The Great Commission Online?

In this episode, Yvonne Carlson from ExploreGod shares how digital evangelism and AI are transforming discipleship and outreach. Discover how technology can be used to connect people worldwide with the gospel and foster long-term spiritual growth.

Connect with Yvonne Carlson and ExploreGod

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction
02:38 Yvonne's Unique Faith Journey
05:43 Exploring Explore God: Mission and Technology
08:14 The Role of AI in Digital Evangelism
11:03 Measuring Spiritual Growth and Transformation
13:31 Human Connection in Digital Discipleship
16:35 AI's Role in Connecting with Seekers
19:15 The Future of Discipleship and Scaling Efforts
23:11 Online Missionaries and Their Training
26:33 The Importance of Discipleship
29:31 Future Aspirations for Explore God
32:28 The Journey of Finding Jesus
36:57 Hope in Technology and Collaboration

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Well, hey everybody. Welcome back to the Church Talk Podcast today with just Jason as Rob is in the midst of a study leave and some other things. And so uh, but we press on because we understand that pastors, hey, we want to support you in the middle of summer as well as in the middle of busy seasons. Hopefully this July, you uh this is when we're recording. I think this will come out in late July. Hopefully, you have had some time to relax and rest and maybe recuperate. I know a lot of churches are in the middle of vacation Bible school and camps and all this stuff, but in the midst of it, I do hope you took a minute to breathe and to enjoy at least a moment or two with maybe with friends, maybe it's by yourself, whatever works for you. But we are glad that you took a few minutes to uh share with us. And we hope that, you know, over the next few weeks as we share some more things that you'll reach out to us, you'll communicate with us. We love hearing from the listeners, we love interacting with you, and you can you can reach us, uh Jason at churchtalkproject.com or Rob at churchtalkproject.com. Uh you can find us on the socials and all that fun stuff as well. But uh, we just love hearing from you and love interacting and and can't wait to uh share your stories and see what's going on. Today, uh even without Rob, we have a great guest, and and I'm I'm really excited that I get to rub into ro with Rob that she actually has some connection to Indiana Wesleyan University, which is, you know, he's an alumnus, and his son is currently uh there as well, and he misses this, and so it's just gonna be kind of fun to rub that in. But I have with me today Yvonne Carlson, who is the chief technology officer at Explore God. And I'm I'm gonna read a few things just because I think this really lays the foundation for this conversation. Yvonne has over 20 years of experience in Christian broadcasting and digital innovation, and she is dedicated to leveraging next generation tools such as data systems, AI-assisted platforms, to expand, expand global digital outreach. And yet, and this is really the important part, remaining deeply rooted in the gospel mission. Yvonne, you've been the vice president of product and unit life, which is our unite at Unite Life, and you held key strategic leadership positions at Moody Rading Radio Network, which I I've that's one actually, yeah, I know about that one. And then Pathway to Victory at First Baptists in Dallas. Uh man, this is cool to me. You you have a bachelor's degree in psychology from Colorado Christian University, and you did graduate studies in communication technology at the University of Denver. Yeah, my wife is a psychiatric nurse practitioner. So anytime you start talking psychology and all that stuff, it gets me excited. You know, the the list of accolades here go on and on, but I just want to say I'm so glad that we have someone with such a an amazing experience in this online concept, all the digital stuff, but it's grounded and set and rooted in in your faith and so forth. So, Yvonne, thank you so much for taking some time to join us on the Church Talk podcast.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

Thank you, Jason. I am so glad to be here with you today.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

Well, we have got I've got some questions for you, but maybe let's just start out really simply. Uh, tell your story. I uh, you know, we were talking before we hit record, and I know you're a pastor's wife, which I'll be praying for you.

