have been helpful to know today. I turned them down like nine times.

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Speaker4:
And so wound up coming and, you know, God having to move through all those kind

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Speaker4:
of issues you think about when you go someplace else. California is hard to come to.

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Speaker4:
And but God provided through other other ways.

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Speaker4:
But that's how we got here through prayer, through the direct direction of a

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Speaker4:
director of missions and God opening a door to wonderful, wonderful church leaders here.

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Speaker1:
All right. That's a great story. I got here from Alabama and I was in Birmingham.

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Speaker1:
Senior pastor of a church for over 10 years.

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Speaker1:
And I can say that I probably see you 12 times a year, maybe more than that, Dr.

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Speaker1:
Stewart. I don't even know.

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Speaker1:
There's a new director of missions in Birmingham now. It seems like a great guy, very involved.

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Speaker1:
I don't even know what the guy who was there when I was there pastoring for

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Speaker1:
10 years, I don't know what he looks like.

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Speaker1:
As far as I know, I never met him.

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Speaker1:
So just coming out here and being part of this team has been very refreshing

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Speaker1:
for me and getting to know you guys face-to-face in a real way.

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Speaker1:
Chris Cole, when I met you, you were pastoring just like me.

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Speaker1:
Now you're the assistant director

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Speaker1:
of missions for the Great Commission Association. How did that happen?

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Speaker0:
Well, we started...

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Speaker0:
To try and build an associational team under Dr.

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Speaker0:
Stewart's leadership to focus on how assisting churches with renewal.

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Speaker0:
I had served on the association's board and then Dr. Stewart and CJ actually

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Speaker0:
took me to Atlanta for training.

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Speaker0:
And we came back with, I think, a shared conviction that we needed as a association

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Speaker0:
to come up with a strategy to help churches that were declining or plateaued to come back to life.

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Speaker0:
And so we started doing that, and I was doing it on a volunteer basis,

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Speaker0:
and the ministry began to grow, and we began to try to experiment our church,

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Speaker0:
helping replant one of the other GCA churches, and that began to grow.

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Speaker0:
And then Dr. Stewart approached me about the idea of me becoming a contractor

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Speaker0:
to assist the association build out that ministry more.

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Speaker0:
And it sort of just exploded from there and grew into that.

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Speaker0:
And then the association needed some shifts in their leadership.

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Speaker0:
And so Dr. Stewart approached me and said, would you take on the role of being

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Speaker0:
the associate director of missions and lead our mission advanced team,

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Speaker0:
which includes our Renew ministry focused on church renewal.

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Speaker1:
Fantastic. This great verb, explode. So what kind of, you know,

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Speaker1:
with a background in church revitalization, my understanding is since COVID

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Speaker1:
and its aftermath, that's had a huge effect on churches.

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Speaker1:
So generally speaking, without having to cite a lot of statistics or whatever,

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Speaker1:
what did COVID do to California churches in our area?

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Speaker0:
I think COVID revealed the reality of our churches, which was the churches that

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Speaker0:
were already significantly plateaued or in decline.

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Speaker0:
COVID accelerated those realities. People not coming back to church to attend.

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Speaker0:
Church attendance nationwide has gone from an average of two and a half times a month.

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Speaker0:
I don't know how you come up with two and a half, but that's what it is.

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Speaker0:
Two and a half times a month for the average church attender,

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Speaker0:
dropping now to one time a month for the average church attender.

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Speaker0:
So things got accelerated. Financial stresses on churches got accelerated with lack of attendance.

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Speaker0:
It's hard to do mission when people don't show up for church or they become scared of each other.

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Speaker0:
And so all of those things got accelerated in. So churches that were already

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Speaker0:
plateaued or in decline, those things tended to accelerate rapidly in those churches.

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Speaker0:
They were not prepared for the significant transitions that were coming to them.

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Speaker0:
Churches that were healthy tended to adapt relatively rapidly to the COVID realities

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Speaker0:
and tended to come back more quickly.

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Speaker0:
And they have tended to thrive. Actually, megachurches thrived under COVID.

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Speaker0:
For example, across the United States, they've actually increased in their growth.

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Speaker0:
Churches that were in the upper quarter percentage of churches continue to grow

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Speaker0:
even now, five years later, at a pace that's much more rapid then.

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Speaker0:
But if you are a struggling church, a normative-sized church,

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Speaker0:
which is any church that's under 100 in regular attendance, then you were very

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Speaker0:
likely to struggle more.

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Speaker0:
In and through COVID. And then to come out of COVID, yeah, you were going to

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Speaker0:
come out of it, most cases, facing even harsher realities than you entered COVID with.

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Speaker1:
Yeah, absolutely. The whole growth of the megachurch dynamic that's been happening

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Speaker1:
in the last few years, we're going to have to do a couple episodes on that because

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Speaker1:
there's a lot of meat on that bone.

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Speaker0:
Yes, sir.

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Speaker1:
Pastor CJ, Dr. CJ, when I got to know you, you were the interim pastor at Valley

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Speaker1:
Baptist Church, which is the church I've been at now for almost seven and a half years.

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Speaker1:
But you were in that role because you were part of the GCA and the church had

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Speaker1:
a need. You stepped in as interim.

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Speaker1:
You were there for almost a year, right? How did you get involved with the GCA

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Speaker1:
and what is your role here?

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Speaker2:
My role, first of all, has evolved. I came in as a director of church and pastoral

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Speaker2:
ministries, then took on the role of associate director of mission.

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Speaker2:
Now, it's the director of mission operations.

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Speaker2:
And I really think I got here because I was just searching for my next assignment

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Speaker2:
after a couple of mission work I've been doing overseas.

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Speaker2:
And that ended because of different financial realities across California, across the world.

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Speaker2:
And Dr. Stewart actually met me and said, hey, this is a position or a role. Pray about it.

