April 22, 2025

Why You Hear Ads

Why You Hear Ads

A discussion about ads on my podcast.

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A discussion about ads on my podcast.

WEBVTT

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Good afternoon everyone. It is Tuesday, April the twenty second,

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twenty twenty five. It is currently one six pm Central time,

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and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central

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studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, for many

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of you, whenever you hit play on an episode of

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the Theology Central podcast, you hear something like this.

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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.

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However, others of you, here's something like this.

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Baseball isn't just a game, it's a lifestyle. At Baseball

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Lifestyle one oh one, we bring the passion of the

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game to everything we do. From gear that reps your

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love for baseball to content that connects you to the culture.

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We've got you covered and now you can find Baseball

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Lifestyle one on one at Academy Sports and Outdoors, shot

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the latest baseball inspired apparel and accessories, and take your

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love for the game to the next level. Visit your

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local Academy store or check.

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Us out online. Now, why does some of you just

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hear my intro and some of you hear ads, Well,

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it all depends on which podcast feed you are listening from.

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If you're listening from our podcast feed that originates from Speaker,

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our podcast hosting site, there are ads at the beginning

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and at the end of every single episode. If you're

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listening to the podcast feed that comes from Sermon Audio,

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there are no ads at the beginning or the end,

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two completely separate podcast feeds. I do that for the

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specific reason of giving people an option. Now, in some

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ways I probably should not do that, but I do that,

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and because I know some people don't like the ads,

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So why are the ads there. We're going to talk

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about it because it seems that we have a little

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bit of well not a controversy, but something that gets

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brought up numerous numerous times. So here's what we're going

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to do today. Today, I'm going to do my very

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best to not get I'm not going to be giving

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you any teaching. I'm not going to be giving you

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any exposition of scripture. I'm not going to be giving

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you a little any theology. I'm going to try to

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give you a bit of behind the scenes conversation. Maybe

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we'll call this a family talk if you will allow that, okay,

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because I want to talk openly. I want to be

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honest about why you sometimes hear ads I want to

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talk about the cost of producing this podcast, and well,

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you can decide if you want to be a part,

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how what you're thinking, how you feel about it, what

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you can do not do, and and I'm going to

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try to once again try to explain how I've done

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everything in my power to try to consistently make the

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Theology Central podcast as freely accessible to as many people

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as possible. I've done everything in my power. So I've

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just mentioned the two platforms, So let me talk about

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the two approaches. All right, Theology Central, I'm going to

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be I'm going to be more specific here. Theology Central

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is hosted on two different platforms. As I mentioned, Number

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one is Speaker. This is our main platform. It's where

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most of our episodes are published first. It's also monetized,

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which means there are ads at the beginning and the

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end of an episode. All right, that's our main podcast

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hosting side. We've been with Speaker now forever. They are there.

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I mean all the podcasting feeds. You go to any

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podcasting app, Podbean, Apple Podcasts, podcet cast, you go to

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any podcast app, you will see that feed because it's

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been there forever. They have been there. They used to

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allow us to the option of broadcasting live through their platform.

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They went away from the live broadcasting, but they're still

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our main podcast hosting site. To get rid of that

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feed would save us money, but then it just wipes

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out all of the I mean, all those podcasting apps.

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That's the feed that that's been there forever. I mean,

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do you really want to mess with that when that's

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the number one way you've built your audience. Now, the

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second platform is Sermon Audio. This serves as our secondary host.

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It's where the podcast is available ad free. It's where

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we broadcast live from. Well, it makes our content available

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on their website, on the Sermon Audio app, and through

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the Church one app. Those are the two different platforms,

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two different approaches. Now, what some people may not understand

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is this, I do not control what ads are played

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on their speaker platform. I don't select them, I do

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not approve them. I do not get to reject them.

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They're inserted by speaker. Now, some listeners have reached out

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with concerns either one. Here's basically the way I will

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get I'll get an email saying I don't like ads.

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Why you got ads in front of your content. They're irritating,

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and I just skip them anyway, and I just fast

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forward there. Get rid of the ads. I don't want

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to listen to ads when I listen to a podcast,

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get rid of them. Some of them will be just

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very aggressive and kind of just tew me off. Then

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I'll get the others who will be bothered by the

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content of the ad and they will feel that it's

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not appropriate or that they feel like it should not

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be a part of an ad for a theology podcast.

