Hybrid Ministry - Episodes Tagged with “Church Marketing”

Episode 175: The Calendar that Rules Them All! [Most Skip Step 1!]

Nick Clason — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600

Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs.

FREE CALENDAR TEMPLATE
https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-spring-141564188?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
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SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175

Custom Curated Playlist
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Nucleus
https://www.nucleus.church

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🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
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

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 At a Glance Calendars
00:44 Level 1 - Most Miss!
02:51 Level 2 - FREE Download
05:27 Level 3
06:58 Level 4 - An All Time Idea!
08:10 Level 5 - THIS RULES THEM ALL

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:17
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have you been doing your planning and creation of your youth ministry calendars all wrong this whole time? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you the five levels to create a solid youth ministry calendar, the one that will rule them all. While most don't make it past level one, you should stick around to the end of the video and see the whole thing because I reveal at the end the one trick that I've started adding to all of my calendars that it solves the communication problem once and for all.

00:00:34:16 - 00:01:06:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Oh, and plus there's a free calendar link down below in the YouTube video or the podcast description. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nicolas, and excited to be with you. As we're talking through the five levels of a youth ministry calendar creation. And the reason we're doing this because we're actually, and we actually are and have been in a playlist where we've been discussing different questions that I have come across on different youth pastor Facebook groups.

00:01:06:25 - 00:01:30:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And today, this one, I have, a question that says, hey everyone, I'm looking for examples of an at a glance calendar that highlight your major annual events. Pictures, please. You don't need to include spontaneous or smaller events, just the main ones that plan each year. And so we're going to be looking at what I have been passing out historically, and how we've tried to not only solve the communication problem, but it also helps with our, our visitors and all that sort of thing.

00:01:30:17 - 00:01:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So actually, there's a carefully curated playlist with all of those elements, calendar discussions and a welcome box that we have and communication issues linked right here. Tap the video. Go ahead and check it out on YouTube. But step number one is you need to have and this is the one that most skipped. But you need to have a reputable website okay.

00:01:51:28 - 00:02:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because if you want a quote as this question says an at a glance calendar, then you need to have a website that is actually up to date that when people don't have the information that they need from your calendar, they know where they can go and what they should do. In fact, everyone in our student ministry knows and understands that like the calendar doesn't exist with this this piece of literature that they're bringing home.

00:02:17:08 - 00:02:43:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is, again, as the question as this is high level, this is simply highlights. This isn't every single thing. I've seen calendars designed with every single thing, the entire calendar for the year. But like that, that is not what we pass out. And I'm going to share multiple different reasons why. But one of the reasons is because our website handles a lot of the rest of the stuff that is going to be needed in order to communicate that.

00:02:43:05 - 00:03:04:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you need to make sure that you have a website that's actually like navigate. Well, that's decent. It's a decent guest experience and it's up to date. The second thing is you want something that's designed well. If you look at the one here on screen, this is one that we, are giving away. Link down below. The templated, the blank version.

00:03:05:01 - 00:03:29:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is within our church's approved brand color palette and guides. So like, these are the student ministry colors within our church's color palette. So that's the first step of it. The second thing is like when I'm designing it, I typically choose a font or two that are like our fonts for the year. And then I'm just gonna be honest, like, icons are fun, but like, emojis are great.

00:03:29:13 - 00:03:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I try to just like link an emoji to some of the different events that we have. And that does a great job for it. The other thing is, like you see off to the side, here's like I also try to create some sort of icon that goes with like this season. So for fall we've done like coffee cups or we've done football helmets for the summer, we've done suns.

00:03:50:09 - 00:04:11:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we, you know, in the spring we've done flowers. And so it gets tricky, especially if you're trying to do different ones and you're like doing them year over year. But you'll see the one linked right here. And you can go ahead and get the templated version link down below in the description. But you want your design to be something that, like, feels a little bit familiar but doesn't feel identical because you don't want them to think I've already got this.

00:04:11:18 - 00:04:28:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like they need to understand, like, no, this is a new one. Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet.

00:04:28:15 - 00:04:50:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created these the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:04:50:29 - 00:05:10:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid here? A Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:05:10:25 - 00:05:37:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. And another major thing that you're going to want to do here, which is level three, is you only want to include events that you, particularly and specifically choose.

00:05:37:27 - 00:06:00:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And want to highlight. You don't want to put every single thing on your calendar. No, no, you want things that you only want at a high level. And so the way to make it visually appealing, in my opinion, and in my book, and to make it small and concise, is to not overwhelm it with information, but to only make it things that are noteworthy for families to know.

00:06:00:21 - 00:06:23:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For example, we a lot of times say we meet every single Sunday. We meet every single Wednesday. However, these are ones you want to know about, and these are also ones that you want to know that we're not meeting because we meet every single week. But these in particular take note. We are not meeting. Additionally, and especially as it pertains to our spring calendar, we will post things about our, about our like winter weekend.

00:06:23:26 - 00:06:44:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we'll also post, say, the dates for our summer camp communications already gone out for that. By the time this calendar gets in the hands of our students mid-year and like December. But this one is important that it just, you know, it gets on there because it's actually going to happen during this cycle, which I should say, for context, we produce three calendars per year.

00:06:44:09 - 00:07:05:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We produce a fall one, we produce a spring one, and then we also produce a summer one. And so in light of that, we're pumping out calendars three different times per year to get into the hands of students. The fourth level, and this I think, is, one of them, the most impressive, like, decisions that I ever stumbled into.

00:07:05:20 - 00:07:24:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I honestly can't even tell you how I stumbled into it. And I would say that this is the key. However, level five, is a new one that we've recently unlocked, and I think it's even better. But number four is we make this design and then we print this using like sticker mule. We print this on a magnet.

00:07:24:25 - 00:07:43:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the psychology. Here's my thought behind it. Right. Everyone passes out a calendar for the year. There's the sports calendar. There's the academic calendar. And in a lot of cases, there's the youth group calendar. But what I want and maybe this is just my competitiveness, but like I want my calendar to be the thing holding on other calendars.

00:07:43:07 - 00:08:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. Like if you got your sports calendar, I want the youth calendar to be the thing that is keeping the sports calendar affixed to the fridge. That puts us on top of it. And they're probably going to choose sports over student ministry. But I just like to think in my own head, like, think about all of these calendars that are on magnets, that are on people's fridges, that are at the top of line, top of sight.

00:08:05:03 - 00:08:33:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And hopefully they're seeing, and remembering and keeping us again, top of mind. The fifth and final level, which I think is like the ultimate is, you'll see here. And you've probably noticed that we actually and this is helpful because of our website, we build our website and our calendar on our website, on the provider of, of nucleus, and on nucleus, what you can do is you can link in a dot ICS, which is an iCal calendar extension.

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:48:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's all you put in like your phone. But it's also like a shareable option out of like even a Google calendar. So we create just like a Google Calendar, we keep the Google Calendar up to date. That auto populates to our website, right? Which is like again, and I said, like, you want to make sure that your, your website is up to date.

00:08:48:27 - 00:09:09:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if people land on your website, that's information is not on your your big calendar, your highlight calendar, your magnet calendar that they do end up on your website, they're able to obtain the information that they need and that they're looking for. But then we've created a QR code where they can simply subscribe to the calendar in their phones.

00:09:09:07 - 00:09:32:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so this is, in my opinion, the penultimate, because this makes these, at a glance calendars great, but not the most crucial thing. I think a lot of youth pastors treat this calendars the most crucial thing. But what happens when students don't have access to it? What happens when they lose it? What happens when you give it to them and they accidentally set it down before they get it into the hands of their parents?

00:09:32:18 - 00:09:56:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If a parent can subscribe to our calendar, then they will never miss an event. They'll never miss an update. It will be populated onto the very device and onto the very app that they use to manage and control their entire life. Their calendar app. And what a better place than for your youth ministry and your church calendar to be on parents phones and on students phones.

00:09:56:22 - 00:10:18:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so put a QR code, put some sort of link where they can go and they can subscribe to the events. And so all of the events are exactly where they're supposed to be and where you ultimately want them to be at the end of the day, remember, the goal of this is communication so that people know what's going on and that they then also hopefully choose to attend your church and your event in your youth group.

00:10:18:04 - 00:10:39:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The the goal and this is not a beautiful calendar. Hopefully we can help you create one. And once again link down below free in the in the podcast or YouTube description. But the goal is communication at its core. And so that fifth and final layer adding adding a QR code so that people and parents can, subscribe to your church and your youth ministry calendar.

00:10:40:01 - 00:10:54:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Such a game changer. Well, hey everyone, the next episode is linked right here on the screen as well as the subscribe button. If you found this episode helpful, a payment for this free calendar would be amazing. A like a subscribe and share it with a friend. But until next time. And as always, don't forget. Stay hybrid.

Episode 165: How to Build a Youth Social Media Team That You Don’t Have to Run

Nick Clason — Thu, 04 Sep 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Struggling to keep up with your youth group’s social media? In this episode, I’ll show you how to build a student-led social media team for your youth ministry—from recruiting Gen Z content creators to assigning creative roles like studio recruiter, sermon recap editors, and “man on the street” interviewers. Plus, I’ll show you how my Fall Social Media Pack (available on Patreon) gives you 3 months of done-for-you content your students can run without you lifting a finger.

//Social Team Checklist
https://www.patreon.com/posts/social-media-138081327?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/165

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET THE PACK FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

FALL MASTERCLASS PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsa_fgbYCE&list=PLngXlSr64YaLfP12NPWmpBzXoCcEsAyBF

//Fully Built out Studio
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVT1xvh9-5k

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https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//100 BONUS IDEAS & TEMPLATE
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✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

//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
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Student Social Team Framework
01:08 Why Students?
6:30 What we post
08:23 Studio Roles
11:43 On the Street Roles
13:46 The Power of the Social team
14:53 How I do no work
20:05 How you can do no work

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TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:01:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You're tired. Apparently, your

00:00:01:28 - 00:00:02:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
weekly

00:00:02:10 - 00:00:02:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
message

00:00:02:22 - 00:00:03:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
isn't writing itself.

00:00:03:29 - 00:00:04:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Senior

00:00:04:13 - 00:00:04:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
pastors,

00:00:04:23 - 00:00:08:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
who used to be youth pastors, continue to pitch you mid-tier

00:00:08:18 - 00:00:09:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
ideas, and

00:00:09:00 - 00:00:09:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
the finance

00:00:09:12 - 00:00:13:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
team, they just won't get off your back for that missing pizza receipt.

00:00:13:03 - 00:00:20:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What in the world would you possibly have time to draft and dream up a fully student led social media team?

00:00:20:13 - 00:00:26:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because of all of that and because of all these commitments, that's why your feed looks like this.

00:00:26:08 - 00:00:28:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What if the answer isn't more of you? But what

00:00:28:26 - 00:00:38:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
if the answer is actually more then, because you, as a youth pastor are surrounded by the world's most capable content creator, they're called

00:00:38:09 - 00:00:49:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
teenagers. I have, in my context, built, student led, and student completely run social media teams. And in this episode, I'm going to share with you

00:00:49:07 - 00:00:53:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
how you can do that mistakes and means and all.

00:00:53:16 - 00:01:14:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And they're going to post things that are not only going to make your feed come to life, but also they'll never post something that's going to result in getting you fired, probably. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. If you and I haven't had a chance to meet you. My name is Nick Claussen.

00:01:14:13 - 00:01:39:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I am a 15 year youth ministry veteran who's been passionate about social media and digital and ushered into that an absolutely expedited pace in Covid and through Covid. And now, since Covid, I have built social media teams and social media, platforms that completely are self-sustainable. Now at this point, and in this episode, I am going to fully outline in detail for you all of that.

00:01:39:20 - 00:02:04:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because here's the thing. In this, episode and on this podcast, I talk a lot about my hybrid ministry strategy. In fact, my entire hybrid strategy is linked down below. You can download it, you can use it, you can take it in that e-book. I recommend posting ten times per week. And I'm going to share with you the ten posts that I post per week in my current student ministry on social media.

00:02:04:17 - 00:02:31:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, if you download my student or my fast seasonal social media pack, which is over on Patreon, the getting started version of that, social media strategy is actually only posting three times per week because I get it. Like youth ministries and youth pastors, they're busy. And so in this episode, what I want to outline for you is how to do that completely through your student volunteers.

00:02:31:02 - 00:02:51:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we're going to explain, the reason behind why you should pick students as part of your social media team. Also, what are some roles that you can recruit them into as you are creating and building a social media team? We'll talk about some roles for, students. If you're shooting in like a studio, we can talk about roles for students.

00:02:51:28 - 00:03:14:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you are shooting some stuff on the street or like out and about in your space. Also, student ministry editors, which are honestly, in my opinion, the biggest life savers and time savers for me. And then finally, I'm going to give you, the opportunity to go grab a checklist of everything that you're going to need for these, for these roles and to build these teams.

00:03:14:29 - 00:03:31:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But first of all, let's take just a quick step back before we get into the nitty gritty. And then once again, there are chapters always listed down below in these episodes. So if you want to jump ahead, you can. But why students you got to understand their digital natives like this is their world. This is what they speak.

00:03:31:06 - 00:03:55:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I like this concept called hybrid, where we go from our in-person moment and we take our online presence and we find a way to blend the two. In fact, the entire playlist linked right here that we just went through for the fall kickoff event idea is all about leaning into your hybrid, from your event to the ongoing donut voting bracket, to the welcome guest, to creating and building a social team like the students.

00:03:55:04 - 00:04:15:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Blend that all the time. And while for adults, especially during Covid and us in ministry, we didn't love it, we were even maybe annoyed by it. But like, this is their world. This is their life. YouTube is huge right now. Students spend hours online on YouTube looking at and creating and consuming content. This is just a part of their world.

00:04:15:15 - 00:04:40:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, as we're trying to position ourselves as youth ministries and youth pastors to help spread the the news and message of Jesus, like we should use students to help give us that ability and help give us that chance to help spread and reach and make that message of Jesus known on the social media channels. Also, students are used to this like they're used to having an authentic social media voice.

00:04:40:17 - 00:05:07:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like this is this is just like I said, they're digital natives. This is who they are. They value authenticity. Like, this is them. This is what they do. Right? There's also on your social media teams, there's a deep well of opportunities. For example, we had a student join last year and, the person who is overseeing the team, just like from a scheduling aspect of it, he looked at me and he's like, Nick, I don't have anywhere to put this person.

00:05:07:03 - 00:05:35:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, sure you do. And he goes, wait, what do you mean? I said, I don't know those like given those clapperboard, she's like, no, I was like, buy one and then have that person run the clapperboard. I was like, you can always invent opportunities to help make students feel like they're a doing something. But being that there is plenty of runway and avenue to enlist students for, and I'm going to share with you even how to build a team of editors so that you even have more above and beyond opportunities to, recruit people.

00:05:36:06 - 00:06:02:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, you know, the bonus in all of this is that, like, as they get into this, like, this gives them not only, like leadership experience, but also some opportunity to, like, be a disciple in this avenue of social media. Right? It may not be the most precise, it may not be the most theologically astute. It may not, you know, be the deepest or the the most, like, precision, and, you know, tightened up version of all this stuff.

00:06:02:06 - 00:06:29:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But like, they can learn how to influence their friends for and with the message of Jesus. So let's explore now, like, what exactly are some of the roles that we have instituted in our social media team? Let's take a look. So if you download my seasonal social media pack, you'll see that I recommend, two things transition videos and man on the Street videos.

00:06:29:11 - 00:06:51:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Those are things that are part of the custom for you section. And what the custom for you section is, is it's the section of my pack that makes it, your church specific because I do, I do give you some done for you stuff like Bible verses and, how to deal with anxiety, how to, you know, some like emoji guesses, some, some spiritual practice videos.

00:06:51:21 - 00:07:07:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Those are nameless, faceless. So any youth ministry can download those and use them. The custom for you section. What that does is it puts your people, your faces and your stamp on your social media, but that is going to require you to get out of camera, get out your phone, get out someone's phone and film some of these things.

00:07:07:29 - 00:07:31:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so two of those are interview interview questions like man on the street style and transition style videos. Those are two staples of our social media strategy in our youth ministry. Every single Wednesday night, we are filming something and so we're but we're only filming one type of thing per week. So one week we're filming main on the street, and then maybe the next week we're filming transition style videos.

00:07:31:21 - 00:07:53:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I also include For you some bonus content of like topic ideas for either dress and or may seven question style videos. And so those are the others that we have on our monthly schedule. So man, on the street transition style videos, drafts, seven questions. Any given that you come into our youth ministry, we're doing one of those four things.

00:07:53:18 - 00:08:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, in the bonus section, the drafts are the seven questions. If you want to start doing some of those, we film those in like a fully, built out studio. I'll link the tour episode to our studio if you want to see our studio, what we've bought, how we outfitted it so that we can have multiple different sets in one, one room, one space.

00:08:12:16 - 00:08:36:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can go check that out again. Link down below in the description. But here's some roles for for people in that, in that type of night, in that type of setting. So we record using podcast style microphones, which means we need to record into some sort of audio interface. So we plug it into like a Scarlett focus, eight eight and then that runs into like a computer, and then the computer is running like Adobe Audition.

00:08:36:22 - 00:08:57:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we have a person who sits there and runs audio. And so they literally do the thing like speeding, speeding, speeding. And so that person makes sure that the audio is actually rolling. And then they'll also put headphones on to ensure that they can hear what the people are saying and they can actually mix it. Do like a live mix using the Scarlett focus right.

00:08:57:24 - 00:09:18:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We'll also have someone running camera. And so they'll literally click the record button on the camera and then they'll click, you know, stop record. And for a while there, we had them clap in front of the camera. But like I said in the intro, we actually just, bought a clapperboard. And so either they can do it or if you have enough people, you can have a whole nother person do it.

00:09:18:03 - 00:09:37:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the clapperboard that we bought is a dry erase. And so you can put like, you know, you can erase it and you can write like drafts, take four and then you can write the names of the people and that way if you could get them to spell their names for you, you're going to get their names on the edit spelled exactly right, which I think is really important.

00:09:37:15 - 00:10:01:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We also have a television screen, which sometimes for like our leader podcast, we have that on the actual camera and use it as like a presentation, if you will. But for these videos, we actually put it, off camera so that the contestants can see the slides because there's like scripts and stuff, like for example, the script that like for seven questions is, hey, the name of the game is seven questions if you want to play and close your eyes, the answer is going to be right here on the screen.

00:10:02:01 - 00:10:16:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The category is fill in the blank. It's hard sometimes. The sixth grader walks in. They want to be part of the social team. They want to be on in want to do the social challenge. And you tell them the script and they can't remember it. And so that TV right there really helps them, you know what I mean?

00:10:16:25 - 00:10:36:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, see what they're supposed to do. And then we'll also after that script, we'll just make a slide that says one and that's question one. And then two, three, four. And so that that screen also helps them like keep track of the questions. And then there's always some sort of like call to action at the end of every video like hey, comment below your answer or comment below, did you get it?

00:10:36:07 - 00:11:08:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or you know, whatever. And those are just kind of like prompts so that someone doesn't have to speak them. Because when someone speaks them from off camera, you have to edit them later, which is not the end of the world. But again, it helps. And so you can have someone literally sitting there running slides. It's also helpful to have people recruiting because we're in our studio, students might not know that the social challenge is going on, or they might know now, at this point in our in our context, but they might not be like aware of it or looking for it or, you know, running towards it.

00:11:08:11 - 00:11:23:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you have people who are like, hey, you want to be in social challenge today? And then they'll bring them back to our studio and then they'll help, kind of like queue up a line. And then lastly, you can have a host, a person who is out in the hallway talking to the people, waiting, explaining to them what they're going to do when they get in there.

00:11:23:15 - 00:11:44:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you're going to want someone who's got some charisma on that. But, all of those are different roles that we have tried to implement and institute for our studio based social challenge nights. Now, there are those are drafts and seven questions. So that's two out of our four social, challenge, you know, scheduling nights. The other two are when we're out and about.

00:11:44:22 - 00:12:02:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So we grab a tripod, a camera and a microphone, and we hit the street and we don't go anywhere. But just like our student lobby. But we're out and about. We're more visible. So you don't quite need as many, like, hosts or anything like that. But you may need like a recruiter. You still need someone like, hey, you want to come be on social media tonight?

00:12:02:21 - 00:12:18:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You want to come here to some questions. And so they'll fold people in the queue up a line. They'll get them off to the side there. So that's another option or another role. Of course you're going to have your interviewer. So the person that's on camera that's asking the questions like, hey, would you rather this, would you rather that?

00:12:18:15 - 00:12:40:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And listen, all of these questions are included in my social media pack. And so what I recommend is that you batch record so that you ask 4 or 5 questions, and you ask 4 or 5 people the same 4 or 5 questions, and then boom, you have 4 or 5 different men on the street style videos. And so that interviewer there's asking the same person these, you know, 4 or 5 different questions.

00:12:40:21 - 00:13:04:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Obviously, you're also going to have a camera person. You're also going to have an audio person. And I like to have the audio person, plug the headphones directly into the camera and listen to make sure that they can hear, and that's not too loud. And, you know, if like, anything gets cut out, that they can make them go back and reshoot it with film it, you can have someone holding up like a sheet with the questions or even times we've rolled that TV out.

00:13:04:14 - 00:13:24:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right? And so we've had a person there, managing that TV or running slides for that, you know, or whatever the case may be. And so those are all different ways and things that you can use for like man on the Street transition style videos are very similar, except for all you really are doing is like, you know, you get like a video of a kid who was riding a skateboard and they fell on the floor and they fell like in this certain position.

00:13:24:19 - 00:13:40:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you tell someone, hey, lay like this, and then you give them some sort of script like, oh, that hurt. Make sure that you always have someone to help pick you up. We got that here at our church on Wednesday nights. See you at 630 or something. You know, something silly like that. Like it's kind of meant to be, you know, silly like that.

00:13:41:00 - 00:13:58:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Those are the two, like, on the night, jobs. And let me just tell you, like, once we started walking around with the camera, especially for, like, man on the street or, like, transition style videos, the kids came out of the woodwork in their interest level for it. We have, seven, I want to say different like serving teams for students.

00:13:58:01 - 00:14:25:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We have welcome team. We have cafe, we have tech team. We have social team, we have photography. We have worship. Maybe that's it. Oh no. And then we have our table leaders. That's probably like our highest, spiritual bar of of role. The team that people want to be on the most is the social team. And so we have, like, increased our engagement around student serving because the social team exists.

00:14:25:29 - 00:14:48:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But the real, in my opinion, this role right here, this next role, this is really like the role that has changed everything for me. It's the student editor. So I post ten pieces of content per week. And this is a genuine, real, true, authentic statement. I don't edit any of it okay. So let me let me walk you through, what I post.

00:14:48:14 - 00:15:07:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's some of it's going to be similar to what you might get in the fall seasonal social media pack. Some of it is a little bit different. You can sprinkle in any of these ideas because I'm asking you in the seasonal social media pack to post three times per week. So if you like any of these ideas you got, you got margin to kind of add this and make it your own and bring your own flair.

00:15:07:20 - 00:15:27:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I post like a meme Monday every single Monday morning that is just like a static carousel kind of based post. What we've done in our, our staff team is we created a Google Drive folder and we just say, hey, as you're scrolling social media, if you come across memes, save them and dump them in this folder.

00:15:27:12 - 00:15:46:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so all I have to do on Monday is go grab them from that folder, pull them out. You know, I put ten out for carousel post and I post them, recently I've only started doing five because I've also started posting them over on the YouTube posts section, and they only allow five total, as opposed to Instagram, which now I believe allows like 20.

00:15:46:18 - 00:16:16:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I wasn't posting, by the way, I wasn't posting to YouTube, but I had a kid who said, are you going to do me Monday anymore? And I was like, yeah. And he's like, on YouTube. And I was like, oh, so that made me, you know, kind of start doing it, on, on YouTube there. Additionally, I post three sermon recap clips, so like, what we do is we film our messages long form posted to YouTube, and then we edit them for YouTube with edits and captions and all the things.

00:16:16:24 - 00:16:42:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But before, we edit those or I'll have whoever is editing for me because I actually pay for an editor on these. I'll have them send me just a clean copy so they'll they'll compile it all together chronologically, and then they'll send me a copy without captions and without any of the, you know, B-roll or whatever. And I'll take those clean copies and I'll upload them into something like Open Source Pro, which, by the way, there's a link down below if you're interested in checking it out.

00:16:43:01 - 00:17:21:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It doesn't change anything for you, but it is a small, affiliate commission link for me, which would be incredibly helpful if that's something you want to try out. It makes my job so easy. I clips those up, and then we just download three of those and store them to post on three different days in our week. If you don't pre film like a long form message, then my foster seasonal social media pack, it gives you like devotional scripts that you can hold your phone and you can speak direct to camera on those, and it'll tell you exactly what to say and how to include it and that, that, that hits the same

00:17:21:14 - 00:17:40:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
basic gist of what, a clip is meant to do where your Devo, clip, which isn't maybe tied to like a specific sermon or message, but it's still it's going to perform really well. I'm going to do a really good job for you on social media. So either one of those is fine, but it's some sort of spiritually charged content, right?

00:17:40:05 - 00:17:58:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because some of these other things aren't spiritually charged content. And so your goal is you want to hook people, hook students, or hook your, your students friends with some of the goofy stuff so that you're showing up more and more in their algorithm. So that's why you also want to include some of these spiritual things so that they'll run across those as well.

00:17:58:27 - 00:18:17:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But the way I don't edit them is I use opus clip if you want to, you know, film something on your phone, that's fine. Then what I would recommend is handing over your phone to a student editor. Or if you pay for like a service like Adobe Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, DaVinci resolve, you can get them on a computer and they can edit that video for you.

00:18:17:28 - 00:18:36:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or even if you don't want to do it, have a student film there and let them edit it, and they can use something like on their own phone, like cap cut, or even just something simple like the TikTok or Instagram Reels editor. Our four social challenge archetypes remember seven questions drafts, man on the Street, transition style videos, all edited by students.

00:18:36:25 - 00:18:58:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And right now I'm actually building like a tutorial. Because, like, I've trained students and it takes a lot of my time to get them up to speed, but I'm building tutorials now, where they're watching me edit one, and then they can go back and they can watch that as reference as they edit. And so now I'm able to recruit more students without any experience, and I'm having them do that on something like Adobe Premiere Pro.

00:18:58:25 - 00:19:14:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I have had students in the past who have their own editing, kind of like chops. And I'll just send them a link from our Google Drive of like, like a seven questions and I'll say, hey, get this under a minute, add captions on the screen, add music, and send it back to me. And they do a great job and I'm fine with it being that way as well.

00:19:14:21 - 00:19:39:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it doesn't have to be exactly like I'm doing it, or exactly in like, you know, my template, which, by the way, I have, seven questions and address template link down below. It's included in the for seasonal social media pack, or just in 100 bonus ideas for free listed down below in the description. Another video that we do is like, just like our Wednesday night recap, which is a very simple collage style video.

00:19:39:05 - 00:19:57:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I walk around with my phone and I get anywhere from like 5 to 7 second clips. Put that in TikTok, it does auto cut for me and boom are done. And then the last remaining of my ten is one of my four seasonal social media packs. Either a verse, a spiritual practice video, a how to carousel or an emoji phraseology guesting.

00:19:57:12 - 00:20:21:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And again, all of those are going to be included in my fast seasonal social media pack, which, by the way, if you didn't know, is 1799. However, I have a bonus Patreon podcast for $4 a month where I not only give you everything in my store for free so that includes this pack, but also I, recap what we did from a creative programing standpoint and from social media.

00:20:21:13 - 00:20:48:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
From a social media standpoint. The previous week in student ministry. Think of it as like your weekly, debrief meeting with, like, you know, a trusted friend. And if I were you, that's $4 a month. You can charge at times $1,248 to like, professional development or your student ministries budget in that way. But what I'm going to do is I'm going to include a checklist for you of roles, of things to do, of what to film all of that.

00:20:48:21 - 00:21:16:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's over on my Patreon. Once again, that will come with a nominal fee because Patreon doesn't let me give it away for free. However, if you are a hybrid hero, you get that checklist that costs you $0 included in your $4 per month membership Hybrid Heroes tier. This is how we do it. This is how I have handed all of this off, and I don't lift a finger any more for capturing, editing, or creating any of our social media content.

00:21:16:03 - 00:21:38:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You two can build a robust, student led, student driven social media team and social media feed. All you gotta do is start leaning in. Some of the students that God has gifted and and given to you in your context. I'm rooting for you. Don't ever hesitate to reach out. I got the pick my brain. Link down below in my, description.

00:21:38:08 - 00:21:50:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If there's something that can help you get this up off the ground. But until next time. And as always, my friends, don't forget. Stay hybrid.

Episode 164: 🚀 Fall Social Media Pack: Stop Guessing. Start Posting.

Nick Clason — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 15:00:00 -0500

Struggling to keep up with youth ministry social media this fall? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, Nick Clason unveils the Fall Social Media Pack—a done-for-you, but also fully customizable content calendar built to align with your fall kickoff event, guest strategy, YouTube channel, and in-person ministry, saving you hours every week. Learn how to post your way to better engagement on Instagram, TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts, while bridging the gap between digital discipleship and real-life impact in your church!

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
DYM: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.html

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/164

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET THE PACK FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

FALL MASTERCLASS PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fsa_fgbYCE&list=PLngXlSr64YaLfP12NPWmpBzXoCcEsAyBF

COLEADER CURRICULUM
(Use code HybridMinistry10 for 10% off)
https://www.coleader.co

✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

//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

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Fall is here!
00:14 Time to Finish Strong
03:38 Unboxing the Fall Social Pack
08:58 How to Build your Social Media to Actually last!

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:05 - 00:00:34:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Fall is here. So stop scrambling to post every single Wednesday on your social media because I've already built your social media plan. Just copy paste it. Post it. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. Welcome, everyone, to the Hybrid Ministry show. And today it's finally here. It is launch day this fall. Seasonal social media packs, similar to the summer one that I had running all summer long, is exactly what you need for your youth ministry social media.

00:00:34:03 - 00:01:00:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It is a blend of custom and done for you, content that you can pair together and best of all. If you've been following along in this fall, a masterclass for your kickoff event. If you did The World's Greatest Donut, if you did the bracket, then students are now locked into your social media. That entire playlist is linked right here at the top of the screen or in the show notes down below if you're listening on your podcast.

00:01:00:16 - 00:01:35:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if your students are locked in to your social media now because they've been voting and discovering and determining what the world's greatest donut is in your context and in your student ministry, well, then, now you want to continue to to lean in to what's going on on your social media and like, don't forget that. Like if you also used our welcome box strategy and our magnetic calendar and like they open that box and they scan that QR code in there on your YouTube channel, like students are seeing your content on their algorithm.

00:01:35:01 - 00:01:55:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so therefore you need to keep feeding that algorithm. Unfortunately for social media, you have to continue to keep feeding it in order for it to like be successful. But fortunately for you, I have just created a seasonal three months worth of content so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. All you got to do is download this pack.

00:01:55:22 - 00:02:14:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's less than $20 or better yet, become a Patreon member for $4 a month, which, if you add that up for three months, is $12 and you get the pack for free as a part of your membership and bonus podcast every single Monday morning, you can use that to continue to add to your feed while you're doing that.

00:02:14:13 - 00:02:34:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the social media pack is taking care of it over here. You get to go over here and deal with all the things that you have to do for fall. You have to start locking in your curriculum, which I would recommend co-leader, by the way, and you can use hybrid ministry ten for 10% off that, or you have to like build your calendar, you have to build your budget, you have to recruit new volunteers.

00:02:34:08 - 00:02:58:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, you know, like, you got this thing over here that's gnawing at you. You know, you should do it. You know, it's important. Maybe you don't, but, like, trust me, it's important. And so my pack will help take care of that. It will give you content that you can continue to post and keep that thing active. And the best thing is that when you typically download a pack, it's not very custom to you and your ministry, right?

00:02:58:07 - 00:03:23:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
When you download a pack, more often than not it's a bunch of like static and stock graphics, and we have a few of the like done for you that like, isn't tied to your context or your ministry at all. But we also have a whole section where it will be you or your students or your volunteers, your faces that people know, love and will recognize and that will help make your social media feed feel custom and personal, which is the entire goal.

00:03:23:12 - 00:03:54:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So without any further ado, what I want to do is I want to unbox this a little bit. And so in the next section, let's look at what is included. If you choose to, jump into the full seasonal social media pack. So if you are watching here on YouTube, you are seeing my screen. And so if you download the, fall seasonal social media pack from Patreon, you are going to get a folder that looks like this.

00:03:54:23 - 00:04:16:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it says start here Hybrid Strategy Guide and then custom for you and then done for you. So in the start here PDF, it just explains what's going on with the seasonal social media pack three months of custom fall related youth ministry, social media. Just as a reminder, Patreon members for four hours a month, you get this package included in your membership.

00:04:16:27 - 00:04:41:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So consider signing up that now up to $48 a year, and you'll get four seasonal social media packs along with a bonus podcast every single Monday morning. But like I said, it's completely either done for you. It's either a section of done for You, which is just download, plug and play or custom for you. It's got some recommendations here of like maybe some microphones that you might want to consider investing in.

00:04:41:12 - 00:04:59:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like this one right here, for example, I just want to point out like this one, I mean, like, oh, here we go. Opened up. This one is 789. So like, it really is very, very like affordable and very, very cheap. Obviously it's not going to be incredibly, you know, high quality, but it will still get the job done.

00:04:59:22 - 00:05:19:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then right here, is your recommended posts per week. Okay. And so you look here, it's like September 1st and you got like your spiritual practice posts, your emoji posts, your Bible trivia posts. Okay. Or if you want to build your own calendar, you can do it down here, in this blank section of the schedule.

00:05:19:29 - 00:05:45:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Furthermore, this right here explains kind of like the strategy that I'm attempting to get you to, to participate in. So, like, why social media? Why vertical video, and all these things. This actually is available as one of the member downloads from but a year ago over on Download Youth Ministry. But I'm just including it here so that you can kind of like see and understand like the strategy and like and what I'm saying here.

00:05:45:11 - 00:06:12:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then let's look at the Dunphy section first. There are five Bible verse real videos. So, here's, you know, a bunch of different, like, verses you can post those super quick, super easy. Here's some like emoji, back to school, kind of like guessing themed, ones that you can post super again, super quick, super easy. Here are some spiritual practice videos Bible memorization, study praise.

00:06:12:27 - 00:06:33:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, share. You know, pray for a friend. And then, take the next 60s to sit in silence. And then finally, these are like some curso based videos. So, like, what do you do if you're feeling lonely? What do you do if you're feeling sad? And what do you do if you're feeling insecure? So like, those are all very simple.

00:06:33:19 - 00:06:57:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like I said, download done for you. And then over here, these are the custom ones. Right? So every single one of the custom folders gives you some instructions how to do it, what to do. These are some Bible trivia, questions. So it's got five different rounds of five different posts that you can do Bible trivia. You can either hop on screen and do it, or better yet, hand it to a student and let them do it.

00:06:57:15 - 00:07:15:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then I also give you some graphics that you can use, to just overlay it, and you can build that in like a cap cut editor or a TikTok editor. And once again, have your students do it. Here are some, like recap or like devotional type videos. They're like, you're going to be your spiritually charged pieces of content.

00:07:16:01 - 00:07:32:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Again, you can hop on camera or you can hit to student and all of these, right? I have five script ideas right here that you can use. And it's got editing notes and all the things like that. If you have like a long form version of your message, you can use link in the description, something like an opus stock pro, to clip that up.

00:07:32:28 - 00:07:50:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you can also just post that and then kind of like skip this little, folder section altogether. These are some men on the street. Would you rather fall based questions? So here's again some instructions on how to do it, what those are. And I created overlays. So all you gotta do is just go around, ask a handful of students using one of those microphones that you bought.

00:07:50:11 - 00:08:10:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Would you rather wear an itchy sweater or continually have leaves in your pocket? Would you rather be lost in a corn maze or smashed your perfectly carved pumpkin? Would you rather have, to eat leftovers for a month or risk every lawn in your neighborhood? Right. And so you see how like, those, those are great. And then finally, here are some transition invites, our videos.

00:08:10:07 - 00:08:39:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I give you the beginning of a video and then you overlay that right here and like, boom, you have one of your students pop in and, they say, hey, you should come to youth group, like, Wednesday night. What time? All that type of stuff. And I give you five of those. And so these all are the custom sections of your, of your social media strategy because a, a completely done for you is going to rob your social media feed of you.

00:08:39:22 - 00:08:59:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I don't want to do that. And so this is about as easy as we can make it so that like it still has you in it, but it's still also like not that much work. You can clear this bar. And like I said, we can get your students up to speed on this, which is what we're going to talk about in the next section of the video.

00:08:59:20 - 00:09:39:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So remember, while we're trying to increase social media engagement on your feed, the ultimate goal in all of this is not just social media engagement, but hopefully life change in the in the life of your teenagers and of your students. And so hopefully, the more that they engage with you on social, it's also going to mean the more that they're going to engage with you in person, which is really like the impetus for this entire hybrid strategy online, which is where a lot of students are spending their time and their lives paired with your in-person moment, so that together you can create a solid hybrid environment, one that, like your students, they're they're stepping back

00:09:39:21 - 00:10:09:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
and forth in between those two worlds constantly. They live in that sweet spot called hybrid. And this social pact helps bridge that gap between those two different, sometimes seemingly opposing sides of the ministry aisle. And so I want to encourage you to continue to lean into it. And best yet, the best way that I have discovered to keep this ongoing, sustainable strategy, because I want to point out, I'm encouraging you to post three times per week.