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Speaker2:
Come on board. I really think Looking back at it I really think They caught

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Speaker2:
my They probably I caught their eyes Probably because

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00:25:48,313 --> 00:25:54,173
Speaker2:
CCBA back then Did several church Leadership training At the center that I was

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00:25:55,053 --> 00:25:58,453
Speaker2:
Overseeing and helping And we held this church Leadership training and

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Speaker2:
As we were doing it, I was serving and I was doing everything I can and taking out trash.

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Speaker2:
And I think I caught their eyes taking out trash. And I think this is really

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Speaker2:
why I'm here today. Just willing to do what it takes.

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00:26:11,113 --> 00:26:14,193
Speaker4:
I was taking out the trash right beside you, right behind you.

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Speaker4:
I was rolling that bucket. So I said.

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Speaker2:
That's really how I got here. I came in really with the fresh,

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Speaker2:
not even fresh, blank slate of what this mission or work is.

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Speaker2:
And started learning.

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Speaker2:
Started processing needs to be and how we could help our churches.

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Speaker2:
And so that's sort of the long story short of how I got here.

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Speaker2:
And right now the work is supporting our schools, properties,

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Speaker2:
math, as well as operations and all different things.

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Speaker1:
Awesome. So one of the mega churches I was familiar with back home had a pastor

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00:26:51,813 --> 00:26:57,013
Speaker1:
in the whole kind of deal at that church if you were on staff or whatever.

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00:26:57,033 --> 00:27:00,293
Speaker1:
You served him. You helped him.

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00:27:00,553 --> 00:27:03,093
Speaker1:
He was like a king pastor.

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Speaker1:
And if you were on staff at that church or if you were a member of that church,

381
00:27:06,933 --> 00:27:08,393
Speaker1:
you kind of served his kingdom.

382
00:27:08,593 --> 00:27:14,473
Speaker1:
But we get the example from Jesus that he was among us as one who served.

383
00:27:14,633 --> 00:27:21,353
Speaker1:
So that's good to hear that you got brought into this organization from serving,

384
00:27:21,353 --> 00:27:26,713
Speaker1:
Because I think that should be the front door to the kingdom rather than incredible

385
00:27:26,713 --> 00:27:28,293
Speaker1:
entrepreneurial ability,

386
00:27:28,533 --> 00:27:30,053
Speaker1:
high charisma or something like that.

387
00:27:30,273 --> 00:27:36,053
Speaker1:
So, Ms. Lynette, you are the superintendent of schools for the Great Commission Association.

388
00:27:37,573 --> 00:27:41,973
Speaker1:
That seems like an incongruous kind of thing for a church association.

389
00:27:42,233 --> 00:27:47,353
Speaker1:
So, how did you come into that role and how did that role evolve even to begin with?

390
00:27:47,353 --> 00:27:53,833
Speaker3:
Well, in 2003, I received a letter in the mail when I was working at a Nazarene

391
00:27:53,833 --> 00:27:56,013
Speaker3:
church preschool. Mm-hmm.

392
00:27:57,008 --> 00:28:02,568
Speaker3:
I put it away in my purse for many months, and then things started going south

393
00:28:02,568 --> 00:28:07,408
Speaker3:
in that school where things were getting taken away,

394
00:28:07,848 --> 00:28:12,088
Speaker3:
the kids were leaving, so it was kind of getting weird.

395
00:28:13,068 --> 00:28:18,228
Speaker3:
And so I dug out my purse. Anyone who knows me knows that I keep a lot of stuff

396
00:28:18,228 --> 00:28:20,408
Speaker3:
in my purse for many moons.

397
00:28:21,088 --> 00:28:24,568
Speaker3:
And so many wives, you know, it's in there somewhere.

398
00:28:24,848 --> 00:28:31,988
Speaker3:
And so I dug out my my old paper. I got a letter about a preschool that wanted to open in Watsonville.

399
00:28:32,188 --> 00:28:41,008
Speaker3:
And I opened it up and I gave them a call just out of curiosity and super excited

400
00:28:41,008 --> 00:28:46,768
Speaker3:
on the other line that I guess I was the first one to call. And I thought, oh, okay.

401
00:28:47,048 --> 00:28:52,448
Speaker3:
And went down and finally got to meet Mike Stewart and George Yates,

402
00:28:52,508 --> 00:28:55,068
Speaker3:
who was working for the association at the time.

403
00:28:55,188 --> 00:29:00,668
Speaker3:
And that's where it started is it was a vision and they were reaching out.

404
00:29:00,808 --> 00:29:03,868
Speaker3:
They actually cast a net to try to see what fish they were going to catch,

405
00:29:04,008 --> 00:29:09,988
Speaker3:
to see what was available and who they could get, who had knowledge of opening preschools.

406
00:29:10,028 --> 00:29:13,588
Speaker3:
I had never opened a preschool before, but I dove into it.

407
00:29:13,748 --> 00:29:19,168
Speaker3:
I went in and I did a lot of licensing research and I had really good connections

408
00:29:19,168 --> 00:29:23,068
Speaker3:
with licensing analysts that I could call and ask them questions.

409
00:29:24,368 --> 00:29:30,488
Speaker3:
And I was kind of weird coming on because I had never worked for an actual Christian organization.

410
00:29:30,728 --> 00:29:36,808
Speaker3:
And at that time, when I heard the word Baptist, I was all, which Baptist? Which one?

411
00:29:37,392 --> 00:29:43,392
Speaker3:
Um, so that's how I came about. It was a God thing. It really, really was.

412
00:29:43,772 --> 00:29:48,772
Speaker3:
I took a big leap of faith. Then I knew it was time to leave and to take this

413
00:29:48,772 --> 00:29:51,112
Speaker3:
opportunity to open a preschool in Watsonville.

