Session 1: A living hope

Jeff Reed All right. Hey, welcome. I almost started to say, welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. That is not this show, but excited to be here. My name is Jeff Reed, founder of the Church Digital, and we're doing a Bible study today. It's a little different. We've never done this before. I'm going to go ahead and bring on my friends here, Flat Cap, as well as Ian into the conversation. And we're with the Church Digital. You probably recognize Leighton. To be honest, Flat Cap,

Flatcap Hey, hey. Oh, yeah, it's all good.

Jeff Reed Hey, I felt like I had to wear a hat myself because that, and so I don't have a flat cap, flat cap. So is it okay that I substituted and went with like another hat? Is this acceptable in this situation?

Flatcap It's all good. I did message a couple of the other people supposed to be here, and both of them are having issues getting on. So not sure what all is going on with that. And we do have a raid coming in. Big Unk KB. Shout out to Big Unk. Okay. Sorry, I'm muted on my side. Big on coming in with the raid. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Welcome in to the podcast and the podcast of the Bible study. And Jeff's going to be helping us out here. We're trying to get a couple of guests. Thank you for the raid. Appreciate you, Big Unc. Love what you're doing. And if you haven't checked out his podcast episode on Control-Alt-Redeem, go check that out.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed Awesome, yeah, I'll message them directly. It's not Twitch that I'm using, I'm using something else, and so they need to literally follow the link I gave them in the email, but they probably did not do that. Oh, I'm hearing one of them now. So love it when a plan comes together. Word Girl is coming on right now.

Flatcap Yeah.

Jeff Reed Hey, Word Girl, we'll get you situated here in about five seconds and bring you into the equation.

Flatcap All right. Dirty girl.

Jeff Reed Hopefully this works.

Ian Kirk you you

Jeff Reed Boom. I love modern technology. Hey, word girl.

WordiGirl Hello. Sorry about that. My Chrome was being weird.

Jeff Reed No worries at all. To be honest, I am not the best when it comes to Twitch. And so you probably were doing everything right, and I'm probably the one that screwed up. So it's kind of cool that way. Hey, we got Melanie is in. And I didn't realize, who is Next Steps? One of the bots that hangs out with us in here on Twitch? nextsteps.is. Leighton, did you know about that?

Flatcap Is that in the chat?

Jeff Reed In chat right now, there was something for nextsteps.is.

WordiGirl Thank you very much.

Jeff Reed Want free content to take your next steps of faith or help someone else go there, nextsteps.is.

Flatcap Oh, that's... Yeah, that's been on the TCD channel since we did the con last fall.

WordiGirl Thank you.

Jeff Reed I'm a big fan of next steps, and so I didn't realize they were... Huh.

Flatcap So we did the gaming con, and I just have that in there. Anybody's interested in just promoting, hey, there's resources for you.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Flatcap Go check it out.

Jeff Reed 100%, totally not a commercial for Next Steps, but you should totally check out Next Steps. Love that. Well, you know what, Work Girl, I'm going to put you on the spot here.

WordiGirl you

Jeff Reed I actually know nothing about you. Tell us a little bit as we're getting started. We'll get into the Bible study here in a little bit. I'll explain what's going on, but I'd love to know a little bit, like, what's your ministry? How you doing? What's it like there in the woods behind you? Like, give me some sort of an update.

WordiGirl well um my name is wordy girl um also known as osandra my real name um i am it looks like i'm in the woods this is actually a background but i am in michigan uh just like a flat cap here but we are kind of on opposite sides of the state i'm closer to detroit though there are some woods around me um and i do enjoy the nature it is becoming fall outside It doesn't look quite like that yet. I feel like it's trying to hang on to summer for a bit. But as for me, I am just Jill of all trades, as I like to say. I do like almost everything. But I just try to make sure that everything I do is glorifying God. So I do like writing. I do crafts. I do all sorts of art. I stream as well. And I do have communities. So one of my online communities, my Discord server, I have been hosting for, I think, since like 2020. And it's really nice to just to be a light online. Um, there are a lot of people who sometimes, you know, come to me, not just in the community, but just like, uh, through DMs, through texts, through just like private chats. And I just like to listen and, um, let them know that there's somebody who understands and who loves and who cares for them.

Jeff Reed Amen.

WordiGirl And it isn't just me, it is God who understands and loves and cares for them. And sometimes we need to be that bridge for people so that they can know that there is a God out there who cares about them. And that's kind of what my mission is just to share the love of Christ. with everyone no matter where i am no matter what i'm doing so it could be like a totally random thing and suddenly somebody says one thing and then if i feel that holy spirit saying mention this i'm like okay let's go let's see what happens so i just try to be loving

Jeff Reed Wow, I love that. Just the passion trying to be loving in digital environments, Discord. It sounds like Twitch as well, streaming.

WordiGirl yeah yeah i'm almost everywhere i'm on um all the social media um instagram uh tick tock youtube um facebook x formerly known as twitter

Jeff Reed Any other platforms you're engaging with on a regular basis?

WordiGirl um all kinds of platforms i have been kind of busy recently um i mean like this past year has been a bit of a challenge um but i still try to be that light when i can so some of my socials i may not have like directly posted uh recently but i still am like dming and commenting and stuff like that when i can uh but i one of the things i used to do a lot was like send like holiday texts to everybody and send like i started doing videos too because i'm like for the online community with this uh tick tock era

Jeff Reed Sure.

WordiGirl Everybody just scrolling and seeing a quick video. I would just give like a message and say that I love them. God loves them. Give them a scripture for each holiday. I need to get back on that. I hope that I can start it back up this holiday season, which is fast approaching.

Jeff Reed Awesome. Very cool. And the good news is you live in Michigan, and so you'll be snowed in with absolutely nothing to do other than get on the Internet.

WordiGirl Yes.

Jeff Reed So that's great. All right. Hey, hopefully we get Will to come in. I was just messaging him on the side. Hopefully I hear a ring. and he's able to join us. But let me walk through what's happening. And so I'm doing this here for us on the stream, as well as those that are in chat, and those that are also engaging and love the raids and love people coming on, the more the merrier. So we're going to do a Bible study right here. over the series of Scattered here through 1 Peter. It's about nine weeks, maybe five chapters or so. We'll break it up. And the Bible study is optional. And so what we're doing is the large gathering, so to speak, where we're creating content. We're going to talk about, literally we're going to talk about the Bible here in a second, just kind of our take from it, the particular passage we're going to study in 1 Peter 1. But then that content, we're going to break up into Bible studies, into devotionals, into things that the church digital has access to. And so we're recording this on video, for clips, for content, even chat as well, that if you're engaging and want to type in chat. Feel free to throw in ideas and suggestions because that will be part, that's all going to be part of the content that we're creating and distributing out to encourage our digital missionaries, literally, literally around the world. And so excited to see this happen, you know, in real time over the next weeks as we're creating. really in a synchronous Bible study. It's not so much about this stream as it is engaging outside of it with Twitch and Discord. I'm sorry, with Discord and WhatsApp. We're sending the devotionals to like every inbox possible, WhatsApp, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, email, website. We've got journals online where you can keep typing. We'll talk more about some of that here in a little bit. But it's interesting to me. And we're going to get into this in the study, I'm sure. This is a discouraging season for digital missionaries. I feel, and I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying that, but a lot of the conversations that I've had lately are dealing with people that are discouraged right now in the ministry that's happening. And I think it's so easy, and I'm guilty, I think it's so easy for us as digital missionaries to forget that the being we're serving, God, loves us, cares for us, and has a purpose for us regardless of the state of our physical environments or where we're at. And the people that Peter is writing this letter to, are going through, to be honest, not that different of a situation, really, than what we as digital missionaries are experiencing. And so, to be honest, I'm really looking forward to this conversation. I got two very intelligent, I got three very intelligent people in this conversation, and I'm basically the guy that's gonna run the tech and make sure that nothing self-destructs, or at least can blame myself when something does self-destruct. And so... Looking forward to it. I tell you what, Ian, would you mind opening us up in prayer as we're getting going?

