EP074: Scot Mendenhall - Gaining & Using Influence on YouTube

Episode 74 of the Church Digital Podcast, once again powered by Stadia Church Planting.

Jeff here. I am excited about this episode.

I feel like I should have met this guy years ago.

And for whatever reason, even though we've lived in the same city,

even though we've had a number of mutual friends that interconnect on a regular basis,

I just never met this guy, Scott Mendenhall.

So here's his story.

Scott is currently a lead pastor at a church up in Minnesota.

It's called Unlock Church.

And the church is great.

Scott's ministry through the physical church is great.

It has absolutely nothing to do.

Maybe it doesn't have anything to do.

But it's not really the core of why I wanted to introduce Scott to you all.

You see, Scott also has a pretty vibrant YouTube channel.

And his target has been centered around this vehicle.

Maybe you know what these are called.

It's a one-wheel.

It's kind of like a motorized scooter without the handlebars with one wheel.

I don't know.

Google it.

Hey, go on YouTube and you can find it.

It's incredible.

You can see Scott.

You can see Scott's six, seven kids riding them.

You can see Scott's wife's riding them.

And so somehow Scott's like has this switch that's flipped in his head.

That's like, hey, I'm going to create content.

And then I'm going to involve my family in this content.

And we're going to focus on one wheels and the digital community on YouTube that's surrounding one wheel.

Now, what's really fascinating is that Scott, through the content, is actually building effective relationships that's allowing Scott the opportunity to connect them to Christ, to share the gospel, not like from a platform or a podium preaching, but relationally connecting with people through the digital technology and then relationally pointing these people to Christ.

It's a phenomenal story of how he's been able to gain influence, but at the same time leverage that influence for the kingdom of God in great ways centered around Minneapolis, Minnesota, across the country.

And as you'll hear through some of these stories, literally around the world.

And so how he's able to leverage that YouTube platform arguably is different than anything else that I've heard the church doing today, which is why you, the church digital audience, why you need to hear it.

So here's what I'm doing.

I'm bringing them in for a conversation.

Scott Mendenhall, lead pastor at Unlock Church, as well as the curator of this YouTube channel, as well as Ray DeArmis from Christ Fellowship, the digital pastor over there, myself, Jeff with the Church Digital, and Stadia Church Planning, in a conversation that I'm calling Gaining and Using Influence on YouTube.

Okay, everybody, here you go.

When I lived in Florida, you'd go out and you would surf, and you'd come in and say, how was it today?

And you would go, you'd just give a report.

It was amazing.

But had they sat out there for the five hours while you were out there, they would have a totally different interpretation because you paddle out past the break, which is a lot of work.

You sit on your board waiting for the right wave to come, and you're just sitting there, you're just sitting there, and then you go for a wave, and you fall, and all of a sudden, out of five hours, you rode like one epic wave.

It was like, whoo, that was amazing.

And when you get into the beach, you tell people it was a great day because you were so stoked about the one ride you had, but it was surrounded by five hours of paddling, not trying to drown, just sitting on your board.

And so as I begin to tell our story with YouTube and the success that we're seeing, there was a lot of paddling involved.

There was a lot of sitting around, scratching your head, going, why aren't we getting traction and things of that nature?

So I'm about to give the highlight of the five hours.

Does that make sense?

We started a YouTube channel where we vlogged about our family.

We had, at the time, six kids, and we're like, this is a unique deal.

You have six kids.

You're starting a church.

Let's see if people would attach to our story.

So for a couple of years, we vlogged strictly about our family.

If you go on our YouTube channel and dig down far enough, you'll get to see the birth of two of our children that I had videos going in the room with my wife.

And it's real tasteful.

It's not like, wait, what?

Too much, you know, it's done.

It's not National Geographic worthy.

Yeah, it's done very, very tasteful.

Even guys would watch it and go, oh, wow.

It just, and we're not just putting videos out on YouTube that are just videos, right?

There's a style to it.

There's filters.

There's audio.

Like, we are taking time to build all of those things.

And then about, what is it, two years ago then, so we've been at it for four years.

Two years into it, I got a hold of a device called a Onewheel.

And I was like, dang, this thing's awesome.

And then I started realizing that there's this community around Onewheels.

And it's like, what there are, Harley Davidson riders are Onewheelers, right?

It's like this community of people.

And we just started leveraging Onewheels to gain a bigger audience.

Because on YouTube, you need, you've got to be searchable.

People were not searching pastor, raising large family and church planning.

That's just not what they're searching.

So people are searching Onewheels.

And so we just started creating content all around Onewheels.

And we just seen this explosion of authentic relationships through a digital space, through

YouTube, because they can see me.

We can engage into chats below, leaving comments and things of that nature.

And now we're well into it.

We have steps to move people along so that it's not just entertainment.

It's like, we're leveraging this to ultimately spread the gospel.

We just don't put that out on the channel.

Because again, you would lose the audience that you automate.

Are you trying to get?

You, and I love that you're being so honest about the story.

And I think the metaphor fits perfectly.

Because especially right now in the midst of COVID, I'm sure you've had a bunch of churches,

bunch of church leaders approach you saying, hey, Scott, like, you know, I know that I'm supposed to go digital.

But I feel like I'm trying stuff, I tried one thing, and it didn't go so well.

And now I'm wondering if I should completely bail on it, which, which I love.

How did you, because I think it's so great that you honed in on this specific subculture.

How did you start to foster that community there, being that you were so new to it?

I think in all the experiences that you go through, right?

Like when God drops something in your heart, we automatically think, oh, well, tomorrow, I'm going to be successful.

I'm going to have the audience and it was, it was God just saying, no, I want you to start with the vlog.

So you can learn how to tell stories.

And so we began to be able to tell great stories.

And so now when we move intentionally to one wheels, we're still going, okay, stories king.

What's the story we're telling today?

If we're going to do a product review, what's the story?

We don't want to just do product review.

How do we keep telling the story?

And for us, the story that is always driving everything is that we want to be hope dealers, faith spreaders, and love givers.

And so it's okay.

How in this video are we going to spread some hope?

How are we going to ordeal some hope?

How are we going to spread love and all those?

How are we going to do that in a way that comes across authentic, not fake?

I guess that's the same word.

But it is the, it's reaching through a screen to them.

And so every time it's what's the story, the story is king.

And then we just tell the story as best as we can.

And we often say, we'll wrap up every video a lot.

