November 17, 2020 • 11 mins
Today Jeff Hoglen brings you up to date on what has been happening at Church Planting Today through the Summer and Fall months.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Equipping and encouraging church planters everywhere.This is the Church Planting Today podcast with
Steve Chogrin and Jeff Hoagland. Usefulconversations for those aimed at winning others into
relationship with Christ. Hey everyone,Jeff Hoagland here from church Planning dot Com.
Welcome to church Playing Today. Thepodcast of church playing dot Com and
(00:24):
church playing dot Com is for currentand future church planners, existing church leaders,
and those who want to see renewalwithin the local church. I have
to apologize it's been some time sincewe have put out a podcast, and
that's the purpose of today's podcast.I'm here alone, and I just wanted
to put this out there just togive an explanation for our absence. The
(00:49):
reason, the main reason is becausewe just didn't want to give out information
that wasn't tested. We have pridedourselves in being practitioners of everything that we
each and here we were in thisCOVID situation, and to be honest,
if we were giving information, youwould be guessing. And I know other
(01:11):
people have put things out there andsome have proven to be wrong, some
have been partially right, some havebeen on target. We just didn't feel
confident that we would be giving informationthat would was on track, and so
we just held off. And sotoday I just want to let you know
(01:33):
that we are going to start anew season, so to speak, and
we're going to talk about our currentreality today in church playing today and so
regarding our church current reality is thatwe are now this is November twenty twenty,
(01:56):
and the elections have just finished,and here we are looking forward to
twenty twenty one. I'm sure Ican get an amen out there, but
you know, we were still facingsome of the same problems what we did
early on in March of twenty twenty. And so many churches, as you
(02:17):
know, are meeting in person,some are still online, some are a
combination of both, and I wouldsay the majority of churches are doing both.
And so that's kind of where Iwant to focus this podcast. The
reality is that in person meetings willprobably continue unless there's a nationwide lockdown of
(02:40):
some sort. It's going to bea yes and both in person and online.
I pray, I pray that wewould not get into a situation where
we're so lockdown that places of worshipwould be a part of that mandate.
But we've seen it before. Andso you know, it is a possibility,
(03:06):
and so I don't want to saythat's never going to happen, but
I pray that it doesn't. Sofor now, it's a yes and both.
It's a meeting in person, butit's also online and for medium sized
churches. In larger churches, youknow, they've been doing some video taping
live streaming, if you will,and this has been good. They are
(03:31):
able to do some things in sucha way it gives that live feel.
It's like you're like you're there,and you know, I've seen people or
churches streaming to both Facebook and YouTubeand they've done it with some excellence.
And in our local church, whatwe've tried to do is, even though
(03:52):
we're meeting live, we still havea portion of our congregation that they're not
comfortable that they are in that andthat demographic where you know, they're at
risk, and so we we honorthat and we we try to make it
(04:13):
make it so they are they knowthat we care and we connect with them
online. So there's a segment ofour our service, actually it's pre service,
where we're reaching out to them andwe're just welcome, welcome, welcoming
them to our online broadcast and soand we speak to them personally. And
(04:34):
you know what would be good isif you can actually see their names as
they pop up, you know,if you're streaming on Facebook, if you
can call them out personally, youknow, this pre service and and just
welcome them. And so we're doingthat right now. And here's my advice
(04:56):
for those who are currently doing theFacebook Live thing, or maybe you're you're
doing several platforms. Maybe you're doingFacebook, maybe you're doing YouTube, maybe
you're maybe you're even uh recording andthen uploading to some service like Vimeo.
All that is great, All that'sfine. Here's my advice. However,
(05:20):
I would recommend that you start movingmigrating your online viewership to your own online
campus. And this is why Isay that because Facebook, YouTube, while
they're they're fine platforms, they're notyour platform. They they are you know,
(05:46):
you may have a channel on there, but you do not own Facebook,
you do not own YouTube, andso they can change and we've seen
this recently where they have a sensorsome some folks, and so it is
not the realm of beyond the realmof possibility that they would censor you,
and especially on certain topics culturally sensitivetopics. If you speak about those things,
(06:13):
they could ban you. They couldlabel you as or in the organization
as hatemongers or uh, you know, participating in hate speech division or what
have you. And so anyways,for those reasons, I would recommend that
you would go to an online campuswhere it is housed on your website.
(06:40):
And so if you need help withthat, we actually have a a brother
that we work with, and youcan go to church plane dot com and
you can see his link below,and he has a website service and he
can help you out. Just goto church plane dot com and and scroll
down and look for website heroes,church website heroes and anyways, So that's
(07:09):
for mid and large science churches.Now let me speak to those folks who
have a small church, say underone hundred people, under one hundred and
twenty five people. You may belive streaming right now. You might be
doing the Facebook live deal. Here'swhat I recommend, and it's fine to
(07:30):
stream your services. Here's the thingthough, and I know I've come from
a small church background. Okay,the church I'm at now is a little
bit larger, but for the majorityof my career. You know, as
a church planter, I've been servingat small churches and so for those I
(07:54):
know, it's a little bit difficult. And you know, especially right now
with I think the average is thirtypercent of congregations are back. Now.
