EP077: Tim Celek & Defining Matthew 28 by Focusing on the One

episode 77 of the church digital podcast powered by stadia church planting jeff here okay like i

want to need everybody listening to this podcast go and do me a favor take off your church online

hats don't look at this podcast don't expect to hear anything technological in context of this

podcast no social media uh no church online no chat online small groups nothing we're stripping

this podcast down uh to some of the bare basics of what we know of as church whether it's online

or even if it's physical if it's a church plant or even if it gets down to an established church

it's been around for for a long time you see i've been i've been hanging around these stadia people

and the one thing that i i have really loved about being on staff with stadia and getting to know them

and their culture and their dna is i'm starting to realize how little i actually knew about church

even though i've been on staff with the church like different churches like 15 years of my life

and and i'm discovering new ideas and new thoughts and it's like my gosh we need to we need to let

others know about this and there's there's there's one of these conversations and this is we're going

to have a string of these things they're all going to piece together because my proverbial brain has

exploded several times starting on this thread and uh and the first part of this conversation that that

i want you audience out there to start to understand is the concept of the one you see i i didn't

understand this in my church experience in my church online experience working with multiple churches

across the country different denominations i just different sizes i i didn't i didn't really have a grasp

on this until i started hanging around some stadia people and all of a sudden like the idea started to

grow and it started became this much larger thing that i can't wait to share here's what i need to

understand what is your one whether you're a physical church whether you're a digital church whether

you're a church online whether you're a church plant whether you're established what is it because

you see i think once you figure out your one and once you understand the principle of the one for the

individuals all of a sudden you're realizing your church has far greater impact than what it did with

the one hour on sunday and i'm giving stuff away and really you don't need to hear it from me i want

you to hear it from somebody who's lived this for 30 years of his life and so plus 30 plus years of his

life i'm bringing in tim selick into the conversation tim uh you may not know he is he's director of new

church growth at stadia church planting a great guy one of these relationships that i've i've loved

um in the short amount of time i've most stated just listening to him and learning from him in this

process so tim was a former lead pastor at the crossing church in new mesa and really brings a

phenomenal story of a church that was hugely evangelical was hugely outward facing uh public facing in in

bringing the one in and tim's philosophy uh of of how to understand the one and how to help others

understand their ones is something that i want everyone who listens to this podcast to understand

because i truly believe this is going to change your church and this is going to change your church

online and the way that we approach ministry overall it's that good so into this conversation i'm bringing

in uh tim selick once again director of new church growth with stadia former lead pastor at the crossings

for 30 plus years church planner way back in the day i'm also bringing in emily diaz who's one of the

stadia uh project managers and uh co-host here uh with the show on on a number of different shows now

uh in in a conversation that i'm simply calling church church online and finding your one

okay everybody here you go i planted a church in the fall of 1988 september of 1988 to to be specific

in orange county california you know in the city of costa mesa and and that time and even to today

costa mesa was not a growing community it was about 110 000 when we planted it's about 133 000 now

and uh so we planted grew a church over 30 years um the church took so many different twists and turns

because our community went from being primarily caucasian 93 caucasian seven percent other to

realistically today 50 hispanic about 45 caucasian five percent other so there was a lot of shifts

there but what we started as a church day one day one we started with this philosophy that we were going to

be focused the way we said it is on somebody who was saying no to god and we wanted them to say yes

to him through his son jesus christ so that was the focus it was a drum i beat from day one and i kept

beating that drum all the way until i handed the baton of leadership off on its 30th anniversary

in the fall or september of 2018 and i stepped up on the stadia staff they graciously allowed me to be a

part of the organization to encourage people who were and are where i was as a planter so i get the

opportunity now as the director of new church growth to really just encourage encourage cheerlead coach

consult um attaboy attagirl uh planters who are a couple months before launch to roughly two years after

launch so that's me one of the things that i love about tim is when you start to have conversations with him you can see that he

bleeds this stuff from the 30 plus years of of his church and now working with stadia where he's helping

other church planters now go out there and plant churches with this uh with this just different

mindset of of the one and so tim just for for the audience here define the one what does the one mean

in context of church today to you that's a good question it's a great question but i'd like to

do it through sort of a story if i could uh if that's okay with you um that's what i'd like to do

it so um and the cool part is emily was the one who encouraged me to share this story so at least i know