414
00:29:51,452 --> 00:29:54,872
Speaker1:
Fantastic. Uh, yeah, you're right. There's a lot of different flavors of Baptist

415
00:29:54,872 --> 00:29:59,732
Speaker1:
and different ones taste very differently spiritually and theologically.

416
00:30:00,212 --> 00:30:05,212
Speaker1:
Uh, so how many schools and preschools and all of that do we have in the association?

417
00:30:05,612 --> 00:30:09,912
Speaker3:
We have eight preschools and one K-8 anthem school.

418
00:30:10,092 --> 00:30:15,152
Speaker1:
Yes. So how many, roughly, how many employees and students does that entail?

419
00:30:15,372 --> 00:30:20,172
Speaker3:
We have about 80 to 85 employees that we have throughout our system,

420
00:30:20,172 --> 00:30:23,712
Speaker3:
and we have about 350 students altogether.

421
00:30:24,192 --> 00:30:26,492
Speaker1:
See, I've been with the GCA for almost

422
00:30:26,492 --> 00:30:29,312
Speaker1:
eight years now, and I would have underestimated both of those numbers.

423
00:30:29,572 --> 00:30:33,052
Speaker1:
So anybody listening that's part of the GCA, well, you just learned something.

424
00:30:33,372 --> 00:30:39,512
Speaker1:
So far, we have been very polite and we've gone one at a time and been very structured.

425
00:30:39,732 --> 00:30:46,112
Speaker1:
Now it's time to grind those gears and completely change into a real kind of conversation.

426
00:30:46,372 --> 00:30:50,972
Speaker1:
So Pastor Chris and I are going to throw out some questions and we're just going

427
00:30:50,972 --> 00:30:55,072
Speaker1:
to answer them conversationally. And my first question is kind of a softball,

428
00:30:55,232 --> 00:31:00,352
Speaker1:
but what does the GCA mean to you and why are you part of it?

429
00:31:00,972 --> 00:31:07,972
Speaker2:
GCA, I believe it's a family of churches. And for me, it's a current assignment from God.

430
00:31:08,172 --> 00:31:12,572
Speaker2:
And so we're part of it. I'm part of it because this is where God wants me to serve.

431
00:31:12,792 --> 00:31:15,012
Speaker2:
Use my talents, gifts, and everything else.

432
00:31:15,598 --> 00:31:21,058
Speaker2:
But GCA really is a place where pastors and churches don't have to do ministry

433
00:31:21,058 --> 00:31:23,338
Speaker2:
alone. And I think that's sort of been our backbone.

434
00:31:23,558 --> 00:31:27,358
Speaker2:
We are a phone call away, letting pastors and everyone know that,

435
00:31:27,418 --> 00:31:31,258
Speaker2:
hey, anything you need help with, if we can't help you, we'll try to get help

436
00:31:31,258 --> 00:31:32,898
Speaker2:
for you from somewhere else.

437
00:31:33,198 --> 00:31:36,898
Speaker2:
So that's sort of been our model, I guess, of mode of operations.

438
00:31:37,618 --> 00:31:41,558
Speaker2:
And everything we do, even with schools and operations, we do it all so that

439
00:31:41,558 --> 00:31:45,298
Speaker2:
we could advance that kingdom effort. And so that's GCA.

440
00:31:45,598 --> 00:31:50,858
Speaker3:
Being that friend, the helping hand, being their support, just being there to

441
00:31:50,858 --> 00:31:53,278
Speaker3:
help whoever needs help when they need it.

442
00:31:53,418 --> 00:31:57,538
Speaker3:
It doesn't matter if you're a teacher, staff person, a pastor,

443
00:31:57,738 --> 00:31:59,718
Speaker3:
a ministry leader. We're going to help you.

444
00:32:00,258 --> 00:32:02,058
Speaker1:
How many churches do we have?

445
00:32:02,198 --> 00:32:08,878
Speaker0:
On any given moment between our church plants, replants, potential mission sites

446
00:32:08,878 --> 00:32:10,458
Speaker0:
that are still in process.

447
00:32:10,978 --> 00:32:15,338
Speaker0:
We're somewhere right around 90, 92 years.

448
00:32:15,598 --> 00:32:21,778
Speaker1:
And that's from down near the Santa Barbara area up to almost San Francisco, right?

449
00:32:22,218 --> 00:32:26,838
Speaker0:
Yeah. From Daly City, which is Daly City or Hayward, depending on which side

450
00:32:26,838 --> 00:32:28,978
Speaker0:
of the bay you're on, are probably our northmost points.

451
00:32:29,518 --> 00:32:33,998
Speaker0:
All the way down into Solvang, which is in Santa Barbara County,

452
00:32:34,238 --> 00:32:35,998
Speaker0:
a good distance into Santa Barbara County.

453
00:32:36,438 --> 00:32:42,638
Speaker0:
It's about 290 miles north to south, which is, I think, one of the unique things

454
00:32:42,638 --> 00:32:46,938
Speaker0:
about our association. We're actually farther north to south than the entire

455
00:32:46,938 --> 00:32:50,118
Speaker0:
state of Oklahoma is from north to south.

456
00:32:50,998 --> 00:32:52,538
Speaker4:
But a prettier drive.

457
00:32:52,918 --> 00:32:55,478
Speaker0:
Yeah. True. True story. Yes.

458
00:32:57,438 --> 00:33:01,478
Speaker1:
As an Alabama boy, you know, in the pines of Alabama, which I love,

459
00:33:01,658 --> 00:33:03,678
Speaker1:
those coastal drives are mind-blowing.

460
00:33:03,998 --> 00:33:08,658
Speaker4:
Yeah. I think of GCA, we're a loyal friend. I pray that.

461
00:33:09,261 --> 00:33:13,981
Speaker4:
I pray that our pastors and churches would always sense that from us, from our staff.

462
00:33:14,121 --> 00:33:17,941
Speaker4:
We always tell our staff the most important call we get is from a member church.