Hey, our hopes here is to always be hope dealers, faith spreaders, and love givers.

So we don't hide that.

But that's a catch for a lot of people, right?

Like, I can get into that.

That's not a turnoff for them.

And then we often hear a lot in the comments, man, you guys are so positive.

How is it that you guys are so positive all the time?

And it's not, again, it's not us putting on a show.

It's just who we are.

Go back to the vlogs where we're capturing raw life.

I mean, raw life, okay, in those vlogs.

They weren't set up moments.

And we're just laughing at stuff.

And I mean, we have a vlog where we have seven kids in the middle of Canada.

And our boat starts to sink in the middle of nowhere.

Like, we have no cell signal.

We have nothing.

We are bailing out water.

And we are laughing our heads off at the experience where most people would be freaked out, right?

Because you have seven kids in a tiny boat and it's sinking.

And we're just like, well, if you find this video footage, we didn't make it.

And we're just laughing at it, bailing water.

And that's just us, you know?

And to that credit, it's not because we have some personality.

It's because we genuinely, at the core of who we are, our trust is in Jesus.

And we're just like, hey, we're not the story here.

We're part of the story.

Jesus is the story.

We're a part of it.

And how are we telling that story?

Let's back up because you said something that's fascinating.

Nobody's searching for pastor in the majority of things, probably that we are, we the church

are putting on YouTube.

I mean, these are things, yeah, people may be searching for how to pray or something like

that.

But as a general rule, like churches aren't getting a lot of traction on YouTube because

we're not creating the right content or we're not positioning ourselves in a way to be useful.

Now, you're, you're an influencer.

And at least I would consider you that way.

And you have an audience that that's, that's building.

Your audience is centered around a mobile vehicle.

I mean, literally a one wheel.

How did you choose to be an influencer in this area?

Like of, of all the different things you're, you're a surfer.

You use that analogy earlier on.

Um, there, there may be some parallels, but there's other things, six, seven, eight, 29 kids,

whatever you're up to at this point.

Why, why one wheel?

Like, help me understand that.

Well, again, I think going back to trying to be as real as we can, we want, it's something

we absolutely love and enjoy.

And so it's just something that was, it was natural.

It's not forced.

I think, uh, again, not knowing the audience is going to listen to this, but you know, I've

always adopted the, this, the verse that author Paul writes, where he says, I become all things

to all people.

Why?

To reach everybody.

And so for us, it's just like, Hey, this is where there's an audience.

Let's go there.

And we'll become experts in this field to reach as many as possible.

I guarantee you in a couple of years, it won't be one wheels.

There'll, it'll be, there'll be in there in the stories we're doing, but we'll move.

We'll, we'll stay where, where we keep having an audience to keep me reaching as many as

possible with the gospel of the good news of who Jesus is dying on a cross and rising again.

Right.

We will move.

Um, we're, we're not married to this idea.

We're dating it.

We will, we'll drop it whenever we feel we need to move.

So that's, that's, that's our, our intake on it all.

It always is to not marry.

You marry the story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising and married to it.

Never.

That's not going anywhere, not changing it, but how we do it.

We will change that all the time.

And, um, if you ride a one wheel, I think you'll also get your answer.

You'll get on it and you'll be like, oh my gosh, this thing's amazing.

Um, and then also the company, uh, they, we, for whatever reason, it's a bit where God's

open doors.

We have our, we have favor with the company.

There are great guys out there.

Are they followers of Jesus?

Nope.

Um, but they, they have the same personalities.

We do this laid back vibe, the, that people matter more than the product.

Do you get that from one wheel that it's not about the product?

It's about the experience we're creating for people.

And so we just jive in that.

And so it makes it really fun.

A lot of people think I work for one wheel and I, I'm like, great.

That just helps us.

Cause I think it validates what we're doing.

That's cool.

How do you guys decide the length of time that you're doing some of your videos?

Cause I see that some of them are just like, I'm looking at a 32 minute video here on your

page.

I'm like, wow, that's a lot of content, man.

Uh, for, for, and I know it's not all of them, but you know, 15, eight minutes there,

there's different varying, uh, content links and YouTube to me seems to be like a great

place for long form content.

But then, you know, we worried about losing that retention in terms of audience.

So what are your thoughts there to geek out a little bit on a little bit of the

algorithm stuff?

I know of YouTube still learn.

And that's probably our weakest is, is figuring out the computer that you have to get along

with that.

They would show your things is that views don't, they matter, but it's the length of

view.

And so you'll see when you go through our channel, we'll have a two minute video.

We'll have a 10 minute video.

We'll put a 30 minute video out there because at the end it's playing with the algorithm.

And there are people that like the 30 minute video.

The, um, we recently posted a couple of 30 minute rides on just one wheels for whatever

reason, people like to watch people's feet on one wheels.

I don't, I don't, I don't get it all the time.

Um, but they do.

And so we just go out with my, uh, six kids that have one wheels and we just go on our

long, you know, 10 mile ride, record it, put it on there.

And then I do a voiceover and we just sit here and we just talk about what we, you know,

the wheels we're riding, um, and then we shift to asking the question, where's your hope right

now in COVID?

How are you handling this?

And obviously it's a one way conversation until they drop comments.

And then oftentimes what happens is they drop their comments.

We move them to DMS on Instagram or on Facebook so that we can have some deeper conversations

because they don't, they don't want to have air all of their business in a very public,

uh, place.

And so it's playing with algorithms and knowing that, Hey, our audience loves it.

And to be honest with you, sometimes we'll just take those long ride videos and we'll

put them up in our office here and just let them play.

So it creates a vibe.

You don't, you don't put the sound on, you just have this one wheel ride going on and

on the screens.

And it's just a cool vibe.

So you guys are leveraging that with next steps to help create conversation that leads people

to the gospel.

Oh yeah.

That's amazing.

Yeah.

It's, it's all, it's all, it's all intentional.

And if I can go back, uh, the question was, or stated somebody or said a statement of like

churches trying to jump on YouTube and, you know, you go on YouTube and, and pastors

have great teachings on there and in some really well-known pastors have great material on YouTube,

but it's for Christians for the most part, because unchurched people aren't searching those

topics.

And even, even they, somebody might search how to pray, but that's not necessarily going

to be an unchurched person.

And so you've got to be able to go to the unchurched people, use the right, um, bait, uh, if I

can, cause you know, Jesus says, we're supposed to be a fisher of men.