one person out in the digital world that says this was a good deal so here we go um i actually

when i moved out here to costa mesa i didn't realize i was like right next to the ocean i mean duh

well um there was a period in my ministry where i needed something as a hobby because i didn't have

any so a guy said why don't you take up sailing and i did and i i really love it and then i got into

sailboat racing and i love it and um one time we were actually in a sailboat race very very windy race

participating off the coast of santa barbara california there's these islands called the

channel islands and we were going between two of them santa cruz island anacapa island and um what

happened was as we were sailing between it the wind picked up so much and what you try to do on those

islands you try to get close to them because you could actually speed up you know and you go faster

well what happened was on that day some some boats at least one boat got way too close and what they

didn't realize is there's rock outcroppings that you can't see and uh i'm at the helm of the boat i was

on and i hear this distress signal it's like 9-1-1 over the water okay and one of the sailboats was

literally in trouble it got too close to the island and some boats began to respond they broke their

course responded to the dress distress signal but they soon realized they didn't have what they needed

on their boat and their boat wasn't really adept at trying to get to those people so they abandoned

going for the people and then to shorten the story some of the people they died that day at the sea

and so after that what i did was is i actually did some research on boating um i don't know if you

know this but a long time ago in new england there were some societies actually called rescue societies

that popped up they were quite popular and what happened was these like adventurous men and women

went out and they would join them because they themselves were once rescued as sailors or boaters

and what did they do they'd go out in the atlantic ocean they'd rescue boats people were in trouble

they'd bring them back to dry land and that was a matter of course for them folks did this

and the people felt burdened for them and so they kept doing it well after these rescue attempts what

would happen was they would come back together as a rescue outfit and they would then the cells recover

they'd share meals they'd share stories and yet because they knew what it was like to be rescued

they'd get back in the boat and they'd go back out and then they'd come back and they'd share some

more meals more stories some more drinks and what put place over time was is these rescue societies

got tired of rescuing they love the meals they love the camaraderie they love the bonding

but they began are you ready for this they began yacht clubs okay what what began today as the modern

american yacht club in many cases started in new england they emerged out of rescue societies it began

from groups of people who were into rescuing people and after a while they said you know what let's just

chill let's enjoy the meals let's enjoy the drinks let's enjoy all this and just relax and what you read

about those stories is is that after a while a few of them they they a lot of them didn't leave the

comforts of the yacht club but eventually over time a new group of them usually people who were rescued

they would get the burden again they'd leave the comfort of the yacht club and they would go out again

and rescue people and save people and they would do this all the while their friends were eating

and drinking and fellowshipping they'd go and what's important i think for all of us on this podcast

me first included we just need to understand something the church is not a yacht club the church is not a

place where we sit in lounge chairs sip our drinks eat good food and forget all the people out there

who are perishing the church is a rescue society it's a rescue culture and so jeff you asked me the

question where does the one come from okay so i'm from luke 15 and and this is a passage that i mean

emily knows by heart you know it by heart anybody listening to this who's in church you know the

passage by heart okay it says there um in that passage that tax collectors and other notorious sinners

often came to jesus to listen to him teach that's what i'm reading straight from the scriptures now

parenthetically i'm wondering how many of you who are listening right now how many of you are like jesus

and how many of you right now have or will have these sorts of people coming to hear you teach

notorious sinners okay and and tax collectors let me tell you before warrant if you have them come

you're going to be in a lot of trouble with all the religious church growing people in your church

just letting you know that right now okay and and and so you just need to know that because it's no

different and then so jesus he made up this story for the pharisees and the teachers of religious law

they were complaining that he was associating with the the the sinners and even eating with them can

you believe it so here's what he said he told him a story if a man has 100 sheep and one of them gets

lost what will he do won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go search for the one that's

lost until he finds in other words jesus left the yacht club and all the comforts and he went back in

the boat for the one person who was perishing that's where the concept of the one comes from

i love it i love your story and i've seen that story and the way it's hidden straight to the heart

of church planters as well tim because i think unfortunately a lot of us who've been in ministry

for a lot of time are real familiar with the yacht club and are real familiar with places and houses of

worship that feel really comfy and cozy and being a rescue society seems really risky and is not

something that we're comfortable with or even familiar with so talk to me about what that looks like