SPEAKER_03 3:25

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 3:25

But uh, but you know, maybe did you grow up in in the faith? Uh like tell tell me a little bit about you.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Well, this isn't this is going to be interesting. I'm gonna say things that'll probably be outside of your normal podcast guest.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

But you'd be surprised.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Well, I would okay. Well, so I grew up in an interfaith home. My mother's family actually converted from Judaism to Catholicism. And then my father is Protestant, Baptist to be specific. So you'll see that I've been in the Baptist church or I've served in a Baptist church. So I grew up in the church, but I grew up with this sense of a broader understanding of faith traditions plural and how that impacted my view on Christianity. So I I love the Jewish connection because it really helps me understand the Old Testament, helps you understand the new. So that has been really neat. And then being in the Catholic Church, I am a confirmed Catholic. I came to saving faith in a Baptist church, however. Yeah, see, I told you this is gonna be. I love it. This is awesome. And I I really do appreciate my brothers and sisters that come from, you know, other faith traditions. And really, like at the end of the day, what are what's what's the why? The why is the Trinity, the why is that Jesus, you know, died and rose again. And so being able to have some depth to be able to have those conversations with other people who maybe come from a different uh faith tradition or see things differently, I really appreciate that conversation. And it's really perfect for being an explore God because we get people from all of these different faith traditions and being able to create rapport and understand where they're coming from, that's that's what I always want to do. Obviously, I'm delivering that through technology, but my personal conversations look like that too.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Wow. Okay, that is that is a unique story, that's for sure. We we've had, but we have had others that have unique in their in themselves. But uh I I love the I I just I do love that eclectic background, right? The the melting pot of uh those things. And so how did that shape your like concept of even of Jesus, you know, blending that and then it, you know, now I don't know how how did that how can you trace those uh those streams coming together in you?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Absolutely, absolutely. I think, you know, going to catechism, I learned, you know, the the tradition of the Catholic faith, being in a pro in a Protestant tradition that focus on Bible reading and personal relationship. So I brought both of them together. So on one hand, uh, Judaism and Catholicism really have this sense of awe and wonder and reverence for God. And obviously more liturgical, more traditional, and where the Protestant tradition is, you know, thank you, Martin Luther, right? Opening up the idea of what it means to be a church, what it means to be a Christian, and how that comes together for me is I have both a deep root, a root in traditional Christianity. And then I also have a deep root in the personal relationship that I have with Jesus. Like I think having that contrast or growing up with that contrast helped me to understand that that personal relationship with the king of the universe, with the God of all creation is really where it all starts. So that's that's the so what for me, or where I landed, you know, with with all of those streams coming together.

SPEAKER_02 7:03

Wow. Yeah, that that's cool. I mean, I I I love that. I I mean I grew up in a Christian home, you know, and spent all of my life as a follower of Jesus. Like I didn't have that wandering away. I, you know, we were conservative, you know, buckalo the Bible belt type type. So hearing other people's experiences in that is always I just I enjoy it. I love hearing, you know, how how people have gone through things and and and explored that. Well, let's let's dive into the topic at hand. You are part of exploregod.com. And tell me, like you you're the the chief technology person that that's just such an impressive title. What does that mean? And then maybe tell me a little bit more about Explore God.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Sure. So at Chief Technology Officer, our main job is to enable the goals and objectives of the organization through technology. So, what tools, what capabilities does the organization need in order to achieve its mission? So, applying that to explore God, we use ads, right, to reach out to people who have not yet heard the gospel. And then we want to connect them with an online missionary. Well, once I connect with that online missionary, how could I use AI to aid that missionary in their conversation? And it might look like giving them resources or scripture that they could use and share in that digital conversation. So at the end of the day, if you look at it from a higher level, my goal is to take people and process and codify that into tools and use data to understand how we how we did. So if you have the people follow processes to get their work done, they use tools to aid them and they use data to decide how well they did. And so at the end of the day, aligning those fill four pillars is what a CTO does. It's more, it's beyond technology. It's not just, and believe me, I'm a total geek at heart, but it's beyond the technology. It's really, are we achieving the mission? And if we're not, then we need to have different conversations within the organization.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

So in Explore God, maybe get give me the quick overview of what Explore God is, and then we can start talking about what technology looks like within that framework.

