0:01

Well, hello everybody listening

0:03

to their to their 1517 podcasts.

0:05

Your feed has been

0:07

hijacked. is not is not

0:09

your regularly scheduled podcast, which

0:12

no matter which one

0:14

you're listening to to.

0:16

week. This is a

0:18

special giving episode, generosity

0:20

episode recorded by by myself, director

0:22

of the 1517 podcast network

0:24

with some guests from

0:26

across our podcast. podcast. network,

0:29

including Chad Chad Bird. How you

0:31

doing, Chad? Good, good. Good to

0:33

be be here. And is with

0:36

us. us? up? up? And our and

0:38

our executive director, Scott Keith.

0:40

How you How you I'm good. I'm good.

0:42

I am am the only person

0:44

here without an an podcast

0:46

on the network on the network.

0:49

You guys all know the all know the Bible.

0:51

And I'm not quite sure not

0:53

quite sure what I know. I'm a

0:55

student, I study under Dan. Are

0:58

you of a out here Dan? you

1:00

the New Testament? New Testament. Dan. Damn

1:02

nice. We go. So,

1:04

but today is Cyber Monday

1:06

to give people people. look

1:09

inside look here is tomorrow

1:11

is the day that

1:13

you can cleanse all

1:15

of your shopping Black Friday

1:17

aggression, your Cyber Monday, gluttony, and

1:20

you can cleanse all that

1:22

and you can cleanse

1:24

all that by giving

1:26

your money to various

1:28

charities tomorrow on a new

1:30

Thanksgiving extension called Giving which 1517

1:32

has used as part of the

1:34

end of your giving campaign, mean,

1:37

I mean, I think years. I six

1:39

years. Oh, think been doing been doing it

1:41

longer than that. We've just been

1:43

more successful at it for. six

1:46

years. it for six six

1:48

years. six hopped on

1:50

this on this giving Tuesday Tuesday because

1:53

it is a time when

1:55

people are it about giving when

1:57

people are thinking aspect aspect

1:59

is a. it or leave it,

2:01

but certainly the end of the

2:04

year is when philanthropy increases, people

2:06

have to sort out their taxes

2:08

before the new year rolls over

2:10

and any of that implication. And

2:13

so we hop along that. But

2:15

outside of this sort of secular,

2:17

I'm going to say, cleansing that

2:20

people do to do this, whether

2:22

it's for your taxes or to

2:24

counter act, act, your selfish spending.

2:26

Giving is an essential part of

2:29

what keeps non-profits like 15, 17

2:31

going, and more historically for the

2:33

church has always been a big

2:35

piece of how churches stay open.

2:38

Churches. and the gospel are not

2:40

a product that can be put

2:42

on a shelf and purchased and

2:44

marketed or it's not part of

2:47

the free market. The gospel isn't

2:49

part of the free market, they

2:51

would say. And so it's always

2:53

had to be supported by those

2:56

hearers and receivers of the gospel.

2:58

We have stories. throughout the New

3:00

Testament of this, through with the

3:03

apostles and with Paul, of people's

3:05

ministry having to be supported, or

3:07

churches having to come together to

3:09

fund various things, or even support

3:12

one another, and things like that,

3:14

members and body of the church.

3:16

But this is extremely important to

3:18

an American Christianity, because there is

3:21

no state support for religion, and

3:23

that's probably more and more common

3:25

across the world, especially for Orthodox

3:27

Christianity. And so it's an essential

3:30

piece of every Christian ministry, any

3:32

Christian ministry that you as a

3:34

listener have been a part of,

3:36

whether that's your church or other

3:39

sort of extra things like 1517.

3:41

Those have been supported by donors

3:43

by people who have benefited by

3:46

that in order to keep it

3:48

going. And so 1517 is in

3:50

need of your support this Tuesday.

3:52

This is Giving Tuesday. We have

3:55

a $150,000 match today, and then

3:57

we have another $300,000 goal after

3:59

today. into the end of the

4:01

year. And so if you have

4:04

benefited from, I do ask that

4:06

you consider giving today and then

4:08

sort of enjoy some more of

4:10

this conversation as we move forward.

