Dec. 2, 2024

The Future of Christianity

The Future of Christianity

A discussion about the changing religious landscape of America and the future of Christianity

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A discussion about the changing religious landscape of America and the future of Christianity

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Monday, December the second, twenty twenty four. It

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is currently tenh eight am Central Time, and I am

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coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located

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right here in Abilene, Texas. Well, what we're going to

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try to do in this episode is we're going to

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try to maybe kind of predict the future, or maybe

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maybe I should say not so much trying to predict

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the future, Maybe we should say this. We're going to

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analyze some current data and then try to take from

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that current data which speaks to what's going on right now,

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and then see if we can use that to look

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into the future. I mean, we're fast approaching twenty twenty five,

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look into twenty two, twenty five, twenty twenty six, twenty

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twenty seven, and try to figure out where is Christianity headed,

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where is it going? And do we see it as

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a good thing? Do we see it as a bad thing?

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How should churches think about it? How should Christians think

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about it? What should our reaction be, how should we

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navigate it? What changes should possibly be made? But I feel,

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based off the data that I'm looking at, that there's

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a major change underway when it comes to the religious

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landscape here in the United States of America. And I

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feel that in many ways this is true around the world,

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but probably most well put it this way, I think

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most of the data speaks more to what's going on

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in the United States of America. So I'm going to

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try to figure out using the data that we have

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about the current time, about the present. We're going to

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use the current data about the press and to see

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if that can help us figure out what the religious

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landscape is doing and where it is headed moving into

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twenty twenty five. All right, now, I know typically you

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wait to the end of the year to do these

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kinds of messages, kind of making your predictions about what's

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going to happen in the new year and start thinking

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about it. But today, I feel like we need to

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talk about it today because well, of these news articles.

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Now this is going to let me explain how I'm

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going to have to do this. I have two news

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articles here right. One is from the Wall Street Journal

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and the second one is from the Atlantic. Wall Street

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Journal and the Atlantic those are my sources. However, especially

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the Wall Street Journal article. It's behind a paywall, so

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at first it let me see it, and so I

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was able to read the entire article. But then after

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I don't know, I think I saw the article yesterday. Yeah,

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I don't think it was early this morning. I think

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it was yesterday. So I saw the article yesterday. When

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I went back to it this morning, well now I can't.

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I can't access the article because it gave me, like

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I guess, one article to read, and then it put

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it behind a paywall, locked it down, so I can't

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get to that. The Atlantic one, I think I can

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still get to, maybe even that's behind a paywall. The

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bottom line is, what I'm going to have to give

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you are summaries of the two articles. Now I don't

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like doing that, right because I would prefer to just

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read basically both articles, or at least most of them,

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so that you know that I'm being accurate with the

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information and you know that I'm not, you know, just

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picking certain parts of it. But I'm just gonna have

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to kind of give you summaries, all right, So I

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apologize for that. But that's the best I could do.

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I mean, unless I was going to pay to you know,

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get full access, and I didn't really feel like paying

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to get full access simply to read it read a

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part of an article for a podcast episode. Okay, so

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that's what I'm going to do and what I We're

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going to take these two articles, analyzed them and see

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what it means again going into the future. And then

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we're gonna add a third not a third article, but

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some additional statistics, and we're gonna put those statistics with

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these two articles which contain statistics. So we're gonna have

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basically three groups of statistics, put them together ultimately to say, hey,

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I think this is where we're headed. And then you

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can tell me whether you agree or disagree. All right, now,

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the two main articles, right Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic,

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they present contrasting trends in America's religious landscape. In fact,

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what we may be able to say not only contrasting.

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Maybe you will even feel like it's contradictory. Right, these

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are contrasting. Maybe you'll feel like it's contradictory. Maybe you

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will not. But I think we can minimum say contrasting.

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Maybe we could go even further and say contradictory. But

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it's giving us these trends that are going on that

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I don't know how you are going to think about them,

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but it definitely caused me to go, I've got to

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turn on a microphone. Right, here's what's happening. We have

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a surge and Bible cells, a massive surge and Bible

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cells right now here in the United States of America, right,

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And this is happening especially among first time buyers. So

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we have first they've never bought a Bible. They've never

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bought but all of these people now are going out

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buying Bibles, and many of them are making tiktoks of

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them going to buy their first Bible. Now, what's going on?

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Why is there this surge? And really, I'm going to

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read the Bible. I'm going to read the Bible. What

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is happening with that? Now you can determine good or bad? Right,

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we could have a big discussion about that. I mean,

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it's good they're buying God's word. Bad because I don't

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know if they're going to know what to do with

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it when they buy it. But look, that's been a

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problem forever. But while this is happening, so on the

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one news article, we've got this surge and Bible cells.

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But at The second article at the very same time

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indicates a significant decline in church attendance. So while Bible

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cells are surging, people are leaving the church. So that

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means they're leaving the church. That doesn't mean they're leaving Christianity,

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doesn't mean they're leaving their faith, doesn't mean they're leaving spirituality.

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It means they're leaving the church. But the interest in

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the Bible is increasing. What do you do with that?

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So let's look at these two articles. Let's start with

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the rising Bible cells. Right, the Wall Street Journal reports

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a twenty two percent increase and Bible cells in the

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United States through October, surpassing the less than one percent

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rise and overall print book cells. So Bible seals are

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up twenty two percent. Well, while other books, other print books,

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they've only increased in one percent. So Bible sales are

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outperforming the cells of any other kind of books. Now

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there should be a celebration there on one. Wow, people

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are buying the Bible. Now for me, I get nervous, right,

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I get really, really really nervous about this, not because

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I don't want people to buy the Bible, but because

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I just know they're going to buy the Bible and

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then do what with it? Right? Do they even have

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the skills to interpret it? I think that that's an

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important question, but we'll talk about that later, all right. So,

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so Bible sales are increasing while other book sales have

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only increased by one percent. The growth is driven by

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first time buyers and the release of new versions. Now

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KJV only people will not like that information. But so

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what's driving it is new versions of the Bible. So

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we may want to keep up with what new versions

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have been what new versions have been released over the

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last ten years. I think that's something to look at.

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What new versions of Bibles have been released over the

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last ten years. And we need to look at those versions,

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right because are they paraphrases? Are they like we? Are

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they new translations? Like what's been going on over the

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last ten years? All right? So their first time buyers,

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now this means people who've never purchased a Bible before,

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they've never purchased one. They're buying their very first Bible,

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all right. That probably means they don't have a lot

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of experience with it. I would I'm just guessing, and

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they're possibly buying new versions. Do they even know what

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they're buying with notable engagement. This is notable from Generation Z.

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Gen Z seem to be the ones that are buying

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the Bibles now. The Wall Street Journal offers factors such

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as economic concerns, global conflicts, political uncertainties are prompting individuals

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to seek comfort and assurance through personal Bible ownership. That

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makes me a little nervous. That seems to sound like

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they're coming to the Bible and they're looking for Look

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at the things they're looking for here. They are looking

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for comfort and assurance. Comfort and assurance. Now, I would argue,

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when you come to the Bible, you don't look for

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comfort and assurance, You look for truth, right, You look

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for what it says, and it may be comforting, it

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may not be comforting, it may assuring, it may not

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be assuring. Right. So, but okay, but that's what they're

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looking for, and just keep that in mind. It seems

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like a very personal motivation, like this is a very

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personalized thing. Just keep that in mind because I think

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that I think what we're seeing is a trend of

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a kind of a very personalized spirituality. I think is

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taking ship, which has always been an issue to some degree.

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It may be even more. So. Now we'll keep well,

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we'll just keep that in mind. I'm going to break

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this down, you know, piece by piece, and hopefully we

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can put this together and draw something from this. All right. Additionally,

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celebrities and social media influencers are prompting and promoting Bible purchases.

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This is interesting. So what you have is you have

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people on TikTok, you have people on YouTube, and they

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are promoting and in some cases leading to the surge

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and Bible cells. Now what does that tell you that

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a lot of look, whether you like it, whether you look,

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you can sit on your front porch and yell at

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the kids to get off your line. You can just hey,

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I hate social media and what's wrong with the world today,

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and you can sit there and gripe about it, or

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you can go hmm okay. So what's happening is people

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on social media are having more influence than maybe we

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would we would like, but they're having influence. So you

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got people on social media promoting Bible cells, which is

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driving the Bible sales at least probably among a certain

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generation maybe gen Z right. But now this innovative designs

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and target and marketing have contributed to what some describe

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as a golden age of Bible publishing, offering a diverse

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range of additions tailored to various demographics. So are we

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in the golden age of Bible publishing. If you listen

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to the older generation, they're like, I don't know what's

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happened to the world. It's falling apart, it's the end everyone.

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And they give kind of maybe a very they give

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maybe a very older generational perspective on what's going on

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in the world. But while they are saying all of

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these things about you know, nobody cares about God, nobody

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cares well, young people are buying the Bible in larger numbers. Then,

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I mean it's a surge. It's a golden age of

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Bible publishing. If you're a Bible publisher, you're like, yeah,

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the rest of the publishing world they only increase by

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one percent, We've increased by twenty two percent. Come on,

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cap publishing Bibles, come on with some new designs, some

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cool looking covers. Come on, Cape publishing published published, come on,

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print print, print, print, print, print, print. We need some

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people on TikTok. We need some people on YouTube, We

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need some people on podcasts. We need some influencers come

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on promote our Bibles as a golden age. I think

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if you ask older Americans, hey, you do you would

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you when do you think was the golden age of

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Bible publishing? People would probably say. Older people would probably say, well,

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no one's reading the Bible anymore, no one cares about

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the Bible. That doesn't seem to be positive, that seems

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to be well, it seems most likely not to be accurate.