463
00:33:18,081 --> 00:33:21,041
Speaker4:
And so if you have to make a choice about what you're going to spend your time,

464
00:33:21,221 --> 00:33:26,161
Speaker4:
the president of the United States calling you or Pastor Chase calling you, Pastor Chase wins.

465
00:33:26,561 --> 00:33:32,161
Speaker4:
He is the most important person in the kingdom of God work, and that's who we

466
00:33:32,161 --> 00:33:33,881
Speaker4:
serve. And so we're loyal.

467
00:33:34,161 --> 00:33:38,341
Speaker4:
I think everybody else is running for the woods. We're still standing out there

468
00:33:38,341 --> 00:33:40,301
Speaker4:
with our church and trying to help them.

469
00:33:40,501 --> 00:33:44,461
Speaker4:
And we've had to make a lot of tough calls with that.

470
00:33:44,581 --> 00:33:55,521
Speaker4:
But I think because I've always wanted to be before the Lord and say to him,

471
00:33:55,661 --> 00:34:02,521
Speaker4:
I don't know why I'm doing that, to him and the pastor and the church members

472
00:34:02,521 --> 00:34:06,681
Speaker4:
that we are in this together and we are trying to honor God with you.

473
00:34:07,021 --> 00:34:10,561
Speaker4:
But we're not perfect. They aren't either, but they don't have to worry.

474
00:34:10,701 --> 00:34:14,521
Speaker4:
We're not leaving the field. There's nothing for us to win except the glory of God.

475
00:34:14,721 --> 00:34:15,461
Speaker1:
Yeah, amen.

476
00:34:16,021 --> 00:34:21,341
Speaker2:
Perhaps one more thing that highlights, I think, uniqueness of an association

477
00:34:21,341 --> 00:34:27,821
Speaker2:
or GCA is that we have the capacity or the relationships to actually convene

478
00:34:27,821 --> 00:34:30,621
Speaker2:
and to ask for churches to collaborate.

479
00:34:31,661 --> 00:34:35,101
Speaker2:
And perhaps that's because of the long history of relationship and trust,

480
00:34:35,281 --> 00:34:37,981
Speaker2:
but we are able to ask Pastor Chase.

481
00:34:38,141 --> 00:34:41,421
Speaker2:
We're able to ask other churches to come alongside and help.

482
00:34:41,561 --> 00:34:44,181
Speaker2:
So we have renewed churches, fostering churches.

483
00:34:44,621 --> 00:34:46,281
Speaker4:
And they want to.

484
00:34:46,361 --> 00:34:46,801
Speaker2:
And they want to.

485
00:34:46,901 --> 00:34:47,761
Speaker4:
They want to. Yeah.

486
00:34:47,861 --> 00:34:48,961
Speaker0:
I think that...

487
00:34:49,312 --> 00:34:54,452
Speaker0:
Because of care, which is one of our four key pathways that we try to emphasize,

488
00:34:54,452 --> 00:34:58,552
Speaker0:
we care for the churches, we care for the pastors, we are able to be on that

489
00:34:58,552 --> 00:35:00,212
Speaker0:
collaborative mission together.

490
00:35:00,412 --> 00:35:04,932
Speaker0:
And the resourcing that's provided through the schools and the relationships

491
00:35:04,932 --> 00:35:11,992
Speaker0:
that they help us build into communities lets us move not just into caring for

492
00:35:11,992 --> 00:35:12,992
Speaker0:
one another as churches,

493
00:35:13,132 --> 00:35:18,092
Speaker0:
but we are a, in a very real way, we're a mission agency.

494
00:35:18,092 --> 00:35:20,432
Speaker0:
We share together in mission.

495
00:35:20,592 --> 00:35:26,292
Speaker0:
We send out church planters or guys to minister with unreached people groups.

496
00:35:26,492 --> 00:35:31,592
Speaker0:
We renew one another. We have a strategy. We have a plan for church renewal.

497
00:35:31,632 --> 00:35:36,512
Speaker0:
We come alongside churches for the long haul. And we've been talking a lot on

498
00:35:36,512 --> 00:35:40,932
Speaker0:
our team about this new acronym we developed called STIR, where we want to help

499
00:35:40,932 --> 00:35:44,852
Speaker0:
churches be stirred up to love and good works.

500
00:35:44,852 --> 00:35:50,132
Speaker0:
And we talk about giving churches strategy and training and helping them,

501
00:35:50,192 --> 00:35:53,432
Speaker0:
you know, build those relationships together.

502
00:35:53,432 --> 00:35:59,952
Speaker0:
And that, I think, encompasses GCA in so many significant ways because of all

503
00:35:59,952 --> 00:36:04,952
Speaker0:
of those bringing together those resources and those tools and the different

504
00:36:04,952 --> 00:36:09,192
Speaker0:
avenues and aspects through relationship we're able to be on mission together.

505
00:36:09,312 --> 00:36:13,932
Speaker0:
And I think that's one of the key things that GCA means to a lot of our churches.

506
00:36:13,932 --> 00:36:16,072
Speaker0:
We're not just caring for one another.

507
00:36:16,132 --> 00:36:19,652
Speaker0:
We're enabling each other to be on mission and doing it well.

508
00:36:19,652 --> 00:36:24,132
Speaker0:
So whether we help a church solve a conflict or a crisis, or we help them figure

509
00:36:24,132 --> 00:36:27,692
Speaker0:
out how they can reach their community with the gospel better,

510
00:36:27,692 --> 00:36:32,112
Speaker0:
or help them figure out how to come back to health, GCA is involved in all of

511
00:36:32,112 --> 00:36:33,272
Speaker0:
those different aspects.

512
00:36:33,632 --> 00:36:38,132
Speaker0:
So we built this podcast around the idea that we wanted to have a resource and

513
00:36:38,132 --> 00:36:43,092
Speaker0:
a tool for leaders and church leaders of all types, deacons.