SPEAKER_01 9:30

Sure. So Explore God, our focus is digital evangelism and discipleship. So I mentioned the evangelism part, right? Using ads to reach out to people, give them an opportunity to hear the gospel, and then they can respond. And there are two different paths they could take. They could have a self-guided journey, meaning, hey, you know, I have some questions. I want to ask some questions, I want to read a couple of articles. I think I need some content. I'm not ready to talk to a person. And then we have online missionary-led conversations. Some people say, you know, it's time for me to talk to a person, or I want to talk to a person immediately because I have this question that I need answered, or I'm confused about something. Can you help me understand? Um, and that really is where we see the discipleship, right? Human to human. I'm walking alongside you, going through a Bible study, really helping you understand what it means to be a Christian, what the, you know, what is prayer like? What is what reading my Bible? Well, what does that really look like? How do I know I'm growing? How do I know I'm flourishing? Because it's easy to check a box, but we we're not into checking boxes. That's not the point. We're we want to see people transformed by the gospel.

SPEAKER_02 10:49

Okay. So tell me then, like, how do you know that a person, it could be anywhere in the globe, right? Uh you know, it is experiencing transformation.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

So we have a tool just for that, and it measures spiritual growth and it's looking at different indicators. So there's what people tell us. So you might tell me, hey, I'm praying every day. Wonderful. The online missionaries are also asking questions. You know, are you in a church in a are you in a Bible-believing church? Are you going to church? Are you sharing your faith with other people? So I call this, and I'm a I'm a military kid. My dad was Air Force, signal processing, right? People are giving us signals, right? Online missionaries are interpreting their signals and clarifying at the end of the day, are we seeing fruit? Are we see, are we seeing people move forward? And if not, how do we help them? Like if they aren't reading their Bible, how would we aid them? Again, that's where AI may can't come in. You know, I could suggest a Bible study to you that has the basics of the Christian faith, things like that, you know, supplementing and how and meeting people where they are, because it's really human relationship that's centered and central to spiritual formation.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

All right. So you said you track these things or you you use AI, you use digital technology to help people find flourishing and how does, and I'm just gonna jump right into it. What is AI, how does that interact with your the processes that your online missionaries use when it comes to like actually, I don't know, helping someone that they maybe you have never met in person, but are it, you know, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 12:44

So it's smart enough to know where the conversation is going. So again, Bible reading. And as you're chatting with someone, it'll say, Hey, and you can prompt it. So we actually give, we believe in human in the loop. So you could you could automatically turn it on and it would just pop up and say, I think you should do this. We at we give people that choice at this point. I can click on this tool and say, Hey, follow along with my conversation and offer me some responses to the question or to what the individual is saying. And it looks through the context of the conversation and it offers scripture or resources. And again, it's a prompt. Whatever answer it provides, this is not necessarily a copy and paste. It's a more help me think about how I could answer this person. Now you could use the answer as is. You read it through and you're and you think, that's exactly what I'd like to say. Or you could say, you want, no, that's not exactly what I want to say. I'm gonna I'm gonna take some of the ideas you gave me. Oh, I like that scripture. Oh, that was a good one. I'll make sure and include that. And then I'll write or construct my own response. So, really, what we want to do is aid people, give them materials and resources that they need to have the conversation. We don't want to replace the conversation. So, right now, you know, think about it administratively. So, say I'm having, again, a Bible reading. Oh, where's that Bible reading plan? I need a link to that. It serves it up. I don't have to search for it. I know it's right there. I can send it to that person, and then they could right away start on that plan.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

So you're you're primarily using this within the context of your online missionaries, not with the people who maybe engage because they saw an ad or they saw a link or they it, you know, somehow connected to Explore God as a one being discipled. You're using it to equip the missionaries. Am I hearing you right?