00:10:09:11 - 00:10:41:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In my context, we post ten times per week. The only way that I'm getting ten posts done per week is by creating and leaning into a fully student run, an LED social media team, and I am going to detail and outline every single step of that in the very next episode, so that you can build that for yourself so that you can pass that off and you can teach your students very simply how to become influencers in their faith, not just online, but in their faith.

00:10:41:23 - 00:10:55:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That episode is going to be the link to right here on screen. Go ahead and tap that. Head over to that video and we will see you in episode 165 for building your own social team. But until next time, and as always, my friends, do not forget to stay hybrid.

Episode 157: What’s Better for Ministry? Done-for-You or Custom Social Media

Nick Clason — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Nick Clason breaks down the battle between Done-for-You and custom church social media—and why your ministry might need both. Discover how a hybrid ministry strategy saves time and amplifies your church’s voice. This episode unpacks it all and points you to the ☀️SUMMER Social Pack—the perfect combo of polish and personalization.

☀️ SUMMER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/summer-seasonal-social-media-1540452?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=productshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

*🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET THE PACK FOR FREE! *
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Done vs Custom Social Media
00:19 The Tension Filled Debate
00:51 Custom - Pros & Cons
03:39 Done for You - Pros & Cons

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;00;04 - 00;00;29;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's settle the debate that has been splitting up church staff rooms for years. No, I'm not talking about oat milk or regular milk in your lattes. I'm talking about done for you. Social media versus custom social media. Let's check it out. So let's break it down. DIY or custom social media is just simply better. Like, it's like eating organic.

00;00;29;18 - 00;00;55;08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, you know, it's better. You know, it's good for you. You know, it's what you should do. However, as you also probably know, it takes so much longer. And that's what leads us to then pivot back into the done for you. Because it's simple. It's easy and it's done for you. So let's break these two things down. So what are the pros of doing a custom social media?

00;00;55;10 - 00;01;29;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
One with your name, your face, your personality? Well, the first thing is obviously it's tailored for your people. It can be tailored for your people because you're their pastor. You know what they like. You know who they are. You know what they need, and so you can create that for them on your social media feed. The other thing, like we talked about in the episode linked right here, is that it showcases your voice through a series of what Hubspot's trends report is calling Micro Connections.

00;01;29;08 - 00;01;50;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Your voice becomes what people kind of gravity hate towards and are used to seeing on your social media. You want your voice and you want your face. And you got to think, if you're a pastor at a church, there's already an element to you, or there's already an element to your church where your people are familiar with your pastor's voice.

00;01;50;12 - 00;02;19;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so why should your social media not continue to be an extension of that online? And then the last piece, of course, is that it has the opportunity to engage authentically. We're like a done for you or like a custom thing for you. Like doesn't quite have that as much as because it's just a bunch of rote, static graphics that were done and can be used on anyone's social feeds, across any church, in any part of the world, or any part of the country.

00;02;19;23 - 00;02;37;24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And while the graphics look amazing and maybe even better than what you can pull together, it's not really you. And you don't have the opportunity to then reach through that and engage authentically with your people, which is one of the problems, in my opinion as well, of doing something that is like a done for you, which we'll get to in just a second.

00;02;37;26 - 00;03;02;17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, the cons of like a custom social media feeds is it takes hours. And secondly, it also requires skill like you need typically a staff person who knows what they're doing. In my experience, a lot of pastors, a lot of church, ministry people, they don't have that skill or they don't have it yet. And so they don't hop in to learn that skill and therefore they just shy away from it.

00;03;02;17 - 00;03;27;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Which I get, like, we don't like to kind of put ourselves out there into new and sort of like uncharted territory. There is another thing out there that, let's just be honest, like, people feel this pressure to try and compete with every other big church in the country. Like, you can't be elevation and that's okay, right? It's not necessarily a bad thing that your church isn't the biggest, greatest, sleekest, best looking church.

00;03;27;06 - 00;03;50;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like it's okay that you're not. You can't be them. And, no one's expecting that of you. We just want you to be you. So let's move on then, and talk about the pros and the cons of done for you. Done for you is like ordering DoorDash, right? It's convenient, it's simple, it's easy. And best of all, there's no messy dishes to clean up.

00;03;50;11 - 00;04;09;10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You get all of the goodness and none of the work that has to go with it. So let's talk about the pros of done for you. First of all, and probably most obvious is that it saves you time. Like, you know, you're busy and this gives you a solution to your busyness to still remain active on social media.

00;04;09;13 - 00;04;42;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Secondly, you you look your feed looks more polished, like you have professional designers and professional graphic artists doing these done for you. Social packs. And so therefore you can lean into their expertise and you can just post their things. And then lastly, it helps you stay consistent because if you take over a fully custom social media strategy, you know that like eventually the week of VBS is going to hit, which is what I'm right in the middle of right now and I'm exhausted.

00;04;42;15 - 00;05;01;07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or you got summer camp, or you got a missions trip, and social media falls back to the back burner because you weren't able to stay consistent while you were on social media. So those are some of the pros of having done for you. It saves you time, it looks polished and it helps you stay consistent. But the cons what are some of the cons.

00;05;01;07 - 00;05;22;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, it's going to feel cookie cutter right. Again, if they can do it for this church and your church, they can do it for a hundred other churches. The other thing is it definitely lacks your church's flavor like it's not your church on social media. It's some graphic designer in a lab who cooked it up hours away. And that's your on now on your church's social feed.

00;05;22;04 - 00;05;41;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like that's not really who you are. You're just borrowing something that someone made somewhere else. And then the last part is like, you gotta be honest. Like you might still have to tweak it a little bit. Like there might still be some things that don't exactly fit your church or your church's culture. And so therefore when you post it, captions whatever.

00;05;41;11 - 00;06;01;23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like you have to tweak some of it because it might not fit your exact vibe. What they gave you. And so there's still a little bit of work to do. So let's what's better? Like let's land it once and for all. Let's settle the debate done for you versus custom. What if I told you that you didn't have to choose?

00;06;01;24 - 00;06;27;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah that's right, because I actually made for churches and for youth pastors the summer seasonal social media pact for this exact reason. It helps you stay consistent. It creates a social media posting calendar. Half of the packs are done for you like they're ones that work. They're sleek, they're modern, they look the part and you can just download them and post them and go and not think anything of them.

00;06;27;21 - 00;06;47;23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The other half of them are custom for you. So yes, a little bit more work, but I've tried to take the like all of the work that you're going to have to really do out of it. There are scripts. I just read the thing and do it direct into your camera. There are graphics just overlay the graphics. You look like a pro, but it's still you.

00;06;47;23 - 00;07;17;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's still your church. It's still your people on your church, social media feed. All of those things are all in that, like, custom for you. And then I have a posting calendar so you can follow that in an effort to stay consistent. And so that if you do that, you won't fall off the wagon when it becomes a busy week, when it becomes VBS week, when you go off to summer camp, your social media will still have something regularly being posted to it three times per week, which is what what I recommend.

00;07;17;23 - 00;07;39;01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if you download this pack and post at that rhythm of three times per week, it will get you through the months of June, July and August. And I get it. You're watching this video, this podcast dropped in the middle of July. You can grab it now and cram all in, because coming up in just a couple of weeks is going to be our full social media pack.

00;07;39;01 - 00;08;01;19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if you didn't know this members to my Patreon who get a bonus weekly podcast already for $4 per month, they get this pack as a part of their membership tier. So join get the bonus podcast where we're talking all things hybrid ministry. We're talking all things creative youth ministry programing. You'll get that delivered to your podcast catcher every single Monday morning without fail.

00;08;01;21 - 00;08;23;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And every single time we drop a seasonal social media pack, it is yours for free and is yours for the taking. I would love to have you check those things out. They are made for you and this is just to hopefully help make your life easier. It really is an entire summer social media hybrid strategy locked and loaded.

00;08;23;06 - 00;08;47;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's what I do in my church every single week, and I just want to help you win in your youth ministry. So skip the burn up. Skip the Canva at 9 p.m. on every single Sunday night, heading on into your week, and grab the best of both worlds with the summer seasonal social media pack. It is linked down below and let your summer get scroll worthy.

00;08;47;25 - 00;08;51;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And as always, don't forget my friends to stay hybrid.

Episode 154: Summer Social Media Mistakes (And How I’m Avoiding Them)

Nick Clason — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0500

Here’s what usually tanks your social media engagement every summer—and what I’m doing instead. Because posting a blurry pic of your youth group playing dodgeball again is not a strategy.
I’ve made all the summer mistakes—so you don’t have to!

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 What is your Social Media Strategy?
00:25 Mistake #1
02:49 Mistake #2
04:18 Mistake #3
05:30 Mistake #4
06:32 The Summer Social Media Pack

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:09 - 00:00:22:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's what's probably tanking your engagement on social media this summer, and here's what I'm doing to try and combat that, because posting a blurry dodgeball pic is not really a strategy on social media. In this video, we're going to look at some common social mistakes at youth pastors just like you and just like me tend to make as well as I offer a solution for each and every one of those mistakes.

00:00:22:26 - 00:00:48:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Ministry Show. Well, hey everyone, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I've been in youth ministry for 15 years, and I have made all of these mistakes. And I want to help you avoid stepping in those pitfalls. So let's hop in to these common social media mistakes. And mistake number one that most youth pastors make in the summer is they go radio silent.

00:00:48:24 - 00:01:12:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
No, the video is not. Pause. I'm just showing you what your social feed might look like, because I know if you're anything like me, you get busy, you got VBS, you got camp, you got missions trips, you got events. One summer I did a kickball event, and I sprained my ankle in front of all of the kids, and I had to literally crawl my way back to the pavilion because I was so hurt.

00:01:12:07 - 00:01:29:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I was out doing ministry, and I thought to myself, I can't do social media like I'm these are the important things. This is social and this is this is real ministry, social media that can go on the back burner and you need to show up on social media. And here's why. Because our students are showing up on social media.

00:01:29:08 - 00:01:55:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we two in an effort to try and be where they are, we want to show up where they are. And guess what? You don't have to just pull away in your office and create a bunch of content quietly void of interaction with students. No, you can actually create content with students. And if you grab my summer social media pack, it's actually designed to be three posts per week, some of which are just plug and play like you're at the park playing kickball.

00:01:55:25 - 00:02:12:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You're like, oh, I need to post something. Boom. You drop it when the kids get home, they see it. But there's also content that you can create and film with your students, and not just for your students, but since it's with your students, it also ends up being for your students. So mistake number one is go radio silent.

00:02:12:10 - 00:02:46:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The fixes. In my social media pack, I've baked in three posts per week at a minimum. And then if you are downloading anything else, say like you're a dying member and they give you the social pack monthly. You can filter those things in every other week, and you can actually show up every single day, not only with some custom, content, which is what I offer for you, where you or your students are the actual voices and faces on your social media, but you also then have some of this other kind of like done for you content, which will just still kind of give proof of life to everybody else on your social feed.

00:02:46:14 - 00:03:10:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's hop in here to mistake number two. So mistake number two is using static done for you posts. Now listen, I get it. I just actually said to do that. But I say do that in compliment to what I'm offering. But actually my my package here allows you to, to use like half done for you. You need these where you don't have to think about it.

00:03:10:22 - 00:03:37:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You forgot. Oh no I'm supposed to post. You pull it open, you post it, maybe you're on the toilet and you get it done. Okay. But other times I actually give you and carve out for you an opportunity to engage with your students, your leaders, for you and your students and your leaders to be the heroes on your social media packs and so like it allows you to to lean into those inside jokes and, and the the culture that exists within your student ministry.

00:03:37:07 - 00:03:56:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I do it all for you. I tell you exactly how to do it. I tell you exactly what to do. So link down below. Go grab it. Go check it out so that you don't just become a random, generic boring like no context for your ministry social media feed, but you actually become one that is, relevant.

00:03:56:00 - 00:04:18:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And it's popping and it's it's leaning into what's popular on social media now, which is short form, vertical based video. I'm gonna help you, film some stuff. Reels, TikToks, YouTube shorts, whatever works in your context. But you can use it in your context. You can use what I've created, but then you and your student ministry can actually be the heroes in these, on your feed.

00:04:18:22 - 00:04:37:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Which leads me to mistake number three. Not thinking ahead like, you know, you got camp, you know, you got VBS, you know, you got that mission trip. What are you going to post? You don't have a plan? Then that's what causes you to do. Mistake number one, which is go radio silent or you just part of my French fart.

00:04:37:07 - 00:05:01:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Something out. That's no good, because you're like, I ran out of time. I just got to do something. My pack will help you think ahead. I literally scripted it out. June and then July and then August. Away is mid-June already. No problem. Bump it down. July, August, September. Some of them, like emoji phrases like those are summer guess, themed.

00:05:01:12 - 00:05:20:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But like a lot of the other stuff, like it does not tied directly to a season. Grab it and then hey, guess what? Best news of all coming in the fall. I'm going to be offering a fall social media pack. The same archetypes, the same concepts, but fall themed and fall, base and fall topics for you to lean in.

00:05:20:08 - 00:05:41:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I will help you plan ahead on social media so that you can spend time on the parts of ministry that mean and matter the most to you and your group. Which leads me to my fourth and final mistake that youth pastors tend to make and is forgetting the hybrid strategy we think it's all about in person, and we're all we're fully present.

00:05:41:03 - 00:06:00:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And by the way, you should be fully present. You definitely don't want to get fired, but you also want to show up digitally. You want to show where students are spending most of their time. You know, Pew Research did a study that said 90% of teenagers spend time, meaningful time on YouTube. Why are we not there? Why are we not there?

00:06:00:10 - 00:06:27:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Showing up as youth pastors, as student ministries, answering some of life's hard questions, and I will show you how to do all of that, not only in the summer pack, but hey, guess what? Maybe you don't want to spend any money. Grab my hybrid strategy. God, it is completely free. And it's also linked down below for your convenience, all you gotta do is pop in your name and your email and, hey, maybe, you know, if you want to give some sort of payment to this podcast, a subscribe would be fantastic.

00:06:27:02 - 00:06:44:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It literally costs you nothing, but it does actually help us out quite a bit. Listen, I know this all feels like a big sales pitch, but the fact of the matter is that the key to social media is consistency. And that's what my pack is going to help you do. Maybe by the end of it you don't need me to be consistent on social media.

00:06:44:18 - 00:07:02:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's great. That's the goal. I want you to graduate from this. Maybe you're the type of person that's never going to really lean in hard on social media. That's fine too. Keep coming back. These packs are going to continue to recycle with new content every single season, which is going to be three months worth for you to be able to take and make your own.

00:07:02:22 - 00:07:23:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I want you to win because I want you to take these packs and make your social media come to life with your smiling faces and your students. So like I said, link down below, grab it. And guess what? If you are, interested in this, the best deal, the best value. Honestly, take my money is to become a member.

00:07:23:06 - 00:07:43:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
$4 per month. You get this pack at the, the Hybrid Heroes tier, completely included, as well as a weekly bonus podcast. You know, we just got back from summer camp. I've been talking to my students and talking to all my hybrid. Here's about everything we did at camp. All of the creative elements that we woven to what we're doing.

00:07:43:26 - 00:08:03:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you get that completely for free drops every single Monday. What we're doing in our context, what we're doing in our ministry, a real youth pastor with real boots on the ground experience, helping you lean into the creativity and the hybrid ministry that students so crave. I want to help you, win on social media and win in creativity in your student ministry.

00:08:03:10 - 00:08:09:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Check out the pack or become a member so good that you're here. Don't forget, my friends, as always, to stay hybrid.

Episode 152: This Social Media Post is dead in 2025 - What to do instead

Nick Clason — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 05:00:00 -0500

The “done-for-you” social media strategy is dead in 2025—and it might be quietly hurting your ministry. HubSpot’s latest report says real impact comes from micro-connections over time, not cookie-cutter content. If you want to win on social this summer without burning out, show up with authenticity, stay consistent, and use tools that amplify your voice—not replace it.

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//HubSpot x Masters in Marketing - 2025 Global Social Media Trends Report
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hubspot-blog-social-media-marketing-report

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Tomatoes & Youth Ministry?
00:46 Social Fluency & Micro-Connections
01:50 Social Fluency Real Time Example
02:14 Do All "Done For You" Products Suck?
03:06 Social Media for Busy Youth Pastors in 2025
05:27 Your Custom Summer Social Media Plan
07:00 Micro Connections - Consistency over Perfection
07:58 Social Media without the Burnout

--------------
TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00:10 - 00:00:24:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Buying a tomato is now an existential crisis. I was reading the recent Global Social Media Trends report put out by HubSpot. Link to that down below in the show notes if you're interested. What does that have to do with you and your youth ministry? It actually has a lot to do with you in your youth ministry, because today we're going to talk about social fluency.

00:00:24:25 - 00:00:50:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What is it? Why does it matter now more than ever, and how churches who are ignoring this are being left behind? Plus, I'm going to show you how you can win at that social media fluency through social media this summer. Even when you're slammed with VBS camps and mission trips. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry. Why is buying a tomato an existential crisis?

00:00:50:01 - 00:01:14:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because there are so many decisions to make. It used to be easy. You wanted a tomato. You walk to the grocery store, you bought the tomato. Now there are so many options. Amy Marino from HubSpot nailed it. She says social fluency is what drives results. This isn't about having the slickest reals or trendiest memes. It's about mastering a thing called micro Connections.

00:01:14:07 - 00:01:35:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We're going to dive into that a little bit later, but HubSpot says that every buyer's journey is made up of small connections over time. And I get it. You're thinking like, well, I'm not selling anything. And in a way, absolutely you are not. But in a way, absolutely you are. That does apply directly to you, your church and your ministry.

00:01:35:11 - 00:02:02:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so students and parents aren't checking your Instagram once and then deciding whether or not they're coming to your church or not. It's made up. This social fluency thing is made up of touch points and consistency and relevance. Okay, like for example, let's break this down. A parent sees your Bible verse post on your Instagram. Then later on that week they see your Wednesday night youth ministry recap and then a post from their kid.

00:02:02:18 - 00:02:32:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, that's trust built one scroll, one block at a time. That's what social fluency is. And so whether you're in the market for a tomato or a youth ministry, here's the kicker. These church ministry platforms and products that are, branded as done for you, they suck. Is that harsh? Well, maybe, but here's why. And I'm going to be honest with you, because I believe that it removes you, the youth pastor, from the equation.

00:02:32:26 - 00:02:58:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You are the connection. You are the relationship. And so when every single post looks the same, when every single post looks generic, when every post is downloaded in such a way that any youth ministry in the country in the world can use that product. It doesn't pack the punch that you want it to do. It doesn't build social fluency and you miss the nuances of your community.

00:02:58:22 - 00:03:21:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, I talked about it several episodes ago. I said, stop posting video announcements if you're here on YouTube, it's linked up at the top of the screen. But social is no longer about those slick ads. It's about being present and authentic, and it's about being human. But wait, you're busy. You have VBS this week. You have summer camp the week after that, and then you're taking a mission trip in the middle of the summer.

00:03:21:08 - 00:03:47:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I get it. Trust me, I'm a 15 year youth ministry veteran. Also trying to lean in to social media and hybrid ministry. In addition to that, on the weekly basis, you're leading games, you're preaching, you're planning summer trips. That is why I have built for you and for all youth ministries this summer. Social media kit. It is a 50% done for you like I was talking about, but it also has custom for you.

00:03:47:21 - 00:04:16:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So in the done for you category I have Bible verse reels. I have emoji phrase guesses, I have spiritual practice videos and I have what to do when you're facing blank carousel Bible based posts. I also have a full posting strategy that I recommend, and if you don't want to follow mine, then you can build your own. But then beyond that, then this is where I really believe it is the next level sort of pack because it's 50% custom done for you.

00:04:16:20 - 00:04:35:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I have devotionals where I'm telling you what to do, how to how to recap your most recent sermon. But if you don't have any ideas, I just give you a devotional script, read it, memorize it, go direct to camera and you are off to the races. I have interview style man on the street style questions with included graphics.

00:04:35:25 - 00:04:54:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So all you have to do is capture, put together and then overlay with the graphics that I have provided. I have transition hook style videos and I've included the first half of the videos. I've found them for you. All you have to do is shoot yourself, your leaders, your students, your pastor, whoever at the end of the video and invite someone to youth or to whatever event.

00:04:54:05 - 00:05:19:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then finally I have Bible trivia where I have included the graphics as well as the questions for you. So again, this is all very much the grunt work is handled the templates, the graphics, the prompts, and you can quickly swap yourself in to become the hero on your social media, to build that social fluency so that it'll be your voice, that it will be your photos, and that it'll be your vibe.

00:05:19:23 - 00:05:48:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You and your students and your leaders are still what is present on your social media content. Hey, youth pastors, church communications people, would you like to have your social media dialed in for the next 90 days? Especially with summer on the horizon? Listen, that's exactly what you're going to get with the summer and seasonal social media pack. It's a new product that I'm rolling exclusively on my Patreon.

00:05:48:16 - 00:06:09:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's three months of custom strategic content for less than $20, and this is built specifically for busy youth pastors like you who want to stay active on TikTok and Instagram Reels and YouTube without spending ten plus hours a month figuring out what to post. So here's what you're going to get. You're going to get 50% of the content completely done.

00:06:09:04 - 00:06:37:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's turnkey plug and play, post it and go. The other 50% is custom content for you to still shoot. However, I'm going to provide scripts and templates and frameworks so that your face, your students and your volunteers are who are seen on your social media feeds. This is not just pretty graphics. This is a full blown social media strategy for the next three months, designed by someone who knows both youth ministry and digital ministry.

00:06:37:20 - 00:07:01:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you're tired of scrambling for the cost of less than a pizza and frankly, more nourishing than a pizza, grab the seasonal social media pack today. Oh, and I almost forgot. Patreon members get it for free. You know this HubSpot, trends article? There's a quote that says A buyer's purchasing experience is made up of small connections over time.

00:07:01:24 - 00:07:23:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And quite frankly, that's the same thing that is true with students. A student's discipleship journey is built on these things called micro connections. And so in person that's youth group. That's high five, that's fist bumps, that's showing up at their football games. But we now have the advantage in a hybrid world to lean into the digital side of those relationships as well.

00:07:24:05 - 00:08:01:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Social posts, DMs, reels, stories. They're all digital handshakes. And so I encourage youth pastors to show up consistently, not perfectly, but just regularly and show up. And the way that you show up is by putting your voice, your face, and your ministry out there. And that is a way to build that social fluency. But with the summer social media pack, you're also not going to be burning out while you're still making those digital and in-person micro connections, because I've done it all for you.

00:08:01:07 - 00:08:25:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The fact of the matter is, social media in 2025, it's not optional. It's spiritual hospitality. And the thing is, the churches who get this social fluency, they will reach more people. They will reach more deeply. So do you want to crush it this summer without cloning somebody else's completely done for you scripted strategies and grab down below link in the description.

00:08:25:29 - 00:08:35:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The Summer kit, and you can take your social media to the next level. Well, don't forget my friends and as always to stay hybrid.

Episode 141: How I Plan Events with Kaylen Adams

Nick Clason — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500

This episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events.

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 How I Plan Events like a Pro!
01:10 Kaylen, who are you?
05:06 What Lanes did you own?
07:03 How can you help someone think?
08:07 How did you communicate?
11:54 How did you determine call times?
16:30 How do you recruit for an event?
20:05 How many jobs do you give a leader?
21:24 How do you calculate for food?
24:21 What Else?
26:28 What if my church doesn't do all that?
28:34 Keep People's Personalities in Mind

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For what is up everybody? Today I am going to introduce you and have you in for a treat, because I am going to be interviewing one of my friends and coworkers, Kaylen Adams, who's fantastic at event planning. This is going to be the start of a new little playlist series on my podcast, and here on YouTube, where I am going to introduce you to some of the people that I know who do things the best in youth ministry and particular lanes.

00:00:25:00 - 00:00:46:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And Kaylen is the queen of event coordination and event management. Not only is she like, really fun and have a really good mind, but she is fantastic at getting volunteers, recruiting them. And when a volunteer comes in just feeling like they know exactly what to do. And you will. If you implement these things, you will look like a rock star.

00:00:46:09 - 00:01:04:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're a typical youth worker who's not very organized, this episode is for you because it will help you and if you think that all hope is lost on you, then this is a great, podcast to send to a volunteer or a high level admin who might step in and help you with some of the logistical things, but you are in for a treat regardless.

00:01:04:10 - 00:01:31:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
With my interview today with my friend and coworker Kaylen Adams. What's up everyone? Here we are. I am with Kaylen Adams. Which yes, you don't even find that on your name on here because that's how that's how new this is. So it is formerly known as Maltais, not hyphenated. Straight up Adams. Which means you just got married and,

00:01:31:08 - 00:01:52:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you might not know Kaylen, but I know Kaylen. I worked with Kaylen. Worked in the past tense. We are still on staff together, but she has switched departments, so now she's in the kids department. And the reason I ask Kaylen on here is, what was it last weekend? Two weekends ago, we had our high school weekend.

00:01:52:02 - 00:02:14:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you still worked with me then, and, oh, my gosh, Kaylen crushed it. Like, you guys don't have any idea. And as she was, like, literally crushing every, like, logistical and administrative detail of the weekend, in the back of my mind, I was like, we got to get Kaylen on so I can ask her, how do you plan for these big events?

00:02:14:01 - 00:02:38:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So why don't you give us just kind of a quick overview? Kaylen, first of all, like a 20 or 30 second like synopsis of who you are, how we ended up working together. But then, like, what did you oversee, at these events? Like what particular? Like lanes and areas and avenues. And then I just think what you did is such a helpful tool to many of the youth passers that I've ever seen or worked with. And so I just think this would be helpful to get out, you know, to people. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:38:10 - 00:03:02:13
Kaylen Adams
So we've started working together because I, I went to college at the University of Wyoming and I got a degree in human resources management and entrepreneurship with minors in hospitality anthropology. There you go. So so that was. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did that.

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:29:13
Kaylen Adams
Fell in love with ministry there. And then around like my senior year, I learned the opportunity to do a residency in Texas, which I hate sweating. So my family was like, I was like, I think because I love Jesus, I don't know. So I applied and I ended up getting hired in January. And so after I graduated, I moved to Texas, and I did a residency at Cross Creek Church and guest services.

00:03:29:15 - 00:03:50:22
Kaylen Adams
But I love that, like ministerial aspect. And I still was kind of doing some of more of that support ministry with it. So needed and very, very special. Big shout out to everybody in support ministries. And so that's when I transitioned into students and I kind of brought a lot of my guest services and undergrad knowledge, which infuse that into what I was doing.

00:03:50:22 - 00:04:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And students. Yeah. So then like for the first little bit, I remember you're like, I don't really know exactly what you guys want me to do. And we were like, just keep doing like, I mean, like, you guys don't understand. Like, Kaylen was just she just knew what to do. Like, even if she didn't know what to do, she pretend like she knew what to do.

00:04:08:00 - 00:04:30:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And it seemed like she's known what she she's doing. But it was this last high school weekend where, like, you were pulling out, like, spreadsheets and folders and instructions and, even, like, I remember distinctly I was talking with you about our t shirt order number, and, like, our student registration was, like, lower than anticipated. And you were like, no, we're going to need this many t shirts.

00:04:30:06 - 00:04:50:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, why? And you're like, because of all of our volunteers. And I was like, do you really like, do you really think that? And your confidence, you're like, absolutely. And you were right, by the way. So what like lanes did you let's talk about specifically our high school weekend, which for those of you who don't know the context, it's like a D now without the spending the night element.

00:04:50:22 - 00:05:10:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's like two days on campus. Yeah. Like Friday night, Saturday until like 3:00. And so it's probably like our second biggest event next to, like, a thing like summer camp, right? So yeah, in that event, what particularly did you own, like, what were those areas? And I just want to ask you kind of pepper you questions.

00:05:10:02 - 00:05:33:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. In that in those arenas. Well so this was we originally had one winter we to middle school and high school. Was it split into middle school night high school. Well for middle school night Darren, the student pastor at Rush Creek pitched and I met my boss, so he. Yeah. So he did a lot of the the directional things for that division.

00:05:33:02 - 00:05:56:21
Kaylen Adams
And then programing. And I took everything else and like, did the logistics of the event planned it all. So by the time high school weekend came around, because I wasn't middle school night, so I didn't play a part at all, which is relevant because when we played high school night, we did a lot of the same stuff. We just like copy and paste a lot of the stuff that worked and made it a little more, for high school and that middle school.

00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:20
Kaylen Adams
Oh yeah. And then we had known, like, what worked and what didn't. So we're check in by the time we got to high school again. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, by the time we got there, Nick you did programing. So like everything that you were sitting in a session and watching and experiencing. Nick was all in of planning and talking to the people, like worship people and yeah, yeah, I did everything outside of that.

00:06:20:22 - 00:06:44:20
Kaylen Adams
So and how we move through the timelines, you know, when were kids eating, where were they going to be, what activities were they going to be doing. And then we had food making sure we had enough food, making sure. Yeah, we had t shirts. And there they were out and that, you know, we gave away a little like pin to all of our students, like, you made sure that that was where it needed to get and left, you know, passing out our note sheets and pens.

00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, I mean, you just you thought of like, every detail. So, like, I know your background helps you with that, but like, imagine you're talking to someone who's not as organized as you like. So you come by that naturally, which is what was just like a marvel to behold. But like what? What would you tell someone? Or how would you encourage someone to think if they're like planning something like that?

00:07:08:09 - 00:07:29:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? What's the way that you help us get inside your brain for some of the logistics?

Kaylen Adams
Well, when you're planning an event, yes, for a job, for ministry, ever. You write down all of your ideas like, no one is like, I'm just taking this all right here. I will accept it later. It's going to be there like you always write it down.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:54:20
Kaylen Adams
You make it through for you. And I just thought, you know, would probably be really helpful for a volunteers to see that map. Like, I don't know why I would keep it from them. They should know, like how we got from point A to point B, because by the time we're at point B and we're doing the thing, they deeply understand what they're doing and not only do what I'm telling them to do, they can actually take initiative and do the things that I missed.

00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:05
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so that's a huge part of it is just like, if I were a volunteer, what would I want to know? So I could do my job? Well, I feel good about it. Yeah. So then how how did you go about communicating? Like, did you have a meeting? Did you send them a text? Did you send them an email?

00:08:13:05 - 00:08:31:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? Because that's probably, I would imagine, a lot of stuff. And I think again, most youth pastors are like, I don't either have the time or be want to overwhelm my volunteers, or maybe see just another reason I didn't actually write it down. It is all in my head. So, I mean, I would say probably for all of us.

00:08:31:06 - 00:08:55:12
Kaylen Adams
Step one is get it out of your head onto paper somehow. And then two, how did you communicate it? Yeah. So I communicated a couple different ways. So the only time that I was texting volunteers instructions or anything was a, when I was recruiting them. Okay. I never sent them like, all the information they needed individually because I needed them all to be kind of in one part.

00:08:55:12 - 00:09:16:24
Kaylen Adams
So I knew who was getting one information and it always the same. Yeah. If I ever was giving instructions, it was in a group chat or a group of people that had a specialized role. Those came last minute. They weren't actually accounted for. Next time we did an event, I probably would account for them in advance. So I'm not texting information because for the smaller like you're saying, the.

00:09:17:01 - 00:09:51:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, the smaller, more specialized groups groupings of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like to create an escape room. We had game masters and we didn't know about that until like pretty close to the event. I probably would have included them into all the mass event communication before that time. Got it as okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So and then and then putting together all this information, I'm kind of stockpiling it in a folder called Volunteer Prep, and I'm organizing it by like, this document, they need to know this document.

00:09:51:02 - 00:10:11:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They need to know if they don't really need to know that, I'll pull it back. What are those documents? Can you give us just a few examples, like pull back the curtain a little bit?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So I'll make a volunteer schedule that's like five position. And then I sang people to that position per day. So it's not by time blocks, it's by day and what they're doing okay.

00:10:11:16 - 00:10:28:21
Kaylen Adams
And then I have a document a volunteer job description. They need to know what they're doing, why they're doing how they do it. Yeah. And then I do a document. If we're doing anything outside or in a weird space, I'll do an aerial map and I'll make, like, different stations and positions of where they're going to be.

00:10:28:23 - 00:10:51:09
Kaylen Adams
I'll give them a service order so they can see just how we do, how the whole day is going to go through. They even see like how different session parts are going to work, like what sounds work. It's going to do all the stuff because they help with transitions, like really help because it's easier to be like, hey, after they do a million little miracles, I need you to come out here rather than at 737.

00:10:51:09 - 00:11:11:20
Kaylen Adams
I need you to. Yeah. The more like more like, big landmarks on a map. Yeah. Once you get this song, then this is your cue to come out and help set up for lunch, like, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. That's why the service order is so important. And for them to see what's in Planning Center is for that.

00:11:11:20 - 00:11:34:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We updated everything for the whole event kind of revolves around that. And you're doing the same for your volunteers. And so because then I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, you're able to be like, hey, if you're in charge of lunch, like, these are your three areas or meals, I guess, like these are your three. So like Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, Saturday lunch.

00:11:34:07 - 00:11:56:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like at this time you need to be here for this. Because if we say lunch is at 12, let's say I'm imagining you're having your volunteer get there at 11:15 or 11:30 or something like that. So how do you real quick answer this question for me. How do you determine, what time to to call for them? Like, yeah.

00:11:56:10 - 00:12:18:11
Kaylen Adams
So when it comes to like food stuff because you're dealing with catering and vendors usually like I wouldn't have that start. So we had lunch at like, what was it this year? 12 I think it started and I don't remember the exact time. I just know we had it and it was ready. And that's why you're here. We had food dropped off at like 1115.

00:12:18:16 - 00:12:41:10
Kaylen Adams
Okay. So plenty of time. And most of that was not because I was worried about my volunteers because they knew what to do. And we're not in like the biggest space ever is to account for vendors being late or not knowing where to park and, stuff. Yeah. When it comes to other transitions, they're a lot tighter windows and they're a lot quicker usually it was like the song before something started.

00:12:41:10 - 00:13:04:10
Kaylen Adams
I would send them to go do something, but again, that's also because their space isn't really big and any materials they needed or resources. I set out in a central location, a table in the main space. We all were operating out of the auditorium, and I labeled everything with all the different times that it's going to be needed, and even put under, like during this song, you should take that, this place.

00:13:04:10 - 00:13:25:17
Kaylen Adams
So my volunteers knew to flock to that table when transition times are happening. Yeah, that was so good. So then are you. So you're just labeling those like yeah, color you label like for anything. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You label like crazy. If you think like oh that'd be really obvious for someone to know it's now you should label.

00:13:25:23 - 00:13:45:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Because again, your brain versus reality. Right. Like it makes sense in your brain, our brain as we're planning the events. But it might not make sense to volunteer. Yeah, because they're just dropping in. Right. You know. Yeah. After work. Right. They've been at work all day and their mind is in a million other places.

00:13:45:10 - 00:14:06:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so like, they're, you know, giving up their time and they're willing and they're helpful and all those things. But like I like that. I like what you're saying, like, almost, almost dummy proof it. Right? Not that they're dumb, but, like, make it so simple. Okay. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. Well, my volunteers, they do best when they're confident.

00:14:06:24 - 00:14:24:06
Kaylen Adams
When they're confident, they are empowered to take initiative, make decisions, do something really well when they're not confident in whether or not they're in the right place, holding the right thing, putting it where it should be. Then you have a lot of lag and you have a lot of like question. And that's when things start to like frame fall apart.

00:14:24:09 - 00:14:59:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So your job as an event coordinator is just to how can I give my volunteers the most confidence they need in this decision. That's good. Okay. So then anything else on what you tell volunteers? I want to maybe go a different direction if you feel like you've kind of got everything in that lack thing is leading up to the event, you want to send out the longest email of your life, and then is where all of the equipment I talked about keeping in that volunteer folder and you go through, you give an overview and you kind of describe how the event's going, and they need to read those attachments.

00:14:59:24 - 00:15:26:05
Kaylen Adams
I sent it all beforehand because that's our big meeting, and they can refer back to you and have in writing. And then by the time we are at the event, like 30 minutes an hour before the start, that meeting is a refresher or a question. That's not the entire meeting. Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing you did, which I thought was brilliant, was you, taped all those attachments to a wall of one of our leader workrooms.

00:15:26:07 - 00:15:47:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, yeah, if they didn't want to, you know, fight with their email to find it again, they could just go reference quickly off a printed copy. So again, you don't like you think about your dummy proofing it like, yes, you communicated it in the email. And this is one of the concepts I talk about in communication a lot is like, we live in like a Netflix culture, so people live it with like an on demand mindset.

00:15:47:10 - 00:16:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you sent it on like a Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but like, they were in the middle of like a business meeting. And so it wasn't in their mind then, but it will be in their mind when they show up on Friday at six. But like they've gotten 27 more emails since then and so. Oh yeah, where is that?

00:16:05:03 - 00:16:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think it's brilliant to put it somewhere just quick and accessible and maybe even another hack that we didn't even do or think about, but like maybe even having like a static like landing page or like QR code that they could like scan and pull open, like in a, just a tab in their safari. And then that gives them access to everything, you know, that they need.