when that story hits straight to the heart and i understand i've been a part of a yacht club

but i'm called to start a new church and i don't i want it to be a rescue society so how does this

passion for the one start at the individual basis as becoming a personal mission for church planters

emily that is like the best question other than just question to find the one that you could actually

ask and here's why because um if you go back to jesus story in luke 15 and we all know the story so

well i mean it's like we could almost you know i've heard so many people just say 99 one 99 one well

one of the main principles of jesus this the concept of the one must become personal before it comes

organizational i mean if you just look at the story if a man and i would insert in there woman has 100

sheep it's man singular what will he do what will she do won't he leave the 99 and go out in the

wilderness search for the one who's lost until he finds it it's a critical story for every church

leader every church planter every pastor understand and what what i what i'm very passionate about is

evangelism that's made its way into our churches as a program um which is really at the heart of it all

going after the one um it's got to be a personal conviction and passion that is born out of the reality

that i too emily diaz jeffrey you too have been rescued i mean like okay so pastors teach on tithing

right and um like this is like like a pastor who teaches on tithing and does not give is basically

saying do as i do not as i say right what why do we give because god needs our money no freaking way

god doesn't need our money okay um we give out an abundantly grateful heart that jesus he gave it

all and for me to return a portion back is the least i could to display my thankfulness and gratitude

tithing ought to be a personal conviction and passion for a christian long before it's an

organizational reality because your church needs the money right and and so churches become generous

because the person or persons at the helm are generous they give lavishly and generously

so so the one has to be a personal passionate conviction for for every rescued person they

realize it they go for it so when i see a pastor and i've seen some and non-profit organizations who

ask me to give their money one of the first questions you've heard me say this emily one of the first

questions i'll ask is show me your giving records because if you're not willing to do that

i'm not gonna do what you're not doing how dare you and so the same thing i'd say to a pastor who begins a

evangelism program in a church or focuses their church so so that the church would relate to the one

but they themselves don't relate to another person who's far from god that's like how dare you

i mean because have you lost sight of who you are and what god has done through his son jesus christ for you

so for the church planter that hears your challenge and takes it really seriously and says

you're right tim how dare i how how dare i implement this in my church if i'm not living it personally

but then stands at a loss saying but shamefully i don't know how to go from here what would you say

how do you how does the church planter take steps towards um being living life with the one

well the one the thing i really appreciate about stadia um and jeff you've seen this emily you've seen

this i think anybody's affiliate with stadia knows this is we we are very bible focused and oriented and

centric and so i you'll hear me a lot today if you ask me questions go right back to the bible

and colossians 4 colossians 4 3 through 6 again who's he writing to the church of colossi it's a church

it's not a building okay it's not a digital place it's not a physical place it's it's people who are

gathered and this is what he says if it's okay i'm gonna read it pray for us too that god may open a

door for our message so that we may proclaim the mystery of christ for which i am in chains so he's in

prison pray that i might proclaim it clearly as i should then he says to them that's that's you emily

me tim you jeff he says to us be wise in the way you act toward outsiders make the most of every

opportunity let your conversations always be full of grace seasoned with salt so that you'd know how to

answer everyone so what i would say to a planter i would say to a planter's launch team i would say to

a pastor in any established church first step first principle he says to us is be wise and god seems

to say to us as church christ following people be wise in the way you act toward those outside the realm

of faith why well it seems as if god is indicating people far from god they watch our lives and and

and the spirit and the attitudes of those who are calling themselves christ followers and you

you know as well as i do that's either going to repel them or it's going to draw them and and none of us

i think that have understood that we have been rescued ourselves none of us want to repel people who are

the ones but then principle number two what i think is again paul just affirms what jesus does and he

says get personal why do i say that he says let your conversation now i don't know about you but when you

understand the the the the concept of the time and conversations very different for how we see it in

our day and age conversations take place in in in personal relationships we've become a chatting

culture these days jeff i don't want to demean all of us because we all love digital i've got an iphone

an ipad a macbook that i'm watching this on now my wife's got them all i mean in this covet 19 season that

we're well this is being taped we've got 17 different devices um on routers um oh geez okay

so but anyway um but we've become a chatting culture these days it's like we're no longer a conversational

culture and conversation happens between people who are interpersonally connected and there's invested

relationships chatting happens simply between acquaintances now let me say there's nothing wrong with