Ian Kirk sure thing gracious god we just thank you for bringing us together thank you for bringing us across the country perhaps across the world to discuss your word in person but also to share your word to encourage one another in all that we do we just pray that this brings glory and honor to you as we seek to pursue your word faithfully And may we just bring honor to your name. Amen.

Jeff Reed Amen. Well, we're going to, let's kick off here in one second. Yeah, I wanted to make sure I didn't mess that up. Let's kick off here and let's read through the scripture. Why don't we do this? Leighton, why don't you read the first three verses and we'll kind of bounce around here in a little bit. I'm going to put it up on the screen.

Flatcap okay yeah i did not have yeah if you put it on the screen that'll be oh now i'm covering part of it so that's there we go that's all right we're we're learning on the fly this is great all right

Jeff Reed Forgive my awkwardity.

Jeff Reed You are covering part of it here. Let me uncover it for you. Sorry. Boom. Yeah.

Flatcap Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the elect, who are exiles of the dispersion throughout Pontius, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ, and sprinkled by his blood, grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Flatcap Blessed be the Father and God of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you. who through faith and shielded by God's power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials, so that the proven character of your faith, more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor to the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. And though you have not seen him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, trying to determine the time and settings to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the suffering of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you. When they foretold the things now announced by those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, even angels long to look into these things.

Jeff Reed Amen. Yeah, so what we're looking at here, by the way, on the webpage, this is the Church Digitals Here Journal. If you're part of this Bible study, you'll have access to it where we'll give you the scripture. That was the Berean study version of the Bible. To be honest, globally, there's so many different translations. We just picked the Berean to roll with it, and there's an opportunity to take notes in the journal with the software. And so we'll get into that here as we're going. So what I'd like to do for the Bible study is, oh, by the way, hold on. I'm sorry. We've got another guest coming in. Let me bring him on. And let's see where we are. Well, that was anticlimactic. Give me one more second here. I was hoping for something better than that. One more, one more. Boom.

Flatcap day.

Jeff Reed There we go.

Flatcap Fantastic.

Jeff Reed Hey, Will.

Willpog Hey, how's it going, fam?

Jeff Reed Awesome. Will, doing great, sir. How are you doing?

Willpog I'm a pretty anticlimactic person, so it fits.

Jeff Reed Very cool.

Willpog But yeah, I had to disable everything. I had to disable even the camera, the app that I use to run the camera. So I don't even know how this camera is on right now. But yeah, so anyways.

Jeff Reed Oh, man, I'm sorry about that. We'll offline some of the tech difficulties. It's Ecamm.

Willpog Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Reed It should be stable, but I guess it wasn't. But I'm glad you're on. I tell you what, Will, for 30 seconds, real quick, who are you?

Willpog Yeah, I'm glad to be here.

Jeff Reed What do you do? Tell us a little bit about your ministry.

Willpog Oh, okay. Well, I'm Will, Will Pogg. I stream on Twitch three times a week, and we do a lot of yapping and some gaming. I'd say my ministry is more of a relational evangelism, plain glass type of ministry.

Flatcap Thank you.

Willpog And yeah, I worked in ministry for many years as I led a nonprofit that did work in the Amazon. for many years. And so, yeah, that's a little bit about me. Yeah.

Jeff Reed Awesome. Well, glad you're here, man. Excited. We've got information on the webpage for both Will and Wordy Girl. I'm sorry, is it Will Pogg? Is that the correct way to?

Willpog yeah it's it's it's it's mainly it's me i it's mainly for people to just call me will pog is just like you know it's just like the slang term to for like pog yeah excitement you know so so that's the that's the best word i could find to keep my name short online so yeah yeah yeah

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Jeff Reed Awesome, very cool. Yeah, kept it under seven characters. That's impressive. Hey, all right, so let's walk through the scripture here. The first thing we wanna do is highlight what stood out for you. I've got the scripture on the screen. We're talking about 1 Peter. I'm sorry, yeah, 1 Peter 1, Will, 1 through 12. If you want to reference it, we can pull up different translations, or you can reference different translations if you have them where you are.

Willpog Mm-hmm.

Jeff Reed But just looking at the scripture, like what is with using the here method, the first step is highlighting. So we're going to highlight what the major points are in here. The second part is going to be E, which is—actually, I'll show it here so you can follow along. We're going to explain what's happening in the Scripture. We're going to A, we're going to talk about how the Scripture applies to our life, especially as digital missionaries. And then we're going to respond. What is the Spirit leading us to do individually? Having reading the scripture of 1 Peter 1, 1 through 12. So the first step, highlight which verses stood out to you. It's kind of like the, oh my gosh, this is speaking my language. Then we're going to get into explain, and then we're going to get into apply, and then finally respond biblically. So that's the method. It's really simple to use, and we're trying to create, like, a simple process so that other people can do Bible studies like this online.

Willpog I like it.

Jeff Reed So, well, thank you, Will. I will pog. I appreciate that. and there's plenty of other methods that are out there.

Willpog Yeah.

Jeff Reed Like, we could just rattle off stuff like this all day long. The HERE method, I just happen to know the guys who created it and their friends, and they're like, yeah, sure, whatever, just use it. Just don't make any money off it. And I was like, oh, believe me, we don't make any money off anything. So making money is not a problem over here with The Church Digital. But, hey, yes, a professional non-moneymaker.

Willpog I'm a professional, not moneymaker. Yeah.

Jeff Reed Well, that's a great line.

Willpog Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff Reed That ties into so much of my life.

Willpog I think every small streamer is a professional non-moneymaker.

Jeff Reed Amen. All right. So let's ask, who wants to go first? What highlight, what stood out to you in this scripture?

WordiGirl well um i'm usually one who uses the king james but the one this one is fine too uh i just have a king james so it's probably gonna be a little bit different when i read it um but i did

Ian Kirk Thank you very much.

Jeff Reed Yeah, read it from the King James.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed I went to these and the vows. That's great.

WordiGirl Yes. So the thing that really stood out here to me, because we were just talking about, like how you said, it was very similar to what we're going through right now, is verse six that says, we're in great, ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl And then it continues into seven to say the trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth through, though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So that's what kind of really stood out. The whole chapter is great, but yeah.

Jeff Reed I love that. When greatly rejoicing, even through the trials, we'll get in some of the trials they're going through. What else? What else stood out? Anybody else?

Willpog I mean, I guess I can go. I was waiting to be last because the verse that stood out to me was the last verse of this passage. But verse 12, I read out of the ESV normally.

Ian Kirk you

Willpog And so it was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves, but you.

Jeff Reed Sure. Go for it.

Willpog And the things that... have now been announced to you through those who preach the good news to you by the holy spirit sent from heaven uh things to which the angels long to to look but i feel like the the beginning of this verse the first part of this verse is sort of what christianity is all about is sort of what what our calling is all about is uh when we do the work of the ministry when we walk in in our lives it's it's all about outside it's all about others right it's about serving others you know we

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Willpog When Christ came, he died for us. He established this new way to relate, not just to God, but to his creation, to those around him. So our two main callings is to love God and to love others. So it's a vertical and then a horizontal relationship. And I believe that this idea of serving others and loving others, as Christ's love does, is really what makes Christianity irresistible, irresistible to those outside of the church.