00:16:24:23 - 00:16:58:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But yeah, I think that was that was so smart. So then how do you go about, like, help us get in your brain because, you know, you had a couple volunteers there that I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't have thought that they would be here. Not because they did, like a bad job or they're just they weren't like as maybe like involved or like, maybe they're only serving like once a month or once every other, week, like in our student ministry and like, you had the, like, in charge of, like, food or like certain like, you know, snack type areas, like, how did you go through and think, who am

00:16:58:15 - 00:17:16:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I going to recruit? Because I thought that was one of the other really special things was like, you asked a very particular or like, dedicated ask for like just very, again, very specific volunteers. You didn't I didn't feel like you did like an all call, though. You maybe you did to kind of pick up anyone who might be interested.

00:17:16:22 - 00:17:39:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But then I think you went particularly after, like certain names or certain individuals. How did you how did you like, think about them to, to ask them and like what goes into you? You know, determining this person would be good for that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely do an all call because, well, we are desperate for people to help.

00:17:39:13 - 00:18:06:02
Kaylen Adams
We're not gonna act like or not, but, honestly, I just kind of go with a philosophy of I'll never say no for somebody like, you know, I think sometimes we do that even if we say that we're not like, well, they only serve on Sundays and they're very particular about their job. And I'm like, yes. But they also probably like high school is I don't know, maybe the chances are, and so I just kind of like we always have conversations for like, oh, that person would be like, so good at this.

00:18:06:02 - 00:18:27:03
Kaylen Adams
Or if only they do it. And I usually take that person and then ask, yeah, like I make a list of all. Yeah. As I am planning events and I just keep people's personalities in mind like I, we see them work all Sunday and we see them work Wednesday. And you kind of see like what things kind of light them up and what things they're like, oh can I do anything else but that.

00:18:27:07 - 00:18:42:18
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so I just kind of catalog that and that way. And I do kind of mentally. But it wouldn't hurt to like make a list of people like I love reaching out to this person for this. This is this. And I've noticed that they've done events. We have volunteers that really get fired up for events like that.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:02:24
Kaylen Adams
Just being a part of a big beast of a programing thing, like kind of lights them up and exciting. And so I have people that I regularly reach out with, like Kyra Allen Love. She's one of our checking people. I remember when I came in, she was on like some sort of kind of understanding that she was only going to volunteer a couple times because she had some things going on.

00:19:02:24 - 00:19:26:20
Kaylen Adams
And I just remember, like, she was so stoked to do this back to school bash experience. That was like a Wednesday night special because, like, I definitely would love to do events and she's been my event checking person every single time I day. Yeah, yeah that's good. Yeah. She loves it. So you have like a you're very in tune to to them like just ongoing right.

00:19:26:20 - 00:19:44:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like you're keeping an eye as you're doing your job. And so that makes it easier obviously. Then when you go to to think and yeah I like that it is not creepy but it is. No. Yeah. But I think that's part of the that again I when I saw some of those people that was like interesting but also awesome and like that was all kudos to you right.

00:19:44:20 - 00:20:01:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like I'll kudos you because like I wouldn't have thought to ask that person. Like I would have thrown a link in our leader group chat. Hey, you know, want to volunteer? They did it. And now I'm desperate, you know? And, so yeah, I was we were more than fully staffed, you know, for. Yeah. And so that was the other thing.

00:20:01:11 - 00:20:20:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like how, like how many jobs do you try to give a leader? Like how many are you trying to, like, let people do double duty? Or like, hey, you're in charge of like, food and like, that's your job the whole weekend. Like, how do you make those decisions?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, some of our jobs, like, they feel very crucial and important because they are.

00:20:20:13 - 00:20:40:05
Kaylen Adams
But they're not crucial. Important in that they happen the entire time of the program. Like right there. Yeah. There are a window a very important window. But then and. Yeah, and you have to remember, when you're dealing with these volunteers, they're adults with full time jobs are like at the leaders, if they're they're at your event, they are high capacity.

00:20:40:07 - 00:21:01:24
Kaylen Adams
They don't do well, bored or sitting and doing nothing. They want to do something. And if they're doing something that morale is high and they'll probably do another event because they're like, that was awesome though. So yeah, it's good. Yeah. So I assign generally like 2 or 3 roles throughout the service order to people. So they're like constantly transitioning and moving to do so.

00:21:02:01 - 00:21:22:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And that comes back to your like schedule your map. And you're like you're thinking that ahead. Like okay. Do they after this window closes they can go to this, but then they maybe can't do this next thing because they're going to be busy doing that. Like, again, that's the next level stuff, Kaylen, that you're like, you're very good at.

00:21:22:02 - 00:21:44:02
Kaylen Adams
So, okay, so then, let's talk a little bit about like, food. Okay. How do you determine, how much to order? Like, is it just as simple as, like, as many as there are registered. How do you account for, like, walk ins at an event like this where we do leave registration open all the way up until you know, it starts.

00:21:44:02 - 00:22:05:20
Kaylen Adams
And so theoretically, a kid could walk in and do you have enough food for them, like how do you how do you kind of try and manage that or think about that? Yeah. It all it does depend on how, big of an invite event. This is like I think high school weekend was an invite like, but we didn't like push super hard and say like my friends going for it.

00:22:05:22 - 00:22:25:12
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So always keep that in mind. Yes. You keep the registration number, but you also want to account for all of the adults in the building. Don't forget yourself or your staff then volunteers. And if you're providing food for tech and worship or if they're doing their own thing so that all is in that number. Yeah.

00:22:25:14 - 00:22:49:00
Kaylen Adams
But registration, I just kind of. I don't want to have too big of a margin because then we're spending a lot of money on food. But things that I can give out is like door prizes, like pizza. I'm a little more willing to have extra of because we could have done or do to make their night, but like, same with, you know, because no one wants like a cold, soggy sandwich by the end of like 12 of them.

00:22:49:06 - 00:23:10:08
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. So I would be a little bit more tight on food like that. And also keep in mind that everyone's like, kids are so hungry they're going to eat three slices of pizza. You keep in mind the girls, because girls don't eat as much food as boys. And, like, I definitely like they're just there's camping retreat food.

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:32:14
Kaylen Adams
That is great because you're hungry, but it's not a lot of kids. First choice. Really like one of it. Yeah, they'll like maybe one and a half will split with a friend. Yeah. So just keep that in mind. Like the ratio is not as monstrous as you think. Yeah, I think the ratio I've tried to use for pizza is, two and a half times your number.

00:23:32:14 - 00:23:51:06
Kaylen Adams
So, like, think you're big number of all the people including tech and worship and check in and staff and everyone. And then you multiply it by two and a half. That'll give you the total number of slices that you need. And then you can divide that by eight, because that's how many slices of pizza are in, your pizza box.

00:23:51:06 - 00:24:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then that'll give you a number with a decimal. And you can either round up around whatever you, you know, feel. And what's really nice is like, you know, you do the random picker thing, like, with their name. And for those who don't know, you picked the names and then they just get a random prize for doing nothing.

00:24:06:03 - 00:24:22:03
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, that great. Pick that food leftovers too, because you don't want to bank on having extra if you're just kind of guessing because kids might be really hungry and you don't have it, and then you just lost a prize for a game. Yeah. So you want that to be like a random moment that if they don't get it, they have no idea.

00:24:22:05 - 00:24:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. All right. Let's see what else. What else do you what else do you think about for an event that I'm not thinking even to, like, ask you? Listen, you have to know if your church has any sort of, like, admin team, administrative volunteers that help put these things together with your operations at all, like your facilities and your finance people or whatever it might be.

00:24:48:04 - 00:25:09:00
Kaylen Adams
You need to meet with them, like way ahead of time. So I see way ahead of time. Yeah. So I start meeting with people. We've been cutting it kind of close and cutting it close to meeting two months in advance. Okay. So you need to some of us that might be like, oh, that's when I start thinking about it.

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:34:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. No. Especially if it's like a really big event. Which high school weekend is a really big event for us? We need to start planning that month in advance. And depending on, like, the capacity of your team, that could fluctuate a little bit. Like if it's just you and one other person, I would say probably start looking at that at like six months and having if you have a couple other people who can share that, you could maybe do a little bit less.

00:25:34:19 - 00:25:59:21
Kaylen Adams
But you definitely need to start meeting with administrative people on your church staff that are handling this, because their personalities are a lot different than yours. As a ministry person, you're used to pivoting and being creative and all the things and pulling it off at the last minute. Yeah, they are not. They love systems and processes and if you break their system, it's going to be really, really hard to get them to like be on the same wavelength with you.

00:26:00:01 - 00:26:22:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Good. Yeah, yeah. And like in our particular, you know, setting, we have like our facilities people like they set everything up for us, which is fantastic. But to your point, like, only if we're on top of it, if we slide in in the ninth hour and we're like, this is what we want, they're like, yo, we're already on to like, stuff for like later, next weekend.

00:26:22:11 - 00:26:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like we've already, you know, planned our day. So, you know, to her point like, and whether you know so like, here's the thing I do know if like you're listening, you're like, okay, I don't work at a church anywhere near that. Has any of that. Like, I am the operations, I am the admin. And what I would say is, lean into your volunteers if you're like that sounds fantastic.

00:26:43:23 - 00:27:15:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I would love that. But I don't have anyone that works for me with me on my team. Anything like that like that doesn't mean you can't do it, and it doesn't mean you still can't delegate and dish out. You just may have to do that more of like a volunteer capacity. So find a mother. Or like someone who, like, works in like an administrative like role that has a little bit of, bandwidth and margin and like, ask them, you know, like, I'm sure if I'm saying that many of you right now, as you're listening, you're like, oh, yeah, I could probably ask so and so, like that person's come into your mind like, let

00:27:15:12 - 00:27:33:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
that person be your Kaylen for your event. And like, yes, we had the luxury of like Kaylen being on our team payroll, but like, you know, it doesn't it doesn't, they don't have to be right. And like. Yeah, setting up you can. I mean, we employ teenagers, like, students to, like, come early and do stuff like that.

00:27:33:00 - 00:28:00:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, you know, we call them what we call them. Simps. Yet SMPs student is tone texting is for like, student oh my gosh. Okay. Do not disturb do that anyway. Ministry student minutes protege. Protege. Yeah yeah yeah. Protege. Yeah. And so anyway, we employ them, they, get free camp, and stuff like that, but they come early in, like, sets, set things up.

00:28:00:12 - 00:28:25:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, like, they can be like facilities team. So again, as we're saying it like, don't don't be like I had never be there like you for sure can like employ volunteers and people that'll do it for free. And they like to to Kaylen's point. Yeah they do. That might not be your gifting. And you're like, no one would ever want to run administrative or set chairs up like some people genuinely do.

00:28:25:02 - 00:28:47:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so don't rob other people of being able to serve your youth ministry, God's kingdom, whatever. By not asking them. What else Kaylen. Anything else or do we hit it all. I just would in mind people's personalities. You're going to have people who, when they're planning events, they just run just like that's just their personality and that's how they work best.

00:28:47:19 - 00:29:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so they're going to ask a lot of questions and they're going to want to meet with you last minute and their vibe might kind of like make you kind of thrown off because you're like, I thought we had all this plan. Why do you need to meet and double check? They've probably done a great job. They just want to make sure that they've done everything you need to help you.

00:29:06:14 - 00:29:25:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you have someone in your life who's like that, just remember, like, just have your questions kind of written out of what you know, that they text and have those input ready for them. And that's going to help those meetings a lot quicker. I had a at one churches I worked at, I had a volunteer like that.

00:29:25:20 - 00:29:47:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Her name was Sarah. And the way that I would think logistically when I was planning things because, like, I was a one man band, we had a church secretary 20 hours a week that served the entire church. Right. So, like, I could get some stuff, you know, to for her to do for the youth ministry, but not like she wasn't like, there to, like at my beck and call for everything.

00:29:48:00 - 00:30:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so as I was like dishing things off to volunteers and whatnot, like my, my filter in my head was always like, what would Sarah want to know? Right? It's I think that's a good like a good way to think about it is like, think about the volunteer who has the most questions for you. And then ask the question like, would the amount of information that I'm sending up, would it satisfy that person?

00:30:12:16 - 00:30:37:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if yes, then you're on the right track. If not, then you probably need more detail. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Cool. Kaylen, is that it? Do we hit it? Yeah. There's our all events for future and for always going to be planned, do you think? I think I think so well, yeah probably. All right. Well hey, this was how I plan events with Kaylen.

00:30:37:14 - 00:30:57:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not Morty's Kaylen Adams. And, she's awesome. So, Kaylen, I mean, like, can people, like, follow you, like, on social media or anything if they want to? Yeah. Yeah. Where, where where can they find you? It's funny. I have to, like, go double check. Well, I can't fake my name. Oh, wait. What is it? Now that I just had to change my social media handles?

00:30:57:18 - 00:31:22:13
Kaylen Adams
Because I just got mail? I know well, and Instagram is actually really hard to change your last name on, so it hasn't been changed yet. My handle, but my name on there stage so you can find me at K Maltese Underscore on Instagram. It's cmake lta s underscore on Instagram Facebook Palin Adams look me up. I think that's all in I'm on because I'm old and TikTok that's okay.

00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's banned anyway. So actually it's back. I don't know if you heard but oh all right people. Well I'm signing off for Kayla and this is Nick. Talk to you next time. Stay hybrid guys.

Episode 120: Holy Clicks: How Churches are Winning Social Media

Nick Clason — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 05:00:00 -0500

🔥 [FREE] Hybrid Ministry Strategy Guide🔥

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

💥[CUSTOM] Hybrid Coaching💥

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

💥Church Comms Done for You💥

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms
======================================
DESCRIPTION
Pastor, would you like to reach 300,000 people?
Maybe you don’t even want virality, you just want to be relevant online, to serve guests and your existing church members
Whatever the reason, I wonder…
Which components of your discipleship strategy are digital?
Are any?

======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/120

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//CHURCH COMMS FOR YOU
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

//PRACTICING THE WAY
https://www.practicingtheway.org/

//NIEUWHOF’S TRENDS ARTICLE
https://careynieuwhof.com/church-trends-2024/

//SIX QUESTIONS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF HYBRID CHURCH (BARNA)

https://shop.barna.com/products/6-questions-about-the-future-of-the-hybrid-church-experience?srsltid=AfmBOoomc4T_IhhEA4LgSwQLS6vEyqvHIDhmcDu_2kJ6Jamc90xMu0vD

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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Pastor, Want to Reach People Better?
01:46 Church's Lack of Online Innovation
03:24 My FREE Guide to Digital Ministry
03:46 Eye-Popping Statistics about Millenial and Gen Z Church Attendance
05:46 Custom Hybrid Coaching
07:23 The Online Funnel
08:45 Church Communications Done for You

--------------
✍️TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Pastor, church leader. Would you like to reach 300,000 people? I mean, maybe you would.

00:00:07:29 - 00:00:19:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
but maybe that's not even your goal. Maybe when you think about online ministry and digital approaches to church, maybe virality isn't your goal. Maybe you just simply want to serve your

00:00:19:21 - 00:00:22:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
guests and your members really well.

00:00:22:28 - 00:00:31:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Whatever the reason is, I wonder which components of your church and of your discipleship strategy are

00:00:31:22 - 00:00:32:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
digital.

00:00:32:16 - 00:00:34:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Are there are there even any? You know,

00:00:34:28 - 00:00:41:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Carey Nieuwhof recently wrote this about the church's sometimes archaic approach to to church and to discipleship. He said

00:00:41:27 - 00:00:58:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
most churches approach it like this. Let's just get people in our building. Let's just get people in the room, and then we'll figure out how to disciple them. Well, in this episode, what I want to do is I want to share with you how churches are reaching people, specifically young people, online.

00:00:58:19 - 00:01:13:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm also going to share with you some eye opening statistics about generation Z and millennials and their church attendance, and how that should frame your solution to the online and digital conundrum. But stick around to the end of the video, because I have a

00:01:13:01 - 00:01:19:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
solution that's going to cost you next to nothing that can maximize your impact online.

00:01:19:09 - 00:01:19:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey there

00:01:19:23 - 00:01:38:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
everyone! My name is Nicholas, and if you and I haven't had a chance to meet yet, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. I've been in youth ministry for 14 years, and thus I've also been in digitally integrated ministry for 14 years. And in recent years I have upped the ante on that. And I have gone all in on digital and content marketing

00:01:38:14 - 00:01:43:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
in the context of church and in the context of youth ministry.

00:01:43:02 - 00:02:14:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So I'm so excited to have you here. Let's hop in. You know, there are churches, believe it or not, out there like church home like Life Church that are reaching thousands of young adults and they're doing it online. In fact, John Mark Comber has a delivery system for discipleship resources in his Discipleship Resource Delivery system is 100% through his digital platform called Practicing the Way You Know in the article link down below that I am referencing that Karen you have talked about.

00:02:14:13 - 00:02:16:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
He said this. He said after a

00:02:16:00 - 00:02:40:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
brief period for churches of innovation with all kinds of online ministries, churches offered during Covid when it first hit, most churches have toggled back to simply stream their weekend services and using social media to either share last week's service or to advertise their next service. Live streaming your weekend service taps about 1% of the potential that online ministry has to offer.

00:02:40:29 - 00:02:59:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I would imagine if you're in church or in pastoral ministry, you probably feel as though you don't have time, especially when it pertains to digital and especially when it pertains to online, because it can just be a totally new skillset, and entering into a new skill set is never a fun phenomenon, because you gotta learn so many things.

00:02:59:27 - 00:03:22:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So give me a like, if any of these things that I'm about to share are things that you've had to do within the past week, give me. Like if you've had to write a sermon or enter into a counseling appointment, or if you've had to focus on community outreach of sorts, or heaven forbid, give me a like if you've even had to do some administrative duties, I should have hundreds of likes on this video.

00:03:22:29 - 00:03:36:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
At this point, I want you to give me a subscribe. If you instantly think to yourself with all those to do, how in the world am I supposed to make social media and digital a priority? I have some good news for you. Link down below is my completely

00:03:36:05 - 00:03:41:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
free full strategy guide. It's how I grew our channels and had to how

00:03:41:14 - 00:03:45:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I approach social and digital media here in the context that I'm in.

00:03:45:12 - 00:04:11:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're watching here on YouTube, in the article that I link down below, you can also go check it out. Carey Nieuwhof is the millennial generation is now squarely your church's main focus. Or it should be because, church attendance has gone up. For millennials, it's higher than gen X and it's higher than boomers. Furthermore, according to a study done by Barna a couple of years back, millennial church goers said this.

00:04:11:02 - 00:04:26:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They said hybrid church just as much as physical church will be a good this good fit for them. Furthermore, I want to share some of these statistics with you. If you're watching here on YouTube, you can see them, but it says, the question was,

00:04:26:22 - 00:04:33:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
do you use the internet for faith purposes? Do you use the internet as a faith supplement?

00:04:33:08 - 00:05:00:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do you use the internet as a substitute for physical church church? Gen Z, unsurprisingly, was the highest, with 67% using it for faith purposes. 56% using it as a faith supplement, and 58% using it as a substitute for physical church. Millennials were next, with 64% using it for faith purposes. 46% as a faith supplement, and 51% as a substitute for physical church and then church.

00:05:00:09 - 00:05:14:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Gen X and boomers go 58 and 42 for faith purposes, 45 and 32 for a faith supplement, and 44 and 40 for a, substitute for physical church. And I share all of

00:05:14:00 - 00:05:22:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
those to say is that the strategy of let's just get them here in the room is not going to work anymore, and you can try that.

00:05:22:21 - 00:05:46:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's fine. And I get why we would be prone to want to do that, because in this same article by Barna, the, future of the hybrid church, which I'll link down below in the shownotes if you want to check that out. Purchase product, but it's fantastic. It's fantastic. There is a, there is still a desire to gather together, which is why it's I like to call it hybrid.

00:05:46:07 - 00:06:08:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's not just digital. It's not just what we had during Covid, which was only digital. Right? It's it's digital plus in person. So in-person still has, a job to do. And so what I want to offer to you is you can grab my free e-book, but if you get in there and you're like, I don't know what's best for us, and we'll let you know about some custom coaching that I have to offer.

00:06:08:22 - 00:06:29:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
My custom coaching is four sessions long. $50 per session will be $200 out of your overall budget, which is absolutely pennies in the in the drop in the bucket in an overall church size budget. But if you know, even that is too much, reach out. We can make something work. But the reason that custom coaching is important is because every context is different.

00:06:29:10 - 00:06:53:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I can tell you what I'm doing here in DFW, Dallas-Fort worth area, to reach, in my context, Gen Z or young, you know, basically almost done with Gen Z to Gen Alpha. But and that might be helpful because if you're managing church social media for an overall church, like, well, we're doing is very going to be very cutting edge for, you know, like older Gen Z and even like millennials.

00:06:53:12 - 00:07:15:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But every church in every context and every geographical area is a little bit different. I was recently, coaching another guy, and, my typical like, strategy, I changed it and tweaked it a little bit for him because he was doing things just a little bit differently. His context was a little bit different, and his role was a little bit unique compared to what I typically would tell people to do.

00:07:15:01 - 00:07:34:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so even I was, you know, thinking through and adjusting my model. And so it's important because everyone in every place is different. And so you can get my free guide and you can use what works, you know, for you out of that. But if you want to even tap in just a little bit further to some of the uniqueness of every context, that's where customized coaching comes in.

00:07:34:03 - 00:07:58:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because here's the thing. For you and for me and for all of us, like, my like, general strategy is simply, walking down a funnel of posting short form content, silly content, as well as spiritual content, and hopefully gathering an audience with that and then pushing them to, like a long form version of some more serious spiritual content, which is what we do in our youth ministry.

00:07:58:18 - 00:08:27:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We pre film our messages and we adapt them and make them specific for YouTube. You know, we do that versus like a live stream type of thing. As Kerry New study said. This said the challenge is the future is to diversify what you offer online and distinguish it from what you offer in person. So not only is that going to create true options, New Life continues on to say, but it will deepen engagement as your in-person and online ministries lean towards what each does best.

00:08:27:07 - 00:08:44:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, beyond. Just like your message content, beyond your weekly sermon, so to speak, that are also going to live online, whether that's live stream, which I would argue is not as good as a pre filmed version, but it's still better than than nothing. You can also lean into things like courses and those types of things.

00:08:44:28 - 00:09:04:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then the final piece is this is like as I say, all this and there's, you know, maybe a minute ago you gave me that sub because you were like, dude, there's just too much to do. And even with some custom coaching, there's still going to be a lot on your plate. You're 100% right. There is. There's still a lot of work to do, which is what I want to offer to, to some of you might be worth it.

00:09:04:13 - 00:09:26:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Budget wise, communications done for you. It's a service that I offer. And I will run your website. Or I will do graphics and video, or I will run your YouTube and social media. Each of those different buckets and categories is a different price point. Or you can bundle them all together for, a different price point link down below to inquire about that.

00:09:26:25 - 00:09:31:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But let me just tell you that it is a 10th of the cost of a

00:09:31:25 - 00:09:39:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
full time staff person. If you were to hire me and contract me to do communications for you and for your church and for your ministry,

00:09:39:18 - 00:09:47:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
because there's so much on your plate and you just you, you want it, but you don't have the time or bandwidth or desire maybe even to learn it.

00:09:47:05 - 00:10:02:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I understand that. And at some point it's just worth it, you know, to just get it off of your plate. And if that you're in that zone and you don't want the coaching, you don't want to learn via the e-book, then great. Then check out what I have to offer communications for you. I will do things like inspect your website.

00:10:02:26 - 00:10:09:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I will optimize your search engine optimization. I will make your website as visitor friendly as possible.

00:10:09:03 - 00:10:09:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you

00:10:09:13 - 00:10:42:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
want to go in the graphics route, I can do graphic design for you. I can do series and events and pre screen and print graphics and all those types of things. Get those pesky jobs off of your plate. And if you want to optimize your church's social media, live stream or YouTube profile messages, we can, do thumbnails, we can title the video, we can optimize the tags for search engine optimization and create chapters so that people can jump around in your videos, create playlists and online courses, and also create post shorts for your social

00:10:42:24 - 00:11:04:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
media. Whatever works best and whatever you want done for you. All of it is linked down below in the description or in the show notes. I'd love to have you check those things out, but again, I appreciate you being here and listen. It is. The future of the church is online. It's not only online, but are you? A wide portion of it is.

00:11:04:07 - 00:11:27:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the fact is, the more capacity and bandwidth that you have to take it there, the more effective I believe you will be to maximize your reach and your influence. So continue to pursue reaching people for Jesus. Continue to pursue the call and the assignment in which God has placed you, particularly right now in this season. And don't forget, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 060: 📲 Why Every Youth Ministry Needs a Strong Social Media Presence 📲

Nick Clason — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 04:00:00 -0500

📲 Why Every Youth Ministry Needs a Strong Social Media Presence 📲

In this episode we'll give you a COMPLETELY FREE Done for you, reproducable month long social media posting tool and stratgey framework. Just copy and paste this month after month for a strong social media presence in your church's youth ministry!
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https://amzn.to/44YyZlT

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, it's crucial for every church to embrace the power of social media. Whether you're a small local congregation or a thriving mega-church, marketing the church effectively can help you connect with your community like never before. We'll be discussing tried-and-true marketing church strategies that include utilizing social media platforms to create a strong online presence. From crafting compelling content that resonates with your audience to developing a comprehensive church social media strategy, we've got you covered.

Looking for innovative church social media ideas? Look no further! Our channel is your go-to resource for church social media management tips and tricks. We'll guide you through crafting a church social media policy that ensures your online presence aligns with your church's values and mission. With our insightful videos, you'll learn how to become a proficient church social media manager or even explore the option of bringing in a dedicated professional. Together, let's unlock the potential of social media for churches and take your ministry to new heights. 🌟

Don't miss out on our game-changing advice for creating the best church social media strategy. We'll provide you with customizable church social media templates and actionable steps to execute a flawless plan. If you're wondering how to effectively use social media to extend church invites and foster engagement, we have the answers you need. Join us as we delve into real-life examples, including the social media strategy of renowned churches like Elevation Church. Prepare to elevate your church's online presence and witness the incredible impact it has on your youth ministry and congregation as a whole. Subscribe now and embark on your journey to a Strong Digital Presence for your church's youth ministry! 🎉🏛️

📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/060

//NPR ARTICLE
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/17/1175452002/church-closings-religious-affiliation#:~:text=Estimate%3A%20In%202019%2C%20the%20year,opened%20and%204%2C500%20churches%20closed.

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT EPISODE
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/033

//FINDINGS FROM BARNA E-BOOK
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/006

//SIX FINDINGS FOR THE HYBRID CHURCH EXPERIENCE
https://shop.barna.com/products/6-questions-about-the-future-of-the-hybrid-church-experience

//PEW RESEARCH ARTICLE:
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/attendance-at-religious-services/

📱NICK'S SOCIAL MEDIA RESOURCES
SPIRITAL PRACTICES TIKTOKS
•https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/spiritual-practice-videos/social-media/instagram-8804.html

INSTAGRAM TOOLS
•https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/instagram-slider-engagement-tool-vol-1/social-media/instagram-8118.html
•https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/instagram-stories-slider-tool---hot-takes-edition/social-media/instagram-8034.html

ALL RESOURCES
•https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/featured-authors/nick-clason/?cgid=shop-nick-clason&q=nick+clason&start=18&sz=18

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

🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-02:19 Intro
02:19-10:18 How can our church be more relevant for Gen Z & Gen Alpha?
10:18-21:52 Why youth ministries need to post their messages to YouTube
21:51-25:05 40 Done for You Social Media Posting Ideas
25:05-26:50 Where to get all these resources?

✍️TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:00):
Well, hey, everybody. In this episode, we are going to answer this question why I believe every single youth ministry needs a strong social media presence. We're going to look at some trends, some statistics, and share with you why now is the time to double down, to engage and to make social media and a digital presence important in your church's student ministry. Well, everyone, if you and I have not had a chance to meet, my name is Nick Clason. I am an actual youth pastor in the D F W Dallas-Fort Worth area, host of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast. So welcome to that. Excited to have you with us. We are going to dive into some statistics and some, some trends and some quotes, and I got all kinds of fun stuff. If you are not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, hit that subscribe button, hit that notification button, hit that like button.

Nick Clason (00:57):
All those things help us get seen by other people who also need to hear this message about the importance of digital and student ministry in your church in 2023 and honestly, far beyond. So excited to have you with us. Hey, I also wanna let you know we got a couple of freebies. So link down below in the description in the show notes. If you're listening on a podcast, hit those up. We got your free ebook on how to create a complete TikTok from scratch. And in this episode, we are also going to, with that exact same link, we are going to drop another free done for you social media structure plan, um, 40 free videos, your social media plan. I'm gonna give it to you for you and for your youth ministry. Make it happen, download that ebook. Also, if you are a video editor and you use Adobe Premier Pro, we have some free presets for you so that you can use those Adobe Premier Pro presets in your editing.

Nick Clason (01:52):
Completely free, super easy to use, just want to encourage you to check those things out, uh, a like rating, subscribe, all those things. We are on TikTok, we are on Instagram. We are all the places. Hit the description, YouTube, hit the link in the show notes on a podcast. But without any further ado, let's hop in and let's dive in to the topic of why every youth ministry needs to have a strong social media presence. Let's go. So I was recently reading through, uh, the comment section of YouTube channel, and I saw this question and I thought it was fascinating, and I thought that it was worth exploring the question read like this, what elements can we bring into our service and our church, whether innovative or just a mood that increases our relevancy to Gen Z and Alpha? It may cost us discomfort, but we are willing to stretch.

Nick Clason (02:44):
First of all, I love the notion here that we are willing to stretch understanding that the times that we are in with Generation Z and generation alpha, gen Z, um, most people are saying, uh, the old, the, the youngest of them are born 2010, uh, on up through young adulthood. Now they're in their twenties, mid twenties or so just now graduating college, just now getting started to, um, have a career. And in addition to all of that, joining your church force for the first time. And so if you're in youth ministry, gen Z is not in your youth ministry. Uh, maybe like your high school we would say is, is Generation Z, gen alpha, um, eighth grade, seventh grade or so, right in that range. Um, down on through, uh, having been born between, uh, 2010 and 2025. So some of them aren't even born all the way yet.

Nick Clason (03:35):
They're in the kids' ministry, but they're waving on up. So Z and alpha are so, so completely different. I wanna share just some, some kind of state of Gen z state of gen alpha statistics with you. But those things are gonna help us frame this conversation about why social media is so important for the next generation. A lot of churches have a social presence and it operates as their outreach arm, their evangelism, uh, branch of their ministry, so to speak. And I, I think that is a great tactic and a great tool, and if you're not doing that, you definitely should. However, that being said, I think there are also opportunities to, um, promote discipleship growth, theological and spiritual connection and commitment, not only with each other, but also just with connection to God's word. And so I want to dive into some of those things, but before we do that, let's look at who Gen Z and who Gen Alpha are, what we know about them, what some of our learnings are, and what we can kind of like take from that and how that's gonna help us frame this conversation.

Nick Clason (04:38):
So, uh, over here, before we dive into that though, over 4,000 churches close their door yearly, over 4,000 churches. This from npr.org. Um, and the estimate is this, in 2019, the year before the pandemic, before the pandemic, keep that in mind. So the pandemic was already, or, or was, or was going to be hard on people. This right here, right? Like this is pre pandemic, more Protestant churches closed than opened in the us. Um, 2014, 4,000 churches opened, and 3,700 churches closed 2019. Then that number started to shift and get a little bit more. And so churches are slowly becoming, um, starting to close at a rate greater than their opening. And you know that with that trend over time, that's going to make churches more and more obsolete, less and less relevant. Now, is that because Generation z generation alpha don't want to go to our church, perhaps, and there may be some things worth learning, but why?

Nick Clason (05:45):
And where does social media play into this? I'm gonna give you that in a second. But first, 56% of Generation Z claim to be Christian. And you might think, oh, that's pretty good. That's encouraging. I thought that might be lower. I did. However, 25% of Gen Z claim to have no faith at all. James Emery White wrote a book called The Rise of the Nuns. And this is that trend right here being played out. This is the highest classification of no religion at all by any generation. Gen Z, millennials, Xers, boomers, all the things. Gen Z the highest at 25% claiming to actually have no faith whatsoever. Furthermore, the five biggest terms, when, when, uh, this is done by a study from Barna, the five biggest terms that Generation Z used to describe their faith were these five growing at 47%, open at 38%, curious at 35%, spiritual at 33%, and then exploring at 32%.

Nick Clason (06:48):
And so what that tells me is that Gen Z, while they may have a classification, right, of not having religion, um, not claiming one at all, they are open and they are willing and they are curious. And so I think that pairs well and creates a really good kind of groundwork and ecosystem for us as student ministry leaders and personnel to, uh, continue to answer some of their questions. Here was where this gets fascinating, and I think personally where the rubber meets the road. In response to this statement, Barna said, Hey, the statement is this. The church does not answer my questions. 13% said that that statement was completely true. 13% said the church does not answer my questions 24%. That's somewhat true. So more true than not that the church doesn't answer their questions, um, 28%, somewhat not true. Uh, so, uh, it's getting a little bit better.

Nick Clason (07:46):
And then 35% said that's, that's not true at all. Okay? What I wanna highlight and kind of pull out there is that 37%, almost four out of 10 people would say that the church doesn't really answer their questions yet. However, they would classify themselves as growing, open, curious, spiritual, and exploring. And so if there's an opportunity for the church to lean into a demographic that is curious, open exploring, um, asking questions, why would we not answer those questions? Well, I hear your rebuttal on the other end of the camera, right? Well, I, I am handling those, uh, questions I am asking and answering big questions through my teaching series, through my bible studies, through my devotionals, and that's great. However, pew Research recently said that 58% of evangelical protestant church attenders attend church get this at least one time a week, 58%. So that means out of your, uh, your a hundred percent membership, people who call your church your student ministry home, only six out of 10 are actually coming on a week to week basis to even hear that teaching.

Nick Clason (09:00):
Also, Warren Bird, on our last podcast, we, I, I shared some, some snippets from Warren Bird, uh, but Warren Bird says this, he says, people tend to over exaggerate when it comes to this question. When it comes to their church attendants. They overinflate the numbers, right? They want to look better perhaps than they actually are. And if 58% are actually attending at least one time a week, then there's this to keep in mind that there are still 40% who of their own admission and of their own classification are not hearing your weekly messages unless they're actually there because only 58% are attending at a week to week sort of clip. And so what should I do about that? You're asking, you're like, I am trying to answer their questions. They say they're open, they're spiritually engaging. This is where I think that all churches, especially all youth ministries, should be posting their weekly message content.

Nick Clason (09:55):
And you should be doing so uploading to YouTube. Okay? Here's the thing. You probably already have a soundboard that you're using in your room, and if you do, in most cases, you're able to add a minimum capture the audio, and you can start uploading that to podcasts. But YouTube is king right now, and I wanna share with y'all why after this. So here's the reality. If you head back into the archives of any of my podcasts, YouTube videos, um, we talk a lot about YouTube, in fact, episode, um, 33 http://www.hybridministry.xyz/033, link in the description link in the show notes talks about how to start a YouTube channel completely with links to all the gigs that you're gonna need and how to do that directly off of your phone. It will help you upgrade your audios just ever so slightly. I am now using, I got a couple lights here.

Nick Clason (10:49):
I got a camera that I'm recording off of. I'm also going to drop here in just a couple weeks, probably next week. Um, a a complete gear rundown of us after a year of YouTube upgrading our camera equipment. And I say a year, I look at my watch here, which actually gives me my date today as I record. This is July 31st. We officially launched our YouTube channel at the student ministry that I work in, in January 1st of this year because we, our church changed their name. And so I was holding the YouTube channel to launch along with the name change and all that stuff. We, so far this year on YouTube have posted well over, um, I think it's over 200 videos. Um, I'm trying to go to it right here on live, that auto channel player player, oh, 399 videos. I just uploaded a short this morning, uh, by this afternoon, I'll post my second short.

Nick Clason (11:42):
We'll be at video number 400 since January 1st of this year until now, July 31st. We are currently at 202 subscribers. Not crazy numbers, not anything that you wanna write home about necessarily. But if you had the opportunity to reach 200 additional people in your student ministry or in that 202, there are probably people who, well, I do know this. There are students who subscribe to our channel. There are parents who subscribe to our channel. Would you not want the opportunity to speak to those people? And that's the key, right? If Pew Research says only 58% of people are attending church once a week, then YouTube offers you an opportunity to share that message with them. But why YouTube? 3.48 billion people according to Hootsuite, roughly 45% of the world's population use social media. That's where they are millennials, which is not necessarily our target demographic. That's us as the youth pastors.

Nick Clason (12:39):
However, this is a trend worth watching because millennials are setting the pace, I think for some of these younger generations. Millennials say that they prefer YouTube to traditional tv two to one. That's crazy to me. I don't, but that's how millennials are, are consuming it. And that's also how Gen Z and Gen Alpha are consuming it. I had a kid yesterday walk up to me and I was recording some videos for some of our social media stuff, and he's like, oh, I wanna do it. I wanna do it. Look, I have a YouTube channel. I have over a thousand subscribers, and I was low-key jealous of him. 'cause that's my goal right now is to get my channel up to a thousand subscribers. I was like, no, you don't. Let me see. And he showed me, and he is just doing like goofy Minecraft tutorials and stuff like that.