4:13

So I guess the question is,

4:15

that kind of hits in my

4:17

mind when an organization that is

4:19

so focused on

4:22

the freedom of the gospel and the

4:24

free nature of the gospel and earning

4:26

is then you sort of ask people

4:28

to give now to do something or

4:31

to sort of earn or to merit

4:33

1517's existence maybe. I just got your

4:35

phrase that. How do you how do

4:38

you you know like balance that this

4:40

is a free product and that it's

4:42

something that you're not really it's the

4:44

gospel it's not a product that we

4:47

are putting up for sale in order

4:49

to all profit off of but then

4:51

we still have to ask people for

4:54

money what's the sort of balance there

4:56

or what's the goal? Well, we could,

4:58

the funny thing is that I think

5:00

we produce products that are quality enough

5:03

that we could sort of maybe go

5:05

down the road of either model of

5:07

saying, okay, we have certain things that

5:09

we produce, say like the academies or

5:12

even certain of the the podcast that

5:14

you could, you could do on a

5:16

subscriber model and you know who we

5:19

don't really we don't we didn't really

5:21

build 1517 on that model so we

5:23

don't know exactly what kind of support

5:25

we could get that way but from

5:28

the beginning we've tried not to do

5:30

that because we know that we want

5:32

this message of the gospel to go

5:35

out to so to as many people

5:37

as possible which would be part of

5:39

our old mission statement and not all

5:41

of those people can afford to support

5:44

it. Or at least they can't afford

5:46

to support at a level which would

5:48

keep it keep the organization going in

5:50

a way that it can do what

5:53

it's doing and So the model has

5:55

always been to do everything we can

5:57

for free with the exception of the

6:01

and the books, do everything that

6:03

we can for free, and then

6:05

ask those who do have the

6:07

means to support the mission and

6:09

the ministry to do so financially.

6:11

This sort of allows those that

6:13

can help to various degrees and

6:16

some people can help a little

6:18

and some people can help a

6:20

very lot. But some people can't

6:22

really help much, you know, they

6:24

can't give that much at all,

6:26

but it still gives them access

6:29

to the resources and to the

6:31

message of the gospel through 15-17's

6:33

ministries. Yeah, I

6:35

think it's safe to say that

6:37

this stuff, everything has to be

6:40

paid for, one way or another.

6:42

And so since the goal is

6:44

to never have money or what

6:46

place you're in, or what part

6:48

of the world you're in, in

6:50

the case of 1517, reaching people

6:52

and very impoverished countries and stuff,

6:54

perhaps it really can't. afford to

6:56

support it, we never want to

6:59

have some kind of barrier for

7:01

anyone to hear the gospel. That

7:03

would, I think, would be opposed

7:05

to sort of everything that we

7:07

sort of believe the gospel is.

7:09

However, it's not the amount of

7:11

materials that 1517 produced. There's no

7:13

way for this to be sort

7:15

of done on a strictly like

7:18

volunteer basis or anything like that.

7:20

You have a lot of people

7:22

having to put in a lot

7:24

of work to create these things.

7:26

The things themselves cost money to

7:28

make and then people devoting, you

7:30

know, a lot of full-time. jobs

7:32

to doing these things. And so

7:35

you're stuck in this situation where

7:37

like, of course it'd be great

7:39

if it was just all free

7:41

to produce and free to consume,

7:43

but it's not free to produce.