Ian Kirk you

Willpog So this verse stood out to me because the prophets, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Um, they, they, they, they were comforted and they were, were, were, uh, assured that what they were experiencing, what they were writing, what they were preaching, um, it was not just for them. It was going to be for a future people. Uh, you're, you're, it's, it's going to be used to serve others. Um, and it's exactly what happened. Right. So, um, so yeah, and I feel like in our walk, um, when we do things in our ministries um i believe that's that that needs to be a focal point it's you know how can we through what we do serve others is what you know what we're doing now what we're doing now what can it be used what can it be yeah how how how can it be used to serve others right so yeah yeah

Jeff Reed Sure.

Jeff Reed Yeah, there's definitely a humility in that, right? Like, you're putting others first, you're putting your other's actions above your actions, others' desires above your desires, and you're putting yourself in a, it's maybe a taboo word, but like a submissive state where you're serving them. in the condition that they're in. It's interesting, Seth, I'm going to click on this well, and it's going to cover your face. So it's going to be real quick. Sorry. Will, I hate that.

Willpog Hey, it's totally fine.

Jeff Reed I'm sorry. I need to move you. But Seth said the last verse is his favorite as well. And so Seth would love to know, put in chat, expand a little bit on what you're feeling there with the last verse. Ian, flat cap, what are you guys seeing here?

Flatcap I was just going to encourage anyone else in the chat, please put your thoughts in there as well. This is not just for us on screen. We want to hear from you because we might agree and we'd rather you say it first than for you to piggyback on us. We'll piggyback on you.

Jeff Reed Amen. Ian, you're up.

Ian Kirk All right. Well, actually, the thing that struck me this time was sanctified for obedience. Especially in the context, the realm of digital ministry.

Ian Kirk Verse two.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Ian Kirk You know, when some of us started this rigmarole pre-COVID and even during COVID, there is kind of a part of that that we only could do through obedience. You know, as I'm watching, especially things change now digitally and such, I think actually now it's even funny, I think as much as digital has become so part of our culture, part of our expression as humans, I think now we might even be more called to obedience than we were before. Just because now we're of course we're seeing with or without ai that has honestly very little to do with it but just what we are seeing as the tendrils of the internet and the digital life expressed extended everything we do um doing digital well from a christian standpoint is is a fact of obedience and i i also liked the grace and peace same verse grace and peace be yours in abundance One, we have to give grace to ourselves. I was actually thinking, wordy girl, of your comment of, I need to do this more. I need to do this more. And it's like, okay, just give yourself grace more. And of course, as I'm thinking that in my head to you, I'm also, of course, saying it to myself. I don't know. I think I'm kind of actually still wrestling and sitting with that one, but I always thought, I couldn't talk about obedience without counterbalancing that with God's grace and peace and abundance.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

WordiGirl That makes sense. And I'm guilty of it too, because I will like want others to give themselves grace. And then I feel like, well, that's what God is probably telling me something too. So yes, thank you for that.

Jeff Reed Yeah, I've been on the opposite end of obedience where I've not done what God's wanted me to do, and He, of course, corrects me, and that's painful. And that, to be honest, I'm going through one of those seasons right now. But the good news is... is working in that faith and living in that faith and the challenge of not knowing the future, but knowing that God does and living in that. It's a challenge towards that. Flatcap, what do you see here? Anything we haven't covered yet?

Flatcap I liked the number of references to the spirit being there and the different titles of the spirit, the spirit of obedience. That caught me there. So I won't expand on that more because I think Ian covered it, but it was the aspect of the spirit there that caught my ear. But I've got the New English Translation, the Net Bible, and I love that. Is it verse one? Temporary residing abroad. uh the exiles in in uh uh dispersion throughout and that doesn't matter where they are like if paul is writing this today it would be to all of the exiles that are in twitch that are in tick tock that are in like because

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap There's a point at which you don't feel always as a Christian in those spaces that you belong. You are a foreigner in those spaces. No matter how long I've been in Twitch, I'm a foreigner to it. I mean, I love the space. I love hanging out there. I still feel like a foreigner all the time that I'm in the space. But... i can also talk about that for my whole life i mean i've lived in this house for 10 years the longest i've lived anywhere tomorrow i'm meeting with the realtor to put it up for sale because 10 years is long enough it's time to move on time to move somewhere else um my my average before the last 15 years was three years living anywhere so in in the last 16 i've only lived in two houses i gotta you know start moving my wife She's ready to stay somewhere for the rest of the life. I don't know about that. I love the adventure. I love Paul as the apostle who's always going somewhere, starting something new. But here we have Peter addressing those people that are scattered abroad. And when... acts happen shortly after the persecution happens and they do go to judea samaria and the other most parts of the world and i just always felt that calling to not be somewhere very long to constantly move whether that was when my parents did it or i've done it my whole life in ministry uh There are more people to meet. And, uh, so I love the connection that Peter's trying to encourage us when we don't always fit where we are, uh, that God has a plan for us. We aren't second class. God already knew who we were and set us apart.

Jeff Reed Yeah, you literally stole what I was going to say. I was excited.

Flatcap Oh, sorry.

Jeff Reed We were, no, no, no, it's cool. We were moving. Nobody was touching verse one, verse one. And in verse one, where he's like the exiles who, you know, who were, and like, I would love, because you guys are better biblical historical than I am.

Flatcap Yes.

Jeff Reed Can somebody actually relay? what the background here of the exiles, who these people are, where they came from. Are you guys, Flatcap, Layton, do you guys know the background of this?

Flatcap I...

Ian Kirk To my understanding, or my recollection of it, is that this is post-fall of Jerusalem, so post-8040 after the Romans got all bent out of shape because the Jews had rebelled one too many times or something to that effect.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Ian Kirk So this is... And of course, you're already starting to see the division between the followers of the way... and jews so you have that also overlaid on that same exile

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap I think there's also within that as well, you see that Rome had a crackdown on all the Jews that were in Rome. And so they begin to have to leave Rome and spread out. And some of those, Paul does encounter Priscilla and Aquila, and they become part of the ministry. So they are exiles from Rome who are throughout Asia as well. So you have two different locations where persecution happened, persecution of the Jews that are happening in Rome. as well as the persecution that happens to the church in Jerusalem. So it is a scattering that continuously moves people.

Jeff Reed Yeah, scattering is a beautiful word in this context. And you would think, like even going back to the Paul conversion story when Stephen was murdered, slain, martyred, martyred, in that context, it says that when the Jews, when the Christians were spreading, they scattered, they shared the gospel as they went.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed And the picture was in the towns and the villages and in the bars and the restaurants, wherever they were going out, they weren't going rejected. They were going celebrating the option to really see the scripture dispersed through there. And they hid into the five regions that we're looking here on the screen. And Leighton Flatcap pronounced them far better than I can. I'm not even going to try. I'll mess it up. But, I mean, this letter is written not to the Christians in Jerusalem or even the Christians in Ephesians or any of the other major areas, Corinthians, any of the other major towns where churches are. They're written to... I don't want to say bucko-five people. They're just written to people that are meeting in homes. They're written to nobody. And when he says right up here at the top, you know, to the elect... to the elect, to those that are chosen to be exiles, to the elect, to those that are of God's people, not that are exiled and that are forgotten, not that are disenfranchised and discommunicated. What's kicked out of the church? Because they're not in the building.

WordiGirl Excommunicated.

Jeff Reed Excommunicated, thank you. I don't know why I couldn't come up with that word. excommunicated because they're not part of a physical community, but to the ones who are elect and serving God in the context that God has put them in, very intentionally put them in. To me, that just speaks volumes. So, anyway. All right, so that's H. Go ahead, please.

Willpog Yeah, that's what I was going to touch on too, because in verse 2 it says, this whole chapter talks about how these Christians are being tried by fire, and they're being challenged, and it's a great reminder that God...