Nick Clason (13:17):
He has 1.1 K subscribers via his YouTube channel. It is bunkers. Uh, also check this out, 51% of YouTube users say that they visit YouTube, get this daily. So why should we be on YouTube for all of those reasons? So if you wanna know how to start your own YouTube channel as a church, as a student ministry, you definitely should hit up episode 0 3 3 link in the show notes for that, and we will help make that happen. Um, help you get the gear and all that type of stuff going. Now, here's the thing in our context, this is why I want you to hear this in our context. We are in a large auditorium space. We have a soundboard, but it's not retrofitted and it's not graded to livestream. Okay? Our big church auditorium is, but our main service is not. And so because I didn't, uh, we're gonna be delivering live messages and, um, I, I also wanna post to YouTube.

Nick Clason (14:09):
I had to have a kind of like reconciling moment. What I decided was I was gonna do video. If you're watching our YouTube right now, it's just like this direct to camera. I'm talking directly into the camera with a scripted teaching video. We've got a teleprompter. It goes right in front of the camera here and it scrolls and you can watch it and you can read your notes and you can deliver a message with a YouTube hook that's hopefully engaging, um, with video, uh, lower thirds, uh, text that'll bounce in, bounce out sound effects. You can weave in other clips, B-roll, all that type of stuff. But it's made for YouTube. It's not just a camera perched in the back of the room, which is what most of us do for time reasons. And here's why that's important. In episode six of this podcast, me and my previous co-host, Matt Johnson, looked at some of the findings of the Future Church.

Nick Clason (15:00):
Um, this was from Barna. They, they dropped an ebook a little over a year ago called Six Questions About the Future of the Hybrid Church Experience. We pulled out some stats, we chatted about it. I'll drop the link to that episode in the show notes. I'll also drop the link to the Barna ebook in the show notes if you wanna explore more about that. But I wanna 0.2 things out to you from that ebook. It says, 60%, 60% of those participating in church that offer an online service during the pandemic say that this is the only digital offering that the church makes, their live stream of their service. And furthermore, 63% of church adults believe that the church should use digital resources for the purposes of spiritual formation and disciple discipleship. 63% of churched adults, not Gen Z, not gen alpha, the church adults in this classification.

Nick Clason (15:55):
So this is millennials, this is Xers, this is even maybe some boomers giving us some of this data. Um, according to this ebook, they have a quote in there that says, churches, if if churches more than a building, can digital ministry be more than a sermon? And I would contend the answer to that is unequivocally yes. We're gonna dive into the nitty gritty, the tactical, and give you a free downloadable resource on how stick around for that. But before we do, I wanna drop one more eye-opening thing out of this ebook. It said, this faith, this is, uh, a stat I'll, I'll put the, um, graph on YouTube if you're following and watching there. Faith expression during the pandemic, the question was, do you use the internet? The percent answered yes. Um, there are three categories practicing Christians, church, adults, and dropouts. 66% of practicing Christians say that they use, uh, faith, uh, in the internet.

Nick Clason (16:48):
They use the internet for faith practices during the pandemic at 66%. Church adults at 56%. And dropouts, even those who've dropped out at 36% say that, um, as a faith supplement, 52% of practicing Christians, 42% church adults, and 30% of dropouts as a faith supplement. And then as a substitute for physical church, 50% of practicing Christians say that 46% of church adults say that. And 30% of dropouts would claim that. In addition, they broke that out, uh, with, uh, a deeper classification of church, gen Z Church, millennials, church Gen X, and church boomers, obviously, no surprise to you, gen Z was the highest of that. 67% as, um, for faith purposes, 56% as a faith supplement and as a substitute for physical church, uh, that was at 58%. So Gen Z, and mind you, this was old enough. So at least 18 years of age Gen Z.

Nick Clason (17:43):
So that's not counting kids in our youth ministry. And that's not counting Alpha, 'cause none of them were old enough to be pulled on survey. So if it's that high in churched adult Gen Z, how much more for the teenagers in your youth ministry? Uh, James Emery White has a quote out of his most recent book, hybrid Church, rethinking the Church in a post-digital age said the vision. This vision, talking about the metaverse, this vision led Zuckerberg, c e o of Facebook to change the name of its company to Meta. Zuckerberg described a grandiose vision of a metaverse as an even more immersive and embodied internet. When or where you're gonna be able to do almost anything that you can, uh, imagine, get together with friends and family, work, learn, play, shop, create as well, uh, as entirely new categories that don't even fit how we think about computers or phones today.

Nick Clason (18:37):
If you, uh, wanna reference point, think of the movie Avatar. The Metaverse would be a shared social space where avatars represent users, a world that avatars interact and inhabit. And in that metaverse, you could own virtual property just as you would physical property or even create, uh, your, even create your own virtual property. Not to mention, you can buy and sell property. The last step in achieving all this would be a full three D telepresence v uh, via VR or AR glasses. Hubo technology is a technology company that manages hybrid and virtual events, predict that soon events will be, um, less about chronology and speakers and more about exploration and interaction. That quote right there is worth weight in gold. Um, I, and I'm just kind of picking it up 'cause I read this at 1:00 AM last night, the end of a standard webinar is coming near and being replaced with live streaming VR entertainment and Oculus Rift parties.

Nick Clason (19:34):
What Emory White says is this, and this is what made me pull this quote out. Needless to say, the internet is not gonna be flat for too much longer. And why do we want to do this for Gen Z and Gen Alpha? This is the internet that they are going to be ushering in and growing up in. They're spending time on the internet, on their phones. And while there are, uh, digital hygiene things that we as youth pastors need to model and teach our students to do, I think gone are the days of just, Hey, no phones. Like, yeah, that's easier. And we all know that like reducing our technology use helps us. However, you got a new kid walking into your student ministry, are you really gonna take his phone and lock it up in a locker and tell 'em you can't have it until the end?

Nick Clason (20:18):
Is he coming back after his first week of visiting your church? Probably not. But if you help teach students, Hey, here's technology, here's resources. Here's a way that you can grow in your faith beyond the walls of this sermon and service while I'm up here trying to answer your questions, but give you more to study with because this is what I was studying this week as I was preparing this content. And here's something for you. Here's a P D F, here's a checklist, here's a devotional, here's a prayer guide, whatever the case might that's gonna help students grow in their faith. And all of that can exist and live on your digital platforms. In particular YouTube. But wait, I'm so busy, but wait, I don't have time. I'm already preparing messages. I'm sitting in meetings. I'm running C c b or I'm running church data management reports.

Nick Clason (21:05):
I don't have an admin. I used to have an admin. I might get an admin. I'm probably never gonna have an admin. And I'm stacking chairs and I'm repainting the youth room and I'm patching the wall from the kid whose butt fell through the thing. I get it. I'm there. I'm a youth pastor being in youth mystery 12 and a half years. Here's why this, uh, this is why we are dropping this resource. So we are going to be giving you all the month long social media posting tool done for you and your youth ministry free ebook link in the show notes. When you download that, you're gonna get a link to two eBooks, my TikTok from scratch, and now this month long youth ministry social media thing. Let's dive into what is actually going to be in that. Let's go. So we will detail this a little bit more in the ebook, but essentially I'm giving you a basically 40 ideas that you can post, uh, five days a week.

Nick Clason (22:01):
So there's seven days in a week. I recommend that you take two off just to practice Sabbath and, uh, not working whatever your two days off that you want to be. So for example, I post Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I don't work on Fridays in the office or Saturday. So I don't post either of those days. And each of those days I post two tos. I recently talked a couple episodes back about how we went from three down to two, and then I'm gonna give you three or I'm, I'm sorry. I'm gonna give you, uh, a video thing to post every single day. So for me, my Sunday, I post the message hook from our teaching video that we do, we we capture it like this, then I clip it out and make it vertical. And I post a game on Monday. I'll do Meme Monday, and then I'll post some sort of spiritual practice video, either a talking head or pre uh, existing resource.

Nick Clason (22:50):
I have some resources in the show notes on Download youth ministry that you can ahead and grab if you want. Um, on uh, Tuesday I'll post a message clip, and then I'll do some sort of game or fun thing, uh, Wednesday, another spiritual practice video, and then a recap of our Wednesday night youth ministry, just some B roll and some audio that I did the sync auto sync on TikTok around cap cut. And then finally the third message clip, and then another game or activity. And so here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna help teach you how to clip those messages. Um, I want to, I wanna let you know about a, a resource. I'm gonna include the link in the show notes called Auto Pod. It is taking my long form sequence in Adobe Premier Pro and shrinking it and making it vertical. That's something that you can use and that's helpful, uh, to you if you are a, a video editor in that way.

Nick Clason (23:38):
If not, just clip it in on your phone using cap cut and, uh, you cap cut's a super powerful tool you can use. Um, and then, uh, and then also I'm gonna give you about 10 to 15 different game ideas or activity type ideas that we've done in our youth ministry. You can check it out, link to, um, you can check out our student ministry link in the description, cross Creek Student Ministry, social, go to our shorts, watch just some of the goofy stuff that we do. But I'm gonna give you ideas on how you can repurpose like d y m type games or other fun things like that and use it on camera or, or one thing I did yesterday was I, uh, me and a student took the camera around and he asked people, Hey, we're going back to school soon. What do these back to school?

Nick Clason (24:22):
Emoji phrases mean? He'd show them a picture on the phone and then they would try to guess, um, and to like incentivize them to actually choose to be on camera. We'd give 'em a fruit snack if they said yes, and then I captured it, and then I'm gonna go edit it and post, um, and have the, uh, emojis pop in. But if you don't wanna do all that right, you can just video it and just do like a quick picture and picture overlay of the emoji phrase. So there's all kinds of ideas, but all of that is going to be done for you. 40 ideas, replicatable, reproducible, the same framework, but also different videos every single week on your social media because vertical short form video is still king, bro, I missed all that. Great. We offer free transcripts for every single episode at our, uh, podcast page, hybridministry.xyz.

Nick Clason (25:14):
This is episode 0 6 0. So you can go there, pick up the free transcript, also link in the show notes for free editing presets for my TikTok video and now my, um, month long social posting tool done for you for youth ministries. Check that out. And hey, listen, if you're not in youth ministry, grab it and adapt it to your church. Because here's the thing, you don't have to just be silly and goofy in youth ministry churches wanna see their pastors having fun as well. So, uh, hope that you guys found this episode helpful. Hey, if you did, would you do me a favor and just share it? I would be forever grateful if you shared it, if you liked it, if you rated it, if you reviewed it, if you dropped a comment so I could engage with you in the comments. So pumped to be here walking through this with you.

Nick Clason (25:56):
Listen, I'm in the trenches just like you. If you're in youth ministry, if you're in church communications, if you're a social media manager for a church or business, I'm right there with you. I'm doing this podcast in my free time early morning before everyone else gets into work. And then I'm gonna turn around. I'm gonna start working right after this because I'm doing it with you. And so I want to be along on this journey with you. Make sure you follow us on TikTok, subscribe on YouTube, hit me up on Instagram. And until next time, and as always, we are making digital discipleship easy and accessible. Don't forget to stay hybrid.

Episode 059: 🎙️ Exploring the Future of the Hybrid Church with Warren Byrd 🌐

Nick Clason — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 04:00:00 -0500

Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Podcast! In this exciting episode, we dive deep into the realm of the future Hybrid Church for Churches and Youth Ministires! We'll take a look at a recent Carey Nieuwhof Leadership Podcast Episode and a inspect a snippet from what the visionary Warren Byrd had to say about Digital Minittry and Church Marketing in Disciplship and Evangelism.

🔍 What's the Buzz About?
In this thought-provoking discussion, Carey Nieuwhof and Warren Byrd explore the dynamic landscape of the Hybrid Church model. They shed light on the cutting-edge trends and unveil the fascinating possibilities that await the Church in the digital age.

🌐 Embracing the Digital Ministry
Discover how churches and youth ministries can harness the power of technology and digital platforms to expand their outreach. Unravel the secrets to effective digital ministry and explore innovative ways to leverage social media for church growth.

💻 Marketing the Church for Impact
Join us as we explore successful church social media strategies that bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Learn how your ministry can create a strong online presence, connect with your congregation, and engage with a broader audience.

📲 Social Media: Friend or Foe?
In this candid discussion, Nick, your host unpack the potential pitfalls of social media in the church context while also highlighting its incredible power to have incredible outreach potential and foster community.

🤝 The Jury is Still Out
As the Hybrid Church concept gains momentum, the discussion isn't complete without acknowledging the questions and uncertainties surrounding its implementation. Delve into the gray areas and explore where the future of the Hybrid Church is still unknown.

Whether you're a seasoned pastor, a curious church member, or a tech-savvy youth pastor, this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast promises to leave you inspired and equipped to embrace the future of the church in a digital world.

🔔 Subscribe now and join us on this enlightening journey into the world of Hybrid Ministry! Don't miss out on any future episodes, packed with insightful conversations and actionable strategies for a thriving Hybrid Church.

👉 Stay connected:
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

SHOWNOTES
📹 Watch Carey's Interview with Warren: https://youtu.be/u2zj9XPPxlI?t=4715
🎧 Listen to Carey's Interview with Warren: https://careynieuwhof.com/episode574/

📹 Hybrid Ministry on the Importance of the Church Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxndpebNlbw&t=2s
🎧 Hybrid Ministry on the Importance of the Church Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/040

✍️ Transcripts Provided by Rev.com Try Rev.com for yourself: https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa

TIMECODES
00:00-02:14 Intro
02:14-05:54 Warren Byrd on What's here to stay with Hybrid Ministry and where the jury is still out.
05:54-10:53 Nick Responds to Warren's Take on the Future of Hybrid Ministry
10:53-13:57 Hybrid & Digital work for Evangelism. Do they work for Discipleship?
13:57-21:36 What aspects of Discipleship can be turned digital?
21:36-23:15 Outro

HybridMinistryPodcast #DigitalMinistry #SocialMediaChurch #HybridChurch #ChurchGrowth #ChurchSocialMedia #DigitalOutreach #FaithInnovation

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What is up everyone? Welcome back to another edition of the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nick Clayson, excited to be with you. If you're watching on YouTube, you'll notice a little bit of a different setup. We did, um, some filming today. A two things. Number one, it's not air conditioned in here, so I'm gonna be super sweaty, so just roll with that. But b uh, got some new lights, got some new audio equipment. Um, one of these days I'm gonna do a step by step, like every single thing that we did, and I'll release it to you guys. Today's not that day, but because we're in here and because I was already set, I was like, I'm just gonna film in here. Typical day, filming day. Uh, normally I come in early and film and then get to work on like work stuff, but today I had to get all this stuff set up 'cause I didn't know how to use it.

Nick Clason (00:51):
It was brand new, literally just ordered it last week. Came in over the weekend, so I wanted to get it all set up. Uh, so kind of displaced my time, moved it around a little bit. All that to be said. In today's episode, I want to talk about a recent Carrie Nho leadership podcast. I'm a subscriber, love his show. Um, if you haven't ever gone on there, go check it out. But he did a recent, um, episode with Warren Bird and, um, another guy named JJ something or other. Um, I'll put the link in the show notes. You can check it out. But it, it was about, um, uh, church planting and like the future. And at about the one minute and 22, uh, one hour, 22 minute Mark Warren Bird dropped some absolute gold that had to do with what we are, uh, dealing with in this podcast.

Nick Clason (01:36):
So I want to have y'all, uh, take a listen to that and, uh, just share with you guys some of my thoughts with it. So, hey, hit the link in the show notes for all the things you need, your transcript, couple of freebies. We have motion graphics that you can get for Adobe Premiere Pro. And we also have the free ebook about, um, uploading and posting to TikTok all from your app. We're on Instagram. We're on YouTube, and we are on TikTok. So without any further ado, let's dive into this episode titled, um, why does hybrid ministry matter? What do we know is staying and where, where's the jury Still out? Let's go. So, like I said, uh, in the most recent Karen Newh, not most recent, uh, most recent one I listened to, Carrie Newh episode is out from a couple months ago. Warren Bird dropped a couple statements. I just want you to hear it directly from him, and then I will respond. So go ahead, take a listen.

Carey Nieuwhof (02:30):
Warren, any, uh, data or observations on church plants and technology?

Warren Byrd (02:36):
Yeah. Uh, let's divide it into here to stay and the jury's still out. Okay. Uh, here to stay is people check out your church by its website. First used to be the parking lot was the first impression. The website, whatever size church you are, you're gonna check it out. Mm-hmm. , they're gonna ask two questions, fundamentally, are people like me there? And is this a a, is there a scary factor? Is there something that you know, is gonna weird me out too much? Um, also the newcomer, uh, connection. Now, it may not be their first week there, but scan the ur uh, the QR code. Um, tell us either your email or your phone or both, and that becomes a primary communication tool. I'm just amazed at, at especially the younger generation, so willing, uh, to give that up. But carrying it further hybrid stuff.

Warren Byrd (03:29):
Like my wife and I just finished a, a couple's marriage class in our church. We kicked it off in person. We ended it with a happily ever, ever, ever after party afterwards. But all the nights of the group were online. So this couple with five kids, you know, they, they finished the last kid in bed, they flopped down on the sofa, embraced each other, and were part of the class. They would never have gotten a sitter, uh, driven somewhere. And, and maybe one week, but not week after week after week. So the hybrid experience is here to stay. Now, where the jury is still out for churches, large and small is not the evangelism and the outreach. And jj, it's such a wonderful story of the California story. Those will happen in, and now due to the pandemic, the gospel's in every language accessible all around the world for people to hear, it's a brilliant strategy as the silver, one of the silver linings of the pandemic.

Warren Byrd (04:23):
But, but is is it primarily a member equipping and evangelistic strategy, or is it also a discipleship strategy? Mm-hmm. , can discipleship also happen at the same level? Now granted, I can't hug. Yeah. I can't, you know, like, like good Friday for me. Yes. Good question. When I, I'm not that emotional, but every time I do one of those crosses where I nail the nails in, and that's me nailing the nails and cry, well, I can't do that online mm-hmm. , uh, but in person it just, it moves me. So there's certain in-person that that, is it better or is it not? And I was just last week with a bunch of executive pastors from megachurches of a particular denomination, and they're ambivalent. You know, they're still deciding what to do. Yeah. There are still, there are a few pioneers, uh, Kerry, you wrote the forward to, uh, Tim Lucas's, uh, liquid Church book, liquid church and liquid Church, uh, uh, 5,500 before the pandemic says, okay, we may reach thousands in person, but let's figure out how to seamlessly reach tens of thousands of people beyond that. And church plants are with, with whatever their capacity level, depending on their size, are likewise saying, can we have an online impact of discipleship even beyond the broadcasting? So jury's still out on a lot of things, but, uh, I'm excited about the possibilities.

Nick Clason (05:55):
Okay, so we had a couple of things to say. The first is this, um, what's here to stay the church website, I'll drop a link in the show notes, but we had a all episode all about, um, church websites and how important, uh, your church website is just about like street to seat and all that stuff. Like people are still looking at and viewing websites. And if you have not yet put any effort or money into your website, go ahead and do that. And honestly, what I might recommend is I would get somebody who hasn't, who doesn't go to your church and put them on your website and ask them what's confusing, what's broken, what's missing, what's still needed, and all of that stuff will help point you in the right direction of somebody who is going to be an outsider and is going to be utilizing and using your church website.

Nick Clason (06:44):
So, uh, that's a great place to start. He also talks about, uh, next generations being willing to scan QR codes or fill out forms to give out necessary information that is marketing 1 0 1. And so if you can capture people's name and phone number and or email, you have just about everything you need to at least get started in nurturing their relationship. Oftentimes, churches want all of it all at once. Like, what's your name? What's your address? What's your email address, what's your phone number? What's your social security number? And it's like, they're not there yet, bro. Like, give them, like, trade your email address for a free mug or trade your email address for a donation to some sort of like missions agency or something like that. But you can't get it all. But churches just get greedy and frankly lazy because they're unwilling to massage the relationship.

Nick Clason (07:35):
And I can hear you on the other end because I'm, I've been there, right? I'm like, ah, we need all that info and it'd be great. Yeah. If we did okay. However, like give people time to warm up to you. All right? A lot of times people use marketing, um, in church, we don't know. We don't talk and do a lot of like marketing type stuff, but, but a lot of times what needs to happen is we need to like date them first before we marry them. You know what I'm saying? And a lot of times in churches, we just, we want all the married information like, sign this birth certificate, sign up, you're a member now. Like, who, who, hold on. Like, I just was checking it out for one week. Um, but Warburg does say that there is much more willingness in the next generation to give out and, and distribute that type of information.

Nick Clason (08:20):
And so use that to your advantage. Uh, the other thing you talked about was hybrid stuff. And this is really where I wanted to like zone in because he talked about a Zoom class for like a, a marriage class that they did. Um, that's I think where a lot of people's minds go when I say hybrid, and that's quite frankly one of my least favorite options. Um, I think it's a necessary evil and can be used strategically, but like when I say like hybrid, I don't just mean like zoom small groups. I can, um, I much more mean like showing up where people live their lives in Bible reading plans, in, um, group chats, in social media, in Facebook groups, like all type, all types of things like that. That's what I personally mean when I talk about hybrid. And so the same is true, um, with what he's talking about.

Nick Clason (09:12):
Like, you can do those types of things, right? Like you can make those types of, um, classes or whatever via hybrid, via zoom, via whatever. But, um, that, that wouldn't be my only thing. I think podcasts are another amazing, uh, tool to be utilized. A lot of people, um, have the bandwidth desire and willingness to listen to super long form things. And so like if you're a pastor, you know, that like you cut a lot of things out of your sermon for sake of time and brevity and whatever the case might might be. Um, a podcast is a way to, to give more information that might still be helpful, informative, relevant, uh, that you don't have time to put in a sermon. And so, you know, like if you, again, if you've ever preached like, you know, that there are always things that you often have to cut.

Nick Clason (10:01):
And so, um, podcasts are a great long form tool. They can also double and take place on, on YouTube. Okay? Um, and so I thought, I thought what he had to say there was, was fascinating and a lot of the stuff that I, um, have talked about on this podcast, church websites, connections, hybrid stuff, he, he hit all that. And so, you know, as a creative of this podcast, I was like, yes, you know, Warren Bird is like the Yoda of church data and like the, the just like landscape of church growth and trajectories and what's next and what's coming, like all that stuff. So if he says it, I'm, I'm pumped about it. Okay. What I think was interesting, um, and what I wanna talk about a little bit is when he talked about the jury still being out. So let's dive into that discussion a little bit deeper.

Nick Clason (10:54):
All right, so he said the jury is still out basically saying the digital and hybrid work for evangelism, but do they work for discipleship? Um, if you remember, he used a very tactical example of Good Friday and nailing the nail into a cross. And he's like, that's just so monumental and meaningful to me, and I agree with him. Um, but that is not the only way in which people experience hands-on tactical discipleship, especially newer and, and younger generations. They're much more inclined and willing to explore things through a digital lens, relationships through a digital lens, um, and lean more into like hybrid type of opportunities and options. And so, like at my church, like what Warren broke it down to is like reaching people and or evangelism, like bringing people into your church, which I would argue is necessarily evangelism. It's evangelism from an organizational standpoint.

Nick Clason (11:57):
Like as a church organization, we have to be able, ready, willing to, to bring in guests. But like, is that really evangelism? I would argue evangelism is, you know, a a meaningful, a person taking a meaningful next step to Jesus, particularly one who doesn't classify themself as a Christian. And more often than not, that happens in a interpersonal one-on-one relationship. That's just how I would classify evangelism. Discipleship, I think is quite frankly the same thing. And, um, those evangelism and discipleship used to all be one word, right? It was just telling people about Jesus and then making people more like Jesus so that they would eventually go multiply themselves and their lives into other people's lives. But we, we drew a line at the moment of conversion and we switched evangelism, um, as people who don't have a relationship with Jesus. And discipleship is people who do have a relationship with Jesus, but that's not what Warren was talking about, right?

Nick Clason (12:55):
But he was talking about reaching people and then actually growing them into a mature follower of Christ. So, um, you probably have a definition of what a disciple is at your church. Every church in America probably has some definition of what a disciple is at their church. It all is derived in some way, shape or form. Probably off of the great commission at least I would argue that it should be, because that was Jesus's very deliberate specific commands for us to go make disciples of all nations. That being said, I have a definition, we have a definition in our church about discipleship. So I wanted to explain what that is and then break down those three different elements of a disciple and talk through some hybrid ideas. Again, I'm not vouching for or saying this is successful, not successful, whatever. I'm simply just saying, if you look at the definition of a disciple, these are ways in which digital ministry and hybrid ministry can be supplemented and or utilized to help bring about mature, um, a mature follower of Christ.

Nick Clason (13:54):
So let's talk about that on the other side. Okay? So like I said, my church classifies and breaks down disciple, uh, we call it a three D disciple. Um, I creative, whatever I get it, um, wasn't mine. So not taking any credit for it or flack for it, just it is what it is. If you're a church, medium marketing manager, if you're a church, if you're a youth pastor, like you probably inherited something like this unless you're the lead pastor that came up with it. In most cases, if we're on church staff, we are experiencing these things and now we just have to figure out how to carry out the vision of where we work. That's just the reality of, of being in a position like this. So we have, um, a disciple who's devoted, developing and deployed. Okay? So devoted is simply learning how to work with God.

Nick Clason (14:40):
And I thought there are tons of hybrid options in that if we're trying to help teach someone how to walk with God, there is a, a really great interpersonal moment and element that can take place, especially if you have like a mentorship relationship. And quite frankly, you should, you should do that. You should be leaning into some sort of mentoring relationship, someone who's older than you, who's further along than you and can help take you to the next level. However, there are personal disciplines that I believe also need to take place. Bible reading, um, prayer, and I would argue, and I don't know that this is a widespread thought, but scripture memory and each of those three things, Bible reading, prayer, scripture, memory, I think there are ways in which you can lean into a digital option. Digital flashcards, digital fill in the blank. There's, there's an app I use, a bible memorization app I use for memorizing scripture, um, Bible reading and prayer, both in the YouVersion Bible app.

Nick Clason (15:37):
There are tools and like assets and parts and pieces within the YouVersion Bible app where I can read the Bible more robustly. I can read it with friends, I can do it in community, I can prayer, I can offer prayer requests. They have a daily like guided prayer moment. All those things I think are tools. And if your church has, has the money, has the way, the ability, the means, the resources to pull some of those things together and create an app or create resources, all the more power to you. If not, you can just point people towards some of these other resources, curate some of the good ones that help and have helped you grow in your faith and can help other people grow in their faith as they lean more into their devoted ness and their walk with God, right? Again, this is from my church's definition of a disciple, the second D.

Nick Clason (16:25):
So the first D is devoted, the second D is developing, so they're devoted to Christ to learn to walk with God. And then they're also growing, uh, talk about, uh, we, we use this phrase growing in the character and the competencies of Jesus. So more and more like Jesus as well as, um, doing more and more things like Jesus, one of the first, second or third John I can't remember, says, if you want to, um, follow Jesus, you need to learn to walk as he walked. That's the competencies part, right? Doing the same things, doing the things of Jesus. And so how can we help grow people to be more, um, have a better character, more like Jesus, um, and doing more of the things like Jesus. Um, I, I just actually shared in this exact seat with my students via video for a series coming up about a light bulb versus a laser.

Nick Clason (17:15):
Both of them are lights, but one is an intensified, focused and like very intentional light. And one is just illuminating the room. Both are light. One is one has incredible power. And I would say as you are developing into the character and into the competencies of Jesus, one of the ways to harness that is through relationships and through like direct accountability. Not just friendship, not just like small group, like surface level and maybe even a little deeper than surface level, but actual meaningful, like intentional relationships. Paul David Tripp has a, a quote where he says, you need to be intentionally ob protrusive in somebody's life. And that's what I mean by accountability. Can you accomplish that digitally? I don't think so. Um, there is an element of a one-on-one relationship, a need and need type of relationship. That being said, the accountability partner I have in my life lives 900 miles away from me.

Nick Clason (18:11):
And we talk every single week, once a week, 6:00 AM every Monday morning. And it's a, an expected phone call that's not in person, quote unquote. It's, it is a life on life relationship, but it's done using the means of technology. That being said, we went to college together and grew up together and have raised our kids together at times. And so like, there was definitely a life on life moment that brought us closer together that then allowed us to use technology to continue on in the relationship as opposed to just simply abandoning it, which is what often happens when distance takes place. The third one is deployed, which is simply the idea of being sent out, right? Jesus sent out the 12, then he sent out the, um, 72, and then the 72 that they reached, he, he sent all those out as well. So we saw within Jesus' life, four generations of multiplication.

Nick Clason (19:01):
How can we deploy people using technology and hybrid? Again, the more like you hone this, I think, and if you have an actual nomenclature for it and strategy around it, you can build infrastructures, websites, apps, eBooks, like all kinds of things to give people regardless of where they are. And if you've sent people out overseas, you can still put resources in their hands to help them as they are reaching people, reaching their neighborhoods, reaching their coworkers, having some of these like conversations, these Jesus, these evangelism, these discipleship conversations. I think what Warren is saying is like, there's a life on life moment. An aspect, an element that takes place where people grow. And I agree with that. And he's saying, can digital replace it? And again, I've said this before, but I think if we try to just create, if we, if we say that a Sunday morning sermon is the only place that discipleship happens, and then by recording it and live streaming it, that's our like hybrid or like our digital option, then no, I don't think that that's actually helping people become more developed in their character and competency of Jesus more devoted to him, more able to multiply themselves and send other people out and all the, like, just from a sermon being online, probably not, but a more robust tool, more robust resources that are out there I think can, can help people, right?

Nick Clason (20:28):
Like knowledge can be transferred from one person to another. An element of being devoted element of developing for sure things that are communicated clearly and concisely through that transfer of knowledge. I think those things can happen. Can life transformation happen in hybrid? I would say yes. I don't think it looks the way we think it looks, and I think it probably requires a pretty massive overhaul, um, to be able to do that. But I definitely think it's possible. And here's where the rub often happens. You have to have buy-in with the people who hold the money and write the checks and do those things to get some of those things up off the ground. Because without that, you're simply just like the social media guy trying to do all that through Instagram posts. And can it be done? I think so. Is it the most effective way?

Nick Clason (21:22):
Probably not. Probably not. Um, and so that's how, that's how I would classify it and that's how I would answer and respond to Warren's question about hybrid ministry. Yes, but with some infrastructure and some overhauling for sure. Well, hey, thanks everyone for sticking around, uh, for the duration of this entire episode. I hope you found it helpful. Go listen, like, subscribe to the Kerry Newh episode, especially that part about Warren Bird. Go subscribe to us on YouTube. Give us a, like, all that stuff helps us get found, indexed and seen by the people, um, out there on YouTube that are asking some of these same questions like, is digital discipleship even a possibility in today's world? And, um, 'cause I think it is, and I think that's a meaningful message as we move forward, especially into the next and younger generations, um, of our church members and even those people who have not yet discovered our church. Hit the link in the show notes again for full transcripts of this episode and every other episode that we have over at hybridministry.xyz, grab the Adobe Premier Pro Transitions, grab the free ebook, go like us on Instagrams, follow us on TikTok, follow us on YouTube. And until next time, and as always, we're helping make digital discipleship easy. Stay Hybrid!

Episode 053: VIDEO: A Complete Crash Course on Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro a Teaching Video built for YouTube and In Room Programming from Start to Finish

Nick Clason — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 04:00:00 -0500

VIDEO: A Complete Crash Course on Editing in Adobe Premiere Pro a Teaching Video built for YouTube and In Room Programming from Start to Finish.
In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, Nick Sits down and edits a Video from scratch, (well, almost scratch) in Adobe Premiere Pro. That being said, if you're listening on a Podcast, this might be a better experience to watch via YouTube!

Watch the Video on our YouTube Channel:
https://youtu.be/uZzatZ4KFyE

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https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

ShowNotes & Transcripts:
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/053

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https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

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http://www.instagram.com/hybridministry

SHOWNOTES
FREE Animation Effects for Adobe Premiere Pro:
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis

TIMECODES
00:00-01:47 Intro
01:47-03:32 Getting Things Started in Adobe Photoshop
03:32-05:42 Locating Unlinked FIles
05:42-08:56 Back to Photoshop
08:56-11:41 Getting Going in Adobe Premiere Pro
11:41-14:23 Time to Edit in Adobe Premiere Pro
14:23-22:04 Adding Text to Adobe Premiere Pro
22:04-24:52 Adding Whoosh Sound Effects to Animated Text
24:52-25:34 Editing Jump Cuts
25:34-25:58 How to Cut Every Layer
25:58-26:10 Editing Jump Cuts
26:10-40:24 Adding a Turn-n-Talk Section
40:24-55:54 Rounding out the Video
55:54-56:40 Rending Your Video
56:40-57:18 Outro

TRANSCRIPTS
Nick Clason (00:00):
Well, hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show. As always, I am your host, Nick Clason, pumped and jacked, and thrilled and excited to be with you. Hey, welcome. You're in my office. Um, and in this episode we're gonna be doing something quite a bit different. What I'm gonna be doing is I'm gonna be giving a tutorial, um, from start to finish on how I edit a, uh, one of our teaching videos. So I've told you before we do talking head teaching style videos. So I'm gonna show you what I do in Adobe per, uh, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro. Um, and maybe After Effects, it just depends, probably not. Um, and so I want to give you kind of a run through tutorial Crash course on how I do what I do, um, as well as just let this be a training kind of video that lives in perpetuity, um, on Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Premiere Pro.

Nick Clason (00:57):
So let's go ahead and let's dive in and get this thing started. I'm gonna be sharing with you my screen. I'm also going to be sharing, uh, my video, um, just like of me talking. If you're listening to this. Um, it may get a little technical and it may be a little bit hard to follow. So just know that the entire episode is on YouTube with a video tutorial. And so you may listen to this, um, but go back to YouTube for actual like reference of it. So without any further ado, let's dive in. Hey, before, actually, before we dive in, why don't you go, uh, check out YouTube, check out TikTok, check out Instagram, um, and link in the show notes for transcripts as well as a link to my 100% completely free ebook, how to Make a TikTok from Start to Finish. Now, without any further ado, let's dive in.
Rending Your Video
Nick Clason (01:48):
All right, so what you're seeing here is, um, an Adobe Pro, um, file that I just edited. Um, I'm gonna start from scratch. So, um, we are in, uh, start the party week three. Um, I already got this thing started a little bit and so I'm gonna take you into my started project. Um, but if I hadn't, um, this is my original footage, uh, not that this is my original footage and these are my original audio files. Uh, just dropped those in. Um, I had two audio files cause we were using two microphone sources to get it going. Um, I ran those together and then I just rendered it out as a singular one, which is this one right here. So, um, that's basically where we are. And I think the only other thing I did was make like cuts, um, which I'll show you how I do all that stuff anyway, so, um, let's make sure this gets saved in the right spot. So we're gonna save it. Shared drive FC students. This is just my folder structure and my shared folder structure. Um, messages are in social media messages. The year, the number of the series, this is week three. And so we're just gonna call this stp. So start the party three, underscore two

Nick Clason (03:12):
Oh man. And all this stuff got lost. I think this might be from an old file that was stuck in there. Um, I'm gonna link it anyway though. So it's in Google Drive, shared drive. It looks like most of that stuff was in camp. See if I can search it in here. File enough. Wait, I need to do, I need to do these, so I need to do, um, I need to go here. All right, now let's try it. Do those. So I need to go to Google Drive, share, drive, trips, camp. Okay, I found a bunch of 'em and then those are downloads. So those are gonna be gone and that's okay. I don't need those cuz those are other things. This one right here is in my, a local file that I use, like personal stuff and I've been moving things around cause I just lost a bunch of data. So it's in here. It's in here. This admin social, not that one.

Nick Clason (04:45):
Uh,

Nick Clason (04:45):
There we go. Search. Okay, there's that. And then this Hex C is in this shared drive of marketing. Where is it? Marketing? Um, branding. No, it's in marketing. Where's the marketing folder? Why is it gone? Starts with an M.

Nick Clason (05:28):
Hmm.

Nick Clason (05:30):
That's okay. I don't think I need it. So offline, offline, offline, offline. Okay. All right, there we go. Sorry, sorry, sorry for that. So here, yeah, so I got this thing started.

Nick Clason (05:44):
In this video we're gonna talk about how you can get invited to every single party ever.

Nick Clason (05:53):
All right. So, um, that's that. And then I'm gonna take you over here to Photoshop, which is where, uh, I'm gonna get some fo some things going. Um, these are, this is a template. So I've used this before for other videos, so I kind of build out the template. So let me show you what I've done in the past. So this is my, um, bible verse template. And then this is my like anything else template, um, that I've been using for this series. So if you hit, uh, command minus, that'll zoom you out in Photoshop. Um, command Plus will zoom you in those things. Um, just help you see the things a little bit better. Uh, if I'm over here on the left hand side, I'm using the selection tool. Um, so I can select certain layers that are already created. Um, so I'm selecting this, uh, font right here or yeah, this right here. Uh, but I don't have that font right now. So what I actually need to do is I actually need to go install it. I have them all backed up. I'm just, I just switched to like a new computer and so that's why like nothing is in here. Um, fonts. Okay, so I'm gonna open my font book and I'm just gonna drop over here off screen. All these Gotham fonts that I need.