Uh, I love to fish here in Minnesota.

It's very popular to fish.

Uh, we did a video recently where the kids and I went one wheeling with our fishing poles

and hit, uh, lakes all over here.

And we just fished and it was hilarious and people loved it.

And, um, what I've learned with fishing is you got to have the right bait or you're going

to catch nothing.

And so, same with, if you want an audience of unchurched people, you've got to be bringing

to them something that they're going to be lured in with.

Right.

And so, um, even down to the way we're dressing, I mean, for me, it's all natural, right?

I wear bands, clothes, long hair, have tattoos.

That's all natural.

Okay.

So for me, it's really easy.

But when we have guests, people in videos, we have conversations on what are you wearing?

What, what, what are you going, you know, you just paint this picture that, Hey, there

is a vibe that we're looking for in these videos.

If we want to make it look like we've never done any of that, but we're trying to create

this draw, um, and then title it where people will search it and you get the unchurched people.

They drop comments down below.

And if it gets pretty deep, we move it into these DM areas where we can have deep conversations.

You find out where they live, if they're local, because obviously in the algorithms and in

the tags, we're posting one wheel, uh, Minnesota cause we're here.

So why not?

And so if they're local and close enough to come to a Sunday service, we invite them on

Sunday, which we've had, I don't know, a dozen families that have found us through YouTube

and jumped into our church here and they were followers of Jesus.

And now they are, you know, started because of an electronic device.

So it's, it's, it, for us, I don't know if we have it wrote down anywhere, but we all

talk in the office that the, if it's a funnel, the, we want the biggest funnel possible.

We're funneling people in to get them, uh, in a relationship with Jesus.

And then we're discipling them and we figure out how do we disciple.

I'm so glad that you guys figured out a way to do this.

Uh, this is missions essentially that you're doing, uh, but through digital means you've

reached the people group.

So at church, uh, on Sundays, we talk about, this is our digital missions.

If we aren't in the digital mission field, then we're missing it in this day and age.

And so that's how we label it is we go local, global, and digital.

And this is our digital missions.

Um, and so when we had to switch for COVID, um, actually it probably forced us into some

things that we really stumbled on was, uh, like this Sunday at 10 AM, we're going to do a

premiere, uh, on my YouTube channel.

It'll be a race between, uh, our staff members here.

And we all have these great outgoing personalities and it's, we're, we just work well and we just

race on one wheel doing all kinds of ridiculous things, shenanigans.

And then at the end of that, we go, okay, we're going to go to another YouTube channel.

We're going to have a conversation.

And we set up the conversation in a way that would be compelling to someone that's unchurched.

And then go, if you want, click this link and we'll have the conversation.

And in that we have now watched people go from the entertainment, which we labeled behind

the scenes.

This is our lobby experience on Sunday is the one wheel race where we can talk.

Hey, are you still sitting in your pajamas?

Did you brush your teeth today?

How are your kids?

Lobby experience, right?

You got your coffee.

Awesome.

Then if they click the link, they've gone into the main auditorium where we're now going

to have our official welcome.

We're going to have the, uh, a song of some sort, and then we're going to have the teaching

and then giving that's main auditorium stuff where then the conversation in the chat room

shift from, are you in your pajamas to, Oh man, that song.

I love the line in that song to the teaching.

That's a great point.

Or, uh, just all different stuff.

It shifts because we know as a staff, a team, this is the main auditorium.

So he tells us how we need to be communicating and behaving.

And then you have the dismissal.

Goodbye.

Hey, and we'll see you on Tuesday.

If you're into one wheels on our YouTube channel, where we'll drop another video.

So then you have them coming back.

What's that?

That's awesome.

By the way, just how you're, you're utilizing this on your own channels to funnel in, to

create the funnel that's pulling people in, feeding them into discipleship.

And I think you said there's 12, 12 people that, that have connected to your physical church,

uh, there in, um, in, in Minnesota through this.

What, what does that look like?

What does your funnel look like for people that aren't in the physical location?

How are you driving them into the funnel of discipleship?

What, what does that process or pathway look like, uh, for people that aren't physically

near you?

Yeah.

So I think it is a bit of DMs where you're keeping it digital.

Most all of it is digital to be honest with you, but where you're, you're just typing and

you don't get to see their face.

And then we, we have at noon on Wednesdays, it's just a one wheel, uh, zoom meeting or a

go-to meeting and it's, we put the link in my profile on Instagram.

We talk about it in our videos and then people are popping in there.

And that's where you really, right.

That's where it gets sped up quick.

Um, and we're early on in that stage that it's not heavy, um, Jesus at the moment.

It's just salt and pepper at the moment, because we want real relationships.

We want them to know first that we love them.

And that when we talk about Jesus, it's not to have a, a check mark.

Oh, look, we just got that person.

That person just got saved.

And, oh, look at, we're doing so well.

I don't want that impression or feeling.

And it doesn't, to me, numbers isn't a thing in a sense.

It's really about, Hey, one matters.

One absolutely matters to me.

Um, and we're fortunate to now be at it long enough that it's, you know, it's not just

one anymore.

It's more, it's, it's being faithful with the few.

God brings increase.

When we show that we'll be faithful with the one person in a digital capacity, God will continue

to bring us more.

And sometimes that faithful bit isn't just sticking around.

It's upgrading the quality of video, upgrading the audio, upgrading the look.

That's being faithful in what you're doing.

And so, uh, to see everyone, uh, beginning, final, watch a video, step two, three, there's

no steps.

It's just come in any way you can.

You might go from watch a video, jump into the zoom meeting, or you might stay in DM.

I don't really care.

Um, as long as that, we have a point where we are pointing them to Jesus and they get to

make the decision, am I going to be a follower of Jesus or not?

And so those Wednesday meetings have been really crucial for us.

It's been a lot of fun about 20, 20 some people have been in there on average, but we're rotating

who it is, uh, from all over the world.

Like it's not Minnesotans and it's not just United States.

It's Europe.

It's Africa.

It's, it's crazy.

It's crazy.

I totally appreciate your heart of, Hey, you know what?

We want to be authentic.

We're, we're building relationships with this.

We see a potential towards this and we see God's leading towards things, um, towards doing

ministry, but we want to be authentic and relational in that it's, it's not about numbers.

