On the Evangelist Podcast today we talk to YouTube Marvel Dan Rackham.
SPEAKER_01The Evangelists Podcast. Encouragement to speak life to a needy world. With Glenn Scrivener and Andy Brinkley.
SPEAKER_00Well, we're only just back, Glenn. Sandy operations manager has escaped to Australia for Christmas. Yes. And you've been unwell.
SPEAKER_03I have.
SPEAKER_00So we haven't we nearly didn't have a podcast today.
SPEAKER_03But we've we've rustled up something brilliant for you. We're we're going to speak to, as you called him, YouTube Marvel, Dan Rackham. So yeah. The uh the man behind the John Lewis remake uh Christmas advertisement.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, excellent. Well, before we go on, uh I want to offer every listener a free copy of our Speak Life Daily. It's a pocket-sized booklet that guides you through three months of devotional content plus highlights new stories of what God's doing around the world. You can hear more by going to speaklife.org.uk slash tep and clicking the link. So uh Glenn, uh tell me what you've been up to. You were at this uh debate, weren't you, in Port Portsmouth?
SPEAKER_03That's yeah, who is Jesus in Islam and Christianity? So I was uh speaking for the Christian side. Um and then they got a guy called Adnan Rashid to speak for uh for the Muslim side. So the Muslim speaker was invited by the Islamic uh Society of uh Portsmouth Uni, and I was invited by the Christian Union. And uh so yeah, we both had sort of twenty minutes and uh to explain who Jesus is, and uh then uh we took questions from the floor and then we questioned one another. So yeah, no, it was a really r it was an amazing time actually. Um How many people went? Oh, I don't know, maybe maybe like a hundred from each, hundred um Christians, hundred uh Muslims. And um I mean the uh the amazing thing was, and we'll we'll try and get video of of it. Um so is the the Islamic Society took video and and they're in the process of um matching up the audio and that kind of thing. So they're gonna uh release that soon. But uh Yeah, I mean throughout it I s my talk was basically beginning with John chapter one and just saying Jesus is the word of the Father and He's the light, um the radiance of God's glory, and just introducing Jesus from John one and then saying, We've got John's Gospels to give to you afterwards. If you want one, please come and and personally request uh John's Gospel afterwards and and would you pray that God would show you whether this is his word um afterwards and and um and eighty Muslims personally requested John's Gospel. Just amazing. So um that was extraordinary, really. And uh and the question time afterwards was brilliant, and people came up to me afterwards, mainly the Muslims came up to me afterwards, and people some people seemed very, very shaken and um uh in in good ways, I think. Um so an amazing opportunity. And yeah, uh you sort of leave uh uh an evening like that thinking, gosh, that's so much more fun than just speaking to jaded secularists. You're normal westerner. Just kinda you know, you end up talking about who knows what. But uh with a Muslim, you're always talking about who is Jesus, what is the word of God, where do you go when you die, yeah, who is God.
SPEAKER_00You you're talking about the stuff that really matters, so and so uh you went almost straight from that to Norwich Cathedral for the carol service.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the next day. So um yeah, it's amazing right now, around the country, all sorts of carol services are happening, and in the student world they are thinking big and they are booking out cathedrals and packing out cathedrals with with students wanting to hear about Jesus. So uh well, they're wanting to sing some songs and and we we basically take the opportunity. So, yeah, I spoke in um Norwich Cathedral and again it was packed out. I I think they'd probably need to think about you know having two services there, really, and perhaps inviting the town in for for one of the services. But yeah, just a brilliant opportunity, and everybody got a copy of Four Kinds of Christmas and um I kind of spoke on that and Yeah, just incredible opportunities really at this time of year. Um you just sort of think you know, in the in the days of Eric Hutchings, who was the founder of this charity, um you know, they spent months planning to go to who knows, Plymouth or planning to go to Liverpool and and and hold a massive, you know crusade or whatever it is that they called them back then. And and uh and they would get, you know, thousands coming along, but um uh at Christmas people people just come because it's Christmas. So yeah, let's let's be praying for um God's word and the the seed that is sown at Christmas and for it to find good soil.