Nick Clason (07:19):
I think Hope did that work? I don't know. Let's search. Nope. Oh, there we go. Uh, keep both. I think that should,

Nick Clason (07:36):
Yeah, there we go. Now it's in there. Okay, so you'll see right here. Now they're all in there. So back over here. We're just gonna cancel cuz now it should read it. Yep. So if I'm over here on the left, I can grab the entire font. Like if I pick the top selection tool here, I can grab the entire font, uh, block thing and move it all the way around. If I go down here to text, I can edit the text. Um, and so I'm gonna have different verses and stuff like that. If I go over here, I can edit that text, right? But if I wanna move the whole thing, I can move the whole thing. Um, so back over here in Adobe Premiere Pro, I got this, it goes straight, start in,

Nick Clason (08:14):
Find out.

Nick Clason (08:15):
It goes straight on into the title sequence there. So I'm gonna take you here.

Nick Clason (08:27):
Nope, nobody ever likes to be the person left out.

Nick Clason (08:35):
All right, so let's see what we got.

Nick Clason (08:37):
One time I moved away from a church that I used to work.

Nick Clason (08:40):
So all these photos are old photos that I drummed up from before. So let's see where this video has us right now. This single

Nick Clason (08:48):
Fall, we went to a camp called Camp Tesa in Brixton and me and we called the retreat the Recharge.

Nick Clason (08:56):
All right, so in Adobe Premiere Pro, if you click the space bar, that's your keyboard shortcut for play. Uh, you can move this around here in the sequence, um, to go to different spots, um, on your keyboard. If you look at the J K L and I, it's sort of in the shape of uh, arrows. And so J K L I J is back, K is down, I is up Ellis forward. One of my favorite hacks for that is once you get it playing, you can click L and it'll make it go quicker. You can hit J and it'll make it go backwards. You can also hit the arrow button to go frame by frame. So right, left.

Nick Clason (09:43):
So that's how I go real slow. So that being said, if I wanna do any sort of overlay videos, which I'm going to like you see right here, I did these photos, I overlaid them. I also have presets that have them come in. Um, I'll tell you what I'll do, I'll drop the link. Um, I'll drop the link, but I'm first gonna make a note to myself so that I don't forget to do it. Um, but I'm gonna drop the link to the presets, um, in the show notes. So that's not the right thing I need to do. Oh five three Adobe. Uh, there it is new. This is just so I don't forget about you guys. Um, presets. So in Adobe Premiere Pro there's little, uh, motion presets that you can use. I use one, I use one pack. There's like 50 of 'em.

Nick Clason (10:32):
They look like this position in position out. Rotate out, rotate in scale and scale out. I use those pretty much all the time. And I'll often pair those with like a, an audio. So if you see right here as this one comes in, it's got a little audio down here on this audio track. So you got audio track one, audio track two, audio track three. You got video track one, video track two video track three. And you can do an unlimited amount up, uh, in video and an unlimited amount down in audio. So as I play it, this church, I got that little whoosh sound coming in. I didn't do that for the rest of them cause I didn't want it to be distracting. Our would come. So they're just coming in one by one as I'm explaining this story. So

Nick Clason (11:09):
Before I

Nick Clason (11:10):
Moved and then here this cut, I hit, uh, I cut it with the razor tool over here. Um, also shortcut keyboard, shortcut C, we'll switch it to the razor tool and then v we'll switch it back to this selection tool. Um, and so then once I click v I just drag the, the thing I wanna do position out, just drag it onto there, do other things and then it rotates out. Or not rotate but moves out. So back to editing. Uh, now that you've gotten all that little quick overview, let's edit the fall.

Nick Clason (11:41):
We went to a camp called Camp Temsa in Brooks and Indiana.

Nick Clason (11:45):
We, I'm gonna speed it up a little bit called the

Nick Clason (11:47):
Retreat, the recharge retreat. That's awesome. And so I leave that church, I'm going to another one that same weekend, not in the same place. And because I followed both my old church and my buddy's church on Instagram, I see that they're both on a retreat. That's interesting. Both that church and church are both on a retreat together, but on the same weekend. That's interesting. Wait, in Brooks, Indiana, hold on a minute. They're together. When I began to notice was that these two churches came together instead of calling it recharge retreat, they called it a lifeline retreat, something like that. I dunno, but I felt so left out there. I was sitting at home thinking that used to be me. I used to be the one there and now I'm home with my kids, with my new church man if I aren't there. And I felt incredibly about that. When it comes to a part, often feel like very cut and dry, very binary, right? Like there are insiders.

Nick Clason (12:30):
All right, I'm gonna cut that. I don't like what I said there. So I'm gonna see if I can cut around that

Nick Clason (12:35):
Often feel like very cut and dry to a party.

Nick Clason (12:40):
So I don't need that much space there. So when it comes to a party, so I hit C to cut it V to select it, and I'm just gonna hit the backspace button and now it's gone. I'm gonna drag this in so it's next to it

Nick Clason (12:52):
Like very cut. And often feel like

Nick Clason (12:59):
When it comes to a party can often feel like

Nick Clason (13:03):
Very cut and dry, very binary.

Nick Clason (13:07):
Let's see if I can get all that out of there. So I'm just gonna drag this over. So C to V, let's see how it plays

Nick Clason (13:13):
Often feel like, right, like there are insiders,

Nick Clason (13:17):
I'm just gonna do feels like there's insiders. So drag, drag, drag

Nick Clason (13:21):
Parts often feel like insiders and there are outsiders.

Nick Clason (13:26):
So like

Nick Clason (13:27):
Inside

Nick Clason (13:28):
I need to get this to zoom in. So what I'm doing, one of my cuts, I zoom in, zoom out, zoom in, zoom out. So if you see that, if you're watching on YouTube, this right here, um, I click on it up up here in the effects controls under motion. Um, I have my position and it's scaled at 1 28. So when I'm here, this is at one 10. So this cut here needs to go to 1 28. Just type that in, hit enter. And now I have those cuts

Nick Clason (13:55):
Insiders. And there are,

Nick Clason (13:58):
And that just took care of that cut right there. Now because I did all that, I got all this stuff back here that is cropped out, so I need to connect it. There you go. It's connected

Nick Clason (14:14):
Today. One of Jesus' friends, a guy named Matthew recorded this story out of the life of Jesus. Here's what it says.

Nick Clason (14:23):
All right, so now I'm gonna do a Bible verse. So I have this stored somewhere. I think it's in curriculum,

Nick Clason (14:36):
Yeah, for me. Uh, is that Darren's? That might be Darren's. I just need to figure out the verse reference. I'm gonna figure out the verse reference. I'm gonna go put it into Photoshop. So thank you. I got a new computer. So everything's brand new. Yeah, that's Darren. So I need to figure out mine. I think mine actually might be my own personal Google drive. So I'm gonna search start. Yeah, it's there. So start the party three there. It's um, Matthew nine 10 in the nlt. So I'm gonna go to bible gateway.com. I'm gonna switch it to nlt so that what I say version wise matches what is on screen. And now as I go back over here, one of

Nick Clason (15:21):
Jesus's friends, a guy named Matthew, recorded this story out of the life of Jesus. And here's what it says. It says later, Matthew invited

Nick Clason (15:31):
Jesus. Okay, so I'm gonna go here into Photoshop, click my text tool, uh, command a, highlights that all, command v paste it. I wanna make it, um, all caps like I had before. We're gonna keep it uniform as best I can remember. Um, I just changed it down to a hundred. Um, and then I'm in Matthew nine 10. So now I'm gonna hit command shift save. Um, and that saves the full Photoshop file. So then I'm here in my, uh, you know, social media messages 20 23, 0 6, 0 3. So in the oh three folder, this is message number three, I'm gonna click new folder, p s d. Um, and then I'm gonna save it as oh oh one verse so that I know that, um, file oh oh one is a verse save. So now it's saved as a Photoshop file. So this is why I like Adobe Premier Pro, um, because of its integration with Photoshop.

Nick Clason (16:33):
So back over here in my actual finder, I'm gonna navigate to the folder. I just saved that to p s d oh oh one verse. I'm gonna drag the entire file here into the project bin on this left hand side. Drop it in. And I have three, four options. I can merge all layers, merge layers, individual layers or sequence. I'm gonna do individual layers. Um, and now it'll drop this folder. And now I got every individual layer that I had in Photoshop. Now I'm not gonna use all of them, but I am gonna animate them. And I wanna show you what I did in previous videos. So if you go back to the first video in this series, um, it's gonna take a second to come in from uh, Google Drive downloading. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna look at what I did a for myself to remember how I animated everything, um, so that I can be consistent all the way across all these videos.

Nick Clason (17:31):
Um, I don't, you don't have to do that. I like to do that for every series. I like to have like the same animations, um, so that it has like uniform, same backing track, which um, out here I found this file, um, on motion array, uh, as song for the background. So I have this right here. This, uh, audio layer is my tech, my my speaking audio layer. This layer down here is my, uh, audio, um, backing track, all music. So anyway, um, oh you know what? This might not open in QuickTime because of yeah, cuz I'm already using QuickTime. You know what, it's on YouTube so let's go check it out. So we're gonna go to YouTube, um, cross Creeks, dude. And let's see videos. Here it is.

Nick Clason (18:39):
People seem so full of life and others seem, oh, celebrate the value of others. And

Nick Clason (18:49):
So as I scroll through here, I'm just scrubbing through to find the text. Here it is. So if you'll notice I made a cut and the verse,

Nick Clason (19:06):
Cause he said it in his own words, the

Nick Clason (19:09):
Thief. So the verse in this little banner thing with the hello summer, it's all already there. So what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go to this Roberto Nixon. That's the, that's the background.

Nick Clason (19:22):
But let's, let's see. Remind myself what I did over here. I had rectangle two as like a backdrop to make it blacker. So go to rectangle two. So put those together. So right, this is uh, as the layers build up, bottom, top. Um, so there's my two backgrounds. If I just hold the mouse down, highlight them both, then I can move them both longer in the sequence. Um, so there's the background. Uh, let's see. This right here is titled rectangle one. So I'm gonna go back over here and grab a rectangle one, put it right there in line with it and drag it there to go the whole distance. Then I'm gonna get my verse reference Matthew nine 10, put it there. And then I'm missing that little hello summer icon that I made. So I'm gonna click on that and it's called Hello Color Official Colors. So go to Hello Color, pull that right here and boom. And it's covering up Matthew. So I'm just going to change the order there. Pull Hello, color, make Hello Color, be below Matthew. So there, okay, so now all my things are in. So right here on this today

Nick Clason (20:48):
One of Jesus's friends, a guy named Matthew.

Nick Clason (20:52):
Now I don't say it yet. So what I did was I held down shift and clicked them all to highlight them. I'm just gonna move it, what

Nick Clason (20:59):
Of this story out of the life of Jesus. And here's what it says.

Nick Clason (21:03):
So when I say, here's what it, I'm gonna go right here, where, here's what it says. So I hit c I got my razor tool, I cut the thing there, now I'm hitting V to go back to my selection tool and I'm just gonna highlight all these layers, bring 'em back over. So now it's there. So then I need to bring in the actual text, which I believe starts with later Matthew. So I'm gonna listen to it and line it up when it comes in. So

Nick Clason (21:27):
Here's what it says

Nick Clason (21:29):
Right there later, Matthew, boom, I'm gonna have that, um, position in, lemme go back and see what I did over here.

Nick Clason (21:40):
Let see,

Nick Clason (21:41):
It looks like it was a smooth transition and I just know that thief. Yeah, I just know that from experience of what these different ones look like. So I'm going over here position in smooth left. Okay, that came from a file. The sound came from a file over here under social media. Nope, nope, it came under my drive. Uh, social, this is my old church, Parkview. See if it's gonna, there it is. Sound effects. Uh, I've been transferring a lot of data, so it may not be all in here. Let's see if I can go, let's see if it's in actual Google Drive. So I'm gonna switch to my work profile, shared drive notes. It's in my drive. Passport,

Nick Clason (22:49):
Social.

Nick Clason (22:56):
It's called sfx. There it is. I'm gonna download that sucker. Um, so now it's in my downloads folder. I'm gonna take it out of there and I'm gonna bring it here so that's all in the same spot. And then I'm gonna make sure as I go into Adobe Premiere Pro, I'm gonna pull it from that same folder so that when it tries to open it later, it, it knows where it was. So I drop it in my thing. And now if I double tap on this sound, it's gonna pull it up here in this source tab up here at the top. Okay, so there's all these different, um, sounds ready. Like, so I'm just gonna find one that, like, that one sounds kinda weird.

Nick Clason (23:50):
That one's good. So I'm gonna take this, uh, bar down here and I'm gonna shrink it so that I can get a closer view of it. So if I hit I that starts, that stands for N and then if I toggle the bar right here, right past it and click o, then I can choose to grab either the video or the audio. I don't have a video so it's only audio. So I'm gonna drag the audio in here and I'm gonna line it up. And then what I like to do, again, I'm gonna drag this little bar so I can zoom in a little bit. I like to get it right, you see where it's just barely on the screen. I like to, I like to match my audio up there. So now this

Nick Clason (24:26):
Is later

Nick Clason (24:28):
Also, I'm gonna right click on this audio or control click or whatever. Two, two fingers click maybe. Um, and I'm gonna adjust the audio gain by 10. So it's a little louder. So let's see how it sounds. It says

Nick Clason (24:43):
Later,

Nick Clason (24:44):
Yeah, I'm also gonna drag this cuz it looks like it still needs a little more space to breathe later. Yeah. Okay, so that's

Nick Clason (24:54):
What it says. It says later, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home.

Nick Clason (25:02):
So this one right here, I'm clicking on this back over here into effects controls. That's at 1 28. So when this comes out, I'm gonna, when I'm done with the verse, I'm gonna cut it and I'm gonna cut it down to one 10. Remember I was talking back and forth between 1 28 and one 10. So

Nick Clason (25:16):
This reputable sinners that comes outta Matthew chapter nine verse 10.

Nick Clason (25:22):
So as I say that, I'm gonna cut right here. And then if I hit C for cut and if you hold down shift, it will cut everything in that uh, up above and and down below. So I'm gonna hit shift it, cut all my layers and I'm gonna go back to v the selection tool. I'm just gonna select them all. So now they're all gone. I clicked back on the actual video, I need to make that one 10. That was my transition. So 10

Nick Clason (25:54):
Your tax collector

Nick Clason (25:55):
Back in and now we're rolling with guests be

Nick Clason (25:57):
Some of the most corrupt and frustrating people in the world. These aren't the kinda of people that anyone thought Jesus would be like sitting down sharing meal with. So here's what I wanna know.

Nick Clason (26:10):
So I want to comment. Um, we're gonna be playing this in our live room and I'm also gonna post it on YouTube. So I'm gonna put this comment below thing, right where I call for it.

Nick Clason (26:18):
Comment below or

Nick Clason (26:22):
So that was one 10. I just noticed this is one 10. This video here needs to be 1 28.

Nick Clason (26:29):
One thought Jesus would be like sitting down, sharing a meal with. So here's what I wanna know.

Nick Clason (26:36):
So I'm gonna cut here cuz I have it, I had it cascading before, but I'm making some adjustments so I need to make sure that I don't get myself outta order. I'm just gonna have to like 1 28, 1 10 all the way through and change it. So if I switch back to, if I do a one 10, I switch back to 1 20, 28. Then down the road where I have a one 10, it's gonna stay in my order. Come

Nick Clason (26:58):
In below. Or if you're watching this live in the room, uh, at the table around you, I want to ask you this question. Does it surprise you to know that Jesus shared a meal with people that are considered out?

Nick Clason (27:11):
Um, so I'm gonna put this question on the screen. Um, I'm gonna look back. I saw that I had another question on the screen thing. So this is Darren. Let's see how I got that question in there.

Nick Clason (27:23):
Question is just about following a set of rules. Talking about it like a party is

Nick Clason (27:27):
Sometimes. All right, so that is, uh, I know that just again from memory, I know that's babe new. So what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna do file new, um, pixels is 1920 by 10 80. Resolution is 72 create. All right, I'm gonna command minus out. I'm gonna put a text in there. And then the question is, does it surprise you to know that Jesus spent time with these types of, of people or something like that? Command A highlights it all. I'm gonna change it to babe. New, um, babe, new bold. Um, color's gonna be white. I'm gonna right click on layer one, which is the text layer. I haven't, I must not change my settings yet. So I'm gonna go down to drop shadow and I wanna make it a black drop shadow. Give it a little angle here. So like, I usually like to go to the left at an angle. It's just personal preference. You can do whatever you want. Changing my size. If you see on, on the YouTube screen, I'm changing my size down, I'm changing my spread down. I like it a little bit more. Um, yeah, I'm gonna put my distance more right behind it.

Nick Clason (28:46):
There we go. Um, again, I'm just kind of doing that by eye and feel. But the more like black it goes in the background that I think the better it looks when it comes in. I'm going to highlight it. I'm gonna make it center aligned. I'm gonna drag this up to right underneath it. And then that way as I pull it down, you'll see right there I got those lines that are giving me, it's telling me's right in the middle, um, left and right and up and down. Okay, I got those lines telling me that I'm gonna delete this background here and then I'm gonna click command option shift w um, or file. That's the shortcut for file export. Export as. So command shift w I'm gonna switch it from JPEG to png. PNG gives it the transparent background. I'm gonna hit export and then I'm gonna go save it in that same folder. So share drive FC students social media messages. 2023. Um, start the party number three, I'm gonna put it in this PSD folder, but I'm gonna make a p and g folder, um, to not get 'em confused, I'm gonna take label it oh oh one question. Boom, put it in there and then back over here and premiere. I'm gonna do Pete, go into it. Uh, nope, wrong one, three psd uh, P and G question. I'm gonna drop it into my thing. I'm gonna drag it over here. So here's the question.

Nick Clason (30:12):
Come in below or if you're watching this live in the room, uh, at the table around you, I want to ask you this question.

Nick Clason (30:19):
Here's a question. So it's gonna come in, I'm gonna do positioning left and I'm gonna go down here and get that same sound effect. So it's uh, oh two five sfx. If you lose it in your bin there, you got this little search thing. So I just know the name of it is sfx. I click on it. I already got these bars from my in my out. I go my audio here, I drag it here and I'm just gonna make sure that that's all loaded up. I want it. Oh, I want it there. I'm gonna right click that. I'm gonna make that 10 again. Audio gain 10. Another way to do that if I want just the exact same one is I can go back over here to this one and if I hit option while it's highlighted and drag it, it should just duplicate that for me. I don't need that though, so I'm gonna delete it all. So back to my question

Nick Clason (31:12):
Table around you. I want to ask you this question. Does it surprise you to know that Jesus shared a meal with people that are considered O

Nick Clason (31:22):
All right, so I'm gonna rephrase that question so it matches. So does it surprise you to know that Jesus, um, how did I say it? Jesus shared a meal with people who are considered out. I'm going to get rid of the rest of that. All right, so now I'm gonna save it again. Again, this is one of my favorite features. I'm just gonna save it as replace and it should just change it. Look, it just changed it on my screen there. So because I updated it there in Photoshop and changed the file name, advise you to know

Nick Clason (32:03):
That Jesus shared a meal with people that are considered out in their ancient society. Why or why not? Take a minute.

Nick Clason (32:12):
So now that I have this, I'm actually gonna put a little countdown timer on the screen. So, um, in one of my folders here, I have a countdown timer. It's right here. It's called five Minutes Full Flat one. I just know the name of it. It's got an alpha channel on it. So it's right there. I'm going to, um, I only need the end of it cuz I'm not gonna do a full five minutes, right? So I hit C cut the rest of that and I'm gonna drag that over here. Um, I'm gonna pull a drop shadow on it. So I'm just gonna search in the effects here for Drop shadow, give it some definition. Didn't do much. I'm gonna go over here to effects controls. I'm gonna find drop shadow. I'm gonna move the opacity of the drop shadow from 50 to a hundred. I'm gonna change the distance. There we go. Now it's got some, some like at 40 back to effect controls. I'm gonna make it smaller. So I'm gonna hover over this 100 here for scale and just take it left and go down. And then I'm gonna go up here to this position. I'm just gonna drag it down right there. So now as I cue up the question, I'm gonna first find the end. This is where I end it, right here at this cut. So I'm gonna hit see.

Nick Clason (33:28):
So at the time of Jesus, there's a, so now what I'm gonna do is I am going to, this is the end. Okay? So when I queue up the question, why or why not?

Nick Clason (33:41):
Take a minute,

Nick Clason (33:43):
Uh, sir, I'm gonna cut it. I wonder if that is like past the end of the video or something. Let me see. Or is that hidden? Like what's going on here? Why is it not shown? I wonder if it's not like fully rendered or something. Hold on, let me find it. All right, now that I delete it, let's see if I can find it again over here. It's right here. It just looks like it's like loading it in. So it looks like it's just gonna take a little, a little, a little minute, a little minute to think I throw, I'm gonna drop it back in. Drop shadow, took all that off. Bye. Messing with it. I'm gonna change the distance to 40. It might just all need to like think. So I'm gonna hit file save as s STP 32. I'm gonna override it. Save. And I am going to, um, take a little break. I'll be right back. All right, so that didn't do crap. So I'm gonna open that sucker back up. Let's see if I can get it all right. That did it. So I just saved it and then I closed it and I opened it back up. We're good to go. So that's the end of my clip right there. Actually, it's a little bit long. So I'm gonna get to the end of my clip right there.

Nick Clason (37:13):
I'm going to click on the timer. I'm gonna make it a little smaller. I'm gonna pull it down and then I'm probably gonna animate its entrance. So

Nick Clason (37:23):
Surprise you to know that Jesus shared a meal with people that are considered out in their ancient society. Why or why not? Take a minute.

Nick Clason (37:34):
So I'm gonna put it right here where it starts, but that's only 10 seconds. And so what I'm actually gonna do is I'm going to lengthen the time. So I'm gonna grab all these right here and I'm gonna move them. And I want to give it closer to like 30 seconds. This is just like as a youth pastor is what I want to do. So I'm gonna pull this all the way down. I'm gonna pull this all the way down and then back that puts me at like a minute. So I want it at like 30. So like around, yeah, like around there. So that's where I want it to. And so what I'm gonna do here is I'm gonna, I hit, uh, see for the razor tool, I'm going to right click on this and I'm going to change the speed. So I'm gonna go, I was right click. I'm gonna go to, oh, I'm gonna go to speed and duration right here. And I'm gonna make it just 0.1. So it's super duper slow. So that's the video behind me as this question is sitting on screen. So it doesn't matter honestly what's happening behind me.

Nick Clason (38:56):
And then when that gets down to zero there, that's the end of it. I'm gonna pull. So I'm gonna zoom out so I can see all this. I'm gonna pull all these back in. So it's right next to it. Boom. Actually it needs to go there. I can drag that one to close the gap. And then I just need to animate the entrance. So I'm just gonna do motion in positioning smooth bottom of my countdown timer. Now I'm coming back over here. So

Nick Clason (39:50):
At the time of Jesus, there's a group of religious leaders, they're called the Pharisees. And they had a real problem with this dinner that we seen Jesus at. So it says when the Pharisees sum,

Nick Clason (40:01):
All right, so I need the verse for what I'm about to say. This is my show notes so I don't forget what it is. This is my

Nick Clason (40:13):
All right, so Matthew nine 11. So it's in this same thing here. It's just literally one verse later. So we're gonna copy this. I don't want to get that little A right there from Bible gateway all. So I'm in this tab here in Photoshop. I'm gonna go back to this tab. Not that one, not that one. Where is it? There's my verse. All right, hit the text command A to highlight command, V to copy. And then if I hit highlight at all and hit command shift and then the like p the period sign or like the, it looks like a greater than symbol, I can increase the size, um, slowly. So I'm gonna do that. I am going to change that from uh, Matthew nine 10 to Matthew nine 11 command shift S for save. Uh, oh oh two verse right there. And I'm drag that whole file back in. So get back over to it. Drag it in

Nick Clason (41:13):
Individual layers. Boom. Now here's the good news, which is a super cool, fun hack. Um, oh, that needs to be all the way this, this. So I'm hitting shift to highlight all these, all of these bad boys. Um, I'm, I'm replicating, right? I'm using the exact same thing. So I don't have to import all those. I'm just gonna hit option and drag them over here. And now I have this identical thing. I don't have to redo that. So now, now all I need is to get Matthew nine 11 right there, the new verse. And then I just need to animate in the text. So back over here, Jesus,

Nick Clason (41:51):
There's a group of religious leaders, they're called the Pharisees. And they had a real problem with this dinner that we seen Jesus at. So it says when the fa

Nick Clason (42:02):
So we're gonna do it right there and then we're gonna bring in. But when,

Nick Clason (42:06):
So it says when the fair

Nick Clason (42:08):
Right there, I'm gonna drag that to the end position in left. And then I need that sfx sounder. Click on here. Get that, bring it here, zoom in. I'm just hitting arrow over. That's where I want my sound effect to start. Um, I need to make that up to 10. All right, here we go.

Nick Clason (42:33):
So it says, when the Pharisees saw this, the fact that Jesus was there with the, the sinners and the outcast. And so why does your teacher eat with such stomach? Ask Jesus' disciples this question. You see the fares, you Jesus' disciples this question.

Nick Clason (42:50):
I think that's where I'm gonna end it. So remember, uh, see shifty boom back to V I can erase all those. So this was at 1 28. It'll come back to here at one 10.

Nick Clason (43:07):
Good question. You see the Pharisees were purposefully keeping others on the outside. They were judging them and questioning Jesus and his friends for not keeping them on the outside.

Nick Clason (43:20):
That is too long of a gap. I don't like that. So I'm going to cut right here, drag this and then make this 1 28. So now one sec.

Nick Clason (43:28):
Check out what Jesus said in response to them. I love it. He says,

Nick Clason (43:32):
All right, so we're doing another verse. I'm gonna assume it's the next verse. Yeah, actually it's 12 and 13, so I'm gonna get both of those. Oh, 12 through 13, copy paste. No that not copy. I must not have hit copy command C paste command v, I'm gonna make it a little smaller. Remember, command shift less than sign. I want this little a bad boy out of there space there. I'm gonna make, give a little more space to breathe cuz it is small. However, lemme make sure I don't how I read it.

Nick Clason (44:27):
Healthy people. So let me ask you, go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices for I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are.

Nick Clason (44:47):
All right? So yeah, I did do the whole verse. So um, command shift s we're going to make it oh three verse back over here in premiere. I'm gonna clear that search so that I can find it. Verse three, we're making it individual layers. Boom. All right, so I need all of these backgrounds again option. So I'm gonna go here where it starts.

Nick Clason (45:19):
Check up. Oh Jesus.

Nick Clason (45:21):
So we're gonna make it right there. When I say check out, I just need Matthew nine. Oh did I not change it? Nope, I didn't change it. So I need to make it 12 through 13, just a little smaller. I'm gonna write it over. So now that same layer in Adobe Premiere Pro will be updated with the new text. So it's all that check out

Nick Clason (45:51):
What Jesus said in response to them. I love it. He says,

Nick Clason (45:57):
All right, so I need this verse, I need to put it right here, position in left. And then I need that sfx. Actually I'm not gonna get it that way. I'm gonna go here, highlight it option, drag it over. I make sure that I, whenever I do that, I always make sure sometimes it doesn't work but some. So I wanna make sure I didn't just move it but I actually copied it. So I wanna make sure they're both still there. They are. I'm gonna zoom in. I'm gonna get, when this starts coming in right there, that was already pretty close, but just a little over.

Nick Clason (46:34):
Healthy people don't need a doctor, sick people. So let me add, go and learn the meaning of this scripture. I want you to show mercy

Nick Clason (46:44):
Not so it's not long enough. So I'm gonna highlight all these and I'm gonna drag it. I

Nick Clason (46:48):
Offer sacrifices for, I have come to call, not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are S,

Nick Clason (46:56):
That's where I'm gonna end it. I'm gonna shift, remember C, to get the razor tool, shift V, delete 'em all. And that gives me this new cut on my video timeline as well. So if that was 1 28, this can be one 10 as a zoom back out. No

Nick Clason (47:15):
They are, that comes from 99, 12 and 13.

Nick Clason (47:19):
I don't need that. So I'm gonna v cut that. See then V.

Nick Clason (47:24):
See Jesus came to care for those who needed him and most he came to show grace and love and mercy to the sinners, the tax collectors and anyone else who has ever been cast out of a girl. So what

Nick Clason (47:44):
That was a big gap.

Nick Clason (47:46):
So what does it look like to show mercy in today's world? Well for starters it's letting people know that they belong. That they can have a seat at your table.

Nick Clason (47:59):
So I like that quote. So I am going to um, it's letting people know that they belong. That they have a seat at your table. Just to make sure I got that quote right. Let's hear it again.

Nick Clason (48:18):
Well for starters it's letting people know that they belong. That they can have a seat at your table. You know, when you think about your life, right? Like I want you,

Nick Clason (48:31):
So I'm gonna do command option shift. W because I'm exporting, I'm not saving, I'm gonna make it a p and g. I am not saving the source files of these. I probably should but I'm not cuz I could recreate them pretty fast. And so it's just saving me a step cuz I would save it as a psd, then I would save it as a p and g as well. And that's just two steps. I'm just trying to cut that down. So I'm gonna have that come in there and then I need to drag into this gap right here. I want it positioning in left.

Nick Clason (49:01):
You know, when you think about your love, right? Like I want

Nick Clason (49:06):
You actually it's over here.

Nick Clason (49:09):
Well for

Nick Clason (49:14):
I get smaller, I got a pretty big starters. It's love. Yeah, there it as well. So I'm gonna pull that sfx sounder option. Yep.

Nick Clason (49:39):
It's letting people know that they, they belong, that they can have a seat at your table. You know when you think,

Nick Clason (49:53):
You know, when you think about your life, right? Like I want you to be honest, you probably hang out with people that you're most comfortable with. Your table might look like a table full of athletes or your table might be a table full of kids in theaters or your table might be a table full. Just kids in your neighborhood that you hang out with. Here's my questions. Since your table is often very similar, what if rather than having everybody with the same label sitting at all of your seats of your table, what have you chose to mix it up a little bit? You have one with this label, one with that label one with this label one. What would that look like? Like think about it. What if you chose to invite people?

Nick Clason (50:48):
So I'm just gonna add this here cause I felt like it was going a while without anything on the screen. Um, and I like that question. So I'm gonna make that oh oh three question and let's see where I start talking about it. A table

Nick Clason (51:04):
Full of athletes or your table might be a table full of kids in theater or your table might be a table full of just kids in your neighborhood that you hang out with. Here's my question. Since your table is often very similar,

Nick Clason (51:17):
What right there, what? So I'm gonna do position in left. I'm gonna go get this sounder again. Bring it right here. See those little arrows that gives me the indication that's lined up with my text up there. So I'm gonna let it go soon back in. Very similar.

Nick Clason (51:35):
What if rather than having everybody with the same label sitting at all of your seats of your team, what if you chose to mix it up a little bit? We have one with it.

Nick Clason (51:46):
I might actually move it. So I'm gonna hit that and then shift so I can move both of them over.

Nick Clason (51:53):
What if you chose to mix it up a little bit? We have one with this label, one with that. Like what?

Nick Clason (51:59):
I'm going faster now. Hitting L

Nick Clason (52:11):
Entertainment,

Nick Clason (52:13):
Is that the same thing?

Nick Clason (52:17):
Invest in different kinds of shows or, or forms of, uh, entertainment.

Nick Clason (52:23):
Yeah, I said that wrong.

Nick Clason (52:27):
Economic factors, what would it look? Sitting at all of your seats of your table, what have you chose to mix it up a little bit. We have one with this label, one with that label one with this label one. What would that look like? Like think about it. What if you chose to invite people who come from significantly different socioeconomic factors? What would it look like if you chose to invite people who are into different shows or forms of entertainment? You know, like kids who are maybe into anime or, or the Bachelorette or the Kardashians. What if you ask someone who is a gamer because you typically despise gamers and, and you're an athlete. Or maybe what if you're a Christian and you tend to avoid people who believe differently than you? What if you invited someone with a different faith system? Remember this, A party starter knows that everyone is invited. So how do you get invited?

Nick Clason (53:30):
Just gotta alternate these for the zoom back and forth on my cuts.

Nick Clason (53:35):
Be like Jesus, be the person willing to invite somebody new.

Nick Clason (53:42):
No, I don't mind alternating these now because I only got few . I'm at the finish line. People

Nick Clason (53:51):
Ain't a person willing to invite somebody new. See, we want this church and cross students to get student ministry. We're at a safe place. You can show up and just as you are, find yourself surrounded by people who want to make sure and know that you are invited. So I want you to ask this question again and around a little bit. Your camera. One person that I want to make sure feels in we're invited to the party with me.

Nick Clason (54:11):
Okay? I'm gonna add that. Who is one person who you want who command option shift, w, p and G oh four. Question back over here. Go find it.

Nick Clason (54:38):
Who's one person? The

Nick Clason (54:40):
I I'm gonna put it right here. I'm gonna get the sounder, bring it over.

Nick Clason (54:52):
Who's one per

Nick Clason (54:54):
Animated position in left,

Nick Clason (54:57):
Who's

Nick Clason (54:58):
One person that I want to make sure feels in or invited to the party with me this week?

Nick Clason (55:06):
So I gotta extend that sound. Um, I also want it to uh, so it's called exponential fade. That's where it like fades out slowly. So I drag it there on the end. And then we also have a here in the messages admin folder, YouTube button. Um, I have a subscribe thing where I can uh, just highlight our YouTube channel and anyone who's watching to subscribe. So I'm gonna drop it in towards the end. I'm gonna make it a little smaller and put it in the center middle

Nick Clason (55:46):
Into the party with me this week.

Nick Clason (55:54):
And I'm gonna match up the ending audio to go with that. And then that very end, I just need it to, I don't mind if it just stays on there. And I'm gonna drag this here. Command shift SSTP 32, we're resaving it. And now if I go up to sequence and I hit Command M

Nick Clason (56:15):
Or I just make sure I have the sequence, the blue box around it, this tripped me up one time. So bad file Export media. We're gonna change the location, so we're gonna put it in this folder here. New folder. Zero zero. Final start the party. Week three, save. Export entire source. There we go. Hey, listen, hope you found this episode helpful. I know it's deep, it's nitty, it's gritty. I'm hoping that can be a tutorial for you if you've never used Adobe Premiere Pro. This is just watching me edit a video. If you found it helpful, leave a rating review, like subscribe and hey, jump on, grab our free ebook so that you can also learn how to edit on your TikTok. Until next time, peace out. We'll talk to y'all later. Don't forget, stay hybrid.

Episode 038: The Fourth Step of the Church Social Media Framework: Instgram

Nick Clason — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 04:00:00 -0500

What do we do about Instagram? The app that most milennials use and find themselves on, do we have a need for Instagram in the local church in 2023? Why was it put in behind Facebook in Nick's 6-Step Framework? How should we use the feed? Stories? Reels? And what is the optimized Content Strategy for churches in 2023?

Entire Show: http://www.hybridministry.xyz/038
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
FREE e-book: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

TIMECODES
00:00-01:55 Intro
01:55-06:25 The Instagram Usage Statistics of 2023
06:25-08:23 The Instagram Feed Grid for Churches in 2023
08:23-10:03 Instagram Stories in Churches in 2023
10:03-12:10 Instagram Reels for Churches in 2023
12:10-14:59 3 Things to do on Instagram in 2023
14:59-16:40 3 Things to avoid on Instagram in 2023
16:40-17:48 How to Utilize stories on Instagram in 2023
17:48-19:21 How to Utilize Instgram Reels in 2023
19:21-20:41 Instagram Content Strategy Idea for 2023
20:41-22:45 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show. I, as always am your host, Nick Clason. Thrilled and excited to be with you. We are going to be continuing on through our six part church social media framework and this is actually the very final piece, um, of actual social networks. The next episode we're gonna talk website, text groups, email list, um, which is a little cheating cuz it's more than six, I get it. But that's what we're gonna look and chat, look at, and chat through next week. We are gonna round it out with Instagram today. Excited to be with you Before we dive in, a, uh, would love to encourage you to hop into your podcast app hitter rating hitter review. That would be an incredible resource and an incredible gift to us. We will be thrilled if that's something that you will be willing to do.

Nick Clason (00:56):
So please take time to do that. Also, we are on YouTube, so hit the show notes for a link to YouTube. If you're watching on YouTube, we're a podcast. So hit the link in the show notes to check out our podcast episode, um, website hybridministry.xyz. And for each and every single episode, we provide for you 100% free of charge transcripts. So if you're on a run and you're hearing something and you're thinking, man, that was really good, I want to go back and look at that a little bit more. I want to extrapolate that out. You can head to the link in the show notes. We will link this exact episode to the link in the show notes hybridministry.xyz/038. Once again, thrilled to be with you. Glad that you guys are here. And without any further ado, let's dive in and start talking about Instagram as a part of your church's six step social media framework.

