Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast. I'm Kosti Hinn, president of For the Gospel Ministries, and I am joined today by our incredible team for this inaugural podcast episode: our executive director, Brett Skinner, our digital platforms director, Reagan Rose, and our creative director, Bond, Justin Bond. Great to have you guys. Real quick, let me tell everyone listening what For the Gospel is all about. First, what I want to tell you is what it's not. It is no longer my personal blog, and it is no longer a janky, kind of weird little personal website. It actually has some likes to it, thanks to you men. And so we're launching a ministry, and we are a ministry that dishes out sound doctrine for normal people or everyday people. That's the goal, is to provide people with practical resources that they can use to bring the cookies down from the top shelf, so to speak, theologically. So for loads of articles and podcast episodes, or to really ask us anything biblically related, uh, or if you want to ask it how why Reagan likes avocado toast or other weird fun facts, you can do that too. Um, but keep it biblical. You go to furthegospel.org, www.furthegospel.org. Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, or any other of your favorite platforms. And we're also on Instagram. So check out at FortheGospel Min, and we're on Twitter and we're on Facebook. And if you have trouble finding any of those, uh go to my page and I'll have links there. So that's who we are, that's where we're coming from. But this first episode, we want to dig into uh what we're all about. Why are we providing sound doctrine for everyday people? Why is the gospel so important? Um, and beyond that, Brett, what else are we talking about? What are we digging into here?
SPEAKER_00Well, I think it'd be great for us just uh to have a little bit of a conversation to let people know who we are. Um, I mean, obviously, Cossi, I know who you are. We go back many, many years. Uh, we've gotten a chance to all know each other on this team, but uh I thought we could share who we are, what we're passionate about, uh, maybe a little bit about where we're headed. And uh, you know, I'm certainly excited to start unpacking scripture, especially as it relates to uh specific topics we've already chatted about, some of the episodes we'll be releasing in the future. But, you know, let's chat about for the gospel. Uh, we're all here. We've chosen to spend nights, early mornings, weekends doing podcasts, writing articles, creating training and class material. But but why? Why now, and why for the gospel? So I don't know, Reagan. You know, I I mentioned to you guys at some point in one of these podcasts, I was going to play the game popcorn because I'm a Christian and I'm cheesy and that's what we do. Um, so Reagan, maybe I'll popcorn to you, and why don't you tell everyone, you know, who you are, um, what's drawn you to spend the time to do all of this, and maybe I don't know what what uh what do Christians do? Let's let's do our favorite book of the Bible, favorite book of the Bible, or maybe topic of teaching, and and let's just tell people who we are, what we're doing here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Wow, popcorn. Haven't done that in a while. Yeah. Yeah, I'm Reagan Rose. Um, I have a beautiful wife, Kimberly, and a son, Watson, a little girl on the way. And um I I am for the gospel. Uh, you know, the thing that excites me about this ministry and what we're jumping into is this is exactly the type of stuff when I was a young believer and looking to understand scripture, looking to understand what the gospel means for my life. This, these, the the types of things that we're going to be covering on this podcast and in articles and in video material is exactly the questions I was wondering about. And I'm passionate about helping people apply scripture, apply the gospel to the practical issues of life. Not being all highfalutin, but bringing it down, like Costi said, to the bottom shelf. So uh I'm really excited about the opportunity to get to do that and to do it in a uh in a unique way through through any means necessary. All the new media that's out there, all the new platforms. Um I'm I'm really excited what we're gonna be bringing to people through this. And I guess now I popcorn over to Justin, maybe. Justin?
SPEAKER_02Who are you popcorn? What kind of popcorn?
SPEAKER_03Uh kettle corn, obviously.
SPEAKER_01White white cheddar, white cheddar popcorn for sure. The tin can popcorn. No, the smart food one, the black bag.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah. Okay. You guys have know a lot about popcorn.
