Beyond a Billion: Reaching the Ends of the Earth

February 20, 2026 | 56:44

Be part of history! Join millions worldwide for Beyond a Billion—celebrating one billion installs of the YouVersion Family of Bible Apps and the unstoppable power of God’s Word. His Word never fails. His Word never changes.

#Bible #Technology #PersonalStory #Testimony #Culture #MattCrouch #LaurieCrouch #BobbyGruenewald

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| Beyond a Billion: Reaching the Ends of the Earth | February 20, 2026

Coming up tonight on entrees.
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It is 1,000% something that god has done.
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I often tell people
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If you used a group of people
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From silicon valley to create the bible app,
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People would have said, that makes sense.
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But the fact that he used a church in oklahoma
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To do it is, i think, for one important purpose.
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And that is it doesn't make sense.
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Praise comes to you today
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With the word billion in it for some reason.
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Not just a billion, but beyond a billion.
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Our guest, bobby grunwald,
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All one, our.
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I want you to kind of look, at this,
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And then we're going to unpack a story for you
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That you're not going to want to miss.
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Watch this.
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All of us are here together to celebrate the word of god.
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It's not just pages in pixels.
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It's a person that we're celebrating tonight.
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His name is jesus.
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To a priest.
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Come on. is anybody thankful for jesus?
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This is the word of god.
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This unshakable,
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Unmovable, unbreakable sounding doctrine for us.
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He reaches the world.
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And yet he still chases after the one.
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And by the unmerited favor of.
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God, you're made right with god by the grace of god.
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When we get to heaven, we're. going to be worshiping.
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We're going to be falling more in love with our creator.
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This is the day that the lord has made,
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And i'm grateful to be alive and living in it.
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Come on.
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There is nothing
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More important on the earth, and the word of god.
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And everything we do is designed to help people
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Read, understand and love the bible.
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And that's what we're celebrating today.
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This word, once again, is going to go forth into this
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Next generation.
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Bobby grunwald,
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My app,
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The youversion, was open today when i just kind of got on set
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And i opened it up.
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It was opened up to psalm 110 and,
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I learned something through your app that i believe.
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I hope it's accurate.
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That psalm 110 is the most quoted
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Psalm of the new testament.
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How do i know that?
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Because i have a bible on my phone
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And it is called youversion and bobby, you're,
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Man, we, we have to unpack a story here.
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We just saw the finish line beyond a billion.
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There is, the the body of christ is connected globally through
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Something that really needs a really good set up.
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Can you take us back all the way back
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In the wayback machine and give us kind of a barbecue?
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What? how far back do you want me to go?
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Well, i don't need you in toddler in diapers, but,
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But let's start.
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Let's start kind of where you and technology
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Maybe started emerging.
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Kind of an interesting story. yeah.
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As you were sitting in the back of a car dealership,
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Somewhere in illinois.
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Yeah.
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Well, it was actually, it was in oklahoma,
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But when i, when i, went to college
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And i live in oklahoma
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Today, and i grew up in illinois,
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But moved to oklahoma for college.
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And while i was in college, i needed a job to make,
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That money really is what i needed.
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So it was, $6 an hour, and i
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Was working in the back office of a local car dealership, and
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I was really bored.
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It was one of these jobs
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We'd get done
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With everything that you needed to do
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And then just have nothing to do.
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So i started listening in to conversations
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That were happening in the back of the car dealership.
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And one day this group from california came in.
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It was in 1995, okay.
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And they came in proposing
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To build a website for the car dealership.
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In 95 and.
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95, which was pretty early.
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And and i don't i think they wanted $2,200.
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I was kind of listening to the conversation
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Plus some monthly amount, and it was like a template website.
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You know, all the car dealers
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Are going to have a similar type website,
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And i don't know if the owner was going to go for it or not.
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But i walked up to him after the meeting and i just said, mr.
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Bailey, if it's if you'll let me build
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A website for you, i'll do it for $100.