Thankfully that hasn't planned out in thein the giving. The giving has remained
pretty consistent throughout for the most part. It may have dipped a little bit,
(08:15):
but for the most part it's remainedsteady. Now here's the thing with
the small churches. What you wantto do is get personal. The reason
people are attracted to smaller churches isbecause of the relational aspect of the church.
(08:39):
And so why would we go theopposite direction with regards to streaming online.
You know, we're trying to competewith the larger churches, you know,
the megachurches, the very well knownspeakers, and we're trying to do
this with with limited funds, limitedequipment. And you know what, you
(09:01):
don't have to do that. Youare just trying as shepherds, as pastors,
what you're trying to do is youare trying to shepherd your flock.
And so I would just concentrate onreaching them. I would make it very
personal instead of doing something big productionwise. If you only have your iPhone
(09:28):
and you're sitting at your desk,do that, you know, And again
it's okay if you want to doyour services, if you want to livestream
those, that's fine, that's allgood. But at some point, get
personal, especially if if you're notmeeting right now, get personal, and
you know, use whatever platform orwhatever software you can to do that.
(09:54):
But if you can see who's engagingwith you, oh, that's so much
better. That's that personal touch thateveryone is looking for and desiring. We've
run several small groups in that fashionand it's just turned out so nice.
And so anyways, guys, thishas just been a short little update and
(10:18):
a little explanation to why we havebeen absent. We've been missing an action
from this podcast. But we're goingto be getting back into the groove here
shortly. We've got quite a fewinterviews lined up in the near future,
and so I just want to encourageyou guys, just to keep on keeping
(10:39):
on. That's what Steve shogunh alwayssays, keep on keeping on. And
we believe in you. We believethat you're making a difference, and we're
praying for you, so until nexttime. This is Jeff Hugland with church
plan dot com and the podcast iscalled church Planning Today. Wishing you all
the best. God bless you.You've been listening to the Church Planting Today
(11:00):
podcast with Steve Chagrin and Jeff Hoagland. Be sure to share and subscribe wherever
you listen to podcasts. Connect forfree outreach articles, ideas, and resources
at kindness dot com and church Plantingdot com
Equipping and encouraging church planters everywhere.This is the Church Planting Today podcast with
Steve Chogrin and Jeff Hoagland. Usefulconversations for those aimed at winning others into
relationship with Christ. Hey everyone,Jeff Hoagland here from church Planning dot Com.
Welcome to church Playing Today. Thepodcast of church playing dot Com and
(00:24):
church playing dot Com is for currentand future church planners, existing church leaders,
and those who want to see renewalwithin the local church. I have
to apologize it's been some time sincewe have put out a podcast, and
that's the purpose of today's podcast.I'm here alone, and I just wanted
to put this out there just togive an explanation for our absence. The
(00:49):
reason, the main reason is becausewe just didn't want to give out information
that wasn't tested. We have pridedourselves in being practitioners of everything that we
each and here we were in thisCOVID situation, and to be honest,
if we were giving information, youwould be guessing. And I know other
(01:11):
people have put things out there andsome have proven to be wrong, some
have been partially right, some havebeen on target. We just didn't feel
confident that we would be giving informationthat would was on track, and so
we just held off. And sotoday I just want to let you know
(01:33):
that we are going to start anew season, so to speak, and
we're going to talk about our currentreality today in church playing today and so
regarding our church current reality is thatwe are now this is November twenty twenty,
(01:56):
and the elections have just finished,and here we are looking forward to
twenty twenty one. I'm sure Ican get an amen out there, but
you know, we were still facingsome of the same problems what we did
early on in March of twenty twenty. And so many churches, as you
(02:17):
know, are meeting in person,some are still online, some are a
combination of both, and I wouldsay the majority of churches are doing both.
And so that's kind of where Iwant to focus this podcast. The
reality is that in person meetings willprobably continue unless there's a nationwide lockdown of
(02:40):
some sort. It's going to bea yes and both in person and online.
I pray, I pray that wewould not get into a situation where
we're so lockdown that places of worshipwould be a part of that mandate.
But we've seen it before. Andso you know, it is a possibility,
(03:06):
and so I don't want to saythat's never going to happen, but
I pray that it doesn't. Sofor now, it's a yes and both.
It's a meeting in person, butit's also online and for medium sized
churches. In larger churches, youknow, they've been doing some video taping
live streaming, if you will,and this has been good. They are
(03:31):
able to do some things in sucha way it gives that live feel.