SPEAKER_02My name is Justin Bond, and I have a wife of seven years. She's incredible and puts up with me. Uh, we actually have two little girls. We have a four and a half-year-old and a nine-month-old who's teething like crazy. Oh, love that. It's been it's been a blast. Um, yeah. So we actually grew up in Arizona our whole lives and then kind of traveled around a little bit from California, went to school out there, went to Portland, Oregon, Idaho for a little bit, and then God brought us back to Arizona. So we cannot escape this place. But it's for a good thing. It's it's exciting getting to see God's hand and everything. So um, what were some of the questions? Our favorite books of the Bible? Yeah, we'll hear everybody that too. It's Romans for me. See, you can't say that because I was about to say Romans. We're all going to be able to do that. But I'm excited for the gospel. I think Reagan, what you were talking about, like if we could have a resource like this when we were younger, I became a Christian right before my 18th birthday. So young, young adult kind of you know, went to school in a public school, didn't really know much about God. So trying to find resources that were helpful, beneficial, bottom shelf, Costi. Like something that is easy to understand, easy to grasp onto, cutting the steak up into little bites that are easily consumable. This is exactly what we're gonna be doing. Like bringing sound practical theology to the everyday believer. Like it's it's something that I'm looking forward to. Not only that, but getting to produce high quality content. I'm excited to produce stuff that looks good, sounds good, theologically is sound. So I think you put all of those together and it creates nothing but success. And um, I think Christians are gonna be very excited, and Lord willing, he uses this for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01So I want to jump in real quick and and flesh that out. We can keep doing the who we are as well. But um, so we talk about uh producing things that look really good, there's high quality. Do you guys see a gap in today's media world, uh, especially in in Christianity, where where there isn't as much excellence as we could? Or do you think in the Bible kind of world we shy away a little bit from uh from excellence or from putting a lot of energy into production because we we feel like, well, it's about a message, right? It's about the gospel, and we are for the gospel, so yes, we agree. Um, but do you see a need for us to emphasize creativity and the arts and excellence and quality in production in order to reach the generation where they are without ever compromising the message? Right. Do you think that's important?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think what we tend to see in the Christian circle is churches and ministries doing media very, very well, but theologically they're way off.
SPEAKER_01So, like all the false teachers have the best stuff. Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_02So and you see a lot of the the theologically sound ministries and churches are kind of uh shying away from doing media and anything creative will say doing it well because they're afraid because they want to stay in the tradition or whatever the case may be. But if the sound theology churches, like there they're just I don't know, there's a lack of creativity, there's a lack of quality. Let's let's have quality theology, but we're gonna kinda that's for the other churches, the creative stuff, like leave it to them. I don't think that's the case. I think we need to have both. I think if we're gonna be a good witness to the world, we need to do both well. We need to be very creative, do video, do whatever we're doing, do it well. Social media well. That way the world sees us and they say, we need to do it like them, not hey, let's try to do it like the world.
SPEAKER_01Dude, that's okay. That fires me up. I I think if we were to apply it to preaching, it actually makes a lot of sense. How many in our conservative circles, preaching professors, and theologians would tolerate a guy getting up there and fumble bumbling around, not having a clear introduction, not making a clear thesis statement or proposition in his preaching, and then saying, um, um, yeah, uh, you know, and and and and and um a preaching professor would go, hey, listen, clean it up. We you know, get to the point, have some strivings in your effort for excellence, and stop being such a distraction. That I think, if we were to apply that to media, if things look weird and janky and there's a lack of effort, if the audio isn't clear, or if the cre and there's even creative giftings. Like people are given the ability to be creative by God. Like there's people who can draw and can't draw. Okay, that I don't care how much you go to art class, there are people who are just creative and talented. And God wants them to use that. There's people, we all know this, of course. All you know, everybody in church will sing, but there's some people who can sing. Like God gives them that voice, the ability to use our creativity for his glory in in ways that are excellent. I love that you guys have that mindset because I think we share that together, our our common unity in that regard, that we want to do this with excellence and not be a distraction, and then use the gospel really as an excuse and go, oh, why are you focused on all those externals? It's really about Jesus. You go, Yeah, but I didn't even understand what you were saying. Or it was so distracting because your your website didn't work, or everything was was burgundy or whatever, old, like old weird like 70s look. Not that the old 70s look is bad, that's coming back actually. But uh the idea being excellence should not be sacrificed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think too, really quick, for the gospel in general, we want to go where the attention is. Where's the attention? Where are a lot of the people they're on their phones? So we have to compete with the world and try to get in so we can grab a little bit of their attention. So if we can try to redeem some of the time of people being on their phones to watching content, reading blogs, you know, listening to podcasts, we're going there. We have to be able to do that. And it's very hard to find people theologically sound doing that. It's all the other people that I'm not gonna name. We're gonna we're we want to take some of that back.
SPEAKER_01We want to take some of it back. Absolutely. We're gonna take back, and we can name some of them. Like you look at movements like Bethel and others, they are incredible at creativity, and we don't want to shy away from that and go, well, that's manipulation. No, they're they put a lot of effort into it. We want to take that back. God wants us to use creativity as well and pair it with sound doctrine. And so you He's the ultimate creator, isn't he? He did make everything.