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And I do understand those concerns, and some of those

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people they tend to reach out in many cases in

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a very I think it a very careful way. They're

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not mean, they're not nass. The In fact, the one

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I just received just the other day as a voicemail,

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they were very kind. They were just letting me know that, hey,

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you this, I don't really know if this is appropriate.

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You need to know about this. They were very nice.

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So I get some that are very rude and aggressive,

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some that are well meaning. And I understand people don't

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want to hear ads, and I understand people if they

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do hear ads, they want the ads to be oh

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well appropriate, and so I understand that and I understand

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that some of the ads may feel jarring, some may

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not align with the content that I'm covering, and I

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wish in some ways I could fix that. I wish

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I could. But here's what people tend to forget. Right.

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You know that there's a cost in doing all of this,

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So why do I even have the ads at all? Because,

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and I say this, and I'm trying to be as

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transparent as possible, it costs me over one hundred dollars

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a month just to keep Theology Central up and running.

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Over one hundred dollars a month hosting fees for spreaker

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and sermon audio website domain the domain names cost money,

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just anything that we have to do to keep things going,

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trying to all the different things app integrations, storage and streaming,

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recording software and hardware upkeep. And that does not include

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the cost in my time and my energy and the

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emotional labor. There's no team here in the Theology Central studio.

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I'm not outsourcing anything. I don't recycle content. I've got

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almost four thousand episodes available and I've in all of it,

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for the most part, has been researched, put together, written, recorded, published,

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Everything by one person. That's me the end. There's no team,

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there's nobody else. Now. The ads on Spreaker they bring

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in a whopping amount. They bring in between fifteen dollars

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and forty dollars a month. We've never received a payment

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above reaching fifty dollars. So it's somewhere between fifteen and

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forty dollars a month. Now, that's not a lot. That

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doesn't even cover the total cost. So this is why

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that's and I hope you understand that. That's why I'm

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asking for some sense of understanding. If you hear an

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ad and feel its intrusive or inappropriate, I get it,

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I really do. But I also to help you, I'm

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asking you to possibly see it, maybe as a small

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trade off that helps me keep doing what I'm doing.

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I'm just trying to pay I'm not making any money

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for all of this time and all of this effort.

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I'm not getting a dime. Any money that comes in

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goes right back to trying to just pay for things.

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I'm just trying to pay for things, all right, That's

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all I'm trying to do. So maybe you don't perceive

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what I do is worth very much. And I can

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understand that right. I mean, look, you're you're the listener.

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You just open an app and you just hit play,

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and then you like it or don't like it. You

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just go to the next thing. You just go to

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the next thing. And look, this is not even about me.

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I see this if you go to the Spotify community

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and look at the posts that are being made, if

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you go to the Pandora community and look at posts

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to be made, it is a common thing. I don't

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want ads on my podcast. Remove the ads. I don't

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want stinking ads on my podcast. I just want to

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hear the pot. Remove the ads, and everyone will yell

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and scream, and I just want to say, people, what

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do you want the podcasters to do? What? What do

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people want the pot? Everybody wants the podcaster to sit

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here produce hour after hour after hour after content. And

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we're not supposed to get paid. We're not supposed to

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make any money. We're just supposed to be everyone's beacons

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call to give and whatever they want, and nobody has

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to pay for it. And it sometimes it can become maddening,

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like I don't know what people want me to do.

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So let's just talk about value, all right. Over four

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thousand episodes are available to you four thousand. That's in

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many cases it amounts to dozens of hours each week

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of work. I try to go as in depth as

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I can. It's still philological teaching. I'm challenging mainstream ideas.

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I try to do hermeneutics, exegesus, church, church history. I

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try to do interesting things current events. I mean, if

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Theology Centric was just a course at a seminary, you'd

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be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars. But my goal

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has always been to make deep, honest, challenging theology accessible

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without a paywall and without having to compromise. Right. So

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that's where I don't want some sponsor because they would

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get mad at me in five seconds. Well you can't

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say this, and you can't say that. And I mean,

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I always have to be careful that I'm not gonna

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say anything that's gonna get me thrown off the sermon

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audio platform or banned from YouTube. I always have to

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worry about, oh, now this is gonna Oh I'm gonna

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get in trouble here. I'm gonna get in trouble here.