Nick Clason (01:56):
All right, let's talk Instagram. So, um, again, if you, uh, did not watch last episode, uh, or listened to it, I would definitely recommend going back and doing it because in our order we want YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram. And the primary reason for putting Facebook ahead of Instagram was, I personally have found it easier to start with Facebook link my two accounts, Instagram and Facebook. Um, on the Facebook side you can try and start linking 'em through Instagram side, but you're eventually gonna end up over needing to do your meta business suite. And that that's just the easiest place to start is Facebook. And so if you're starting from scratch, start with Facebook, but don't abandon or neglect Instagram because Instagram is actually an incredibly used and um, popular resource among Americans. So, uh, just a couple quick Instagram hit quick hitter stats before we dive into actual strategy around it.

Nick Clason (02:52):
In the US there are 127.2 million Instagram users, uh, in the United States in the year 2023 alone. Uh, Snapchat, conversely is at 89.5 and TikTok is at 89.7 according to stati statistica.com. I'll link some of the stuff in the show notes. Some other interesting, um, stats and statistics is the age breakdown is that male users are at 51.8%. Female users are at 48.2%. Um, the age breakdown on Instagram, 13 to 17 year olds are 8% of the usage. Um, where 18 to 24 year olds are at 30.8% of the usage. 25 to 34 year olds are at 30.3% of the usage. 35 to 44 year olds are at 15.7% of the usage. 45 to 55 year olds, 8.4% of the usage, 55 to 64 year olds, 4.3% of the usage and then 65 plus are at 2.6% of the usage of people on Instagram. Now that being said, you can see that the data skews young, but there's a giant, a giant spike between the ages of 18 and 35.

Nick Clason (04:16):
Again, my guess is as a church, uh, we did this, this thing with the unstuck organization a couple years ago with the church I worked at and uh, they said it well. They're like, you obviously wanna reach all people and be all things to all people. However, you probably also want to kind of hone in on a demographic and you don't wanna pick one over the other. But once you hone in on one, what you do notice a lot of times is that the other demographics are attracted to just you having some sort of vision. And so my guess is that the demographic, the target demographic that you're attempting to reach if you're a younger church or if you're going to at least try and reach the next generation with kids and students, is that you're gonna wanna squarely reach between 18 and 34. Like that is probably your prime shot and you're probably weak on that 18 to 25, 18 to 30 pre-k um, spot.

Nick Clason (05:12):
And the reason I know that is cuz just about every church in America is actually kinda weak at that. However, uh, I think that that is still squarely a good demographic to be, um, targeting and and trying to to go after. All right, some other quick Instagram stats, Instagram story, daily active users are at 50, uh, 500 million plus. Uh, the number of businesses on Instagram are 200 million plus. And um, there are 0.59% of Instagram accounts with over 1 million followers. So Instagram, as you can tell, are is still incredibly, um, active. It's still incredibly popular while is very much on the rise, um, and has been challenging Some of these legacy platforms like Instagram, like Facebook, Instagram still has a place, in fact, just like anecdotally, like I prefer TikTok, but my wife, she watches short form videos, but she chooses to do so in the Instagram reels section of Instagram.

Nick Clason (06:16):
Which leads us to our next section. Let's talk about some of the different features, um, that you can find and can use on Instagram. All right, the first feature is the Instagram feed. Now this is probably the thing that if you are just logging into Instagram for the first time, the first thing you're gonna see is the spot where people post pictures and you scroll. Instagram made the scroll endlessly. Like that was them. They made that, uh, popular and then they made all their social media sort of adapt to that. In fact, I remember the update when Facebook went from side swiping photos to you could click on a photo and you could swipe this way. They did that in response to Instagram. I don't know if that was before or after they acquired it, but nonetheless, like Instagram has been very popular and has made a lot of important headway in the world, um, of social media.

Nick Clason (07:07):
And so the feed is probably your legacy platform. It's also your social graph spot where you are following the people that you want to follow. Um, and so you get on there, you'd scroll and you'd see, oh, so and so just, you know, they just went on a trip to Brazil. I'm gonna check that out. I'm gonna like it, I'm gonna comment, I'm gonna share. That's what happens on the Instagram feed. I do also think that the Instagram feed was one of the first places where the highly curated look became popularized. And I do think that some of the platforms like TikTok, like Snapchat and even like be real, have um, swung the pendulum back is because they are pushing back against some of the highly curated social media, uh, places. And so they're looking to find a place where you can actually come in, be yourself, be real, show the unfiltered version of yourself.

Nick Clason (08:00):
And so the whole perfectly edited, perfectly airbrushed photos and curated. I think that that is starting to wane, especially with the newer and younger generation. And so while Instagram and its feed definitely has a position in this six step social media framework, I do think that it is probably one that has grown the most tired and people have grown the most weary of over the years. Let's talk about Instagram's stories. If you log into your Instagram app on your phone across the top, they're little circle icons of different accounts. Uh, and if you like navigate onto an account and there's like a little yellow, not yellow purple or like pink the Instagram gradient, uh, ring around it that indicates that they have a story. Well, when you log into your app immediately right across the top, if there are icons up there, almost inevitably that means that those people have used their stories.

Nick Clason (08:53):
So that was made popular by the social media Snapchat. It was an idea that you could post something that would last for 24 hours. And so a lot of video, a lot more unfiltered, a lot less curated, a lot more behind the scenes, a lot more just real life. And Instagram stories was an amazing platform and one that um, I think a lot of churches took advantage of and honestly can still take advantage of, like I think for example, really great strategies to just hand that over to someone on your staff once a week and have them do a day in the life. A takeover, a takeover Tuesday. Um, we do it at like on Wednesdays cuz that's our ministry night at our church. And so, um, someone is in charge of taking over the Instagram account either, you know, on a Wednesday all day during the day, uh, to lead into, you know, Wednesday night coming up for, for students or whatever.

Nick Clason (09:44):
So I think Instagram stories have grown in popularity. Uh, statistic I have here says that 86%, approximately 86% of Instagram users access their stories on a daily basis. So it's still a very popular feature and still one that's very much widely being used by Instagram users today. Let's talk about Instagram reels. The reason most of us are here, especially in 2022 with short form video content, Instagram also stole another feature. Just like they stole stories from Snapchat. They stole reels in that idea from the popular app. TikTok Instagram introduced reels into their platform in August of 2020. Um, it's the same basic premise of what you get on TikTok. Scroll endlessly use trending sounds, do silly dances. One thing that's interesting to note is about a year ago or six months ago or so, Instagram recently converted every single video on their platform from whatever it was over to a reel.

Nick Clason (10:43):
So for example, I don't know if you remember, there was this platform called I G T V Instagram tv. They're trying to kind of go after YouTube and the long form video pieces, however they went for vertical where YouTube was still focusing on horizontal. Every one of my and i I went in on I G T V when it was new. I used it a lot personally. I used it a lot in my ministry. They've converted all of those I gtv videos over to Rio so they don't sit under an I G T V tab anymore or over an I G T V app, which was its own thing. Which not sure why Instagram felt the need to add a whole nother app that you could still access through their normal app. Nonetheless, I digress. But now you can still find old legacy I G T V videos sitting under your Instagram reels tab.

Nick Clason (11:28):
That's where all of those have been converted and now that's where they sit. So, uh, Instagram reels, uh, has become very popularized and um, Instagram has gone in to say that we are, we are about reels now. This is our thing. They have recently come out with a little algorithm shift in saying that they do want to push, um, photos, again, not just reels. And so, uh, we'll dive into the Instagram algorithm change in a future episode, but for now, still know that in 2023 I think your strategy should be short form video content. And that does definitely and very much include Instagram real. Let's talk best and worst content strategies for Instagram. Here are three dues on Instagram. Do number one, do post pictures of people in your church congregation. A couple years ago, Brady Sheer went out and did this study. Uh, it was just an anecdotal study, but he took a, uh, cell phone and then you hired a, a photographer and they took pictures in the same day.

Nick Clason (12:34):
And, uh, the people could not really tell the difference between the cell phone photos and the actual like professionally graded photos. The point in the premise of that is that in your pocket you have the power of an incredibly strong camera that you can use to take photos of people in your church congregation. So take on a Sunday morning, on a Wednesday night, whenever your primary meeting time is, take those photos, post them and use them on the feed. That can almost be your entire content strategy for on the feed. Now there is a probably decent chance that you already have some sort of rhythm with a photographer, whether it be volunteers or whatever, who are regularly taking photos for you. Keep that going. I still think that pictures of people with smiling faces posted on your social media is still a relevant, meaningful, and purposeful content strategy in 2023.

Nick Clason (13:28):
Content strategy number two is repost your reels. So what I mean by that is, like we said, Instagram is all in on short form video content here in 2023. When you go to post a reel, you have an option to either add it to the feed or take or hide it from your profile grid most often, cuz I, you've heard me say in past episodes perhaps that I post three uh, TikTok slash reels a day. So I don't post all three of those to the feed, but I do choose one that I want to post to the feed. So for example, we will often have fun, silly, goofy content, um, but one of them is gonna be serious. And I often choose to post that one to the feed so that more of our church people are seeing it. So use the Instagram post to feed option as a way to supplement your Instagram strategy, especially on your Instagram feed.

Nick Clason (14:20):
Also use some funny content. We talked about this in the YouTube trends report, but essentially 63% of Gen Z followed a meme account in the last year. And, um, gen Z and and people on social media are looking for brands and people to repurpose and use funny meme based silly kind of content like that. So use that stuff. Use memes on in short form video, use static memes. Um, we do a meme Monday and I think that there's a market for that even if you're not youth ministry. So don't be afraid to be funny. Don't be afraid to lean in and try and create a laugh moment. Here's some things to avoid on Instagram. Avoid announcements and graphics. Okay? Those just simply don't perform very well and people do not get on social media to be announced at or have been told what's coming up next.

Nick Clason (15:14):
If all you're doing on your social media is announcing things and reminding people about events, change your strategy. There is a way to incorporate announcements but still use the medium of the day. So, for example, you can do trending meme sounds, dances, things like that, that are reals, that are tos. However you can do those that are funny about like the upcoming event. So for example, last summer or spring as we were leading into summer camp, there was a, a trending sound that I found that is something like, it smells like a public restroom in here. And I just created a thing with like a green screen background, like a cabin type vibe, right? And I said, P o v, which stands for point of view pov middle school boys cabin at camp. And then I posted it, right? That's a, that's a camp adjacent announcement.

Nick Clason (16:03):
It's different than just a graphic for hey Santa for summer camp, right? But, uh, it still gets to point across. So don't just post graphics and announcements. Also with whatever you do, avoid stock footage. You may now have photos of people send someone this week to take photos of people in your church and boom, you'll have photos of people. Please while you are getting things up and running on your website or your Instagram, avoid photos of people because it's disingenuine. It's not who your church is. It's not true representation of the people in your church. It is a paid version of the people in your church. So do not use stock footage, especially on the Instagram feed. What do we do about stories? I would still use stories. Um, and I used to be all in on a story strategy and try and posting something every single day.

Nick Clason (16:50):
Uh, you still can be, but with as many reels as I post now I can supplement kind of some of that content. We'll get that to that in a minute. Um, bond stories I would recommend using the just the Instagram stories editor. You can use things like the question sticker. You can use things like the poll sticker. The link sticker, which is an amazing resource to have. The emoji slider tool. Like how much do you like this? All the way up, all the way down countdowns. You can do takeovers, like I said. Uh, you can spam your stories during big events. Spam is just a turmoil, like you just overwhelm it and you have so many little dots across the top. Um, you can give it over to a friend, a volunteer, a student to, to post to, to make it feel like you are in the moment of the event.

Nick Clason (17:34):
You can also kind of create a little bit of FOMO with that. So I definitely recommend still using and utilizing your Instagram stories feature. It's a place where you can post content that doesn't have to go on your feet and kind of like live there forever. Finally, Instagram reels. You know that my preferred strategy personally is to post three Instagram reels a day. And when I say Instagram reels often I post it in TikTok first, then I copy the link, then I go to a browser that says download, um, download TikTok video without watermark, paste the link in there, download it, and then I go post it over to Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube shorts. Yes, there's a lot of manual work and very recently, and we're gonna do a review on this here soon, I've come across a, um, posting tool for you. And so right now I'm trying a third party service and I don't like it very much.

Nick Clason (18:29):
And I'll tell you why in a minute. In a future episode, I'm gonna also try posting some stuff through the native apps, um, of TikTok of the Meta Business suite, uh, to see if that does anything for me. However, I'm just gonna be honest with you, I like posting in live time. Yeah, sometimes it's annoying cuz it, you know, I'm reminded I have to do it and it pops up at a very inconvenient time, but I still like that idea and I can edit things right on my phone that way. Otherwise I have to do all of my editing, a hundred percent of my editing in like, uh, computer software and, and save it to a hard drive somewhere to access it later. And, and that's sometimes a little bit inconvenient, but you should be leaning into Instagram real content. You can use it to supplement what goes on your feet.

Nick Clason (19:13):
You can use it to supplement what goes in your stories and I would definitely recommend, um, going all in on it. So just a quick reminder and recap. What I do and what I use on my personal Instagram at our church is we do a me Monday, which are photos on the feed. We do a Tuesday message recap from the previous Wednesday. Remember, we're a student ministry. That's a reel. I also post that to my feed Wednesday night. I do a either a carousel post of 10 photos of students or a highlight video, um, of that night and post that to the feed. If I don't post a video to the feed, it's cuz I posted photos, but I'm still posting the reel. Uh, Thursday we do a recap video of the message from the night before. And then on Friday I like to do, um, a photo dump of the Wednesday.

Nick Clason (20:00):
So that's, if I, if I don't do it on Wednesday, I'll save it for Friday and do a photo dump there on Friday. Then I'll inter intermix, uh, different, uh, story stuff, like mostly just real, uh, stuff, things, honestly, I go to reels, things that don't perform super well, and I repost 'em to my story so that people still see them. Uh, and then I'll do a takeover once a week. And that's primarily our Instagram strategy for now. So most of it's kind of built out and happening over in Instagram reels, a few things on feed to make sure that we're still showing up and stories, but the most, most of it's all kind of happening reels. And you, you look here, like we do, uh, a photo dump and a meme post. And that's basically it for like static photo posts. Hey, well once again, thanks for sticking around to the end of the episode.

Nick Clason (20:46):
Hey, to all of you on YouTube, hello to all of you listening and your earbuds on a run. So glad that you joined us. We are done with social media. We have one final, uh, area. We're gonna focus on website and, uh, text messaging and email and how do those all work together with social media. And then we're gonna put it all together. So join us in the next episode. So we have done, uh, YouTube, we have done TikTok, we've done Facebook, we've done Instagram. We will do those other platforms, website, social media, uh, website, texting and email. And then finally, part six, we're gonna put it all together and say, Hey, here is your church content, social media strategy for 2023. So glad you joined us. Hey, if you have not grabbed your e-book, how to create a TikTok from start to finish. As you heard in this episode, it, Instagram is still very much in on reels.

Nick Clason (21:37):
So if you need to create some reels, uh, you can do that and learn how to do that through the TikTok editor and by posting a TikTok and do it all on TikTok, download it. Boom, go over post it on a reel. So there you go. There's your ebook. Go check that out at our website, link in the description below. Subscribe wherever you're listening, subscribe maybe wherever you're watching. So good that you joined us, we would love it if you could drop a five star rating or review just to help us get the word out. We want more people to become aware of the incredible message of Jesus, how important it is to be leaning into the hybrid hybridization of your church. I'll just add some friends over last night from our, from the church I work at, they're all a little bit younger and every single one of 'em was like, yeah, we want more hybrid. We're all trying to think and lean into that direction. So, uh, it is the wave of the future, so don't shy away from it. Try to lean into it. Try something new this week and don't forget, and as always, stay.

Episode 037: The Third Step of the Church Social Media Framework: Facebook

Nick Clason — Thu, 23 Mar 2023 04:00:00 -0500

Does Gen Z even care about Facebook? The assumption of course is no, but is that accurate? And why does Nick recommend facebook ahead of Instagram? Finally, what are the 3 ways in which you should be utilizing facebook as a church in 2023?

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: http://www.hybridministry.xyz/037
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
FREE EBOOK: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook

SHOWNOTES
How to Run a Successful Ad: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/009

TIMECODES
00:00-03:35 Introduction
03:35-09:00 Facebook.. Does Gen Z care about Facebook?
09:00-15:11 The History of Facebook and what it is today
15:11-18:36 Reason 1) Create a Facebook Page
18:36-20:59 Reason 2) Link your Facebook & Instagram Accounts
20:59-24:00 Reason 3) Create a Facebook Group
24:00-25:55 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:02):
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode in addition of the hybrid ministry show. My name is Nick Clason. I, as always, I'm your host, excited to be with you. And in this episode, we are going to be diving into our third platform that you should be focused on as a church in building out the six step framework for social media or churches in 2023. Now, this one, um, is gonna be a little bit of a zig or a zag because my guess is if you, uh, know me, you know my story. I am a youth pastor and so I'm gonna be, I do this a lot from the realm of and um, position of being a youth pastor. And so this one you're gonna be like, wait a minute, what is he recommending before? What other one? Cuz you know, so far we've done YouTube and we've also done TikTok.

Nick Clason (01:01):
And so probably your assumption would be that we would be moving on to Instagram and if I were to rank platforms in the order of importance, it would go TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and then Facebook. But today we are going to talk about Facebook and there's a few reasons why and we're gonna get to that. So make sure you stick around to the very end of the episode cuz we're gonna talk about the three primary reasons why you should start with Facebook as opposed to Instagram, especially if you're starting from scratch. And those three reasons are also relevant and prevalent. If you are already on both of those platforms. There's just gonna be some things and, uh, some technical, uh, linking things that you're gonna need and want to do that are gonna help you optimize your performance on both of those platforms, Instagram and Facebook.

Nick Clason (01:49):
All right, um, real quick, let's talk about, uh, before we dive in, you know, too much. I want to remind you, you can head over to our YouTube channel. If you are listening on a podcast, hit the link in the show notes and give us a subscribe there that would help us out tremendously. If you're discovering us and watching us on YouTube, hit the link in the show notes over to hybrid ministry.xyz. That is the homepage and home base for our podcast. And every single episode, including this one, which will have a link to the show notes, has a fully flushed out transcript. So you can go and you can grab the fully flushed out transcript for this episode and any of our past episodes as well as that's where you can get the free download called, have I already Ruined my Church's TikTok account?

Nick Clason (02:32):
And that is your complete guide to handing your phone to someone and say, Hey, post me a TikTok. And if they have no idea what they're doing, that will walk them through step by step. All of that is available, um, in our show notes. That's also available on our website. So give us a subscribe, give us a rating or a review, we would love it. And follow us in all the places. I personally, uh, am on TikTok and I am on YouTube and I'm trying to grow on both of those places to just the word out to help more people like you, church content communicators, church social media managers, youth pastors, part-time college students who got handed a phone from your pastor and said, Hey, we should probably be on social media. Yes, I am here to help you. And that is my entire goal is to help show you one of the ways that you can approach this in your church, in your life and in your ministry.

Nick Clason (03:24):
So without any further ado, let's hop into this episode of Facebook, the platform that Gen Z doesn't care about or do this. All right, so Facebook, does Gen Z care about Facebook? So there was an article back in 2015, um, by Pew Research that found that 71% of teenagers from the age 13 to 17 say that they used Facebook. And at that time they easily beat out platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. That's an encouraging number. And so for a lot of youth pastors, a lot of people working with Next generation, a lot of people doing social media, um, it kept the impetus and the importance of making Facebook a priority, making it something that you continually should be investing in. All right? However, back in 2022, which is not that long ago, from the drop of this, uh, podcast or the drop of this videos only a year or so ago, it tells us a different story.

Nick Clason (04:26):
So that number in 2015 was at 71%, but it has now dropped to that same age demographic. 13 to 17 year olds is now dropped to 32%. Then you might be thinking then like, why in the world are we making this a priority? Obviously it's tapering off with younger people, it's really only relevant for older generations. And while our church may have a good crop of people in older generation who are still using and active on Facebook, the reality is like that is dropping more and more. And that is true, and I will a hundred percent affirm you. And if you do decide that you don't want to take on Facebook as a platform, I totally get that. Um, especially if you wanna trend younger and be more relevant. Because the reality is this is like even Gen Z, or I'm sorry, gen X, uh, millennials, boomers, they use some of the other platforms that we're talking about here.

Nick Clason (05:16):
They're active on YouTube, some of them probably do have a TikTok account. And so if you want to abandon Facebook altogether, you can. The thing is, reality is probably you as a church, you probably already have a Facebook account. It's already probably been established and it's probably been active for years. And so what do you do and how do in this, you know, ever shifting landscape, do you continue to even use and reinvest in Facebook? I do think that there's a spot for it. I do think that there are some pertinent things that are worth you understanding and noticing. Um, and I'm gonna talk about those and especially in the very final episode of this six step kind of framework, we're gonna, um, put all of these platforms back together, right? And we're gonna gonna say here with all these different platforms, all these different like things we talked about, what is a full fledged church social media framework and strategy, taking all these pieces and putting 'em together.

Nick Clason (06:09):
So you're gonna see where Facebook fits into that. Um, but the answer to this is why we think we should continue to, um, participate in Facebook. The answer is twofold. So part number one, like we said in the last episode about TikTok, if you only have time to invest in one, invest in TikTok, I say that primarily for younger ministries, youth pastors, but quite honestly, uh, I think I would still say that the purpose for that is, uh, true, uh, for even like a church, not just a youth ministry like church, trying to reach people for their, you know, their community, their town, whatever. Like nothing wrong with just investing in TikTok. Uh, and a lot of the things today that we're gonna talk about are gonna feel like a lot of groundwork. And so that might be boring and you might not yield as many returns on it.

Nick Clason (06:52):
And so you're probably gonna have to spend a day or a week slow out some of these things, figuring out some of the things. Um, however, if you do wanna build out a fully robust holistic social media strategy, like I said, we're gonna put that together in the final episode of this little mini-series that we're doing. Facebook needs to be a part of it, not necessarily for the reasons that you might think. However, I will caveat this and say in the ranking of importance for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Facebook is very last on my list for the specific platforms to invest in, right? Like I've, I've said, okay, however, your usage on Facebook on meta is gonna be for three primary reasons. And starting with Facebook's GI gives you an easier road, uh, to launch some other social media or, and this part's important or marketing endeavors that you may be interested in or your church or your pastor or your executive pastor might be interested in you carrying out, overseeing and executing.

Nick Clason (07:48):
All right? And so we're gonna look at this as more of a, um, foundation building as opposed to like a v going viral and, and drumming up a lot of interest and reaching a lot of people. Okay? So be that as it may, Facebook still plays a pretty crucial and important role. Before we go too much further, I do wanna share one last stat with you. 32% of users on Facebook are teenagers. That isn't a lot, but that also isn't nothing. And those teenagers are still users of Facebook. They may not be contributors, but they are as some social media people have dubbed lurkers, which means they are viewing what's going on on Facebook, and they will grow up and they will become, um, the age of the, uh, adults in your church. And in addition to that, a lot of families have parents who spend a lot of their time on Facebook.

Nick Clason (08:38):
And so if you're a demographic, if you're a church reaching families, you may not be reaching their teenagers, but you may be catering to and reaching their parents and there's um, uh, there is a benefit to doing that. All right, so let's dive into Facebook before the history of it and what it is now. Okay, Facebook before and now let's go back to the beginning. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth. Okay, maybe not that far back. Let's go a little further. Okay, let's go to 2004. In 2004, you probably heard of a guy by the name of Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg launched and started Facebook as a social media platform. He launched it in 2004 on Harvard University's campus. He was a sophomore, and his primary purpose there was to connect Harvard students to other Harvard students. And so back in the very original OG Facebook days, it was built primarily for college campuses so that you could see the faces of other college students, know their names, get to know them, but by the end of the year, the almost unimaginable had happened for Zuckerberg and over 1 million users, 1 million users were on Facebook, and the reach had then expanded beyond just his simple campus.

Nick Clason (09:55):
And the spread was like wildfire. And Facebook changed the game forever. Facebook is often thought to be one of the major contributors of ushering in the, uh, the, the, what am I looking for? The setting or the, the, the, gosh, why is this word so hard for me? I don't know what I'm trying to say, but ushering in the idea of Web 2.0. So Web 1.0 was just basic HTML website's, text on a screen, web 2.0 allowed the users to actually be contributing, formatting, crafting what was being said. We are now, by the way, in a world of Web 3.0 where users can create their own reality. Right now it's primarily through things like vr, but the algorithms which are less social graph and now more discovery based are helping you sort of find and create your own reality, which by the way, I think is a little bit dangerous, especially if you are a pastor and you are anchored in the truth of God's word.

Nick Clason (10:53):
However, as opposed to bucking that and saying that you need to just ca cast your phone into like a fire, um, and not look at TikTok, I think you need to help people steward that, that they've been given because now honestly, the reality is social media is not very social like it was back in the day. Uh, we've seen that Gen Z has watched millennials and Gen Xers use and, and lean into their community being all digital, and it has honestly yielded not very good results. So I honestly see a good pendulum shift in some of our Gen Z students and people that I interact with because they lean into more real authentic community. So why are they spending so much time on platforms like TikTok and YouTube? They're, they're, they're honestly there for entertainment more than they are for like social connection. And that's the thing, Facebook was built as a platform of social connection.

Nick Clason (11:43):
And so now it is a legacy platform and it's been around forever and it is still a major player and a major contributor in the game. However, they are having to, having to adjust to TikTok and YouTube have been ushering in, in these last several years that they've seen the younger generations adapt. And because Facebook knows that great Aunt Betty is going to eventually no longer be a user at some point because she's not going to be living on this planet of earth, they need to start catering to the younger generations if they want anyone to even adopt their platform. The reality is a lot of people are not huge fans of Facebook altogether, but whether they know it or not, they're using platforms under the Facebook umbrella. So all that being said, Facebook still remains the number one social media platform to this day based on, uh, based on number of users according to an article, which we will link in the show notes of backlinko backlink.io, I always get that one messed up.

Nick Clason (12:38):
Backlink io Facebook presently has 1.9 billion daily users, which is 6.89% increased year over year. In addition to the massive usage that is found and seen by Facebook users and contributors. Uh, Facebook has been acquiring more and more products, uh, over their lifetime and life cycle. Here are some of the products that they've acquired. You may be have heard of them, Instagram, WhatsApp, gfi, Oculus, and many more. In fact, if my counting and calculations are correct, Facebook has a total acquisition of over 88 different products, um, or companies or tech like focused things, okay? And the total cost of those acquisitions is estimated to be north of 23 billion with a B dollars. So I will link that, that article as well because honestly, uh, I didn't read all of them to you because you get really bored. There's really only like four or five that you probably actually recognize by name, WhatsApp, Instagram, Oculus gif, you the rest are like, what?

Nick Clason (13:46):
And they just absorbed these companies into them and, and stole their intellectual property, not stole, bought their intellectual property to use for their, their behalf and their betterment. Okay? And so as I was first, uh, sitting down to record this podcast and thinking about all this Facebook stuff, um, the reality is this, fast forward to October, 2021, Facebook announces this is the big shift here from Facebook back then to Facebook. Now, Facebook announces a change in their name from Facebook as the parent company to the name Meta. You probably know that if not, you've probably seen it and been unaware that that is, that is where that comes from. All right? And so the name reflects as the company says, um, the name reflects the company's growing ambitions to be relevant beyond just social media. They want to build technology that will help connect people. That's what they say their ultimate goal is.

Nick Clason (14:38):
Uh, I'll link that article in the show notes, but with the announcement of the name change from Facebook into Meta, this giant conglomerate of products that Meta has acquired over the years, it leads us specifically now to how you in your church can and probably should be using Facebook in your context here in 2023 as a part of the six step Church social medium framework. So without any further ado, let's hop in to reason number one, why you should be using Facebook. Reason number one, and the way in which you should be using Facebook in your church and in your ministry is to create a Facebook page. Now, Facebook page is the corporate side of Facebook. It is where businesses and corporations go to have their hours. It's where they link their website. It's, it's where they, at some point in time, we'll run ads and your church more than likely has a corporate company Facebook page.

Nick Clason (15:37):
I would recommend that you start with a Facebook page, not necessarily, because I think it's a great strategy for reaching people organically anymore in 2023. However, it is going to help sort of be the anchor for everything that you do on Facebook. And if you start there, especially if you don't have anything already launched right now, but if you start there, then sort of from there, the rest of everything else can kind of spread, which is one of the reasons why I have jumped Facebook over Instagram, for example, because Facebook is the owner of Instagram. And so if you start with that Facebook page, then you can sort of build things out from there. One of the things that you need to know about Facebook is it's not just a simple username and password sort of login. So if you're inheriting a Facebook page, what you need to do is you need to discover who the admin is on the Facebook page.

Nick Clason (16:24):
The person who has a personal specific profile, their first name and last name, they are an admin to an account. And that is who runs or who is kind of doing the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain, um, managing of Facebook pages. That's how Facebook works. So for example, I just moved to a church about six months ago. They had a a Facebook page, and everyone that I asked, I kept asking to try and get login information for it. They're like, oh yeah, the username password should be on this password document sheet that we have. And, and I just was like, no, that's, that's not how it works. Like, it's not just like I log into Facebook, I have to log in as myself, Nick Clason on my Facebook page, and then I have to be made an administrator or an admin or an editor or a moderator or whatever the case might be, whatever the role is that is decided that has to happen to me, my account, not a login into a specific place.

Nick Clason (17:20):
Okay? So when you start on this place, everything else can sort of be driven from that. The other reason that you would wanna start with a Facebook page is that some point you may want to run ads on your Facebook page. Um, and you may, you can do that either on Facebook, you also can do that through Facebook to your Instagram count if you find Instagram more beneficial to your audience. But you do that through the business suite, the meta suite. And so, um, learning to run an ad is probably one of the most maddening processes, especially if you have no idea what you're doing, what some of the language means or whatever if you're a complete nbe. And so one time I interviewed my friend, former co-host of this podcast, Matt Johnson. He is a marketing freaking guru, uh, and he has done some incredible things, marketing, especially in the ministry space, if you are or have ever heard of or are familiar with the company, dare to share.

Nick Clason (18:16):
He was behind a lot of what they did and a lot of what got them out, uh, visible to a lot of people out in the world. And so, um, he walks us through in a former episode, not link that in the show notes of how to step, how to set up an ad, step by step, uh, running a Facebook ad. So that's there for you. Hopefully that's helpful to you. All right? Step number two is beyond the Facebook page. You should also link your Facebook and Instagram accounts. This is probably one of the most obvious or low hanging fruit reasons why you should start with Facebook, because once you link them, then it's really no extra work, especially if you start on the Instagram side, which we'll get to that in the next episode. But if you start on the Instagram side posting something, all you do is simply toggle on a switch that says also post to Facebook, and boom, you're posting the same content in two places.

Nick Clason (19:08):
That used to be a no-no. That used to be something that you shied away from. But now it's actually something that I and many other church social media marketing managers encourage, especially with the current thing that every social media is focusing on short form video content. It doesn't matter if it's also posted on Instagram, on Facebook, I did a thing the other day, we do this stupid game on our, uh, Instagram, on our TikTok, on our YouTube shorts called, um, , it's called ABC Cheese. So we have a little craft singles and we try to bite like just two of us and try to bite out a letter. And the other person was trying to guess what it's, and so I just was like curious and I was like, how many views did this video in total get? And so I, I looked on YouTube, I looked on TikTok, I looked on Instagram reels, and I looked on Facebook reels, and in total we had somewhere between seven and 800 views on just that one stupid video alone by posting it to all those different platforms.

Nick Clason (20:05):
You know, like one had 600, one had a hundred, one had 300, one had 200, you know what I mean? That kind of all adds up. And you start to think about it, you're like, dang, that's like seven, eight, 9,000 hun. You know, thou not a thousand hundred, 900, a thousand people reach. Like it's a lot, man. Like that's, that's, that's something that churches, youth ministries would've been begging for in years past and before with Facebook pages, primarily as the marketing tool and engine, you had to pay to do it. And you, I mean, you still do if you wanna market stuff, but you can kind of like punch your lottery ticket with any of these reels or short form video and just blow up, or not even blow up, but just get a hundred views across four platforms that adds up to north of 500, north of 700, north of 900 views on any single video.

Nick Clason (20:56):
I think most people would say that that's worth it. All right? The third and final way and, and um, path that I think you should take on Facebook is create a Facebook group. According to a 2021 study, there were approximately 233 million Facebook users in the US alone. 18.2 of those users belong to the 18 to 24 age group, while 18% of those users are 35 to 34 years old. So in total, you're looking at, almost 40% of your users are between the age of 18 and 44. So while your teenagers, your youth ministry might not be spending a lot of time on Facebook, other platforms, um, other people, older demographics definitely are. And I think that you, one of your largest wins as a church is to create a group because that is where you can make community on social media feel intimate and in, in fact, it's probably one of the only platforms that offers a close sort of intimate community style feel.

Nick Clason (21:56):
And so I do think of all of the features that Facebook does have to offer. You can have a group. And so again, if you start with a page, then out of that you can create a group that's connected to that page and you can post as the page admin or you can switch your profile and you can be interacting as yourself in the group, and you can make that that switch. And they've started to make that a lot easier. If you go onto the page on your phone or on your browser, it'll give you a little notification in one of the corners somewhere that says you're interacting as the, the brand, you're interacting as the page or you're interacting as yourself. And then it just gives you a button there. Do you wanna switch? And you click switch and it switches over between yours or your page.

Nick Clason (22:37):
And so you can make some of those things. You also have the opportunity to go to the business suite and schedule some stuff. You can also link and schedule that over to your Instagram. And they now offer scheduling for reels. They offer scheduling for stories, which were not things that they offered previously. All the schedule tools really only posted like static images to pages, um, and your Instagram grid feed. But now they're starting to offer more. Uh, they do, in my personal experience, I've really only been experimenting with schedulers for a little bit here now, but they do seem to choke down your organic reach all of those platforms like it, when you post live time, there really is no way around that. No matter how much you try, no matter how, how much these like schedulers promised you, you're gonna just have better performance on all of your stuff if you are posting it.

Nick Clason (23:26):
Um, and that, but that's a value proposition that you have to weigh through, especially if you have a million other responsibilities. Is it worth it to peace of mind, have it scheduled and you don't have to worry about it? Or is it something that you should, you know, wade into and navigate choice is yours? It's kind up to you. Um, so one of the best things that can do though as a church is to run a Facebook group. And over time you don't even have to be supplying that with a lot of content. The content hopefully will be generated by the users that are already a part of your Facebook group community. Well, everyone, once again, thank you so much for hanging out for this entire episode. I hope that you found this episode helpful. Like I said, the Facebook, uh, episode's a lot more focused on nitty gritty groundwork, building up some stuff so that you can build up a more robust and full social media strategy.

Nick Clason (24:18):
We are going to be diving into that in the future episodes. But coming up next, we are finally moving on to Instagram. We're gonna talk about some strategies and some reasons behind how you can be using Instagram effectively as a church in your 2023 social media framework. In addition to that, before we, we get to the very final piece where we put it all together, we are gonna talk email and texting and website. And so those three things are also critically important, I think to sort of serve as a backdrop and or as a lead generator for some of these other social media platforms to your already existing church audience that you have access to through a database and Excel spreadsheet or whatever the case might be in your particular context. Again, excited to be with you and excited to be right here now on the downhill slide of our six part church miniseries on church social media in 2023.

Nick Clason (25:13):
If you found this episode helpful, do me a favor and please send it to a friend, share it, rate it, review it, all those things are incredibly helpful to me, and they're a free for you to just give back in a very small way to our podcast and the work that we've been doing here at Hybrid Ministry. You can also check out free transcripts that we provide for you for every single episode, and that's over http://www.hybridministry.xyz. Hit the show notes for all the articles that we mentioned for all the other, uh, episodes that we reference for all the other social media places that you can follow me. And until next time, and as always, stay hybrid.

Episode 031: Why should churches care about digital ministry in 2023?

Nick Clason — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 04:00:00 -0600

In this episode, Nick explores if there's value in digital ministry. What exactly is Hybrid Ministry? What are ways that the church can live out digital expressions that add value to in-person moments and in-person relationships? What are ways that the church can be more Hybrid?

Everything you need at http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Follow Along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g
Or on TikTok at: http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Hybrid Ministry Discussion on the Barna E-Book Episode: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/006

TIMECODES
00:00-01:31 Intro
01:31-08:03 Assumption: Social Media isn't relational
08:03-15:13 Let's define Hybrid Ministry
15:13-17:24 How are real relationships hybrid?
17:24-20:00 The Best Hybrid versions in our culture
20:00-31:48 The Best Hybrid Ideas for Churches in 2023
31:48-33:00 Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:03):
Well, what is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast, and now on YouTube. Excited to be with you all. We're gonna test out a couple of video options here. See how these go. I know it'll go fine. Mostly I'm testing to see how much extra work it's gonna be. But, um, would love to have you join us over there if you want to check out for video stream as well. Something that is just another option. So we have audio, we have video but everything, the home base for it is http://hybridministry.xyz of course, cuz hybrid ministry.com was taken. So I'm your host, Nick Clason, excited to be with you. And in today's episode, what I actually wanted to discuss was this idea of why should churches even care about digital and hybrid ministry? Like what is the purpose?

