EP244: Starting a Barbecue Church

As long as I have a boat, I'm not letting the people around me drown.

And that's something that's my heart.

If I have a boat, I'm making sure people don't drown.

You know, and I don't have a big boat, but I got life preservers and I'm willing to throw them out.

And I got life-saving rings and I'm willing to throw them out and attach them to my boat and help get them to safety.

Because we're called to be Capital C Church.

Again, I'm not building my kingdom.

We're building the kingdom of God.

Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast.

Through this podcast, we'll talk about the technological innovations within the church.

But more than tech for tech itself, we'll address deeper questions.

Is disciple-making possible digitally?

How should we approach the digital mission field?

Can a biblically grounded church operate in digital space?

Oh, and where does the metaverse fit into all this?

Whether you're a big or small church, an established church, or a startup church plant.

The Church Digital's goal is to help churches like yours learn to be a multiplying church, digitally and physically.

Our heart?

That churches like yours will discover a newfound focus on disciple-making that will revolutionize your church.

And now, here's your host, Jeff Reed.

All right.

Hey, welcome to the Church Digital Podcast.

Once again, Jeff Reed, the host here, founder of the Church Digital, co-founder, Digital Church Network.

And, man, I have a lot of fun jobs.

And I love working with organizations that are championing this idea of digital church.

And, you know, as we talk about digital church, churches that are operating in digital space and metaverse space,

there's lots of unique stories, unique expressions of these churches.

And some are controversial.

The Dungeons and Dragons Bible study gets some eyes brows raised.

You know, anytime we talk virtual reality church, there's a lot of people that are uncomfortable with, you know,

the virtual reality baptisms and communion and some of that stuff that's happening in there.

But, you know, when I talk about Grand Theft Auto Church, which actually was a DJ Soto experiment,

that right there is like, I'm not really sure.

I, myself, I'm not really sure about the GTA church.

But, you know, I love the fact that he's experimenting.

But one of these churches that anytime I bring it up in a conversation, it always brings up a smile.

With whoever I'm talking about, however angry they are with me,

I can get them to smile at merely mentioning the name Barbecue Church.

And so we barbecue Assemblies of God, if I am correct in this.

And so we're bringing into the conversation here Andre Anderson today.

Andre, man, thanks for jumping on the show here.

Hey, thank you, Jeff.

It's hilarious and fun.

So Andre, and I want to actually set him up to tell the story here in a second.

Actually, we'll just do it right now.

So Andre, you are lead pastor of Barbecue Assemblies of God.

Okay, how did you get here?

Like, give me, not the 30-minute version, give me the shorter version.

But tell me how you got to the place where you are now leading a digital church called Barbecue Assemblies of God.

Well, it started out, 2020 was the year that everybody tried something new or stayed stagnant.

So, and I started smoking meat.

I got a smoker.

I always loved to cook.

I've always worked in four-star, five-star dining establishments.

So I'm like, okay, let's start smoking meat.

I started, and then I was looking at barbecue Facebook groups, and they were kind of toxic.

They would say, like, really random, terrible things.

And so I started a Facebook group called Barbecue Assembly of God because I thought it was hilarious.

And I figured, if you're in this group, you're not going to talk crazy, hopefully.

And if you do, I'll kick you out.

I'm okay with that.

And I did that, and one of my friends across the street is another brother, goes to a church in the area.

He barbecues hardcore, and he comes over.

I was doing a prime rib roast, and he said, he's looking at me.

He's like, hey, man, Barbecue Assembly of God is blowing up.

And I said, am I the lead pastor?

And he said, yeah.

And then I felt like God spoke to me and said, you're going to start a church called Barbecue Church.

And I said, okay.

And so originally, I thought I was just going to be doing training videos of, you know, how to cook this different stuff.

And God said, you're a pastor.

You've always been a pastor.

And I've always done youth ministry.

I do youth ministry, you know, consulting and helping youth ministries grow.

And he goes, no, you're going to lead people to Jesus through barbecue.

And I said, okay.

And so I looked into it, started to go down this path, connected with great people at Church Marketing,

University, and they helped me start.

And I mean, we launched Barbecue Church this May, last May.

May 29th was our launch date.

And it's been fun.

And that's how we got here, technically.

Awesome.

So you were, unpack here a little bit.

You were running the Facebook group, Barbecue Assemblies of God.

And that actually led you to start the church.

So what does, and it was off air, we were talking about unique expressions of church and things like that.

And so, like, what does Barbecue Church, what does that look like?

Our whole thought process and what we, it's kind of like our mission statement is we want to feed people biblically, spiritually, and literally.

And we, I just preach sermons.

It's quick, you know, seven to 11-minute sermons.

I'm not going to get any awards or any accolades on social media for being deeply profound and deeply theological.

It's not my audience.

It's not who I was called to reach.