SPEAKER_00And uh yeah, it's it's w we were looking at our um our stats for our Christmas video, which we launched a week or so ago, a bit more than a week. Seven and a half thousand plus you know, and to to sort of organize to speak to seven and a half thousand people would take ages. It works. It's just a different world that we're kind of approaching now.
SPEAKER_03And I now need to think differently about praying because I think you know, if I was about to speak to seven and a half thousand people, I'd pray quite a lot. Yeah. Whereas it seems a little less real that um people have uh heard the message in that form. And so I think I think I need to and we need to be better at uh praying for the word that goes out in th in those ways, because I mean Four Kinds of Christmas, the book has sold forty thousand copies. Yeah. So you know, again, if I was speaking to forty thousand people, I'd be praying a lot. Um but yeah, let's let's all be praying that the that the word would find a home in people's hearts as they as they meet Christ in these ways. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. This is um it kind of links these two things really with Dan Rackham coming on on board because um you know, he's done a similar um thing with the video, and he's even offering your book for all kinds of Christmas. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about uh the background and and Dan Dan Rackham who he is.
SPEAKER_03Who is he does. So well we'll we'll find out from the horse's mouth um in a second, but uh I first met him uh a few months ago at an evangelist conference in London, and uh we'd been speaking in uh uh f for a little while before then about his YouTube channel and reaching out with that. And um and yeah, and this Christmas uh he decided to do a a parody of the John Lewis uh Christmas commercial, which is fantastic, and I think it's it's the best Christmas video ever, and everyone needs to uh watch it and share it and use it in church. Um so yeah, so he's a he's a guy also wanting to reach out through video and um but also quite interestingly, he's uh working in a church setting in in Liverpool and being a community worker there and wanting to very much impact Liverpool and his part of Liverpool. So I think he's a very interesting combination of someone who wants to to spread the message far and wide, but also think about how to use online to serve local communities and hook people into the life of the church. So I think for those reasons it makes him really interesting to talk to.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well uh let's hear then.
SPEAKER_03So I've got on the line Dan Rackham all the way from Liverpool. Thank you so much for joining us. Hey, my pleasure.
SPEAKER_02Pleasure to be here. And whereabouts are you in particular in in Liverpool? It's a place called Toxteth, which is in the south end of Liverpool, and um a place notorious for some riots back in the 30s, but it's completely not like that these days. Okay. It's not it's not exactly gentrified now, is it?
SPEAKER_03Or what what's what's Toxtath like?
SPEAKER_02Um it's not gentrified, no. Um there's a number of houses, a number of streets that are empty, uh, very sadly. Um and it's uh just I suppose just a very typical working class area, um, but it's um become dear to my heart. I've been living here for now two and a half years. I I love the people, uh it's a great place to live.
SPEAKER_03What what was it that that took you to Tuxteth in the first place?
SPEAKER_02Um I was I'd been doing some voluntary stuff at my church down in London, and uh I was aware that not there wasn't many um people um serving in churches up up in the north of the country, and I I heard of this opportunity to sort of be a community worker up in Liverpool and um I I I thought well okay uh I'll check it out. Uh went came up here for uh for a weekend, and uh after that I thought, yeah, this would be a brilliant place to serve. Uh and I moved up here, that was two and a half years ago. What is a community worker? Well, um what I do is a whole whole whole range of different things. Um, some projects with the community, like we've got this project where we're restoring some quad bikes, um, another project where taking young people on mountain bike trips. Two years ago I set up a debt advice center with a couple of other people at the church. I'm involved with some youth work um and and sometimes I give talks at church, but basically stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03Wow, that's very eclectic. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Okay. And um and w so have you always kind of been into the video side of things as well? Where where did you get into sort of uh have you always had a camera always been making videos?