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But I've never pushed for a Patreon page where I'm like, hey,

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if you subscribe to Patreon and you give me this

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much money, you can ask me a question, or you could.

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You can send me up a pod an episode I did,

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and I'll do an episode on that. No, I've never

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put anything behind a paywall, all right. I try never

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to demand donations. I don't. I try not to bother

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you with that. I try not to ask too much.

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But I'm not going I'm you know, I'm not gonna pretend.

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It takes a toll after a while, financially, emotionally, spiritually.

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It's just like, you know, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce, produce. Hey,

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you haven't done an episode in three days? Hey, hey, produce, produce, produce, produce.

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I want more. I want more. I want more, I

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want more. I want more. Well, I understand, and that's awesome,

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that's great, But it's like, man, when more money goes

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when if I'm basically paying to broadcast, I'm paying. I'm

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not making money. I'm paying money to broadcast. So you know,

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here's the best I can offer. If you don't like

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the ads, you don't like them, hey, you know what,

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please consider the ad free content. How can you do that?

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I don't know which podcast app you may be using.

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Look up Theology Central. It's very simple. You're gonna see

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two different feeds. One has the green background with the

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white lettering the Bible in the middle. It says Theology Central.

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There's no breading on it. It's just says Theology Central.

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That's coming from Speaker that will have the ads. If

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you look at the other feed, it's a black background,

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green lettering. There's a microphone, and you'll see the branding

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across it. It says sermon Audio that comes from the

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Sermon Audio feed. No ads, no commercials. You have nothing

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to worry about at all. Nothing. You can avoid the

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ads perfectly. You can download the Church one app free

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Church on E Church O n E. The app is

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free for you. Cost US sixty dollars a month for

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you to have that, but it's free for you. Do

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you can get all the episodes, no commercials, no ads,

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not monetized, and you're free from that. You won't hear

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any ads that you do not like. All right, So

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if you're listening on Speaker or any platform that runs

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the ads, please know these ads are trying to offset

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the cost. And I'm grateful with your patients for them.

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I am, I am ground, but I you know, like

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like I said, I I'm giving you two options. I'm

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giving you two options. That's the best I can do.

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I don't know what else I can do for people.

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And and look, I'm hurting myself. If I just put

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everything under under the spreaker feed, then then either people

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stop listening or they're gonna hear the ads, which then

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would increase the ad revenue. If you break down the numbers,

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you know a lot of people listen via the sermon

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audio feed. All if all those numbers were going to

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the others, I would I could possibly double the ad

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Maybe I could be bringing in eighty dollars or one

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hundred dollars a month. But here's the thing. If you

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at all believe the podcast has value, if you believe

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it's helped you, even even if it's just helped you

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a little bit, if you believe it's challenged you a

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little bit, even if it's ticked you off little bit,

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if it's taught you even one little thing, you could

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consider supporting it, right, I mean, just think if it's

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just had twenty listeners, just twenty people giving ten dollars

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a month, if I had twenty people, like if I

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got today twenty people, not people who already support, But

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if I had twenty additional people who just gave ten

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dollars a month, that's it, twenty dollars ten dollars a month.

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Twenty people ten dollars a month, and the current people

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would continue to support because some of the current people

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are very faithful to do that. But if I had

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twenty people at ten dollars a month, I'll get rid

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of the ads today. I'll go to speaker right now

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and turn them off right now. I'll say no longer

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monetize my But I would need that twenty people ten

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dollars a month to not show up once every six months,

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but be every single month. I'll get rid of the

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ads and you'll never hear another ad ever again, ever again.