Jeff Reed Go ahead.

Willpog that God had, you know, according to verse 2, you know, on verse 2, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, right? According to the foreknowledge of God the Father. So this is a letter to these exiles who are outside of the main hubs of Christianity at the time, right? And God knew these people would be there. They knew God had known them deeply, personally, and... reached them in these outside areas of where you would consider the hubs of Christianity in Rome and Jerusalem. And God knew that this was going to happen. So it's also a message of... of you know they're they weren't a mistake right these these people um this this life these challenges these tribulations but also this grace this love this this um fellowship community uh none of that was a mistake right it was all it was all predetermined by god you know so

Flatcap Yeah, absolutely.

Jeff Reed So good.

Flatcap Artsy Bible nerd, I think his comment adds to what you were saying earlier, Will, and what you were just saying. He says that verse 12, he feels like proves that Satan is surprised by the crucifixion and resurrection. When the angels long to catch a glimpse of these things, that just shows that Satan had no idea what God was up to. And if he wasn't able to see what God was up to there, he doesn't know what God's up to in your life either.

Jeff Reed Hmm.

Flatcap uh so you know there's that aspect of you know the angels don't know god's plan and foreknowledge any more than we do but we have in christ the hope that uh that we would cling to so artsy bible nerd chiming in appreciate it friend

Jeff Reed Very cool. Seth as well, coming back in here, why would we want to fit in? We are Jesus freaks. Our job is to not fit in with the appropriate LOL. And to me, that's the resonating thing coming back from hospital and almost dying. Is God actually doing anything in my life? If I stopped doing digital ministry, would it even have mattered? Has my life of 25 years of doing digital ministry, has it impacted anything? And what has resonated from that time this year, really over the past 12 months, that's been the roller coaster that's been my life and, you know, leadership. And we've had lots of conversations about that on the stream. But the reality is, like, I'm exactly where God wants me to be. And knowing that, knowing the difficulties, and for whatever the reason that God wants me here, I don't know. My wife doesn't know. My kids don't know. But that's where I am. And so how I'm dealing with that and able to help others in that, man, that's the challenge of this. But we can do this in peace to know that we have grace and peace in abundance. No matter the difficulties looking at two, there is plenty of grace and peace for us in this season. Um, well, let's do this because we're going to keep talking. It's not like we're done here. Uh, looking at the here method and I'm just going to be a little educational here. Uh, so the first thing is we highlighted and we highlighted a bunch of scriptures that, that makes sense to us. Um, to be honest, we did a little explaining, you know, really like you're supposed to just talk about the scripture in the here and then explain it afterwards. But we, we highlight and explain that at the same time. And so, so that's cool. Um, how do we apply? what we're hearing. How do we apply this to our lives? We're talking about people in house churches 2,000 plus years ago, and we're paralleling it to Twitch ministry and Discord ministry and video game ministry and Facebook and digital and Instagram and TikTok and platforms that don't necessarily make sense. And to be honest, the general church world thinks that we're crazy as is. much less trying to draw parallels from 1 Peter. So as you're hearing some of what we're talking about here, how can we apply this to our lives?

Flatcap Well, I'm going to go back to verse 8, because I think we look at how were they going to apply this, so then how do we... Though you've not seen him, you love him. And though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Flatcap He's reminding them of what they've received. They haven't seen him. The apostles got to see Jesus, so they have the eyewitnesses telling them about Jesus. They haven't seen him. I haven't seen him either. um so i'm right in that boat i am believing the eyewitnesses and there's a time when the world overwhelms you and says what you're doing is a waste of time and why are you doing this uh and sometimes the church also is telling you what you're doing is a waste of time and doesn't understand but if i go back to this how do i apply it I need to remain in the fact that I am loved by Him, and I love Him, and I'm going to rejoice that I get to do what God has made me to do. Regardless of the outcome, I get to be faithful if I choose to be faithful.

Jeff Reed So good. Any other thoughts on that? That could preach right there.

Ian Kirk Well, I think that's part of the.

Willpog I don't think there's much to add.

Jeff Reed Go ahead, Will.

Willpog No, no, go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry.

Jeff Reed Ian, go ahead, sir.

Ian Kirk No worries. And I was thinking that we also have to remind ourselves that if we are being obedient to the Spirit, God is already going before us. God is already laying the path, laying the route for us to walk. And we are to be obedient to that call. And as hard as that is, sometimes we have to rest in the obedience, not necessarily in our understanding. And You know, I still remember when we first started, one of my churches previously first started, we were doing digital and they thought I was a lunatic. Granted, they still think I'm a lunatic, but they're for different reasons. Now they actually know me. But I think that's, I think a lot of times we don't necessarily put comfort in the fact that we are just being obedient to God. and you know we want that that warm fuzzy feeling i mean because we all want that need that but i think if we neglect resting in that ob resting in the fact that we are being obedient to the spirit we lose a deeper conviction a deeper i'm going to use the word warm fuzzy feeling um if we instead of just looking to this more superficial of human needs

Jeff Reed Anybody else?

WordiGirl I think Will was gonna say something.

Willpog I was just going to say, it's hard to add anything beyond verse 8, really.

Jeff Reed Oh, yeah, Will.

WordiGirl Yeah, go ahead.

Jeff Reed I'm sorry, man. Go for it.

Willpog And so when we think about applying this faith that we have, I feel like as far as... are this this chapter talks a lot about the different circumstances that these christians are facing right we talked about how uh you know there's persecution happening there's struggles happening there's challenges happening um and then verse eight comes and it's like is is telling us giving us like uh you know look you know you you love god um uh you rejoice in him um and you you know you're thankful and so i feel i feel like when it comes to applying you know for for us today to apply this is is when we look at our circumstances right when we look at our circumstances when we look at the things that are happening around us um and and in our lives ministry personal whatever do we, what filter do we, how do we see these circumstances, right? And I feel like this whole chapter is calling us to add this filter of joy, of expectation, of, you know, gratitude and, you know,

Jeff Reed Mm.

Willpog rest in God, right? Rest in his provision and his plan for us. And so I feel like as far as applying in our day-to-day lives is apply this filter. When we... are going through different things when we're walking um are we are we putting god you know are we putting god in this at the center of everything right and so um and it's really easy i feel like it's really easy for us to know when we're making a decision that's not centered on god's will uh and and i think we know when we're doing that

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Willpog And so, yeah, it's just just add that filter, add the filter of joy, of love, of of obedience. And and the Bible is full of ways, practical ways that you can do just that, that you can obey, that you can, you know, be joyful and and loving and and all that. So, yeah.