SPEAKER_02No, no, not not at all. Um I think since um since YouTube started about 10 years ago, I've I've watched YouTube videos and uh I've seen how people have just been putting out video content. And um that's that's always sort of got me thinking, you know, well I I I wonder if I could do something like that. But no, I I don't know how to use a didn't know how to use a video camera. Uh and that was about about a year ago, that was when I first did a s a small video on YouTube, and pretty much I just bought a camera and uh I taught myself through watching lots of tutorials on YouTube. That's that's it basically.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. So what what what kind of gear do you have? What kind of camera, what kind of editing software?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, um I'm using something called a Canon 70D, um, which is really nice camera because basically it's got a good autofocus. Uh and so when you're when you've turned it around and you're shooting yourself, usually it's in focus, although sometimes you look at the edit and you're like, oh no, it's not in focus. Um recently I um this was rather um uh you know sort of uh like a spur of the moment, but I bought a drone and uh I've used the drone for a few of my uh a few of my videos. There's um one aerial video of Liverpool. Um so I've got a drone, I've got a GoPro, which is very useful for when I'm doing some kite surfing or or some sort or some other stuff like that. Um yeah, so that's that's what I've that's what I'm using. I've got a little microphone which I put on top of the camera which helps the audio quality just be a little bit better. And then for editing, most of my videos have been done on the free um iMovie software, but I've only just started to use a paid a paid software called Premiere Pro.
SPEAKER_03Okay. And that's how you were able to do stuff on the on the John Lewis parody, the the doing the layers and that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02That's right, but but I mean iMovie allows layers, so um, you know, yeah, I um literally it's only been the last five videos that I've done on my channel that have been with Premiere Pro.
SPEAKER_03Amazing, amazing. So how long have you been um going with the video channel?
SPEAKER_02Seven, I think seven months now. Yeah, I started I started at Easter time, and my aim is to put out a video each week, and I've pretty much met that, except for I think I've missed two uploads. Um but but that that's the aim. Uh regular content each week and been doing it seven months.
SPEAKER_03And sort of the the strategy is kind of like like three community kind of Toxtas focused, Liverpool focused videos, and one that has a more spiritual message. Is that is that it each month? Is that the idea?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's right. That's that's definitely my hope for the channel. So um I thought, why don't I do videos that are exploring the place, um, maybe videos about reviews of different cafes or something like that, or extreme sports that I enjoy. Um, and then every now and then I'll do um a video about an event at a church. So, for example, recently I did um one that I called pudding pizzas because it was my turn to cook for everybody after our evening service. And so I cook normal pizzas, um homemade normal pizzas, but I also cooked some um pudding pizzas with marshmallows and chocolates and sweets. Um, but that video just it gives people a bit of a window into what our evening service is like because halfway through I I put a few clips from the sermon in that um our our pastor Brian was was giving and um stuff like that. So as I'm as I'm doing those videos around Liverpool, I found basically Liverpool people love Liverpool. I suppose people in London love London, and you know I've not met anybody from Sydney that doesn't love Sydney. Um and so because people love their city, these videos that I've done that have been at events or that have been reviews, people just in Liverpool have been really enjoying them. And yeah, my hope is that as they enjoy those videos, they might also enjoy my other videos about what it looks like for me to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_03Amazing. So what what has been your kind of contact with people on on the YouTube channel? So lots of people getting in touch, subscribing, commenting, do they they do they get in touch with you offline as well?