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You see, It's so strange how our perception is. Our

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perception is nobody cares about the Bible. Nobody cares, nobody cares,

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nobody cares. Nobody cares. A lot of people seem to

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care because they're buying bibles. Now, buying bibles is very

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different than reading and studying them. Now, how much reading

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and studying we can talk about. But it's kind of strange. Well,

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when we put this all together, you'll I'll talk about

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what's There's a lot of things I can talk about.

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I'm just going to try to do this in some

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kind of order. Just that's the rising Bible cells twenty

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two percent increase, rest of the printing world about one percent.

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Gens seems to be driving it. Seems to be the

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origin of a lot of this is social media, new designs,

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new versions. People are buying the Bible all right. At

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the same time while that is going on twenty two

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percent increase. That's the Wall Street Journal. The second article released,

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I think within the same day or a day of

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that article. This comes from The Atlantic. At the same time.

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An article from The Atlantic highlights that approximately forty million

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Americans have stopped attending church in the past twenty five years. Now.

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The article begins pretty powerfully because it's an individual saying

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that basically, all the Christians he knew, all the Christians

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he went to church with, well, now none of those

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people go to church. Many of them no longer even

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profess christian Jianity, and a lot of people have those stories.

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All these people I went to church with, Nope, they

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don't go to church anymore. They don't go to church

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any anymore. Many of them no longer profess Christianity. Some

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may still profess Christianity, but they have nothing to do

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with the local church. Forty million Americans have stopped attending

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church in the past twenty five years, making the largest

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concentrated change in church attendance and US history. So while

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Bible sales are surging, people are walking out of the church.

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Seems contradictory. It seems I mean, there's at least a

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contrast there that has to be discussed. This decline. So

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while people are buying the Bible, and they're coming to

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the Bible looking for some kind of assurance, looking for

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some kind of comfort, well, while a lot of people

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are leaving the church. And they're leaving and it's attributed

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to not only to disillusionment with religious institutions due to

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issues like abuse scandals, but also to the demands of

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contemporary American life. So a lot of people leaving the

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church coud they're just disillusioned with the institution. They're tired

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of it. Maybe they're tired of the politics of it,

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they're just tired of of you know. It's it's it

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just seems like it's a business, right. It's it's the

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Christian industrial complex, right. We need money so we can

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build this, and we need money so we can do

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this and this and this, and it's just like, oh,

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we got to get new people be so we can

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do this. And it just seems like it's kind of

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a business, right, And there's such a there's kind of

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a template. There's politics that take over. Oh, there's the

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internal fighting and division. Everyone has their own agenda. Scandal, abuse,

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scandal that churches never really want to address. And while

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we have all of these scandals and divisions and politicking

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and back biding and gossip and slander. While all of

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this is going on in the church, you go to

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church and you hear over and over and over and over.

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You're a new creature. The old things are passed away.

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All things that become new you can basically do. We

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should basically be perfect. While in the meantime, sex abuse,

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this this. I think at some point people say, this thing.

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None of this seems organic, None of this seems real.

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It seems contrived. It seems like just a program, a

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business model. I'm sick of it, and I think a

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lot of people have become disillusioned with a lot of it.

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But at the same time, another thing that can be

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leading people to leaving the church is the demands of

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the American Contemporary American life, the pursuit of individual, professional

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and financial success may leave little time for communal activities,

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including church participation. Hey, people are even more focused on

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their job, trying to make a living living, trying to

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pay the bills, they may not have time for church.

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So the article in the Atlantic suggest that churches may

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not be asking enough of their members, failing a to

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foster a sense of mutuality and community that counters the

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individualistic tendencies of modern society. So we now just keep going,

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we have this individualistic thing going on in modern societies. Now,

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what the Atlantic does is kind of say churches are

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not really fighting against this individualistic thing. It's not really

295
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finding a way to fight against it. Now, just note

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people are buying Bibles in larger numbers, But why are

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they buying bibles for their own assurance, for their own comfort.

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It's very individualistic, It's very personalized. Right, Well, what's happening

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in the church. Many people are leaving the church to

300
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pursue well, individualistic goals very and the church is not

301
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being able to fight against this end of dualistic idea.

302
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But I'm gonna make a claim here that's going to

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tick off a lot of people. I'm not speaking of

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Catholicism obviously, but for all of the non Catholic world

305
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that we look back to the Protestant Reformation, when Luther

306
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stood against the institution. He stood against the Church, and

307
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he's like, the Church doesn't have the authority. It's the

308
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word of God. Na sounds great. It preaches good, makes

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for a good movie, makes for a good sermon, everything,

310
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everybody likes it. Oh, he stood against the evil Catholic Church,

311
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and he's like, the Bible, not the Church. The Bible

312
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is the authority. And everybody's like, amen, Amen. But there

313
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were some unintended consequences from that that I think we

314
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are still feeling in twenty twenty four, and we're gonna

315
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feell in twenty twenty five moving into the future. And

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this unintended consequence was while Luther wanted to say the

317
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Bible is the authority, what ultimately happened was he transferred

318
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the authority from the Church, the magisterium, the pope. Okay, no,

319
00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:06.640
we're not gonna listen to them. We're gonna say we're

320
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listening to the Bible. But in reality, what happened is

321
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that authority jumped over the Bible and it landed right

322
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in the lap of the individual. Now it was every

323
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individual saying, no, I believe the Bible says this, and

324
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I'm the one interpreting the Bible and my interpretation really

325
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becomes authoritative. It's not that the Bible becomes authoritative. Every

326
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individual's interpretation of the Bible becomes authoritative. So in reality,

327
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Luther fought against one pope to create millions of little popes,

328
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millions of little magisterial authorities going no, the Bible says this,

329
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you're wrong. So while Luther was saying the Catholic Church

330
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was wrong, next thing you know, people were turning around saying, no, Luther,

331
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you are wrong. Then this group formed, and this group

332
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formed in this group, and then this group would say

333
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that group is wrong, and that great, and then it's

334
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just been going on and on and on and on

335
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and on and a roundabout way. The Reformation created all

336
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the framework for an individualistic approach to Christianity. Now, those

337
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individuals found like minded individuals to form churches, but then

338
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that church would only operate until as long as those

339
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individuals agreed. Now, as soon as someone disagreed, well you

340
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may get church splits, you get people leaving, you get

341
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denominational splits, you get people trying to push out the

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pastor and you've seen all of that play out since

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the Reformation. So this individual so we have an individualistic

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tendency in modern society. The church hasn't been able to

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fight it when other church can't fight it, because the

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church pretty much promotes it, at least still logically, So,

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while we have Bible cells going up twenty two percent increase,

348
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we have church attendants decreasing. And again everyone keeps arguing

349
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how drastic is this decrease? Is it increasing? Is it

350
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slowing down? And there's a lot of conflicting reports there,

351
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but we have these seems to be very too reality.

352
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This seems to be very accurate, at least to some level.

353
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Bible sales are going up, people are leaving the church.

354
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To what to make of that? We can make too

355
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much of it, we can make too little of it,

356
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but we have to at least consider it. So I

357
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started thinking, what are the implications, What are the implications

358
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for the future? Bible sales going up, church attendants going down?

359
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Could it possibly be that these trends are indicating a

360
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complex and evolving religious landscape in America? That the answer

361
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showing there's a complexity here, but it's evolving, it's changing.

362
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Could this be, as I just spent a lot of

363
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time talking about it, we really have this personalized religious

364
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landscape that's increasing. See the increase in Bible sales, particularly

365
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among younger individuals. Maybe it's suggesting a move towards a

366
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personalized spirituality. Maybe the younger generation, maybe the older generator

367
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say this is You may disagree here, but again my

368
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job is just to provide analysis here, right. I believe

369
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the Protestant Reformation created the framework for a very personalized Christianity,

370
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whereas you your Bible, your interpretation becomes the authority, You

371
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become the pope, you become the magisterian. I know people

372
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get mad when I say that, but I think church

373
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history that I'm right. But here's what I think happened.

374
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The older generations were like, okay, they would at least

375
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play the game. They would at least go to a church, right,

376
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They would at least say the right words. They would

377
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put on the right little robe of self righteousness and

378
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act like they were part of the church and they

379
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cared about the church. But what you saw back then

380
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was all the internal fighting within the church. It was

381
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still very personalized. Everyone had their own agenda. Everybody wanted

382
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it their way. They would argue, fight, drive out pastors,

383
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cause church splits take half of the church to go somewhere.

384
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It was still very personalized. Right. People would be like, Nope,

385
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I disagree with you. I disagree with you. I'm going

386
00:24:49.359 --> 00:24:51.119
to go to another church. And they would go to

387
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a church that did what met their personalized wants, needs, desires,

388
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and beliefs. They were not going to stay in a

389
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place that did not get them what they wanted. They

390
00:25:01.160 --> 00:25:02.440
were not going to stay in a place that made

391
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that didn't make them happy. They weren't gonna stay in

392
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a place that taught something that they did not agree with.