It's like you're like you're there,and you know, I've seen people or
churches streaming to both Facebook and YouTubeand they've done it with some excellence.
And in our local church, whatwe've tried to do is, even though
(03:52):
we're meeting live, we still havea portion of our congregation that they're not
comfortable that they are in that andthat demographic where you know, they're at
risk, and so we we honorthat and we we try to make it
(04:13):
make it so they are they knowthat we care and we connect with them
online. So there's a segment ofour our service, actually it's pre service,
where we're reaching out to them andwe're just welcome, welcome, welcoming
them to our online broadcast and soand we speak to them personally. And
(04:34):
you know what would be good isif you can actually see their names as
they pop up, you know,if you're streaming on Facebook, if you
can call them out personally, youknow, this pre service and and just
welcome them. And so we're doingthat right now. And here's my advice
(04:56):
for those who are currently doing theFacebook Live thing, or maybe you're you're
doing several platforms. Maybe you're doingFacebook, maybe you're doing YouTube, maybe
you're maybe you're even uh recording andthen uploading to some service like Vimeo.
All that is great, All that'sfine. Here's my advice. However,
(05:20):
I would recommend that you start movingmigrating your online viewership to your own online
campus. And this is why Isay that because Facebook, YouTube, while
they're they're fine platforms, they're notyour platform. They they are you know,
(05:46):
you may have a channel on there, but you do not own Facebook,
you do not own YouTube, andso they can change and we've seen
this recently where they have a sensorsome some folks, and so it is
not the realm of beyond the realmof possibility that they would censor you,
and especially on certain topics culturally sensitivetopics. If you speak about those things,
(06:13):
they could ban you. They couldlabel you as or in the organization
as hatemongers or uh, you know, participating in hate speech division or what
have you. And so anyways,for those reasons, I would recommend that
you would go to an online campuswhere it is housed on your website.
(06:40):
And so if you need help withthat, we actually have a a brother
that we work with, and youcan go to church plane dot com and
you can see his link below,and he has a website service and he
can help you out. Just goto church plane dot com and and scroll
down and look for website heroes,church website heroes and anyways, So that's
(07:09):
for mid and large science churches.Now let me speak to those folks who
have a small church, say underone hundred people, under one hundred and
twenty five people. You may belive streaming right now. You might be
doing the Facebook live deal. Here'swhat I recommend, and it's fine to
(07:30):
stream your services. Here's the thingthough, and I know I've come from
a small church background. Okay,the church I'm at now is a little
bit larger, but for the majorityof my career. You know, as
a church planter, I've been servingat small churches and so for those I
(07:54):
know, it's a little bit difficult. And you know, especially right now
with I think the average is thirtypercent of congregations are back. Now.
Thankfully that hasn't planned out in thein the giving. The giving has remained
pretty consistent throughout for the most part. It may have dipped a little bit,
(08:15):
but for the most part it's remainedsteady. Now here's the thing with
the small churches. What you wantto do is get personal. The reason
people are attracted to smaller churches isbecause of the relational aspect of the church.
(08:39):
And so why would we go theopposite direction with regards to streaming online.
You know, we're trying to competewith the larger churches, you know,
the megachurches, the very well knownspeakers, and we're trying to do
this with with limited funds, limitedequipment. And you know what, you
(09:01):
don't have to do that. Youare just trying as shepherds, as pastors,
what you're trying to do is youare trying to shepherd your flock.
And so I would just concentrate onreaching them. I would make it very
personal instead of doing something big productionwise. If you only have your iPhone
(09:28):
and you're sitting at your desk,do that, you know, And again
it's okay if you want to doyour services, if you want to livestream
those, that's fine, that's allgood. But at some point, get
personal, especially if if you're notmeeting right now, get personal, and
you know, use whatever platform orwhatever software you can to do that.
(09:54):
But if you can see who's engagingwith you, oh, that's so much
better. That's that personal touch thateveryone is looking for and desiring. We've
run several small groups in that fashionand it's just turned out so nice.
And so anyways, guys, thishas just been a short little update and
(10:18):
a little explanation to why we havebeen absent. We've been missing an action
from this podcast. But we're goingto be getting back into the groove here
shortly. We've got quite a fewinterviews lined up in the near future,
and so I just want to encourageyou guys, just to keep on keeping
(10:39):
on. That's what Steve shogunh alwayssays, keep on keeping on. And
we believe in you. We believethat you're making a difference, and we're
praying for you, so until nexttime. This is Jeff Hugland with church
plan dot com and the podcast iscalled church Planning Today. Wishing you all
the best. God bless you.You've been listening to the Church Planting Today
(11:00):
podcast with Steve Chagrin and Jeff Hoagland. Be sure to share and subscribe wherever
you listen to podcasts. Connect forfree outreach articles, ideas, and resources
at kindness dot com and church Plantingdot com
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.