514
00:36:44,472 --> 00:36:48,352
Speaker0:
Children's pastors, women in ministry leaders, pastors together. Yeah.

515
00:36:48,817 --> 00:36:54,237
Speaker0:
The focus is that leaders can come together and think about this idea of every

516
00:36:54,237 --> 00:36:56,057
Speaker0:
church flourishing together.

517
00:36:56,317 --> 00:37:02,897
Speaker0:
We believe that as a GCA team. So as we think about the idea of what it means

518
00:37:02,897 --> 00:37:08,017
Speaker0:
to be a family of churches and to be this through the local associational model,

519
00:37:08,237 --> 00:37:13,717
Speaker0:
what are top two things that you guys can shout out, popcorn response?

520
00:37:14,317 --> 00:37:18,937
Speaker0:
What are the top two things that you would tell people about GCA?

521
00:37:19,037 --> 00:37:22,537
Speaker0:
If you had two things that you would say, hey, what are two things that

522
00:37:22,782 --> 00:37:26,022
Speaker0:
are the value of being in an association.

523
00:37:26,322 --> 00:37:31,822
Speaker0:
Maybe even think of it in this way. Why should a church consider being part of GCA?

524
00:37:32,122 --> 00:37:36,462
Speaker0:
And you get two things. And Chase, I would love to hear your response as a local

525
00:37:36,462 --> 00:37:38,502
Speaker0:
church pastor in our association.

526
00:37:38,782 --> 00:37:41,982
Speaker1:
When I came here, again, from Alabama, I hate to keep mentioning that,

527
00:37:42,182 --> 00:37:45,162
Speaker1:
I come from the Bible Belt. I had a lot of friends who were pastors there.

528
00:37:45,302 --> 00:37:49,662
Speaker1:
I worked at a seminary, the New Orleans Baptist Seminary there, for around 10 years.

529
00:37:49,802 --> 00:37:53,942
Speaker1:
So I had deep connection, even though it wasn't with our local association.

530
00:37:54,662 --> 00:37:58,302
Speaker1:
In fact, that was relatively foreign to me. I've told this story before.

531
00:37:58,642 --> 00:38:02,122
Speaker1:
When I came to preach at Valley Baptist Church in view of a call,

532
00:38:03,162 --> 00:38:05,102
Speaker1:
Pastor CJ and Dr. Stewart were there.

533
00:38:05,222 --> 00:38:08,462
Speaker1:
And I was like, this is weird. What are these guys doing here?

534
00:38:08,662 --> 00:38:12,282
Speaker1:
After I preached and while the church was voting, they took me out to lunch.

535
00:38:12,422 --> 00:38:16,442
Speaker1:
And again, I'm thinking, I'm not used to this. This is strange.

536
00:38:16,842 --> 00:38:21,362
Speaker1:
I hear people talking about California back in the South, like a wasteland,

537
00:38:21,522 --> 00:38:27,502
Speaker1:
a spiritual wasteland, like, you know, basically 0.01% unreached or whatever.

538
00:38:27,762 --> 00:38:33,422
Speaker1:
And within a month or two of being in Salinas and being part of the Great Commission

539
00:38:33,422 --> 00:38:39,602
Speaker1:
Association, I realized, hey, the body of Christ is thriving in California.

540
00:38:39,882 --> 00:38:44,782
Speaker1:
Now, it may not be a church on every street corner like the Bible Belt.

541
00:38:44,962 --> 00:38:47,862
Speaker1:
It's a completely different kind of situation here.

542
00:38:48,142 --> 00:38:53,462
Speaker1:
But being part of this association, you, Dr. Schultz, you use the word togetherness.

543
00:38:53,662 --> 00:38:58,822
Speaker1:
It's really provided a kind of togetherness. I didn't even have an Alabama.

544
00:38:59,082 --> 00:39:05,542
Speaker1:
I probably had 50 or 100 friends who were in ministry. So I had the relationships,

545
00:39:05,542 --> 00:39:11,802
Speaker1:
but not the partnerships because we kind of were all working in our own sectors.

546
00:39:12,262 --> 00:39:16,182
Speaker1:
This feels a lot more like we're working together. Yeah.

547
00:39:16,463 --> 00:39:20,383
Speaker0:
That's such a good word, Chase. So I'm curious, you guys have been part of the

548
00:39:20,383 --> 00:39:22,063
Speaker0:
association for a long time, Dr.

549
00:39:22,163 --> 00:39:25,423
Speaker0:
Stewart, nearly 28 years, over 28 years.

550
00:39:25,663 --> 00:39:33,003
Speaker0:
And Lynette, over 20. And CJ, I think 12, 13, 14 now. 14. 14 years. So top two things.

551
00:39:33,363 --> 00:39:38,403
Speaker1:
Just that is incredible. Right. That is incredible. In a situation where most

552
00:39:38,403 --> 00:39:42,523
Speaker1:
pastors move on, I think the average three, four, five years.

553
00:39:42,743 --> 00:39:44,943
Speaker1:
Yeah. That's an incredible amount of longevity.

554
00:39:45,676 --> 00:39:48,936
Speaker1:
I've never heard all of those numbers together. I'm sorry. I was struck by it. Right.

555
00:39:49,076 --> 00:39:51,836
Speaker0:
By the way, the answer to that is now that if you want to know,

556
00:39:51,936 --> 00:39:56,336
Speaker0:
the current recent stat on pastoral stays is 18 months. It's actually decreased.

557
00:39:56,436 --> 00:39:56,996
Speaker1:
Are you kidding?

558
00:39:57,196 --> 00:40:00,656
Speaker0:
18 months. That's, I don't know. It's astonishing.

559
00:40:00,956 --> 00:40:08,196
Speaker0:
But these guys have been here a super long time helping us build this organization. So top two reasons.