Nick Clason (01:03):
We all saw the pitfalls downfalls and the reasons why digital ministry was not a good example. It was not a good thing during Covid. And so we are now past Covid. We're able to live in a more semi-normal world. Why in the world should churches even care about digital? So let's go ahead and let's get this episode underway. So let's talk about some assumptions, right? Like, I think that there are some general social media specific assumptions that say that social media is void of relationship, right? Like, the point of it is, I, I I don't know, right? Like the point of it is maybe to post some announcements and try and drum up some external, some marketing, so to speak, uh, examples of people who might not go to our church and we want to get them connected to our church.

Nick Clason (02:08):
But there's an assumption that like the real, the main thing that's gonna work is gonna be relationships of people to people inviting one another. Let me just say that, um, I've been doing student ministry social media now for 12 years, and never once has anyone of the accounts that I've ever run really gone viral, so to speak. Like we've never had more than like an inordinate amount of followers, never had more like a thousand followers. I have had a couple Instagram accounts with more than a thousand followers, but honestly like, that was not from anything that I, or we were doing. That was more an inherited thing where the Instagram account already had a high level of followers and we were just sort of like the beneficiaries of that account already having a lot of followers. So my point is nothing we did really drummed up a lot of outside interest.

Nick Clason (03:03):
Okay. And so this assumption that social media is not relationship based and you know, the purpose of it is to, you know, get people from the outside looking in. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that is, I think that's, I think that's a benefit. I think that, um, like we said in the last episode, the church is in a unique intersection where what you post can be both discovered by the people that go to your church, but also because of the new discovery algorithms, which this is probably why in my 12 years we haven't seen this, because these new algorithms that are being made famous by TikTok and then adopted by Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube on reels and shorts are, um, new. Like this is a new territory for churches because previously your people followed your pages and your accounts, and if you wanted more people to follow it, you had to pay for it.

Nick Clason (03:52):
And I've, I have never done that. And so my accounts never really did that, where there were like a lot of people coming to discover our accounts. And so now we are in a unique intersection where people might actually discover your church. And what's more interesting is that all of these algorithms, there's a uniqueness where they start out geographically local. So first the algorithm from what we've learned is they're pumped out to your followers, which are then pumped out to their followers, which are then pumped out to the, uh, like your geographical region, which is why a lot of times you can geotag your posts on Instagram, on TikTok, and so you can put your city, and so the people in your city might be exposed to your information first, and then beyond that it'll, you know, go to the state and viral and whatever the case might be.

Nick Clason (04:44):
But, but the reality is, the, the closer that you are, the more likely that the people around you are gonna find it. And so therefore, if people in your geographical region are discovering your videos, there is an actual chance that they might hear the message of Jesus from you and then take a step to become a visitor or a first timer at your church. I mean, wouldn't that be amazing? Wouldn't that, wouldn't that be one of the goals that we're looking for here? Um, and again, like I said, I haven't experienced that in a lot of cases, and I think that's because that really wasn't an option up here until very recently. Um, however, there's still the argument that like, no one's gonna come to our church based off of that. And that might be true. And I think that it depends on your style of church, if you're, um, a more of an outreach centric church that you want that.

Nick Clason (05:34):
And so you're gonna be more gung-ho about this idea. And if you're more of a discipleship centric church, which tends to be a little more inward facing, um, not because you believe that that's more valuable and more important, but that just tends to be the vibe, um, that comes with it, then you are gonna prioritize some of those relationships more over, um, like, like cold leads or, or, you know, top of a funnel marketing type of terminology to borrow from the secular world. So, um, all that to be said, there's this assumption, there's this notion that social media, um, and social ministry is void of real relationships. And I would just, I would debunk that and say that I think that that's not entirely true. Um, I agree to a point that it can be done that way and, um, that, that this ministry, that this focus in your church needs some very particular and very, um, deliberate attention.

Nick Clason (06:34):
Like it cannot just, in my personal opinion, it cannot be put on autopilot anymore. It cannot be put on the back burner. There needs to be a person more than a volunteer and more than someone's like, uh, section of their full-time hours devoted to social media. Like you probably need a full-on person, um, not someone to do double duty. Like, like even right now, um, I am a youth pastor, but I'm like on a team of three and of the three, I'm the one tasked with digital and video and social media, website, whatever, right? Like that in and of itself is a full-time job. And sometimes my youth ministry duties have actually, like, you know, this week I had to make calls to interview students about baptism, um, and we're onboarding a bunch of new students to volunteer. Like sometimes those things feel like they're in the way of my digital stuff and that, that's out of balance for me personally.

Nick Clason (07:34):
Um, but that's my point in saying that this digital of it's all consuming, it just takes up such a gigantic portion and it it is vast and it is huge. And, um, and there's a lot of opportunity and there's a lot of potential. And so to just dump it on someone as like a, hey, 10 hours of your week, like it's, that is so hard. It's gonna be very difficult for that person to be able to, you know, to make, to make, uh, that 10 hours work for them the way that you're probably hoping that it would work. So in Covid, right, we learned that we're not built to be completely isolated. And so just social, um, and that's, that's the whole, that's the whole origin of this podcast is I felt like we were debating, um, when I started this podcast in late 2022, I guess mid 2022, um, we were debating between in-person ministry and digital ministry, especially where I was, we had, we were still working and operating out of a lot of the rules that we had built for C O V with the show that we had made for C O V D.

Nick Clason (08:38):
Like, we hadn't let that go. We were still producing it weekly. Um, and we had found a way to pivot from strictly online to a more in-person model where groups watched it in host homes. Um, and then they discussed the, the message afterwards. And I thought it was incredibly ingenious and innovative. Um, but there were a lot of people in our church that that didn't, and they were ready to just quote unquote go back. And, you know, we had a, a marketing guy, and if you listen to some of our first, I think like seven episodes, um, Matt was actually the co-host of this podcast. Uh, we both made cross-country moves. And, um, I, I don't know what happened to him. I never got him back, really. I mean, we still talk, but he would keep saying like, yeah, yeah, I just gotta get my computer set up, gotta get my computer set up.

Nick Clason (09:22):
And eventually I was like, all right, Matt's not getting his computer set up. I'm just, I I got a produce weekly episode, so I can't wait on him anymore, right? So, uh, here we are and I'm just kinda doing this thing. Anyway, besides point Matt marketing, honestly, genius guru in my opinion. He said, the world we live in is now hybrid. In fact, Barna did a study, we did a couple episodes on it, I'll link to them in the show notes, um, did a couple episodes on the findings that we found from Barna study, and they, they titled it the, the state of hybrid church or something like that. And what it said, what it found was that especially the younger generations, the generations that are going to be filling our pews and churches here in the next couple years, gen Z and millennials said a hybrid, um, version of church is going to suit them very well.

Nick Clason (10:11):
What that often scares us with on two fronts is, number one, it feels like we're shifting away from in person. And I think a lot of times in person, and I've talked about this multiple times, I think a lot of times in person, room or moment or feeling is for the, the vanity of the pastor, and not even in like a sinful or bad way, but just like, man, getting up in front of a room full of people feels really good and you feel like you feel like you've done something and you've been somewhere and there's, there's a shot of like adrenaline into your like arm every time you get up there to preach. Even I, I find myself like finding more value from preaching to a live room of, of humans with interaction, um, like just, you know, face-to-face interaction. Um, then I, then I do from a, a TikTok video that goes viral wave over like 3000 something views.

Nick Clason (11:02):
Like, it just, it doesn't feel the same. And I get it. And you know what? I don't know that it is the same. I think you have a much more captive audience, even in a room of a few hundred than you do, um, with a, a short form under 62nd video that that has over a thousand something views, right? All that to be said, I'm not proposing that, that you throw one quote unquote baby out with a bathwater. We live in a hybrid world, right? So I found this stat incredibly fascinating. 76% of American surveyed ha uh, have a friend that they've met online only they've never met in person. Right? Now, you might be thinking, how is that possible? Again, if you're older, think younger generations gaming and, and you know, chat rooms and whatever and whatnot. Like of course in the nineties chat rooms were pedophiles want to hang out, and they probably still do, right?

Nick Clason (11:55):
But, but 76% of Americans have a friend in some way, shape or form gaming social media that they've never met in person. Like I have an anecdotal real example. I have a friend named Dan that, um, for the first three to six months of our life, or not life of our relationship life, , uh, it was strictly online. Uh, many of you know I've told this story, but I started at my last church on day one of Covid and went immediately into lockdown. So the number of real live human beings at my church that I met was very, very small. The number of real life human beings that I met on Zoom after that was very, very large. And, um, you know, I had met a decent number of the staff, at least from my interview or on my first day on the job, but then to meet other people.

Nick Clason (12:49):
And Dan was a, just a regular church attender volunteer who led a, a hybrid, not hybrid, actually strictly online small group. I had a relationship with Dan. Um, and, and he even said, he's like, you are like the poster child for me, or the poster example of what it looks like for somebody who, uh, says like, you can't make friends with someone online. He's like, we totally made friends, you know, with each other online. And so these are examples, both empirical data. 76% of Americans say, I have a friend with someone who's completely online. And even in my own life, like I would say I had a real relationship with him, um, it would've been great to be sitting in the same living room or whatever, but at the same time, you know what, every Tuesday night, I just got my laptop out in the comfort of my own home brew, a cup of my own coffee that I personally enjoyed more than like a cake cup that someone was gonna gimme at their house.

Nick Clason (13:49):
And we sat down for small group. And you know, what was funny was like our church would do this thing where like you'd watch the live stream on YouTube, and this was the archetype for our student ministry. The group's team of course, stole it, but we'd watch the video on YouTube, and then everyone would log in to their campus specific zooms via a link in the description, and then a moderator there would break everyone out into breakout rooms. So they would sort of have control over the entire call, and then they would give a warning after like an hour or so that all the groups would, uh, be, be closing down by the moderator who's just literally sitting there out in the waiting room, just kinda waiting for people to be kicked out of their breakout rooms and reassign them or whatever. Super boring job I've done a million times youth ministry.

Nick Clason (14:33):
Uh, so a couple times those ended and we, our entire small group just jumped off and got into our very own room, and had group until like 11 or 12. We weren't, you know, at that point we weren't talking about spiritual stuff. We were just joking around, goofing off, having fun, whatever, right? My point is, relationships can exist in an online space. You just have to be deliberate. You just have to be intentional, and you have to be able, willing, willing to massage those relationships. So let's talk about, um, some hybrid ways that relationships can exist.

Nick Clason (15:14):
So some of you might know this, um, but a couple weeks ago, my, my wife's mom, my mother-in-law, uh, passed away from a two plus year long battle with cancer. It was, it was rough, man, like, not gonna lie, but, um, the thing I wanna kind of extract or highlight is the moment that the day that she passed away and that it became more public because of social media. Again, another example, um, my phone was flooded with text messages. My wife's phone was flooded like threefold, tenfold with text messages. Um, every single one of those people were people that we had met in person at one moment in time or another, whether they be a family member, whether they'd be a friend, whether they'd be a former colleague or work associate from another job that we'd been at. They'd all been people we'd met in real life person before.

Nick Clason (16:12):
However, the relationship at that moment existed in a hybrid space. Very few people in that exact moment were with us. I mean, I, I had to drive from Texas all the way back to Ohio, so the only people with me were me and my two kids. Um, and her, she was with her sister and with some family friends, and then everybody else reached out and provided love and care and support via text message that that is an example of a hybrid relationship. You know what I mean? Um, and, and some people were people that I work with now at the church I'm at at now. Other people were people I worked, worked with in the past that reached out either way, right? Like they're all people I knew, but they're all showing up for me in a hybrid way. So, uh, I wanna talk about a few, uh, examples of like other businesses that we might interact with in the world in with hybrid sort of interactions.

Nick Clason (17:22):
Let's dive in examples of real life hybrid interactions. My favorite of this is Home Depot, right? I interact with Home Depot at the store level. I drive up, I go into the store, I grab 98 cents of plumbing tape, right? Uh, that's an example of me interacting with Home Depot at a physical level. Okay? All right. So another example of course is me interacting with Home Depot at an online level. I might go on the website and I might see how much of a certain item is in stock that, but I'm not in the store. I'm completely in my house. I'm looking at all my computer on the app, but the, the app actually is my favorite feature. When I'm in the store. I almost never, like, if I walk around in the store for like more than two minutes and I can't figure out where an item might be, I immediately pull up the app, which often I've uninstalled from my phone, so I reinstall it.

Nick Clason (18:25):
Then I like, almost, the first thing I do when I walk into Home Depot is begin to reinstall the Home Depot app, find my local Home Depot, the one I'm physically standing in, and then I look that item up, whatever it is, to try and find it, and then it'll tell me exactly where it is, what aisle, what bay, and how many more they have in stock. I love that feature. That's hybrid. I'm in person, I'm in the store, but I'm interacting with a digital piece of technology, uh, you know, for my relationship with Home Depot. Another o another example is a dentist office, right? You go to a physical visit. But I love when a service like this has a great website, especially for being able to book appointments or being able to reach out. This last week, I brought my car to an auto mechanic shop.

Nick Clason (19:13):
I called them, not there, called them, right? That's an example of me from my house calling them. That's old school technology. You get it right? Then I show up, I'm in their office. But then when I was done, you know what they did? They sent me a text message to let me know that my car was ready. You see all these things, and I, I think like in a lot of ways, like when we talk about digitization or hybridization of church and of ministry, we don't even know what that looks like. So right now, in a lot of ways that's social media, that's video content, but the reality is like, some of this is uncharted territory. So for 2023, for right now, for someone just starting out, what are some examples? What are some ways that your church can live and exist in hybrid ministry?

Nick Clason (20:01):
All right, so like I said, I think a little bit of this is like pioneering uncharted territory, pilgrim's progress. Like, we don't know some of these answers, but, um, what are some examples of ways that your church can, uh, live and and be hybrid? So the first one is probably the most obvious one, and probably the easiest one, I would say is your Sunday sermon. Okay? So what are ways that your Sunday sermon can exist in a hybrid space? Well, first and foremost, right? You can, while someone is sitting in the auditorium, they can interact with and engage with your sermon notes, or they can interact and engage with, um, some self-guided like outlines or ways for them to take notes. So, like in my church, my pastor puts his notes on our church app. Um, it's honestly, it's essentially probably the manuscript that he's up there preaching with as I've looked at it.

Nick Clason (20:58):
Like, it's very thorough. Um, and my guess is that that's like a, that's a workload decision, right? Like he already built this. So if he just copy, if, if they or someone just copy and paste and put this into the app, uh, that's not that much more work for him. My personal favorite example is the you version events feature. So in everyone's you version Bible app that most people have downloaded on their phones, if not, definitely recommend it. Cause again, it's another way to interact with people in a hybrid way. Um, there's an events tab that you can create, like a self-guided sort of outline, and then people can, can take and add notes to certain headers or certain bible verses, um, that, that are related to or interact with the passage. And then they can also link out to like videos or other, like further discussions.

Nick Clason (21:51):
One of the things I try to do is I try to challenge myself to add one option of a, a link out from a u version event for deeper study or for more information, or for a longer YouTube video that I didn't, you know, didn't have time to show or didn't have time to look like fully, you know, unpack. I try to challenge myself to do that every week. Again, to just think hybrid, right? Brady Shearer has made this phrase famous, but the other, the additional 167 hours of somebody's week. So then beyond that moment, beyond that Sunday service, um, you can of course rip out the audio. Um, if you're already live streaming, um, you can have live stream, you can post those videos to YouTube. You can, uh, long form podcast content on a podcast feed. That's a way for it to be hybrid.

Nick Clason (22:45):
And then finally, ways for that to live on and, and find its way into that, that intersection of your church, people being reminded of the message and people from outside your church may be discovering and stumbling upon your message are short form Instagram reels, TikTok videos, YouTube shorts. Um, if you're already live streaming your content, you're sitting on a goldmine of social media content. You don't have to, uh, come up with as much social media content as you did in the past. You already have it. You have the short, or you have the long form video. Clip it up into minute segments. Find a good hook, get a good editor. And, uh, hey, if you don't have a good editor, but you're interested in it, reach out. Um, I'm interested in, uh, starting something, you know, kind on the side for myself to be doing this and serving churches in that, that way.

Nick Clason (23:38):
Um, I don't exactly have a framework for that or what that looks like. Hit me up on dms, on TikTok, or, you know, reach out to me via YouTube, all those links in the show notes@hybridministry.xyz. What about groups? What about relationships? How do you hybridize relationships, right? Because that's sort of the basis for this whole thing, is that social isn't, isn't built on relationships. And I would agree with that in the nitty gritty. Like when, you know, when my mother-in-law passes away, I want someone to really show up for me or really call me or really, you know, text me, um, not just, you know, interact with them at a, at a digital or social social media type level, right? But for a lot of people, the discovering of groups or finding their place or finding their people, that's half of the battle. And so if your church does not have some sort of group finder, I, I would highly recommend doing that.

Nick Clason (24:36):
If your church is about groups in some way, shape, or form that are open that people opt themselves into, then get yourself a group finder, a catalog, if you will, of the options available at your church for people to find and discover real authentic community. Because you and I know that community is really what changes things. It's what takes a church from their church to my church. So get on a group finder of some way, shape, or form. And then once you're in those groups, here are other ways that, that those groups exist and live in a hybrid sort of sense. You might use a infrastructure like Facebook group, you might use a GroupMe, you might use a group chat, or you might use some other tool feature that someone's gonna develop down the road. Maybe I'll do it and get rich, I don't know.

Nick Clason (25:23):
But, um, for the groups to have some sort of calendar of events, a place for them to have message boards with announcements, um, text messages to interact back and forth, prayer requests, all kinds of different stuff, but a place for the group to live beyond when the group meets, right? Again, the other 167 hours of that group's relationship. When is that? Where is that? When does that take place? The last area, so we talked about sermons, we talked about relationships. Now let's talk about information. You know, uh, churches more than just information people are distilled down to more than just the information that they, uh, put into their brains, okay? But like another example of ways that, that things can exist in a hybrid sort of way is some classes. So you already have your Sunday morning service. You probably already have groups. People probably can't devote too many more hours to the church, but maybe they do want to grow.

Nick Clason (26:24):
Maybe they want to grow in their knowledge of theology, or maybe they want to grow in, in a specific topic. Um, a dating marriage, right? Whatever the case might be. Your church with the 40 hours a week in your office can film some content and, and put up a catalog or a library of courses, like on a website or on an app, six week course, eight week course, something like that. So again, if someone's really committed, they may not have the time to drive back over to your church and sit through a class, find childcare, all the things. But once the kids go to bed, if they wanna pull up in their laptop and learn more, grow more in the area of theology, love, dating, marriage, spiritual gifts, right? Like you name it, you can offer a library of some of those content. I mean, products already sort of exist for that right now for churches, right now.

Nick Clason (27:14):
Media is an example of it. Um, but again, I've found that to be more small groupy content. So you can create something, you, if there's a need, you can scratch that itch, a leadership type academy. And you might even have like a leadership academy for high level leaders in your, in your, um, organization in your church that come together every so often in person. But then after they come together, if the primary goal of it is, is information and knowledge, um, and then, and information transfer, you can accomplish that for sure. You can accomplish that in a hybrid sort of way. Um, more than just short form video sermon content. You can provide short form, social media, TikTok, YouTube type content. Um, like about any topic right now, I'm doing like a little bit of a theology 1 0 1, like a deep dive into like certain areas and elements.

Nick Clason (28:06):
Um, and I'm putting posting on TikTok two times a week. It's a little mini-series that people probably just like randomly scrolling through, aren't gonna notice that they're all like interwoven and connected together. But in my mind they are. And so anyone who sees it, they're, they're gonna learn something more about God or about Jesus, or about creation or about salvation, or about the Holy Spirit or whatever the case might be. Um, because I don't have time to always get into all that, right? Like whatever our series is that's sort of driving and dictating, um, what's, what's being taught from the platform. But there are other necessary things that I think people, my students need to know that I don't have time for it, but this is a way that I can create time for it in the other hours of the week. Um, there are also examples and ways to do longform, you know, uh, styles not just short form.

Nick Clason (28:57):
So audio podcasts are huge. A lot of adults, something like 80 something percent of adults listen to three hours of podcasts a week. So, um, I think, um, Mariners, like Eric Geiger out of Mariners is doing a phenomenal job because the thing I love about him is he's conservative theologically for sure. Um, and so he's not just like out there trying to like get vanity metrics or whatever, right? But the thing he's doing is he's, he's finding ways to use the technology to teach deeper, more robust, you know, truth. And so he's doing a thing like, uh, a podcast called like the, the things that didn't make it into the sermon. Basically, if you're a pastor and you've done this before, you know that you, you prepare a load of content, but then you have to start cutting to get it down to a certain minute mark, right?

Nick Clason (29:46):
So he's doing a podcast on all the things he had to cut from his sermon, um, once a week to just dive deeper into more information. Um, and I, I think that that's brilliant. You know, I think that's a brilliant way, uh, to just add more value to the, the people in your church's, you know, life. Um, and if they're interested in it, that's great. A couple years ago, we, back when Facebook Live was a really big thing, me and another pastor on my staff, we sat, sat down for a thing called Tuesdays at two, and we just, uh, unpacked the sermon from sort of our eyes and our, our vantage point, you know? Um, and we would just have a conversation, um, as sort of interview style. And I mean, he was a licensed biblical counselor, so, uh, he was just a wealth of knowledge.

Nick Clason (30:31):
And so I, I almost operated more like as the host, and I would just toss him questions and let him sort of like unpack and untangle, you know, take the, the theology or the, the preaching and, and bring it down to more of like a boots on the ground level. At least. At least that was the goal. So all kinds of like ideas out there of ways that you can service and serve your congregation in a hybrid sort of way that is not void of relationship, that is meaningful and that people in your church will take advantage of. You just have to think hybrid. So I'd encourage you lean into it. Like I said, we're on the, a little bit the pioneering front because we had solutions for digital pre covid. It was mostly live streaming your service. Then in C O V I D, we all went full bore into it, and it was uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

Nick Clason (31:24):
Um, and so once restrictions lifted, we went back to what was familiar. Many of us went back to what was familiar, and I'll just encourage you to not abandon some of those things, but, but listen for and look for ways that you can show up in the other hours of your church members weeks. Those are gonna be what's important and valuable to them. Well, hey everyone, if you found this, uh, podcast helpful, please share it with a friend. Help us get the word out, http://hybridministry.xyz. We provide complete full show transcripts for every single episode that we've ever produced. Also, head to the blog section of that and you can grab our free social media checklist, what to do every time you post a social media, and our free complete guide to posting a TikTok from scratch, from start to finish. That is on there. And again, we are on YouTube now at this episode being the first one. Hey, to everyone on YouTube, check that out if you will get a link for that as in the show notes. And until next time, talk to y'all later. Stay hybrid.

Episode 030: The Advantages that Churches FINALLY have on Social Media in 2023

Nick Clason — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 04:00:00 -0600

In this Episode, Nick breaks down the advantage that churches have on social and with digital media in 2023 and beyond. And how your church can lean into that advantage, not only to train, equip and raise up your own members, but also to reach those around you with the message and hope of Jesus.

For complete transcripts head to http://www.hybridministry.xyz
Follow along on social https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@sonicsman8/featured

TIMECODES
00:00-00:32 Intro
00:32-03:23 The Church has the Advantage on Social Media in 2023
03:23-05:50 The History of Social Media
05:50-06:50 The Stars have aligned in 2023 for churches on social media
06:50-09:53 - Advantage #1: Content Creation is at the Core of a Church's Weekly Work Routine
09:53-12:51 - Advantage #2: Content Creation is at the Core of the Senior Leader's weekly job
12:51-19:05 - Advantage #3: Content Creation, and the sharing of it, hits at a preferred intersection for churches
19:05-20:52 - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. I, as always, am your host, Nick Clason. Excited to be with you wherever you are. Listen, I was gonna stay excited to be with you on this morning. I just got done with a little morning run, drinking a little morning coffee. Uh, but you might be listening to me in the evening. You might be listening to me while you're doing dishes. You, you also might be listening to me on run, wherever you are listening, said to have you with us, uh, this morning. Today, I wanted to talk about the three distinct advantages that churches have on social media in 2023. If you are anything like me, uh, the people that you follow, the algorithms that you're in especially if you've listened to the Pro Church tools or anything that Brady Shearer produces.

Nick Clason (00:52):
You have heard this before but in the event that you're not and I have some unique twists to it as well. I just think that wherever, wherever you are, wherever your role is, whether if you're like a ministry leader, a, a student pastor, a senior pastor, a church marketing person, a church communications person, whatever your role is, I think it's important to note that the church today in 2023 has a distinct advantage on social media, an advantage that they haven't had in, I would say, years. Um, in all my entire time as, um, a church leader, a pastor, youth pastor, I've never experienced or noticed an advantage much like what we have today. So, um, I'm excited to share that with you Before we dive in. Um, anything that you need show wise, you can head to hybrid ministry.xyz. Um, if you click on the, uh, articles or the blog section there of the website, that is where you can access our completely 100% free ebook and our 100% free checklist signing up for either one of those will get both of those resources into your inbox automatically for free.

Nick Clason (02:03):
So go check those out. We would love to have you there. And if you didn't know this, every single episode that we have, uh, has transcripts and is, um, put on, on the website into every episode's archive. And so that is a just completely 100% free resource that we make available to you so that you can go back and not have to listen back through, but you can read through. Um, and let me just warn you that because, uh, this podcast is still, you know, I'm still not making money on it. It's something that I am paying for out of my pocket. I have not, I have not paid Rev, who I use rev.com. I've not paid them to do the human transcription. Yep. So I'm still doing ai. Uh, so even sometimes I go back to my own archives to look for things, but, uh, sometimes it's a little bit hard to muddle through because it's AI transcribed.

Nick Clason (02:53):
So sorry for that. If you're out there, sponsor us, and, um, maybe we'll start springing for the human transcription so it's got a little bit more level of accuracy. Um, but hey, uh, head to the show notes for anything that we mentioned today. Um, like I said, grab our free ebook on, have I already ruined my TikTok account? A complete Guide to Posting a TikTok from Scratch. 100%. All that being said, let's dive in the three distinct advantages that churches have on social media in 2023. Let's go. All right, so 2023 social media. Here we are. Let's think about it. The church has a distinct advantage, one that they have not seen in a lifetime. I think of a lot of social media. So, um, social media historically has been a social platform, right? That's where the, the term social comes from, because humans are connecting one-on-one with other people on the other side of the screen.

Nick Clason (03:45):
So think Facebook started as a college, uh, on a college campus so that people could get to know one another, that they maybe haven't met people that they recognize by face. So it's very, uh, it was very built as a, uh, human to human connection sort of portal. But over time, it's evolved and it's become sort of like an, an online photo album. Different social platforms have taken on different life forms, Twitter, sort of like a micro blogging, uh, place to kind of like listen and look at things live. Like I, I use Twitter a lot for sports. Instagram was a photo sharing app. Um, and you could, you know, at its inception, you could only share one photo and it could only be Square. And so, um, part of the problem was that Facebook would, would really recommend you creating like, full online albums, like share your entire trip to Brazil with us, where Instagram is like, share the best photo from your trip to Brazil.

Nick Clason (04:36):
And then Twitter was like, while you're there, live tweet, right? So all of those had u had unique and completely different, um, purposes. Then throw in YouTube, which is the second largest search engine in the world. Some would say three behind Google images, but either way, they're all under the Google umbrella. So, um, Instagram, or I'm sorry, YouTube being a search engine, um, and long form video, that's a completely separate piece and style of content that is needed from Facebook, from Instagram, from Twitter. And then, oh, by the way, here, bursting on the scene is this brand new thing called TikTok, short form video, where people just do dances and goofy silly stuff. So what are we supposed to do with that? So you got photo albums, you got groups and pages over on Facebook. You got micro blogging and live tweeting things. You got Instagram, single photo sharing apps, eventually stories added in.

Nick Clason (05:31):
And then you got YouTube long form video, and they're all different. And so if you're a church leader, and if you're like the senior pastor and you're also keeping your social media afloat, you're just doing whatever it takes to like serve each of the platforms at its bare minimum. But now in this weird aligning of stars in 2023, I would say, because of the, um, prominence and popularity of TikTok, churches have a unique and distinct advantage that they have not had in years. And that is this short form vertical video content is now being pushed across all of the major platforms. Yes, Facebook, yes, Instagram, yes, YouTube, and obviously yes, TikTok. So your core four, your main four players that I would recommend that you as a church be active on, on social media. You can have all four accounts, and better yet, you can post to all four accounts, the exact same piece of content across all four accounts.

Nick Clason (06:37):
And for the first time ever, you're not dinged. In fact, you're encouraged to do that. So let's take a look at reason number one, why the church has a distinct advantage on social media in 2023. So, advantage number one is that content creation is at the core of what a church's weekly work rhythm is. So think about this, your church every single week hosts a gathering where a piece of content is delivered to a group of people. Um, think like, and that is an, that is an amazing advantage that most people don't have, because most, if you're a plumber or if you're an auto mechanic, or if you are a big box store retailer, right? You also want to be on social media. It's part of marketing, it's a part of driving up business and getting clientele and people discovering you. But what in the heck is a plumber or what is a big box store retailer?

Nick Clason (07:39):
Or what is a, um, auto mechanic? What are they doing every single day? They're fixing leaky drains. They're selling things to people as cashiers at Walmart. They're, they're, they're, uh, they're fixing people's cars, timing belts, right? That's what the primary like, focus of their work is. And so if an auto mechanic wants to be active and vibrant and relevant on social media, that auto mechanic is going to probably either a, take his phone with him under the car and do some tutorial videos or something like that. But if that auto mechanic is any good, he's probably really busy and he has, doesn't have time to be posting, editing, putting captions over, you know, screens. So then what does an auto mechanic do? He hires his young Gen z uh, nephew to come in and run social media, but that nephew has never touched a car before.

Nick Clason (08:30):
And so that nephew is just trying to like, keep their Instagram feed posted, um, and keep it active and with like, graphics and things like that, okay? The point is, an auto mechanic is not in the business of content creation. Neither is a plumber, neither is a store. Now, the really good ones are, right? And those are the ones that you probably watch. You have a leaky drain, you go on YouTube or you go on YouTube shorts, you're gonna find a plumber who's done a tutorial that's a really good plumber who's creating some content. But the reality is not a hundred percent of plumbers are doing that. Not a hundred percent of businesses are doing that. Not a hundred percent of auto mechanics are doing that. The church weekly 52, sometimes 51 weeks a year. Cause some churches take that week between Christmas and New Year's and doing online only service, but even still, they're creating content.

Nick Clason (09:16):
So go, I digress back to 52, 52 weeks a year, 52 times in a year, you are creating content to be delivered to somebody that is age old, that has been a part of what the church has done for decades, centuries. Um, the, so the reality is this, right? The reality is that, um, short form video content loves content, loves created, custom curated content, and the church has a unique advantage because it already is creating that content within the rhythm of what it does. Okay? Advantage number two. So not only is content creation at the core of the church's weekly work rhythm, but content creation is at the core of what the senior leadership does within the organization. Let's go back to our plumber or automechanic mechanic analogy. Usually the head, the CEO of the business is not the content creator. So if you as a plumber wanna have a popin TikTok account, you probably have to hire somebody who's good at marketing to create a Popin TikTok account.

Nick Clason (10:27):
If you as a auto mechanic wanna have a Popin TikTok account, you gotta bring in your nephew, okay? Now, maybe your senior pastor isn't very tech savvy. Maybe your senior pastor isn't even very active on social media. But what your senior pastor does is your senior pastor sits down and weekly writes up content. And so the head, the most, um, the, the best figurehead of your entire organization is standing up and presenting a prepared piece of content weekly. We already, we already talked about that, right? But it comes from the very tippy top of your organization. So if you were to bring in your nephew and an auto mechanic shop, the nephew's like, Hey, you should do some tutorial videos. I would imagine the auto mechanics like, bro, I don't have time for that. I get outta here with your newf fangled social media, TikTok video, things like, I, I can't go under the hood with a phone.

Nick Clason (11:26):
I, I don't even know how to work this thing, right? That's the difference. The senior pastor gets up weekly to prepare or to present prepared content to a group of people, to a room full of people. So that bodes well for you. Why does that bode well for you? Because your, your, uh, social media accounts on your, on, um, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever, people probably follow your church because they go to your church. And so therefore, when they see your senior pastor on a video, that's a very recognizable face that's much more recognizable than your church communications person. No offense, that's you watching this, or your digital marketing specialist. Again, no offense if that's you watching this, or even your youth pastor who you handed your phone to and said, Hey, please keep us relevant on social media. They may see the youth pastor preach 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 times a year, but they see the senior pastor preach almost weekly.

Nick Clason (12:21):
And so when they're scrolling through a feed and they see the senior pastor on your social media, he is going to be a very recognizable person. He's also probably your most skilled communicator. So also you can use that to your advantage. Put your most skilled, uh, oral, um, person, oral, uh, presenter out there for the, for both your church people to see, but also for other people to see, which leads us to our third distinct advantage for churches advantage. Number three is that content creation and the sharing of that created content hits at a unique intersection of what most churches are looking to do. So what are most churches looking to do? Well, you can go back to Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 through 20. Jesus says, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

Nick Clason (13:23):
And surely I am with you always, even to the very end of the age, baked within the great commission, we find something that comes from the greatest commandment. Matthew chapter 22, where Jesus says you are to number one, love the Lord your God with your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And second, love your neighbor as yourself. What is the church meant to do? The church is meant to help people learn the ways, the methods, the mission, the the content, the character, the competencies of Jesus to adopt those things. So for believers to grow more and more into the image and likeness of Jesus. And also the church is meant to go to make disciples, to reach out beyond our walls, to share and show the love of Jesus. And short form, vertical video content hits at the intersection where both your church people are, and people outside of your walls are living.

Nick Clason (14:19):
And so both are scrolling through social media, both are scrolling through some sort of discovery algorithm on one of the four core social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok. And boom, they're stopped with an inspirational message because it's a weekly thing curated by your senior leadership. And now they are stopping, scrolling and looking at a video and being encouraged, equipped, and discipled. All right, so now what? So with these three distinct advantages, now, what does this mean for you? Well, you might be watching this and you might be, um, a church leader who doesn't have any time to really do anything about that. You might be a, uh, marketing manager and you can't get your senior pastor to let you onto these platforms. So the first thing you need to do is you need to, uh, use a little bit of persuasion maybe, and show some analytics about the popularity of these discovery algorithm, um, apps, and the fact that every single social media platform is pushing and highlighting and promoting this type of content.

Nick Clason (15:21):
The other thing, if you're already live streaming your service, which Covid brought most people into that, um, then take clips, then watch through your sermon and, and take some clips and watch through them. If you are interested in, um, looking through some examples of ones that I have done in my own ministry and for other ministries of places that I am in partnership with, uh, hit me up, reach out to me. Um, you can DM me on Instagram at Clason nick or on TikTok at Clason nick to see some of those examples. Uh, but be looking through your live stream messages to, um, find two or three different clips that you can post and promote a week. Now, what if you're not live streaming? What do you do? Well, you can go back to another episode. I'll drop the, the episode link in the show notes.

Nick Clason (16:08):
But I gave my complete custom setup for it, creating YouTube content for churches on a budget. And the primary thing that I, I recommend is that I recommend that you, uh, pre film your talks. So I'll give you an example. I'm a youth pastor in a, a church with a fairly large auditorium, but we, the auditorium that I'm in is not the main auditorium. So we don't have all the bells and whistles to do a live stream. And so instead of us trying to jimmy rig a phone in the back or figure out a way to like drop $50,000 to retrofit our auditorium, uh, to do a good live stream, I take my camera on my phone, prop it up on a tripod and fill myself or any one of the other people on our team before we deliver the message live on a Wednesday.

Nick Clason (16:53):
So we use that to post on YouTube, and then we go back to that content to edit and, and clip out the things. So the other things that you need to be doing, um, as you're listening to sermons, is you wanna be listening to things that are good hooks. Uh, so yesterday I was sitting in a sermon, I was sitting in my, my church's sermon, um, and I heard my pastor give this analogy, this five finger analogy of how to learn and, and know and memorize God's word better. And I thought, boom, that's an amazing reel. So I'm gonna go find it and I'm gonna clip it up. Um, and so if you're interested in that, head to my TikTok or head to, uh, my Instagram to check out example of that or just DM me for the link, I'll show it to you Again, that's Instagram, TikTok.

Nick Clason (17:33):
Um, and my handle is at Clason, c l a s o n, Nick, n i c k. So, um, and then, uh, hone your editing skills. Here's the beautiful thing. If you don't have the, the best software to do it on a computer, you can do most of it on the TikTok app. So you can bring clips into your TikTok app and use the studio, uh, feature to edit that. Again, if you don't know how to do it. If you've never opened TikTok before and you're like, what in the world am I looking at? Head to the link in my show notes and grab our free ebook on how to edit and post a TikTok completely from start to finish. It will show you how to use the studio feature in TikTok, how to edit and how to, um, create clips that matter, that grab people's attention.

Nick Clason (18:22):
Um, and that stop the scroll. The biggest thing you're looking for when you're clipping things up is not just to put little clips of your pastor out there, but you're looking to find a good hook. And either your pastor says a hook creates a good hook in his talking, or if he doesn't, you can use that, that famous voiceover feature and say, um, you know, using like the AI auto sound thing, this is like five ways to memorize and learn scripture. Cuz I don't know that my pastor gave a good hook for that. So I'll do that, probably voiceover effect and then boom, I'll clip his thing up and I mean, he took probably five minutes on it and I'm gonna clip it down into under 60 seconds. So I'm just gonna make it quick, quick cuts fast, uh, memorable, and boom, it's gonna be out there.