SPEAKER_03God. I would just say this, maybe it's like a coda for that, is the the packaging matters. Like we all know this. The the cover of the book matters. When someone hands you a pamphlet on the street, if it looks like it was made with word art and Microsoft Word, you're gonna be like, oh, this this is probably a psycho. If someone hands you something that's well designed, you're looking at it and you're thinking, well, maybe there's something good in here because excellence begets excellence. And I think if we have the message of the gospel, it's the most important, it's the best message. It should have the best presentation. And that's what we're gonna try, that's what we're gonna strive to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And Cassi, I think you mentioned something. You said we want to do things with excellence because too often we're finding this phenomenal theological content that's written and posted on some backpage blog with papyrus font and uh almost a like uh it looks like paper in the background with like old like flaming torches around it. Uh, you know, it creates a nice uh maybe heritage um you know, 19 uh 50s look.
SPEAKER_03Um but I'm crossing out all the design comps I had to describe.
SPEAKER_00Wait, we're not we're not using papyrus fonts. Oh no. But I mean, we all we all know it, right? Like if we go if we're shopping online and we go to purchase something and the website's glitchy or it's old, uh, you know, the the immediate thing is we start to say, man, hackers are probably all over this thing. There's no encryption on this, there's no uh there's no uh security behind this, and and so I don't want to be a part of it. And the reality is, is all of us here, we've been we've been raised with marketing pushed in front of our faces our entire lives. So with it's it's almost become a subconscious thing when we look at things, we immediately make a judgment on it. Can I trust this and is it valuable? Now, you know, like we've mentioned, if we just accomplish that, um, you know, a lot of people can do that. That that's that's great. A lot of people are doing that, and a lot of people are misguiding people while doing that. What we need to do is we need to come back to God's word and and and take people back to scriptures as not only the the infallible and inerrant word of God, uh, but the sufficient word of God. And we need to open the text and we need to allow it to mold and transform our minds. And um, so I'm I'm pumped, man. This is this is this is what this is what I'm here for. This is why I'm I'm spending spending time with you guys instead of you know at home with my my wife and kids. So let's go.
SPEAKER_01Dude, and we all have just for for full disclosure and accountability for you who are listening, we all have permission from our wives and our kids to today on this is a day off, and we are and our churches, our elders, uh we have permission to uh be using this time for this purpose. And so yeah, we budget our time and our families are behind it and they're excited because as Reagan says, I asked him, I said, you know, I man, I I'm thankful we're talking about being for the gospel, and he was like, Oh, don't, it's okay, Costi. I've already been for the gospel. You know, that that's our our families, our lives, our wives, our churches. We're all for the gospel. Brett, we want to keep you talking. Should we let's popcorn him? Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02Brett, you've been popcorn. No one knows how to play this game.
SPEAKER_00I can I can keep I can keep talking. I'll just start reading from Ephesians or something like that. Brett's favorite book.
SPEAKER_01I'll say it for you. I've known Brett. We go back eight years. Your favorite are you gonna say Ephesians? I am gonna say Ephesians. He preaches, he will take you through Ephesians and like change your life. If you ever want discipleship, just email uh Brett at forthegospel.org and say disciple me in Ephesians. We have to get you teaching it sometime. We'll do a recording curriculum for it.
SPEAKER_00You know, it's it's my favorite book, and I'll be honest with you. Um, if you go back back 12 years ago, um a guy sat me down, um opened up the book of Ephesians, and started with me, and it changed my life. Um, and so it it to this day, it's I've I've definitely read that book more than any other book in the Bible. Um, I've taught that book more than any other book in the Bible. If I sit down and we do discipleship with people, um I'm always opening it to Ephesians and marriage classes and uh Bible groups. Um, I'm opening and we're walking through the book of Ephesians. It's my favorite for sure. You know, I also I also like uh ecclesiology. I love talking about the church. Um, I love the church. It's my favorite thing. That's why I left the corporate world to come and work for the church and stewardship. So uh those things are kind of my uh um if you just let me ramble on, that's where I'm gonna sit. But uh but yeah, well, I'm doing this thing backwards. Uh, you know, my name, my name is Brett Skinner. Um, as Cossi mentioned earlier, I'm the executive director here for the gospel. Um, I'm also uh the executive pastor at Mission Bible Church in Orange County, California. Uh, we do have crazier politicians, but better weather than you guys over there in Arizona. Um, so it's it's it's a draw. Um don't even talk about that.
SPEAKER_03I'm about to leave California to go to Michigan. So let's not talk about weather.
SPEAKER_01You have the Detroit Lions. You have the Detroit Lions, right? Greatest football team in all of the NFL.
SPEAKER_03Let's not talk about that either.