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Now, note that when we talk about AI, it's infused into so many of our systems. So even the ad platforms, the way it delivers an audience to you or packages an audience. Here are the thick people we think you should talk to. Like all of that is using AI. So, yes, we're using AI there because that's baked into the platform. And it's really just can we find the people who actually want to have the conversation, who are interested in Christianity, who want to learn more.

SPEAKER_02 15:21

Wow. So okay, my mind is going about five different directions. I I have questions I want to get to, but I also want to notice something. Uh, the way you're using AI is to basically help connect Explore God with people who are actually seeking or searching. Or, you know, I I'm I'm part of an organization called 95 Network, and uh we we've been doing stuff for for years, but we just uh did a big kind of reorganize, restructure, restrategize uh type situation. And the what we were finding was that you know, there are 350,000 churches in America, give or take, and 80 to 90 percent of them are under 500 in their weekly attendance. And that was kind of our focus was that smaller church feel. But we also realized that it feels like eighty to nine eighty to ninety percent of those eighty-nine eighty to ninety percent uh they weren't necessarily looking for help or asking for it, and so we said we want to figure out who actually wants help, right, and really focus on that. And that kind of sound, I mean, in a similar vein what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Now we're open to a conversation. What did Jesus do when he came into a new town? He looked for people, he looked for places or spaces where people were searching, right? And he connected with them and met them there.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

So how I mean, if you don't mind, I don't not trying to give away any secrets, but how do you use AI in that way?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

Is it just baked into it's baked into the platforms that we advertise with? Okay, so it learns about the people that you want to reach and it understands um demographics or psychographics of that audience, right? You know, maybe your interests. Maybe you don't have any sort of religious affiliation. So it's looking at different aspects of a person, right? And then saying, okay, how can I reach that person? So it's we call these personas in advertising, right? So what's the persona of the person we're reaching? You know, it could be education level, it could be obviously language, you know, what language do they speak? And I'm gonna talk to somebody differently in Spanish than I am in in English, perhaps, or especially, you know, in the Middle East, the 1040 window, their concept of Jesus is very different than the West concept. So maybe I have to have, you know, different conversations with them, but we're we're contextualizing the content to them to really, again, this is about loving people well enough to understand their context and the road they're walking on. And then the messaging that we're delivering is is to connect with them, really truly connect her to their heart. So they will will be interested in hearing more about Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Uh and and maybe I'm moving beyond your scope uh a little bit, but I'm just curious, do you find that when people, when you connect with people, do they have they been using AI to try to learn about spirituality?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

Yes. More and more so every day. I I mean I if you can think about using Google, for example, as a search engine, and you go in, and at the top of the page, it gives you that AI generated response, right? And Chat GPT, Claude, all of these different AI tools that you can talk with like a person. And just having uh worked with friends who are also in Christian AI, I'm part of I'm the co-director of Missional AI, which is the largest gathering of Christians in AI in the world. We gather for a global conference. So I I've met people who are working in this space, obviously. And people have an amazing amount of self-disclosure.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

That's the thing that really surprises me. That level of anonymity is really important because you know, like, hey, I'm bearing to you my greatest, deepest, darkest sin. And so people want authentic, real relationship. And that's why the online missionaries are so crucial. Because if they're met with just AI, that will, and that will be hollow. That is not going to be the, we're not going to achieve the spiritual formation that that is that is again back to loving them well, loving them well enough to connect them with the human. So, in above and beyond these tools that can help them or help them take steps, at the end of the day, we want you to journey with a human. So our goal is five million discipleship journeys by 2033. So this is human to human discipleship.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

That's phenomenal. And I'm excited about that. Uh so I I've been wrestling through a whole bunch of this just in my role with Converge, Mid-Atlantic, and helping churches. And, you know, I do a thing from Clarity House called Dream Disciple, where we help churches identify the kinds of disciples that they want to, you know, multiply.