Jeff Reed It's amazing to me, and this may sound like new agey, and I really don't mean it to be, but it's amazing to me what looking through things with joy, with positivity, with excitement, what that does at the emotional level, at the almost spiritual level. allowing God to move rather than being broken, rather than being angry, rather than being, it's almost like you're expecting God to move, which allows Him to move. You know, so often, you know, actually, I'm reflecting back to Job right now, where, you know, everybody questioned Job, a God about Job, on Job's behalf. And then Job finally, you know, Job was positive the entire time, and finally somewhere in 41 or whatever, Job questions God, and then God, like, totally opens a can on Job, like, where were you when I created the heavens and the earth, and just, like, really chooses, but it was awesome, because it's like, Job, man, yeah, you lost everything, but you've lost sight of God in that moment, and you let other negativity drag you down. And it's hard sometimes to keep that positivity, to keep that faith in that where you are right now is exactly where you need to be. there's a really interesting parallel. And so when I read verse eight, this is where I went. And so like, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy. That's speaking of us and specifically of Jesus. Christians, we're separated by distance, we're separated by time. We've never had a physical relationship. We've never breathed the same air molecules. But I have a relationship with my Savior, Jesus Christ. And so that's the reality. It's really interesting. When I've read this, it actually reminds me of an argument that I get into a lot with digital ministry, where it talks about how, you know, allegedly can't disciple people digitally. And I was like, well, wait, hold on. Why can't I have a relationship with Layton when he's on the other side of the country through a camera? Like, my savior, I've never met. I've never breathed the same air molecules. I have nothing more. I don't even have a visual relationship with that guy. And if I said that I heard God, you know, speak to me on a regular basis, I'd probably be in a funny farm or something like that. Like, that's not often received well. But we're able to almost, and I would almost challenge, is it agape love? I'm trying to remember the right version of the love. But the love of the Father is one that doesn't require. the physicality. And as digital missionaries, for us to express that same kind of love for others in digital space through evangelism and through discipleship and all the unique expressions of digital that we see online, digital missions work now. Man, I look at verse 8 as really an affirmation. that God's love super exceeds, it extends boundaries of time and space. And therefore, what we're doing, to be honest, is not that much different. Oh, and by the way, we've got the Holy Spirit to help us navigate the tensions of that, which is very helpful in times as well. I don't know, does that resonate with some of you?

Willpog Well, I feel...

Jeff Reed Go ahead, man.

Willpog I feel like for people who don't believe that you can disciple people online are basically denying what is done in the Bible several times. Look at the apostles. They're writing letters to these churches, and many of these churches they have never been to and never got to reach. They were either killed or exiled before. before they got to see these people in person. And so these letters are being sent to these churches, these local churches, and it's being spread throughout not just the exiled churches, but the church in Jerusalem, church in Rome. And while, yes, a lot of these apostles went to some of these places, I mean, these people were being discipled. uh from a distance in many ways so you know paul was discipling paul is probably the greatest example because he wrote most of the new testament you know all all these letters that he sent these churches we don't even have all of them um we don't even have access to all of them but he he he was discipling these churches admonishing uh sometimes correcting criticizing these churches from a distance he was discipling these people from a distance and we've done that through letters throughout 2,000 years of history, pastors and people discipling, sending letters to each other. And I mean, I'd say if you, in this day and age where you can connect with people online, you can get in a voice call and talk to them, it's a lot faster, more effective. I'm pretty sure Paul would be using Discord if he was here. know what i'm saying he would be using this board or twitch or something like that you know because because it is it is uh uh you know the the apostles in the first century were using the tools that they had to disciple people and those and the only two options they had back in the day in the first century was in person for writing these letters and that's what they were doing they were using all of the resources they had um and today 2 000 years later we have a lot more resources than they did and we do a lot less i feel like so but uh

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Willpog That's a whole other discussion. But yeah, so I know it's relatively – I don't know. It's a touchy subject for many people because I feel like when you advocate for digital ministry, a lot of people take it as, oh, so you're anti-physical ministry. You're anti – the gathering together of, you know, of the church. And I'm like, no, it's not one or the other here. You know, we can do both. You know, we can do both. And yeah. So anyways, that's my take.

Jeff Reed Love that.

Flatcap Yeah, just along those lines, if we were to get rid of all of the remote discipleship that we have in the New Testament, we would just have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. I mean, and you could even make an argument that that's remote discipleship, Luke especially, because he's writing to Theophilus, whether that is...

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Flatcap you know a moniker of a person or an actual person he's writing to a particular person to disciple him remotely and then follows up with the book of acts knowing that it's going to be disseminated other places but it's like i don't want to give up all of that that is discipling me still today paul peter john are all still discipling us today and they're doing it remotely and if they had gone in person and nothing would have been written down what would we be relying on

Jeff Reed Hmm.

Jeff Reed Christianity be dead. I mean, to be honest, it never would have left Bethlehem. It's just like Jesus was on a roadshow. He was just walking all over the place, preaching as he went. He did the, what was it, the soldier's son healed long distance without even being in the same room. And so, yeah, that's what drives me nuts because it's like God doesn't work that way.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed It's like... God worked that way biblically. You're saying you can't? It's not like I'm trying to heal somebody on another continent.

Flatcap yeah yep yeah and i think if we you know just make that shift to saying remote ministry is happening

Jeff Reed I'm trying to build a relationship.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap Okay. Now, if you can see remote ministry, all the digital is, is it's a form of remote ministry. And yeah, boy, I love getting together. I'm going to be at REACH conference in a few weeks. So I will be getting together with people because I want to be together in person with people. I look forward to those opportunities. And then I'll be at another conference after REACH. so that I can be together with people that I want to be together with because it is different and I long for it the same way that Paul talks about longing for it and Peter talks about it. But if Peter would have went and visited in person, it would have taken him a lot longer and we wouldn't have this letter that we're going, wow, how do we apply this to our lives today? Because you wrote us a wonderful letter, Peter.

Jeff Reed I mean,

WordiGirl yeah and and like everyone was saying like writing the letters while in jail and it's like he couldn't go to them um that is just some another form i feel that a lot of people are afraid of newfangled technology or something but it's literally the way that the world is going and if we christians don't utilize it for the good of god

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl It's not like it's going to stop existing. People are still using this and it's not all for good, but we can be the light who is using it for good. And that's my main thing that I use to drive my actions because sometimes. there could be a place like sometimes you feel called to like leave a space, but sometimes you should feel called to be in the space because you might be the only Jesus that anybody sees in that space.

Jeff Reed Mm.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl Everybody might be shutting and leaving that space. But just like when I first joined Twitch, I did not know that there was an established community of actual Christian streamers. And there are so many people who have not found this bucket of Christian streamers yet, and they might be a Christian and might not know that anybody's doing Bible studies. Like David's Daily Show just commented that they didn't really know about this kind of podcast Bible study, and it's an interesting perspective. This is my first time doing something like this, and I find it very beneficial. as well and all these people from different places on screen and in the chat all sharing about the knowledge of christ and about our own perspectives of the bible and learning from each other and growing i feel like this is just a beautiful tool that would just be neglected if we don't take advantage of it

Jeff Reed Yeah, wordy girl, you're spot on. You know, and it's funny, Leighton and I, we've talked about doing stuff like this in the past, but maybe a couple weeks ago, we were like, forget it, let's do it right now. Like, just burn the ships and let's go, and we're excited about what's coming up. I know you're going to be hanging out with us some, and Will, you're welcome. I think you signed up for more than just this week, but we'd love to have you and others on as well.

Ian Kirk um um

Willpog I think so. If I haven't, I will.

Jeff Reed Yeah. Yeah, if not, you're welcome on. But, you know, when you're talking about the only Jesus you're seeing in some of these platforms, guess what? You know, and I'm pointing off to where my monitor is. It doesn't make any sense because my finger's not there. But that's what these people were seeing, these house churches. We're the only churches, we're the only Jesus in these countries. in these villages, in these towns, in these regions. And you want to talk about being alone and isolated. I mean, there was no internet. It was just them alone. Paul didn't show up. We're going to get into this, I think, in four or five. Paul didn't deliver this letter. He couldn't. He sent the messenger along to relay the news. And the messenger literally went...