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And twenty dollars twenty people at ten dollars a month

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pretty much will get us added to what people are

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already giving, what we would be doing pretty well. But

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I can't even get twenty people to give me ten

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dollars a month. I can't even get that. But then

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I get complaints about the ads. Well, I don't know,

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nobody wants to give, but nobody wants the ad. I

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don't understand what I'm supposed to do. This podcast has

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existed for one thing, to challenge people to try to

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provide in depth teaching, historical teaching, philological analysis, discussion. It

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tries to be real, it tries to be raw, tries

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it's not professional. It's supposed to be that way, right.

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I mean, even just doing this episode, the intro was

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all messed up by I had to start it over

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three times because I kept messing it up because I

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was trying to do a little I was trying to

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be creative and how I did the intro right? Instead

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of coming in with my normal intro, I would I

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would do it a little differently. I'm always trying to

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come up with new ideas, trying to be creative. Work work, work, work,

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work right. You know. I just put together an entire

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book on Isaiah forty two. I made it available for

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everyone for free. Oh it's not perfect, it needs to

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be edited, but I made that free for everyone. I've

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tried to do the interesting discussion about Salem. I've tried

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to do all of these things, and it's work, work, work, work.

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Is it perfect?

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No?

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Do I make mistakes. Yes, Do I mispronounce things constantly?

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Do I mess up subject verb agreement all the time.

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It's not perfect, but it's designed to be very real.

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Rale.

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I'm just a center with a microphone trying to figure

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this out. And I produce lots of content, lots of content,

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and I don't ever want to charge, and I don't

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ever and I'm never gonna put anything behind a paywall.

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So you know, I don't know what else to say.

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You don't have to give a dime, and that's perfectly okay.

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And you can listen on the Sermon Audio platform and

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it's free. You can download an app. The app for

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you is free. You can go to Theology. I don't

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remember the solo site. There's a solo site from Sermon Audio.

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I don't have the web address. Oh we also have

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I forgot. We also have the Theology Central Study Bible,

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the Electronic Study Bible that you can download as well.

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And we had to pay money for that to be

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made available to people. I mean, I'm constant. We've always

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trying to give things to people. I just don't and listen.

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This is not about the voicemail, because the voicemail was

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very nice This is just about the totality of this discussion,

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because it's more than a one time thing ninety percent

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of the time, and just like whatever, whatever, whatever. I

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just don't know what people want. I just don't know

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what people want. They want the content, they don't want

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to pay for the content, they don't want to support

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the content, but they don't want ads on the content,

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or they will criticize. Oh. I've even had some really

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nasty emails. Oh you say this, and you say this.

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All you do is just try to make money. I

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heard the commercials, and so then I get attacked and

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it's used against me, where my own spirituality, my own

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motives will be called into question because I have ads.

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So I'm either a greedy sinner because I have ads,

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or like I cannot win. It's either used against me.

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It's either criticized either people are bothered by it. So

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here's what people actually want. They want me to sit

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right here in this room an hour after hour after

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hour after hour produce the content they want that they

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lie and they want it for free. I I'll do

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my best, That's all I can say. I mean, I think,

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I mean, for almost four thousand hours of content, you

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never had to pay for a dime of it. We

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tried to make digital curriculum free for everyone. Finally we

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ran out of money. We couldn't do that anymore. I

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used to. I've tried to do a book giveaways, giving

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away dictionaries and reference tools. We don't have the money

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to do that anymore. I've tried to do everything in

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my power to give and to give. Am I perfect?

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No?

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Am I a sinner? You don't even know the half

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of it, right, But man, I don't know what people want.

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I just don't know what people I know what they want.

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They want content, they want it free. They don't want

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to be bothered with ads, and they don't want to

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give to support it. So to those criticizing the ads,

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please go to the other option and then you don't

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have to worry about it. To those offended by the ads,

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I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I really am. I don't want

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you to be offended, but I don't what do you?

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I don't know what you want me to do, so

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I can't. There's a no win situation in this, so

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I can ignore it. But then it's like you know,

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you can ignore one, you can ignore two, you can

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ignore three you can, but once you get to like

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ten or fifteen complaints, then you feel like, well, I've

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got to say something now, right, So I apologize to

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anyone who is offended by any ad that's been played

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at the beginning or the end of a Theology Central

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podcast episode. I truly am sorry. I do not control it.