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And he just like looked at me like, sure.
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Well, the problem
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Was, is i actually had no idea how to build a website.
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I just, i just wanted the challenge.
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I wanted the challenge of it. yeah.
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But in fact, back then, in 95,
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There were not books on how to build websites.
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There were not even websites on how to build websites.
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Days of maybe aol
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And yeah, what what are the basic.
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Aol existed and then you had.
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Myspace? no, not.
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Long before that.
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Yeah.
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No, i think it was before the netscape browser.
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The netscape browser was like
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One of the first browsers everybody knew about.
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This was like before that there was something.
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Yeah, it was really early on.
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And and so i didn't i mean, i'd love a challenge,
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But i went in around our dorm and i found a couple of guys
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That were sort of
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In the internet underground and talked to them about,
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You know, like, how do you build a website?
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And so they gave me
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And gave me some instructions, and i worked on it,
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Came back to the to mr.
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Bailey and said, here's the website.
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And he liked it,
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But i said, i don't think you're going
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To sell cars in 1995 on the internet.
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I do think you could sell parts and accessories.
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And i knew the margins that they had were huge.
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And so i said, why don't we just create a website?
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And we called it honda parts.com,
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And we sold honda car parts out of the back of this
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Car dealership.
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And within a few months, they were selling hundreds
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Of thousands of dollars and car parts and accessories.
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I was still getting paid $6 an hour.
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Oh no.
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But but loved it though, because i
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Actually had a challenge and it was a fun job.
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And then one day, mr.
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Bailey calls me into his office,
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And he was a christian businessman.
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And i remember sitting across the desk from.
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Because i was a bit intimidated.
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I'd not been summoned to the office before,
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So i didn't know if i was in trouble or what.
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And he said, what do you plan on doing in life?
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And before i could even answer, he said, whatever it is
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That you're going to do, i want to invest in it.
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My goodness.
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And it was just one of these moments.
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I've had him,
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You know, a handful of times in my life
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Where you just recognize
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That god's doing something completely unexpected.
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And, i didn't know what to say.
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I told him
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I would think about it and i would then pray about it.
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And i prayed about it.
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I was like, god, is this one of those opportunities?
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Am i supposed to step into this? i was a finance major.
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I was planning on
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On doing investment banking or financial planning
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Or something in that whole space.
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I never thought about being an entrepreneur.
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I never had a model of it in my life.
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My parents weren't entrepreneurs, didn't have any
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Uncles or anybody that were entrepreneurs.
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So but he saw something in me that i didn't
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Know was in me and i felt like was god's direction.
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So i put together a business plan,
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Created what's called a web hosting company.
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In the process of building the website for him,
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I realized you have to have
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Places to servers
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To put these on and, host the website on the internet.
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So i thought, people are going to need web hosting.
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And there were very few
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Companies in the world focused on web hosting.
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I think we were one of the first 20 in the world.
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And, so mr.
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Bailey is our first investor.
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He had another friend that was also an investor,
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And we were full time college students.
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We still had no idea what we were doing.
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I brought a few friends in with me into it, and it was,
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24 over seven operation clients and we had 33 countries.
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It grew really fast,
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And we were providing tech support to japan
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In the middle of the night and just all kinds of chaos.
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And a lot of fun and a lot of learning, you know, from it.
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But that was the first business we sold that,
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That would have been in 98 when we sold it
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And started another company
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That acquired, the largest professional wrestling website.
00:08:01.604 --> 00:08:05.241
Okay.
00:08:05.474 --> 00:08:06.842
Which is where we became friends.
00:08:06.842 --> 00:08:09.211
I used to shoot all the commercials for hulk
00:08:09.211 --> 00:08:12.114
Hogan and mr.
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T for wrestlemania back in the day.
00:08:12.915 --> 00:08:16.052
And so you were involved in wrestling in a strange way.
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Briefly. briefly.