393
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They would go find like minded people. It was still

394
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very personalized, but it was personalized within within the illusion

395
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of church. Oh it's church, We're we are united. I'll

396
00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:26.279
stop it. Everyone in here is in it for themselves.

397
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And I talked about it so many times as a pastor.

398
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You get that Monday phone call. If you get the

399
00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:34.920
Monday phone calls a pastor, you know what's coming. Someone's

400
00:25:34.920 --> 00:25:37.640
got to they're mad about the sermon. They're gonna complain

401
00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:40.720
about something. They don't call you on Monday to talk

402
00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:43.119
about the sermon or no, no, no, no, they're gonna come

403
00:25:43.119 --> 00:25:46.119
to complain about it. Right, So I would get those

404
00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:49.319
Monday phone calls. And again, let me make it very

405
00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:54.799
clear any stories I tell, My stories are insignificant compared

406
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:57.400
to any other pastors I've heard tell their stories. Right,

407
00:25:57.759 --> 00:26:01.319
I've had it great, I've had it wonderful. I got

408
00:26:01.599 --> 00:26:03.599
I mean, I got very I mean, there are some

409
00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:07.000
things I saw that led me to be disillusioned and frustrated,

410
00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:09.119
and I think in some cases it slapped me in

411
00:26:09.119 --> 00:26:11.680
the face of the reality of how church really is.

412
00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:17.000
But even then, my situation has been golden compared to many, right,

413
00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.640
because I've heard horror stories. Right, mine never even reached

414
00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:25.240
a Disney scary movie level. Okay, mine, Mine was really, really,

415
00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:28.400
really tame. Okay, but I still would get those phone calls,

416
00:26:28.599 --> 00:26:30.440
and inevitably they would be like, I don't like this

417
00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:32.119
and I don't like that, and so I would always

418
00:26:32.160 --> 00:26:34.960
ask this question, Okay, so what if we change things

419
00:26:35.160 --> 00:26:39.039
to your liking? Right, we do this, and we do this,

420
00:26:39.079 --> 00:26:40.640
and we do this, and we do this. What if

421
00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:42.640
I make you happy? And then I would say, well,

422
00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:46.559
what about the people who sit across the aisle from you,

423
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:48.279
who sit in the pew in front of you or

424
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:50.480
the pew behind what about them? They've been in the

425
00:26:50.559 --> 00:26:52.680
church ten years longer than you, and they're like, well,

426
00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.240
I'm and then they would always say, well, I'm not

427
00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:56.319
asking you to change, say I'm not, and they would

428
00:26:56.359 --> 00:26:59.680
always try to backtrack. But then inevitably they would leave

429
00:26:59.680 --> 00:27:02.279
the church. Why because I would not give them what

430
00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:07.799
they wanted. See, they were functioning within the construct of church,

431
00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:13.799
but it was still personalized. It was still me me, me, me, me, me, me, me,

432
00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:17.119
me me, preach what I want, teach what I want,

433
00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:19.480
interpret it the way I want, do it the way

434
00:27:19.519 --> 00:27:25.960
I want, or I'm leaving your church. It's always been personalized.

435
00:27:26.359 --> 00:27:29.319
Maybe what we are seeing is the younger generation is like,

436
00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:34.119
I'm not playing your little reindeer games. I'm not going

437
00:27:34.119 --> 00:27:37.759
to your little institution where we can all pretend. I'm

438
00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:41.079
just gonna I'm gonna pursue this religious pursuit, this spiritual

439
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.319
journey me myself and I because that's how it really

440
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:48.680
functions in the church anyway, other than if more, if

441
00:27:48.759 --> 00:27:51.920
people have power and money, they'll get to make the rules.

442
00:27:54.599 --> 00:27:59.920
I mean, couple right. Maybe so, maybe the increase and Bible,

443
00:28:00.839 --> 00:28:06.400
particularly among younger individuals, suggest and move towards a personalized spirituality.

444
00:28:07.400 --> 00:28:14.319
People may be seeking individual religious experience outside traditional communal settings,

445
00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:20.640
possibly due to a desire for autonomy in their spiritual journeys.

446
00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:24.400
I mean, look, I mean everyone already has autonomy within

447
00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:27.799
the non Catholic world. It's you, your interpretation. You get

448
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.440
decide if the preaching is true or false. So there's

449
00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:33.839
already autonomy. Want to pretend that? Why I pretend that

450
00:28:33.880 --> 00:28:37.039
we're unified and we're a body and we're a community,

451
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:39.680
And give me a break. It's a bunch of individuals

452
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:43.480
fighting for their own wants. So why pretend. Maybe the

453
00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:45.640
younger people are like, you know what, I want autonomy.

454
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:50.640
I'm not going to play your game. I'm no more autonomous,

455
00:28:50.680 --> 00:28:56.119
I'm no more personal, you know, self seeking. I've no

456
00:28:56.200 --> 00:28:59.519
more made this more personal than you guys. Just you

457
00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:02.599
are doing it all under the illusion of a church.

458
00:29:05.160 --> 00:29:09.519
Maybe my view here is very cynical, but I think

459
00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:14.000
there's some truth to what I'm saying. So I think

460
00:29:14.039 --> 00:29:16.920
that what we're seeing is this personafy. I don't want

461
00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:22.960
to say this personalizing of Christianity, this individualistic approach of Christianity.

462
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:25.359
I believe it's always been there, and I think the

463
00:29:25.359 --> 00:29:28.480
Protestant Reformation set the framework for it, and it's it's

464
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:32.119
been playing itself out, but on past generations that played

465
00:29:32.160 --> 00:29:37.519
itself out within the church. Now it's playing itself out

466
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:42.160
outside of the church. That's my assessment. But how about

467
00:29:42.200 --> 00:29:44.880
a second thing that this I'm just trying to offer

468
00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:47.400
thoughts here about what this could all mean. I'm just

469
00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:50.759
trying to interpret all of this. So what we're going

470
00:29:50.799 --> 00:29:52.839
to see, I think going into into twenty twenty five,

471
00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:56.839
twenty six, is more of this personalized spirituality. It's going

472
00:29:56.880 --> 00:30:00.799
to become more individualistic, more personalized. It's been that way.

473
00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:02.799
I think now it's going to happen outside of the

474
00:30:02.880 --> 00:30:07.640
church instead of happening within the church personally. That's that's

475
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.279
my Well, get it personally, you get it personally, That's

476
00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:13.920
what I think. You can tell me what you think.

477
00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:22.680
Another thing institutional disngagement. The decline in church attendance reflects

478
00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:31.279
a growing disengagement from organized religious institutions. Now. This could

479
00:30:31.319 --> 00:30:38.759
be due to perceived misalignments between church teaching and personal beliefs,

480
00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:44.400
especially among younger generations who may view religious institutions as

481
00:30:44.440 --> 00:30:49.319
out of touch with contemporary values. There's a disengagement with

482
00:30:49.359 --> 00:30:52.599
the institution, but still note the personalized this this is

483
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.480
going to become a theme over and over and over.

484
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.400
Please know what happened. They're gonna the younger generational like,

485
00:30:57.400 --> 00:31:00.039
I'm tired of the institution. I'm tired because I I

486
00:31:00.079 --> 00:31:03.720
don't agree with it that the institution and my personal

487
00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:09.000
beliefs are in conflict. Now, in the past, what would happen.

488
00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:12.839
The older generation would be in the institution, disagree with

489
00:31:12.880 --> 00:31:16.440
the institution, either lead for a church split or a

490
00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:19.359
replacement of a pastor so that they could try to

491
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:24.720
get their agenda and their perspective as being dominant being

492
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:28.799
the way to go, or they just leave and go

493
00:31:28.839 --> 00:31:31.440
find a church that's more in line with their personal

494
00:31:31.480 --> 00:31:34.480
taste and their personal feelings. The younger generations like, I'm

495
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:35.880
not going to sit there and play out. Why am

496
00:31:35.920 --> 00:31:39.039
I going to get involved in all of that drama.

497
00:31:39.079 --> 00:31:42.319
Why I'm just going to disengage from the institution completely.

498
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:47.359
The older generation was still just as it's hey, my

499
00:31:47.559 --> 00:31:51.920
personal beliefs, my personal wants, my personal desires. But again,

500
00:31:51.960 --> 00:31:56.480
they played that game within the church. So the younger

501
00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:01.319
generation they see a misalignment between the church is teaching

502
00:32:01.359 --> 00:32:05.000
and their personal beliefs, so they begin to view institutions

503
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:07.680
as out of touch with contemporary values, like forget it,

504
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:11.839
I'm just done with the whole institution, and then they

505
00:32:11.880 --> 00:32:16.000
go pursue their own personalized version of Christianity. Now you

506
00:32:16.039 --> 00:32:18.160
may condemn that all day, but I think the church

507
00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:21.599
has been playing that game again. The Protestant Reformation started

508
00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:26.559
all of this. So we have a personalized Christianity that

509
00:32:26.680 --> 00:32:30.880
is emerging, and we have an institutional disengagement. People are

510
00:32:30.880 --> 00:32:33.559
disengaging from the institution, and I think that's only going

511
00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:35.279
I don't think that's going to decrease. I think is

512
00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:39.920
only going to increase. Oh, you'll always have exceptions. You'll

513
00:32:39.960 --> 00:32:42.480
have some churches that will grow because what will happen.