Ian Kirk um um

Jeff Reed I'm sorry, Paul, Peter didn't show up. It was a messenger went and delivered it. And the messenger would go to house church, to house church, to house church in those regions, sharing the news verbally, receiving feedback, being part of the community, encouraging on. Peter was not able to be there. Uh, but Peter was able to connect once again, remotely in a way to encourage people to, to be that light in that, in that dark space, which as, as digital missionaries, to be honest, resonates so, so well with me, you know, and, and I was funny. I was, I was talking with, uh, one of our friends from Nigeria, um, today, and, and he was talking, one of our Utope, one of our, um, outpost leaders. And, and he was talking about how he's, he's discouraged because the churches are just broadcasting and they're not, uh,

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed They're not leaning into doing relationships and ministry in digital space. And guess what? That's not just Nigeria. It's all over the place. We're all frustrated by that at some level. But the joy that we get by being this light in this dark space. to me, is the most encouraging thing I've ever done in my life. And I can tell you, when I was 14, 15 years old, I was called to be a digital pastor, to use this internet technology. Back then, it was AOL.com. The beard is old, okay? But the reality is that by building relationships with people and being that light in the darkness, First off, it's so powerful to see how God moves in those situations when we allow Him to. It's few and far winds.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed I get it. But the winds are solid when they come. And secondly, if we're going to shine the light in the darkness, we've got to be ready to shine the light on ourselves. And some of the issues, some of the hang-ups, some of the sin that is in our life, some of the problems that we have and that we're dealing with with our own relationship with God, habitual sins. And once again, this is something I'm telling about from my own story. We're going to get into it later in the book. But there are things that prevent us from really understanding what God has for us.

Ian Kirk um um

Jeff Reed And the more that we can work through that with God, the more that God can redeem us and we allow that to happen, the more that we'll see God move in the midst, not out of negativity and questioning, but out of faith and trusting that He is providing the grace and the guidance that we need exactly where we are today. And if we've got to go tackle Galatia, we'll go tackle Galatia. If we got to go tackle GTA 6, oh my gosh, I want to do something GTA 6, man. Anyway, whatever that is, let's figure it out and how to do that.

Ian Kirk so

Jeff Reed All right, so wrapping, the last thing I really want to talk about today, where am I? I kind of got off my kilter here. Respond. So hearing this, just like, let's just talk it through, and then I want us to wrap up in a time of prayer. By the way, we mentioned chat. Chat, I would love you to be involved in this response.

Ian Kirk so so

Jeff Reed So you've heard the Bible study. We've highlighted some things. We've explained some things. We've applied the things to our lives. But the next thing is going to be respond. Okay, so off of what we've read here, first 12 verses of 1 Peter 1, what's God calling us to do? And this is going to be different per person. What is God calling you to do based off of what you're hearing today? Is anything resonating with anybody in here?

WordiGirl Yeah, well, what we were talking about with the digital ministry and just our own lives, and there was something that you and Ian and Will, I think probably Leighton as well, were saying about how sometimes we have that feeling of wanting those warm fuzzies. the instant gratification and when we are just like working and doing what god wanted us to do trying to be obedient as humans sometimes we want that response that we are doing the right thing like that response from outside people and that's something that i try to um and it can be difficult but that's something that i try to um just focus on god and keep my prayer life steady as we're supposed to pray without ceasing and just like

Jeff Reed Mm.

WordiGirl instead of asking for affirmation from outside humans ask from god like is this what you want me to do let's keep being obedient and um just sometimes be satisfied with just knowing that you are doing what god wants you to do even if you don't see those fruits and like you were saying sometimes it might seem like i'm doing this for 25 years i don't see like a giant windfall of like

Ian Kirk you

WordiGirl millions like sometimes you don't see all that sometimes you don't know somebody could be right right now just watching this they could be watching in the future this could be a a recorded we're going to post these vod right

Jeff Reed Mm-hmm.

WordiGirl So whatever, anybody could be just watching this like two years later and you don't know who can be affected and you may never know, but as long as you know that you're being obedient to God and you pray that whatever you do avails to what God wants it to do, then sometimes you just have to try to pray for satisfaction and contentment with that obedience, like you guys were saying.

Ian Kirk you

Jeff Reed Amen. It's so good.

Willpog Well, it's like, you know, feelings, feelings can be very, feelings and emotions can be very, it's tricky. We shouldn't depend on them because they change according to, you know, at any moment. We can be super happy and ecstatic and that happiness can be taken away from us just like that. the constant joy and peace that stays regardless of the circumstances.

Jeff Reed Amen.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Willpog And I feel like that's what we need to practice, right? And, you know, the Mount of Transfiguration, right? You have the apostles that saw this mountaintop experience, this Jesus in all his glory. And then after that, they had to live the rest of their lives. It's just like they saw the end game. They saw the best part. And then they had to live the rest of their lives. Some of them didn't live as long because of martyrdom. But I'm saying life, most of life is the mundane. It's in the valleys and not in the mountaintops.

Ian Kirk so so

Willpog I forget the king. that was attacking a flat cap. You might know Layton, but, but the King that was about to attack Israel and sent the message to, and Israel was scared because this was a powerful ruler. And, and, and the ruler basically told them, it's like, yeah, we're going to get you because, and I'm paraphrasing, obviously we're not going to, yeah, but, but, but We're going to get you because your god is a god of mountaintops, not a god of valleys. and and and and they were being they were they were gonna meet in the valley and of course you know god did what only he could do and he showed that he was not just a god of mountaintops but he was also a god of valleys and i feel like most of our lives he was in the valley so so like like like he he doesn't keep us from the valley he walks with us in the valley and and and i feel like most of our lives is

WordiGirl The hills and the valleys.

Willpog is lived in the valley. And we have occasional moments of mountaintops. It's just, so, so we need, I feel like as far as like, you know, applying to our lives, we're, we're, we're, we need to check our hearts.

Ian Kirk um um

Willpog We need to check our hearts. And, and, and like in, like in, in, in verse eight says, you know, are, are you, are you rejoicing in joy? Right. On a day-to-day basis. Are you, are you, are you rejoicing? Are you thankful for what all that God has done? uh for you because gratitude is also not a feeling it's it's a practice it's a practice it's a daily practice and so um uh by practicing these things what we we we we can we can be better representatives of we can be better light in this dark place because our circumstances could be whatever it could be the worst possible

Ian Kirk all right

Willpog But people will look at us and it's just like, dude, that guy is happy or, you know, he's joyful. He's joyful even with all the crap happening in his life. He's not complaining. He's not complaining about everything. He's not just, you know, just down and, you know, and so he's joyful. He's hopeful. I don't know. Anyways, it's... It's a hard check for sure, and we should be careful with our feelings.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Willpog Our brain will play tricks on us.

Ian Kirk so you

Jeff Reed Yeah, being the God of the mountaintops and the valleys. You will have high points. You know what? It's interesting. If you're going to give God the victory of the high points... then it's okay to give God the victory of the low points and let him have the losses and let him deal with that. If you're going to claim the victory of the high points, then you're accountable for what's happening on the low. And so letting God be the lead, the center on both sides, the center on both of the mountains and the valleys, that's a good line, man.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

Jeff Reed I love that. Leighton Flatcap, Ian, what you got?

Flatcap Mine is really specific to me, and it's not something new. It's just I hear it again, and I keep getting this tap on my shoulder that what I need to do is address the church that hasn't figured out digital. write up not just say hey you haven't figured it out and this is part i think why god's calling me back to go to a physical church is so i can go and live out what i've learned and demonstrate and tell people i'll do it so i'm planning to write a blog post on hey you went online now what

Ian Kirk so so

Flatcap And so I want to not just say, hey, you need to do this. No, I really want to talk about how do you engage people in relationship? That's what we're doing here. That's the intent of this is to show the viability of it. But more than that, I want to create, to go back to what Wordy Girl was saying, evergreen content that can be picked up by somebody who's never come into contact with me, doesn't know who I am, but through God's providence will bring it to them. And they can say, yeah, you know what? all we do actually when we do our live services say hello everybody online and we ignore you the rest of the time and we make you a spectator instead of allowing you to participate with us in worship and welcome you in and celebrate together so i've got several ideas i don't want to go through them all right now taking up time but uh i'm going to say by the end of this in nine weeks i need to have that published no pressure but you know i put up

Ian Kirk you

Jeff Reed No pressure. Yeah, we're gonna hold you accountable.