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, a whole mixture. So uh some people will comment on YouTube, um, but I'm quite involved with a few Facebook Liverpool groups. So there'll be small sort of forums on Facebook of people who are sharing photos about Liverpool or maybe they're sharing about events that are coming up in Liverpool, something uh along those lines. Um and that those groups, um I think the sort of I'm I'm involved with three of those groups, and each of those has got about 10,000 people in in in the group. Um, and that's a good way of people sharing sharing sort of stuff that they've got on about Liverpool. Um but as I share a video on that, I I'll get a lot of comments from Liverpool-based people saying, Oh, I I've been inside that reservoir, or um, oh I went to that music festival last year, you know, thanks for thanks for posting so I can see what went on this year. Um, and th those sort of very brief um uh interactions, um, some of those have led to um real in the life meetings. Um uh a few people um who have very kindly sort of tweeted some of my videos or retweeted them have then suggested other videos. They've said, Oh, why don't you do this a review of this place that's just opened up? And so um you know I emailed back and said, Yeah, you know, interesting idea. Um why don't we meet up and chat about it? So I met up them and uh we did that video. Um there was another band um who were just sort of getting going and they contacted me uh kind of similarly, just um found me through YouTube, and uh I met up with one of those guys and then um got some other guys involved and we filmed one of their gigs and they loved that video. Um so yeah, it it has led to a lot of um sort of real face-to-face meetings. Um there was um I I turned 31 recently and uh I invited people to my birthday party, which um lots of people said, Oh, that's a bit dangerous. Um but um it was in the church hall, so there was there wasn't too much that could go wrong. But um uh yeah, but a handful of people who have been watching the videos came along to my birthday party. Yeah, and that was great because because then I could get to know some of these folk who maybe I've had little exchanges with on Twitter or on YouTube or Facebook, um, but I could meet them in in real life and you know there's the possibility of um just just becoming friends.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I guess because like you're you're a face on on the screen to them, it's it's I don't know, it kind of breaks down a bit of a barrier, doesn't it? All of a sudden you're you're kind of known to them because you're you're part of these videos and and perhaps part of their life a little bit maybe.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I hope so. The what I've noticed works really well on YouTube is people being genuine and people communicating a story. Um it's I think it's less about the quality of gear that you've got or how professional your footage is, although that that counts for something. Um but the the YouTubers that do really well on in on on on Facebook, you know, um Alfie Zoela, Ben Brown, Louis Cole, Casey Neistat, they they're all speaking to camera quite a lot. And people who watch their stuff, they have have got a genuine sort of uh uh a friendship with them, even though they they they may they may not have met them ever in real life. Um they trust them, they're you know, they're they're they're loyal to them. Uh and so yeah, I hope as I create these videos and as I'm honest about who I am and as I speak to camera uh in a just a down to earth sort of way, I I hope that people can get a a taste of who I am and maybe as I sort of um talk a little bit about my faith and some of the events at church, they might think, hey, you know, I actually I quite like quite like to go along when they next have a Toxic Scot Talent or when they next have a quiz night. That sounds fun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. That's so interesting because so so often people want to sort of draw a distinction between you know the online world and getting mired in in social media and proper face-to-face relationships. But you're you're sort of saying actually, well, for a start, the one often leads to the other, and and and that actually it's it's a bit of a face-to-face in some ways as well, in terms of the it just depends on the way you do it, I suppose.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think, I think absolutely both of those. Um, and I would just say, you know, whatever whatever people do, I just think there's got to be a balance. You know, you don't want to sit in your in your in your bedroom 24 hours a day. Um but uh yeah, I think just what I found is that the videos that I'm making on YouTube, I'm enjoying it, it's getting me out there in Liverpool, enjoying what Liverpool's got on, it's getting me out meeting people, um, and it it has you know led to really good, really good connections and and friends.
