Speaker: 00:00:05

Welcome back to the podcast, Marlin.

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this is a bit of a different episode

where normally we have a topic

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with a list of questions

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and things where I'm asking,

whoever it is that we have on the podcast

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about a particular topic, but today it's

we're doing something a bit different.

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It's been a while since we've done

an update on Anabaptist Perspectives and

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what we've been working on and

some of the changes that have happened.

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You know, in the last year,

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a number of things

have shifted in the organization

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and want to hit some of those,

but also more of a zoomed out picture of

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what is the the vision

overall of the organization

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and the mission of like,

what we're trying to do.

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And then we'll hit a few things on

how we're doing that and where

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we're going and,

why we're doing this to begin with.

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So, by way of introduction,

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you know, Marlin,

you're the executive director

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of Anabaptist Perspectives,

so seems pretty fitting that

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I would get to interview you

on this particular, topic.

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So we'll go back and forth on this,

and hopefully this will be encouraging

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to our listeners

and also kind of pull back the curtain

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a bit on, what goes into this podcast

and what we're trying to do here.

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So, yeah, as far as that goes,

as far as introduction,

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I'd say we just jump right in and,

where would you like to go from here?

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So yes, I'm, I'm really excited.

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You know, both you mentioned changes

in the organization, which were basically

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putting things in place

to keep going for the long haul.

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And really excited about that.

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And then,

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yeah, we also want to talk

about our mission statement,

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how we view our mission

and why we're doing what we're doing.

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So I'm excited about both of those.

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so, I mean, maybe changes

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in the organization,

we just hit those very quickly.

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Yeah, yeah.

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and, you know, maybe probably listeners

don't necessarily notice those changes.

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but they do have ripple effects

on the kind of content we make.

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And I'm really excited about it

because I think overall,

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it'll end up being a better experience

for everybody and especially the audience

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for having hopefully higher quality

content because of some of those changes.

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So, yeah,

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if you want to briefly hit

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some of those things that have shifted

in the last year, So the big one was,

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you know, staffing

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where we hired a dedicated

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want to say media editor,

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but he's also a lot

more than a media editor.

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but on the whole production

side of things.

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And yeah,

that has just given us the capacity to,

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you know, release episodes weekly

to make them

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a little longer

to experiment with new things.

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that is really exciting.

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and then

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the other shift,

which hopefully has not been

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a very noticeable shift

because it's intended to be,

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thoroughly, you know, behind the scenes

support what we're doing.

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keep moving.

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is, you know, I myself have been involved

in the organization in various ways

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since the beginning, initially an advisor

and then a board member.

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And then we kind of did

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a executive committee, which we still have

an executive committee.

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but yeah, as I took on that executive

director, kind of role

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and in moving toward that being more

full time with Anabaptist Perspectives.

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You know, the goal there is just to yeah,

I'll continue to be involved

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in all the things I was in before,

some content, some back end things.

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And the goal was just to,

yeah, be able to facilitate

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staff working

well, doing lots of interviews with,

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you know, our various,

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Jaran and Reagan hosting

me, doing some hosting and just

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the kind of back end stability.

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I think that's the key word

is, is this stability.

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with a podcast like this, you know,

it's a lot of effort to make episodes,

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and it's hard to stay consistent

and have a high bar for quality,

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because we, you know,

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we want to make sure these episodes

are as good as they can be, right?

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so having staff that are more available,

with you transitioning to full time

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here in a couple months and, Carl,

which is behind the cameras right now,

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you know, with him being full time,

this is huge because it feels like

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we're able

to spend more time on making stuff better.

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I guess, I don’t know,

this feels a bit simplistic, but,

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but that's that's really

what we're trying to do.

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You know, we want this to be as helpful

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as it can be

to as many people as possible,

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and hopefully that will allow us

to interview even more guests

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and get even more perspectives

and more input.

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so that it can help more people.

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That's ultimately the goal. So, Right.

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And one shout out, even a little,

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you know, a little further behind

the scenes is just,

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our board has been been working

through things.

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How do they function, function

well as a board and all of that.

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again, that's not something

you usually talk about on the podcast,

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but that is part of.

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Yeah.

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Certainly part of the stability as we look

at the next number of years here.

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Yeah. And that's that's huge actually.

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So there's a you know, we should link this

actually in the description.

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It's been a while

since it's a little bit dated now.

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But myself and Jaran so we're the founders

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of Anabaptist perspectives

talked through like how it started.

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And did an episode on that,

it was kind of interesting.

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It's kind of fun to reminisce and I

look at that episode now, I think that was

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two years ago, that we recorded

that and was just like, wow,

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this has come a long ways, stability wise

compared to where it was when it started.

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So really it essentially it was just

Jaran and I had this idea I'm like,

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well, let's go talk to some people

and ask these questions because like,

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you know, we don't have all the answers,

but we can ask,

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you know, some of my teachers

at Bible school and things like that.

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And that's kind of how

the podcast started, which is all good.

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But to see it now grow way beyond that,

where you have a board,

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you have an executive team, there's

so much more stability and anchoring

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to making sure, okay, is this

are we going the right direction here?

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You know, what topics should we do?

Who should we interview next?

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Having that anchoring is a lot

better than you know.

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Just me and Jaran say brainstorming ideas,

which was a lot of fun.

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And it worked. You know.

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But to move past that and go a lot deeper,

it feels really good.

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And hopefully that's reflected for

the audience where they can say, you know,

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it's better content, again, more

anchored, more depth, things like that.

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So, so with that being

some of the big pieces that have moved

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in the last year or so, let's zoom out

and take a look at our vision statement.

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so, yeah,

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you want to say

what our vision statement is

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and then anything else

you want to unpack on that as well?

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Yeah.

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Using digital media to encourage

allegiance to Jesus’ sacrificial kingdom.

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And then how do we do that.

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Right. That's that's a great point.

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So there's a lot of pieces in here.

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and if I understand correctly

there's an essay that you wrote on this.

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It's up on our website,

on this concept of the sacrificial kingdom

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and, and so forth,

There's a number of chunks here.

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So, yes, the focus on digital,

because we want accessibility.

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So digital anywhere

where you can access the internet,

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you should be able to find our stuff

all around the world.

