💯 HybridMinistry - How it all Started

About this Episode

🔥 [FREE] Hybrid Ministry Strategy Guide🔥

https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

======================================
DESCRIPTION
Episode 100 I decided to sit down with some friends that have all had a hand in the creation of the Full YouTube show we all had a hand in creating during the COVID-19 lockdown of 2020.

While Digital and Social Ministry were top of mind for me prior to 2020, the COVID shutdown thrust it into the forefront for me personally and I decided to dive fully into it.

When I started on the very first day of COVID, I had to get creative on how I introduced myself to students, parents and leaders without using the easy in person tools we'd all grown accustomed to using.

That being said, I'm grateful we still have access to those tools, today.

But I realized just how important Hybrid Ministry is to the next generation of teenagers.

This episode chronicles my first day, and I chat with friends who were instrumental in producing and creating the YouTube show we had crafted during those COVID days.

I hope you enjoy this 100th episode special!

======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/100

---

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

======================================

🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "The Full Hybrid Ministry Strategy"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

📨 Full Proof Recruiting Email
EMAIL: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/recruiting-email

🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut

😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv

TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Intro
00:50 Hybrid Ministry During COVID
03:25 Two Weeks to Flatten the Curve
07:01 The Most Fun Memories of Unscripted
09:27 What this means going forward for churches in 2024 and beyond

--------------
✍️TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:02:01
Isaac Sutton
all of the students in the room,
who were watching unscripted,
had bingo
cards
that coordinated to stuff that
was.

Nick Clason
Yes.

00:00:08:19 - 00:00:09:23
Darren Sutton
digital integration is not a luxury. It's a necessity.

00:00:12:09 - 00:00:18:24
Sam Vos
it was probably I probably felt God's hand more in like my career, my life in that moment than a lot of other moments.

00:00:18:24 - 00:00:25:04
Nick Clason
unscripted played a really major role in like the catalyst to especially my podcast and everything like that.

00:00:25:04 - 00:00:31:04
Nick Clason
I would say the reason for that is simply realizing and understanding that students live online.

00:00:31:04 - 00:00:39:22
Darren Sutton
there's a lot I've messed up in my years of youth ministry, but that is one thing that I'm really proud of. Like in the middle of the pandemic, there was not a blank ministry kept going.

00:00:39:22 - 00:00:41:06
Sam Vos
we're going to try something different

00:00:50:00 - 00:00:55:02
ABC News
president's words come after the World Health Organization today declared the coronavirus a global pandemic,

00:00:55:02 - 00:00:57:19
Darren Sutton
I remember this very clearly.

00:00:57:19 - 00:01:01:24
Sam Vos
I mean, obviously, I came down to Parkview in February of 2020

00:01:01:24 - 00:01:06:06
Darren Sutton
the Thursday before we went home, we're like, yeah, there's something happening in the world that's not going to affect us. On Friday it became clear that

00:01:07:24 - 00:01:10:05
Nick Clason
which for context I started on Monday.

00:01:10:05 - 00:01:13:06
Darren Sutton
that maybe we'd miss a couple of weeks of meeting together. Yeah. And I have been toying around for a while with, like, a YouTube show. like, in my mind, that there was like, we were just not speaking a digital language at all.

00:01:24:06 - 00:01:25:12
Sam Vos
going there, Darren had a very kind of a new perspective on what he thought ministry would be. Right. So he was already kind of starting to talk about like, how do we take digital and kind of infuse that with what, you know, historically, youth ministry has been.

00:01:38:21 - 00:01:41:22
Darren Sutton
you know, in the grand scheme of the engine of ministry, there is no time to dream a dream,
right?
Well, Covid forced us to do that.
I kind of laid out this idea for, basically a variety show, some kind of YouTuber And I said, you know, if we decided to do this, I think we probably need to do a week or two and a big a beta test.
So could we, could we film a show? Yeah, right.
And over the weekend we came up with a whole concept for the for the YouTube show and shot it on Monday.