560
00:40:08,316 --> 00:40:14,336
Speaker4:
That's the reason we had to take Chase out early. Just so we get one lunch with him before he goes.

561
00:40:15,116 --> 00:40:19,516
Speaker0:
Okay, so aside from the great lunches that we do take pastors out to,

562
00:40:19,716 --> 00:40:24,976
Speaker0:
what are the top two reasons that a leader should say, hey, we want to be part

563
00:40:24,976 --> 00:40:29,996
Speaker0:
of this kind of partnership, even if it's not specific to GCA, but certainly GCA?

564
00:40:30,116 --> 00:40:34,736
Speaker0:
Why should a church be part of an active partnering association?

565
00:40:35,056 --> 00:40:37,776
Speaker0:
And if they're interested, be part of GCA?

566
00:40:38,296 --> 00:40:42,616
Speaker2:
This might cut both ways because some really don't want to be known.

567
00:40:42,796 --> 00:40:47,336
Speaker2:
But I think one thing you will get from GCA is you're going to get a genuine relationship.

568
00:40:47,756 --> 00:40:51,116
Speaker2:
You're going to be able to be known as a pastor, as a friend,

569
00:40:51,416 --> 00:40:53,616
Speaker2:
somebody who's doing the same mission work.

570
00:40:53,816 --> 00:40:56,496
Speaker2:
You're not going to be a stranger unless you want to be a stranger.

571
00:40:57,156 --> 00:41:01,836
Speaker2:
But that's really our hope and our goal. It's not that we do all kinds of tasks,

572
00:41:02,036 --> 00:41:06,656
Speaker2:
but that we have an ongoing and growing relationship with each other.

573
00:41:06,656 --> 00:41:10,876
Speaker2:
And 28 years, 14, 20 years We have many,

574
00:41:11,016 --> 00:41:14,336
Speaker2:
many histories And many relationships That have

575
00:41:14,336 --> 00:41:19,116
Speaker2:
come and gone But we maintain that because that's the value That's really the

576
00:41:19,116 --> 00:41:24,436
Speaker2:
value When you join GCA It's not a contractual thing I don't see it that way

577
00:41:24,436 --> 00:41:28,856
Speaker2:
I see Chase Not Valley Baptist Church as a separate thing And so I think there

578
00:41:28,856 --> 00:41:34,096
Speaker2:
is a value in that You will be known And you will be cared for as an individual

579
00:41:34,836 --> 00:41:41,656
Speaker2:
We have so many stories of how different pastors or anonymous people are helping other pastors.

580
00:41:42,156 --> 00:41:45,136
Speaker2:
Just saying, hey, I know that they're going through struggles.

581
00:41:45,776 --> 00:41:49,436
Speaker2:
And so we see them reaching out, sending anonymous donations, gifts.

582
00:41:50,177 --> 00:41:56,597
Speaker2:
And this happens because of that value. We care about pastors and co-laborers.

583
00:41:56,797 --> 00:41:58,377
Speaker2:
And same thing with our staff.

584
00:41:58,597 --> 00:42:00,697
Speaker2:
I mean, all of them know that we care deeply about them.

585
00:42:01,037 --> 00:42:04,717
Speaker3:
Yeah, and I think it's not just the pastors. I think it's the church.

586
00:42:05,097 --> 00:42:08,417
Speaker3:
Church members know us because we show up.

587
00:42:08,848 --> 00:42:12,568
Speaker3:
We show up when we tell them we're going to show up. And I think the relationships

588
00:42:12,568 --> 00:42:15,728
Speaker3:
that we've built through the church members,

589
00:42:16,028 --> 00:42:22,528
Speaker3:
the pastors, also, it develops a trust that they know that when we have the

590
00:42:22,528 --> 00:42:25,028
Speaker3:
resources and we say we're going to do something, we do it.

591
00:42:25,548 --> 00:42:29,048
Speaker1:
Okay. Well, hey, that's a good part to cut the interview. The interview goes

592
00:42:29,048 --> 00:42:34,068
Speaker1:
almost an hour, and we decided rather than have one massively long podcast episode

593
00:42:34,068 --> 00:42:36,728
Speaker1:
with the whole interview, we would cut it into two pieces.

594
00:42:36,928 --> 00:42:41,828
Speaker1:
So, download the episode with part two of our interview with the Great Commission

595
00:42:41,828 --> 00:42:46,528
Speaker1:
Association senior directors. I love their heart, their passion,

596
00:42:46,868 --> 00:42:49,328
Speaker1:
just being able to sit at the table.

597
00:42:49,508 --> 00:42:53,128
Speaker1:
And if you've never been to the GCA office, they have the coolest table with

598
00:42:53,128 --> 00:42:57,088
Speaker1:
this thing that looks like a river that runs down in the middle of it.

599
00:42:57,288 --> 00:43:00,588
Speaker1:
You can probably see a little bit of that on the video, but we had to cover

600
00:43:00,588 --> 00:43:04,448
Speaker1:
the table with a tablecloth to prevent too much sound bleed in.

601
00:43:04,608 --> 00:43:08,768
Speaker1:
But great interview, great time, genuine people that I really love.

602
00:43:08,868 --> 00:43:14,888
Speaker1:
Now, Pastor Chris, you have an app that you emailed me about weeks ago that

603
00:43:14,888 --> 00:43:18,868
Speaker1:
you think really highly of, and this is perfect for pastors,

604
00:43:19,148 --> 00:43:20,348
Speaker1:
church leaders, or whatever.

605
00:43:20,548 --> 00:43:22,688
Speaker1:
Tell us a little bit about Free Show.

606
00:43:22,988 --> 00:43:29,248
Speaker0:
Well, we're not getting any kind of kickback on this, although maybe if we keep

607
00:43:29,248 --> 00:43:31,228
Speaker0:
advertising Chupa Chups, we will.