00:08:20.756 --> 00:08:22.124
Yeah, it was 98 till the end of 99 or early 2000.
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And i thought, you know, god's given me favor in this space.
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Like i have the ability.
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I didn't even know that i had the ability.
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I had the ability to start companies sell companies,
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Grow, even grow companies in the middle of that.
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And, and i thought, this must be what i'm designed to do.
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And maybe my contribution to the kingdom
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Is to be to finance ministry
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Or to be a financial contributor,
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That maybe that's what god designed me to do,
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Which is really bizarre,
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Since i didn't grow up in a family
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That had those kind of resources
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And and i didn't think that way.
00:08:56.359 --> 00:08:58.928
But god had a different plan for me because,
00:08:58.928 --> 00:09:01.731
In the middle of that
00:09:01.731 --> 00:09:03.032
Second company, my wife and i started
00:09:03.032 --> 00:09:04.900
Attending a church called life church.
00:09:04.900 --> 00:09:06.602
Craig, rochelle, craig and amy rochelle started it.
00:09:06.602 --> 00:09:09.405
It was, just a small new church, but growing really quickly.
00:09:09.405 --> 00:09:13.476
And, today it's a multi-site church in many states.
00:09:13.476 --> 00:09:16.912
But at that time, it was just one location.
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Fell in love.
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We fell in love with the church on the first day.
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Wanted to get involved.
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I, i,
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We joined a small group in the small group
00:09:25.321 --> 00:09:27.456
Was the worship leader for the church,
00:09:27.456 --> 00:09:29.025
And he found out that i played keyboard,
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Back from, from a previous experience i had in the past.
00:09:31.694 --> 00:09:35.898
Okay, okay.
00:09:35.898 --> 00:09:37.266
You got to slow down right there.
00:09:37.266 --> 00:09:39.201
Okay.
00:09:39.201 --> 00:09:41.437
Hit lori with
00:09:41.437 --> 00:09:44.807
The thing that you hit me with earlier,
00:09:44.807 --> 00:09:47.977
That you were doing kind of during college.
00:09:48.911 --> 00:09:52.248
Okay. it was right.
00:09:52.248 --> 00:09:53.416
It was high school ready, never going to high school.
00:09:53.416 --> 00:09:55.951
I, when i got saved, was right before high school,
00:09:55.951 --> 00:10:00.022
And i wanted to reach my friends.
00:10:00.022 --> 00:10:02.692
And so i thought, none of my friends
00:10:02.692 --> 00:10:04.827
Are going to listen to me tell them about jesus.
00:10:04.827 --> 00:10:07.296
But all of my friends listened to rap music,
00:10:07.296 --> 00:10:10.433
So i thought i should write a rap song
00:10:10.433 --> 00:10:13.269
To try to reach my friends. and.
00:10:13.269 --> 00:10:15.504
And then i became mc.
00:10:15.504 --> 00:10:17.073
I became a christian rapper for the next five years and so.
00:10:17.073 --> 00:10:21.711
Oh, you're.
00:10:21.711 --> 00:10:22.545
Oh, you're trying to. yeah.
00:10:22.545 --> 00:10:23.879
Hit it with music. okay, here we go.
00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:25.915
Okay, let's let's let's let's let's hear it.
00:10:26.816 --> 00:10:29.919
Hit it with a little song.
00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:31.053
Oh, you want me to be over there right now?
00:10:31.053 --> 00:10:33.189
Yeah.
00:10:33.189 --> 00:10:35.524
This is pretty slow.
00:10:35.524 --> 00:10:36.659
Go over.
00:10:36.659 --> 00:10:39.028
Oh, give me a minute.
00:10:39.028 --> 00:10:40.763
And i'll move.
00:10:40.763 --> 00:10:41.497
I'll try to go. this is, let's.
00:10:41.497 --> 00:10:43.866
All right, here we go.
00:10:43.866 --> 00:10:45.801
Well, i'm not on a mission.