I'm just wondering kind of, as you're looking at the potential of what's here, when you're

looking down the road, what, what's your, your vision in this area, you've got a physical

church, you're funneling the physical people through, you've got an opportunity to connect

with people on a, on a digital landscape where people are, um, your description, multiple

continents are now engaging with you.

So you've got, what's the start of influence across multiple continents through a, a one

wheels YouTube channel.

Like what, what would you see happening in those areas as you're planning or praying or

even thinking like, what, what does this look like down the road?

What, where are you taking this?

Well, I saw it, this will sound like I'm contradicting myself because numbers don't

matter, but we want massive influence, uh, in, in social media.

Um, it's funny, you said earlier, oh, you're such an influencer.

I don't say that yet.

Like I'm so, I'm, I'm so wired that, that I'm always thinking to the future and not in

the presence in the, in the sense like, uh, so I won't, I wouldn't say I'm an influencer

until we have at least 20,000 subscribers, you know?

So, uh, that's how I look at that.

But, and that's the more we get, the more opportunities we get to shine the light of Jesus.

And so we're not sitting around just going, oh, this is our pie.

No, we're going to become better at what we're doing.

We're going to tell better stories.

And in the longterm, man, I hope that, uh, uh, I don't know how to say it other than

that we're the poster example of how to do ministry on YouTube, that we're the pioneers

of it, that we're figuring it out.

And that, uh, is, you know, no one's asked this question yet, but I'll throw it in there

for how much hate we get from other pastors for what we're doing.

I would love, I would love for them to jump on here and go, oh, I see it.

Because I just think that we, we as pastors, sometimes I'm embarrassed to call myself a

pastor because it means too much to too many people that it's about butts in seats and bucks

in a bucket.

Ah, it's nothing like pastor is my job.

What you're hearing me talk about on YouTube is me being a follower of Jesus.

It's not because I'm a pastor.

And so this isn't about somebody having a title pastor, get a YouTube channel.

No, if somebody is listening to this and they are a human and you have a passion about something,

create content on it with the heart of leading people to Christ.

Look at what's in your hand and do something with it.

Stop looking at what's in everybody else's hands and wish you had what they had.

No, you have stuff in your hand.

Now go do something with it.

And so that's really the result of what we're doing.

We had technology and the ability to edit video.

So we went and did something with it.

And so I don't know if that's too harsh or, but it's like, man, if everybody were doing

this, you just would make an impact.

And so long-term, I don't know how to label it in any way other than we want to have massive

influence on YouTube.

And we've always said it this way.

We would love to build a building one day funded by YouTube.

And so if you put the math together, that means we're here for the long term.

And we're going to, we want to be very successful in what we're doing because I don't want to

ever have to do a giving campaign ever in the history of Unlocked Church.

And so we have decided to figure out revenue in other places other than constantly berating

our people in, hey, give us more money.

If they're obedient as a follower of Jesus, they're going to give.

And Jesus will tap their heart going, hey, you have excess of resources.

Give more.

That's not my job.

That's Jesus's job between people.

And now if I stepped on some people's toes, you might be deleting this part.

The reason I would call you an influencer is because you're utilizing, there are probably

churches that have more YouTube followers.

There are definitely people that have more YouTube followers.

But the reason I consider you an influencer is because you're doing something to reach

people that aren't church people and you've been successful doing it.

The average church is going to say, oh, hey, let's, let's attack YouTube.

We want, and so, hey, let's, let's put our sermons up.

Let's, let's chop our sermons up into smaller, more digestible pieces.

Let's try to do something with content that they already have because they're hoping that

they don't have to put more work into making YouTube happen.

And to this point, and I don't want to overstate here, but it's not necessarily as successful

as to your point, let's put in the work.

Let's go paddle around.

We're going to get some success eventually, but it's going to take you a five hours worth

of paddling to get the one wave to see, see the success.

And so the fact that you're creating new content, the fact that you're targeting a one, uh, an

individual, um, you're leaving the 99 sheep to go after the one sheep.

And that's multiplying in context of digital.

Like this, this to me is exciting because you're looking at YouTube as a community, not as a tool

to funnel people into a physical community and you're targeting people around the country.

Targeting may even be a strong word.

You are reaching people of the, you, the, uh, the one wheel community that way.

Um, let me ask this, like what would be next?

Cause you, you said something earlier, you were like, Hey, so we're going to do this.

We're doing this one world thing or one wheel thing for a while, but at some point, you know,

it may be one wheel and something and something.

And, you know, is it like, like stickers on, on a, on a, on a NASCAR where you're just kind

of looking for different things?

Or would you keep with the same kind of one, like who's your one with, with one wheel?

Let me start with that.

Who are you going after?

And then what would maybe be some other ways that you're thinking about reaching that one?

Well, I think you're, if you watch the content, you can see that we, we keep,

uh, our family involved in the background on different things, uh, that we're trying to,

at the same time of talking about a product, we're also trying to be an example on what

does it look like to be a family?

Um, that it's not dad's hobby here.

It's, this is an entire family that's surrounded this.

Like, uh, a week ago, we just built a berm, which in the backyard, and it was all hands

on deck.

We filmed it.

The kids are carrying lumber and then we go and ride it.

And it's so much fun.

Last night, we were up, I think till 1030, the entire family just riding a berm, uh, all

night laughing.

And there's no video cameras going.

It's genuinely what we were doing as a family.

But what we try to do is put that into videos that we can, uh, help families become better

families.

Like we've seen that as well in the videos going, Oh man, I never thought about riding with

my kid or, Oh, I never, I never thought my kid at that age was capable of handling, uh,

machines like, uh, what we were doing when we were building things.

And so we always are intentional what we're doing.

It will always look like we're not, but we, we try to think through everything.

How are we inspiring, not just the person that rides one wheel, but how do we help the families

be better families and serve them in what we're doing visually?

Um, how is this?

Uh, I think a couple of wins we've had recently is that families are now watching our content

like together.

And so to see that, um, a dad, he was right.

Oh, my, my kids love watching your content.

The problem is, is that they now want a one wheel.

And so that to me, I think that's a huge win that we're creating content for the whole family.

It's safe, it's healthy, and we're inspiring the next generation as well.

Um, and then when you're asking what's next, I don't have that, uh, it's written down somewhere.

I think for me, it has always been for the life of, of me being a follower of Jesus, always

paying attention where in culture, where's culture headed and trying to be ahead of culture

instead of catching up to culture.

I think the church is guilty of that all the time of catching up to culture instead of being

in where culture is right.