514
00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:45.920
There'll be someone out there who'll kind of in a sense,

515
00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:49.720
they'll let their finger hold it up in the air.

516
00:32:50.359 --> 00:32:52.519
Which way are the wind's going? Ooh, look at that.

517
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:55.680
The younger generation are going disdirection, and they'll create a

518
00:32:55.839 --> 00:32:59.559
church that will somehow kind of fit to this new

519
00:33:01.119 --> 00:33:04.680
that's happened since the Protestant Reformation. That's how we got

520
00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:09.279
there's always a church finding whereveryone. They're looking at where

521
00:33:09.319 --> 00:33:11.480
the trends are going, and they're gonna be right there,

522
00:33:11.640 --> 00:33:14.279
and they're gonna get They're gonna catch They're gonna catch

523
00:33:14.359 --> 00:33:18.880
the wave. They're like on a surfboard waiting, Oh there

524
00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:20.920
comes a wave. They're gonna catch it, and they'll write

525
00:33:20.920 --> 00:33:23.920
it and they'll make they'll build a little mini kingdom.

526
00:33:24.160 --> 00:33:27.960
They'll get famous, they'll get popular. Millions upon millions of

527
00:33:28.000 --> 00:33:31.119
dollars will flow into the institution, and then sooner or

528
00:33:31.200 --> 00:33:34.319
later the institution will go away. I mean, this is

529
00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:36.680
what Just think of all the church models that's come

530
00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:40.400
and gone, where everybody was like the emerging church, and

531
00:33:40.440 --> 00:33:43.079
then everybody was like, oh, seeker sensitive, and then there

532
00:33:43.079 --> 00:33:46.200
were purpose driven, and then look at Mars Hill and

533
00:33:46.920 --> 00:33:49.960
Mark Drisk There's always someone will always say oh, here's

534
00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:51.680
where things are going, and they're gonna be right there

535
00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:54.519
at the wave, and they will get rich. Everyone will

536
00:33:54.519 --> 00:34:00.440
make lots of money, big buildings, big programs. Then sooner

537
00:34:00.599 --> 00:34:04.599
later the people will change their wants and their needs

538
00:34:04.599 --> 00:34:06.279
and they're like, ah, we're done with this, and then

539
00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.440
someone else will have to go where's everybody going? But

540
00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:11.119
it's always been personalized. I just think maybe what we're

541
00:34:11.159 --> 00:34:12.679
going to see is people are going to be like,

542
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:14.719
I don't care what you do. You can come up.

543
00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:20.599
I'm not going back to the institution. So maybe this

544
00:34:20.719 --> 00:34:25.440
is we see a personalized Christianity, we see an institutional disengagement.

545
00:34:25.639 --> 00:34:31.039
Maybe we're seeing a cultural shift. Maybe the contrasting trends

546
00:34:31.320 --> 00:34:36.039
Bible sells up, church attendance down, is it's showing and

547
00:34:36.119 --> 00:34:42.880
highlighting a shift towards individualism and American culture. So American

548
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:47.840
culture is moving towards individualism. Well, this individualism has always

549
00:34:47.840 --> 00:34:51.280
infected the church. Again, the Protestant Reformation was about one

550
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:55.440
individual saying the Catholic Church is wrong or other are

551
00:34:55.559 --> 00:34:58.239
multiple individuals saying the Catholic Church is wrong. But it

552
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:01.800
was individualism. And then they said the scriptures, and that

553
00:35:01.960 --> 00:35:04.639
sounds great, But then the individual got the scripture and

554
00:35:04.679 --> 00:35:07.119
the individual got to determine if what was right or wrong.

555
00:35:07.159 --> 00:35:09.440
So then you could say, well, they're wrong and they're wrong,

556
00:35:09.480 --> 00:35:11.800
and they're wrong, and they're wrong and they're wrong, and well,

557
00:35:12.039 --> 00:35:16.360
so that's always been built into Christianity since the Protestant Reformation.

558
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:22.840
But now the American culture maybe moving towards an individualistic identity.

559
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:26.400
And if that's the case, well why go to an

560
00:35:26.400 --> 00:35:32.719
institution or individualism? Sometimes you're told to conform or be

561
00:35:32.840 --> 00:35:40.480
cast out right. Maybe within American culture, personal spiritual practices

562
00:35:40.519 --> 00:35:46.920
are favored over collective religious experiences. Maybe this shift is

563
00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:52.039
influenced by a broader societal change, including technological advancements and

564
00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:56.079
changing social norms. Maybe what we're seeing is people are

565
00:35:56.119 --> 00:36:03.320
just like they're moving towards an individualistic mindset. So maybe

566
00:36:03.559 --> 00:36:09.639
while personal engagement with religious texts like the Bible is

567
00:36:09.639 --> 00:36:16.159
on the rise, traditional forms of communal religious participation are declining.

568
00:36:17.239 --> 00:36:20.760
This could suggest that the future of America's religious landscape

569
00:36:20.880 --> 00:36:25.559
may be characterized by individualized expressions of faith and a

570
00:36:25.599 --> 00:36:32.559
reevaluation of the role of religious institutions in society. Now

571
00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:35.360
that's a summary of those two things. So what I

572
00:36:35.400 --> 00:36:38.679
did is I tried to I asked AI to summarize

573
00:36:38.679 --> 00:36:40.800
what can we learn from those two things, And that

574
00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:45.039
was the summary AI gave me. There's this individualistic thing

575
00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:49.360
going and even AI acknowledges that this this could indicate

576
00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:54.519
something is changing. So I was like, huh, okay, so

577
00:36:54.599 --> 00:37:01.119
Bible sales are up, church attendance is down. H I'm curious.

578
00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:06.599
So I did a little research recent data. So I

579
00:37:06.599 --> 00:37:09.559
had to do a little research on this recent data

580
00:37:09.679 --> 00:37:19.960
indicates a notable increase in the consumption of religious and

581
00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:31.679
spiritual podcast Oh, this is following the trend. People are

582
00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:38.159
buying Bibles, leaving church, but they're looking for religious instruction.

583
00:37:38.480 --> 00:37:43.119
They're looking to understand. They've got questions about theology, They've

584
00:37:43.159 --> 00:37:46.239
got questions about the Bible. What are they not going

585
00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:50.840
to They're not going back to the institutionalized church. They

586
00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:54.639
are looking online for those answers. So they're turning to TikTok,

587
00:37:54.880 --> 00:38:02.199
they're turning to YouTube, they're turning to podcast. The religion

588
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:08.800
and spirituality podcast category has experienced a forty nine percent

589
00:38:09.519 --> 00:38:16.840
global increase and audience engagement, reflecting a growing interest and

590
00:38:17.000 --> 00:38:25.159
spiritual content. Wow. Bible sales up, religious podcasts listening and

591
00:38:25.239 --> 00:38:35.880
engagement up, church attendants down. Something is happening. Something is happening,

592
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:40.079
And I think churches are always look I was saying

593
00:38:40.280 --> 00:38:45.000
twenty years ago. I was saying twenty years ago that

594
00:38:45.239 --> 00:38:50.920
churches should be They should already have microphones and empty

595
00:38:51.000 --> 00:38:53.880
rooms in their churches. Turn them into many studios, and

596
00:38:54.000 --> 00:38:58.480
pastors should be addressing cultural issues, recording devotionals. They should

597
00:38:58.480 --> 00:39:03.039
be utilizing those church and producing five thousand hours of

598
00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:06.760
content I was saying that twenty something years ago, what

599
00:39:06.920 --> 00:39:09.840
is the church doing? Pastors? You get paid a full

600
00:39:09.840 --> 00:39:13.199
time many of your full time pastors. Do something with

601
00:39:13.280 --> 00:39:16.880
your time, do something. You got all these political things

602
00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:23.760
and programs and activities, produce teaching, theology discussions, do that,

603
00:39:24.119 --> 00:39:27.639
but nobody, for the most part, nobody listened. Now what

604
00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:30.559
changed a lot was when the pandemic happened. Then all

605
00:39:30.559 --> 00:39:33.719
a sudden, churches were like, wait, we got a live stream. Now.

606
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:37.159
Of course they instead of being creative, they were just like,

607
00:39:37.400 --> 00:39:42.119
turn on a camera and broadcast the entire service. Or

608
00:39:42.360 --> 00:39:47.039
you could be producing hour after hour after hour of teaching,

609
00:39:47.320 --> 00:39:53.639
of devotional of theological discussion. But no, no, no, no, no,

610
00:39:53.639 --> 00:39:56.320
no no no. I mean it just drives me crazy.

611
00:39:56.559 --> 00:40:00.119
How sometimes the church is so blind to this. But

612
00:40:00.320 --> 00:40:02.719
guess what happened. A lot of people say, well, forget

613
00:40:02.719 --> 00:40:08.119
the church, forget churches. I'll just turn on a microphone

614
00:40:08.199 --> 00:40:11.639
and create my own spiritual, my own philological podcast. Don't

615
00:40:11.679 --> 00:40:18.159
need the church. And those religious and philological podcasts are increasing.