SPEAKER_00But yeah, you know, I've uh I've actually had a passion to develop something like for the gospel for a while now. I mean, it's been going back back several years. And um, you know, there's there's absolutely some phenomenal resources out there today, but uh, I just don't think there's anything that seems to be fighting for a generation Z and staying hunger to hungry to stay uh involved and in and disseminating and getting the gospel out and on the front lines of uh today and on the front lines of culture and reaching people. Um and specifically, I I know I mentioned ecclesiology. I I love trying to equip everyday believers to be effective members of their local church. Um and and let's be honest, too many people these days, especially in the midst of coming in the middle of COVID, um, are not engaging in their local church and doing ministry anymore. And we've got to reach these people. And and you know, we we mentioned something earlier. We said there's a lot of great churches that aren't uh that aren't trying to stay in touch with people and reach people through the mediums when people are staying inside their homes and and and fiddling on their phones. But I guarantee you, back in in March of this year, I guarantee you all of them felt that. All of them were forced to not be able uh to use the means that they have typically done to reach people. Um I know we felt that even in our church, and we're a fairly tech forward church. We we're we're on social media, we're trying to reach people, but um, but the reality is is when you when you take away um some of these things that we've taken for granted for for for centuries, um, you find this big gaping hole in an inability to reach people. Now, obviously we're we're pushing back against that because uh fellowship and community and and engaging in hospitality and being a part of one another's lives is imperative and critical to the church. But uh yeah, I'm excited. Um, so like I said before, let's let's keep rolling. And uh let me see. Uh we've done Regan, you've gone. Justin, you've gone. I I mean, I guess I get to popcorn to you, Costi.
SPEAKER_01All right, popcorn to me real quick.
SPEAKER_00You have a you have a wife and oh yeah, dang. We're gonna have to start this podcast over. I didn't start with that.
SPEAKER_03Justin will edit it, just rearrange it for you. Just rearrange it.
SPEAKER_00Listen to the first one. Yes, I am married to uh a beautiful woman uh named Amy, and we have uh two wonderful sons, uh Finnegan and Killian. And they are they're they're actually um gonna be who I'm hanging out with today once we're done with this, and we're gonna have some food and uh ride scooters and and wrestle around, and it's gonna be a great day.
SPEAKER_01That is awesome. So Finnegan, so Finn and Killian. Yes, those are the manliest names. Like, come on. Yeah, we've got to raise men.
SPEAKER_00We've got to raise men today. Do they have beards? They were born with beards.
SPEAKER_04They were born with beards, like Brett. Born with beards.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and Brett, what's your wedding ring made of? Do you still have that wedding ring you used to have when we were pastoring together? I do.
SPEAKER_00Um, it's made of moose antler. Oh, cool. Yeah, so so I was, even though I'm I'm California born and raised, I was born in the Central Valley in Bakersfield. And so um, you know, fam family members, uh friends uh having uh ranches and stuff like that. We grew up, you know, hunting coyotes and um running away from rattlesnakes. I have friends that will say running towards rattlesnakes. Um I'll be honest, that's not me. I run away from rattlesnakes, don't like them. Um so yeah, I have a little bit of hick in me for sure.
SPEAKER_01Awesome, awesome, rightfully so. That's a good thing. Um, well, we're thankful for you, and I'm so thankful for you guys. Popcorn for me, I'm Costi Hinn. Uh, I am a local pastor at Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona. Uh, moved out here last summer after pastoring with Brett and uh leading over at Mission Bible Church with one of our contributors, actually, Pastor Tony Wood, and uh moved here last summer and partnered with the the church here at Redeemer uh to preach and serve and help. Um now I'm getting the chance to pastor next gen ministry. So here I get to deal with the next generation a lot, which I'm privileged to do. Um I have an incredible wife named Christine. She is uh my best friend, teammate, and I cherish her and love her greatly. Uh I have four kids. They are ages six, four, two, and seven months old. So the hen home is very busy. Um Titus, Grace, Timothy, and Ruth are the names of our kiddos. Um uh so that's a little bit about that. I love to preach the gospel. I love to uh write about the gospel and about church issues, and I love to help people. And I actually would say the the driver behind that sort of bringing the cookies down from the top shelf mentality comes from my training and discipleship with Tony, actually back at Mission Bible, when I was starting seminary and I gotten saved out of the NAR kind of prosperity gospel insanity. And I read church history books and I read, you know, Martin Lloyd Jones. And Spurge, and I started using really big words. And Tony was like, Hey, come here, come here. You got a disease. Let me tell you about this disease you got. I was like, What are you talking about? He's like, Did