Flatcap Yep, that's it. That's it.

Willpog And God is calling you. God might be calling you to brick and mortar church to sort of...

Ian Kirk Bye.

Willpog to bring digital ministry to light inside a physical church.

Flatcap Yeah.

Willpog You know what I'm saying? That's amazing. That's amazing. Leading a church, you know, physically being with people and everything, but at the same time, a digital ministry-friendly church, a church that not only, you know, will stream their live services on Sunday, but actually actively doing digital ministry, which is awesome. It's awesome.

Flatcap Yeah.

Jeff Reed Yeah, yeah, very cool. Ian, anything for you on Respond?

Ian Kirk yeah i was i was actually thinking of um eugene peterson's book which you know what i know what how many people have heard of him yeah the author of the message but not i'm not thinking of the message thank you very much okay one of many other books um but he had a long obedience in the same direction

Jeff Reed The Message?

Jeff Reed Not that book, the other book, okay.

Flatcap Hmm.

Ian Kirk and um yeah i know that's really hard i get that um and it you know for those of you who don't know i'm i'm i'm merely a physical pastor um at this point uh just been hanging around jeff way too long um but

Jeff Reed Hmm.

Ian Kirk Um, let's just say I need, uh, I'm, I'm getting the nudge to pick my feet up and actually do what I said I was going to do. Um, which in my case just means another five years. So when I say a long direction, the long obedience in the same direction, um, it's a five-year degree. So, um, yeah, it was, I'm, it's, it's not just, it's not just words. It's, oh boy. So that's kind of where that's what I'm sitting with right now.

Jeff Reed Well, yeah, I don't know that I could play the five-year card. I mean, I've played a bunch of five-year cards, but I get bored and bounced around. You know, the Church Digital is actually the longest thing I've ever done in my life. We started the Church Digital in 2018. But in previous of that, like the longest I've ever had any job is less than five years, four years, seven months. and uh in tcd 2018 so what is that like almost eight years at this point and um still going so it's it's interesting i really do um i i value it was funny i was talking with one of the local guys former pastor it's one of the guys who disciples me and cares for me and when he asks me how am i doing and i say great he's like call me right now because you're not um and you know actually i get to have the real we have a text group together that says chat that'll get you fired because that's just the conversations that that he and i have just and there's another pastor that's in there with us but um anyway uh we're having a conversation today uh about um crap i have no idea where i was going with that dang it It was really good. Ray, when you listen to this podcast, will you let me know what I was about to say?

Willpog five five five five years is too long apparently yeah five years is too long apparently 30 seconds is too long too yeah

WordiGirl You're talking about five years in the same direction.

Jeff Reed Listen, guys. The body falls apart at 40 and the mind disappears at 50. Honest to God. Enjoy your 20s and 30s.

Ian Kirk Pay now.

Jeff Reed That's all I have to say because it is all downhill very, very soon. Yeah, I used to be the cute one. Let's just say it that way. Look at me now. The reality is that we get to be light in a dark space, and that God uses us.

Ian Kirk Yep.

Jeff Reed There's an interesting challenge, and this is something I'm working through a little bit, and so I don't know that I'm ready for this to be prime time. But there's a difference between, and I'm going to use some church terms, ecclesiology and missiology. And so missiology, these are missionaries.

Ian Kirk Absolutely.

Jeff Reed These are the people that are apostolic, that travel the planet sharing Jesus, wash up on some country they don't speak the language of, learn the language, meet the people, prayer walk the town, and constantly share Jesus in a Starbucks at some corner in some foreign land. And that, in a nutshell, is what we are. Missiology is really about diaspora. It's about being sent. It's about being these Christians that were not at the gathering. They were sent out. They were not excommunicated. They were sent out of the land. They were being persecuted. And when they left, they were sharing Jesus as they were going. And that is the exact opposite. of what is commonly talked about with ecclesia which ecclesiology which is really the gathering and where the gathering which is really the u.s church right now is really focused on gathering and that that community Now, the reality is that we need ecclesiology, we need the gathering, and we also need the diaspora, we need the missiology, we need the sending to both be healthy and balanced for the church to be good. Could you imagine if the church had, the missionaries had no ecosystem of a church at home?

Willpog Thank you.

Jeff Reed And could you imagine if we were just solely focused at home and weren't worried about sharing Jesus with others? And so, the flip side of that... that tension that we're feeling um sometimes i think it's because we're looking at the wrong support system i i don't think i've been burned by the church a lot if you watch my stream you know this um i don't think we're going to get the support from the u.s physical church in general that we as digital missionaries hope to see And that's not a knock on the physical missionaries. I just don't think that what we're doing in 26 resonates enough with them or makes sense enough to them. We're still the weird kids. That's not to say that God doesn't have a purpose. That just means that we need to find community and encouragement and joy and find God in other situations because they may not, as a general rule, some situations may be better, but they may not be better. Layton has far more faith in the church in the current condition than I do. And so Layton can correct me at some point, but I just want a couple.

Flatcap I'm not looking to change the whole big C church. I am just trying to get a couple of wins out there with a couple of people that they didn't have the mentality of, well, people aren't showing up, so let's turn off the live stream and get them back in the building.

Jeff Reed Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Flatcap I'm looking for the people that say, we have a growing number of people online.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap We don't know what to do.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap That's who I'm looking to tell them, hey, there's a way to build remote relationships and do remote discipleship. We already have the pattern in the New Testament. We just need to adopt it and adapt it. And then once we do it, you have to adapt it specifically to your church, your setting, and where are you at online. So just like a missionary would. So that's all I'm looking to do is create a framework that people can look at and say, yeah, I could do something similar. I'm not trying to be a megachurch online. I'm just trying to be faithful online.

Jeff Reed Yeah. And here I am being negative when I said stop being negative. God moves in positivity. You know, find joy when you are persecuted. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you are—what's the line there for that? And so, like, I just need to—

WordiGirl Diverse temptations.

Jeff Reed Yeah. Yes. I need to have a better outlook. And so that is my response. In the difficulties, in the joys, in the frustrations, in the celebrations, find God. Like, if there's one thing I've learned in my life is that I give up too quickly on finding God. Um, if it's a win, I'm, I'm too quick to celebrate the win and just the workaholic nature and, and, you know, whatever me growing up, it's always, you know, go tackle the next tail, go tackle the next tail. It's very, it's not, it's not, you know, the, the, uh, The people who went back to Jesus and thanked him for healing them. Yeah, that's not me. And so, you know, in the joys, I don't find God. In the difficulties, to be honest, I'm so, you know, depressive related. I'm probably bipolar at some level. Honestly, historically, if I was younger, I would have been diagnosed. But it's like, yay, I'm great. I suck at life. I could do this forever. I don't want to do this anymore. And so in that time, it's just so hard to find God because even though I'm trying to be humble, because of everything, all the moods, it ends up being all about me, which is the exact opposite that we don't want to do, even starting off with what Will Pogg said at the beginning. about how we're serving others in what we're doing and how this scripture highlights the fact that these people are displaced. These people are refugees in the current sense, being sent out and are being the light of Jesus, literally in areas and regions where there is not another Jesus follower to be found. And to me, that's the model that we should be following today. Well, I tell you what, this was fun. As we're wrapping up here, any closing thoughts? Wordy girl? Anything as we're wrapping?

WordiGirl Well, I'm just grateful to God that we were able to join here today. And I really did get a lot of good perspectives and good community here and fellowship with you all and the chat. And just going over the scripture because the Bible is something that we can just read it 100 times and still get something new out of it. So I'm thankful for that.