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I don't get any prior Notice what. There are advertisers

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out there who want advertisements on podcasts. They contact podcast

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hosting site and say, hey, we've got we would like

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to do an ad campaign. And then that podcast hosting

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site says, great, we'll take your ad, and then they

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they insert it on the podcast they want to insert

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it on. Do they care what my content is about?

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They don't care. They are wanting the ads listen to.

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That's what the advertisers want. That's how the podcast hosting

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site makes money. How do they make money? Not only

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by charging the podcast podcasters to host on their site,

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but then by selling advertising. Advertisers make money when people

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listen to the advertising and then go support their product.

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It's all. It's all a business. Everything's a business because

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everything requires money. It requires money for me to do

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what I'm doing right now, to be able to broadcast

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live right now, sixty dollars a month, just this now,

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for this to be uploaded on all of those podcasting

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hosting or all the different podcasting apps that cost money

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from spreaker, to be on the Theology Central website that

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costs money, all the different things. Everything, there's a there's

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a dollar amount. So yeah, am I a little frustrated?

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I am a little I'm just I do I do

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it because, man, because what you know what you'll get

385
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you'll get. You get the emails that don't like your episodes.

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You get the emails that people are complaining about the content.

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You get, you get emails from people who don't like

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00:24:00.440 --> 00:24:07.160
the ads. You know what you rarely get. Thank you

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for all the work. Thank you for doing that many

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hours on that content. Thank you. Here's here's five dollars,

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here's ten dollars. Thank you. No, no, no, no, no,

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you don't I'm getting a phone call in the middle

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00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:21.960
say how unprofessional it is. Don't you don't get that?

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You don't get like, hey, I really liked that episode.

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Here's here's ten dollars. Hey I really like this series.

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Here's twenty dollars. Hey, you don't get that and trust me,

397
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I wish if this, if this podcast was kind of

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more connected the way it used to be. It used

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to be basically completely funded by the church. But that

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whole situation of we talked about it in twenty twenty four.

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This is really now just me, myself and I trying

402
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to make this work. And the money still goes to

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the church, but the the money that goes to the church,

404
00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:04.200
then it's immediately taken from the church simply to pay

405
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for this podcast. It's not like the church in and

406
00:25:06.039 --> 00:25:08.720
of itself can pay for the podcast. So the money

407
00:25:08.720 --> 00:25:11.119
that comes in has to immediately come out to just

408
00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.680
pay for the podcast, because I mean, the church, for

409
00:25:15.720 --> 00:25:17.839
all practical purposes, we're just waiting. I mean we're waiting

410
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for the building to sell in it's over. So and

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I've said before once when the church is gone, when

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that ends, and it may be the end of this podcast,

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it really it may be, because I'm not going to

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be in a situation where I'm gonna beag and plead

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for money week after week after week, and I'm not

416
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gonna sit here and go into financial debt simply to

417
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try to broadcast hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds

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and thousands of hours of content for people who could

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care less. I mean, like, that's just the bottom line.

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So I know it sounds I'm not trying to be harsh,

421
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but I'm just trying to be very transparent and very real.

422
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So to those who complain, I'm sorry. But as as

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long as the podcast exis, you have an option. And

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I've how many for those who listen to this podcast.

425
00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:07.720
How many times have I mentioned the Church One App?

426
00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:11.480
How many we spend an entire year telling everyone about

427
00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:14.039
the Sermon's two point oh app, the Sermon audio app.

428
00:26:14.279 --> 00:26:16.400
I've done everything in my power to point people to

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00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:19.359
the free option. I've spent more time trying to get

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00:26:19.359 --> 00:26:24.960
people to go to the free option. So download the

431
00:26:25.160 --> 00:26:28.880
Church One app today, Church O n E. Once you

432
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:32.400
download it, type in Theology Central. There you have it,

433
00:26:32.720 --> 00:26:35.400
all the content free, and you can listen to me

434
00:26:35.440 --> 00:26:38.039
when I'm live. You'll never have to worry about another

435
00:26:38.039 --> 00:26:42.160
commercial ever, ever again, ever, ever again. As long as

436
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:44.839
the podcast exists, I can't guarantee you how long it's

437
00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:47.799
going to exist. I've told everyone. I don't know the when,

438
00:26:48.079 --> 00:26:49.839
I don't know the where, but one day you're going

439
00:26:49.880 --> 00:26:51.599
to open up your app, and it's not going to

440
00:26:51.680 --> 00:26:54.000
be there anymore. And because I'm going to delete it

441
00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:57.079
all without any goodbye, and it's just going to be gone.