00:10:45.801 --> 00:10:47.503
The crust, the oceans of sudden,
00:10:47.503 --> 00:10:49.371
The world around me see my devotion to christ.
00:10:49.371 --> 00:10:52.274
You see, it's not what. i say.
00:10:52.274 --> 00:10:54.677
But it's how i walk and live my life every day.
00:10:54.677 --> 00:10:57.346
Because i'm on a mission in my fields right here.
00:10:57.346 --> 00:11:00.249
Spiderman.
00:11:00.249 --> 00:11:00.950
The truth to your ear. saddam.
00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:03.452
Just to all the words.
00:11:03.452 --> 00:11:05.221
But listen to my heart,
00:11:05.221 --> 00:11:07.223
Because we've got to start showing the hope of the love
00:11:07.223 --> 00:11:10.159
Of jesus christ by each and every day with me.
00:11:10.159 --> 00:11:13.162
Love.
00:11:13.162 --> 00:11:14.430
And i, like so many people, is searching for the truth, but
00:11:14.430 --> 00:11:16.499
They never find it cause we had inside of us.
00:11:16.499 --> 00:11:19.668
It's time to let your light shine out.
00:11:19.668 --> 00:11:22.471
Because it's the love of jesus christ that it's all about.
00:11:22.471 --> 00:11:25.307
So now if you've gone dim, it's time to get bright.
00:11:25.307 --> 00:11:28.244
Because whoever finds god in you finds life.
00:11:28.244 --> 00:11:32.014
And can you kind of do the pose at the end?
00:11:32.948 --> 00:11:35.518
That kind of the. yeah, a little bit of the hit.
00:11:35.518 --> 00:11:38.254
First of all, that that song is way faster than that.
00:11:38.254 --> 00:11:40.556
Normally it's,
00:11:40.556 --> 00:11:41.757
Well, we've
00:11:41.757 --> 00:11:42.691
We knew you were a little older though,
00:11:42.691 --> 00:11:43.959
So you needed to kind of slow it down and kind of
00:11:43.959 --> 00:11:46.629
So the audience could understand the word.
00:11:46.629 --> 00:11:49.231
Yeah. good answer. yeah. there you go.
00:11:49.231 --> 00:11:51.367
You should be able to understand all those words.
00:11:51.367 --> 00:11:53.269
That's the world right. away here on youtube right now.
00:11:53.269 --> 00:11:55.671
And this viral clip is going viral right now. perfect.
00:11:55.671 --> 00:11:58.607
Perfect. yeah. love it.
00:11:58.607 --> 00:11:59.909
So pick up the story
00:11:59.909 --> 00:12:01.610
After wrapping and the entire crew career was.
00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:05.548
A bit of a distraction, but no, the,
00:12:05.548 --> 00:12:08.617
Yes, i, i played keyboard and one of my musical talents.
00:12:08.617 --> 00:12:13.088
So the they said, could you play keyboard
00:12:13.088 --> 00:12:15.157
On the worship team at the church?
00:12:15.157 --> 00:12:16.559
And, and so i said, sure.
00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:18.060
And, and our church was growing.
00:12:18.060 --> 00:12:20.529
We ended up having
00:12:20.529 --> 00:12:21.697
Two saturday night services for sunday morning services.
00:12:21.697 --> 00:12:25.534
So six times a weekend i would play keyboard
00:12:25.534 --> 00:12:29.071
On the worship team
00:12:29.071 --> 00:12:30.539
And loved it like i was serving at the church.
00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:33.209
I mean, as full time entrepreneur,
00:12:33.209 --> 00:12:35.311
As you know, being an entrepreneur
00:12:35.311 --> 00:12:36.512
Is not a not an easy task and it's a lot of hours.
00:12:36.512 --> 00:12:40.149
But then it didn't bother me on the weekend.
00:12:40.149 --> 00:12:41.817
I would just come in
00:12:41.817 --> 00:12:42.785
And just observe the church the entire time.