SPEAKER_03Fantastic. So how do you put together your sort of your YouTube channel work together with your church work? How do you balance that sort of time-wise and and and what are you hoping to do with both?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, well, um I guess um how do I balance it time-wise, hard at the moment. Um the the trick is to create some videos that are sustainable going forwards, um, whereas at the moment I I'm putting a lot of hours into each video. Um so I'm gonna be doing some thinking over Christmas about how can I how can I reduce the amount of hours that I put into each video so that it is sustainable sort of as a weekly thing alongside my community work. Um, but in in terms of sort of how it how it helps my community work, um going back to what we were just showing, you know, so many people are using social media. And I I just wondered, is this a good way of connecting with people in the community? I I do some visiting doors, um, I do um I chat to people just who are sort of around our big Tesco's because that's one of the big sort of central points here in here in Toxtuff. And so I'm always looking for ways of connecting with people. Uh, and social media just seemed like a sensible way of of doing that. Uh and it it certainly has strengthened friendships in the community.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And I think because what's what's great about what you're doing is it it it definitely has a local feel to it and definitely has a local application to Toxtas, to Liverpool, that you actually, you know, it's i it would it be it would be one thing sort of going online and having a ministry to the internet at large, but but I think you've you've definitely got that Liverpool focus and and yeah, amazing to see people coming to your birthday party, for instance.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I I think that's the strength of that. Like, the internet is incredible because I could reach somebody and I could communicate with somebody in Alaska. But um it's gonna be it's quite expensive for me to meet up for a coffee with them. But yeah, I think just the nature of the stuff that I'm the videos I'm doing, they're they're you know, they're about events in Liverpool, or maybe I'm exploring a a building which has been closed to the public for a long time. I've I've managed to get access like this reservoir I I went in a few weeks ago. Um and that is only really interesting for people in Liverpool. I can I can understand why somebody in Bradford's not really too bothered. Um and uh and so I I think that is the beauty of it. Although the internet you could reach everybody, I I'm s primarily wanting to make make make videos which Liverpool people enjoy because after all those are the people who who I could become friends with, and those are the people who, if they want to, um they could come along to our church events uh or they could find out more.
SPEAKER_03Brilliant. So you've been doing your channel for about seven months, you say. Yep. Um, but it all blew up a couple of weeks ago when you released the John Lewis uh remake video. John Lewis Christmas advertisement remake. Um now once you once you saw the John Lewis advertisement, um was were you always gonna do a John Lewis parody or or you it was just once you saw the John Lewis advertisement you thought this is this is so parodyable? Like what what what was your what was your thinking when you first saw the John Lewis advertisement?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, sure. Well, I I wanted to do a Christmas um video um just because Christmas is such a great time to remember um what God did sending his son down to us and um I thought well you know let's do some sort of Christmas video and I I thought you know a good thing was to launch off something that people already had a sort of you know they'd already seen they'd already watched um they had a certain connection with so that's why I wanted to do one of the adverts. Um I picked the John Lewis one uh beforehand because it's usually the one that's invested that they invest so much money in in making it good. Um so yeah I I found out when they launched it last year on YouTube. Um I put the rough date in the diary and then um when it came out uh I watched it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And it's it it is very parodiable, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, yeah they're brilliant and lots of lots of um great stuff there. Um I would I would call it a remake though just because a parody is so is supposed to be funny um and supposed to be sort of a Mickey take whereas um I wouldn't really say that mine's I mean some people might find it hilarious but actually it's supposed to be serious indeed no a remake you're right a remake so um talk us through how you put the video together from from from the outset um how did how did you go about it? Yeah sure um so I watched the video and uh that morning um I sort of thought on some ideas I pinged some ideas out to about 15 friends so friends all over the country just but other people who um are sort of quite creative or just that I that I knew that they would sort of um be willing to give me some ideas and give me a steer and then over the weekend I collected some of those ideas together um I wrote a little bit of a sort of a script a sort of different boxes saying what I wanted in each shot. Again I sent that out to some friends and people then gave me a bit more feedback refine the ideas and then on Sunday at church I went around speaking to some people who I who I wanted to be my my actors because of course I needed a little baby I needed um a a a sort of young girl around seven eight um to act I needed uh the the the older brother as well um so I lined those guys up on on that Sunday uh and then during that week I went around trying to buy all of the things um to make it look exactly the same as the the real John Lewis so got exactly the same telescope the helmet the ped the pajamas um a few of the clothes I couldn't find in John Lewis so I had to source source them from elsewhere um find some things that looked the same um got hold of a um I bought a uh helium gas canister and and some balloons bought some straw things things like that.
SPEAKER_03You bought straw where do you where do you buy straw in in Liverpool?