you have seminitis? I was like, What? What's seminitis? He's like, seminitis. Yes, seminitis. He goes, You know, like 99% of our congregation doesn't know what you're saying. It's just big words. Like you're preaching to impress your professors there at seminary costie. Um, so here's the antidote to seminitis. Use normal words. Bring the cookies down from the top shelf. And he had mentioned Chuck Swindah used to always say that. Uh he's a very pastoral type of preacher. And Warren Wearsby's that way in his uh expositional commentaries. And um, we so we that was the beginning of it. And I started realizing that the the real smart people don't use all the big words, they actually take the really deep theological concepts and present them in simple ways. That's true wisdom, that's true intelligence or intellectual ability theologically. And so um that's my heart. Uh, no matter how many degrees we get or how many letters are behind our name. I, you know, most of the people we deal with on a regular basis in our churches, and isn't this us? I you you're in a Sunday sermon. It's powerful. It hits you in the in the head and the heart. You're there. But you know, what's the battle? Monday morning, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. You know, the Joe, the mechanic in your congregation is not sitting there impressed by you using, you know, super lapsarianism in your sermon. When he's just going to the mechanic shop the next day, trying not to look at the lewd, filthy calendar with women on it on the wall. He he's just trying to wrestle with sin and not be impatient or shake his fist or you know, uh flip somebody off in traffic. He's just trying to live out the fruit of the spirit, and we're using these big words, and I so I am I'm definitely passionate about theology and deep knowledge. Yes, um, I love reading old Puritans, but we live in 2020, and if the Bible was written in Koine Greek, which is common, was common language, God chose a common language to convey his truth in the New Testament, and Jesus went around using simple concepts, teaching often in parables, and oh, did he ever bring it sometimes? And he had no problem letting it fly. Um Paul and so often our models in the New Testament they bring truth and they present it to you in a way that's not above your head to impress you, but it's able to be understood in clear ways. They it's being presented something. So I love what you said, Justin, chopping up the stake. Um, I I never want to get to a point in life or ministry where I'm not I'm not making it bite-size for myself, for people. And so that's my heart behind this ministry. And I'm excited to watch God use you guys, our contributors. We have some of the most incredible men, uh, smart guys with you know doctorates, and they're all about giving practical truth to people. So, did I miss anything? Um, is that everything?
SPEAKER_03What was your favorite book of the Bible?
SPEAKER_01Oh man. All right, first John, hands down, first John. Um because it's short. You know, that's why our friendship developed so quickly, Reagan, over the last couple of years. Um, I knew there was a kindred spirit in there. A willingness to insult you. Absolutely, I can take it. Um, I think anyone with athletic backgrounds is used to being rasped, and so I like when people don't walk on eggshells. You're um you're spot on, it's short. And here's the deal: as a 2020 Christian, I got a chip on my shoulder, but in a godly way, a righteous indignation with the last 30 to 40 years of evangelicalism, and I was in false teaching for a long time. And what I what I hate is playing church, and what I can't stand is shallow, false professed Christianity. And I don't like that there's church leaders that won't call people to the true gospel. I don't ever want to be that ever again. I was that, I believed that, I held to it. And John unloads in such a short book, five chapters of what it means to be a true believer. And there's no getting around it. And I it my my sin and my proclivities hate the book of 1 John and wrestle with it because he says, if I really love Jesus, I'm gonna have obedient patterns in my life. And my sin, like John Owen always talks about sin and the book indwelling sin, he's dealing with the the the leanings of our flesh is the opposite. And so 1 John is this amazing book that I love, that my my flesh and all of our sinful flesh wrestles with, that people need to wrestle with, and in the end, submit to scripture. If you're not seeing patterns in your life where the gospel is not just a message or a confession at an altar, but a transformative process where you believe and then sanctification kicks in, which is that cleansing. It's a growth, it's the um, in in layman's terms, true to our for the gospel vision. It's I'm not who I used to be, but I'm not yet who I'm gonna be. It's God is growing me and taking me somewhere and cleansing me and and developing me. Um John calls for that level of clarity in our Christian life, in these chapters. And of course, there's some good strong words against the false teachers at the time who were mudding the waters of the gospel. Um and he calls people beloved, he calls his his audience beloved or little children. And so I think that we need to be um all out, busting our guts for the gospel, and I think we need to do that in love. And first John is a book that delivers that punch, I think, in one of the best ways.