608
00:43:31,228 --> 00:43:37,608
Speaker1:
And to be clear, we're not opposed to kickback. So if you want to send us money, that's fine.

609
00:43:37,928 --> 00:43:39,988
Speaker0:
Right. Or free sodas.

610
00:43:40,228 --> 00:43:41,368
Speaker1:
Free sodas. Or soda recommendations. Yeah, whatever.

611
00:43:41,888 --> 00:43:44,628
Speaker0:
Soda recommendations would be fantastic, right?

612
00:43:44,768 --> 00:43:50,628
Speaker0:
But as a pastor, you know, one of the biggest challenges in working in a modern

613
00:43:50,628 --> 00:43:55,228
Speaker0:
church environment is that people are engaged multimodally.

614
00:43:56,208 --> 00:43:59,848
Speaker0:
They're not just sitting there. That's a big word. Listening passively.

615
00:44:00,467 --> 00:44:04,607
Speaker0:
Thank you. I do pull out words out of the dictionary every once in a while.

616
00:44:05,227 --> 00:44:12,927
Speaker0:
And so they're expecting to encounter information in many different forms.

617
00:44:12,927 --> 00:44:14,227
Speaker0:
And one of those is visually.

618
00:44:14,427 --> 00:44:18,187
Speaker0:
So for many, many years, the church has been growing in this from the old days

619
00:44:18,187 --> 00:44:20,827
Speaker0:
when we had those overhead projectors.

620
00:44:20,947 --> 00:44:25,227
Speaker0:
Did you ever use the overhead projectors and the vinyl strips and the printouts?

621
00:44:26,287 --> 00:44:28,267
Speaker1:
I am that old. Yes. Yeah, me too. Not a lot, but yes.

622
00:44:28,267 --> 00:44:31,347
Speaker0:
Right. So we started doing song lyrics that way.

623
00:44:31,487 --> 00:44:37,127
Speaker0:
And then as we got more sophisticated, moved over to like the video projectors and so on.

624
00:44:37,347 --> 00:44:40,587
Speaker0:
Now, you know, pretty much every element of

625
00:44:41,004 --> 00:44:45,584
Speaker0:
worship service has some sort of visual interactive element with it.

626
00:44:45,784 --> 00:44:50,144
Speaker0:
I use extensive sermon notes, and that's because I have a conviction that people

627
00:44:50,144 --> 00:44:54,724
Speaker0:
learn better when they can see something at the same time that they hear it.

628
00:44:55,164 --> 00:44:58,544
Speaker0:
And so I'll try to have scripture up there and so on.

629
00:44:58,684 --> 00:45:03,264
Speaker0:
Well, that means churches have to have good presentation software.

630
00:45:03,524 --> 00:45:07,324
Speaker0:
And there's many great presentation software products out there.

631
00:45:07,704 --> 00:45:13,204
Speaker0:
Sort of the old school standard is Microsoft PowerPoint, but there are,

632
00:45:13,404 --> 00:45:19,264
Speaker0:
of course, many that are aimed at very specifically presenting during worship services.

633
00:45:19,444 --> 00:45:22,664
Speaker0:
There's software from companies like Easy Worship

634
00:45:22,664 --> 00:45:31,604
Speaker0:
and Proclaim and OpenLP and Video Psalm and the sort of the creme de la creme

635
00:45:31,604 --> 00:45:37,084
Speaker0:
for most major churches and sort of trickles down to those of us that work in

636
00:45:37,084 --> 00:45:41,904
Speaker0:
the normative size church is a product called ProPresenter.

637
00:45:42,044 --> 00:45:42,724
Speaker1:
That's what we use.

638
00:45:42,824 --> 00:45:48,484
Speaker0:
It's used in large video venues all around the world. It's got tons and tons of capability.

639
00:45:48,684 --> 00:45:54,984
Speaker0:
It's got amazing tools and I've used it in my church and we've always loved

640
00:45:54,984 --> 00:45:59,644
Speaker0:
working with them. It's cross-platform, so you're not stuck with just Windows

641
00:45:59,644 --> 00:46:02,004
Speaker0:
or just Mac or just Linux.

642
00:46:02,284 --> 00:46:06,724
Speaker0:
Well, I think ProPresenter only is Windows and Mac, but it has great tools.

643
00:46:07,371 --> 00:46:12,991
Speaker0:
It's expensive. And for the average normative size church, spending several

644
00:46:12,991 --> 00:46:18,631
Speaker0:
hundred dollars a year on constantly updating software that requires a subscription,

645
00:46:18,631 --> 00:46:20,811
Speaker0:
that can be a little bit pricey.

646
00:46:20,811 --> 00:46:27,651
Speaker0:
Well, one of our volunteers at one of our Renew Churches was helping rebuild

647
00:46:27,651 --> 00:46:32,371
Speaker0:
the sound and video technology system, and he found a product.

648
00:46:32,471 --> 00:46:35,411
Speaker0:
I can't take credit for this, called Free Show.

649
00:46:35,711 --> 00:46:42,011
Speaker0:
Free Show. That's F-R-E-E-S-H-O-W dot app, A-P-P.

650
00:46:42,251 --> 00:46:47,231
Speaker0:
So Free Show dot app. It is 100% free.

651
00:46:47,231 --> 00:46:50,071
Speaker0:
And here's some amazing things about Free Show.

652
00:46:50,071 --> 00:46:57,531
Speaker0:
It has almost all or all of the functionalities of ProPresenter and ProClaim

653
00:46:57,531 --> 00:47:04,531
Speaker0:
and all of those and even some functions they don't have, and it is compatible with Windows,

654
00:47:05,031 --> 00:47:06,931
Speaker0:
with Mac, with Linux.