It's a step behind.

I mean, it's just embarrassing.

And so like for us being four years into YouTube, we didn't want to catch up to it right

though.

And I want people to jump in and do YouTube channels and stuff, but it's like, you're

catching up.

It's like, if you haven't started thinking about what you're going to do with TikTok, you're

in trouble, right?

We're already sitting here going, how are we going to leverage TikTok?

What are we going to do with it?

And we won't get on there and really go after TikTok till we know what we're going to do

there.

Um, and so it's, it's just paying attention where's culture going and paying attention.

How do, how can we be the salt of the earth that Jesus has called us to be inside culture?

We are to keep it salty.

And so we'll often say that in our videos, Hey, we're just trying to keep it salty.

And those that are followers of Jesus will know exactly what we're talking about.

But those that don't, don't get it until they become a follower of Jesus.

Like, ah, I get it.

Like recently we got a, a young guy from England that just became a follower of Jesus through

all of this, through the COVID experience.

He's in England.

He loves one wheels.

Uh, his wife is a little bit messy and he's now gone, man, my life is totally different.

I've never known a group of people like this.

Um, and he started talking about some things in the chat room on Sunday during service and

to watch our, our community of people here at Unlocked Church jump in and just start loving

on him, he's like, I've never experienced that Jesus is real.

It's just, it's cool.

It's really cool.

That's awesome.

How are you?

Um, cause I know that YouTube has put in like certain things for content for kids.

I imagine with your kids on one wheels, this is kind of, I can only see it as being explosive

in terms of reaching children because my kids love watching other kids do things on YouTube.

Like that's a huge factor for them.

Uh, how are the demographics in terms of the age range of, of people that are, that are

watching you cause I imagine a lot of kids, I imagine my kids would totally be into this.

Yeah.

So with, in January, YouTube shifted a lot of things.

They got in a lot of trouble with, um, what they did with advertising and marketing to young

kids.

And so they changed a lot of their stuff.

And so when that happened, we really changed as well, where the kids are more in the background

of what we're doing.

They're not the focal point.

And then everything we're putting out is marked, not made for kids.

So when you watch our recent stuff, you can totally tell it is not for kids, but kids

love it.

That's the funny thing about like, even what YouTube is trying to do.

It's like not made for kids, but kids are entertained by it.

Okay.

Um, so when we look at our demographics, we're, we're, we're, we love, because the algorithm

tells you everything.

I mean, it's kind of scary when you know what, I mean, I can tell you who, how many women

watched and men watched.

I can tell you, uh, what their age groups are.

And it, the fun bit is we don't, we don't lean really heavy anywhere we have from the

ages of, because on YouTube, you can't legally have an account before 13, right?

So it all starts at 13 and above, but most of ours are in the age bracket of 18 to 55.

I think.

And when you look at the videos, it's almost even across the board on that, which I like.

That's what we want.

Cause if we were just getting people that were my age, uh, man, that's not healthy.

I mean, that's, that's just average leadership.

You just attract your own, right?

Your own age group, right?

That's you don't even have to try, but to get across the board and get other age groups,

that's work and intentionality, which we have put in to make sure we're reaching those.

And when you look at, we have Lily and Kristen are two one wheelers with us that are on staff

here and we put them in almost all of our videos.

Why?

Because it drives the women to our videos that we're, it's complete.

It's not just sectioned to men.

We are going, no, we want women writers.

We want to be able to have a voice into their life as well.

Uh, same with my wife being on the videos because when my wife's in here, then the moms that

are thinking about, Hey, can I ride?

Well, yeah, here you go.

The algorithm, you know, and learning that on YouTube, honestly, that's, that's the one

piece of this that I've just even started starting it.

I don't know that I've really spent time delving into that.

And another thing that I'm, I'm learning a lot in this season, uh, ironically is, is TikTok

and you tease that, you know, just, just a couple minutes ago, ironically.

And the reason this is, is ironic is I'm like number one on Google right now, uh, for TikTok

and church.

For some reason, uh, the, the Google search thing and it'd be a couple articles that, that

we have, I get hundreds of viral hits a day, uh, from people searching whether their church

should be on TikTok.

And, um, and, and I'm actually pro, um, because I feel like we should be connecting via whatever

methods possible and in the grand scheme of people are upset at Jeff because of something

that's high on the list.

Um, because people think that we should not be on TikTok.

Uh, these are also the same people that said we shouldn't be broadcasting church services

online, but Hey, COVID happened and everything's crazy.

So what I want to hear from you is what are you seeing and how is that paying off as you're

engaging with people from this authentic ministry stance that, that you're looking for?

How is TikTok paying off for you and how are you utilizing it?

Well, I just think any, any new platform, okay.

Not just TikTok, whatever the thing is next.

Why should the church be there is because people are there.

Like if you don't show up, who's bringing the light, who's bringing the salt.

Aren't we, we're supposed to bring that.

Like I, so like for those that would, uh, say, but we aren't to be there.

I, they need, they're not reading the gospel that I'm reading that.

And that's to me is a problem, right?

Because if we're not coming in there and bringing the good news, who's going to, and if we're

not presenting the message of Jesus has good news, then we're telling the wrong story because

the angels introduced Jesus, right?

The gospel as the good news said to the shepherds, I bring you good news, but we start bringing

shackles and chains and going, you can't, and you shouldn't.

And all these things, hold up.

It started as good news.

May we go back to that and take that into TikTok and YouTube and Twitter and Instagram

and whatever is next, uh, get in it, get on there.

You know, it's just, uh, just, I mean, I, I'll sum it up just like that and leave it.

It's like, it's silly to me.

And, and I want more people being that are authentic followers of Jesus, where they're listening to

what Jesus has to say and that they love people.

I want them in those platforms because somebody has got to be in there.

I mean, if not, all that's getting spread is pornography and lies and fear and, and too

much other things to just go.

If we're not there, who's going to, it's from Ezekiel chapter 22, maybe where God said, I'm

Ezekiel 22 · chapter mention

looking for somebody to stand in the gap and there was nobody.

We long ago said, I'm going to stand in the gap for the unchurched people.

And there are plenty of them on YouTube.

I mean, I think what, what probably keeps people wanting to go there is that, yeah, there's

a lot of darkness in Twitter and a lot of darkness on YouTube and stuff.

I mean, somebody posted a link on one of our videos just the other day that linked to pornography.