7:45

It is free to consume. And

7:47

that's the way we decided to

7:49

do it, because that is what

7:51

is in. I think with what

7:54

we believe about the gospel and

7:56

so what you're basically doing is

7:58

you're coming to this like very

8:00

honestly and practically and just saying

8:02

that there are bills that have

8:04

to be paid there are bills

8:06

that are due that that sort

8:08

of thing and and since we

8:11

don't sell anything and even the

8:13

things that we do sell we

8:15

take a loss on I mean

8:17

you might be Scott said you

8:19

know Hey, you know, you go

8:21

to a conference, it costs you

8:23

a little bit, you buy a

8:25

book who costs you a little

8:27

bit, I'd like to tell you

8:30

that neither of those things make

8:32

us any money. Oh yeah, I

8:34

shouldn't have implied that. Like,

8:36

we take a loss on both

8:38

of those things. And so that's

8:40

why our books are cheap and

8:42

why conference tickets are cheap. And

8:44

there's nothing that we do that

8:46

make a profit. And so this

8:48

means that we rely on people

8:50

being generous and saying, I think

8:52

that what you're doing should continue

8:55

to be done. I think it's

8:57

valuable. I think it needs. to

8:59

be in the world and that

9:01

if you're one of those people

9:03

who think that, you are able

9:05

to support it, then we would

9:07

ask that you do that for

9:09

the sake of us being able

9:11

to continue to do it, for

9:13

the sake of people all over

9:15

the world being able to hear

9:17

it, read it, consume it. all

9:19

of those reasons and this is

9:21

this is not a foreign concept

9:23

I don't think to anyone when

9:25

you just get real real practical

9:27

with it in the in the

9:29

scriptures you have this like ministry

9:31

has to be supported but then

9:33

also in your everyday lives you

9:35

you know what this is like

9:37

15-17 gets bills the way that

9:39

anyone else gets bills and there

9:41

you know none of these none

9:43

of the the tools that we

9:46

use to to produce this of

9:48

none of those people are donating

9:50

their services they're not They're not

9:52

saying, oh, you don't need to

9:54

pay bills like everyone else because

9:56

you're doing gospel work. They don't

9:58

do that at all. And so

10:00

we need support. And so we're

10:02

very, very grateful, of course, to

10:04

those who do. and have done

10:06

that over the years, and they

10:08

have been doing that over the

10:10

years, and we ask that you

10:12

would please continue to do that.

10:14

And I don't know if you

10:16

know, but this has also been

10:18

a rough time for non-profits, because,

10:20

you know, economically, things have not

10:22

been great. Even things like inflation,

10:24

inflation affects 15-17, the way it

10:26

affects everyone else. So yeah, it's

10:28

a very practical thing where you

10:30

say... I'd affect us a little

10:32

more because of scale. Not like...

10:34

Yeah. It affects you more personally

10:37

because you're talking about buying food

10:39

and for your family and stuff

10:41

like that. So I don't mean

10:43

to apply qualitatively. I mean, quantitatively,

10:45

the scale is bigger and so

10:47

we really do feel it in

10:49

multiple areas. Yeah. So it's kind

10:51

of simple like that, I think,

10:53

where you're like, hey, why does

10:55

1517 need a support? It's real

10:57

practical. If you sit down and

10:59

think about it for a second.

11:02

just a few days ago is

11:04

having a conversation with a couple

11:06

of guys who are supporters of

11:09

1517 and they they experience frustration

11:11

simply because they're they're always looking

11:13

for for organizations to support and

11:15

the same time they expressed gratitude

11:17

because they had found 1517 and

11:19

the reason they were they were

11:21

happy that they'd found us and

11:23

could support us is because well

11:26

I mean we all know this

11:28

that you know the most important

11:30

things in life are as Christians

11:32

we know are the gospel and

11:34

the grace and the forgiveness we

11:36

have in Christ and so to

11:38

be able to support that which

11:40

is not really a product but

11:43

a gift is something they were

11:45

they were excited about so anything

11:47

that we can do to to

11:49

further that as individuals or as

11:51

the organization or people that support

11:53

us we're furthering that which is

11:55

of ultimate importance. I just think.