616
00:40:18.199 --> 00:40:21.239
The people are more people are listening to them, forty

617
00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:27.440
nine percent increase. I think this, I think there's something

618
00:40:27.480 --> 00:40:32.079
going on here. Approximately thirty percent of US podcast listeners

619
00:40:32.719 --> 00:40:37.159
on a regular basis tune into religion and spiritual podcast

620
00:40:37.559 --> 00:40:41.519
highlighting a significant portion of the audience seeking spiritual guidance

621
00:40:41.760 --> 00:40:45.920
through this medium. That's from the Pew Research Center. So

622
00:40:45.960 --> 00:40:49.599
you take all the podcast listeners, thirty percent on a

623
00:40:49.679 --> 00:40:56.000
regular basis are looking for philological spiritual content. That means

624
00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:59.800
people are looking for spiritual guidance through podcasts, not the

625
00:41:00.039 --> 00:41:05.679
institutionalized church. Now, the institutionalized church could be producing this

626
00:41:05.800 --> 00:41:08.320
content that people are listening to. They're just not walking

627
00:41:08.320 --> 00:41:18.079
through your front door. Now. Beyond podcast, twenty percent of

628
00:41:18.159 --> 00:41:21.960
US adults watch online videos with religious content and fifteen

629
00:41:21.960 --> 00:41:25.039
percent listen to religion focused podcasts, indicating a broader trend

630
00:41:25.079 --> 00:41:28.400
of engaging with spiritual material through digital platforms, again from

631
00:41:28.400 --> 00:41:30.840
the Pew Research Center. In other words, what they're saying

632
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:33.440
is more and more people. So we have Bible sales

633
00:41:33.480 --> 00:41:36.519
going up, the golden age of Bible publishing. Church attendance

634
00:41:36.559 --> 00:41:39.920
is dropping dramatically, but people are listening to more and

635
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:49.159
more religious podcasts. I wonder what is happening now. These

636
00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:58.000
statistics suggest a growing trend of individuals. There's that word again,

637
00:41:58.679 --> 00:42:02.519
turning to digital audio platforms for religious and spiritual content.

638
00:42:07.559 --> 00:42:10.719
Come on, look, you've got to do something with this information.

639
00:42:10.960 --> 00:42:15.559
It's telling you something. So I'm like, okay, So let's

640
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:20.039
take the podcast. Let's take the Bible art. Let's take

641
00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:24.239
the Bible article, the church attendance article, and the podcast statistics.

642
00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:28.840
Let's put them all together and create some observations. Right,

643
00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:30.920
Let's put these all together and see if we can

644
00:42:30.920 --> 00:42:34.840
get kind of a more nuanced understanding of what is happening.

645
00:42:35.920 --> 00:42:37.840
So we have a rise in Bible sales. So now

646
00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:40.920
I'm going to back up and put this all together. Now,

647
00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:43.880
this indicates this rise in Bible sales seems to indicate

648
00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:47.760
a growing interest and personal self directed spirituality. Please note

649
00:42:47.800 --> 00:42:53.440
that again, personal self directed spirituality, this individual lies personalized thing.

650
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:58.000
Younger generations in particular, are purchasing Bibles, suggesting they seek

651
00:42:58.000 --> 00:43:04.519
a connection to faith, but may not engage in institutionalized worship.

652
00:43:05.440 --> 00:43:10.840
They're not going to go to the institution. So there's

653
00:43:10.880 --> 00:43:13.719
the rise in Bible sells. Now, at the same time,

654
00:43:13.719 --> 00:43:15.679
we have a decline in church attendance. This seems to

655
00:43:15.719 --> 00:43:20.159
show a disillusionment with institutionalized religion and a shift away

656
00:43:20.159 --> 00:43:25.639
from communal religious activities. Time constraints, individualistic cultural values, and

657
00:43:25.719 --> 00:43:30.960
institutional failures contribute to this trend. I mean, people just

658
00:43:31.000 --> 00:43:33.800
get sick of the church. They get sick of the drama.

659
00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:37.039
And I think if you just pay attention, if they

660
00:43:37.119 --> 00:43:40.840
know it's individualistic, it's everyone, it's me me me, me, me,

661
00:43:40.840 --> 00:43:42.440
me me. And I think people like you know what,

662
00:43:42.519 --> 00:43:44.280
I'm sick of it. If I wanted just to make

663
00:43:44.280 --> 00:43:46.480
it about me, I'll just make it about me, I

664
00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:52.239
said of playing the game Bible seals up. Church attendance down.

665
00:43:53.440 --> 00:43:58.880
At the same time, we have an increase in religious

666
00:43:58.920 --> 00:44:06.719
podcast consumption, which may demonstrate that people are exploring aternative

667
00:44:08.079 --> 00:44:14.519
methods of engaging with faith. Podcasts allow individuals to explore

668
00:44:14.639 --> 00:44:27.360
spiritual ideas on their own time, emphasizing convenience, personalization, and

669
00:44:27.679 --> 00:44:34.400
access to diverse phyllological perspectives. See the younger generation may

670
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:38.760
be like, why don't you that's your opinion, that's just

671
00:44:38.840 --> 00:44:45.800
your opinion. Who makes you right? What makes you write?

672
00:44:45.960 --> 00:44:49.559
I want to hear someone else's opinion. Now the older

673
00:44:49.599 --> 00:44:52.360
generation would like, no, no, no, see this this is

674
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:56.119
the theology we've agreed upon. So stop asking questions, shut up,

675
00:44:56.119 --> 00:44:58.840
and color in the lines right, just this is our

676
00:44:59.079 --> 00:45:01.000
But the younger gener like, why do I have to

677
00:45:01.000 --> 00:45:04.199
shut up in color in the lines? Who drew those lines?

678
00:45:04.599 --> 00:45:08.719
Who says your theological system is right now? Older generation

679
00:45:08.840 --> 00:45:12.559
doesn't like that you young rebellious people just shut up

680
00:45:12.599 --> 00:45:16.000
and sit down and listen. But the older generation played

681
00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:18.480
the same game. Just if they don't like, if they

682
00:45:18.480 --> 00:45:20.760
didn't like what was going on in a church, that

683
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:23.119
we just leave to go fund a church that met

684
00:45:23.159 --> 00:45:26.320
what they want. They were just as personalized and individualistic

685
00:45:26.360 --> 00:45:29.119
as the younger generation. The younger generation just says, well,

686
00:45:29.480 --> 00:45:32.000
I don't need the institution, where the older generation felt

687
00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:34.679
like we have to stay within the institution. We'll just

688
00:45:34.719 --> 00:45:43.159
go make another institution because we didn't like that institution. Right.

689
00:45:43.360 --> 00:45:46.079
There's the story. I can't remember exactly how he goes.

690
00:45:46.119 --> 00:45:49.000
There was a man who was in a plane crashed

691
00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:52.559
and he ended up washing up on a deserted island

692
00:45:52.599 --> 00:45:55.000
who was by himself. He'd been there for a number

693
00:45:55.039 --> 00:45:57.079
of years and when they come to rescue him, they

694
00:45:57.079 --> 00:45:58.719
were like, oh, how are you doing, and he's like,

695
00:45:58.760 --> 00:46:00.960
I'm so happy to see you. And there what is that?

696
00:46:01.519 --> 00:46:03.280
Because he had built a structure and go oh that

697
00:46:03.360 --> 00:46:06.400
was a church. They go, well what is that? Go?

698
00:46:06.519 --> 00:46:08.199
That was? That was another church? Well why did you

699
00:46:08.199 --> 00:46:13.760
build another church? Well, the first first church split, you're

700
00:46:13.800 --> 00:46:15.679
the only one on the island. Yeah, well I split

701
00:46:15.760 --> 00:46:17.599
with myself, so I had to start another church. The

702
00:46:17.639 --> 00:46:19.519
point is, even if you're going to church by yourself,

703
00:46:19.519 --> 00:46:23.119
you'll have a church split. Okay, obviously it's a ridiculous story,

704
00:46:23.199 --> 00:46:31.480
but it just shows you how the institutionalized church worked.

705
00:46:32.920 --> 00:46:37.199
So maybe maybe what we have here is we have

706
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:39.920
these the rise in Bible sales, the decline in church

707
00:46:40.000 --> 00:46:43.159
tends to increase in religious podcasts, and we have something happening.

708
00:46:43.320 --> 00:46:47.960
So maybe some things that we are seeing here. Again,

709
00:46:48.079 --> 00:46:51.519
we've already talked about it personalized and digital faith. Now

710
00:46:51.519 --> 00:46:53.440
we're going to put the two concepts together. We have

711
00:46:53.480 --> 00:46:58.639
a personalized digital faith. People are increasingly curating their spiritual

712
00:46:58.679 --> 00:47:02.719
lives through digital platform like podcast personalized tools, such as

713
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:08.159
specific Bible additions tailored to their demographic The shift reduces

714
00:47:08.199 --> 00:47:13.159
reliance on physical church attendance or institutional guidance. Basically, you know,

715
00:47:13.199 --> 00:47:16.559
you go on a music streaming service and you create

716
00:47:16.599 --> 00:47:20.920
your own playlist. People are creating their own spiritual playlist.

717
00:47:21.360 --> 00:47:23.519
I'm gonna listen to this, I'm gonna use this Bible,

718
00:47:23.559 --> 00:47:25.639
I'm gonna use this Bible app I'm gonna do this,

719
00:47:25.880 --> 00:47:27.719
and then they just kind of create their own very

720
00:47:27.840 --> 00:47:30.960
Now people say, well, that's horrible. What about the church.

721
00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:33.920
People been doing that with the church for since the Reformation.