SPEAKER_02Um well I I did think about cycling out to a farmer's field because I've got in touch with the farmer and he said yeah yeah I'm not far away just passed the M M62 or whatever and I said well I don't have a car um in the end I found some in the in a pet shop so um so yeah I've got straw and then I needed to make a manger. I found I found an old palette which I um cut down to make the manger with um and then I then I found some locations which involved popping around to different people's houses because I wanted to get shots in rooms that looked similar to the sort of shots that are on the real John Lewis adverts. I had to think about the recording of the music because again I I didn't want to use Aurora's track because there'd be copyright issues around that and I I wanted this to be completely above board. So there's nothing basically that I have taken of John Lewis's um except develop the idea. And so I thought about recording the music but I I thought that was going to be pretty tricky in the time that I wanted to turn this around in and wonderfully some another YouTuber had recorded a cover of Aurora's cover and so I got in touch with her she was happy for me to use her track and um and then our big filming day was a Sunday I hired a minibus drove all the actors down to the the the family's house that we were using to film in and we set up the Christmas tree scene the party scene we set up the sort of the the the bit where um the little girl comes down the steps things like that and then we we went about filming and um I had to do loads of retakes because you know I'd be like oh no that's not in focus. Sorry sorry need to do that again or stuff like that or maybe or maybe um the baby joshy was crying or or stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03Uh-huh yeah I know I know all about babies crying don't I yeah so that was well you had a you had a live baby in your Christmas we had a live baby but we and we had to do everything in one take.
SPEAKER_02So I know so that's incredible. I do want to know how many takes that took.
SPEAKER_03So we we did it four times.
SPEAKER_02We tried to do four kinds of Christmas uh four times three of those times the baby was screaming its head off so the one take that we had left is the is the one take we had to use but uh wow oh that's good um so that was the main filming day Sunday and then in the evening I did the green screen stuff uh I'd I basically bought a green cotton sheet um for 40 quid off off eBay I used that as a green screen and I put the manger on there so that I could make the manger look like it was floating down and all of that stuff's in a behind the scenes video if you if anybody wants to check it out. Yeah we'll put that in the show notes the behind the scenes video is great yeah and um and then just a a few other points in the week I had to do some other filming, some other shots but they were a little bit easier. One of the more stressful ones was we had to do the roof shot in one of the mornings and it was raining and we also need to get the little girl she had to get off to school so we did this about 7 30 8 o'clock and yeah that was a bit annoying with the rain and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_03And then basically after that it's just a week of editing. Amazing amazing so so from from John Lewis's launch on the Friday your video came out how many days later?
SPEAKER_02I think it was yeah it was two weeks exactly because it was it was a Friday evening that that I posted it up. So yeah two weeks.
SPEAKER_03Wow very impressive very impressive and what kind of response to the video have you had?
SPEAKER_02It's uh blown me away completely um people have been sharing it on Facebook and Twitter um and um you know they've been sending it to friends saying I think this will be really helpful for for your Christmas services or you know why don't you check this out this is this is quite thought provoking um it's been watched um like n uh 90,000 times now. Um yeah incredible um we've had a few uh online newspapers sort of pick up the story and run with it like our local Liverpool Echo and um ITV ITV didn't as well um uh one of my friends Robin who very helpfully um wrote some text for the we we've kind of got a website called lovedthischmas.com and and that's a follow-up website that people can just sort of check out for a bit more information and a competition to to win the telescope and Robin put together some really helpful text on there explaining why Jesus coming down to earth means that we've been loved and um he he did an interview with BBC Cumbria I know somebody who lives in China because you you can't watch YouTube in China it's censored and so somebody in China has has uploaded it and um they've put on the they've put on Chinese sort of captions so that people in China can watch it. And then you know wonderfully people have been requesting um the free book as well that we've been giving out yeah amazing well I'm not surprised I'm not surprised it is it is the best Christmas video ever.
SPEAKER_03It's just uh it's it just brilliantly captures the Christmas message in under two minutes just turns things on its head and simply beautifully tells the Christmas story. Fantastic it's fantastic. What are your reflections on on online outreach now that you've had this this kind of experience what what what does it make you think for I don't know Easter for Christmas next year?