655
00:47:07,813 --> 00:47:13,833
Speaker0:
It has tremendous app support, so you can use your iPhone, your iPad,

656
00:47:13,833 --> 00:47:16,693
Speaker0:
or tablets of different kinds, your Android devices.

657
00:47:16,833 --> 00:47:24,193
Speaker0:
You can use it to do the presentations. It's got scripture and lyric integration all built in.

658
00:47:24,373 --> 00:47:29,313
Speaker0:
It's a very familiar interface for those that are used to the Pro presenter

659
00:47:29,313 --> 00:47:33,193
Speaker0:
interface, huge options for web output.

660
00:47:33,193 --> 00:47:38,933
Speaker0:
For example, you can send a separate feed to your musicians so that they can

661
00:47:38,933 --> 00:47:41,253
Speaker0:
see something different than what the audience is seeing.

662
00:47:41,373 --> 00:47:46,373
Speaker0:
And it's got tremendous remote control capabilities, just a really,

663
00:47:46,533 --> 00:47:48,193
Speaker0:
really neat piece of software.

664
00:47:48,373 --> 00:47:53,353
Speaker0:
And we're not getting any kickbacks or anything for this recommendation.

665
00:47:53,353 --> 00:48:00,433
Speaker0:
But if you've been looking for an upgrade to your church's presentation software,

666
00:48:00,853 --> 00:48:03,893
Speaker0:
I recommend that you check out freeshow.app.

667
00:48:03,953 --> 00:48:07,953
Speaker0:
See if it's a good fit for you.

668
00:48:08,413 --> 00:48:11,373
Speaker0:
And, you know, the great thing about it is that you could try it out.

669
00:48:11,453 --> 00:48:14,193
Speaker0:
And, of course, it's 100% free.

670
00:48:14,433 --> 00:48:18,633
Speaker0:
So if it doesn't work well for you, you haven't sunk a bunch of money into something

671
00:48:18,633 --> 00:48:22,473
Speaker0:
that doesn't work well or fit for your congregation.

672
00:48:22,473 --> 00:48:26,093
Speaker1:
Hey, fantastic. Just look at the website. It looks great.

673
00:48:26,253 --> 00:48:29,773
Speaker1:
I don't know how in the world they can make it for free, but we will check that

674
00:48:29,773 --> 00:48:33,033
Speaker1:
out. And I made a joke earlier about taking kickbacks.

675
00:48:33,193 --> 00:48:36,933
Speaker1:
And to be clear, we don't do that. What we're going to try to do in this show

676
00:48:36,933 --> 00:48:41,133
Speaker1:
as we go forward is to give you, if you're a church leader, a pastor,

677
00:48:41,333 --> 00:48:43,253
Speaker1:
a church member, we're going to give you great.

678
00:48:43,553 --> 00:48:47,713
Speaker1:
They're not always going to be free, but they're not going to benefit us when you get them.

679
00:48:47,853 --> 00:48:51,213
Speaker1:
We're going to give you great resources that are very helpful that we've used,

680
00:48:51,233 --> 00:48:54,913
Speaker1:
that we recommend, we'll try to save you money along the way as well.

681
00:48:55,013 --> 00:49:00,093
Speaker1:
And we don't do that with any sort of influence or money greasing the skids

682
00:49:00,093 --> 00:49:01,273
Speaker1:
or anything along those lines.

683
00:49:01,890 --> 00:49:08,450
Speaker0:
And if you've got a tool, a resource that you've found beneficial in your church

684
00:49:08,450 --> 00:49:13,470
Speaker0:
or in your ministry, and you think we might want to feature it on upcoming episodes,

685
00:49:13,830 --> 00:49:16,090
Speaker0:
would you shoot that information to us?

686
00:49:16,210 --> 00:49:20,670
Speaker0:
You can reach out to everychurchflourishing.com is our website,

687
00:49:20,750 --> 00:49:22,890
Speaker0:
and there'll be contact information there.

688
00:49:23,010 --> 00:49:25,610
Speaker0:
I think show notes, all kinds of good stuff, right, Pastor Jason?

689
00:49:25,730 --> 00:49:28,770
Speaker1:
That's correct. So the way to get in touch with us and the way to get a list

690
00:49:28,770 --> 00:49:33,090
Speaker1:
of all of our resources and to get show notes, to download the podcast,

691
00:49:33,350 --> 00:49:38,350
Speaker1:
to subscribe, to share it with your friends is our website, everychurchflourishing.com.

692
00:49:38,470 --> 00:49:43,390
Speaker1:
That's where to check us out. And hey, we will be back next week and we will

693
00:49:43,390 --> 00:49:47,170
Speaker1:
be talking to the Great Commission Association senior directors again,

694
00:49:47,390 --> 00:49:52,250
Speaker1:
not just to tell you about that association, but also to highlight the importance

695
00:49:52,250 --> 00:49:54,950
Speaker1:
of not doing ministry alone.

696
00:49:54,950 --> 00:49:59,290
Speaker1:
In fact, coming up in February, when we get to our next block of episodes,

697
00:49:59,550 --> 00:50:01,470
Speaker1:
we really are going to double down on that.

698
00:50:01,590 --> 00:50:06,990
Speaker1:
The loneliness that is sometimes prevalent in pastors and church leaders,

699
00:50:07,190 --> 00:50:12,870
Speaker1:
we're going to help equip people to move through those choppy waters.

700
00:50:12,870 --> 00:50:17,270
Speaker1:
And for the next few episodes, we're going to try to get you connected,

701
00:50:17,270 --> 00:50:19,450
Speaker1:
if not with our association,

702
00:50:19,730 --> 00:50:24,830
Speaker1:
A team where you're not feeling alone, where you're in partnership with the

703
00:50:24,830 --> 00:50:28,170
Speaker1:
Great Commission and the Great Commandment that Jesus has called us to.

704
00:50:28,330 --> 00:50:30,090
Speaker1:
Thanks for listening. We'll see you.