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So which is neat

because we have a global audience.

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That is the goal.

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That is really, really neat to hear

from people from you know, I'm in Canada

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and I listen to you or I'm in the UK

or I'm in Australia, you know, whereas

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if back in the day, say a physical CD

is very limited on distribution.

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So that's a key piece.

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encouraging allegiance,

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you know, Jesus sacrificial kingdom

that's really the kingdom of God.

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The the emphasis

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there and encouraging, you know,

we don't want to use this as like,

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you need to believe this way or,

only even that, more, evangelistic push.

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You know,

that's not quite the vibe we're going for.

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It's encouraging people.

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It's strengthening, people.

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That's the thought process there.

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so and there's a lot of different ways

we do that.

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And so obviously we have this main

podcast, which is video and audio form.

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You can get that all over,

anywhere you get podcasts.

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But also you're pretty involved

with the essays side of things.

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Maybe we'll talk about that later,

but publishing a lot on our website

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and as an email newsletter,

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and then we have a monthly

email newsletter in addition to all that.

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so really leaning into that form

of content and that form of distribution,

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and which is really at the core of,

of what we're trying to do.

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So, yeah. Anything more

you want to add on that though,

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as far as the vision statement goes?

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Yeah.

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I mean, so well, we unpack that

with the mission statement.

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so maybe we'll jump there

and we have those three pieces of mission

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statement that

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give it a little bit of flesh

and specificity to,

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well,

how is it that we encourage allegiance?

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You know, after all, we're not you know,

we're not putting out worship music,

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which could be a perfectly sensible way

of encouraging allegiance. so,

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yeah, you want to read the first,

first phrase of the mission statement.

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Yeah. So I'll read the first one,

then you can, you can break it down.

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Like, what does that look like.

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So yeah, the mission statement

is essentially saying,

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broadly speaking,

how we're going to do this. Right.

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So First point of the mission statement,

says this engage with questions

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important for faithful living

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in ways that are biblically, historically,

and theologically informed.

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So you unpack what that

what that looks like.

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That's kind of a mouthful

It is a bit of a mouthful. but

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yeah, there's reasons for if it feels like

a little bit awkward wording.

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there's reasons for what

we really wanted to capture there.

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so we had those big words at the end,

you know,

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biblically, theologically, historically.

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So we're not a we're not a straight up

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biblical studies

or biblical exposition podcast.

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we're not a straight up history

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or church history podcast or channel,

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we're not a straight up theology,

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channel either.

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all of those are important,

worthwhile endeavors,

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but they're not, precisely

what we're engaged with.

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and yet we feel a need to pull there.

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So you will find history.

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You will find biblical exposition.

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you will find some theological discussion.

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And, you know, our sense

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is that it's very important to have

those reference points and anchors.

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but the statement starts out with engage

with questions

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important for faithful living.

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again, back

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to that thing of encouraging allegiance.

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And so that's part of our reference point

as well, if we’re

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going to encourage allegiance

to Jesus sacrificial kingdom.

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What are the things

that we need to talk about?

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We can't talk about all of them.

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But what are some things

that we could could put on the table,

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could put on the channel

that really would be helpful for that.

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but we want to do those with context

and we want to do those.

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And our aim is to do that

with some level of depth.

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It's not,

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it's not an academic podcast.

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It's not a specialist podcast.

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but our goal is to, to tap into

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those both in a general way

and to, you know,

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sometimes interview some specialists

and so on in those areas as well.

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so, yeah,

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I mean, Reagan,

you you do a lot of interviewing people.

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Maybe you have comments on that.

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Well, ultimately,

the way I, I've thought about that,

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especially the first half of this phrase,

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engaging with questions

important to faithful living.

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that was really how it started for me,

you know, was I had these questions.

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I was like, well, how does this look? Or

how should I think about that?

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And I, I don't know, like, I'm,

you know, I'm young.

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I don't understand this.

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You know, this is ten years ago or so

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and I was like, well,

I may not have those answers,

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but what if I would go talk to someone

who's thought about it a lot,

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or maybe has a lot of life experience

in that area?

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And I ask them these questions.

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Oh, but what if I would record it because

it might be helpful for someone else?

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And that's really where the whole spark

for the conversation or sorry

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for the podcast came from.

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It's like,

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sit down with people

and have a conversation with them

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and ask these questions and

and put it out there.

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And maybe it'll be helpful

for, for people.

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And it has been apparently,

you know, it was it's it's been quite

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it's been quite a joy, really,

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to engage with the audience, with their,

with their follow up questions.

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And then actually a lot of our,

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episodes come from people saying,

oh, that was really interesting, but

242

00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:06,684

have you thought about asking this person

this like,

243

00:12:06,684 --> 00:12:08,936

oh, that's a really good point, you know,

and then we'll ask that person,

244

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hey, would you want to come on the podcast

and talk about this topic?

245

00:12:11,647 --> 00:12:15,818

so audience suggestions, actually

those questions important for how do we

246

00:12:15,860 --> 00:12:19,196

how do we live out this thing, you know,

called allegiance to Jesus kingdom?

247

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What does that look like?

248

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and one of the shifts in the last while,

too, has been, longer episodes.

249

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So we can go more in depth, too.

250

00:12:27,204 --> 00:12:28,748

And I, I've really liked that.

251

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I've enjoyed the conversations a lot more

because I feel like I can dig.

252

00:12:32,501 --> 00:12:34,503

Yeah,

you can go deeper with some of the stuff,

253

00:12:34,503 --> 00:12:37,548

especially some of these bigger topics

that we've tried to tackle,

254

00:12:37,548 --> 00:12:40,426

you know, recently as like,

wow, like that was that was a chunk.

255

00:12:40,426 --> 00:12:43,512

You know, I think of specifically

the one we did with David

256

00:12:43,512 --> 00:12:46,515

Bercot on how, you know,

he used to be an Anglican priest and then.

257

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Well, he left.

258

00:12:47,516 --> 00:12:49,727

That's not something you can do in a short

259

00:12:49,727 --> 00:12:51,854

episode, like you have to

you have to unpack that.

260

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There's a lot there. And wow,

I learned so much from that episode.