11:57

know, once you get what the

12:00

gospel truly is and the free

12:02

gift that we have there, then

12:04

it's definitely worth supporting, not only

12:06

so that you can continue to

12:08

hear it, but so that others

12:10

can continue to hear it as

12:12

well. And yeah, thanks to God

12:14

for the donors we have and

12:17

for anyone else who wants to

12:19

join up and help us to

12:21

continue to do that. Yeah,

12:24

as an organization, it means that,

12:26

you know, like people probably sometimes

12:28

wonder, and I think giving them

12:30

as much of an inside look

12:32

as you can is beneficial to,

12:34

you know, what does the money

12:36

go to? Well, like any organization,

12:39

you have to have funds in

12:41

order to have employees. And so

12:43

for us, there's a very vocational

12:45

aspect of this, which is in

12:47

some ways that is going to

12:49

pay people for that labor that

12:51

they do and that it is

12:53

valuable that if you enjoy things

12:55

like the podcast or the videos

12:58

or the conference or you've read

13:00

a book or you've shared this,

13:02

that there is not just a

13:04

person, but a very serious handful

13:06

of people behind that who make

13:08

that possible at all. And you

13:10

want them and their family to

13:12

be taken care of so that

13:14

they can be set aside to

13:17

do this work, right? So that's

13:19

the kind of thing here is,

13:21

you know, could you do some

13:23

of what 1517 does at a

13:25

smaller scale with all volunteers? Well,

13:27

sure, I mean, a lot of

13:29

us did start podcasts unpaid or

13:31

something like this, right? But what

13:34

you do at a scale that

13:36

reaches more people that has a

13:38

certain level of quality is you

13:40

then have to say, we're going

13:42

to set people apart to do

13:44

this. We're going to set them

13:46

to the side to do this.

13:48

And so that's what 1517 in

13:50

many ways is. We're an organization

13:53

where think tank. who has people

13:55

that we set aside to create

13:57

this content. And so part of

13:59

that is to take care of

14:01

them. And then another is you

14:03

need funds. hand and on deck

14:05

in order to be creative and

14:07

to keep doing what you're doing,

14:10

right? So part of it is

14:12

you keep things like 40 minutes

14:14

thinking fellows going as they are

14:16

because it's sort of fundamental and

14:18

it's part of people's days and

14:20

week and things like that. But

14:22

you also want to take those

14:24

people that you've set aside who

14:26

are creative who are well read

14:29

who are smart who have these

14:31

various talents that make the organization

14:33

and give them the freedom to

14:35

do more to create a new

14:37

product to find another way or

14:39

another audience for proclaiming the gospel

14:41

to and so as we come

14:43

into 2025, I can think of

14:46

several new ways where it's taking

14:48

things that we already do and

14:50

we're looking to expand that or

14:52

there have been good ideas from

14:54

these staff, these people set aside

14:56

to proclaim a gospel here at

14:58

1517. And that requires funding in

15:00

order to see those visions come

15:02

to life, to see new audiences

15:05

be approached. And so, for instance,

15:07

if you're listening to this podcast,

15:09

a big push for 2025 and

15:11

for the fundraising we will do

15:13

next year is to move more

15:15

content onto video. specifically existing podcast

15:17

content because there's a whole audience

15:19

over there who has been discovering

15:21

podcasts purely through the algorithms and

15:24

the discovery methods that are available

15:26

on video and we think we

15:28

should be a part of that

15:30

and that the the content that

15:32

1517 has should get thrown in

15:34

front of that audience as well

15:36

and so there's there's going to

15:38

be a push to do that

15:41

and there's going to be a

15:43

push to reach other audiences through

15:45

new formats. And so part of

15:47

it allows us as an organization

15:49

to stay nimble as well. The

15:51

continual need, I've had people ask

15:53

who don't always understand the giving

15:55

model, why is there a continual

15:57

need? for giving. When will you

16:00

guys, when do you stop asking

16:02

for money? And it's, if this

16:04

organization is going to continue to

16:06

be nimble, to continue to create

16:08

new content, or continue to have

16:10

people who are set apart to

16:12

do this, it is perpetual in

16:14

the sense that until our doors,

16:17

our theoretical doors close, this can't

16:19

be done without financial support. Yeah,

16:21

and I think one of the

16:23

things you said there at Caleb

16:25

too is important that I know

16:28

a lot of people connect to

16:30

1517 in different ways and maybe

16:32

even through different people. So like

16:34

I know I've had this happen

16:36

where people have asked, you know,

16:38

well how can I support you?

16:40

I'm sure Chad's had that or

16:42

Scott's had that. And the answer

16:44

is always the same, where you

16:46

support 1517, and that's how you

16:48

support me, because whatever it is

16:50

that I'm doing or Chad's doing

16:52

or Scott or you are doing,

16:54

is we can't do by ourselves.