Well, do I want to see that?

No.

Oh my gosh.

No.

Did I, did it disgust me?

Yeah.

So I have to manage my comment section.

I have, I report those that do it because I can't, but then again, I sit there and I'm

kind of like, Hey, we're reaching the right audience.

They don't know Jesus.

They would do that, but they listened and you have no idea what Jesus will do with just

simple acts of love.

And they might act out of hatred or disrespect.

That's not up to me.

And I wasn't offended by that individual.

I was just like, Hey, what do we expect?

We are in a world where there is unchurched people.

They're going to behave like unchurched people.

That's great.

That's who we want to reach.

I just wanted to commend you because I think it's amazing that you've identified a subculture

that's unique to something that you already are and that you've leveraged it for the

sake of the gospel.

Can you think of any other subcultures do you think that pastors would find interest in

outside of like Bible stuff, right?

Because once again, that's not what people are searching on YouTube.

And so I think a lot of pastors are thinking, well, yeah, you know, Scott, I got like, I

got likes and interests and I got things that I'm into, but where would I start?

I'll try to answer it in two ways, right?

Cause some of it will be technology.

People will say, I got something I'm into, but I don't have lights and cameras, but everyone

has a cell phone with pretty high quality camera these days.

And so you, you already have what you need.

God is giving you the equipment to use video to spread good news.

And then it's really, what are your hobbies?

If, uh, if, uh, if pastors only hobby is the Bible, that's good.

Well done, but they've got to have other ones, right?

Like, come on, stop telling me that all I do is read the Bible and pray.

I'm sure there are those people, but they're, if you're into food, teach people how to make

food.

If you're into, uh, fitness, give workouts once a week, whatever you're into leverage those

things that you might be able to teach people and help people.

Uh, I think great communicators do this every Sunday from a platform.

They tell a story that what draws people in so they can give the message.

And so we're trying to tell the story of how to make something, work out, knit something,

plant something to then illustrate the message in the message.

Doesn't have to be in every video.

It's periodically.

And on, uh, on our YouTube channel, we leverage Christmas and Easter where we put the gospel

very heavy.

We saturate it on our channel.

Those are some of the longer ones.

Like this past Christmas, we flew out to LA and we met up with the creators of one wheel

and we created content with them.

And then we aired it on Christmas morning and we 5,000 people watched it on Christmas morning.

And we had the gospel message in it and it was us from, you know, we had races involved

in it.

It was just, it was a lot of fun as well.

What helps us with partnering with one wheel is that we, if we do it right, one wheel will

post some of our things on their Instagram and YouTube account, which they have 35,000

followers on Instagram.

And probably even more, I haven't looked recently, but every time they post something of ours,

we gain 20, 30, a hundred new followers.

And so it's advantageous to work with somebody that can help you with the missing mission.

And they know what we're doing.

We've not hit it from them.

They know exactly what we're doing.

We're doing a camp this, uh, summer in a couple of weeks, it's camp in a box.

And one wheel is sending us many one wheels.

That's going to go to every camper.

Hmm.

Come on.

Like we're, it's going to cost us a lot of money, but we're giving it free.

And then we're going to be on YouTube doing a live broadcast TV show in a sense on YouTube

with a chat room.

And we're going to have craft time with kids.

And one of the crafts is developing or taking your one wheel and designing it how you want.

And then text us a picture and we'll put it on our screens.

And so it's not just helping us with, with our YouTube channel.

It's helping us spread the gospel because all of a sudden you're doing this camp and they're

getting one wheels.

I mean, and it's a free camp, but yet you just got something that if you went on one wheels

website is $12.

Wait, you just gave me a $12 thing.

We're giving 300 of them away as we're at 300 people doing a digital camp.

Sounds like winning to me, right?

No, it's brilliant.

I feel like you have found a way.

And, and I say this with the utmost respect.

I'm like, you guys have found a way to leverage this partnership with a company that essentially

doesn't share the same faith values that you share.

They may share like similar values and family and friendship and fun and, and, you know, safety

with one wheel and all that stuff.

But in terms of the gospel, they're not there, but they're okay with you leveraging your platform

for sharing your message.

And it's a flourishing partnership here.

You know, somebody checks our YouTube channel out.

One of you guys said it.

We are not, there are millions of more people out there for us to get subscribers.

So we're just starting at the race.

We need as many people subscribing and watching the more views you get and the more subscribers

you get, the more the algorithm presents this stuff in front of people.

And what we've learned on YouTube, it doesn't matter how good our content is.

If our title sucks in our thumbnail sucks, no one's clicking it.

We have got to have a good title.

And we learned early on, you can't do bait and switch or clickbait, right?

People get mad at you.

And I think that's the opposite of spreading hope.

We just lied to them, right?

And so we've got to have a compelling title that's truthful and a picture that someone goes,

I want to click that.

And so we're, we just stumbled on in the last probably six months doing better at those things,

which is helping us grow quicker.

Like it ultimately comes down to people wanting to watch our content, watching it longer.

Like when we do those 30 minute videos, if, if somebody watches 15 minutes of it, well,

that's 50% of the video.

And that's kind of the threshold you want.

You want 50, you want 50% of your videos to be watched because then YouTube goes, okay,

it's being watched 50% of the time on this.

We're sending it to more people and more people.

And then it just takes off and it snowballs on its own.

And you just, you know, I wake up and just comment back to everybody.

That's how my morning starts.

I sit down, I comment back to the several hundred comments we have on our videos.

And then I check my email and then create more content.

You, you've inspired me.

Um, my, I, I'm, I'm interested in doing this.

Help me get started.

My, the hobby in my life, the thing that I would say, yeah, I'm probably interested in

this.

Yes.

I spend a lot of time doing this anyway.

There may be a market.

Um, there may be an audience.

It's Jeeps.

I love Jeeps, uh, driving around the Jeep wave, trying to mod out the Jeep, always doing

something.

I never worked in the garage.

Never.

It was like wasted space for years until I bought the Jeep.

And now I'm in the garage as much as possible.

Even in this COVID season, it was funny.

I was driving around this morning.

I don't do a lot of driving because of COVID and, uh, and a Jeep guy waved at me as I was

driving down Ocala road here in Miami.

And I just had this like warm feeling inside.

It's like, yes, the Jeep wave.

I'm, I'm back with my people.

So I'm, I'm thinking about doing this Jeep thing.

Like, give me some practical insight.