SPEAKER_01 20:25

But you're jealous. You get this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:28

What's yeah, yeah. And so I and I'm thinking through this, like, I feel like for the past 50 plus years, the church has really relied on what I call programmatic evangelism evangelization where or institutional evangelization, where it's kind of a let's the church will take care of it. And whoever the church is, but usually that's the professionals or a program of, you know, if they just take class A, B, and C, they'll be discipled. And it totally misses the person-to-person, heart-to-heart connection. And I think we're we're reaping the consequences of that and everything we're seeing. And so I I love that the way you guys are approaching this is hey, how do we connect people to people? And so maybe how does that work? Like, I mean, just logistically, because five million discipleship relationships, that that's really 10 million people in a way. Like, what does that look like? How are you doing that? Or, you know, scaling up to that.

SPEAKER_01 21:35

So, right now we're advertising in 13 languages across the globe, and we plan to add another two here shortly. And we're continuing to add more languages because we want to reach more people. And we're continuously um, we have a whole team. Um, we have people in country, and we're talking about what is it that people are searching for? What do they need to hear? How can we connect? Like on the messaging side. So, for example, uh, there's a lot going on in the world, you know this. You know, so it people may be struggling with fear. What that's that it's that felt need. How do I connect with the people in that moment? So they realize that God cares about their fear. God wants to walk alongside them. They Jesus wants to have a relationship with them and help them to navigate that feeling. So it's really about God, God's story for that person's life, and that we're just a chapter in that story. We're just part of that person's formation.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

How are you finding disciplers, online missionaries? You know, because those are real people. That it's not a bot.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

How are you finding them and equipping them?

SPEAKER_01 22:58

So for people who are interested, they can go to exploregod.com and we have a whole section there for people who are interested in being online missionaries. And we have uh a few questions for them. And they do go through a vetting process because we want to understand where they are in their own faith journey and um can they communicate it that effectively to another person? And did they have that spiritual maturity to be able to handle some of those tougher questions? Like I remember coming from broadcast ministry and the call center, we would get all kinds of wonderful questions like, what's the trinity? You know, you know, your pastor to explaining the trinity like in depth takes some doing. So not only do we anticipate those questions, we equip online missionaries. They go through training. So they're getting theological training. They have a community leader who's been doing this for some time, who really understands what it means to do this kind of online ministry, and that is a resource to them. So there's a lot of peer-to-peer connection there. And then our the the person who leads Anna, uh, who leads our response team, she has regular huddle hours with these individuals and pours into them. There's a whole team that supports them. So we we give you the tool. We want to make sure that you've got a good theological foundation and we have specialty communities. So for people who are dealing with, for example, suicide, you know, there is a whole specialty community there to walk through that particular issue with that person. So it's really actually pretty complex. It's no different than ministering to people in a church in a lot of ways, where you have different ministries that are meeting different needs. I'm sure you can see the the the parallel.

SPEAKER_02 24:56

Well, it's almost like church, you know, a church structure without having to deal with the the programs of church that we it, you know, that we've kind of made as though they're the most important thing. Like, I mean, you you don't have to prepare for a Sunday morning experience every week. Instead, you can focus all of your time on pouring into the the online missionaries who are then pouring into the people who are connecting with them. I mean, it sounds it sounds extremely biblical.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Discipleship, right? Alongside people, and and you know, at the end of the day, in no way do we won't want to replace the church. We're actually our admonition is for people to find a healthy church. We want them to be plugged in so that transformation doesn't end at I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I'm reading my Bible and I'm praying. How am I serving in community? How am I talking with other people? Am I sharing my faith? And I am in a am I in a church? Am I discipling others? I mean, that's that whole multiplication piece. It it really takes us all. I mean, I think that that, you know, again, like I said, we're just a chapter in somebody's journey.

SPEAKER_03 26:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:15

It really takes us all to reach people for Christ and help them grow and flourish.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

I love that. And and I this is where, I mean, on a secondary level, I want our listeners to hear the priority of discipleship. Like that, I mean, that's the the Great Commission.