261

00:12:54,523 --> 00:12:58,152

And interestingly enough, it's one of our

most popular episodes this year so far.

262

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so apparently it resonated

with other people

263

00:13:00,488 --> 00:13:03,491

and so yeah, it really comes back

to engaging with those questions.

264

00:13:03,699 --> 00:13:07,119

and, and yeah, I've,

I've learned a lot from that.

265

00:13:07,119 --> 00:13:08,996

So, okay.

266

00:13:08,996 --> 00:13:11,248

Well, maybe I'll go to the next point

of the mission statement here

267

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and have you respond to this as well.

268

00:13:12,541 --> 00:13:13,793

So point number two,

269

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share stories in history,

especially from the Anabaptist movement,

270

00:13:17,087 --> 00:13:20,925

as a source of understanding

and inspiration for serving the King.

271

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So what does that look like? Right.

272

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So it moves it

a little bit more specific. Right.

273

00:13:25,513 --> 00:13:28,599

We said engage with questions

historically informed.

274

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And then we are specifying here

and saying, yeah, actually we do have a

275

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special responsibility

276

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for some history or personal stories.

277

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because of how

278

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because of how formative those are

279

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and so on.

280

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to do that as a source

281

00:13:51,330 --> 00:13:54,375

of understanding and inspiration

for serving the King,

282

00:13:55,376 --> 00:13:58,379

The word understanding comes

before the word inspiration.

283

00:13:59,046 --> 00:14:01,632

And that's

actually really important there,

284

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because, you know, one of the temptations

with stories and history

285

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is to find.

286

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Find something from the past.

287

00:14:09,765 --> 00:14:12,393

and Paint it to look perfect.

288

00:14:12,393 --> 00:14:14,854

And okay, here's a story.

289

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Now, if we can just

all live up to the story,

290

00:14:18,482 --> 00:14:21,694

we certainly should be inspired

291

00:14:21,694 --> 00:14:25,364

by people from the past and by testimonies

and stories of other people.

292

00:14:25,364 --> 00:14:27,867

from the present.

293

00:14:27,867 --> 00:14:30,870

But that word understanding comes, comes

294

00:14:31,829 --> 00:14:32,830

first.

295

00:14:32,830 --> 00:14:36,083

is it one of the Psalms

that talks about the importance of,

296

00:14:36,750 --> 00:14:40,004

you know, telling the coming

generation dark sayings from of old

297

00:14:40,963 --> 00:14:44,091

and not hiding, those things.

298

00:14:45,509 --> 00:14:49,513

So, you know,

that is also why we mentioned things

299

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like Mennonites in the Nazi regime or,

300

00:14:54,059 --> 00:14:57,354

you know, how Mennonites dealt

with the Civil War in America,

301

00:14:58,564 --> 00:15:00,524

some positive, some negative,

302

00:15:00,524 --> 00:15:03,527

and all of that.

303

00:15:03,819 --> 00:15:07,156

another piece we’ve said there is

especially from the Anabaptist movement.

304

00:15:08,157 --> 00:15:11,160

and so maybe unpack that word,

why do we say, especially

305

00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:12,161

from the Anabaptist movement.

306

00:15:12,161 --> 00:15:15,414

Well, one, we are Anabaptists doing that.

307

00:15:15,414 --> 00:15:18,834

So that's our most natural,

most natural source.

308

00:15:21,128 --> 00:15:23,714

And we feel that's important,

you know, for our Anabaptist listeners

309

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to understand something of their history.

310

00:15:25,090 --> 00:15:29,678

We also feel that there's lots of pieces

in Anabaptist history that are valuable,

311

00:15:30,930 --> 00:15:34,016

you know, for the church

more generally, to understand.

312

00:15:35,142 --> 00:15:35,601

And, of course,

313

00:15:35,601 --> 00:15:38,812

we're coming from our own

particular corner of the Anabaptist world,

314

00:15:39,521 --> 00:15:40,606

as we do that.

315

00:15:43,359 --> 00:15:44,401

but we also don't want

316

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to be we don't want to be limited there.

317

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so that's not saying

we don't cover other parts of history.

318

00:15:52,326 --> 00:15:55,996

So, for example, Reagan,

you recently interviewed Lucas Hilty.

319

00:15:56,246 --> 00:15:59,166

a couple episodes having to do with,

you know,

320

00:15:59,166 --> 00:16:02,169

the church in ancient Syria, you know,

321

00:16:02,461 --> 00:16:05,464

thousand years or more before

there was an Anabaptist movement.

322

00:16:05,839 --> 00:16:07,800

So why do we do that?

323

00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:09,843

Yeah, exactly. That's a great.

324

00:16:09,843 --> 00:16:11,053

that's a great one.

325

00:16:11,053 --> 00:16:14,056

I really enjoyed those with Lucas,

by the way.

326

00:16:14,056 --> 00:16:16,475

My whole thought process there.

327

00:16:16,475 --> 00:16:17,643

back to the point.

328

00:16:17,643 --> 00:16:20,646

The first point, actually, in the mission

statement, you know, questions

329

00:16:20,729 --> 00:16:23,357

that we have in engaging with those,

330

00:16:23,357 --> 00:16:26,235

it actually started as, me

being personally interested in that?

331

00:16:26,235 --> 00:16:28,612

And being like, hey, Lucas,

I've heard you've done

332

00:16:28,612 --> 00:16:30,447

a lot of work on the,

you know, church in the East.

333

00:16:30,447 --> 00:16:31,573

That's really interesting.

334

00:16:31,573 --> 00:16:34,118

Like,

I don't know hardly anything about this.

335

00:16:34,118 --> 00:16:36,954

And then he starts telling me some things

and we exchange some emails and like,

336

00:16:36,954 --> 00:16:41,166

wow, there is some really interesting

things here that I just didn't know about.

337

00:16:41,417 --> 00:16:42,668

And then that got me thinking.

338

00:16:42,668 --> 00:16:45,629

I'm like, well, I bet a lot of other

people don't know this.

339

00:16:45,629 --> 00:16:48,090

And this has been interesting

and encouraging to me,

340

00:16:48,090 --> 00:16:49,717

and I have a lot more questions about it.

341

00:16:49,717 --> 00:16:52,761

Hey, Lucas, would you want to sit down

and tell us this stuff?