SPEAKER_00You know what I love about what you just said is I think sometimes in in discipleship and talking with people, you you have those conversations with guys and gals, and and you're trying to just work through scripture with them, and they immediately go to these deep, rich theological truths, which are fantastic and they're there and they're necessary, and we have to understand them. Uh, but they miss the entire simplicity of what they're reading. You know, take uh sticking with John, but going back to the Gospel of John, you know, sometimes when you read through these historical narratives, it's so easy to get caught up in some of the major themes and regeneration and the work of the Spirit and so forth, and you're starting, you're almost hunting for theology, but you're missing the fact that John was writing to people who were not the intellectual elite. And he's just trying to communicate a very simple message to them that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He is the Messiah. That's all he's trying to communicate. And you can, the reality is that whole book is one big arc leading to that point. And that's what he he he sums up in in John 20, 31. And that's I think what I'm excited to do here is to begin to take these simple truths and make them so real for people, make the gospel real for people and allow people that to learn and know more about who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Amen. All right, so um we should talk a little bit about we kind of explained why we exist. And the tagline is for the gospel exists to provide sound doctrine for everyday people. And sometimes you'll hear us say normal because we like that word a lot too. Um, and so our target audience here, guys, we are going after Christians of all walks of life, certainly the next generation. We're not we're not leaving anyone out in our approach. I think we've said it before. If you got a cell phone in your hand, we're going after you. So, like six age 16 to 95, you know, we're coming for you. Um and if your kids get in cell phones earlier than that, you know, I we'll have episodes on on being tech wise. And so we can talk more about that down the road. But um are what are some of the mediums that that we're looking to use or we're not afraid to use? Reagan.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I mean, we're we're gonna tackle some of the things you would expect and some of the things that uh mediums that that you'd be familiar with that um most ministers are already using, you know, blog articles, uh podcasts, for example. Um but we really want to be deliberate about leaning into uh video. You know, I mean you YouTube's the second largest search engine on the internet. Um uh filmmaking, social media, even um Costi's gonna be doing a series of TikTok dance videos, right? Do we agree to that? But even beyond that, like exciting stuff, like even live stuff like webinars, um, you know, strategic partnerships, uh, and eventually, Lord willing, conferences um and things of that nature. But we really want to be, um, which I think we've we've hit on already, not shy about going after wherever people are congregating. Where are people congregating on the web? Um, and you know, the the church tends to have a lag time with with technology and with adapting, you know, kind of a we're always 10 years behind. Um, and we want to be right on the front line. So even as new new social medias emerge, we want to be there and we want to have content that is packed full of God's truth um in a way that's accessible for people.
SPEAKER_01Man, that's so good. I I see a lot of um of opportunity for for film, for video. Would you guys say it's I mean it's a video culture now? If you're not obviously podcasting is podcasting and everyone's podcasting now. You can do audio video, that that's fine. And we'll add video podcasting down the road. That's one of the phases we're gonna move to so everyone can see your your your awesome beards and Brett's moose moose antler ring. But would you say that video is we we gotta get into in front of people, their face time, if you will, on social media. Video is kind of one of the big keys.
SPEAKER_03Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean, it it's we have the capability. It's it's the most similar to real life. You know what I mean? That's how I think with media, the word you know, you're mediating, right? Um, uh a message through through something. So an article, you know, you're hearing from people through words, but you can't hear them. With with audio, I can hear you, I hear your voice, I hear the intonation, I feel like I know you. With video, you add a whole nother element and you're seeing you. And now with you know, bandwidth being what it is on the internet, people having easy access to that and distribution being so easy that uh I just think it's it's absolutely critical. And that is that's what people are consuming. That is what they're consuming, video content.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. Well, um, I want to share another element, which is what makes us distinct. And we'll we're winding things down here, but I there's two things that are gonna make for the gospel really, really distinct. And um the second one will play off what we've been talking about. But the first thing is we are strategically committed to standing for truth regardless of the cost. And so I want to tell you who are listening, our team is crazy about the gospel, and I mean that. Um, we didn't select a group of wannabe uh social media influencers or people that are interested in fame or people that are just trying to build a platform. Uh, the team, the contributors have been selected because every one of the people that you hear from, you see from, and we're gonna ask you to hold our feet to the fire on this, are willing to go down in a ball of flames if it means staying faithful to the gospel. We're not playing around. And so, as the culture winds blow, and they will, they already are, we're all watching it right now. This is a ministry that I want you to know is dependable. And if we're ever not holding to doctrine or being like Timothy, what Paul said to him, guarding your life and your doctrine, we're out. Um, the board will pull the plug on certain individuals. If I ever go rogue, I'm out. I want to be uh fired, removed from my post. And so we take it so serious. We're gonna have a blast and we're gonna use a ton of mediums and we're gonna be enjoying and rejoicing in the gospel. Um, but we really believe in emulating that Pauline model. And so we're gonna be singing, we're gonna be dancing and having fun, and we're