722
00:47:34.199 --> 00:47:36.000
Where we're gonna have this kind of church. How come

723
00:47:36.039 --> 00:47:39.360
you go to any city you've got five thousand different churches. Why?

724
00:47:39.519 --> 00:47:45.199
Because everyone has to have their own flavor. I just

725
00:47:45.239 --> 00:47:48.159
think the young people are like enough with your games,

726
00:47:48.280 --> 00:47:51.239
you do the same thing. You're not better than us.

727
00:47:57.480 --> 00:48:01.679
So we have a personalized digital faith. That's that's kind

728
00:48:01.679 --> 00:48:05.880
of emerging. We'll call these emerging themes. We have a

729
00:48:05.880 --> 00:48:10.800
personalized digital faith. I think that is emerging. Another thing

730
00:48:10.840 --> 00:48:17.159
that's emerging we have a decentralization of religious authority. Now,

731
00:48:17.280 --> 00:48:21.559
the decentralizing of religious authority started with the Protestant Reformation,

732
00:48:21.599 --> 00:48:25.239
when Luther told the Catholic Church, no, well, then there

733
00:48:25.320 --> 00:48:28.519
was no longer a centralized authority. Now, what Luther would

734
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:31.280
have argued is for the centralized authority being the Bible.

735
00:48:31.400 --> 00:48:34.280
But we all know what happened. The centralized authority went

736
00:48:34.320 --> 00:48:38.480
from the church, and it became decentralized to every individual

737
00:48:38.519 --> 00:48:42.119
becomes their own pope, their own interpreter, their own magisterium,

738
00:48:42.320 --> 00:48:46.360
and then well the rest is history. Well now it's

739
00:48:46.440 --> 00:48:49.639
just kind of taking another step. Now, the younger generation

740
00:48:49.760 --> 00:48:53.960
is like, all of you are wrong. See the rise

741
00:48:54.000 --> 00:48:58.039
of podcasts and other digital religious content allows diverse voices

742
00:48:58.119 --> 00:49:03.519
to share their spiritual insights. This decentralization challenges the traditional

743
00:49:03.599 --> 00:49:09.039
gatekeeping role of the church leader, fostering a more democratized

744
00:49:09.400 --> 00:49:18.880
religious discourse. Now anyone now, now, pastors hate that. That's

745
00:49:18.920 --> 00:49:22.519
why you hear pastors say negative things about podcasters and

746
00:49:22.639 --> 00:49:28.320
bloggers because they don't like it because they're no longer

747
00:49:28.400 --> 00:49:31.199
the authority. But I don't think they. I think they

748
00:49:31.280 --> 00:49:35.559
always exaggerated how much authority they had. They only had

749
00:49:35.599 --> 00:49:37.920
authority as long as the people in the pew agreed

750
00:49:37.960 --> 00:49:40.239
with them. So as the people disagreed with them, they

751
00:49:40.239 --> 00:49:42.360
would either work to split the church, get rid of

752
00:49:42.400 --> 00:49:44.360
the pastor, or go start another church, or just go

753
00:49:44.400 --> 00:49:47.039
to a church that they agreed with. Again, I feel

754
00:49:47.079 --> 00:49:50.119
that the only thing is changed here is the framework

755
00:49:50.400 --> 00:49:52.960
in which all of this took place. So we have

756
00:49:52.960 --> 00:49:55.840
the person, we have a personalized digital faith. We have

757
00:49:55.880 --> 00:50:01.519
a decentralization of spiritual or religious, and then we have

758
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:08.280
individual individualism. Let's see it that way over community. Community

759
00:50:08.360 --> 00:50:10.760
was a buzzword. Now many churches are still trying to

760
00:50:10.800 --> 00:50:15.039
sell church based off community. Hey, hey, don't do life alone,

761
00:50:15.239 --> 00:50:18.719
come to our community. Community that's still as a buzzword.

762
00:50:18.920 --> 00:50:20.920
But I think many young people are like, they want

763
00:50:20.960 --> 00:50:26.079
individualism over community. Now, the increase in private Bible reading

764
00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:33.039
and the increase in religious podcast consumption seems to suggest

765
00:50:33.079 --> 00:50:40.480
a preference for individual expl exploring. Let's put it that way, right,

766
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:45.000
The individuals want to explore, they want to do things

767
00:50:45.119 --> 00:50:51.559
their own way. This trend seems to align with broader

768
00:50:51.880 --> 00:50:58.519
cultural shifts towards autonomy and self expression. I want to

769
00:50:58.519 --> 00:51:03.199
be autonomous, express myself. I want to figure this out myself.

770
00:51:03.519 --> 00:51:06.239
I want to walk my own path. Now there will

771
00:51:06.320 --> 00:51:10.519
be still now for the institutionalized church. There will still

772
00:51:10.559 --> 00:51:14.880
be people who long for community. They need that, They

773
00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:17.679
need to sit in a semi circle, holding hand, singing

774
00:51:17.760 --> 00:51:20.760
Kumbai yah. They love that. So there's always going to

775
00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:23.199
be a place in the church for people who long

776
00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:26.880
for community. But so law churches love to sell forever

777
00:51:26.960 --> 00:51:29.679
we need community. We need community. We need community. We

778
00:51:29.719 --> 00:51:31.760
need community, which in many cases, I think turn the

779
00:51:31.840 --> 00:51:34.039
church into a place for people to make friends more

780
00:51:34.079 --> 00:51:37.360
than it was to discover truth. But I die that's

781
00:51:37.360 --> 00:51:39.599
why churches have all the little programs they have and

782
00:51:39.719 --> 00:51:42.760
activities because community. A lot of people love that. But

783
00:51:42.840 --> 00:51:45.280
I think there's a lot of there's a large a

784
00:51:45.400 --> 00:51:49.440
large number of people who are like I don't care

785
00:51:49.519 --> 00:51:52.039
about all of that. And so I think that's what

786
00:51:52.079 --> 00:51:54.159
we're seeing some of the trends that seem to indicate

787
00:51:54.199 --> 00:51:56.039
that there are a growing number of people who don't

788
00:51:56.119 --> 00:52:01.639
need or want that. So I asked AI to make

789
00:52:01.679 --> 00:52:04.840
some predictions for the future. I said, okay, AI, predict

790
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:09.119
the future for America, for the religious landscape in America,

791
00:52:09.320 --> 00:52:11.760
I said, Ai, I want you to predict the future.

792
00:52:12.480 --> 00:52:14.920
So this is how what AI predicted. Are you ready?

793
00:52:15.480 --> 00:52:20.880
Number one? It told me hybrid faith practices. While traditional

794
00:52:21.000 --> 00:52:26.199
church attendants may continue to decline, hybrid models of faith

795
00:52:26.320 --> 00:52:31.360
engagement could emerge, blending in person gatherings with digital content.

796
00:52:31.920 --> 00:52:36.559
Churches that adapt by offering online resources, podcasts, and interactive

797
00:52:36.599 --> 00:52:41.199
digital spaces may retain relevance. So what are they saying, Hey,

798
00:52:41.280 --> 00:52:44.960
churches create digital content. I've been saying that for I

799
00:52:45.000 --> 00:52:48.360
don't own twenty stinking years, and nobody would listen. I've

800
00:52:48.400 --> 00:52:52.559
been saying that I was twenty years ahead of this curve. Right, Churches,

801
00:52:52.760 --> 00:52:57.280
you got a building, buy a microphone and talk, okay,

802
00:52:57.760 --> 00:53:01.280
talk about life, talk about struggles, talk about sin, talk

803
00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:05.440
about failures, talk about Bible interpretation, talk about hermeneuticts, talk

804
00:53:05.440 --> 00:53:09.039
about Bible study, talk about live just talk about everything.

805
00:53:10.719 --> 00:53:12.800
I mean, right, I mean, a pastor's supposed to be

806
00:53:12.880 --> 00:53:16.320
app to teach. A pastor job is to communicate. Turn

807
00:53:16.360 --> 00:53:19.360
on a microphone and communicate with people, whether they're in

808
00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:21.800
their car, where they're here, while they're there, where they're

809
00:53:21.880 --> 00:53:26.320
driving here. Now, the older generation doesn't get it. They're

810
00:53:26.320 --> 00:53:29.760
like analysm okay, well that's fine, but there's plenty of

811
00:53:29.800 --> 00:53:35.840
people that may. So AI is saying, look, look, look, look,

812
00:53:37.599 --> 00:53:40.360
if we're going to predict the future, well, if churches

813
00:53:40.400 --> 00:53:43.679
want to retain relevance, they're gonna have to have hybrid

814
00:53:43.679 --> 00:53:47.360
faith practices, they're gonna have to have both. And you

815
00:53:47.480 --> 00:53:50.679
got you got a platform like Sermon Audio Sermon's two

816
00:53:50.679 --> 00:53:57.800
point zero app. You can carry it around live webcast,

817
00:53:58.519 --> 00:54:05.400
uploaded messages. The church can communicate with people twenty four

818
00:54:05.440 --> 00:54:07.840
hours a day, seven days a week. They don't have

819
00:54:07.840 --> 00:54:10.360
to just communicate with people on Sunday. They can communicate

820
00:54:10.400 --> 00:54:14.119
with people Monday morning, Monday afternoon, Monday evening, Monday night.