342

00:16:52,761 --> 00:16:57,099

Because, yeah, this is way earlier

than the Anabaptist movement and so forth.

343

00:16:57,099 --> 00:16:59,184

But it's a part of the church's story.

344

00:16:59,184 --> 00:17:01,270

And I think,

I think we should have an awareness of it.

345

00:17:01,270 --> 00:17:02,271

I think we should know about that.

346

00:17:02,271 --> 00:17:06,316

And I don't know of anybody else

in our section,

347

00:17:06,316 --> 00:17:09,445

I guess you could say, of the conservative

Anabaptist world that has done

348

00:17:09,695 --> 00:17:13,073

a lot of work in that part of early church

history.

349

00:17:13,782 --> 00:17:15,951

the, the Eastern Church, you know.

350

00:17:15,951 --> 00:17:17,661

Well, go watch the episodes

if you want the details.

351

00:17:17,661 --> 00:17:20,748

But, in Syria,

you know, Iraq, some of these places.

352

00:17:21,081 --> 00:17:23,000

And I'm like, well, that's`

kind of too bad.

353

00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:24,668

Like, we should we should look at that.

354

00:17:24,668 --> 00:17:27,713

and apparently it resonated

with other people

355

00:17:27,713 --> 00:17:31,550

because that those episodes were fairly

popular actually, which is interesting

356

00:17:31,550 --> 00:17:35,054

because it is a bit different

than what we would normally be posting.

357

00:17:35,387 --> 00:17:38,766

But I felt like,

yeah, that's a, that's an important piece,

358

00:17:38,766 --> 00:17:41,894

you know, so I asked some others on

the team like, yeah, we should do it.

359

00:17:41,894 --> 00:17:43,395

And and I'm really glad.

360

00:17:43,395 --> 00:17:45,105

to do things like that occasionally.

361

00:17:45,105 --> 00:17:48,650

I think those are valuable pieces for our,

our people to have an awareness of.

362

00:17:49,735 --> 00:17:50,527

Yeah, yeah.

363

00:17:50,527 --> 00:17:52,780

And that's a, that's a commitment.

364

00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:55,991

It makes the podcast a little bit broader,

365

00:17:56,784 --> 00:18:00,329

you know, makes it a little harder

to peg a particular niche.

366

00:18:00,329 --> 00:18:02,998

but it does feel like

367

00:18:02,998 --> 00:18:04,583

that is part of our,

368

00:18:04,583 --> 00:18:07,628

our job is to bring a variety

of these pieces together

369

00:18:07,628 --> 00:18:11,840

that, again, we're certainly not claiming

to put everything on the table

370

00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:13,175

to cover every topic.

371

00:18:13,175 --> 00:18:15,594

We're

in no danger of running out of topics.

372

00:18:15,594 --> 00:18:18,680

but it's part of our job to put together,

you know,

373

00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:21,683

a broader range of these things

that are like, you know, this is important

374

00:18:21,767 --> 00:18:25,062

questions or important, ways

to be historically informed,

375

00:18:26,105 --> 00:18:27,773

Yeah.

376

00:18:27,773 --> 00:18:29,733

That's really true.

377

00:18:29,733 --> 00:18:34,321

so the third and last point

of our mission statement,

378

00:18:34,822 --> 00:18:39,159

says this publish content

regularly on major platforms, interact

379

00:18:39,159 --> 00:18:43,330

with audience responses

and build an expanding resource library.

380

00:18:43,747 --> 00:18:46,875

So yeah, you want to unpack

maybe specifically, how do we do that?

381

00:18:46,917 --> 00:18:49,920

What does that look like and why? Right.

382

00:18:50,003 --> 00:18:53,757

Well, I might let you do a lot of that

unpacking, but,

383

00:18:53,757 --> 00:18:57,678

this one really gets into,

you know, more practical specifics.

384

00:18:57,678 --> 00:19:02,391

How do you distribute these things

now that you've talked about questions

385

00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:05,435

or talked about history,

how do we distribute it?

386

00:19:05,435 --> 00:19:07,479

so we've always had an emphasis on

387

00:19:08,522 --> 00:19:10,149

wide distribution,

388

00:19:10,149 --> 00:19:14,153

in the sense of,

you know, a lot of platforms and so on.

389

00:19:14,153 --> 00:19:15,988

You talked a little bit about this

at the beginning.

390

00:19:15,988 --> 00:19:19,533

you want to just,

you know, maybe run through very quickly

391

00:19:20,075 --> 00:19:23,078

the main platforms

where we are releasing content.

392

00:19:23,245 --> 00:19:23,704

Yeah.

393

00:19:23,704 --> 00:19:25,455

That that's always been a piece

394

00:19:25,455 --> 00:19:28,458

we've emphasized

is making sure this stuff is available

395

00:19:29,501 --> 00:19:32,087

in, in all kinds of different forms.

396

00:19:32,087 --> 00:19:35,674

so we're a number of

397

00:19:35,674 --> 00:19:36,216

our listeners

398

00:19:36,216 --> 00:19:40,304

are from the more conservative groups,

Mennonites, you know, maybe even Amish,

399

00:19:40,512 --> 00:19:44,349

and often don't have access to the full

internet or no access to the internet,

400

00:19:44,558 --> 00:19:46,143

for various reasons

which which we've done

401

00:19:46,143 --> 00:19:48,395

some episodes on that, like the Anabaptist

402

00:19:48,395 --> 00:19:51,940

views on different views on technology

and things and really fascinating stuff.

403

00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:54,651

So one of the things we started

recently is dial in phone line.

404

00:19:54,651 --> 00:19:55,944

Oh, you don't have internet.

405

00:19:55,944 --> 00:19:57,070

That's no problem.

406

00:19:57,070 --> 00:20:00,699

You can dial in on any phone,

to our number, which, I don't know, we'll

407

00:20:00,699 --> 00:20:04,244

put it down below or it's on our website

and you can listen to all our episodes.

408

00:20:04,578 --> 00:20:07,414

And that's

that's a really neat way for people who,

409

00:20:07,414 --> 00:20:08,957

you know, maybe their churches don't have,

410

00:20:08,957 --> 00:20:11,835

internet or they,

they've chosen not to have access to that.