16:56

And so when you support 1517,

16:58

you do then support the thing

17:00

that is the foundation that all

17:02

this stuff is built on, right?

17:04

And so. You know, if you

17:07

want to support, if there's any

17:09

particular thing that you just love

17:11

about 1517, you're like, I want

17:13

to give to that. I would

17:15

encourage you just to give to

17:17

1517 because there's probably a lot

17:19

more that goes into that, a

17:21

lot more people involved in that

17:23

thing than you would think, and

17:25

that's what makes that thing accessible

17:27

to you in great. And so

17:29

the answer to whatever. Like I

17:31

love Chad Bird or I love

17:33

Scott Keith. I really want to

17:35

make sure that he's, you know,

17:37

got his electric bill paid. I

17:39

don't want him to freeze the

17:41

death this winter. Well, then support

17:44

15 is that ends checks to

17:46

Piobot. And this is support 1517.

17:48

That's how that works, man. That's

17:50

how that works. If you don't

17:52

like me, but you love my

17:54

kid, you need to send me

17:56

money. You know, because that's how

17:58

it is. 1517 is the in

18:00

that analogy and they're going to

18:02

make sure that the rest of

18:04

that stuff is taken care of.

18:07

And so whatever thing it is,

18:09

did you love about 1517, the

18:11

way to support that thing is

18:13

to support 1517? I was thinking

18:15

too as you were talking a

18:17

little bit. People I think a

18:19

lot of people don't really know

18:21

sort of the behind the scenes,

18:23

how many people work for 1517,

18:25

you know, what it takes to

18:27

do things. I think they see,

18:29

you know, the faces on YouTube,

18:31

they hear the voices on podcast

18:33

and kind of don't really even

18:35

understand like even on the blog

18:37

side what it takes as far

18:39

as number of contributors to get

18:41

the number of articles that we

18:43

have every week and a number

18:45

of eyes on those articles to

18:47

make sure that you know their

18:49

best that they can be and

18:51

the art that goes into it

18:53

and you know what goes into

18:55

making sure that it can be

18:57

heard as well as read and

18:59

you take that and you extrapolate

19:01

it out to everything. You know

19:03

it ends up being a lot

19:05

of people a lot of whom

19:07

aren't the ones that you hear

19:09

are the ones that you ever

19:11

see really, including people doing graphic

19:13

design and videography or photography and

19:15

somebody to manage those people. And

19:17

even at that, I'd say we

19:20

have a very low administrative overhead

19:22

for an organization of our size.

19:24

I think it's, the latest number,

19:26

I think it's down around like

19:28

12% of the overall budget, maybe

19:30

as high as 13 or 14.

19:32

of the overall budget. I don't

19:34

remember Erica's thing that she just

19:36

did on the donor thing, but

19:38

it was very low compared to

19:40

other non-profits. And part of that's

19:42

because a couple of our top

19:44

level administrators don't just do administration.

19:46

They do other things too. I'm

19:48

the executive director, but I host

19:50

three podcasts currently and write articles

19:52

and try to write books and

19:54

actively speak. do those kind of

19:56

things too, as well as Dan.

19:58

We only have one person, sort

20:00

of on the administrative side, that

20:02

really doesn't do that much, but

20:04

he also manages, like the marketing

20:06

department. And it's even funny to

20:08

call that marketing, because we're not

20:10

selling stuff. We're kind of marketing

20:12

the gospel. And so what their

20:14

job is is to find people

20:16

who haven't heard this message of

20:18

the gospel yet and try to

20:20

get them to come to one

20:22

of the 15-17 resources to hear

20:24

the gospel. It's not like we're

20:26

marketing is a weird phrase for

20:28

them because it's not like we're

20:31

making cars and we're like having

20:33

them make commercials so that we

20:35

can sell more cars. You're out

20:37

here marketing free stuff? Yeah, well

20:39

we're marketing a message. Yeah, that's

20:41

one of the things that makes

20:43

it kind of strange to raise

20:45

money sometimes too. I would say

20:47

that it's, I guess, I've never

20:49

done it, but I would suppose

20:51

it's easier to raise money for

20:53

sort of digging wells and poor

20:55

portions of the world or like...