821
00:54:14.559 --> 00:54:19.760
They can form a team, a digital ministry team. All right, Hey,

822
00:54:20.079 --> 00:54:22.360
this team is going to be focusing on the pulpit

823
00:54:22.400 --> 00:54:24.519
and who walks through the front door. And this team

824
00:54:24.559 --> 00:54:27.119
is going to be focusing on the people outside who

825
00:54:27.199 --> 00:54:38.199
may never even drive into our parking lot. You can

826
00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:44.960
have both second thing that may happen or kind of

827
00:54:44.960 --> 00:54:48.239
a predicting. According to ai Is, we may see a

828
00:54:48.280 --> 00:54:55.639
growth of digital spiritual community. Digital platforms may foster virtual

829
00:54:55.679 --> 00:54:59.639
communities centered around shared faith practices. Podcasts and social media

830
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:03.280
could serve as the new congregation, with individuals forming loose,

831
00:55:03.400 --> 00:55:07.280
decentralized networks rather than committing to a single institution. So,

832
00:55:07.280 --> 00:55:10.920
in other words, instead of people gathering and in a

833
00:55:10.960 --> 00:55:14.440
building right where you've got all of the politics and

834
00:55:14.480 --> 00:55:18.320
the money and people can well, they can gather digitally

835
00:55:20.079 --> 00:55:27.880
and it's a loose fit community. The older generation will

836
00:55:27.920 --> 00:55:31.760
be like, that's just wrong. I understand, I understand you

837
00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:36.719
don't like it, but I think you gather together loosely

838
00:55:36.760 --> 00:55:40.079
within a local church claiming all kinds of nonsense that

839
00:55:40.159 --> 00:55:42.880
doesn't really mean anything because people will just leave whenever

840
00:55:42.880 --> 00:55:45.639
they want to leave anyway, fight for what they want.

841
00:55:45.719 --> 00:55:50.119
I mean, I mean the institutional nonsense. We've seen it

842
00:55:50.159 --> 00:55:53.000
over and over and over. Okay, how many I mean,

843
00:55:53.079 --> 00:55:54.760
I would be interested. How many people who listen to

844
00:55:54.840 --> 00:55:59.119
this podcast have you experienced church splits, fighting pushing out

845
00:55:59.159 --> 00:56:04.440
the pastor the fighting, the backbiting that are arguing, the gossiping,

846
00:56:06.039 --> 00:56:09.400
you know, the politicizing of and whant to say, politicizing

847
00:56:09.480 --> 00:56:20.559
church politics, religious politics, all the everyone's got their own agenda.

848
00:56:20.599 --> 00:56:25.039
Another thing AI predicted is an increased demand for accessible theology.

849
00:56:26.119 --> 00:56:30.679
The popularity of podcasts suggest a hunger for accessible, relatable

850
00:56:30.719 --> 00:56:35.119
philological discussion. Future religious leaders may need to focus on

851
00:56:35.159 --> 00:56:38.679
producing content that resonates with the challenges of modern life

852
00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:42.800
and appeals to diverse digital audience. Oh wait, what a shock.

853
00:56:43.280 --> 00:56:47.559
I've only been saying it for twenty years. If people

854
00:56:47.639 --> 00:56:49.760
are not going to church, they're going to have a

855
00:56:49.800 --> 00:56:55.480
demand for accessible theology. And guess where they want that theology?

856
00:56:55.599 --> 00:56:59.880
They want it showing up on pocket cast, Pandora spot

857
00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:04.039
five a serious accent. You just name the platform. That's

858
00:57:04.079 --> 00:57:07.719
where the YouTube TikTok. They want it there. They wanted to.

859
00:57:07.800 --> 00:57:09.559
They want to get a little ding. They want a

860
00:57:09.559 --> 00:57:12.000
little notification on their device. They can look down going

861
00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:15.280
oh listen live, oh listen later download. They want to

862
00:57:15.320 --> 00:57:18.159
be able to do listen to it and a faster speed,

863
00:57:18.320 --> 00:57:20.360
listen to it in a slower speed, be able to

864
00:57:20.400 --> 00:57:24.599
re download stream. They want. That's what they want. They

865
00:57:24.599 --> 00:57:27.440
want it accessible, they want it easy, and they want

866
00:57:27.480 --> 00:57:37.039
it now. How to support this? How to fund it? Now?

867
00:57:37.079 --> 00:57:40.920
Maybe become different? Right, churches are funded by people who

868
00:57:40.960 --> 00:57:45.000
show up and give ten, twenty percent, thirty percent, whatever,

869
00:57:45.480 --> 00:57:48.199
these all these all this everybody wants all of this

870
00:57:48.320 --> 00:57:52.039
religious content. How it's going to be funded, that's going

871
00:57:52.079 --> 00:57:54.440
to become a whole different matter. But we can cross

872
00:57:54.480 --> 00:58:05.000
that bridge somewhere else. That's what they want. I mean,

873
00:58:05.119 --> 00:58:07.719
they can. They can go to church. Maybe they'll hear

874
00:58:07.760 --> 00:58:10.239
a sermon that will answer the questions. Maybe they won't.

875
00:58:10.360 --> 00:58:13.639
In many cases, sermons have to be so you know,

876
00:58:13.639 --> 00:58:16.920
we talk about, oh, we hate PC culture, we hate

877
00:58:16.920 --> 00:58:20.800
political correct culture. The church it you gotta you gotta

878
00:58:21.039 --> 00:58:23.039
you gotta cross your te, dot your e. You can

879
00:58:23.079 --> 00:58:25.760
only say this because if you offend someone, people are

880
00:58:25.760 --> 00:58:29.199
gonna leave the church. They get offended. We talk about

881
00:58:29.280 --> 00:58:33.559
those little fragile snowflakes. The church is filled with fragile snowflakes.

882
00:58:33.599 --> 00:58:36.320
You say the wrong thing, they get ticked off of, mad, offended,

883
00:58:36.360 --> 00:58:39.719
and they leave. Podcast you don't have to worry about

884
00:58:39.760 --> 00:58:43.000
any of that. So podcasters can be more real, they

885
00:58:43.000 --> 00:58:46.239
can be more transparent. They can say what you can't

886
00:58:46.320 --> 00:58:57.280
say behind the pulpit. So, according to AI, if we're

887
00:58:57.280 --> 00:59:00.480
gonna look at the predictions, we may see, we may

888
00:59:00.519 --> 00:59:03.880
see or we need a hybrid faith practice, a growth

889
00:59:03.920 --> 00:59:07.199
of digital spiritual community. And there's going to be an

890
00:59:07.199 --> 00:59:11.320
increasing demand for accessible theology. Why is that demand? The

891
00:59:11.360 --> 00:59:16.719
more people leave the church, the demand for online theology

892
00:59:16.800 --> 00:59:21.000
is going to increase church attendance down. See what does

893
00:59:21.039 --> 00:59:24.079
that indicate. It doesn't mean people are abandoning faith. It

894
00:59:24.079 --> 00:59:27.280
doesn't mean we're becoming a more secular society. We may

895
00:59:27.280 --> 00:59:31.239
be even becoming a more spiritual society. But it's a personalized,

896
00:59:31.360 --> 00:59:36.079
individualistic spirituality, and they're going to get that information from somewhere,

897
00:59:36.360 --> 00:59:43.760
So they're going to look for theology online. This could

898
00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:51.360
lead to a potential for polarization. The decentralization of spiritual

899
00:59:51.360 --> 00:59:56.760
authority could lead to greater theological diversity, but also potential fragmentation,

900
00:59:57.199 --> 01:00:01.079
with individuals aligning with niche groups or influencers rather than

901
01:00:01.119 --> 01:00:08.599
broader denominational structures. Hey, we could become more polarized, more divided.

902
01:00:08.639 --> 01:00:14.880
I look, I think the any apparent apparent appearance of

903
01:00:15.159 --> 01:00:18.079
unity in the past was all an illusion. I think

904
01:00:18.079 --> 01:00:20.920
it was all fraudulent. I think it appeared to be

905
01:00:21.000 --> 01:00:23.000
this way, but everybody in the church was still fighting

906
01:00:23.039 --> 01:00:26.440
for their own individualistic way. There was still polarization, there

907
01:00:26.519 --> 01:00:30.440
was still fragmentation, and and it just looks good until

908
01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:33.480
people like I don't like this, and I don't like that, Okay,

909
01:00:33.639 --> 01:00:35.480
just go and then they'll go find a group that

910
01:00:35.480 --> 01:00:39.800
they agree with until they disagree with that group. I

911
01:00:39.800 --> 01:00:43.199
think now it's just going to be even more prominent.

912
01:00:43.239 --> 01:00:45.599
It's gonna be more, it's gonna be it's gonna be

913
01:00:45.679 --> 01:00:50.840
even greater. Maybe we'll see even greater fragmented, more fragmented,

914
01:00:51.039 --> 01:00:57.719
maybe even more polarization, more even more individualistic, more groups.

915
01:00:58.159 --> 01:01:03.719
We'll have more groups, not less groups, but there is

916
01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:08.199
that potential for polarization is real, all right. And then

917
01:01:09.000 --> 01:01:13.000
the last suggestion or last prediction AI made is the

918
01:01:13.039 --> 01:01:19.760
revitalization opportunities for churches. Churches that embrace technology, acknowledge societal

919
01:01:19.800 --> 01:01:25.639
disillusionment with institutions, and address individual spiritual needs might reclaim

920
01:01:25.800 --> 01:01:29.960
some of the disengaged population. This can include interactive Bible study,

921
01:01:30.360 --> 01:01:35.960
sermon podcast, and a stronger online presence. The church should

922
01:01:35.960 --> 01:01:39.639
have been the one leading the online presence. The church

923
01:01:39.679 --> 01:01:43.320
should have been like, wait, we can broadcast live on

924
01:01:43.360 --> 01:01:46.760
the internet. Wait, we can upload audio to the internet.