We are out here to reach those people who don't want to step inside of a church.

We're out here to reach those people who are on the outside who don't want to step inside of a church building.

We're looking at the fact that the majority of people who go to church are women and their husbands stay home.

And so their husbands aren't moving forward on their faith journey.

Well, now these wives can point to Barbecue Church and say, why don't you watch Barbecue Church's sermon?

It's seven to 11 minutes.

You watch it.

And then they can begin to grow together in their spiritual journey, which is important.

It's an important piece, and it's something that we're lacking.

And for me, being a person who works multiple, multiple, multiple side jobs, I'm out here.

I'm hanging out.

Like, when this recording is over, I'm going to go and set up parking for an air show.

And the people that I work with are not followers of Jesus yet.

And they watch Barbecue Church.

And one of those guys text me when I was on my way to fly to Atlanta.

He said, I just want you to know I'm giving everything to Jesus today.

Wow.

That's Barbecue Church.

Like, he didn't go to church.

He watches our services.

You know, often that's beautiful.

Oftentimes, we talk about how, you know, by doing digital church, by being not a physical church, doing digital ministry, but by doing what you're doing, planting and running a digital church, we're reaching different types of people.

And that's an incredible testimony right there.

Now, was this somebody you knew?

Was it a friend?

Was it somebody like, how are you connected to him?

Was it just through barbecues, assemblies of God?

Like, what's that relationship?

It's through parking.

He works in a parking company with me.

Okay.

We do parking logistics and we park cars.

A co-worker.

A co-worker.

That's beautiful.

And, like, he's not.

A marine.

Okay.

A leatherneck.

Interesting.

Very cool.

Parkour.

And he watches every week.

Another guy that's with us right now, Brian.

I'm about to go work with him.

He watches every week.

And his son just gave his life to the Lord.

And Brian texted me to let me know.

Hey, just so you know, that my son went to this church with his fiancee and she gave her.

He gave his life to the Lord because he felt like it was time.

And I think that you should know as a person that's close to us.

And I'm like, that's awesome.

Praise God.

Barbecue Church.

Like, are you seeing, I mean, it sounds like within your relationships, within your circle of influence, there are people that are connecting.

Are you finding it reaching beyond that?

Like, outside different states, cities, across the country?

Like, what's the reach of it right now?

So, we have five campuses in five other states right now.

Okay.

So, what does a campus look like for Barbecue Church?

So, what they do is they've made this up.

They just started this.

And I'm like, sounds good to me.

But they have started to invite their community to their houses or to a building to bring smoked meat and to bring food once a month.

And they watch one of the services together.

And they do life together.

And they talk together.

And so, it's like a once a month small group where they watch the sermon.

But they're all eating together.

They're fellowshipping together.

And it's people in their community.

So, we have, what is it, Colorado Springs.

We have Virginia, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and North Carolina.

And it's just people who have found us along the way.

About four months ago, I was in Redding, Pennsylvania at an air show.

And somebody who I connected with because of Barbecue, the Barbecue Assembly God Facebook group, he came to meet me for the first time while I was parking cars.

And I had never met him before in my life.

Yeah.

It's, yeah, it's what I do.

I love people.

So, if I'm in your area, I'm going to reach out.

When I was in, I was at the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.

And somebody from Barbecue Church who I had never met before lives in Georgia.

Her and her husband drove two hours to Birmingham, got a hotel room, just so that they could come and take me out for barbecue at their favorite place in Birmingham.

And then they gifted me two cutting boards.

Do you, I mean, that's interesting, just this reach that you're getting.

As you've tried to, you know, establish, you've been doing this less than a year.

Like, does the, did you have a target audience?

Now, barbecue is broad, but it's also narrow in that.

Like, are you trying to, you mentioned men earlier.

Were you, were you targeting the male?

Were you, did you have to come up with like a persona type of person that you were going after?

What does that process look like for you?

I, our basic target audience is people who eat.

That's a pretty broad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If, if you eat, then I, then you're my target audience.

So, so the guy that's eating sushi in Japan, let's, let's barbecue sushi.

Let's find a way to make it work.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh.

I will barbecue sushi right now.

That's such a really great idea.

I'll come over and eat barbecue sushi.

Write it down.

We got to, we got to figure out how to do this.

I got to write this down because that's a really great idea.

I can do smoked.

Okay.

We shouldn't go into that.

Go ahead.

I want to hear it.

Okay.

So what I can do is I can do smoked.

I mean, I can do smoked salmon rolls.

I can do smoke tilapia rolls.

I can do smoked mahi rolls and I can get the sticky rice and cook it up.

Cause we have that one of those big rice cookers and then I can get the sushi deal.

Oh my gosh, this is amazing.

And then we'll do smoked different types of smoked sushi that we can put on platters that

people can eat when they come.