How, give me three steps.

How do, how do I start with this thing?

I've got a hobby.

I've got an idea.

What's next?

Okay.

So you've identified your, your niche, right?

It's Jeep.

Second is what's the story of your first video?

What's the story you're going to tell?

And it could be, uh, you've got a new mod you're putting on there.

And that's the story that day.

All right.

I got this Jeep Wrangler.

I'm putting a new bumper on.

Uh, and as you install the bumper, you're telling the other stories of what you've done to your

Jeep.

So that's it.

Identify the story.

And what are you going to do to it?

And then what, what is your end result of like every video?

Like what's, what, what are you going to say?

These, like what we say, hope, healer, faith, spreader, love, giver, uh, that sums up everything.

So what would be your, what would be the mantra that someone would go, okay, Jeff likes Jeeps.

I like his content, but what's he, what's he, what's driving all this?

And you sum it up with this, boom, well, they'll click and subscribe.

And then, Hey, next week we have this.

So what's the tag to make them come back that you're going to regularly post.

If you don't regularly post, if you don't have a schedule, it's hard for people to buy into it

because they don't know when you're going to post next.

There's no, it's not a real authentic relationship because they don't, they don't know.

So like for us, when we're posting right now during COVID, we've been posting,

I think five times a week.

And so, uh, that's a lot of content you gotta be creating.

I mean, that's, that's burning the midnight oil at times.

Um, that, that, but the reason we've grown by thousands in the last week or so is because

of the consistency that people can turn on their computer the next morning.

And there we are.

Yeah.

So, so once a week is, is that a reasonable twice a week?

Like what's once a week I'm doing enough to get noticed, but not so little that no mom

forgotten about.

Yeah.

Once a week is a great because it allows you as a content creator to have enough time

to get a thought for the next one.

And, and as you create your channel, you know, put that, uh, it's the banner or channel art

that would say who you are and what you're about.

You'd want to have a picture there with your Jeep and post like I post every Monday at eight

o'clock or whatever day you're choosing.

And then you posted all the time.

We, we, uh, used to do every Wednesday and everybody would thank us for being consistent,

no matter what it was, whatever Wednesday was like Christmas this year, I think fell on

Wednesday.

One of the holidays did.

And we posted our video and everyone was like, Oh, I didn't think we'd get one, but we did.

What a great treat to have.

Um, and so, and, and on YouTube, you can, you can schedule things out, right?

Sometimes we post videos and you're sitting there and they just know to go live and I

don't click it.

And so, um, but let me ask is I am a fellow Jeep owner.

Um, what Jeep do you own?

Yeah.

So I've, I've got a JK, a Jeep Wrangler at, uh, 2015.

Uh, it's, uh, anvil gray four door.

So, uh, I normally this time of year, I would have the lid off, uh, and just the, the roof

off.

I've got a hydraulic system in the garage.

It lifts it off, you know, break it down.

Uh, I've got the, take the doors off and I've got the, the kind of the, that not fabric,

the, the mesh doors on, uh, because of COVID I'm just, I'm out of kilter a little bit and

I don't normally do what I'm doing with it.

But, uh, yeah, like I love it.

I just put new tires on probably a little more street than I wanted to do.

I have been the guy by the way, and you can go on my Instagram channel, see this.

I am the guy who's gotten stuck in the Jeep.

Uh, I, the, my, my best Jeep story is that I was in, um, Ocala National Park and, uh, got

stuck in the mud at there.

It, Ocala National Park used to be a, uh, missile testing, rocket missile testing facility.

And there's hundreds of miles of dirt roads that all intertwine in there.

It's awesome.

And so we got stuck, uh, in the mud, uh, just me, my wife, my two kids, the dog, we were

driving back from vacation from North Carolina to, to Miami.

There was no cell signal and there was probably not a person around for three, four miles.

And, uh, and it was like 11 o'clock in the day.

And, uh, so I literally jumped out of the Jeep and took off running for probably an hour

trying to like find cell signal.

I knew roughly the map of where I was supposed to go to find help to get us unstuck.

And I got like this tweet, my, my phone vibrated cause a tweet came in and I was like, oh,

thank God there's cell signal.

So I called to get somebody to come, you know, tow us out.

So like, I, I've, I've just, I've had it.

I've, I've loved the Jeep.

I've had it for maybe three years.

And, uh, so I could see doing something like that.

But the thing that's interesting is that like, for me, I don't consider myself a Jeep guy.

Like if the idea of, Hey, let me highlight this and become an influencer in this area.

I'm honestly, I'm a church online guy.

That's what I'm passionate about.

And so, and I've done that kind of in that, but you know, the majority of people,

people don't care about church online.

Okay.

The listening audience cares about church online, but my next door neighbor doesn't care

about church online.

You know, the next door neighbor doesn't care that I'm a pastor.

The next door neighbor doesn't care about those things.

He probably cares about that.

I'm a Jeep.

Cause his son drives a Jeep.

And I, and actually I talk with his son, you know, sometimes about the Jeep.

And so having that as a, as a connection point and creating content, like I never thought

of myself being that type of guy, but all of a sudden I'm starting to put things together

in my head that it's like, could I really utilize the Jeep and my passion for the Jeep

and doing things to build relationships with people that could lead to the kingdom.

I just, I've never put that in my head together until this conversation.

So, and you know, for me, uh, I, I, I need to make sure I say this because I've modeled

this all from Jesus's encounter with the woman at the well.

He knew everything about her and how jacked up she was, but he didn't go there yet.

He talked about something they could all relate with.

And that was the well that they were sitting around and they had a quick conversation about

the well.

He then morphs it into, I could actually hook you up with water, never thirst again.

She now like what?

And then all of a sudden calls her out on her sin.

And then she finds Jesus runs into the city and says, okay, I got this guy.

You guys don't got to meet.

There's the equation on YouTube.

What is in common with the people that you can draw their attention to?

How can you then turn it to point to Jesus, point out there that they're sinners and then

that they ask for forgiveness and repent in Jesus becomes part of their life.

And then they tell other people, right?

It's the woman at the well experience.

And I'm just trying to live it out over years.

I'm not Jesus.

So I can't do it within a few sentences.

It takes years.

And, uh, but that's really how I've modeled all of it.

All the way through student ministry down in Florida, we partnered with Red Bull.

We were, we were, I was a sponsored communicator by Red Bull and a local surf shop.