20:57

you know, cleaning up the environment

20:59

or something like that, that seems

21:01

a little more tangible, a little

21:03

more hands-on than what we do,

21:05

because what we are, we're a

21:07

message. And then at the end

21:09

of the day, that's what we

21:11

are. That's, and we're the message

21:13

of the gospel. And so on

21:15

the marketing side, we try to

21:17

find people who haven't heard the

21:19

gospel on sort of the video

21:21

production side. We try to make

21:23

it so that the videos are

21:25

good enough that they're not distracting

21:27

from the message of the gospel

21:29

that you're not going. Oh, I

21:31

can't hear it. I can't see

21:33

it. That background's awful. The thing

21:35

in the corner is really distracting

21:37

me. I wish it wasn't there.

21:39

It's all I can focus on.

21:41

Try to sort of get people

21:44

that are good at that so

21:46

that none of that none of

21:48

that exists. Sometimes when I talk

21:50

to people and I say thought

21:52

goes into every detail of that,

21:54

or at least we try to,

21:56

they're kind of blown away. I

21:58

remember a conversation I had years

22:00

ago with our creative director, who

22:02

was one of our first sort

22:04

of outside the original founding group

22:06

employees that we about books and

22:08

how important it was that that

22:10

I thought how important it was

22:12

that our books not just from

22:14

the theological or the message side

22:16

all you know we're pointing in

22:18

the same direction that defense and

22:20

proclamation of the gospel But that

22:22

even down to the way they

22:24

were presented visually and the way

22:26

that the type setting and the

22:28

print was easy to follow so

22:30

that it wasn't distracting, we had

22:32

conversations about all of this. And

22:34

then when you try to enact

22:36

that, that all takes people. which

22:38

means you're sort of supporting people,

22:40

which weighs on my mind all

22:42

the time, and then that requires

22:44

raising money essentially so that those

22:46

people can do their work. And

22:48

what you, the part of that

22:50

that people see, you know, it's

22:52

like is what Chad does. when

22:55

he gets on camera and does

22:57

and hosts one of his many

22:59

projects or writes a book, that's

23:01

the part that people see, but

23:03

they don't see all the stuff

23:05

kind of behind that. Even the

23:07

people that like help edit the

23:09

little video shorts and stuff like

23:11

that. Yeah, I

23:13

was going to say, I mean,

23:15

just take that one example. I

23:17

have daily videos that come out,

23:19

but I'm just recording the videos.

23:21

I'm not editing the videos. I'm

23:23

not posting the videos. Although that's

23:26

taken care of by two of

23:28

our other employees. And same with

23:30

the other podcast. I mean, just

23:32

what I do, my online activity,

23:34

there's half a dozen to ten

23:36

people who are behind the scenes

23:38

working on these various aspects of

23:40

just what I do that make

23:42

it, make it all possible. I

23:45

think it's worth mentioning too, I

23:47

mean the impact that this is,

23:49

that this is having, that people

23:51

don't always realize. And we had

23:53

a message of the day from

23:55

a guy overseas who had been

23:57

an atheist for years, but had

23:59

begun to listen to one of

24:01

our podcast. And the next thing

24:04

you know, I think much to

24:06

his chagrée. he was actually reading

24:08

the Bible and was considering going

24:10

back to church. And all of

24:12

this is possible only because of

24:14

the podcast, but the podcast is

24:16

only possible not just because of

24:18

those who were on it, but

24:21

everybody behind the scenes, the entire

24:23

organization. And that's just one example

24:25

among countless examples of people who

24:27

are in the church that are

24:29

benefiting from it, people who are

24:31

kind of, you know, maybe on

24:33

the edge, who are benefiting from

24:35

it, as well as those who

24:37

were trapped in the darkness of

24:40

atheism, who are here in the

24:42

gospel and being brought over into

24:44

the faith. So the impact is

24:46

definitely there, and it's not just

24:48

in the United States, it's worldwide.