So we'll do smoked sushi and then we'll do smoked charcuterie boards and that'll, it'll be like tasting events, like a little appetizer deal.

Oh my gosh, Jeffrey, you are a genius.

Well, I thought I was being a smart aleck and you used my powers against me.

So there you go.

I love sushi, by the way.

So, uh, you know, invite me over at least when we get there.

That's, that's beautiful.

Um, so the, uh, what's the weirdest response you've gotten when you talk about barbecue church?

The weirdest response is honestly from people who were in a position to, to help fund what

we do.

And coincidentally, we've actually gotten no funding from anyone.

So, so those have been some weird responses.

Yeah, I would have, would imagine.

Very weird, um, because no, they don't get it.

Um, and so barbecue church tech, technically I'm an assembly got pastor, but barbecue church

is not an assembly got church.

So I'm assembly got a barbecue church is an assembly got.

And that's not because of anything with my district.

I'm in the Illinois district and my superintendent loves me and loves barbecue church.

Um, but when we were going down the thought process, the Lord said, you need to

launch now.

It's not, you can't wait.

There's things that need to happen.

And so we just went ahead and launched and we're still working with the assembly of God.

If you see, if I give you my bylaws, you'll see it.

But I've had people who have said, like, I'll talk to church planning organizations or different

organizations out there who can give money.

And they're like, well, how are you going to pay your bills?

Or how come, like, why do you want to do church events for other churches?

Because that's one, that's my heart.

I'm going to do barbecue church events at other churches so that they can reach their barbecue

community.

And then they can do barbecue small groups so that they can continue to reach their community

for Jesus through barbecue.

And this guy says, why would you help grow another church when you can just build a church

yourself and do it for yourself?

And I said, because I'm not building my own kingdom.

And then I got off the phone.

Let me ask you this.

Did you have, like, was it hard for you to get started?

You haven't, you haven't gotten much funding.

It doesn't, it doesn't sound like, like, but you've got this vision, you've got these locations

scattered around, you know, I know your heart to, to like help the physical church through

barbecue, try to, to be more, more, uh, I want to say the word attractive, but try to just

connect with people in different ways.

Like, what was it?

Was it hard for you to get started on this road?

It was because I'm a, I'm a vision.

I'm a vision person where I'm, I'm going, going, going towards what I want.

And I'm also trying to build everything in sequences.

You know, I want to, I want to build a system.

And so when I don't have the system in place, I get frustrated.

And so I felt as though, um, I felt as though I needed to have everything working.

Improperly is what I thought.

I felt like I needed to have the camera, the, this, the, that, this, that.

And, um, it was actually my little brother, uh, back in Pittsburgh and, uh, another dude

named Phil, who is not saved at all, who kicked my butt.

And Phil, who I taught, I talked to probably three times a week.

Um, I work with him in his parking business, does not want anything to do with church, but

watches barbecue church weekly and gives me critiques on my sermons.

Okay.

And I, he pushed me and said, you're trying to make everything perfect.

You just need to launch because you're a man of God.

God has called you to do something.

So get out there and do it and stop waiting.

Wow.

And he said it with a lot of expletives that I cannot say on your show because it will kill

me, but, but it hit my, it hit my soul because I was trying to just make it look the best and

do everything perfect.

And he's like, no, God called you to do this.

Just do it.

Just do it.

And so it, so it was, it was difficult because of myself and, you know, granted, if, if somebody

would have given me $10,000 on, on like upfront, it would have been nice, but, but I'm not in

debt.

I have good credit and we're moving forward.

Very cool.

I, you know, I know I, myself, I, I, I struggled with that, trying to get the level of perfection,

trying to get the excellence up.

And, uh, and Ray, Ray DeArmis used to be the co-host here with, uh, the church digital

podcast with me.

He was actually the guy that, that was just, he wouldn't use the expletives that, that

you're describing, but he would be constantly telling me, Hey, let's just go.

Hey, let's just go.

Hey, let's just go.

And, uh, it was funny.

Like he, he sold it to me.

He's like, Hey, you know what?

Let's just do a, do a small series of like six.

We're just going to do like a short, short series of podcasts, six episodes.

And, um, you know, we're 240, 250 podcast episodes later.

Uh, it's like, I think, I think we, I think we blew past that six, that six number and,

uh, doing, doing really well with it.

And if you go back, uh, every once in a while, I'll do this or I'll have somebody will text

me that they're doing it.

They will, uh, my first episode was God awful.

Oh my gosh.

You know, and, and it's, it's embarrassing, but you know what?

You, you learn and you grow through it and, uh, and people use it and you, you develop

as a result of it.

And so I would use the not non-expletive version of probably what your, your friend told you

and, uh, and tell that to somebody else.

Maybe, maybe just give it a shot.

Experiment.

What, what's, what's the worst that's going to happen?

Was the, I mean, it sounds like barbecue was always like your heart and target here.