00:02:04:22 - 00:02:07:23
Sam Vos
Well, I'd only been there for like 3 or 4 weeks, right. Yeah.
Which I'm fine with. So then obviously it
happens. You'd only been there 3 to 4 hours is kind of like, hey, we need somebody to be the guy. And obviously I was like.
the same day we started filming was the same day that they were like, "hey, everybody's got to go home" and

00:02:20:04 - 00:02:31:04
Isaac Sutton
everybody was packed in tightly into a room and they had a like,

Nick Clason
as we're in this like, hey, don't go by people time, like and then cram all these people into a room.

00:02:31:04 - 00:02:33:11
Nick Clason
remember, like, everyone was like on vacation?

00:02:33:11 - 00:02:34:10
Nick Clason
getting married.

00:02:34:13 - 00:02:35:20
Nick Clason
had was took PTO

00:02:35:20 - 00:02:37:06
Nick Clason
I was the new guy.

00:02:37:06 - 00:02:40:02
Nick Clason
Right. You were like the longest tenured person in the room.

00:02:40:02 - 00:02:46:15
Sam Vos
it was probably I probably felt God's hand more in like my career, my life in that moment than a lot of other moments.

00:02:46:15 - 00:02:47:07
Darren Sutton
And that was your first day in the office? Yep. We all came and I was like, hey, Nick, no time to onboard you. We're filming the show

00:02:52:21 - 00:03:00:20
Sam Vos
then on our first day of filming this digital piece of it where there was, worship element in kind of this hosting element and stuff like that, filmed the first episode of unscripted at the church.

00:03:03:12 - 00:03:05:24
Nick Clason
not socially distanced whatsoever

00:03:05:24 - 00:03:07:06
Isaac Sutton
was a choice.

00:03:07:06 - 00:03:09:19
Darren Sutton
and the whole student ministry team got in there. We filmed the show, and at 11:30, we got a message from the, executive pastor saying, bye, everybody. We'll see. You

00:03:18:21 - 00:03:22:20
Sam Vos
that was this the same day we started filming was the same day that they were like, hey, everybody's got to go home and just for two weeks

00:03:25:14 - 00:03:27:21
Darren Sutton
Everybody thought at that point, probably till Easter,

00:03:27:21 - 00:03:35:03
Isaac Sutton
but nobody really knew how crazy it was going to get. Everybody was just in the. It was the rumor phase of Covid.

00:03:35:03 - 00:03:40:08
Nick Clason
but making fun of it. Basically.

Darren Sutton
Yeah. For sure. Like, this is so stupid and and so much so that like, things were changing so quickly that we filmed that thing not socially distant. On Monday by the time it aired on Wednesday, we had to put out a statement that said "this was filmed before socially distancing was a requirement."

00:03:56:03 - 00:03:56:19
Sam Vos
You know, time goes by. Maybe 3 or 4 days. Three people show up to my house with equipment being like cameras, microphones, a table, chairs, Now all this planning vision is starting to happen. Like, we're doing this right now on a zoom call

00:04:10:10 - 00:04:15:14
Darren Sutton
how much we had to pivot in that time is I still just a little bit crazy when I think about it?

00:04:15:14 - 00:04:17:24
Sam Vos
and then my wife and I looked at each other and we go, we don't have we don't have room in this spot.
Right? Because we're live in downtown Chicago in a high rise,

00:04:22:04 - 00:04:25:13
Darren Sutton
700 square foot apartment with his kid and his wife.

00:04:25:13 - 00:04:27:19
Sam Vos
every single week. When we would film, we would have to move the couch out, move that, move the chairs out. Right. We'd have to bring everything kind of stacking on top of each other by the kitchen, do the set, do the show,

00:04:36:09 - 00:04:46:18
Darren Sutton
you know, we were filming group stuff on zoom calls and trying to figure out where is the most appropriate place to set up a studio where only one person can press play.