gonna be in prison together if that's what it takes. We're gonna be like Paul and Silas. And if you put us in prison and chain us, we're gonna sing and rejoice in the Lord. Um, but compromising on doctrine is not an option. And I know there's some gray areas and different things in scripture. I know that there's different positions on various things. I know we don't need to all try to kill each other over every eschatological nuance. I understand and we understand there's gray areas or things we can agree and disagree on agreeably. Um, but our ministry is distinct because we are refusing to compromise and we're building checks and balances in uh to ensure that the men leading and serving and the women who come on board as contributors are willing to pay the price, and that loyalty is to Christ above all else. And so book sales aren't gonna drive that. Uh donor dollars and hits and likes and shares are not driving the ministry. A loyalty to Christ is. The second thing is we're gonna be firm in sound theology, but we are gonna remain flexible with innovative technology or with our methods. Um, the motive behind our ministry is to see lives transformed by the power of the gospel. We believe that. Romans 1:16 and 17 is real to us. So uh traditional use of media or technology is not gonna limit our effort. We are going to push the boundaries of innovation, never compromising the message. But um, we've chosen, again, a very unique team with skill sets and giftings because we're not gonna ever stop. There's no gonna not gonna be a point where we sit around as the board and look at each other and go, no, you know, Reagan, we're not doing that because, you know, this is the way we've always done it. Or Justin's like, hey guys, you know, I think we've done enough. Uh, we don't want to break into that new medium to reach young hearts. Uh we want to always be stretching ourselves and being uncomfortable. I think of Paul's missionary zeal and how he was always going to a new place, always pushing out into new boundaries. Brett, you brought up discipleship earlier, sitting one-on-one with people. That's really what it is, isn't it? It's always going and looking, going, all right, we've plowed this section of the field or this area. Let's go over there where there's more rocks and weeds, and let's plow that too. Let's keep planting seeds. Um, and so would you guys agree? I mean, that's our we're gonna be firm in theology, but we're gonna keep getting after it and trying to take territory back from darkness and see the gospel go further.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, definitely. I mean, there's there's there's two ways to to reap a harvest is you can go out and you can plant your one seed and you can sit there all year and just pour water on it and and wait for it to grow, or you can plow entire fields and you can take bags of seed and start uh planting them over and over and over again and reap a much bigger harvest. And so I think as we mentioned, this idea of staying uh solid in our doctrine, but being flexible in in the mediums in which we do that, we've got to plant seeds. We've got to we've got to go out and do the work and plow the fields. And so um, let's let's throw those seeds and let's let's see the harvest.
SPEAKER_01Amen. Well, how do you guys feel about opening episode? Do you think is there any ground we haven't covered or anything we need to talk about here that would help people understand a little more?
SPEAKER_03Um, did we talk about the uh local church? I know we said like in the beginning of the why we exist thing, support local churches, leaders, Christians. Um, I don't know if we need to say that, but um, helping people understand that we understand our role as a parachurch organization.
SPEAKER_01Boom. That is so critical. Um, I you're spot on, Reagan. When I started talking about where we're going, I said Christians of all walks of life. We started talking about, you know, the mechanics just battling sin on Monday morning. So that is yes and amen. However, yeah, our goal is to support local churches and local church leaders from around the world as well. And so you picture Brett, you brought this up. Uh COVID happens and you realize there's a huge gap. We want to fill that gap and serve churches. And so a pastor could uh, let's say, have a church where he doesn't have the means, or that church doesn't have the means or the resources to put out content, or they don't have the time. Let's say they're shepherding and doing a lot of local work, they want to resource their people for the gospel is there, and they can rely on a ministry like this. And there are articles that can help their people and a podcast that can help their people. And we're not replacing anything happening in the local church, we're supporting the local church. Um, I get emails constantly. I know you guys talk to people as well from pastors and churches who are asking for help constantly. That's the cadence is hey, can we get help or hey, do you have this? And so our goal uh would be like if Brett puts together an incredible Ephesians study and a curriculum for discipleship based on that, a church now is thinking, hey, we got to make more disciples. Look at the people coming. There's a hunger here. What do we do? What should we do? And yes, a lot of pastors they can handle it, but the ability to delegate is sometimes difficult. And the time it takes to train. And so one of our curriculums could be available and uh there for them. And our goal, and you guys know this is to do a lot of this for free. Um, this is not like a money-making entity where we're going, hey, and we're gonna sell all this for the low price of $99.99. Um, it's about getting resources to people, and we believe that God will provide, and we're unashamed and bold, and confident that He will. And so, yeah, you're you're spot on, Reagan. We want to support local churches, support leaders. And there's one more element um with FTG Global, with some of our global initiatives. We want to send our contributors and our teachers around the world to do trainings and seminars and to support churches on the ground floor. So it's not just social media, though that's a huge emphasis, and we're gonna use media. We also want to go to places and send pastors and leaders to train and support the hundreds of pastors we receive emails from and get people on the ground floor. I mean, Brett, you can talk about it a little bit. You've been over to Fiji to do some of that with Pre-Men Choi. And I mean, talk a little bit about that experience and how important it is to go places and support our brothers and sisters around the world.