Going after people who are like, uh, well, that are capable of eating.

How do, how do you feel about the feeding tube?

Like, does that, no, I'm kidding.

You want to go ahead.

I'm like, I'll smoke it.

I'll smoke it if you can put it in a pan.

I'll throw it in a smoker.

You put it in a bag, man.

Was there like, historically, are you an out of the box type of thinker?

I mean, like previous to 2020, when, you know, everything went to pot and everybody's doing

their own thing or doing all these new experiments, where were you innovative and thinking outside

of the box before that?

I'm an evangelist at heart.

So everything is extreme for me.

Everything's next level for me.

And so if you give me a goal, I think I can do more.

I just, I believe God when he said immeasurably more than you can ask or imagine.

So I kind of run with that, you know, when, so right now I, I coach youth ministries on

the side.

If somebody calls and they're like, Hey, coach, coach my youth pastor.

And, you know, our youth ministries were growing, you know, they're doubling in size in three

months.

I had a youth ministry in the Poconos that would have blown your mind if you would have seen

what we were doing, but it wasn't what everyone else was.

Everyone else was like, do bigger, do more, do this, do that.

And I'm like, no, I'm not.

I'm going to do three things at my youth service.

And this is all we're going to do.

And it's going to be the most dumbed down, most streamlined youth service ever.

I was at a church of a hundred people.

We had 70 kids who were not churched were coming every week.

It's just out of the box works.

It's, you don't have to do what everyone else is doing.

That's, it just doesn't make sense to me.

I, I like to just sit down and ask God, where does he want us to go?

And he's like, okay, Andre will, Andre will take anything and run with it.

So I'll give this idea to him.

So are there plans for like,

dessert church, sushi church, you know,

spinning this off, multiplying into other things.

There are, there are some talks.

Okay.

There's, there are some conversations happening in,

in my fellowship with district officials and presbyters about how many

non-traditional churches can we launch.

All right.

I'm going to prophesy.

I'm not even a charismatic person,

but I'm going to prophesy over this right now.

You will launch a foodie church network in the next two years.

I want to see it.

I, there,

there is opportunities to expand beyond just barbecue.

I'm not a barbecue guy.

I'm really not.

I'm going to,

and I apologize.

I know I'm speaking to the,

to the Bishop,

to the Pope of barbecue literally here.

But that's we,

we need to position you to be the Pope of the food church network.

Church network.

I'm with it.

Here's the thing.

If I made you some smoked cream cheese,

it would change your life.

So I've spent 14 years in DFW and in Austin.

So I've had Texas barbecue all day long.

It's nice.

I'm not.

And so,

and I say that to Kansas city people and they're like,

you know,

nuts.

And then I say that to Carolina people.

My,

my parents used to live up in the Carolinas and they get all offended.

And everybody's in.

Everybody's literally pouring barbecue sauce down me through a,

through a spigot.

And,

uh,

yeah,

well,

that's well,

number one,

that's,

that's where the problem lies.

We're talking about barbecue sauce and you just need the right things.

It's not,

you need the right things.

Like if we did,

so if we did a smoked cream cheese,

okay,

put some,

put some crackers around it,

some celery.

I don't know if you're into carrots.

I can't stand carrots.

I hate carrots.

I do carrots,

but we do that.

Right.

We put all that together and then you're dipping it in a smoked cream

cheese that you'll go,

you know what?

This is delicious.

Or if I made you some apple pie,

baked beans.

All right.

So where,

where are we going to hook up?

Cause I've got it.

I got it.

I got it.

I got to get some food.

Where do you live?

Miami.

Um,

okay.

Can you come to Fort Lauderdale?

December?

No,

January.

Can you come to Fort Lauderdale in January?

Are you going to be in Fort Lauderdale in January?

Yeah.

All right.

I'll come.

I'll come up.

Yeah.

I mean,

this has nothing to do with Bart.

Like I'll,

I'll hang out with you if you're going to be down here.

No,

no,

no,

no,

why not?

Here's how we're going to do it.

Here's how we're going to do it.

So the poolside barbecue battle at the visit Lauderdale food and wine

festival is happening Friday to 13th.

And,

and I'm hosting,

I'm the manager like hosting and the manager of that event.

And then the grand tasting is the next day,

the 14th of January.

How many jobs do you have?

Eight.

Man,

I thought I had a lot of jobs.

You beat me.

What are your eight jobs?

Oh,

let's see.

I got to look at a list.

Do you have enough fingers?

No,

I actually,

I have it on a list.

So I do.

So I'm the lead pastor of barbecue church.

Sure.

I am,

I'm a youth pastor coach and consultant to I parking and three,

you know,

parking and traffic logistics.

I work.

I'm an independent contractor for a company called meter feeder,

which is pay for parking.

Okay.

Online service.