chatting because it can lead to a conversation but often what i see these days for people who say they

want to reach the one what i think happens so often these days for pastors and planters church leaders

we're good at chatting we hear a message on evangelism we go oh i'll talk to the barista about jesus

come to my church come to my church is there any relationship no is there any desire to have a

relationship in all reality no but i did the chat it was a quick superficial engagement um but but it's

just a chat it didn't lead anywhere and um and i think sometimes it doesn't lead to conversations

because did you see that colossians where it says always be full of grace so our lead card in any all

conversations face-to-face text zoom you know social media must be saturated grace and kindness and

understanding and then the last thing emily to your question like how do i go about this process i think

you have to understand that once in a while as you have these relationships with the ones

there's going to be times where you're going to need to take a stand

um but that's number three that's not number one because he he says let your conversations be seasoned

with salt so it's the third in the progression and and i i personally i kind of resonate this is just

me personally i i don't know him so i'm name dropping not because i know the person but tim keller he says

that and i and i agree with it that we're we're going to need to take a stand we ought to be you know

like sold out for racial justice we ought to be superly uh charged and concerned over the poor

pro-life and also christians should believe christians that sex should only be between a

man and a woman in marriage now i know i just dropped bombs but i'm just telling you that

but that's that's that's after invested conversations and interpersonal interactions

um that's after wisdom um that might come to play i i hope that's but that's how i i gone about it

that's how i try to go about it and you know here here's the last thing i'll say on that is as a paid

christian professional

i'll admit

it is hard because one of the greatest tragedies of christianity that unfolds in most of our lives

is that we become more and more insulated around a christian subculture and a christian bubble

and so most of us let's just be honest if you're listening today you just be honest

um

do you have this relationship because the greatest gift you can give to another human being is an

introduction to the god who loves them and i don't know about you but i want to be the kind of person

someday who says hey thanks for not giving up on me thanks for coming after me thanks for

for getting in the boat and seeking to to be about rescuing me that that's but it's hard

i mean having said all i said i just identify with everybody it's hard i i struggle with it even more

now as stadia than i did as a as a lead pastor of a local church

yeah there's a lot of controversialness in there and and i'll even want to back up even before the

three you only have 17 network devices in your house that's it yeah i'm kind of i'm kind of surprised

at that i was like i don't know maybe it's the kids that i've got but i'm probably in the 40s or 50s so

yeah expert you're like the digital superman i mean come on evidently and and it all it all goes

down because the isp wigs out so like i i i feel but no seriously there there's there's there's some

there's some really rich ideas in there let's let's follow up on it maybe it's controversial maybe it's

not but why go after your one instead of going after everyone like and i'm i am not a 30 year

lead pastor and so like teach me in this help me understand i look at you know verses like first

corinthians 9 uh i think it's 22 i've become all things to all people you know paul's talking about

so by all means possible i might save some you know and i've had pastors tell me that that we need

to be doing everything and getting out there and trying to reach everyone and and and that really

kind of challenges even some of my own ideas of of individual relationships and and building off of

that and so i feel that tension others out there feel that tension help us help us understand here

how to balance that what how should we handle the situation well i i think you have to again um just

let's remember this is personal before it's organizational so that that's critical right

and when paul's writing that who's he writing to the corinthian church so he's writing it to people

like you jeff like you emily like me tim right and and if you go through the whole context of the passage

the whole context of the passage he says when i was with the jews i lived like a jew to bring the jews

to jesus christ and then you know he says when i was with those who follow the jewish law i too lived

under the law even though i'm not subject to the law i did that so i could bring those people to christ

when i'm with gentiles another people group okay i i did who they don't follow jewish law i lived

apart from the law so i could bring them to christ and and then he goes on when i was with those who

were weak i shared their weaknesses for i want to bring the weak to christ so then your part that

you quoted jeff a lot of people take that out of context yes i try to find common ground with

everyone doing everything i can to save some so then what everybody says is in a church context but

remember we're not dealing with organization reality yet but a church is comprised of a bunch of different

individual ones jeff is a one unit you know jeff's got a wife jerry's got kids they each one emily you

know abiel tim sue so he lists out specific groups three jewish folks gentel folks and weak folks he was

trying to find common ground paul was a unique dude he was a multi-faceted multi-talented multi-relational