24:50

Yeah, well, Scott, you were talking

24:52

about maybe a little easier to

24:54

ask for support for something tangible

24:56

and proclamation isn't tangible until it

24:59

is, until you have a conversation

25:01

with a person and you realize

25:03

what has happened through the proclamation.

25:05

And we have loads and loads

25:07

of those stories. And so the

25:09

actual act of like we're going

25:11

to proclaim this message out maybe

25:13

is not as tangible as some

25:16

other things, but when you see

25:18

people come to faith, when you

25:20

see people come back to the

25:22

church and stuff, that stuff is

25:24

very tangible. It's very flesh and

25:26

blood. And I can assure you

25:28

that that is happening. over and

25:30

over and over again through the

25:32

work of 1517 in the most

25:35

tangible way, where it's actual people.

25:37

Yeah, I mean, we, you know,

25:39

it's definitely one of the goals

25:41

of, you know, to give people

25:43

some insight to, we've been using

25:45

new technology recently to record the

25:47

bypass. It's something that costs more

25:49

money than the previous method that

25:51

we used every year. But it's

25:54

something also that we've now been

25:56

able to use to... sessions with

25:58

donors and that we can do

26:00

with to touch people or to

26:02

capture some of these stories right

26:04

so we will hear anecdotes of

26:06

this and I do think it'd

26:08

be good for more of the

26:10

supporters more of the listeners the

26:13

podcast to be able to have

26:15

access to this too because you

26:17

know we we get to hear

26:19

about whole families for instance that

26:21

get baptized after being exposed to

26:23

the gospel and then finding a

26:25

church finding a home where the

26:27

gospel is preached regularly to them

26:30

and they can receive the sacraments

26:32

and then bringing their, you know,

26:34

bringing their whole families to the

26:36

faith. And that's a, that's as

26:38

a tale as old as the

26:40

church, right? That is a huge

26:42

portion of the epistles and the

26:44

story of the post-resirection church is

26:46

the gospel going and bringing people

26:49

to be baptized, bringing people into

26:51

the church to where Christ is

26:53

promised to be present. And I

26:55

think, you know, we get to

26:57

see that that truly does happen.

26:59

And so coming into 2025, more

27:01

of you will get to hear

27:03

some of those stories, I think,

27:05

as well, too, in our effort

27:08

to show that it is tangible,

27:10

that it is flesh and blood.

27:12

And the same thing goes for

27:14

marketing, too. I get, you know,

27:16

maybe there's concerns about spending money

27:18

on marketing, but when you're doing

27:20

this content, right, one of the

27:22

benefits of of us not being

27:25

a brick and mortar church building,

27:27

right, is that the audience to

27:29

whom we can try to capture

27:31

and bring in to hear that

27:33

message is wide. And you make

27:35

things look good, not... Because you

27:37

have pride in the message because

27:39

the gospel deserves to look good

27:41

because like Chad said it's it's

27:44

the thing of first importance and

27:46

so I think there's a aspect

27:48

in which honoring that message with

27:50

doing your best work is necessary

27:52

but also because that's how you

27:54

find that next audience is to

27:56

make it something worth clicking on,

27:58

to have titles or topics that

28:00

are interesting and are interesting to

28:03

more than just Christians. Like you

28:05

said, Chad, there's somebody who these

28:07

titles are intriguing enough to get

28:09

somebody who's been out of the

28:11

faith for years to at least

28:13

give it a go and see

28:15

what it is. And so it's

28:17

just continuing to do that, I

28:20

think, is what some of the

28:22

support causes, that we are always

28:24

searching for that next audience, for

28:26

that next group of people who

28:28

are in need of the word,

28:30

and there's a lot of work

28:32

that goes into that, and we're

28:34

thankful to be freed up to

28:36

do that, because I think that's...

28:39

For me, the huge part of

28:41

this is when people give, they

28:43

are freeing other people up to

28:45

do that. So, you know, giving

28:47

comes from your own sort of

28:49

sweat and blood at work, right?