00:04:46:18 - 00:04:46:23
Sam Vos
And, then put it all back together and send it. So then I'm running over to the camera, right. I'm getting out. I'm looking at the screen. Right. Because I turn the screen around, I'm looking at it. I'm like, okay, it looks good. And I'm running back to the camera, clicking record that I'm running back to the chair and starting.

00:04:59:06 - 00:05:10:00
Isaac Sutton
heart of Covid era for unscripted, which I didn't even like, start working. Working on unscripted until episode like 22. Yeah, something like that. I was kind of, later after some of the kinks had been fleshed out, I guess.

00:05:14:00 - 00:05:23:04
Nick Clason
yes, it went through the completely remote, like everyone from their houses, every bit via a, like cell phone camera. But I remember, Darren sent us all, like, desktop tripods so that we could like via Amazon so that we could have stable, you know, pictures and not like this

00:05:35:08 - 00:05:38:12
Sam Vos
I mean, the hashtag, the world's greatest drink kind of happened out of nowhere, What happened was I was also like, I'm just going to have to just pull everything out that I can think of and hopefully something sticks. It's kind of like when you're just, like throwing everything you can at something. You're like, one of these things works great,

00:05:51:12 - 00:05:57:05
Darren Sutton
So students were tuning in because that was the only connection with humans. They had

00:05:57:05 - 00:05:59:15
Nick Clason
which I think was like the only live anything.

00:05:59:15 - 00:06:05:06
Darren Sutton
Yes. Was gone. Like, yeah, everything was gone. Everything was gone. But we were still having church and we were one of the few. And I will tell you, like, there's a lot I've messed up in my years of youth ministry, but that is one thing that I'm really proud of. Like in the middle of the pandemic, there was not a blank ministry kept going. And that wasn't just me. That was a large team that made that happen. I could have never done that by myself.

00:06:20:19 - 00:06:21:10
Nick Clason
Yeah.

00:06:21:10 - 00:06:26:11
Isaac Sutton
And I remember that being a big part of me joining unscripted was like, we want to we're making this the thing. It went from being the Covid strategy to being, the way they were going to move forward with youth ministry.

00:06:37:03 - 00:06:41:10
Sam Vos
Now I will say in, during Covid and when I was filming at my house, right, there were some there were some moments there too, where I was like, oh, this, this feels like God's doing something. Covid and unscripted allowed us to say, hey, what? Maybe this is what church youth ministry could look like. Maybe it's it could be more progressive thinking. Yeah, sure, sure. I think it also be

00:07:00:16 - 00:07:03:12
Darren Sutton
what I remember most was just innovative thinking,

00:07:03:12 - 00:07:06:01
Sam Vos
I think there needs I think churches need to make a shift. And I felt like unscripted was a vision of what that shift could look like.

00:07:09:19 - 00:07:27:03
Darren Sutton
then it was so successful and also super a lot of fun. And also it became very clear that we had not been speaking the language of our constituency, that it became something that we permanently added to what we do

00:07:27:03 - 00:07:28:12
Isaac Sutton
was a really cool thing to do. It was something that got into people's houses. it was something that engaged students with, students on a level that they were already familiar with. I mean, students know about YouTube, YouTube shows.

00:07:41:02 - 00:07:42:10
Sam Vos
Lacroix is all I got. So I guess hashtag world's greatest drink. I don't even really like Lacroix.

00:07:47:12 - 00:07:51:03
Sam Vos
my favorite drink, Lacroix. I am one of those guys. So, it's just so it's so refreshing every time.

00:07:54:23 - 00:07:59:19
Darren Sutton
But then we started like building that into the nomenclature of what we did. And

00:08:00:07 - 00:08:03:12
Sam Vos
world's greatest people, but this is actually hashtag the world's greatest drink.

00:08:04:00 - 00:08:10:15
Darren Sutton
every semester, we would do a hashtag world's greatest drink bracket, and kids would get to vote on what that season's drink we're going to be like.

00:08:11:01 - 00:08:15:17
Nick Clason
Where when we hit the duck squeak, they had to play duck, duck, goose to it.