I have another business that I launched called my event program.com.

Uh,

where I do digital programs for major events all over the country.

I,

I build online businesses for entrepreneurs.

Six.

Through like funnels and things of that sort.

And then I got to find the other ones.

Cause I know there's more.

You got so many jobs.

You can't even keep them straight.

Yeah.

I'm also a wholesale jeweler.

Seven.

There's one more.

Let me look.

Oh,

there's so many questions in these jobs,

by the way.

Right.

And then there's,

Oh,

and then I work for,

um,

I work for Jamie paw.

So he's an evangelist that,

uh,

specializes in generosity.

Okay.

Um,

so Paul is like P a U G H.

I work for him and help him with all of his online stuff.

And so I'm part of his team as well.

So you got eight jobs.

How do you have time for like doing the church thing?

Or how do you have time for anything?

Like how do you,

how do you manage all this?

Very carefully.

Uh,

it's,

it's a thing of you pick and choose what you do.

You pick and choose your timing.

You,

uh,

have blocks of time that you do different things.

And then there's times where other things fall.

To the side,

like jewelry.

I'm not,

I'm not doing anything unless somebody calls me.

And says,

Hey,

I need something.

You know,

but you know,

somebody called me the other day and said,

I want to,

I sold her a 2.23 carat round diamond.

So,

and with diamond bands and everything,

it,

I mean,

total cost was like 25 grand.

Well,

I'll tell you what,

next time,

uh,

next time I need a two carat diamond,

you're,

uh,

you're on the call.

Expect the Facebook message.

I mean,

listen,

if you need a one carat diamond,

I got you,

man,

you're not going to pay full price.

I'll tell you that.

Anything you need,

you're not paying full price.

So like you've got eight jobs,

so you've got multiple streams of income.

What,

well protected in that.

Um,

what are you,

so as you're fundraising,

what are you actually fundraising for,

for the church?

Uh,

so it's like salary.

It sounds like you don't need that,

but what are,

what's your,

what's your desires and hopes?

Right.

Yeah.

Salary isn't the goal,

um,

at all for me.

It's I was talking with my,

with my people last night.

If,

if I have $4 million in a bank,

I would still be here parking cars.

Like I'd still be doing this.

I'd still be traveling because this is important.

You know,

what we do is great.

And I need to be out here.

I need to be in the streets.

I need to be with people.

I need to be constantly,

you know,

I need to be around people.

So our goal right now is we want to get a food truck.

truck situation going so that I can go to churches and cook lots of meat for lots of events.

When there's a crisis,

like a hurricane comes through,

I want to be able to go and smoke meat on the street and feed families.

Um,

and then I also,

I need to hire somebody to do my social media because I am so busy that I do not have time to post as much as what I need to.

And then which,

and that's going to be cheap because I shouldn't say cheap.

It's just going to be inexpensive,

inexpensive because I have friends.

Um,

and then my goal is there's a lot of church planners out there who honestly are struggling.

And I want to start providing them with smokers.

Because I believe that if I give a church planner a smoker and I set them loose and I teach them how to smoke and I say,

Hey,

go out into your community and start feeding people,

find a place that you can set up where you can feed people and I'll teach you how to do it.

And these people could make,

you know,

four to $10,000 on a weekend.

And then they're not struggling anymore while they're trying to plant a church.

And then they can feed their church with the smoker that we provide.

Or I have a bunch of friends that are in campus ministry on college campuses.

So why are you not smoking food out on the street on Friday,

Saturday night and feeding these jokers?

So that's what we're fundraising for.

And,

you know,

cause we want to be,

you know,

God has called me to be a light in the darkness.

And so I'm gonna keep lighting that fire.

No,

I love your,

I totally blew past the pun.

Thank you for drawing attention to that.

So that it would just sit so much better in this conversation.

Man,

I love your heart with the multiplication aspect.

You know,

the helping the campus guys,

helping the,

the planters.

And the idea of making $10,000 smoking meat on a weekend is really interesting to me.

So maybe a offline conversation,

but what's the,

is when you've talked with planters or people,

like,

have you cast that vision?

Of,

of the possibilities?

Like,

are,

would they be receptive to that?

Have you heard people that are like,

yes,

I want to do that.

You know,

let's,

let's figure it out.

What's,

what's been some of those responses?

Oh yeah.

I've,

I've already talked with some campus missionaries.

I've talked with different church planters and they say,

that's a genius idea.

That'd be something that I'd be willing to do.

That's something that they would welcome.

And,

you know,

there's a lot of times we don't do enough to help people who are planting.

We don't do.

It's like we,

there's different organizations that'll say,

yeah,

it's so great that you're planting.

Yay.

But when it comes down to it,

these guys are going to debt.

They're putting stuff for their church on their personal credit card and they're struggling and their marriages are starting to deteriorate.