442
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I don't know when that's going to happen, but when

443
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it does, it'll be over and then I can move on.

444
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But in the meantime, I'm going to continue to produce

445
00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:08.920
content and the same way that I have, being raw, real,

446
00:27:09.880 --> 00:27:14.240
not sugarcoating it, not trying to win, win over people

447
00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:18.599
and influence people and make friends, and whatever happens happens.

448
00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:21.880
But we had to address this today, and I apologize

449
00:27:22.079 --> 00:27:27.279
that you can hear my frustration. I just man, I

450
00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:31.319
just don't I just don't know. I can get the complaints,

451
00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:34.759
I can't get the support. I don't want the ads,

452
00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:37.319
but I'm not offering to help you get rid of

453
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the ads. And again, I'll say it again. If twenty

454
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people today, twenty people would say, Okay, I'll give you

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ten dollars a month, no questions asked, every single month.

456
00:27:44.920 --> 00:27:48.200
Ten It won't be maybe i'll give it, maybe I won't.

457
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You'll get the ten dollars every month I'll get I'm

458
00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:53.279
literally I'll get rid of the ads. They'll be gone.

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They'll be gone in the next hour. They'll be gone

460
00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:58.359
in the next as soon as speaker can turn them off.

461
00:28:00.160 --> 00:28:02.440
Be done. And then we don't ever have to work.

462
00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:04.559
And then you can listen on all the platforms to

463
00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:07.400
your heart's content for free. But you already have the

464
00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:17.640
free option. I don't know now, and trust me, if

465
00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:19.240
if if if, if, if I don't, I don't play

466
00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:21.160
the lottery. But if I was to win the lottery,

467
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:23.440
or if I was just to if I was just

468
00:28:23.440 --> 00:28:26.200
to get I've always said before, if I could get,

469
00:28:26.240 --> 00:28:27.759
if if I was just to get a check for

470
00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:30.640
like two hundred thousand dollars, right, I'd pay off my house,

471
00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:34.119
do some some repairs around the house, do some things.

472
00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:36.400
Uh oh, probably get a car, because you know my

473
00:28:36.440 --> 00:28:38.720
car is going to die at any point. Okay, I'd

474
00:28:38.759 --> 00:28:40.920
pay off my house, get a car, and then then

475
00:28:40.960 --> 00:28:42.759
I then the rest of the money I could just

476
00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.039
support the podcast, and I'd be said, so, you know,

477
00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:47.680
if someone was to send me two hundred thousand dollars,

478
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:49.880
then you never have to worry about it ever again. Okay,

479
00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:52.359
my house is paid for, I get a car, and

480
00:28:52.799 --> 00:28:55.720
the podcast would be free from that point on. Two

481
00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:58.640
hundred thousand dollars. You could take care of everything, my house,

482
00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:01.559
a new car, and the podcast for life. So has

483
00:29:01.599 --> 00:29:03.920
anybody got two hundred thousand dollars? And you'll never have

484
00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:07.480
to work hear another ad ever again, ever again. You

485
00:29:07.480 --> 00:29:09.839
won't even have to ever hear money mentioned ever again,

486
00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:12.160
just for a low, low price of two. Okay, Yeah,

487
00:29:12.200 --> 00:29:17.079
nobody's gonna send me two hundred thousand dollars. Okay, so so,

488
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:19.720
but I'll do my best. I'll do my best. You

489
00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:23.000
have the free option. Please take the free option. I'm

490
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:26.039
sorry the ads are bothersome. I'm sorry the ad and

491
00:29:26.119 --> 00:29:30.039
I am truly sorry that they offend, but I have

492
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:35.519
no control. Thanks for listening. Next time we'll get back

493
00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:40.880
to doing what I do fairly well, which is take

494
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:47.079
people off on other subjects. Have a good day.