00:08:15:17 - 00:08:16:24
Sam Vos
hashtag world's Greatest drink. And then all sudden we would start hiding Lacroix in spots and stuff like that.

00:08:20:17 - 00:08:24:04
Darren Sutton
did an episode on pets, which is why I'm wearing this shirt. and I loved it because kids were so engaged with sending in pictures of their pets, we couldn't be in person yet.

00:08:30:13 - 00:08:33:23
Sam Vos
I think another very absurd thing that we did was that whole duck thing.

00:08:34:24 - 00:08:37:10
Nick Clason
the search for Chuck, the search for Chuck.

00:08:37:10 - 00:08:44:23
Darren Sutton
Chuck, is he in there? He's not here.

00:08:44:23 - 00:08:49:02
Darren Sutton
have a mascot also something that came accidentally. Chuck the duck,

00:08:49:02 - 00:08:53:19
Isaac Sutton
sci fi saga was was a blast. I know that was going so fun. So, Minecraft server was a tragic affair. I spent probably like so long. It's trying to set up a minecraft server for

00:09:09:03 - 00:09:16:15
Darren Sutton
So Chuck got lost or kidnaped or. I don't even remember now what the exact story was, except we just spent all summer looking for him, right?

00:09:16:15 - 00:09:25:22
Isaac Sutton
We if you found the duck and text it into a certain number in a certain amount of time, you would win a prize that coordinated to a theme, because each week was themed

00:09:28:00 - 00:09:40:10
Sam Vos
all sudden Covid happened and it kind of felt like, okay, this is the reason that I'm supposed to be here. so for me, it was a very fulfilling time. Covid was, I would say, where I think for a lot of people it was not that. However, when we got students in there filming and students in there doing audio, I think when these students all sudden like kind of took, you know, they grabbed on to this idea of unscripted and they felt like they owned it and belonged to it. That's the thing that was actually worth everything that we did.

00:09:57:16 - 00:10:02:05
Isaac Sutton
yes, there was a lot of trial and error with unscripted, especially in, in, in all areas of unscripted. There was tons of trial and error. Right. I don't think we ever fully came out of unscripted with like this was the best format and we kept it the whole way through.

00:10:15:07 - 00:10:28:15
Darren Sutton
you know, the interesting thing, which I don't think is actually that interesting, but really kind of blew people away, was how much more open kids were on zoom than they were in person. Yeah, because they're in their room. They're in their natural environment. They may or may not have to be on camera. but there was not the intimidation factor of sitting in a room and wondering what you're thinking about me. There was some kind of invisible protection for them being on camera, which worked pretty well.

00:10:44:07 - 00:11:00:15
Nick Clason
But as we look ahead to this next wave of generation, like we have to find a way to find ourselves online with with Gen Z, definitely with Gen Alpha, like, it's all they know, right? And they, they can shift between in-person and online into that hybrid space back and forth as if it's nothing.

00:11:00:15 - 00:11:06:17
Isaac Sutton
the ones that we filmed in a bunch of different locations, yeah, that was that. They were great. They were so well done. And it was a series over the course of four weeks about the impacts you can make on the world. Yeah.

00:11:21:00
Nick Clason
and we were like on location and like, that was that was so fun. I thought

00:11:23:06 - 00:11:25:06
Darren Sutton
in that I would end up carrying into the future was pre filming talks. And, you know, even when we ended up in a context where that wasn't necessary anymore, it really helps you frame exactly what you want to say the way you want to say it, in a medium that's going to live in perpetuity beyond you.

00:11:45:08 - 00:12:09:10
Isaac Sutton
Yeah. I think the other benefit to this is that whole part of it. Right. was that it democratize like the week, the day that you come from as well like that I was able to serve, like I was able to work as the guy who produced unscripted and made sure everything was running on Wednesdays. And then I could still also volunteer on Thursdays as a small group leader.