SPEAKER_01 26:34

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

Go make disciples.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

That's what we want to do, is fulfill the great commission. And think about this. You can do this from anywhere in the world.

unknown 26:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

If you want to if you want to be an online missionary, you there is there is no barrier of time zone. Well, I mean, you might, depending on who you're re reaching, but you don't have to move. You don't have to join a missions organization. You can serve whether you're part there are churches that serve. So there's churches that you know have a whole group of people who are online missionaries and they they may meet physically, right? You know, like our group of online missionaries at this church, but at the end of the day, we're giving people a vehicle to do personal ministry. And I love that we can take people who have depth and breadth in scripture, and maybe they're retired. But they know their word, and they can disciple so many more people online than they may have been able to do even physically. So that's the part that's you were talking about scale.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

But that's the part that's really exciting, you know, that you can have an individual personal ministry and reach people literally all over the world.

SPEAKER_02 27:53

Yeah. Well, and and that's really, I mean, if you ask any pastor, that they'll say, number one, yes, we're supposed to make disciples. And they would probably say, and we want our people to be making disciples. Right. Right. And so there is a part of this that I'm like, uh, you know, I really wish our I really hope that our our listeners, our pastors that that are part of this can can understand, first of all, the connection to explore God, like making that connection could be a good thing because all of a sudden you've got a built-in training system for your people to do ministry that's not just inside the walls of the church. It it's it's actual discipleship ministry that is it may not grow your church specifically in in a given time period, right? It may not add to uh Sunday morning attendance, but it's a kingdom mindset of saying, uh yeah, I I mean God Jesus didn't say go build big churches, he said go make disciples. And so finding that connection point, I I think is important. Uh so uh how do you see uh how do you see over the next, you know, you said 20, 33, like what are some ways that you see this occurring around the world? Like I know you got the kind of the digital marketing. I don't know, what are some of the dreams that Explore God has for the next, you know, set what what is that, nine or five years, give or take?

SPEAKER_01 29:27

Besides five million discipleship journeys by 2033, expanding into different languages, and that's to be able to bring the gospel to a group of people that maybe isn't getting that focus. And I also see our digital lives becoming really important in that people are going to make the comparison between in-person embodied experience and online experience. And they're gonna ask themselves, what is authentic and true? So I think organizations like Explore God, who focus on the human-to-human connection in this AI-driven world, I think people are gonna be drawn to that because they want authentic ministry. It it can't be just about the technology. So I think there are there are people using technology. We're all using technology, we're using it right now to have this conversation, right?

SPEAKER_03 30:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

But for for those organizations who are really focusing on the Great Commission and really focusing on deep discipleship, I think we're gonna see growth. I think we're gonna see a hunger and a thirst from from individuals to be part of what God is doing online. And let me tell you, it is incredible. The stories of transformation, just go on exploregod.com. There's a whole bunch of stories of transformation from people all over the world. And this, and these stories you couldn't dream of. There are there are absolutely God stories where he's reached into somebody's life. I have a friend who is from the Middle East and he's from a closed country. And he went online and he typed, How do I find Jesus? And now he's serving in ministry. There, it's people like like him. He's a young guy, people like him that God wants to equip and use. And we're just a vehicle. So I think that that he's gonna continue to do this. Like I'm just seeing more and more traction for this kind of ministry. Because as you know, being a pastor, and I've had these conversations because I've I've also been a digital church planner. I've had these conversations where, well, you know, we want to get people into church. Absolutely, absolutely. You I'm a technologist, but I will never say to you that I do not want in-person ministry. I would never say that because that's not the point. The point is human to human, right? It we would never replace that. But as a step along the journey, could God use something like this, like Explore God, to even just make people aware that there is a God?

SPEAKER_03 32:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:06

And that being part of a church is important.