411

00:20:11,835 --> 00:20:13,003

They can still listen.

412

00:20:13,003 --> 00:20:16,632

And that's important to us that

the content is available if people want it

413

00:20:16,924 --> 00:20:17,841

is the thought process.

414

00:20:17,841 --> 00:20:20,844

Another option there is

there's an app called telegram.

415

00:20:20,969 --> 00:20:25,933

and a group turned like has a basically a

another service that runs on that.

416

00:20:25,933 --> 00:20:26,808

It's called Cloud Veil.

417

00:20:26,808 --> 00:20:30,520

And a lot of conservative Mennonites

use that because it's not directly

418

00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,564

going to like a web browser

or the internet,

419

00:20:32,564 --> 00:20:34,483

and they can message

and send things around.

420

00:20:34,483 --> 00:20:38,946

So we post all our videos and, podcasts

there, and it's a really neat way

421

00:20:38,946 --> 00:20:41,323

people can get it directly

on their phones. Messaged to them.

422

00:20:41,323 --> 00:20:42,366

They don't have to go to the website,

423

00:20:42,366 --> 00:20:44,534

don't have to go to YouTube

or access the internet.

424

00:20:44,534 --> 00:20:46,870

And it works really

well for people again, who,

425

00:20:46,870 --> 00:20:49,873

you know, prefer not to use the internet

in that way or choose not to.

426

00:20:50,082 --> 00:20:52,167

and that's been really neat, actually.

427

00:20:52,167 --> 00:20:55,212

Often we'll get more views

through those types of platforms

428

00:20:55,212 --> 00:20:59,007

than we will say on on like YouTube,

which is really surprising to me, but

429

00:20:59,007 --> 00:21:00,342

but pretty neat, you know.

430

00:21:00,342 --> 00:21:03,887

and then of course, we're posting

full length episodes over on Twitter now,

431

00:21:03,887 --> 00:21:04,513

so that's neat.

432

00:21:04,513 --> 00:21:07,516

Facebook, of course,

you know, here on YouTube which is,

433

00:21:07,516 --> 00:21:10,519

if you're watching this, it's

pretty likely you're seeing it on YouTube.

434

00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:13,647

it's available

as just audio only on podcasts.

435

00:21:13,647 --> 00:21:17,025

Any any podcast provider,

you should be able to find it, Instagram,

436

00:21:17,276 --> 00:21:18,026

things like that.

437

00:21:18,026 --> 00:21:21,905

one we actually did a few years ago

and we need to do that more of this

438

00:21:21,905 --> 00:21:23,532

but is released an audiobook.

439

00:21:23,532 --> 00:21:27,369

So, you know, some people prefer

to listen to books instead of reading

440

00:21:27,369 --> 00:21:29,162

while they're driving to work,

say, so like, well,

441

00:21:29,162 --> 00:21:30,789

that would be an interesting

to break into that space.

442

00:21:30,789 --> 00:21:33,917

So we made an audiobook,

in collaboration with David Bercot,

443

00:21:34,334 --> 00:21:37,129

anywhere you get your audiobooks,

you should be able to find it.

444

00:21:37,129 --> 00:21:39,172

It's called In God

We Don't Trust, which is,

445

00:21:39,172 --> 00:21:42,634

an interesting title and definitely

gets some opinions thrown around.

446

00:21:42,634 --> 00:21:45,387

So that's fun. you can

you can get it there.

447

00:21:45,387 --> 00:21:48,307

those are the main ones,

you know, our essays

448

00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:51,310

that are published on our website,

those can be gotten through email.

449

00:21:51,601 --> 00:21:56,106

So those are often sent to to many people

through email, and so forth.

450

00:21:56,106 --> 00:21:57,399

I think that hits the main ones.

451

00:21:57,399 --> 00:22:01,820

But all that to say is just

we have a fairly wide net of distribution.

452

00:22:01,820 --> 00:22:03,363

And I think that's important to us

453

00:22:03,363 --> 00:22:05,490

because we have some people

watching us on Twitter

454

00:22:05,490 --> 00:22:07,367

who don't even know about our YouTube

channel.

455

00:22:07,367 --> 00:22:09,494

You know,

I was just messaging a guy on Twitter,

456

00:22:09,494 --> 00:22:12,039

the other day,

and he's like, from, you know, from France

457

00:22:12,039 --> 00:22:13,832

and and he's watching us

on, on Twitter is like,

458

00:22:13,832 --> 00:22:16,209

oh, that's really neat,

you know, and things like that.

459

00:22:16,209 --> 00:22:18,003

So anyways, maybe.

460

00:22:18,003 --> 00:22:20,589

Yeah. Anything more

you like to toss in there Yes.

461

00:22:20,589 --> 00:22:23,383

It is important to us

and it does make a lot of work.

462

00:22:23,383 --> 00:22:24,843

Fortunately, we have a very good,

463

00:22:26,762 --> 00:22:29,765

publishing assistant who has

464

00:22:30,390 --> 00:22:34,227

very much streamlined

the publishing, so gets an amazing amount,

465

00:22:34,269 --> 00:22:37,689

gets all the all of that

pushing out to various platforms

466

00:22:37,689 --> 00:22:41,318

done in amazingly, streamlined fashion.

467

00:22:41,526 --> 00:22:43,028

Yeah.

468

00:22:43,028 --> 00:22:48,200

And, and one of those questions that

I've gotten people ask in is just like,

469

00:22:48,492 --> 00:22:52,329

okay, that's a lot of effort, you know,

and our episodes are a lot of effort.

470

00:22:52,579 --> 00:22:56,917

you know, it'd be so much simpler

if we would just do a zoom call

471

00:22:56,917 --> 00:23:00,128

with whoever we want to interview and

hit record, and that would be our episode.

472

00:23:00,879 --> 00:23:02,047

and there's nothing wrong with that.

473

00:23:02,047 --> 00:23:05,926

But one of the things we've really started

leaning into in the last couple of years

474

00:23:05,926 --> 00:23:10,222

is this what I call the evergreen concept,

or evergreen, as in,

475

00:23:10,889 --> 00:23:12,307

it's there for a while.