925
01:01:47.800 --> 01:01:51.679
All right, guys, let's do this. But the church was like,

926
01:01:51.800 --> 01:01:55.480
oh no, do do doo do dooom because why they

927
01:01:55.480 --> 01:01:58.480
want people? And I do understand because the more you

928
01:01:58.559 --> 01:02:03.159
do things offline are the more things you do online

929
01:02:03.760 --> 01:02:09.000
and away from the institutionalized building the church. The fear

930
01:02:09.159 --> 01:02:11.280
is people won't come to the church. They don't come

931
01:02:11.280 --> 01:02:14.159
to the church, they don't give money. They don't give money.

932
01:02:14.280 --> 01:02:17.079
The church can't pay and keep up with all because

933
01:02:17.119 --> 01:02:18.880
it takes a lot of money to run a church.

934
01:02:19.559 --> 01:02:21.920
We've talked about it before. Think of how much money

935
01:02:21.920 --> 01:02:24.800
it takes to keep a church operating per year just

936
01:02:25.599 --> 01:02:27.639
whatever church you go to, just ask what is our

937
01:02:27.719 --> 01:02:32.480
yearly operating budget? How much goes for building materials for

938
01:02:32.519 --> 01:02:36.760
this activity? Just look and just consider what one individual

939
01:02:36.920 --> 01:02:39.599
with a microphone sitting in a room with a laptop,

940
01:02:39.960 --> 01:02:43.960
how much content they can produce versus what the church

941
01:02:44.039 --> 01:02:46.239
is producing for the money that We've talked about this

942
01:02:46.360 --> 01:02:51.159
so much, and it's ridiculous. Many churches have a budget

943
01:02:51.159 --> 01:02:56.000
of like a million dollars a year. Even if you

944
01:02:56.039 --> 01:02:59.800
go with a five hundred thousand dollars a year budget,

945
01:03:00.199 --> 01:03:04.239
do you know what one individual with a microphone and

946
01:03:04.320 --> 01:03:08.960
a laptop could produce for five hundred thousand dollars in

947
01:03:09.000 --> 01:03:17.119
a year. For five hundred thousand dollars in a year,

948
01:03:17.360 --> 01:03:20.119
ladies and gentlemen, I'll give you eight hours a day

949
01:03:20.719 --> 01:03:25.440
of content. I'll broadcast. I'll broadcast eight hours for five

950
01:03:25.559 --> 01:03:31.760
hundred thousand dollars. I will broadcast eight hours Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

951
01:03:31.880 --> 01:03:34.679
I won't even take a stinking For five hundred thousand

952
01:03:34.719 --> 01:03:37.800
dollars a year, I'll broadcast so much that you call

953
01:03:37.960 --> 01:03:42.039
me begging me to stop. For five hundred thousand dollars

954
01:03:42.079 --> 01:03:44.239
a year, I'll drive to your house like door dash

955
01:03:44.280 --> 01:03:52.719
and preach the sermon on your front doorstep. Look how

956
01:03:52.760 --> 01:03:55.480
much money it takes to operate a church, and look

957
01:03:55.519 --> 01:04:03.000
at what you get. Hey, uttered down, politically correct or

958
01:04:03.199 --> 01:04:07.199
church correct sermon. You gotta color within the line. Don't

959
01:04:07.199 --> 01:04:09.800
offend that person, don't offend. Don't say this because you're

960
01:04:09.760 --> 01:04:12.159
gonna take them off and they're gonna leave, and they're gonna. Oh,

961
01:04:12.199 --> 01:04:14.000
I gotta make sure we do that because we got Oh,

962
01:04:14.039 --> 01:04:15.800
we gotta make sure we bring Now, we gotta talk up.

963
01:04:15.840 --> 01:04:18.679
We're gonna we're gonna disguise it as evangelism. We need

964
01:04:18.719 --> 01:04:20.800
to win people to Christ. Oh, we know, you need

965
01:04:20.880 --> 01:04:22.760
more people to come into the building so we can

966
01:04:22.840 --> 01:04:35.840
keep paying these bills. That's what we need. I think

967
01:04:35.920 --> 01:04:38.760
churches were hesitant because they they got to maintain the

968
01:04:38.800 --> 01:04:42.400
status quo. We we don't want to do too much

969
01:04:42.440 --> 01:04:45.400
outside of the church. But there's always been people that have.

970
01:04:50.280 --> 01:04:52.519
So I asked Ai. I said, okay, so what's the

971
01:04:52.559 --> 01:04:59.159
conclusion here? So those were AI's predictions. We need either

972
01:04:59.199 --> 01:05:02.119
we will see an increase in hybrid faith practices or

973
01:05:02.239 --> 01:05:04.760
that's what we need to do. We're going to see

974
01:05:04.800 --> 01:05:08.119
a growth of digital spiritual communities. We're going to see

975
01:05:08.239 --> 01:05:11.320
more and more people form communities online, not inside an

976
01:05:11.320 --> 01:05:14.519
institutionalized building. We're going to see an increased demand for

977
01:05:14.599 --> 01:05:19.480
people wanting philological content. We're going to see probably more polarization,

978
01:05:19.719 --> 01:05:26.559
more disunity, more division, and a more diverse philological concepts arising.

979
01:05:27.599 --> 01:05:30.480
And we do see the possible opportunities for churches to

980
01:05:30.519 --> 01:05:32.519
do something about this, but I feel like church is

981
01:05:32.559 --> 01:05:35.199
so far behind now that you know they're going to

982
01:05:35.239 --> 01:05:36.920
come up with something that's going to be like, what

983
01:05:36.960 --> 01:05:39.159
are you talking about? We did that twenty years ago?

984
01:05:39.239 --> 01:05:43.760
But all right, So then I said, okay, AI, give

985
01:05:43.800 --> 01:05:47.480
me the conclusion. Here was the conclusion. I quote, the

986
01:05:47.519 --> 01:05:50.320
future of religion in America appears to be moving towards

987
01:05:50.320 --> 01:05:55.880
a more individualized, digital, and decentralized model. While traditional church

988
01:05:55.880 --> 01:06:01.079
attendance may decline, people are not necessarily abandoning faith. Instead,

989
01:06:01.119 --> 01:06:05.519
they're reimagining how they engage with spirituality, using modern tools

990
01:06:05.559 --> 01:06:10.760
like podcast and personal Bible study to navigate their religious journey.

991
01:06:10.880 --> 01:06:15.320
Institutions that adapt to these changes may find opportunities for

992
01:06:15.480 --> 01:06:21.920
renewed relevance and growth. And this is why I would

993
01:06:21.920 --> 01:06:29.840
tell the sermon audio. You gotta be the podcasting hub.

994
01:06:30.679 --> 01:06:32.840
You've got to come up with all the tools that

995
01:06:33.000 --> 01:06:38.960
all the good podcasting apps have, notifications, this, all the

996
01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:42.599
different things that you've got to be creating. And now

997
01:06:42.599 --> 01:06:45.880
they're doing that with the collections. I think that's good these,

998
01:06:45.960 --> 01:06:50.239
you know, putting together content so that people can find it.

999
01:06:53.000 --> 01:06:56.480
I do think they need to change their sermon audio radio.

1000
01:06:56.519 --> 01:07:01.039
I still think they need like a host there guiding people. Hey,

1001
01:07:01.639 --> 01:07:03.679
the next five sermons are going to be dealing with

1002
01:07:04.199 --> 01:07:06.880
this subject, and the next two sermons are going to

1003
01:07:06.920 --> 01:07:15.519
be dealing with this and guiding people through it. Curated content,

1004
01:07:17.280 --> 01:07:20.159
helping people find it and discover it. Not just say hey,

1005
01:07:20.159 --> 01:07:22.280
we've got a billion sermons available. Now you've got to

1006
01:07:22.320 --> 01:07:25.159
go find them, help them discover people are looking for

1007
01:07:25.199 --> 01:07:27.880
the content. You're going to make it easy and accessible.

1008
01:07:30.559 --> 01:07:35.000
Create play like the collections, create basically playlist, curated playlist.

1009
01:07:35.119 --> 01:07:37.599
Here's five sermons on this, here's ten sermons on this,

1010
01:07:38.400 --> 01:07:42.519
here's twin and let it be known that we're offering

1011
01:07:42.559 --> 01:07:46.840
these and they may come from diverse different perspectives, and

1012
01:07:46.880 --> 01:07:54.480
I think that's what people want. Oh, there we go,

1013
01:07:57.000 --> 01:07:59.000
looking at the present trying to figure out the future.

1014
01:08:03.480 --> 01:08:08.320
Bible sells way up, Golden age of Bible publishing, Church

1015
01:08:08.360 --> 01:08:15.480
attendance going down, podcast religious podcasts listening way up. Something's happening.

1016
01:08:16.039 --> 01:08:18.239
What do you think it is? Thank you for listening. Everyone,

1017
01:08:18.319 --> 01:08:23.199
have a great day. God bless