SPEAKER_02 32:10

What is that as let's go back to your friend from the closed country? You you said he typed how do I find Jesus? Uh, was this like from that closed country that he he went online and searched that?

SPEAKER_01 32:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

And and so maybe give us the highlights. How did he move from typing into a search engine, how do I find Jesus, to being connected with Explore God and and where he's at now? Like, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 32:38

Well, usually what it looks like, the the normal flow of things is that once someone sees an ad, and and that's what's important. What that's where there's that divine moment, I think. You know, you think about like Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I I live in the Charlotte area. And you think about the people who turned on the TV at the right moment and they put their hand on the screen and they prayed the sinner's prayer. The same thing is happening online. The the right ad is getting to the right person at the right time. And that's that's divine. That's not anything that you and I have done. It's it's God connecting with with that person when they need it. And then once they've uh seen that ad, they can give us their contact information. They give us their contact information, and that's when we start journeying alongside them, you know, person to person. So an online missionary, you know, they'll get a contact. And what's neat is that we we um have the thought that you're gonna journey with that person. So it's a online missionary. This kind of connect with that individual in perpetuity, right? I am I am on a journey with you. It could be years. I mean, some of these people have been discipled by Explore God OMs for years.

SPEAKER_02 33:56

Wow. I I mean that that's I I love that you think that way because I I just the whole idea of getting conversions and then moving on really bothers me. It just troubles my soul, you know. And so I love that your mindset is wrapped around even training the the online missionaries up front. Hey, this is not about reaching you, one person reaching a million people. This is about you reaching a few and journeying with them, you know, over time until you know, whatever may happen, it may be they they get connected to a local church and that's good, or you know, whatever it may be. But this is not a I've got a magic bullet that I come in with and it you know, wave my magic wand and boom, they're converted. Now I'm done. I did my job. I I I love that that's the mindset because I I'm not sure it's been the mindset of at least the Western church for the last you know 50 years.

SPEAKER_01 34:56

And not everyone's journey is the same.

SPEAKER_02 34:58

No, no. And and that's and it's okay, you know, to actually and it, I mean, it's not sexy to commit to spending a long time walking with one person. You don't make headlines doing that, right? Right. And everybody wants to be that, you know, a headline that I I look at all I did type stuff. And so I I love that that's the the mentality. And I really think again, as a local church pastor, I there's we need to learn from that. Like I because when I have been when I've been equipping people to be disciplers, to be disciples who disciple, uh I have to I have to tell them this is a journey. This is not uh you you lead them through one Bible study and you're done. Right. This is it's a little overwhelming when you think about even just evangelism, because man, if I if I really invest in a relationship and then that person isn't a believer, they they come to know Jesus. I'm committing myself to walk with them for a while. And I I mean that that that kind of scares me at times because I'm like that's a lot of responsibility.

SPEAKER_01 36:15

Yes, yes. That's what we're made for. I mean, that's that's why we're here at the end of the day, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:21

Yeah, oh, it really is. Well, uh, you know, we're we're getting close to our time and this I feel like we just started, but uh what what's giving you hope as you look for the next, you know, into the future? What what's giving Yvonne Carlson, technology officer, hope?

SPEAKER_01 36:39

Two things. One, it's incredible how many Christians there are in technology. You know, so I'll obviously I'm at these AI conferences and I speak on AI, and people will say to me, Oh, you know, I'm not sure about this AI stuff. Uh, I don't know if it's good. And then I start telling them about my friends who are Christians who work in the biggest companies in the world in AI, in secular companies, um, in country companies in different spaces. And so just like God had, you know, during the ancient times, they would station watchmen on the walls. God has stationed watchmen and women like myself on the walls. And we know what time it is, and we understand the responsibility that we that we wield as technologists about redemptively, and I'm saying redemptively, deploying these kinds of technologies. And the other thing I'm really excited about is, you know, you've I'm sure you've heard people talk about this, but there's a great awakening happening in our world. And I'm seeing it online every day. And because of the other organizations that I'm involved with, you know, again, talking with other people who are doing really similar work, I'm seeing collaboration like I've never seen before. Wow. And especially in this space of digital evangelism and discipleship. God is raising up men and women who are deeply passionate about reaching the world together. It doesn't matter who gets credit. It's we need to fulfill the Great Commission. How can we do it together? And each brings his own strengths, his own talents, if he will, right? And and it's together that we will be able to answer the need that's out there. But I see, I see God working in new and different ways, just really incredible. The kind of like an urgency.