And then we're closing churches as fast as we're launching them and churches aren't lasting more than five years.

Well,

if we can help them financially,

that's one major hurdle that's taken out.

What's the percentage?

Let's just random percentage that I'll throw out without any type of research whatsoever.

It's taken out 50% financial will take you out.

It's a 50% chance that if your finances are bad,

you'll close.

So,

I mean,

if we can help these guys out,

help these guys and girls out,

that's everything.

You know,

I had a friend who just closed his church plant after five years and I was furious.

And not with him,

but just because he didn't have the help he needed.

He didn't have the prayer support that he needed.

He didn't have the people around him that would lock arms with him and said,

all right,

man,

mom right here.

Like we're good.

And,

you know,

I went to a church planning conference years back and this guy was talking about,

you know,

when you're planting a church,

you're sitting out here and it's like you're,

what when you're shipwrecked off the island of Patmos and everybody's holding on the wood,

you know,

and you're just trying to stay afloat and,

and everybody's standing up clapping.

And I'm like,

well,

the dude preaching right now is in a boat.

He's in a boat.

You're the one in the water.

You're the one holding on the shrapnel.

That dude's in a boat.

And as long as I have a boat,

I'm not letting the people around me drown.

And that's,

and that's something that that's my heart.

If I have a boat,

I'm making sure people don't drown,

you know,

and I don't have a big boat,

but I got life preservers and I'm willing to throw them out.

And I got life saving rings and I'm willing to throw them out and attach them to my boat

and help get them to safety because we're called to be capital C church.

Again,

I'm not building my kingdom.

We're building a kingdom of God and we need to be out here helping people and making sure

people aren't drowned and making sure their marriages aren't failing,

making sure they're not running around with,

you know,

getting into affairs,

stuff like that,

man,

like that's,

it's too prevalent.

So we need to help people.

So you've done,

man,

I just,

I,

your heart to do,

uh,

to reach,

to help the church,

to help the planter.

That's,

that's beautiful.

It sounds like you have a history of,

of planting and,

and,

and have done that historically.

And,

and so,

you know,

um,

you understand that world very well.

Um,

you know,

I know we've,

we've talked about different expressions of,

of church.

Um,

you know,

maybe one that doesn't necessarily look like the Sunday morning.

There's a lot of digital that's involved in barbecue,

but there's also not a lot of digital.

You're talking very practical and very relational kind of face on where,

uh,

you just really are writing an interesting balance,

uh,

between physical and not with barbecue church and barbecue symbols of God.

Um,

are there other ideas or are there other things that,

that you're thinking about or other expressions?

Like when,

when you look at other expressions,

what are you,

what are you thinking as an innovative guy?

What are you thinking?

What are you dreaming about?

Man,

there's so,

there's so many different things that you could jump into,

you know?

Um,

but anything that will pull people in a community around each other,

like you,

that will pull people together so that you can do life together.

I think it's worth jumping into.

I think it's worth jumping into.

Um,

even if it's,

if you're talking breakfast church,

and it's just a bunch of women who love breakfast,

who are going to get together for breakfast once a month and talk about Jesus and do life together,

then let's do it.

Other people call it small groups and that's fine,

you know,

but can we rally around breakfast?

You know,

can we rally around brunch?

You know,

and,

you know,

can we rally around cars?

Like,

man,

I love cars.

Oh man,

let's get,

let's get together.

Let's put our cars out in the back of an old Kmart parking lot.

And let's hang out and show off our cars and pop the hood and let's sit there and not,

and let's do life and let's get into people's lives and then see where they're at on their faith journey and see if we can move forward in that.

Like,

let's show off cars,

you know,

through videos and let's talk about the different aspects of a car and how it pertains to faith and,

you know,

walking it out and moving forward with Jesus.

I mean,

that's,

I mean,

it's,

if you're passionate about it,

I think it works.

I just,

barbecue just happens to be my thing.

What is discipleship?

What is evangelism?

Like,

what do these things look like for you?

So you're,

you're,

you're preaching,

you're feeding down to,

no pun intended on the feeding,

but you're,

you're,

you're pushing information down.

You're,

you're teaching down.

What is like multiplication or spiritual development look like?

Within the group.

Have you gotten to some of that yet?

Yes.

We're actually building out a bunch of Bible reading plans because we've gotten requests.

So when people give their lives to Jesus,

you know,

we use text in church.

And so you text journey to my number and you get a 30 day devotional that's actually written by one of my really good friends.

And so you get that.

Well,

then once that's over,

people have been messaging me like,

I need more,

I need more.

And so we've started to develop a Bible reading plan and a devotional system so that we can continue to reach people through that.

And then that's also what we're going to utilize social media for.

And extra,

you know,

in our website,

you know,

just throwing out extra videos that are discipleship based.

And I have a guy who's willing to do it.