guy okay and i think what he's saying is this he's got some some things he was he was he was a jew of

all jews he tells us in the scriptures right he god redirected him to the gentiles and he was weak

he had his own pain in his side you know all that so he's saying okay i have some some things

that put me around some ones who could in reality be my one and and and i think we'd all have to agree

on this podcast like just in the three of us here we've all got our something for you jeff it might

be digital i also know that you happen to enjoy the martial arts so for you it could be the the

the martial arts could be your something okay emily um you're something i know because of ciudad

de gracia is is it you got grafted into a hispanic culture okay that's that's one of your some

things what's another something that i don't know about emily that we all need to know i'm a hiker

okay they're your hiker and god bless hikers okay um in other words it's not your something

it's not my something man wow yeah

well and you know what uh i i go out to the desert in palm springs area and there's all these people

have maps of hikes to do out there and and and then you'll go see whole groups doing the hike

and i go oh you know go for it i'm gonna stay on my motorcycle while i watch you all go up into the

hills but but my something my something happens to be working out in motorcycles okay um and so you know

the cool part to me about this jeff and the question you ask is we we each have our something

and paul was saying we get to choose because of that something is going to put us around some ones

will we choose to place ourselves with the one of jesus's terminology so that you can bring that one

to jesus christ so if you bring your ones i bring my ones emily brings her ones that's everyone

i mean from a contextual standpoint okay um like okay i'm gonna just bear a little bit my soul right

now for some of you um my my one i already said it's like motorcycles for years i've had people i've had

people say you need to join a christian motorcycle club okay i'm gonna tell you right now before jeff gets

emails about this there's nothing wrong with that those are great they do great things but i just

want to say gag me okay because the way i see it because of my personal passionate conviction that i have

been rescued i'm gonna leverage my one something which happens to be one of those is motorcycle riding

to be with someone who is the one just like i mentioned sailboating a little bit earlier our

sailboat race team it's comprised of people who are what we would categorize as the one there's six to

eight people on the crew there's only two of us maybe three on the crew that would be people who have

already crossed that line of faith and said yes to jesus because they were rescued them themselves so i'm

going to do everything i can in the spirit of god um to put my life around people who do something that

i like to do be around them and then see me be used to save some not through my power but through the

holy spirit's power working through me does that make sense yeah it totally does and you've made it clear

tim um and just obviously in your passion and what you've said that it it starts with a personal

conviction it starts with that leader not only having that personal conviction but leading that

out and living in that way living in whatever their one thing is with ones engaging in life with them

and then the hope is right as church leaders as church planters that that culture that is convicted

within one person spreads to the organization it spreads to the church that they are starting

so when we start to see churches transform from being those yacht club societies to actual rescue

societies what are some of the benefits and what are some of the challenges that that can create

within those those churches do you really want to know okay that's the question i mean because

the benefits are many but the first benefit is i love this you develop real christ-like maturity

in those people because now they're on the mission of jesus christ

luke 19 10 again i'm gonna just keep sticking with the bible okay the son of man jesus came to seek

and save that which is lost in other words jesus came on a search and rescue mission to those who are

lost to those who are drowning drowning he left the 99 go for the one and in that case in that story in

luke 19 is the key is was a wee little man a wee little man was he remember that guy okay you got

to ask yourself church planter church pastor do you have a marina mentality because emily asked about

that if an entire church is focused on the one the idea of consumerism leaves because the phrase you hear

in every every church is feed me feed me feed me i i was in a mentoring group with a guy who i dearly

love from a church nearby and and one day in the mentoring group he just said he just said this is our

first question okay um what's the number one reason people leave your church he first looked at this one

guy who i think is like the best bible teacher in the whole united states the guy goes oh the reason

people leave my church is because they're not being fed and then he went to the next guy and that's what

he said the next guy that's what he said nice guy that's what he said and and so what happens is

when everybody's on point in mission and when when you're on mission jesus mission you actually mature

because babies and teenagers think only and always about their freaking selves

adults think about others others so that's a benefit is is that okay to say it that way

yeah absolutely i mean i just because your church actually gets more mature

you know you think it's then the second benefit is and this is what i love about the crossing that i

got to be a part of your church will always be a safe place to hear the dangerous and scandalous

message of jesus because if everyone is inviting you know based on their something to someone who's a one