476

00:23:12,307 --> 00:23:14,017

Like it's

not something that pops up in the news

477

00:23:14,017 --> 00:23:15,644

feed or something and is gone

the next day.

478

00:23:15,644 --> 00:23:19,106

We we're wanting to lean

more into things that last,

479

00:23:19,356 --> 00:23:23,026

so we're not doing reactions

to, current events

480

00:23:23,026 --> 00:23:26,029

or, pressing news, things like that

you're not really going to see

481

00:23:26,029 --> 00:23:26,947

on this podcast.

482

00:23:26,947 --> 00:23:31,243

We didn't release a video in response

to the assassination attempt,

483

00:23:31,243 --> 00:23:34,413

which happened just shortly before

we're recording this update.

484

00:23:34,538 --> 00:23:35,497

Yes, exactly.

485

00:23:35,497 --> 00:23:37,165

Which is a huge thing.

486

00:23:37,165 --> 00:23:37,499

You know,

487

00:23:37,499 --> 00:23:39,126

I mean it's a big, big deal in the news,

488

00:23:39,126 --> 00:23:41,420

but we're not really interested

in those types.

489

00:23:41,420 --> 00:23:42,796

Not saying we would never, you know, do

490

00:23:42,796 --> 00:23:46,716

episodes on more current things,

but we're interested more on evergreen.

491

00:23:46,716 --> 00:23:48,969

And when I say evergreen,

I mean someone can watch

492

00:23:48,969 --> 00:23:52,597

these videos years from now

and still get the same value from them.

493

00:23:52,931 --> 00:23:54,558

So that results in a couple things.

494

00:23:54,558 --> 00:23:58,353

we want to do our interviews in person,

so that's a lot more work,

495

00:23:58,353 --> 00:24:00,188

but we feel that's really valuable.

496

00:24:00,188 --> 00:24:02,315

I think we've all kind of learned

that since Covid.

497

00:24:02,315 --> 00:24:04,484

You know, zoom

is wonderful in some things,

498

00:24:04,484 --> 00:24:07,446

but it can't replace in-person

communication.

499

00:24:07,529 --> 00:24:09,197

So, you know, filming things in person.

500

00:24:09,197 --> 00:24:14,536

We're aiming for a high quality

standard, a high editing standard.

501

00:24:14,536 --> 00:24:18,039

You know, it needs to look good,

sound good, and have that quality

502

00:24:18,039 --> 00:24:19,040

that will last.

503

00:24:19,040 --> 00:24:22,836

and what's interesting to me

is a lot of our we have older

504

00:24:22,836 --> 00:24:26,339

videos are still getting tons of views

today,

505

00:24:26,381 --> 00:24:28,717

even though they were filmed,

say, six years ago.

506

00:24:28,717 --> 00:24:31,511

And that's really neat

because that's telling,

507

00:24:31,511 --> 00:24:34,598

it's kind of this weight of responsibility

when we record something, knowing that,

508

00:24:34,639 --> 00:24:37,642

you know, years from now, someone's

probably still going to be watching this

509

00:24:37,851 --> 00:24:42,230

or we would hope, you know, and,

yeah, we're not really interested again,

510

00:24:42,230 --> 00:24:45,233

in things that would just be in the feed

one day and gone tomorrow.

511

00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,152

we're going for something

more permanent. And,

512

00:24:48,111 --> 00:24:49,779

you know,

that's something we've really been

513

00:24:49,779 --> 00:24:52,741

leaning into the last, last two years,

I would say.

514

00:24:52,741 --> 00:24:55,160

And,

515

00:24:55,160 --> 00:24:57,871

Yeah, I really, I feel like that's that's

516

00:24:57,871 --> 00:24:59,873

that's the area we want to be working in.

517

00:24:59,873 --> 00:25:03,001

And, yeah, that, that evergreen concept.

518

00:25:03,001 --> 00:25:06,671

So any anything more you want to add on

on that or the publishing. and.

519

00:25:07,130 --> 00:25:08,173

Yeah. Yeah. What we're building.

520

00:25:08,173 --> 00:25:11,343

I mean, even on the technical side,

when we do do remote episodes,

521

00:25:12,010 --> 00:25:15,222

you know, we're working to make

that beyond a zoom call,

522

00:25:15,388 --> 00:25:20,060

finding a little better platform, using,

you know, the best equipment

523

00:25:20,060 --> 00:25:23,063

that's that's feasible for

for what we're doing.

524

00:25:23,313 --> 00:25:25,941

so we still got

a few of those remote episodes, but

525

00:25:25,941 --> 00:25:29,236

you know, even they're working

as hard as we can on those.

526

00:25:30,403 --> 00:25:31,613

And then,

527

00:25:31,613 --> 00:25:34,741

yeah, the whole

thing of evergreen content, a library.

528

00:25:35,367 --> 00:25:38,036

That's one reason we carefully,

529

00:25:38,036 --> 00:25:41,081

carefully and systematically,

you know, set up the website

530

00:25:42,541 --> 00:25:46,628

and it pulls in our YouTube videos

or podcasts, essays which are written

531

00:25:46,628 --> 00:25:50,298

text is it does create a library,

does create a searchable library.

532

00:25:50,298 --> 00:25:51,466

It's not just a feed.

533

00:25:51,466 --> 00:25:53,552

And of course,

534

00:25:53,552 --> 00:25:55,178

YouTube is not just a feed either.

535

00:25:55,178 --> 00:25:59,224

YouTube keeps surfacing

plenty of videos 5 or 6 years later.

536

00:25:59,641 --> 00:26:02,644

which is part of our goal.

537

00:26:03,228 --> 00:26:06,356

Yes. That hits the main points of the,

the mission statement.

538

00:26:06,565 --> 00:26:08,149

but yeah.

539

00:26:08,149 --> 00:26:09,484

Where would you like to pivot from here?

540

00:26:09,484 --> 00:26:12,487

what else would you like

to add in in this video?

541

00:26:12,737 --> 00:26:15,740

So one last point on that

mission statement,

542

00:26:15,991 --> 00:26:20,161

which does say to interact

with audience responses,

543

00:26:21,162 --> 00:26:24,040

again, something we've prioritized.