I just need to give him the stuff that he needs to be able to build it.

But,

and then he'll handle most of the discipleship side of it.

And him,

him and my mom,

because my mom is a part of my team.

So let's,

so I want to,

I want to unpack the mom here in a second,

because that's,

that's interesting.

But what,

so what you've done is you basically partnered with somebody else.

You're,

you're,

you're busy.

That's that discipleship may not be us.

But it's,

it's a necessary component.

And so you're bringing in someone else to,

to manage that piece.

And that's that person,

or even your mom included is,

is more,

it's more passionate about that.

And it's taking over some of those responsibilities.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So talk to me about mom.

If you come to the barbecue battle and Fort Lauderdale,

you'll meet her.

Oh,

I cannot wait.

Oh yeah.

So my mom is 57 years old.

And so,

and which if you start doing math,

you're like,

hold on,

how old is Andre?

Right.

My mom had me when she was 14 years old.

And so my mom is,

my mom is one of my best friends.

She just is.

Always has been.

And so,

and my mom is,

you know,

my mom is a prayer person.

She prays heavy.

She loves her kids and she's always set us up for success.

And so this is,

she wanted to be a part of barbecue church,

her and her husband.

And then they are,

they helped me with my thought processes.

They helped me.

They helped me think through like,

what's next?

What do we need to be doing next?

And she helps me not get too,

too into the clouds.

She pulls me back and goes,

Andre,

you need to stop.

And,

you know,

and I don't just brush her off because she's my mom.

I,

I listen.

And,

but,

you know,

no one prays for me more than my mom and my wife.

And so my mom's on the team and she's a fireball.

So,

but is she like,

what does she contribute?

Not technological,

I would imagine relational,

just mom able to slap you upside the head and tell you to stop.

Like what's,

what's the,

what,

what's her,

what's your contribution?

She is,

she's the prayer person.

She's the prayer person.

She's the discipleship like thought of,

did you think about this?

Did you pray about this yet?

Okay.

So you're doing this.

Okay.

No,

we need to pray about that.

Or,

you know,

I was thinking,

you know,

you start thinking through like,

okay,

we need to,

we need to try.

We need to try and get a truck,

you know,

and get this whole truck situation going.

So I'm like,

well,

mom,

what if I,

what if I just reach out and say,

Hey,

you know,

if a thousand people give this much money,

we'll be there.

And she goes,

Andre,

I don't think that that's wise because that leads back to that old school church vibe of where,

that I used to sit in these services where people would,

they would do,

here's the thousand dollar line.

Here's the hundred dollar line.

And my mom goes,

she goes,

that comes off as manipulation and that's not who we are.

And so you're not doing that.

And I'm like,

you're right.

And so she really helps me see things differently because I'll just start running.

And she goes,

no,

let's pray about this.

No,

let's think about this.

And so she's kind of,

she kind of helps,

helps me bounce things off of her.

And,

you know,

she keeps you grounded.

She keeps you grounded.

Yes,

very much so.

Man,

if somebody wanted to get started doing this,

I'm not probably from church,

maybe,

maybe sushi.

I don't know.

If somebody wanted to get started with a missional imagination,

doing some crazy idea,

like what,

what are some obstacles?

What are some challenges?

How do they start?

Pray.

If,

if God is calling you to do it and it's in your heart to do,

and it's the thing that he's speaking,

then you do it.

You figure it out.

You figure out what your platform is going to be.

You figure out how you're going to do it and you write out the steps and

then you just start walking it out.

That's,

that's it.

Don't wait for the money.

Don't wait for all this.

Figure out what you have in your hand,

what's available to you and do it with what you have.

And,

and that's it.

And God does the rest.

Because if this all fails,

if,

if,

if the sermon only gets two views,

somebody got something.

If no one gave their life to the Lord,

at least you gave a hundred percent.

At least you were obedient with what you had.

Do,

do you consider yourself an influencer?

I mean,

I have influence in certain circles.

So,

I mean,

maybe it's,

it's interesting.

I've been,

we've been talking about the word influencer,

whether or not it fits.

And so I apologize.

It's funny.

Your response is actually what I was expecting.

you have influenced,

but influencer means something else.

Maybe.

I don't know.

It's,

it's been a,

it's been a conversation with that behind closed doors.

So,

I mean,

most of the people that label themselves influencers,

aren't the type of people I want to be around.

So they're the type of people that like,

just if,

if they have the label influencer in their title,

they,

they're not really the type of people that I rock with.

So,

so when I hear it,

it's almost a,

it's a term that I'm kind of,

I'm reserved about.

I'm like,

uh,

I don't really like people that are called that.

So,

so it's,

so it might be a little bit more why I'm kind of more hesitant with it.

Cause you know,

people like it,

what is Elon Musk and an influencer?

Would he be considered an influencer?

I mean,

I would.