to let's say a weekend gathering or to a small group or to an outreach event to a digital event okay

if everyone's inviting their one the entire game has changed because everyone's showing up

and they're always thinking about what is this going to look like through the eyes of the person who's

sitting next to me on my shoulder what does this think about to the person who's going with this to

this this food serving event in our community when when the questions are asked in a small group because

the marina mentality leaves what what happens is we now ask questions in groups differently because

now we realize that everybody even knows with the bible let's talk about this because what you're what

you're talking about and stadia who i love is active in teaching this this ideology of of of the one

to a church planter where it's it's you're you're starting with the seed that's growing out you're

establishing that dna with the planter who then plants the church with this the one mindset you know a lot

of the audience of the church digital are are existing churches uh physical digital church online but

they're they're existing uh established churches to use your word earlier um how difficult is is it

converting a church an existing established church to this the one mentality

how difficult jeff is it uh converting a church that's fully analog and physical to a digital

reality um over the past three to four months when this time this podcast is being aired

every church has experienced a lot of tension a lot of turmoil a lot of consternation even wondering how

many people are still a part of their church really even watching their church engaging with the content

that's being produced by their church okay so i mean um anytime you introduce the new order of things

it becomes problematic for something that's already established so i will say this okay it's much easier to

start a church with this focus but please hear me if you haven't heard it already through this podcast

it's got to be personal in the life of you the planter um and and i'll just say we've always heard

all heard the phrase it's easier to have a baby that you know than it is to raise the dead okay

because if you're going to convert a church to the one mentality

you need to understand some change theory and change management um this is one of those initiatives

i'll be frank it could kill a church there's there's tons of tension in this there's there's just lots

of tension in this but here's the here's the good part if you try this okay once you get passionate about

this whenever you carry out the life in the way of jesus it always is gonna hurt for those who call

themselves church-going people so you're like jesus i mean like we're following jesus that's a good thing

right the famous story in mark 2 those those four friends cut a hole in the roof so the paralyzed guy

could come down what happened right after that happened well it tells us real quickly that you

know they get involved there's something was about physically challenged people that's to put in the

context there's something was physically challenged people they were around a someone was a one who

needed what jesus had to offer so they take them there and now now what happens the religious church-going

people they got all up in arms with the with jesus over that very thing um and i'll tell you one of the

the things that you just need to know is if you're willing to offend church-going people then go for

it and that's what those people did the story of zacchaeus i love the story of zacchaeus why well the

mission of jesus is in there luke 19 10 but you know what no one saw jesus in the trees and they're

all religious people but jesus got saved that day and instead of people posting it on facebook instagram

twitter no what did they do all the people in luke 19 7 it says all the people saw this this this

this sinful guy gets saved and they began to mutter and complain and gripe because jesus has gone to be

the guest of a sinner so you want to tell me you want me to say okay you want to do this in your church

you're going to have to just get ready for some gossiping some grumbling some griping some whining

and complaining but that's common whenever god is moving in the heart of someone

who senses that they were rescued from the depths of despair and hell

they were rescued by a savior jesus and then they because of that rescue personally keep going back

in the boat back in the boat back in the boat never staying in the yacht club because they never forgot

what it was like to be lost it would seem to me having a church focusing on on the ones um and the the

church of of ones kind of becomes monotonous we're we're reaching the same people um and and and i don't

know that that's a good thing i don't know that that's a that's a that's a bad thing uh even looking

at um you know types of of people spiritual giftings um you know race even in this world that that we're in

now um how how does a church that's focusing on the ones not become overly monotonous in context of

the the one yeah and the the reality is that's been the tension i think realistically in the united states

um these are you know since the the transition of the i'm going to call it just in simple terms the

contemporary church where shifts started taking place and i will say it this way jeff you will

never drift toward the front half of the great commission a church easily drifts to the second

half of the great commission front half of the great commission is go and make disciples go make

disciples we we hear the word disciples so we think fully or fully mature no longer baby feeding you

know milk drink milk drinking um christians so no but disciples just nothing more than a learner it's

just the beginning steps go make disciples what then teaching them baptize in the name of the holy spirit

right father son holy spirit and then teach them to obey everything i've commanded you that's the

back half of the great commission well the way i would say it is this does it become monotonous to be 99.9