00:12:42.785 --> 00:12:45.120
So we fast forward and we we sell the company.
00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:48.724
Later that year, after we had we had joined the church.
00:12:48.724 --> 00:12:51.293
And and we're talking
00:12:51.293 --> 00:12:52.394
That was a sizable company and that was a sizable sale.
00:12:52.394 --> 00:12:55.631
And that made the newspaper headlines.
00:12:55.631 --> 00:12:58.300
And i mean, as a.
00:12:58.300 --> 00:12:59.335
It had me on the front page of the paper
00:12:59.335 --> 00:13:01.804
And it was, you know,
00:13:01.804 --> 00:13:03.772
A multimillion dollar sale of this company.
00:13:03.772 --> 00:13:07.042
And so, the executive pastor at the church,
00:13:07.042 --> 00:13:10.412
His name is jerry hurley,
00:13:10.412 --> 00:13:12.114
Still still one of the leaders there at the church.
00:13:12.114 --> 00:13:14.516
He reached out to me and or first of all,
00:13:14.516 --> 00:13:16.485
He saw the article and he said, isn't
00:13:16.485 --> 00:13:18.120
That the guy that plays keyboard on the worship team?
00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:21.390
Because. wait a second.
00:13:21.390 --> 00:13:23.859
Because, i never talked
00:13:24.393 --> 00:13:26.462
About what i did in business at church.
00:13:26.462 --> 00:13:28.597
It just never even crossed my mind.
00:13:28.597 --> 00:13:30.299
It wasn't a point of conversation.
00:13:30.299 --> 00:13:31.967
I was, you know, it's 23 years old, so people probably
00:13:31.967 --> 00:13:35.104
Didn't even think that i did have a business at the time.
00:13:35.104 --> 00:13:38.741
And, yeah, every part of a job maybe.
00:13:38.741 --> 00:13:41.911
So he asked if i would be willing to go to lunch
00:13:41.911 --> 00:13:45.247
With them, and i said, sure.
00:13:45.247 --> 00:13:46.949
So i kind of thought that
00:13:46.949 --> 00:13:49.618
He want to go to lunch to help me calculate
00:13:49.618 --> 00:13:51.287
What 10% was on the number on the number that he saw.
00:13:51.287 --> 00:13:55.324
Yeah, just in case i didn't know.
00:13:55.324 --> 00:13:58.460
And honestly, you know, my wife and i, we've been together,
00:13:58.460 --> 00:14:01.196
And we were we were. that was not a question.
00:14:01.196 --> 00:14:03.198
There's no question about that.
00:14:03.198 --> 00:14:04.934
But instead, that's not actually what i want.
00:14:04.934 --> 00:14:06.502
What do you want to talk about?
00:14:06.502 --> 00:14:07.670
Instead?
00:14:07.670 --> 00:14:08.704
He just said, what do you plan on doing next?
00:14:08.704 --> 00:14:10.406
I said, well, i plan on starting another company.
00:14:10.406 --> 00:14:12.274
I mean, this feels like what god's designed me to do.
00:14:12.274 --> 00:14:14.877
And he said,
00:14:14.877 --> 00:14:16.178
Well, have you ever considered, like what you do in business,
00:14:16.178 --> 00:14:19.248
Like using those gifts and those talents in the church?
00:14:19.248 --> 00:14:23.986
And i was like, no, man, i've never considered it.
00:14:23.986 --> 00:14:26.555
And he was like, well, would you consider it?
00:14:26.555 --> 00:14:28.924
And said, no, because i love my church.
00:14:28.924 --> 00:14:34.163
And i just thought if it became my job, i don't know.
00:14:34.163 --> 00:14:36.665
I don't think it would be the same.
00:14:36.665 --> 00:14:38.467
And also because i just had never connected those two things
00:14:38.467 --> 00:14:42.204
Before, i mean, i
00:14:42.638 --> 00:14:44.473
If anything, i felt like it was a one way street,
00:14:44.473 --> 00:14:46.575
Like i would learn about how to be a better leader
00:14:46.575 --> 00:14:50.279
Or about how to be a better follower of jesus at church.