He's not a guy I would hang out with.

Not a fan of Tesla's.

You,

you abandoning Twitter.

Oh no,

I'll,

I'll,

no,

I'll have one.

I'll have one someday.

Cause my wife wants it.

But like,

but Elon and I are going to be going out for brunch.

So you,

you think it's,

there's a prestige.

Or a.

Class.

Difference.

Not.

It's not a class difference.

There's an attitude about an influencer.

That just.

Bothers me.

Okay.

I mean,

it,

it's just,

it just bothers me.

It's not that you're a bad person.

It's that in order for you to influence,

you have to influence in a certain way.

And that type of influence isn't the type of influence that I want to have.

I,

I just,

I don't want,

I don't want that type of influence.

I,

I want to bring.

Barbecue to the world.

I want to.

Yes.

But I,

I want to set people up to meet Jesus.

Like,

I'm just,

I'm just a connection point.

I'm like,

Hey,

listen,

I got this relationship with this person over here that can help change your life.

And he wants a relationship with you because the relationship was broken.

And so I,

I just need you to,

I just need you to meet him real quick.

That,

that's my job.

I want influence there.

Um,

so the other,

the other type of influence is,

man,

it's not what I want.

No,

I,

I,

I think that that's good.

We've been wrestling with

some of the negative connotations of the word influencer.

Like,

is it,

is it good?

Is it bad?

Um,

is,

is it helpful?

Do we have to explain our interpretation of influencer?

Everybody has influence.

We're all influencers.

And,

um,

you know,

some people understand that some people it's not worth the fight.

And so it's been,

it's been interesting because there are internally some of the,

the conversations we've found that,

but I,

I really appreciate your,

uh,

your,

your,

your vibe here.

Hey,

so like if somebody wanted to get connected to,

um,

barbecue church,

barbecue assemblies of God,

where are they finding?

I mean,

so our main website is barbecue church spelled out barbecue with a C the real way.

The,

the proper English way it's barbecue church.com.

And,

and then there's,

if my event program.com slash Andre is a really good one because it shows you my event program and my event program.com slash Andre is one of the best because it has all of my information.

Very cool.

All right.

Hey man,

listen,

that's literally everything that I do.

I know.

I've,

I've,

I've,

I've loved this conversation.

This has been,

um,

more honestly,

it's been a little more free flowing than,

than,

uh,

the typical.

And man,

you just,

you've got the great vibe kind of hanging out,

um,

literally in the hotel,

getting ready to go do it,

do a job here in,

in a little bit,

but excited to talk with you,

uh,

man about,

about barbecue church,

about,

uh,

different expressions,

thinking outside the box,

innovation,

and,

uh,

just,

just going for it.

And what a,

what an inspiration,

what a story,

um,

you've had putting this thing together and,

and making it happen.

And it's exciting to see how God is,

God is using this like in,

in real time,

just even to impact people,

uh,

you know,

and people that you,

you don't even know.

So that's,

that's really cool.

Um,

is we're landing the plane here.

Any,

any closing thoughts?

It's funny cause I'm,

I'm just trying to think through,

I'm trying to think through your audience and,

you know,

it's most likely a bunch of these guys who,

guys and girls who are just trying to do random stuff that everyone else may not even like

and may not think is actually viable or they don't think,

Oh,

that's not ministry.

And I just say,

look,

do what you're called to do.

Just do what you're called to do.

You don't need approval from anybody.

You don't need anybody to co-sign you.

All you need is you and Jesus moving forward.

Make sure you're praying,

make sure you're in the word and make sure you're doing exactly what he's called you to do.

And that's all you can do.

That's it.

And just don't get hung up on everyone else and what everyone else is doing.

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't have to look like them.

Everyone else wants cookie cutter,

but most likely you weren't made to be cookie cutter.

So just keep going.

And then in the end,

people will come back and say,

I knew them when,

or I knew this was going to work,

but you'll remember the conversations and have grace.

And I'm speaking to myself because I'm the guy that I remember those conversations and I don't want to have grace.

I want to tell everybody to keep that same energy they had when they told me it wasn't going to work.

But we need to be a gracious people.

So be gracious and keep fighting the fight and watch God do things in people's lives.

And let's keep leading people to Jesus.

And enjoy some smoked sushi at some point.

I'm telling you,

you're going to get pictures of this.

Awesome.

So yeah,

hey,

we're going to hang out in,

in Fort Lauderdale here early next year.

So excited about that.

But hey,

we're going to land the plane.

It's been a great conversation.

Andre,

the,

the man with eight jobs,

including lead pastor of barbecue church,

man.

Thanks for jumping on the podcast.

Like I said,

we're going to land the plane for Andre.

This is Jeff with the church digital and a bunch of other stuff.

Thanks for jumping on the show here.

We'll see you next time on the pod.

Y'all have a good day.