Jeff Reed Amen. Great. Thank you, Word of God. It was a pleasure to have you on. Looking forward to going through this a couple more times with you. Will Pogg, anything on your side as we're wrapping up?

Willpog I'm thankful for the opportunity. Thank you for the invitation. I was looking forward to this. I'm thankful. Thankful for you guys. Thankful for what you do in your ministries and what you're trying to do, what you're trying to accomplish. I am... I'm... I'm putting myself, making myself available for you guys, whatever I can, whatever I can add to it, you know, and, and, and I'm also learning, I'm also learning from you guys as well.

Jeff Reed Awesome.

Willpog So, uh, I know late, late, late, late and I have, uh, have talked before and, and, and have chatted and, and so I love them.

Jeff Reed Very cool.

Willpog And, uh, you know, so I want to thank him for that. Cause if, if, if, if it weren't for him, I wasn't, I wouldn't be here. So, so yeah. So I appreciate y'all.

Jeff Reed No, Leighton's a great contact and certainly the guy on our team I'd love for you to connect with. Ian, anything on your side?

Ian Kirk No, I just think this is fun. I've done something like this. It ended about a year ago, doing it for five years. So privately, not streaming. So I love going back to this, getting the different perspectives and stuff. It's just a lot of fun.

Jeff Reed Amen. Flat cap.

Flatcap Yeah, I'm just hopeful that people see what we're doing and think, that doesn't look hard. I could do that. And it'll start with, we're doing this on Twitch, but we're going to post everywhere that we can so that other people can look at it. And I will just encourage you, go join. the daily conversation, sign up for all the posts, get all of that stuff, share the content, enjoy having a group of people going along for nine weeks together in the Bible, and then just see where God might be calling you to do the same.

Jeff Reed Yeah, I mean, that's a great challenge right there. Spend nine weeks with us in the Bible and see what God is calling you to do as a response off of that in the 27. And so, yeah, love what we're doing here. Really encouraged by what happened here on this call. So thank you all for doing it. I know I'm going to see each of you at other times through this. I will be managing probably the first four weeks of this. Layton's going to be traveling a lot, but this is his Bible study. I'm just keeping the seat warm, although I live on the other side of the country in Miami, Florida, and so not so much his seat, but I'll be on camera instead. But I'll be doing it for a while, and then he'll take it over in the Twitch land. I'm more of a YouTube guy. The Twitch stuff, I don't like. No offense, but once again, this is an original NES face. My son wants to play me in Super Smash Brothers. He's in esports as a high schooler. He told me he's like number 50 in the state of Florida or something like that. So I was like, hey, that's pretty cool. And he's like, well, let's play Super Smash. And I'm like, no. It stopped being fun a couple years ago. I'm just saying. So here's what's going on moving forward. Everybody at home, so sign up. You can sign up for the devotionals at... thechurch.digital.scattered, thechurch.digital.scattered, or it's on the homepage of The Church Digital as well. Go there, sign up for the daily devotionals and how you want it delivered. Email, WhatsApp, Discord, Facebook, Instagram, Slack. I think that's it. Freaking Microsoft Teams wanted like 10 bucks a month. And I'm like, what? I'm not giving Microsoft 10 bucks. No way! Sorry, I'm done. Scene. But sign up for the Daily Devotional. This will be part of the Daily Devotional over the span of the week. We'll break up some of the content, video, audio, ideas, and themes. We'll feed into the Daily Devotional, as well as a Bible study guide that we're making available for others to go through as well. And then it'll be available on demand on Monday. The devotional is to start Monday. Hey, Jay. Hey, Jay, you're going to be on with Leighton soon, right? Did I see that?

Flatcap Yeah, Thursday.

Jeff Reed Thursday. What time?

Flatcap Thursday.

Jeff Reed Why don't you tease that right now? Thursday, what time?

Flatcap I believe at 6.30 p.m. Eastern time, we'll be on Control-Alt-Redeem with Just JD. I'm looking forward to it.

Jeff Reed Very cool.

Flatcap And I will plug, you can go back and look at the episodes on Spotify, on Apple, or YouTube, and see my conversation with Wordy Girl and my conversation with Will Pogg.

Jeff Reed There you go. Yeah, it's all at, all your VOD is now on YouTube, right? YouTube, the Church Digital?

Flatcap Yeah. Yep.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

Flatcap Everything is up to date. Everything from season one is now on all of them as well as season two. And we just started season three.

Jeff Reed Boom. Just knocking it out of the park, man. Awesome. Well, let's do this. Leighton, why don't you, I tell you what, wordy girl, would you mind closing us in prayer today?

WordiGirl Not at all. All right. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for gathering us here today. We thank you for everyone in the chat. We thank you for everyone on the call. We thank you for those who are watching in the future who are not presently here at this moment. We just ask you to bless us all. Bless your word. Water our hearts so that we may absorb your word and apply it to our lives.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl I see here that we have... put together a couple of things that we should use in response as a prayer. So we just pray that you help our hearts to be obedient to you and not dependent on instant gratification from the world. We do ask you to give us the strength to persist despite feelings and emotions that might be misleading for us, because we know that As you have said in your word, the heart can be deceitful. Sometimes these feelings and emotions that we have can lead us astray. So we just ask you to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. We pray that you remind us that you are the God of the mountaintops and the valleys. You are the God of the victories and you are with us, walking with us.

Ian Kirk yes

WordiGirl through the low points, Lord. Help us to remember that no matter what, when we do triumph to give you the glory and when we are low to remain humble, to remain grateful and to remain hopeful that you will see us through. in your time. We also pray that you help guide churches to recognize and engage in digital community. We know that not everybody is receptive to it, but it is important that we are the light

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl online in this digital space that is not going away. We ask you to embolden us and give us your whole armor so that we may go forth in these new territories that some may be afraid to traverse through and help us because we know that the harvest is plentiful. But the laborers are few. We just want you to bless us and help us to be strengthened and to be those laborers to go out into this digital harvest for your glory. And we do long for obedience.

Ian Kirk Thank you.

WordiGirl in the same direction. We know that Your timing, Lord, may not be our timing. Sometimes it may feel that we are doing something, the same thing, for a year, for five years, for ten years, and it may be difficult and it may be challenging, but we just pray that You give us the endurance and the strength to carry forward, and when we hear Your voice, to persist. to remember that we are doing this for Your glory and for Your goodness, and we are on Your mission. Help us to be long-suffering and to endure through any challenges and trials that may come our way. And lastly, we do ask You to help us to be more positive, because there are so many things that are happening that are discouraging in this world.

Jeff Reed Yeah.

WordiGirl And it is so easy to fall into negativity, to fall into pessimism, but remind us that you are God, you are good, you are still on the throne.

Flatcap Yes.

WordiGirl Remind us of those good, eternal things that never fade. Remind us of our hope in you. in your eternal life through Christ Jesus. Help us to remember that also on this earth, we will have joy. We will have victory. We will have fellowship with others. Help us to find those others on this earth who can encourage us and lift us up and celebrate with us when we are high and mourn with us when we are low and just strengthen us and be comrades as we endeavor. for your goodness and glory. And we thank you for everything you've done, everything you're doing, and everything that you will do. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen.

Jeff Reed Amen.

Ian Kirk Amen.

Flatcap Amen.

Jeff Reed Awesome.

Willpog Thanks for having us.

Jeff Reed Well, thank you all. Appreciate it. We're going to wrap. Leighton, I got to talk to you. So I'm actually going to keep it open.

Flatcap Oh, okay.

Jeff Reed Some tech things on my side. But y'all, thanks for hanging out with us. And we'll see you next week.