544

00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,544

So the most direct way that happens

is, you know,

545

00:26:28,503 --> 00:26:30,714

Jaran Miller, our other,

546

00:26:30,714 --> 00:26:33,133

team member and host,

547

00:26:33,133 --> 00:26:36,386

does a lot of interaction

with our YouTube comments.

548

00:26:36,386 --> 00:26:38,263

And we get,

549

00:26:38,263 --> 00:26:39,806

you know, direct messages as well.

550

00:26:39,806 --> 00:26:41,641

that's important.

551

00:26:41,641 --> 00:26:43,685

something else

I've been able to do over the years.

552

00:26:43,685 --> 00:26:48,481

And exciting to do is to be able

to, to jump off of,

553

00:26:49,608 --> 00:26:54,154

you know, YouTube comments or emails

and carry the conversation forward.

554

00:26:54,154 --> 00:26:57,157

Somebody responds

or asks the question about an episode.

555

00:26:57,407 --> 00:27:00,785

And we've often been able

to to carry that forward,

556

00:27:00,910 --> 00:27:03,913

which I'm really excited about.

557

00:27:04,372 --> 00:27:06,041

Yes. That that really summarizes

558

00:27:06,041 --> 00:27:09,044

a lot of, you know,

this is what we're trying to do here.

559

00:27:09,085 --> 00:27:10,003

Here's why.

560

00:27:10,003 --> 00:27:14,799

And I think we just it it again

it amazes me,

561

00:27:14,799 --> 00:27:18,345

you know the responses

that we get people's encouragement

562

00:27:18,345 --> 00:27:21,973

and ideas that come from the audience

of topics, questions we can ask.

563

00:27:21,973 --> 00:27:23,516

And that's really fun.

564

00:27:23,516 --> 00:27:27,145

and really,

I, I really enjoy getting to travel around

565

00:27:27,145 --> 00:27:29,773

and meet these people

and get their input and, and record it

566

00:27:29,773 --> 00:27:32,067

and share it with others,

you know, for the benefit of others.

567

00:27:32,067 --> 00:27:34,903

That's, that's ultimately,

what we're trying to do.

568

00:27:34,903 --> 00:27:38,573

So, one last piece

maybe to mention, as well,

569

00:27:38,782 --> 00:27:42,494

we have this partner program that we have,

which I don't know the numbers, but I,

570

00:27:42,994 --> 00:27:44,913

I think we're a nonprofit. So I think the,

571

00:27:45,997 --> 00:27:49,000

as far as financially, what is it

like 50%,

572

00:27:49,042 --> 00:27:52,212

close to 50% of our monthly budget

is coming through our partner program.

573

00:27:52,212 --> 00:27:54,381

Is that correct?

574

00:27:54,381 --> 00:27:57,550

Probably not quite 50%,

but yeah, very substantial.

575

00:27:57,926 --> 00:28:00,929

And when we say partner program,

we're referring to,

576

00:28:01,638 --> 00:28:04,766

you know, a regular monthly gift anywhere

577

00:28:04,766 --> 00:28:09,020

from a dollar to $1,000, I mean, there's

$1,000 is not an upper limit.

578

00:28:09,020 --> 00:28:13,233

But currently, you know, those monthly

gifts range from $1 to $1000.

579

00:28:13,233 --> 00:28:16,319

And that's through like Patreon

or our website.

580

00:28:16,319 --> 00:28:19,489

And basically that's like a whole

nother podcast feed

581

00:28:19,489 --> 00:28:22,492

and bonus material and things that we,

that we publish over there.

582

00:28:22,659 --> 00:28:26,246

And it just I guess the reason

I'm saying that is, yeah, lots of,

583

00:28:26,413 --> 00:28:28,123

lots of people

give me a couple dollars a month,

584

00:28:28,123 --> 00:28:28,832

you know, and,

585

00:28:28,832 --> 00:28:32,043

and I actually really makes a difference

because, you know, it costs money to,

586

00:28:32,043 --> 00:28:34,170

to make this podcast and,

and keep things running.

587

00:28:34,170 --> 00:28:34,295

Yeah.

588

00:28:34,295 --> 00:28:37,424

No, that's something that's

actually tremendously encouraging in

589

00:28:37,424 --> 00:28:41,177

this is to know that,

you know, there's 100 plus people,

590

00:28:41,636 --> 00:28:44,931

that believe in this strongly enough

to have

591

00:28:44,931 --> 00:28:47,934

that recurring monthly support.

592

00:28:47,976 --> 00:28:48,309

Yeah.

593

00:28:48,309 --> 00:28:52,105

And of course, very grateful

and encouraged by, you know, others

594

00:28:52,105 --> 00:28:56,526

who support, you know, periodically or,

or every year or whatever.

595

00:28:56,818 --> 00:28:59,946

But just a strong, strong encouragement.

596

00:29:00,572 --> 00:29:00,780

Yeah.

597

00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:04,659

And like you said, as a

thank you to anybody who's

598

00:29:05,535 --> 00:29:09,247

has that monthly,

recurring gift, you know, we do a short,

599

00:29:10,915 --> 00:29:12,417

we just call it the partner program,

600

00:29:12,417 --> 00:29:15,587

but typically just an audio only,

601

00:29:16,212 --> 00:29:19,215

podcast, has its own feed,

602

00:29:19,799 --> 00:29:22,802

usually releasing

about every three weeks.

603

00:29:23,636 --> 00:29:24,888

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

604

00:29:24,888 --> 00:29:28,057

So yeah if people are interested

in that you can just go to our website

605

00:29:28,057 --> 00:29:31,478

and join there or on, on Patreon

and even a dollar a month.

606

00:29:31,978 --> 00:29:33,354

we'll get you access to all that.

607

00:29:33,354 --> 00:29:37,150

and sometimes we'll publish bonus stuff

that maybe gets cut from a main

608

00:29:37,150 --> 00:29:40,236

episode and, and we'll release it over

there as a, as an extra or a bonus,

609

00:29:40,445 --> 00:29:41,112

things like that.

610

00:29:41,112 --> 00:29:43,406

It's kind of a neat, neat thing to do.

611

00:29:43,406 --> 00:29:47,160

but yeah, it is really encouraging

that people are willing to support.