28:51

The money doesn't just pop up

28:53

out of the ether. This is

28:55

people sacrificing a portion of their

28:58

time and effort every year, stuff

29:00

that like Dan said when the

29:02

economy is hard, it's probably a

29:04

tough decision to make because I

29:06

know that each and every one

29:08

of your families could... Use it

29:10

in another way. And when you

29:12

do that, I'm thankful, and I'm

29:15

sure all of us here at

29:17

1517 are thankful, because it goes

29:19

to free somebody up to a

29:21

different labor, which is the labor

29:23

of getting this message of the

29:25

gospel out to as many people

29:27

as possible. Yeah. So

29:29

people want to jump on board,

29:31

Caleb, what have they got to

29:33

do? 1517.org/donate. Our giving page today,

29:35

this is Giving Tuesday, if you're

29:37

listening to the day that we

29:40

hijacked the feeds, has been taken

29:42

over by that. So your gift,

29:44

if you give today, will be

29:46

matched, which is always a great

29:48

thing. It's sort of a double

29:50

effect of giving, and I think

29:52

a very timely thing for people,

29:54

too, who are considering giving at

29:56

the end of the year. And

29:58

then if you are listening. this

30:00

a little bit later, do not

30:02

fret. We have a campaign that

30:04

is going through the end of

30:06

the year. We do have that

30:08

is a real need to raise

30:10

another $300,000 after Giving Tuesday through

30:12

the end of December. And so

30:14

if you missed Giving Tuesday, you

30:16

can still donate. Again, that's 1517.org/Donate.

30:18

And there are links in the

30:20

show notes, which is the description

30:22

of this episode there. You can

30:25

also, if you just want to

30:27

make your way to 1517, there's

30:29

a donate button there. Like I

30:31

said, those pages will be kind

30:33

of taken over and look different

30:35

than they do normally through the

30:37

year. There's a bit of a

30:39

progress bar that you can keep

30:41

track of to there as we

30:43

tidy things up. And yeah, we

30:45

appreciate your consideration and your support.

30:48

Awesome. Yeah, get out there and do

30:50

it, guys. Let's get it funded. Well,

30:52

let me just say this. If you

30:54

haven't donated before, we'd really like to

30:57

ask you to consider donating now. There's

30:59

really not a better time with the

31:01

matching gift portion of that. If you

31:03

are a current donor, I think it's

31:05

important for us to ask if you

31:08

could prayerfully consider to advance in your

31:10

ability to give to see if you

31:12

can increase that donation this year or

31:14

next year. to be honest with you.

31:17

That's one of the things that we'll

31:19

be sending people out to discuss with

31:21

donors in 2025, and maybe consider that,

31:23

if you really benefit from what we

31:25

do, or if you'd like to see

31:28

what we do in the proclamation of

31:30

the gospel through the Ministry of 1517,

31:32

reach people who maybe can't afford to

31:34

do that, think about helping in that

31:36

way too. There's also people on

31:38

staff now who are available to talk to you

31:41

if you have questions about giving, if there is

31:43

a particular interest or project that you would like

31:45

to support or you think needs support or you

31:47

have questions about why it needs support and things

31:49

like that. So we now have that you can

31:51

reach out to us via the contact page. at

31:53

1517, so it's just at the just

31:55

at the bottom footer of

31:57

every web page. And

31:59

if you have questions about

32:01

giving, there are people

32:04

who are happy to to talk

32:06

to you to you about

32:08

our need and about what

32:10

happens with your gifts. All

32:15

right, guys. Well, thank you for

32:17

listening to this to episode of of

32:19

your favorite podcast is. I think

32:21

we hit at least at least third

32:23

of the shows on the network

32:26

with the various hosts. is good. If you

32:28

enjoyed is good. If you enjoyed

32:30

this episode and maybe these aren't

32:32

your usual hosts, maybe consider subscribing

32:34

to some more shows on the 1517

32:36

network. You You can go to 1517

32:38

.org slash podcasts see all of those

32:40

shows that we produce and that

32:42

we partner with. Thank you

32:44

for listening. Enjoy your

32:46

next episode. We'll catch you

32:48

next time. Bye. Bye.