Nick Clason (19:05):
So if you found this helpful, glad you're here. Thanks for jumping in. Listen, you have the message and hope that is available to the entire world. So don't be afraid or ashamed or shy to share it. Use social media. Um, lean in to hybrid to get the message of God's people out there, both to remind and remember, um, or to remind your disciples, the people in your congregation about the message from Sunday to be encouraged throughout the week, to continue to take steps more and more in their faith, to look more and more like Jesus and to reach those around us who maybe have not yet found the hope of Jesus, but can find that through the body and work of a local church. And you are directly in the intersection of that. Whatever your role is, pastor, youth pastor, digital specialist, church communications person, excited to have you with us on the journey.

Nick Clason (20:02):
We clip up little, uh, clips of these every single episode and drop 'em onto my personal TikTok at Cliff and Nicki can grab the link there in the show notes. Uh, we will have transcripts for this episode at http://hybridministry.xyz wherever you listen to this on whatever podcast platform catcher. Glad to have you with us. Glad you're listening in your ear holes. If you found this helpful, would you rate it, leave a comment, and maybe share with the, so that they also can, uh, learn about the importance people around. And we will talk to you next time. Stay Hybrid.

Episode 026: Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account? A Complete Guide to Posting a TikTok from Start to Finish

Nick Clason — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick walks through the step-by-step and page by page menu options for posting a TikTok. Whether you're versed in this or this is your first time opening the app, this guide will take you from start to finish! And Nick shares some tips on what and how to share to other social media platforms.

This also comes with a complete digital downloadable guide: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
Or check out the complete YouTube Video on it: https://youtu.be/oxBn-p9O-eg
As always, every episode available with FREE transcripts at: http://www.hybridministry.xyz
And hang with Nick on TikTok at: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
FREE Checklist: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/free-social-media-checklist

TIMECODES
TIMECODES
00:00-00:53 – Intro
00:53-03:11 - Why TikTok, Reels and Short Form Video?
03:11-03:47- - Logging Into TikTok for the First Time
03:47-05:56 - Video Menu Options
05:56-07:03 - Profile Menu Options
07:03-12:07 - Creating a Video
12:07-17:21 - Editing the Video
17:21-19:34 - Time to Post it!
19:34-20:46 - Make sure you do this ONE THING before posting to other platforms
20:46- - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01):
So have I already ruined my TikTok account? Here's a guide on how to post TikTok from start to finish. Hey everyone, my name is Nick Clason. I am the host of the Hybrid Ministry podcast, and this is a little special YouTube slash podcast episode I'm excited to bring to you on the framework for posting a TikTok in 2023. Now, there's a lot of things out there about like SEO and keywords and strategies and tips and hacks, and in fact, I actually have a checklist that I have pre created for all social media, just a basic like, uh, have you done this? Have you done that for posting to social media at your church? You can get the description or you can get the link for that in the description, the video down below, uh, or in the show notes, hybrid ministry.xyz. But why TikTok? Like why of all the platforms that we have, why TikTok?

Nick Clason (01:01):
And here's why. Every platform right now, Facebook, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, they are all going after this short form video content. It's like lightning in a bottle. It's so easy to go viral. Um, and when I say easy, it's like you post the dumbest thing and it goes viral, but then you spend a lot of time and effort and energy on something that you think is amazing and it gets like 14 views. And so the reality is it's this very finicky, very like, hard to like land what is going to go viral, but when you see other social medias copying another social platform's kind of bread and butter, it's worth noting and it's worth, uh, going all in on. And so when every single major social platform is copying TikTok in their, uh, their, their for you sort of algorithm, you need to make that a priority.

Nick Clason (02:00):
It's, I would liken it to win Instagram stole stories from Snapchat, and now TikTok is actually stealing B reels, uh, post, now they call it the now feature in TikTok. So, uh, if you've never logged into TikTok, uh, or you have, and you know, you should, you've heard me talk about the importance of short form video, but you, you open it and it's overwhelming. You don't know what to do or you think you know what to do, but then you get kind of turned around editing videos or whatever and whatnot. This is meant to be a, uh, a thorough guide to every feature available in TikTok. Now, some caveats, I've really only been using TikTok for about three to six months now. Um, I too is just as much of a novice when I opened it. They're constantly evolving and changing, and I'm not even a hundred percent sure if I know all the features. I tried to comb through each and every feature as I was in preparation for this video, but there are several I haven't even used. And so

Nick Clason (02:59):
I just wanna be clear with that. Like, uh, I'm still at a very basic level, and so if, if I can do it, what we're doing in our church, you too can, can get up some very basic sort of content. So when you log into TikTok for the very first time, a video is probably going to start blaring at you at full volume. Okay? That can be a little bit disconcerting and throw you off. You're a rocker because most other platforms keep videos muted. TikTok for whatever reason is the opposite, so turn your volume all the way down, or if you just tap the screen, the video, whatever video they play, um, it'll pause it. Now, uh, if you're getting on TikTok for the first time and they're feeding you things that you don't wanna see, they're not, you're not interested in, hold that video down and just click, not interested.

Nick Clason (03:43):
Do that a few times and you're gonna teach the algorithm what you want to see. So when you, uh, are sitting there looking at a video, video that TikTok fed to you, you have, uh, several different video menu options. And so I want to, uh, run through what those are. The first one is you can, on the right hand side of your screen, you can follow the creator. Uh, that little plus sign right there will give you a, uh, follow, um, or not follow kind of option. Now, if you look at the very, very top of your screen, you're going to be looking at either following or for you, you're either in your following algorithm, all the people that you're following, or you're in your for U algorithm. TikTok will almost naturally bring you to the for U algorithm. So just be aware of that.

Nick Clason (04:34):
Even when you click follow the people, the videos that you're seeing may not be coming from followers. That's, again, that's one of the things that makes this algorithm unique. Um, you can, like the video, that's the heart. You can comment on it, you can save it. That's a little save, uh, little bookmark looking icon there. You can share it. That's the arrow out. You can send it to people within the TikTok app. You can, you can download the video and save it, or you can copy a link and send it. Uh, and then the bottom, uh, icon there, a little round one kinda looks like a, a record turning. That's the sound, that's the audio that is being used. Could be like an original audio from the creator, or it could be like a sound or a trend or something like that. All of that is to you.

Nick Clason (05:15):
On the right hand side of the screen at the bottom, you have five menu options. You have your home button and the subcategories for that, like I said, up at the top of the following. And the four you, then you have the, now that's TikTok, s b real copycat. It's almost identical to what Be Real is doing. Uh, you got the plus button there, then very dead center, that's your create button, okay? Then next you have your little envelope, that's your inbox. And for there you get your notifications, dms, likes, follows, et cetera. That's all the things that you, uh, when people interact with your content or your videos. And then finally, the last thing on the very right hand bottom corner, uh, is your profile. That's where you have your videos. Um, once you click on that, you'll see, uh, another kind of menu across the top.

Nick Clason (06:02):
Uh, the left most option is your videos, everything that you've posted kind of on your grid. The next one are your private videos. The next one are your saved videos. Remember that bookmark icon. And personally, I like to use that as a way to save ideas. So if I'm going through TikTok and there's a sound or an idea that I think is fun or interesting that I can use later, I'll save it. That's then where I'll find it. And what I'll personally do is I'll save that on my personal account, and then I will share that video to my ministry account. Then I will switch accounts, log over into my ministry account, go into my dms, and get that video from myself, and then I'll use that, um, either that sound or that idea or that trend or whatever I need from that video, maybe a filter, whatever that I'll use to them post.

Nick Clason (06:46):
Um, moving on on that menu, you got your liked videos. And then finally, um, there at the top, you can edit your profile, your link, all the other necessary and pertinent information there. Okay. Now, how do you, that's just simply viewing a video and kind of navigating through your basic menu items. So how do you then create a video? So the way to create a video is on your home screen. You can tap that plus button, all right? And once you tap that plus button, you're given several options. All right? At the very, very top center, uh, there's the option to add sound. You can add a sound that way by clicking it and searching for a sound. Or like I said, when you see that record player on a video, you can click on that. Um, and once you're, once you click on that, there will be a, it'll pull up all the videos, uh, that have used that sound.

Nick Clason (07:37):
You can click use this sound option. That is personally, I think the easiest way to do that. That's why I like to save those videos and then share them so I don't have to go and try and find those sounds. Again, that's my way of kind of archiving and remembering where those sounds are. Now one thing worth noting, if you're on a personal account, you can use any sound you want. If you are a business account, those are much more limiting. There are ways around it, um, like recording the video and then in post-production in like Adobe Premier Pro or something like that, dubbing that sound over. Then when you post it, it's gonna be technically an original sound. It's not gonna come from the trend sound. Uh, there are pros and cons. Uh, I've talked about this in past podcast episodes. There are pros and cons to, um, personal and business accounts.

Nick Clason (08:23):
Uh, you just gotta choose what matters most to you. I think probably the biggest downside of not doing a business account is your link and bio isn't really a link. It's just typed out and people have to like, then go type it into a browser so they can't click and go to your stuff. That's a pretty big downside, and you don't get as many analytics. Um, you still can see views and likes and those types of things by going to each individual video, but you're not able to see trends. And so once things start getting going for you, you probably do wanna swap over to a business account. Just know that it's gonna limit the sounds that you are able to use as a business account on your TikTok platform. All right, so you've clicked to create video. At the bottom of your screen, you're gonna have this big red record button that is gonna probably feel very familiar to you.

Nick Clason (09:09):
It's gonna look like a camera phone or something like that. Right above that, that red button you have the, you have a thing that says 15 s. That's for 15 seconds to the left of that. If you slide 30, uh, or 60 s I'm sorry, and then slide again, you have three m three minutes, okay? Uh, you can shave the time down after you record. So if you don't know how long it's gonna be and you just want to go the three minutes, then if you don't take that full time, it's not gonna post the full three minutes like black at the end of your video, right? So, uh, just know that going into it, if you're using a sound, like if a sound, you click use sound and it's already loaded at the top of your video there. When you click 15 s or 60 s, um, you switch to that often right below it, it'll say, this sound will only allow you to record for a maximum of seven seconds or something like that.

Nick Clason (09:59):
All right? And so then, you know, oh, I can just stick with the 15 seconds and I don't need all the other stuff. Right? Okay. So, um, to the left of the record button are, is your effects menu. So there, that's where you're gonna get like your green screen, or right now there's a delay mirror effect that's kind of trending on TikTok that's there. Um, things that like rotate through on your head that my TikTok account personally, like I do this thing for football and all the NFL teams rotate through. I have so many views on those, it's ridiculous, but that's what's helping kind of grow my audience. Um, that's where you're gonna get those types of effects. To the right of that is your upload button, okay? That's where you would upload a previously recorded video or photo from your phone, from your camera roll that you already shot outside of the TikTok app, for example.

Nick Clason (10:46):
Um, and so then at the top right you have, uh, the flip button that's just simply to flip your camera forward facing, rear facing beneath that you have, uh, your speed. So you have different speeds, 0.3 x 0.5 x one x, two x, and three x, uh, for recording speeds. Uh, below that you have the retouch option, full disclosure, and never used that thing. It's kinda like a filter thing. Beneath it, you have another filter option. This one I think is more about image, less about the specifics of like a retouch sort of thing. Beneath that, you have your timer. That's where you can like set your phone down and give it like a three second head start, so you can walk away from it and do a dance or whatever the case might be. Um, you have a three second, ten second option. When you do that.

Nick Clason (11:29):
Beneath that you have your q and a option. That's where sometimes you'll see a person's comment on the screen and you can reply with video to the comment. All right? So once you're ready to record, those are all your menu options. Now that we're ready to record, tap that record button. When you wanna start, and when you wanna stop immediately to the right of the button, you have two menu options that are now available. After recording, you have delete, it looks like, kind of like a backspace button. If you want to delete what you recorded, start over, try again. You can do that. There. You also have a red check mark. Um, and that's where you then accept the video. And now you move on into the next sort of editing phase of the, the video. Now, your new menu, once you're into the editing phase, in the top middle of the section, you have your sound.

Nick Clason (12:15):
If you haven't added a sound yet, that's where you can add a sound. Um, if you've already recorded a sound, a video with the sound, that's where you could delete that sound if you no longer want that sound mm-hmm. on the right hand side of the screen, um, you have, you are at the very top. You have your text on screen option, that's where you click that and you can type that out, um, on your left. Then you now have three different menu options, um, from your, from your text editor, right? You have the square with the A around it. If you, if you select that, that will add a border to the text on the screen. So it might be easier to read if you select it. Again, that will put a full background on that. And if you select it, again, it'll add a background, but now it's transparent and if you select it again, it'll go back to your original without any of those effects on it.

Nick Clason (13:04):
Then to the right of that, you have your paragraph alignment, you have center, then left alignment, then right alignment. And then to the right of that, you have your person with a speech. That's where you often get that voiceover effect. That says, um, that, that's used as a hook. A lot of times on videos, uh, if you choose that, it will make that, um, text on screen. It will turn it into, uh, a voiceover. And there, once you select that, you'll be given, uh, different options, different types of sounds to play around with. Um, once you select that, the menus you have are recommended motion creative vocals. Those are categories for the types of sounds, and then sub options within those. Okay? To determine what your text, uh, looks like, um, you have the classic option. You have the typewriter option, the handwriting option, neon option, and the CIF option.

Nick Clason (13:57):
And those. So you got your, your a, your paragraph, your speech, and then to the right of that, that's where you get your text, um, looking options. Okay? And then from there you can select colors and they do swipe from right to left so that you can pick which color you want on, on, on screen there. All right. So when you're done, select, done, pretty self-explanatory. The last thing that you can do then is once that, uh, text is now on the screen, if you select it, it'll pop up three menu options. All right? So you can, uh, text to speech, you can add that feature, or if you already did it, that's where you can change, uh, the voice or whatever the case may be. You can set the duration. How long does that text remain on screen? That's where like if, uh, at a certain sound effect or element or whatever, something pops up, uh, you would drag, you would drag the text to start there or to stop there.

Nick Clason (14:49):
Okay? And then the last thing thing is to edit, to actually like rewrite or, you know, you had a typo to go in there and change that. All right, moving on down beyond the text, you have your sticker options. That's things like your mentions, hashtags, you can add polls, support nonprofit, add a location, ask a question, reply the date, the time, all kinds of things. If you're familiar with Instagram Stories editor, it's very similar to the sticker options that you see on Instagram Stories. I've actually never even seen that menu option until I went to prepare for this video and I was like, oh, I didn't know all this stuff was on here. Um, beneath that, you have effects, okay? And so across the top, once you click effects, you have your trending effects, then you got visual motion effects, transitions, and, uh, split options.

Nick Clason (15:31):
So you can kind of explore different effects, things to add to your video and what, whatever, and whatnot. Right there, beneath that, you have your filters. It's just gonna change the look, feel your video. Beneath that, you have studio, that's where you're actually editing, cutting your video, okay? So if you wanna do something to edit the video, click on the video. It's gonna give you a video bar and a sound bar. If, if you have, uh, like just the, the audio from the video that you recorded, they'll be together. If you have a audio, like a song, those are gonna be two kind of separate things, okay? So if you click on your, your top option, your video option, once you do that, a little menu option down beneath will, will pop up. So you have split, you can change the speed, you can adjust the volume, you can rotate it, and ultimately you can delete it.

Nick Clason (16:20):
Uh, split is a great way. If you have like one big, long thing, um, and you're trying to do a little cuts, you drag to the spot, you split it, and then you delete the rest of the video, then you may add in another video that, that same video, probably do another cut, split delete on the front, delete it on the backside. I hope that makes sense. Um, so then to the right of your video bar option, right? You can click full screen and then there's a plus button, and that's where you can then add that video. Like I was just talking about. If you select the audio, you got your video bar, your, your audio bar, if you select audio, you can add your audio option. Once it's added, you can either replace the sound, adjust the volume, or choose to delete it. You save at the top right and you cancel at the top left.

Nick Clason (17:05):
Moving back out to our editor, um, beneath that you have your captions option A recommend a caption for almost any talking head video on TikTok. That's how, uh, SEO and search is gonna find certain topics. Beneath that, you have your Noise reducer, then your audio effects, and then finally your privacy settings. So once you're done there at the bottom, you then have two options. Bottom of your, your screen on the left, you have the stories option. And then to the right of that, you'll have your next option. Next is where you go to kind of tap to get to your final step before you actually post it. Okay? And so, um, there is where you would type in your caption, different from your captions on screen, right? But your caption of your actual video, the one that kind of like floats up, and then the likes and stuff stuff, follow it.

Nick Clason (17:50):
Um, you would also include your hashtags there. And then to the right of your, uh, caption box is where you would select your cover. If you click on that, you can drag your finger to a certain part of the video. You can also add title and text on top of it. Um, the, the title and text, it should be noted that those don't show up when someone's swiping through and just finding your video, those are mostly seen when someone lands on your profile and you want them to know what the video is. Okay? So those, those could be helpful. Also, if you do have onscreen things different from your, your text option, your title, text options there, like I showed you, um, those will also show, um, if someone land on your profile, they'll just be in a different type of format than, than TikTok has to offer.

Nick Clason (18:36):
Um, if they're, uh, like I said, if they're scrolling past, so they won't display on that screen. Also, there you can tag people, you can add a location, you can add links, and here's what it's available on the links. You have books, minigame Alpha by Titan Breathwork, Buzzfeed Quizzes, Contra Profile, disco Loco, 3d, I R L List with Two Eyes, Quizlet, rotten Tomatoes, stat Muse, and Whisk. Um, never use any of those. So you can check those out. You can then choose, um, who can watch the video, allow comments, allow to, uh, allow, allow Stitch, allow high quality, upload more options, save to device. If you click on the more options, save to device, which I just finally turned off by the way, I couldn't figure out where to get that. That's where you get that. You can select your caption language, um, branded content and ads, and then there's an automatically shared to IG or text ig, ig stories, Snapchat.

Nick Clason (19:30):
And then the last thing is, um, you can either put it in drafts or you can post it. Last thing I'd recommend, if you are uploading this to other places, um, once you upload it, click uh, go back into your profile, click on the three ellipses option, um, click copy link, and then go to your browser on your phone or on your computer, and type in to Google save TikTok without video watermark or save TikTok video without watermark. If you copy and paste that link into there, it will then download you an option from TikTok without the TikTok watermark all over it. Then you can take that same video and you can post it to Instagram, Facebook, YouTube shorts. Um, one thing I've noticed personally, just very anecdotally, is that every time I would post a TikTok, um, and then Instagram with the watermark, Instagram would give me almost no views once I started removing that. Um, we, we've had videos go, you know, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000 views because we removed the watermark. Um, I think that the two are kind of competing against each other. Instagram wants to use them, TikTok wants you to use them, so just confuse them and think that they're both being used even though you, you are using both of them. And, uh, they, they just aren't seeing that. Um, and that's just algorithm and kind of AI

Nick Clason (20:46):
Stuff. All right, so, hey, thank you so much for hanging out and getting that guide if, uh, or getting this guide on how to, how to post TikTok, um, on your account. Listen, if you found this helpful, like subscribe, share, rate, review, all the things, check us out, hybridministry.xyz and check out the description for, um, not only the, the social media checklist, but also the checklist on this, um, the written form of this video on how to post a TikTok, download that, put it on your desk, put it above your, your computer so that when you're posting, you have it as a reference. And until next time, we'll talk to you later.

Episode 023: 9 TikTok and Instagram Reels Videos to use at your church this week!

Nick Clason — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 04:00:00 -0600

SUMMARY
In this episode, Nick sits down and gives 9 different short from video content ideas for TikTok, Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels and YouTube shorts. These are a pairing for both fun and serious. A great way to engage with your audience during the week in a hybrid setting!

Come hang out at http://hybridministry.xyz
Or follow me on TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Or on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9pjecCnd8FVFCenWharf2g

Grab the FREE Social Media Checklist: https://merry-swamp-3547.fireside.fm/articles/free-social-media-checklist

TIMECODES
00:00-01:59 - Intro
01:59-02:46 - 1) Trends and Dances
02:46-03:52 - 2) Guess Who
03:52-05:00 - 3) Blind Rankings
05:00-06:22 - 4) Competitions
06:22-06:56 - 5) Recap Video of Events
06:56-07:52 - 6) Devotionals
07:52-08:34 - 7) Sermon Clips
08:34-09:46 - 8) Read the Bible with Me
09:46-10:17 - 9) Practice Prayer
10:17-11:07 - Outro

TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:02):
What is up everybody? Welcome to another episode of the Hybrid Ministry podcast. So excited to be here with you. My name is Nick Clason, and I am of course your host. Glad to have you today. You know, I wanted to talk a little bit about, um, a little bit different of an episode today. I wanted to look at an episode from the American TV show, the Office. Now obviously, like many, many of us are very familiar with this television show, right? Um, and you know, it's actually really funny. I have a coworker who's younger, she's in her twenties, and she didn't even know that the show ever even aired on like Network tv. She thought it was always a streaming show. So anyway, so I'm, I'm doing a little re-watch of this show, and I mean, here's the thing, like truth be told, I'm kind of like always doing a re-watch of this show.

Nick Clason (00:53):
I'm always, it's always at some level or some layer available to me. But the episode in particular that I wanted to focus on was from season four, episode two. It's called Dunder Mifflin Infinity. And if you're not familiar with the show, let me just bring you up to speed a little bit on it. So, Ryan, new manager at Dunder Mifflin. Um, Michael is still the, uh, the regional manager, the guy that everyone's kind of like used to and, and no, and he's famous and whatever and whatnot. Ryan is now his boss. And so that lasts for about a season. But Ryan is this new kind of young, up and coming guy. And so Ryan's entire like focus and identity and purpose is, he wants to bring D Mifflin into the 21st century. He wants to digitize them. And so Ryan is sort of this all digital, this all kind of person, right?

Nick Clason (01:40):
Online is the future. This is how it needs to happen, this is how it goes. Eventually, Ryan ends up in jail for fraud. So it doesn't exactly end up well for him, but let's just take a look at this episode in a microcosm. Um, conversely, there's Michael, who's old school. Michael's all about relationships. Michael's all about customer service. That's always sort of been done. Mifflin's calling card in the office is they're able to, um, out customer service, the big box retail guys. So what they're doing constantly in all of their sales and all those things is they're saying like, Hey, we're better than Staples. We're better than Office Depot, and we're able to supply you guys with the best possible customer service. And so we have Michael, basically we have Michael versus Ryan, right? In this, in this episode. And as I was watching it, it made me, um, it made me really like interested in this juxtaposition that we find ourselves in the church, in digital versus in person.

Nick Clason (02:41):
All right? And so, um, basically to, to summarize, uh, the rest of the episode, Ryan's pushing everyone to be more digital, gives everybody blackberries. Like that's the whole thing. Michael is opposing it. Jan, his now, uh, girlfriend is telling him that, um, he can sue Ryan for being, um, ages istic, um, and pushing out all the old people. And so, um, in an attempt to win everybody back over, Michael takes gift baskets to 10 clients that they've lost and that have, uh, switched over to other companies. And in that, while he's doing that, right, people are like, Hey, um, thank you so much for this gift basket, but that website thing that you're talking about, that's actually quite interesting to me. So let me know when that's a, when that's up and running. I'll be interested in exploring coming back to your company. And so there's wins for them, um, but there still are wins in the kind of like customer service side of things.

Nick Clason (03:41):
And so if you're a fan of the show at all, uh, just real quick, Michael drives his car into a lake because he is following a GPS way too closely and way too literally. And, um, he comes back to the office soaking wet and he thinks that he's lost. And, but in the meantime, for some reason, Ryan doesn't have the kones to stand up to Michael and just put him in his place, which I always find odd and interesting, but it's just this kind of weird tension between the digital guy and the in-person guy. So let's explore digital real quick. So Ryan is the digital guy where online is the future. And, and it's where everyone's going. I mean, that's kind of the entire thrust of the entire nine seasons, right? Is that this company is becoming so irrelevant with how they're doing things that like all the other guys are, are passing them.

Nick Clason (04:28):
Like even in the beginning of this episode, there's a funny kind of bit where Ryan is talking about the overhaul of the website, and Jim goes, well, I don't know what's wrong with our website. And he goes to it and it's got like this little, uh, stick figure animation that says under construction coming soon, and it gives like a year. And like at the time of the airing, like that year had already passed. And so therefore it just goes to show that they had not at all and in any way been investing in their website, which is such a wild thing to think about how recently this show aired. Like that was, that's an, that was a necessary thing for people back then, or at least I feel like it should have been. And maybe, um, I'm forgetting how much older that show is, right?

Nick Clason (05:08):
But anyway, so Ryan's coming in and he's ready to overhaul this whole thing. And I, I see elements of myself in Ryan, um, and how I viewed digital ministry, um, very recently, and even maybe still a little bit if I am being completely and totally honest, right? So, uh, in the ways that I, I see myself like Ryan, I'm pushing all my chips into the middle, uh, saying I'm all in on online because I look at all the stats. I see that generation Z millennials, uh, high percentage of people are living their lives on Facebook. Uh, gen Z spends five to eight hours of screen time a day. And so therefore I'm like, we need to show up where they are. And I still believe those things, by the way, right? But sometimes at the, at the downfall of what happens on, uh, in an in-person experience or an in-person ministry type of moment, um, I forget that like there are valuable things, um, that can happen in the in-person type of moment.

Nick Clason (06:09):
And also, uh, the way I am, I'm, I, I often play devil's advocate. And so I feel like in uh, organizations, I kind of come in and I end up sort of taking the role of the change agent. And so if everything is, uh, a pendulum swing to, um, all the in-person style of ministry, I'm trying to push them to think about things another way. Not that I don't agree with these things, but just that like this church or this organization that I'm working in, they don't need more of that, right? They need more of this. And so my attitude and my posture becomes one of kind of all in and continually pushing in that way. So, uh, definitely in the last church I worked in, like there was this big argument on the heels of Covid. Covid was over. People were done with it.

Nick Clason (06:52):
They were ready to either come back or be in person or give up online, whatever. And I thought we were doing some valuable things online. And so therefore, I was making an attempt to continue to remain online. And so all I talked about all the things, I said, all my arguments were online, online, online. And I wonder if people that I worked with, like, do you, do you even care about some of this other in-person stuff? And the answer of course is, yes, I did. Right? But like, because of my personality and my devil's advocate this, I needed to keep pushing about it that way.

Nick Clason (07:26):
So let's look at Michael. Michael, anti-d digital anti online wants to be all about in-person, right? He's saying customer service still matters. He brings the gift baskets to all of his customers. I would say that I resonate with Michael in this episode very much like when I, uh, was back in Bible college, right? Um, in a lot of ways when I'm in college, I didn't have the ability to kind of nuance or think about things or see things in other ways. And so like this, like this is the way that it has to be. This is the way it's supposed to be very like dogmatic, right? Like I would say you can't do church without being together. Um, and I've even had conversations with, uh, former students of mine who've said those types of things, like, well, preaching has to be in person. And maybe one day I'll do a deep dive.

Nick Clason (08:14):
Um, first of all, I need to do some study into the theology of preaching in the theology of proclaiming God's word, right? But like, I need to look into that and say like, can preaching and can the exposition or delivering of God's word be done in a different way than behind a pulpit? And I guess I would have to say, I think it has to be, because biblically speaking, most pastors, exhorters teachers, overseers, shepherds, were not behind a pulpit. Like that's, that's a much more recent phenomenon. And so to say that that's the only way it can be can't actually be true. Cuz if you look at the Bible, that's not the way it was back then. And if we wanna wanna be true to what the Bible has to say and what the word of God has to say, then I don't know that we can make that, that, you know, conclusion.

Nick Clason (09:03):
Exactly. And so we see Michael very much in that like, this is how it has to be unwilling to kind of move and change and flex and adopt and become different, right? Like with the times and like, what's going on? All right, so that was Ryan. That was Michael. Well, now let's look at a hybrid approach to this, right? Because as I was watching this, obviously it's for comedy and obviously, right, it's for show, but Ryan and Michael, in my personal opinion were both right, but both of them were so consumed with winning, right? That like, it became, uh, comical about who is gonna win this guy or that guy, right? So, so Michael didn't want to go online at all. And I think that's dumb. Like there is going to be value in that, especially when you're watching the episode and some of the customers that he's seeing are like, uh, yeah, let me know when your website's back.

Nick Clason (09:57):
I think that they could do both, right? They could, they could have good customer service and have a good online sort of port, uh, portal, right? And make those things marry together. I think that, um, they could really serve their customers well cuz they are still small. And so if they were able to come up with a relevant, useful, good, uh, website, then could they bring that to their customers? And I think the answer to that is yes. And I wish that they would've, uh, seen that and that Michael and Ryan would've come together and willing and were willing more to work in like, sort of like a hybrid sort of way. I think. Um, Ryan wanted to go strictly online and was not concerned about losing the touch of, uh, their personal, uh, customer service, their personal touchability that Dunder Mifflin had. And I think that that's a big loss for him.

Nick Clason (10:47):
I think he's missing out on a pretty important moment. Why? Because, uh, Ryan, uh, didn't know what d mifflin's as up the sleeve was. The asep the sleeve was their customer service. So the people that were choosing to be with them did not want to be with them because of a nice new flashy website. Of course, he's thinking about reaching people, but how do you retain the people that are already there, um, as customers of your paper company? Okay? So I think both of them play a role. I think they mesh together really well. And at that intersection is where we find hybrid ministry. So let's explore in church, um, the pairing of the Ryan and the Michael, and where can some live things that we have a church have adopted or have become customary or we're just so used to, where can some of those live things be made more digital?

Nick Clason (11:39):
Okay, so number one, we have sermons. Let's talk about sermons again. I think one day I'd love to do a deep dive, maybe that'll be a future episode here of, um, sermons and exposition of the Bible and teaching and proclaiming of, of God's word. Um, where can some of those things be made into a digital format? Well, first and foremost, if you are preaching a sermon every single week, you can record that audio and immediately turn that into podcast. I read something that, um, the majority of adults, uh, listened to eight hours of podcasts a week. And so, um, I know like last week, for example, let me give you an example of my own life. I went to like a membership class at my church and I've told you guys, I'm new at my church. Um, and we weren't able to go to service or we were, but we kind of chose not to.

Nick Clason (12:28):
So hopefully anyone who like, um, I work for, sorry about that. Um, and guess what I did? I, I went and I was like, I'm gonna listen to this podcast, uh, later throughout the week. And so that is a really easy way for, for people in your church who miss. And it might even be, uh, easy way for people, um, who are unconnected to your church to come to, uh, at least an awareness of your church at a very like elementary level. And all you need to do is some simple plugin things into your audio board, capture your pastor's audio, some pretty basic mixing on the back end. You maybe don't even need to do a ton, as long as it doesn't sound horrendous. And then just upload that thing to an iTunes, um, apple podcast, Spotify podcast capture so that people can discover it.

Nick Clason (13:15):
Another layer to that of course could be to create like YouTube sermons. So to record your, um, sermon and your audio and pair those together. Of course, if you listen to my last episode, um, my 2023 and Beyond YouTube strategy for churches, I highly, highly recommend pre-filing your content, pairing down your sermons. Cuz most sermons or lectures are anywhere from 25 to 45 minutes long. And that's a little bit too long for the YouTube algorithm. You want to try and slide somewhere between that 12 and 18 minute range for videos on YouTube. So of course you could do that as well. Again, all you're doing is taking your content from your sermon and you're overlaying it and creating an opportunity for it to be digital, right? So like then another option is you have your sermons. So break those up into small short TikTok clips.

Nick Clason (14:07):
Like if you're not good at video editing, an option that you can do is you can take, uh, just a camera like I'm doing and talk directly into it and create 30 to 62nd clips from your message. Like you already have the content. So even if you can't get a clip from the actual pastor preaching a sermon, you can still use the same topic or the same content or the same passage and rip that post that and do 3, 4, 5 different little like sermon clips throughout the week. You can use that in short form video and everything, every single platform, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are all about the short form video content. So use those things to your advantage. So with your sermons, you got got audio podcasts, you got YouTube videos, and you also have short form video. TikTok style clips. Another option for a thing that, um, is done live, but can be made.

Nick Clason (15:03):
Um, digital is a group finder. Most churches are all about community, are about helping people get connected, find their place, find their place to serve, uh, find, have something on your website that operates as a connection portal, uh, connect group, a small group, a grow group, or whatever you call your small groups. Have people be able to go on there and browse and search, make it user friendly. Uh, a lot of church management softwares will have those things as an available option that you can use some sort of group finder type of thing or just build something on your website. But the reality is, is like in my personal life, if I can't get an appointment with a dentist or a doctor or whatever through creating an appointment online, I don't want to use them. So I'm probably not gonna call, I'm probably not gonna email.

Nick Clason (15:51):
I might email. Um, but if I can have a full service, create an appointment type of thing online, I'm gonna do that. And I think the same is true for churches, especially for finding community, for finding groups, for finding places to jump in, uh, and be able to serve. So create something that's full scale, full service and available for your people to use, uh, to find community. The last option is daily devotionals. We all know the importance of getting people in the word, but there's a recent stat out there that said 8% of Christ following Christians, uh, read the Bible only one time a week, 8%. So how can we as a church, help give our people the tools that they have? There are an unlimited amount of tools. Now think about before the printing press. What did they have to use? They had to go to church to get the Bible, but now they can access it on their phone.

Nick Clason (16:45):
Probably many of us have multiple Bibles on our shelves at home. So how can we help get people, um, using scripture throughout their week? So a couple of options are, uh, the U version Bible plan, uh, u version Bible app on people's phones. They have plans, you can read things together, you can also put sermon notes on there so that people can follow along. And then when they're done at the bottom, you can link out to a plan to read together or to encourage people to read through on their own u version. Done by Life Church is an absolutely incredible tool for churches and it's only getting better. So use that as something that you can help promote scripture and um, bible literacy with the people in your church and in your congregation. Another option, of course, like I said, is um, you can use devotional type content.

Nick Clason (17:28):
So this is different than sermon content, but devotional content or going deeper on the sermon or something like that. And you can do that in TikTok, real short form video. Uh, you can even do like a little mini-series, like how to read the Bible and do a three-part series and post it, uh, on your social media for the week. But what are different ways that you can use social media, short form video, TikTok and those types of things to create devotional type content. So like I said, I think that there's been this, this fight between digital Ryan Howard and in person Michael Scott in the Dunner Mifflin Affinity episode. And I just wish I could have got together and helped counsel them. Been like, this is how you can marry those two things. And I find that to be true in the church community and coming together and praying and crying on each other's shoulders and carrying one another's burdens.

Nick Clason (18:21):
That's so important. And it cannot be done digitally, but people also need to be discipled. People need to read Bible content. People need to hear the truth from God's word, and they're not always available to show up to your in-person event in a physical form. So what are ways that you can support people in your church to help them, uh, through the means, through the the phone that's sitting in their pocket to help coach them and and teach them what it's like to live a life? Um, that's not just digital, not just physical, but it's hybrid. Hey guys, once again, thanks for hanging out. Uh, we've, we have full transcripts for every single episode over hybridministry.xyz I'd love to encourage you to go check that out. It's a great place to find some stuff there. Also, um, on my personal TikTok at Clason Nick, c l a s o n n i c k, uh, posting little clips, um, from podcast episodes, um, current and past. So go check out on, hang out with us there. Love to connect with you in that way. Until next time, we'll talk to you all later.

Episode 022: Bridging the Generation Gap by using an episode of the Office.

Nick Clason — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 04:00:00 -0600

DESCRIPTION
In this episode, Nick dissects an Office episode that he recently was viewing and correlating that to how older and younger generations often approach the discussion around "In-Person" and "Digital" ministry. His proposal, was less "Either/or" and instead it was a "Both/And" approach. One that he likes to call "Hybrid"
What can the church take that is set to defacto "In-Person" only and create digital versions and digital access points for those same elements? Such as sermons, community and Bible reading.

Full transcripts and other resources available at: http://www.hybridministry.xyz
FREE Social media checklist at: https://merry-swamp-3547.fireside.fm/articles/free-social-media-checklist
Or come hang on TikTok at http://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

TIMECODES
00:00-04:12 What we can learn from The Office
04:12-07:24 Digital - Ryan
07:24-09:16 In Person - Michael
09:16-11:21 How to make those two become Hybrid
11:21-14:57 Sermons
14:57-16:12 Helping People Find Community
16:12-17:53 Bible Reading
17:53-19:38 Outro

Nick Clason (18:21):
That's so important. And it cannot be done digitally, but people also need to be discipled. People need to read Bible content. People need to hear the truth from God's word, and they're not always available to show up to your in-person event in a physical form. So what are ways that you can support people in your church to help them, uh, through the means, through the the phone that's sitting in their pocket to help coach them and and teach them what it's like to live a life? Um, that's not just digital, not just physical, but it's hybrid. Hey guys, once again, thanks for hanging out. Uh, we've, we have full transcripts for every single episode over at hybridministry.xyz. I'd love to encourage you to go check that out. It's a great place to find some stuff there. Also, um, on my personal TikTok @ClasonNick, c-l-a-s-o-n-n-i-c-k, uh, posting little clips, um, from podcast episodes, um, current and past. So go check out on, hang out with us there. Love to connect with you in that way. Until next time, we'll talk to you all later.