They sent me their clothes and Red Bull sent me their hats to wear.

And Red Bull would come out on our Wednesday night meetings.

And it was just leveraging someone to get their influence so that I might point other people

to Jesus.

It's so we've been doing it for a long time and I think we're just getting started.

I'm excited about where Jesus is going to take this thing.

And if it stays put where it is, Hey, we're going to be faithful who we got and, uh, keep

seeing people find Jesus.

No, I love this.

It's, it's, it's utilizing influence that you have passions that you have finding ways

to get it online to more influence others with the purpose of pointing them towards the

kingdom relationally.

Like this is, this is so good.

And this is really the way that, that YouTube or even some of the stuff that I'm calling

digital church, like this is the way that a digital only model of church would work.

It's empowering individuals with the gospel and utilizing their circle of influence, expanding

their influence in your context with YouTube, and then unleashing them with the gospel relationally

to connect over.

Like this is, this is so good, man, Scott.

I want to keep, I want to keep having conversations and, and, and, and dive and, and learn more

about this, but we'll have to do it for another podcast.

We'll have to bring it back.

Cause I want to see how this thing continues to grow and develop in this season.

So, um, Hey, Ray, as, as we're, we're landing the plane, any closing thoughts?

Scott, you've done such a phenomenal job of identifying a community that needs to be reached

and then looking for ways to reach them in a way that's completely authentic to who you

and your family are.

I just think it's so wonderful.

And I hope not just pastors.

I hope that more believers kind of understand and grasp this fact of God's given us these

tools.

God's given us your interest, your passion, whatever it is, and you can leverage it for

the sake of reaching people for Christ.

I just think that's so wonderful.

And it's, it's funny because it's so simple and yet it's so powerful in the way that God

is using it.

Yeah.

Even that you're involving the kids, you know, and, and letting them be in the, the

whole, we're out on the boat, we're, we're bailing out.

Somebody grab a camera and film this.

Cause this is just funny.

Like where somebody, if, if you find the camera, like kind of Blair witch a little bit there,

if you find the camera, you know, hope it was a good, good story.

But, uh, and some, some kid out there is like, what's Blair witch?

And that's a completely separate conversation.

So, Hey, Scott, as, as we're landing the plane, any closing thoughts on your side?

Well, I just, again, I said it before and, uh, you know, everybody, whoever's listening

to this, look at what's in your hands and go do something with it.

That's it.

I mean, everybody's been prepared to do something with what's in their hand.

It's just now we got to go do it.

Uh, it's a lot of work.

I mean, it really is.

Uh, um, but to reach people, I think it's way worth it.

Um, and so I hope this inspires some other people.

And if people want to subscribe to our channel, brilliant, uh, leave a comment on our latest

video that you are from this podcast and I hope you enjoy the journey and you should

ride a one wheel.

Yeah.

Hey, so Scott, if people want to find you on YouTube, if they want to find you on social

media, like what's, what's the best way for people to track you?

Yeah.

Just my name.

I'm one of those guys that long ago said, I'm going to do everything in my name.

So it's just Scott Mendenhall.

But the trick is I only have one T.

Thank you, mom and dad for messing up my social media game.

Um, because when people put in Scott, they'll put two T's and they'll never find me.

Um, but so it's just Scott Mendenhall, Scott with one T.

I'm fortunate enough to have enough influence now on YouTube that I think Scott with double

T's I rank in the top 30%, which is okay to me.

I want to be number one on that, but, uh, yeah.

Yeah.

There, there are a lot of Jeff reads in the world.

Um, most of them are not nice people.

Some of them are okay people, but there, there's some not nice Jeff reads out there.

So I often get confused with, uh, the Jeff reads that, you know, I don't want to be confused

with.

So enjoy your one T cause that that's, that's worth it.

Yeah, I'll do that.

Um, makes you special Scott.com that that's not a large domain.

Well, unless you're Scottish, maybe let's like some Scott, you know,

Well, I own Scott Mendenhall.com.

I just have not done anything with it.

One day, one day.

I own a lot of websites, my friend, that I just don't do anything.

It's like, I think that's a good idea.

Uh, and I'm like, I'm going to see.

If that's available.

And I just purchased it.

Like, I can't believe, like when we moved to Minnesota, I bought, um, I heart Minnesota.com.

It's like, how has no one bought that yet?

Or I heart the twin cities.

I own all of those.

Cause one day we're going to do something with those that like, yeah, or I'll sell them.

I think they went, you know, they're worth a bit of money at the moment.

Awesome.

All right.

Hey, so this is, we're going to wrap on I heart twin cities.com.

Let that be the, the walk away.

Hey, you are welcome Minnesota for this.

Hey, uh, yeah.

So any, anybody in Minnesota who's cold, you're welcome down here in Miami to thaw out and

just, you know, watch out for the COVID.

Hold on.

We didn't say that part that I moved from Miami to Minnesota.

And so I would say that, that I would disagree with that.

I'm like, no, Minnesota is better than Miami.

Scott, when you moved, I never felt more for someone hustling backwards, bro.

I was like, no, what is he doing?

Oh, it's so cold.

But here's the deal.

To be honest, we wouldn't, I wouldn't be, if I stayed, we wouldn't be having this conversation

because I, the move set us up to be able to run after some of those dreams that I've

had that you could go after.

And so we wouldn't be, you know what I mean?

And I love, I love my time there.

And if it wasn't God calling me here, I'd still be at potential church.

Love that church.

Love Troy Grambling and all of those things.

But the move has allowed us to pursue those.

I wonder if this could work.

It's funny.

Sometimes you got to let go of what you have to really grasp hold of what, what God has

for you.

So yeah.

Love, love that.

And, and, and despite the fact that it's like negative 30 degrees at Christmas.

Hey, good, good luck with, with.

That's what it's supposed to be like.

We still ride our one wheels.

And they're still riding the one wheels.

That's what I'm talking about.

And if you, you can tell I am passionate about this.

I can talk all day and I hope we've inspired, I hope we've inspired people, man, to do this.

It's not just for a select few.

Everyone can do this.

Love it.

Hey, so thanks for the time, Scott, with all of his passion centered around one wheels,

YouTube, one wheel, excuse me, YouTube, and looking forward to seeing what's next there.

We'll put all his info in the show notes, but for Scott, for Ray, this is Jeff with the

Church Digital.

Thanks for being here.

We'll see you next time here on the podcast.

Y'all have a good day.