612

00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:48,620

And I think that's the key here.

613

00:29:48,620 --> 00:29:49,954

You know, yeah, it is a nonprofit.

614

00:29:49,954 --> 00:29:53,708

You know, it's supported

just by people who care to,

615

00:29:53,708 --> 00:29:55,168

financially get behind

what we're doing here.

616

00:29:55,168 --> 00:29:57,212

And, and that that means a lot.

617

00:29:57,212 --> 00:29:57,587

okay.

618

00:29:57,587 --> 00:29:58,755

So I think we've hit.

619

00:29:58,755 --> 00:30:01,549

Yeah.

The main stuff on mission and vision.

620

00:30:01,549 --> 00:30:02,091

but, yeah.

621

00:30:02,091 --> 00:30:07,388

Is there other pieces you'd like to add

to, to this as, as we go from here?

622

00:30:07,806 --> 00:30:12,101

Well, I'd like to just put in a plug

for our email list.

623

00:30:12,852 --> 00:30:16,689

I know email resonates with some people

more than others.

624

00:30:17,023 --> 00:30:18,942

Some people say

email is from the last century,

625

00:30:18,942 --> 00:30:20,777

but there's lots

of people still use email.

626

00:30:21,820 --> 00:30:24,405

And I still use email regularly.

627

00:30:24,405 --> 00:30:26,282

There's places I follow and so on.

628

00:30:26,282 --> 00:30:30,662

we do our best

to make sure our email list is not spammy.

629

00:30:31,287 --> 00:30:33,915

so typically

630

00:30:33,915 --> 00:30:37,418

there'll be 1 or 2 essays a month

where it's an email with a link to the

631

00:30:37,418 --> 00:30:41,256

essay to read online or listen to it,

as well as the full text right there.

632

00:30:41,714 --> 00:30:43,842

You could read it right in your inbox.

633

00:30:43,842 --> 00:30:46,845

we send another monthly email that has a

634

00:30:48,388 --> 00:30:49,597

has a content roundup.

635

00:30:49,597 --> 00:30:53,351

So basically links

to, you know, all the content released

636

00:30:53,351 --> 00:30:57,897

or featured in the last month

and just a little bit of ministry updates.

637

00:30:58,565 --> 00:31:01,276

And then, you know,

we may send occasionally a special email,

638

00:31:01,276 --> 00:31:04,279

but this is not a spammy feed.

639

00:31:05,113 --> 00:31:08,366

you can subscribe on our website,

anabaptistperspectives.org,

640

00:31:09,576 --> 00:31:12,453

and we can drop a link in the description

here.

641

00:31:12,453 --> 00:31:15,081

for the email newsletter.

642

00:31:15,081 --> 00:31:18,418

This is a good way to keep up with both

content and, you know, to see when there's

643

00:31:18,418 --> 00:31:22,005

more occasional ministry updates

and so on coming through.

644

00:31:22,505 --> 00:31:25,508

And Raegan, you usually have

a little inspirational piece in the

645

00:31:26,134 --> 00:31:27,635

in one of those emails.

646

00:31:27,635 --> 00:31:27,927

Yeah.

647

00:31:27,927 --> 00:31:31,472

I usually write a piece for that

newsletter as well.

648

00:31:31,514 --> 00:31:32,640

Yeah. It goes out once a month.

649

00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:36,853

So that's an extra piece that people can

get if they, if they would like,

650

00:31:37,896 --> 00:31:38,396

Yeah.

651

00:31:38,396 --> 00:31:41,858

So just kind of bringing it all

back around, you know, there's

652

00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:45,528

a lot of technical details and things

that happen behind the scenes, but really

653

00:31:45,904 --> 00:31:50,116

it comes back to the, you know,

asking those questions for faithful living

654

00:31:50,116 --> 00:31:53,912

you know, encouraging that allegiance

to Jesus’ sacrificial kingdom.

655

00:31:53,912 --> 00:31:58,291

And, yeah, it's been it's

been an honor to be a part of this podcast

656

00:31:58,291 --> 00:32:02,420

and really to meet a lot of incredible

guests that have come on and and shared

657

00:32:02,420 --> 00:32:04,047

their life experience and wisdom with us.

658

00:32:04,047 --> 00:32:07,008

That is that is pretty special

that people are willing to do that,

659

00:32:07,008 --> 00:32:09,260

you know, because you and I don't

have all the answers, right?

660

00:32:10,345 --> 00:32:11,054

at all.

661

00:32:11,054 --> 00:32:11,512

Of course.

662

00:32:11,512 --> 00:32:13,640

So if

we can bring people in with a lot of,

663

00:32:13,640 --> 00:32:17,101

you know, experience in, say, a certain

area and get their input on, on things,

664

00:32:17,310 --> 00:32:20,897

feel there's,

there's real value in that and, yeah.

665

00:32:20,897 --> 00:32:21,856

We're not going anywhere.

666

00:32:21,856 --> 00:32:23,691

I think this,

this is going to be around for a while.

667

00:32:23,691 --> 00:32:28,404

So, if people have ideas for topics

or people we could have on the podcast,

668

00:32:28,404 --> 00:32:29,447

man, we love to hear that.

669

00:32:29,447 --> 00:32:32,867

So email us or, you know,

send it to us some way or another

670

00:32:32,867 --> 00:32:34,285

and we'll see if we can make it happen.

671

00:32:34,285 --> 00:32:38,247

So I think that's that's kind of the last,

you know, pulling the pieces together.

672

00:32:38,247 --> 00:32:41,209

But yeah, if you wanted to add

anything else as we bring this to a close,

673

00:32:42,418 --> 00:32:43,795

I mean, I think that's good.

674

00:32:43,795 --> 00:32:47,715

I'm grateful for what has happened here

over the last 6 or 7 years.

675

00:32:47,799 --> 00:32:49,801

Yeah. Yeah.

676

00:32:49,801 --> 00:32:53,888

Well thank you everyone for listening,

watching, supporting.

677

00:32:54,097 --> 00:32:55,264

we really do appreciate it.

678

00:32:55,264 --> 00:32:58,309

And I suppose we'll,

we'll catch them in the next episode then.

679

00:32:59,227 --> 00:32:59,936

Sounds good.