00:12:15:06 - 00:12:39:04
Nick Clason
after three years or however many years of us doing it, once restrictions started lifting, once people started coming back in the room and frankly wanting to be back in the room like we needed to find a way to to pivot and adjust. And I still think we did. But again, like I was telling you before we started hitting record was we we started at that point then with the baseline of online. And so then we were like, how much do we sprinkle in in person because of how good online is? We're like a church. Where I'm at now is like, we started with in person. And so now we have to try to like add the hybrid moment, the digital pieces to it to help create that good. Like intersection between both in-person and online.

00:12:58:10 - 00:13:10:14
Sam Vos
relationships start in person and then they can transition to digital. Meaning you live in the same state as me or friends and then you move away. But we still continue being friends,

00:13:10:14 - 00:13:23:02
Isaac Sutton
even if, your hybrid experience doesn't, kick off in the room like you want to, it might reach 1 or 2 people that wouldn't, that you wouldn't have reached otherwise.

00:13:23:02 - 00:13:30:24
Nick Clason
Yeah. And like, now my like, the adaptation, like, we have a fully in-person model, essentially. Right. Yeah. However, I still see the value in the content, the teaching content in particular, like having a home beyond just when it when it's preached. Right. And we don't have the live streaming capabilities, which is why we do the, the pre film. But that can also that, that that anchors our social media strategy.

00:13:52:17 - 00:13:57:02
Darren Sutton
we learned that social media is for interaction, not for advertising. I think that we learned that, digital, what we call in our context, digital integration is not a luxury. It's a necessity. You have to figure it out. Our students are not just digital natives, they're digital dependents. And if we are not harnessed in whatever level of digital medium we can harness, then we're missing. We're missing an opportunity to speak the language of the people that we're working with. so I don't view everything through the lens of how does this translate digitally, but I definitely view our ministry through the lens of where is the digital expression of what we're trying to communicate to, to kids long term. Yeah. So,

00:14:44:10 - 00:14:50:05
Nick Clason
the argument I felt at the time was should we do in-person or should we do online? And I was like, how about both right. And the tension in all of that is both takes resources.

00:15:02:01 - 00:15:17:15
Nick Clason
my learnings right. For the in the room side of things was like it probably needed the show, probably needed a refresh and a rebrand to, distance it from Covid and not make it the Covid thing anymore. because while it was still good, it's still carried all those connotations. And then on the, the YouTube side of things, we just needed to double down on some like titling keyword and research like artistic thumbnail renders

00:15:31:09 - 00:15:32:21
Sam Vos
means that churches exist

00:15:32:21 - 00:15:37:14
Sam Vos
for two groups of people, correct?

00:15:37:14 - 00:15:38:16
Nick Clason
Insiders and outsiders. There we go.

00:15:37:14 - 00:15:38:16
Sam Vos
I wonder if those those things being digital and in-person. Interact with those two groups differently.

00:15:45:18 - 00:16:05:22
Nick Clason
like, it's more accessible than I thought it was to create a digital like moment, like, you know, once we shifted away from the show into a new church and we were here, like, we did an entire, like, six months worth of content off of a cell phone.

00:16:05:24 - 00:16:07:11
Darren Sutton
Yeah, yeah,

00:16:07:11 - 00:16:12:04
Nick Clason
The church exists to change the world. and to be a family and to create a place for people to find meaning and belonging. Okay. I think that there can be entertaining elements within church. I encourage youth pastors and youth ministries to create entertaining elements on their social media. That's why most people get on social media nowadays is to be entertained in some form or fashion.

00:16:32:18 - 00:16:35:20
Darren Sutton
So some kind of message or whatever on the regular? I think it's super important to post regularly, whether you know how to do it or not, you play dumb for a student because there is a student who definitely knows how to do it. investing in that. And I wouldn't know what these are. But this guy well investing in some subscription services or whatnot that can help you do this easier.

00:16:58:13 - 00:17:10:14
Nick Clason
servicing millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, by the way, middle schoolers and on down. And so the church has to figure out how to speak their language because they're the next generation.

00:17:10:14 - 00:17:13:18
Darren Sutton
I subscribe to your TikTok and your YouTube. He didn't pay me for that. I really would, and I am, so you should be too.