00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:52.815
And i would then
00:14:52.815 --> 00:14:54.016
Take that into the workplace and hopefully implement that.
00:14:54.016 --> 00:14:57.252
And apply it to how i treat people
00:14:57.252 --> 00:14:59.288
And the team and all those things.
00:14:59.288 --> 00:15:01.190
But i never actually thought that what i was doing
00:15:01.190 --> 00:15:02.992
There would have implication or ministry, you know, use,
00:15:02.992 --> 00:15:07.162
Until that
00:15:07.463 --> 00:15:08.464
Lunch and that lunch connected the dots for me.
00:15:08.464 --> 00:15:11.200
And so i said, well, how about i just volunteer my time
00:15:11.200 --> 00:15:14.069
And help in other ways and even know that there
00:15:14.069 --> 00:15:16.205
Is a place for it?
00:15:16.205 --> 00:15:17.439
And as i begin to do that, it became a ten hour a week,
00:15:17.439 --> 00:15:20.609
20, 30, 40 hour a week volunteer position,
00:15:20.609 --> 00:15:24.580
And about a year later, after doing a few other
00:15:24.580 --> 00:15:27.649
Small things in business, i just became real parents.
00:15:27.649 --> 00:15:30.753
And i was in the shower.
00:15:30.753 --> 00:15:31.553
And i just remember
00:15:31.553 --> 00:15:33.122
I was like, god,
00:15:33.122 --> 00:15:33.956
This is another one of those moments
00:15:33.956 --> 00:15:34.890
For you, for them, something unexpected.
00:15:34.890 --> 00:15:36.592
I just really need to step into it.
00:15:36.592 --> 00:15:39.094
And i felt like god said, yes,
00:15:39.094 --> 00:15:40.763
This is exactly what i want you to do.
00:15:40.763 --> 00:15:43.365
So when i know that god's,
00:15:43.932 --> 00:15:45.367
It's god's direction, i don't have trouble obeying.
00:15:45.367 --> 00:15:48.337
Like, when i know it.
00:15:48.337 --> 00:15:49.571
You know, it's it's usually pretty easy because i've seen.
00:15:49.571 --> 00:15:52.341
And even at that point, i had already seen what he does
00:15:52.341 --> 00:15:54.510
When i step into the things that he, positions me for.
00:15:54.510 --> 00:15:58.313
What hit me like a ton of bricks.
00:15:58.313 --> 00:16:00.382
When we were discussing off camera
00:16:00.382 --> 00:16:04.219
Is there could be a whole bunch of people
00:16:04.219 --> 00:16:07.656
In your old mindset,
00:16:08.090 --> 00:16:11.293
Or even the mindset
00:16:11.293 --> 00:16:12.494
You brought to that lunch with a senior staff member
00:16:12.494 --> 00:16:16.999
Who said, have you ever thought about having your talents work
00:16:16.999 --> 00:16:20.102
Inside the church and flow through and out from the church?
00:16:20.102 --> 00:16:24.540
Well, no, you hadn't.
00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:27.976
Did we not understand the kingdom
00:16:27.976 --> 00:16:30.145
Well enough to understand that the kingdom
00:16:30.145 --> 00:16:32.614
Is really everything, and that we're trying to grow
00:16:32.614 --> 00:16:35.551
The influence of the church inside?
00:16:35.551 --> 00:16:38.487
Have we not had enough teaching?
00:16:39.121 --> 00:16:40.956
What?
00:16:40.956 --> 00:16:42.091
Why do you think you brought that mindset to that meeting
00:16:42.091 --> 00:16:45.794
That now ultimately has completely changed?
00:16:45.794 --> 00:16:48.697
I do think there are a lot of people in business
00:16:48.697 --> 00:16:51.800
That struggle to understand.