SPEAKER_03 38:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:35

I I really sense that in when I talk to uh my brothers and sisters across the globe.

SPEAKER_02 38:41

I love that. I I really do. I I appreciate what you're doing because I I do see I just see even local churches can connect with this and not only become part of a global thing, I think it makes them better at making disciples locally as well.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

Absolutely. You get all of this practice. Yeah. I mean, it's so nice. And then there's the the layer of, you know, I'm doing this digitally. So that so that's a little harder than the in-person or some people, some people, their personalities, those introverts out there may say, that's for me. But at the end of the day, you get to to disciple and fulfill your calling to the Great Commission as an individual. Like that's the thing that excites me. Like this, this opportunity for everyone who calls themselves a Christian to all they need is a computer or a phone, and they can reach their world.

SPEAKER_02 39:38

So, real quick, I that just brought up a question. So I get connected to an online missionary. I I type in a search bar, how do I find Jesus? And I see an ad for Explore God, and I click on it and I say, Yeah, tell me more. You know, is that relationship, does it ever get to the point where it is maybe like a video call like this or a phone call, or is it all via, you know, it's all digital at this point.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

We want to protect people's ident identity.

SPEAKER_03 40:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

We have talked about doing audio and video, and I'm not saying we won't, but we want to really, really think about that because in some pl cases people need anonymity because they're in countries where it's illegal to share the gospel. So there's some some things to think through there, but uh technology is just a tool, so God can use it however he chooses.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Yeah, yeah. That's that's what I thought, but I was it just dawned on me. Wow, I wonder how you know, and and maybe at some point, you know, there's a way to connect people after a while, after some of it's in person.

SPEAKER_01 40:40

Um there are that we do have again, this depends on uh what language and what region you're talking about, but there are you know in-person um meetings as well.

unknown 40:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:51

So it's it really varies depending on the context.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

It sounds very running this organization would sound extremely complex because you're it's all relationships and it is complex.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

It is complex. Yes, it is hurting cats. It's it's uh the the the the challenges or the problems we have to solve in order to do what we do.

SPEAKER_03 41:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:14

For me, it's just it's a puzzle, and I like puzzles. So I'm like, and my whole team is like that, our whole technology team. So, you know, I it's again back to where we all have different talents, and so for me, it excites me to be able to give um missionaries tools to do ministry and change hearts and minds and lives, and that's what gets me up in the morning.

SPEAKER_02 41:34

I love that. Well, if you are listening today as a pastor, as a leader, you need to check out exploregod.com. There's a lot of good stuff there, a lot of stories that are just exciting and will will just get your heart going in in a good way. Uh, Yvonne, thank you for taking the time. And uh I I look forward, I'm I'm sure we will talk again because I would love that. My my mind is going about five different places that I think uh we could even extend this conversation uh sometime soon. So hey, thank you and to all our listeners, have an amazing week. We are cheering for you, we love you, and we can't wait to hear stories about disciple making and in your church, in your neck of the woods, so to speak. And uh hopefully you can connect with Explore God and find new and creative ways to do it. Have an amazing week, and uh, we will talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Thanks for joining us today at the Church Talk Podcast. We hope the conversation encouraged and challenged you. We would love to hear from you. Email your questions or comments to Jason at Churchtalkproject.com. The Church Talk Podcast with Rob and Jason is brought to you by the Church Talk Project. We work to engage, equip, and encourage pastors and church leaders around the world. Thanks for listening.