of the churches that are just floating

in the cesspool of the back half of the great commission instead of wholeheartedly and passionately

with a white hot fervor toward the front half of the great commission and another way to say it would be

like this jeff um does being a digital evangelist because that's what you are jeff does being a digital

evangelist will that ever get monotonous yes or no uh yeah i'll say yes at some point it will when do you

think it will um when culture shifts away from digital being the method and how long do you think

that'll be it's gonna be a while yeah so you gotta you got a good run probably at least as long as

you're still on this earth and the the unique part about digital it's just a form that's based in a

function i mean really right a chair is a is a form that is a function to sit a digital is an expression

as a form that needs a function right and so the reality is you're right it'll end but the reality is

jesus is is is never ending he's the alpha and the omega and when someone or some ones truly stay

passionate about the fact that they were rescued i mean truly that never say changes that never ends

and and and we at stadia we say until every child has a church that that's that's that's our focus

and and and what what do we have a church for so people can be in a marina in a yacht club drinking

you know fellowshipping eating no we have a church according to jesus to seek and save

those who are lost do we want those people to grow up and become like jesus in all ways those little ones

as they age as they age yes but as they age and become like jesus what are they going to do they're

going to go back out in their their streets and their communities in their cities in their countries

in their neighborhoods and they're going to go back and they're going to tell people who are the one

who are shepherd from the 99 and they're going to say i'm here for you and i want i want you to

know about somebody that changed me transformed me altogether altered me and i've never been the same

and i want that for you too

yeah well said well said and and what i love about all of this is whether it's physical whether it's

digital whether um it's it's all that's the the means to the end which is is making disciples and

having uh the the front end of the the great commission uh being challenged before people and

that's that's really where we as a church whether physical whether digital whether online any of those

contexts that's that's the the end game is is that making disciple piece i was kind of pulling tim's

uh chain a little bit we were actually in a meeting and we were just recently talking about how

digital is not the end method um there's going to be something beyond digital and whether we should

brag about the physical aspects of of yesterday or the digital aspects of today or tomorrow all that's

meaningless uh in context of the end game isn't the tech it's not the fad it's actually this uh the idea

of making uh disciples who can turn go and make disciples and that's what i love in context of of this

one it keeps us focused um uh with that outsider with that one lost sheep um at heart so hey tim man i just i

want to thank you for that for the time hey emily as as we're wrapping up here um landing the the plane on

the on the podcast any closing thoughts i'm grateful tim for for your perspective and your passion for the

one and i'm really hopeful for the big c church that if we have this emblazoned passion for the one

that we'll see real true authentic growth from people coming from being lost to being found and

coming into the fold of jesus i'd love to see that too well said there as well tim closing thoughts

from you as we're wrapping up i'll just keep beating the drum i won't stop it's personal before it's

organizational and and pastor uh planter don't dare don't you dare cast a compelling vision for what

you yourself are not willing to do you and me need to be engaged with people who are the one

and then that flows out it radiates it is so compelling it is so life altering it'll change you

it'll change the church yeah amen uh you know we we often talk about the the value in reaching people

today is not within the building and and i would even take a step further i don't think it's within a

a church online line broadcast or or even a social media tweet at this point uh i think that the value of

changing an individual is in a relationship and so whether that's in the physical or the virtual space

um you know i told a group of pastors just recently it was like you don't have the the power of the

church anymore it doesn't matter what you say it matters far more about what what others are saying

about you and and mobilizing our people um not as uh attenders or even as members but and another

church told me it's activators in in ministry um in activating them and releasing them out

to reach their circle of influence we're going to be talking a lot we've talked a lot about this in

the past we're going to be talking more about this and and tim opening up here with the one is really

just kind of the prelude for more conversations about effective ways for us as a church to to reach

people to have this evangelism to have this outward facing really ministry model in place

that may challenge a little bit about what we learn on the uh what we get from an established church

but really if we're trying to start a movement we're trying to look at multiplication and get

people beyond just an attender and activating them so that they're they're an army unleashed on the

people they know man it's it's a lot more effective when you're focusing on the one and when you've got

individuals who are focusing on their respective ones so tim man thank you for this podcast uh i

really appreciate the time for for emily for tim this is jeff at the church digital uh thanks for

jumping on today and uh we'll see you next time here at the show y'all have a good day