SPEAKER_02Yeah um I this whole sort of YouTube thing once a week video for the last seven months it it really has been a big experiment and um you know taking a lot of a lot of time and figuring out how to use a camera and stuff like that. So it's been helpful. I'm gonna reflect on it a little bit over Christmas with some friends and but I I think my immediate takeaway is that um if you can produce some helpful videos then then people will enjoy sharing those. And i you know I've had lots of people who have watched the the video you know on like for example those Liverpool Facebook groups come and come and comment to me that you know they found it found it um they found it really moving or it got them thinking or you know they feel in the Christmas spirit and um so I'm convinced that if you can make videos that that will that have got a good story and and will connect with people then then people will share them. And you know I think that just makes me think well um you know let's try this experiment a little bit further and yeah I'd love to do maybe something around Easter or I was wondering about Valentine's or something like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Amazing I mean and and that whole making it shareable thing actually you're equipping Christians to be evangelists. You're just you know suddenly you're giving them the tools to just share Jesus on Facebook and they want to pick that up and run with it. So that that seems a very healthy thing too. Yeah. So we've we've asked quite a few different people about sort of uh evangelism online and we've we've spoken to quite a few people about what are what are the challenges and what are the opportunities of Christians engaging online. Do you have any have any thoughts on on that how we can be uh witnesses in the internet in on the internet?
SPEAKER_02Sure um in terms of opportunities and challenges um well I I I I guess the thing that I know know best now is is this video um you know as I'm sort of just trying to figure that out um the the big opportunity that I see is that um you know go back 15 years it was only in the realm of TV channels that we're able to produce some sort of video and get it out there so that you know a high number of people could watch it. And and these days, you know you've got YouTubers like the guys that I said Ben Brown, Louis Cole, Casey Neistat, those guys are pumping out daily content and it's being watched by more people than than than lots of TV programmes. So I just I just think w we've not had a time um where it's been in one way so easy to communicate a message to lots of people so yeah that is that is a massive opportunity and um I think also my my view of TV programmes is often they are quite refined whereas what seems to work really well on on YouTube as I said is is genuineness and honesty and and being open and I just think well that's brilliant as well because um as a Christian, someone who follows Jesus I I can be completely honest and open about my whole life and people will get a window into everything that I enjoy the the kite surfing and the events but also what it means for me to follow Jesus. So yeah massive opportunities there. And in terms of terms of challenges that that I'm finding with the particularly with the videos is just the time that it takes to to to develop a good video. And then when you do have some content to put out you've got to realize that like for example on YouTube 400 hours of video is uploaded every minute. 400 hours every minute so you've really got to help people to come and watch your video. So that is that is a challenge as that is a big challenge.
SPEAKER_03Yes yes and uh what about what about ordinary Christians online and their sort of their their Christian witness whether it's on Facebook or Twitter or or whatever kind of social media space that they take up what what can everyday Christians do to be better witnesses online do you think?
SPEAKER_02Well um I'd say there's a number of things that we can do that are quite um l low low investment in terms of time and and effort. You know everybody's got a smartphone or most people do e even my dad's got a smartphone and I think just taking the odd photo of something that you're enjoying like there's a party or um or going on a walk and seeing a great view and commenting on it and you know taking taking a shot of um your evening service on a Sunday or an event at church you know i if I think it's completely natural to to upload um two or three photos a week to Facebook and it just gives people a little bit of a window into um the whole breadth of your life. And so I think I think starting there is a is a is a good point and and like you say i if if there's helpful videos out there then sharing those can be can be a real help as well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah great. And for those who are more creatively minded how can they take advantage of of the opportunities of of the new media?