SPEAKER_00Well, yeah, I mean, I mean, missions is is you you can't go through the New Testament without dealing with missions. You can't get through Acts without dealing with missions. And uh, but the reality is, and to Reagan's point, is that all starts at the local church. Um, and the reality is, is I think what what, and maybe this will be uh instead of going into this too deep, maybe we'll do an episode on this, but so many people get get focused on global missions and they have not yet committed to their local mission and their local church. Um, but the reality is is when we're when we're gospel-centric and when we are evangelistic in our local community and in building our our our local churches, uh the next layer of that is regional, and the next layer of that um is global. And so um, although global is important, it it comes out of faithful ministry locally. Um but globally speaking, there are phenomenal people, as you mentioned, Premen Choi of Fiji and um out by outside of Latoka. Um, and he he's doing incredible ministry. He has a uh a Bible college out there, and he's taking uh men from all over the South Pacific, and he is teaching them sound doctrine, and he's sending them back into places in Papua New Guinea and into these places that you and I will never do, be able to, because there would be such a learning curve for us to learn the language, such a learning curve for us to learn the culture, and such a learning curve for them to even accept what we would have to say. And so it's it's phenomenal to find these ministry partners around the world and to be a part of uh the global work. And they're constantly requesting send, send men, send people who can train, train our men up so we can send them out, uh, send resources, send us resources so that we can continue the work and the means that we have here uh to raise these men up. And so uh I think uh Reagan, to your point, starting at the local church, but to Cossi to your point, but taking that all the way out globally is a very important thing. And uh, but the reality is, and I I think again, Regan, uh to your point, Christ promised that he would build one thing, and that's the church. And you can't go through the New Testament and walk away asking, I wonder who they're talking about. I wonder who they're talking to. The whole New Testament is itself about the church. And so um many of you, you people listening today may be sitting at home and not active and engaged in the church. And you need to find one. You need to go find a church locally, get involved, and start doing ministry. You can't fulfill the Great Commission in your home listening to podcasts. And that's part of the reason why I think we want to be doing this is because we want to reach people and we want to help them take a better look and have a biblical worldview about life. And so I'm sorry I keep going on these rants, but come on, good rank.
SPEAKER_01I could picture all the people in the front row standing up, shouting at you, saying, preach, preach. Maybe the wrong, maybe the wrong world. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02But I think what you were saying, you know, we are all local church men. Yep. The local church is very important to us, and we're gonna push people to serve, be a church member, first of all, to serve and really appreciate the local church because who did Christ die for? The church. Amen. So the church must be important. So it's a big deal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if if if you're listening and you think that we're gonna become your church, and I'm I know most of you aren't, but if you think, oh, this will be my thing, yeah. No, we're not. Uh we're we're a part of the menu, and we're the parachurch, and a lot of the parachurch is is going kind of woke or whack and getting off trail. So that you know, that's great. We want to meet a need there for you and be there for you and with you, but we want and will unapologetically drive you towards the local church. The greatest emails that I want to get are gonna be uh conversions, people who are listening to our material and the Lord saved them by his mercy and power and grace, and pastors who write and go, Hey, thank you. Thanks for filling a need, for supporting us, thanks for having our backs, and thank you for driving people to the local church. Our church, our members, our area is better off because they engage your material and they're growing and you're you're locking arms with us. That's the goal across the board. Right on. Well, um, first episode in the books. We're coming back. We're gonna drop another one every single week. And so another one coming next week. We're gonna talk specifically about what the gospel is. So, what is the gospel? If we're for the gospel, what is it? Um, is it good works? Is it social action? Is it um, you know, certain issues? What is it and what is the message of the gospel? And so we'll talk more. Uh, this has been a podcast presentation of For the Gospel and for the Gospel Ministries. For more, go to www.fertegospel.org. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify, iTunes, or your favorite podcast platform, and follow us on social media. We're on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Uh, and two big ways right now that we're asking for you guys to support what we're doing besides subscribing, which is definitely there, is to pray and share. So pray and share. Please pray for this ministry and then share. Share the episode, share articles, share resources, and let's continue to unleash the gospel on the world around us. We love you. We'll see you next time.