SPEAKER_02Yeah um well I think I mean I I I think other people could do the sort of videos that I've been trialling um especially because as we're saying the the the great benefit of it is it's sort of geographically based. So somebody down in Chester or somebody down in um Chesterfield or London you know they could say well look I I'm gonna go and sort of enjoy the events that are on in my place and I'm just gonna shoot a shoot a bit of a video as well. I I went to uh a YouTube Creators Day in Manchester a couple of weeks ago and 95% of the people who I spoke to um they had they had read they had a complete range of different YouTube channels that they were doing some comic books some gaming um some on cookery things like that but but almost none of them uh apart from two or three were folk who had a had a background in filming or or really knew how to use a camera very well and and so all they've got is they've got a they've got a hobby that they love and basically they're putting that on out on YouTube. So yeah I'd I'd say in um in terms of sort of using this sort of new media particularly videos I'm talking about I'd say um I reckon there's there's lots of scope for people trying it um maybe making videos about um what they're up to during the week um what they're up to at the weekend and you you don't need to be amazing at video to do it.
SPEAKER_03Hmm that's interesting yeah I mean what what's coming across very loud and clear is that you know passion communicates more than anything else isn't it and yeah that um that passion for something and that face-to-face desire to connect with people will will communicate even if the even if the camera's out of out of focus.
SPEAKER_02Yes yeah yeah very much so and there's there's help online to figure out how to you know how to get your lighting better and things like that. You you can just you can watch some tutorials um and you know if if anybody's listening and they they particularly want to give this a shot um they're very welcome to to contact me through like on the YouTube page there's an about section and that's got some contact details. You can welcome to ping me a message and I'll get you get you going with a few links.
SPEAKER_03Yeah because you're particularly wanting to connect with other people who who might you know be able to collaborate with you on on future projects is that right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah I'd love to um so YouTube generally is is big on uh on collaborations and if you're if you're used to watching any of the sort of daily vloggers you'll often see daily vloggers collaborating with other daily vloggers um and um so yeah if uh if there's people out there who'd like to do some sort of collaboration um would like to share ideas for future videos I'd be I'd be well up for that.
SPEAKER_03Brilliant so tell me the the contact details that um so what's what's your YouTube page?
SPEAKER_02Yeah great well um if you go to www.danrakham and that um rackham that's my surname but basically that's rack and then ham rack ham not rackman rack ham so so danrakham or danracam.co.uk and that basically just redirects to my YouTube channel.
SPEAKER_03So danrakham.co.uk easy very good very good well all the best with uh this video and with the the many more to come Dan I I hope it gets millions and millions of views because it's uh yeah it's such a such a sweet way of uh of sharing the gospel around the place. Um but um yeah we'll we'll be directing lots of people to your YouTube channel and we hope it goes from strength to strength.
SPEAKER_02Great and thanks uh it was really good to speak. Awesome.
SPEAKER_00Alright thanks Dan God bless. Cheers bye. So that was uh Dan Rackham talking to you Glenn.
SPEAKER_03So I mean there's uh amazing opportunity really now to us what with uh the internet and uh it's such a thing ten years ago it was very much more difficult but but now yeah I mean just incredible volumes of video get watched online you know every minute when you when you think of the amount of video that just gets uploaded to YouTube constantly and then the amount of video that just gets watched on Facebook and people's feeds and um so yeah and and we have great opportunities it's much cheaper to to get on um uh to get on those channels and to and to get the Christian message out there so um Dan's a great guy for for wanting to m you know use those opportunities and and um I think there's lots to learn.
SPEAKER_00So to see Dan Rackham's video uh the John Lewis remake remake yeah you you could probably just search for John Lewis remake and it'll probably pop up we will uh put a link on the show notes to it um also to say if you want to see the video for the debate we hope to get that soon we haven't actually got it at the time of recording now but um we should get that uh if it appears between now and next week we'll uh we'll put it on the show notes.
SPEAKER_03And maybe do an episode on it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah yeah okay so the web address to go to is speaklife.org.uk slash tep and you can select the individual episode today which is 121 please leave us a rating and review and also don't forget to subscribe to the podcast. Thanks very much for listening see you later bye