00:16:51.800 --> 00:16:54.736
They think that a kingdom impact would come from a vocational
00:16:54.736 --> 00:16:58.140
Ministry role in the church, but they feel like
00:16:58.140 --> 00:17:00.976
That's not designed for them.
00:17:00.976 --> 00:17:02.478
It's not designed for their gifts.
00:17:02.478 --> 00:17:04.713
In my particular case, god did actually lead me
00:17:04.713 --> 00:17:07.049
On to staff at a church.
00:17:07.049 --> 00:17:08.784
So that was the calling, the path he took me on.
00:17:08.784 --> 00:17:10.886
He took me through business to that.
00:17:10.886 --> 00:17:13.789
But i was already contributing those gifts as a volunteer,
00:17:13.789 --> 00:17:17.726
You know, at the church
00:17:17.726 --> 00:17:18.861
Prior to that, that him leading me that direction
00:17:18.861 --> 00:17:21.897
For other people, though,
00:17:21.897 --> 00:17:23.031
I and i know many of my friends that are in business,
00:17:23.031 --> 00:17:25.868
God's called them into a particular place
00:17:25.868 --> 00:17:28.237
In the business world with these unique gifts,
00:17:28.237 --> 00:17:30.739
And they have an opportunity to actually use it
00:17:30.739 --> 00:17:33.442
For kingdom purposes,
00:17:33.442 --> 00:17:35.244
To kind of because that is part of the king.
00:17:35.244 --> 00:17:37.446
They're part of the kingdom. they're not separate from it.
00:17:37.446 --> 00:17:40.149
I think there's an intimidation factor.
00:17:41.016 --> 00:17:42.751
Business leaders have a lot of times
00:17:42.751 --> 00:17:44.153
When it comes to pastors or vocational,
00:17:44.153 --> 00:17:46.889
You know, ministry roles, that they just think that pastors are
00:17:46.889 --> 00:17:50.826
More spiritually intimidating to them sometimes.
00:17:50.826 --> 00:17:53.462
And, and pastors sometimes think to reverse
00:17:53.462 --> 00:17:56.732
And think that business leaders are better leaders and like,
00:17:56.732 --> 00:18:00.402
They're almost be embarrassed to kind of talk about like,
00:18:00.402 --> 00:18:03.005
I feel like inadequate to talk about the things
00:18:03.005 --> 00:18:05.207
They like to talk about because i don't know.
00:18:05.207 --> 00:18:06.942
So sometimes there becomes this,
00:18:06.942 --> 00:18:08.310
Like almost communication barrier.
00:18:08.310 --> 00:18:10.846
That's unnecessary
00:18:10.846 --> 00:18:12.614
Because i think when everybody realizes
00:18:12.614 --> 00:18:14.349
We all play these different parts
00:18:14.349 --> 00:18:16.118
And there's so much that a business leader
00:18:16.118 --> 00:18:17.653
Can contribute to the, the thinking, you know,
00:18:17.653 --> 00:18:20.789
Even behind a church, or there's so many things that
00:18:20.789 --> 00:18:24.193
Can happen in the church that can be, can be,
00:18:24.193 --> 00:18:27.396
That a business leader
00:18:27.396 --> 00:18:28.263
Can actually implement in his business,
00:18:28.263 --> 00:18:29.631
Can use his business for kingdom purpose.
00:18:29.631 --> 00:18:32.401
In terms of his perspective,
00:18:32.401 --> 00:18:34.636
I think it'd be just a freeing thing for people
00:18:34.636 --> 00:18:36.271
To realize that whatever it is that god's called
00:18:36.271 --> 00:18:38.040
You to is the highest calling.
00:18:38.040 --> 00:18:40.375
If he's called you to be the ceo of a company,
00:18:40.375 --> 00:18:42.544
It's the highest calling. if he's called you to be
00:18:42.544 --> 00:18:44.179
A teacher, it's the highest calling.
00:18:44.179 --> 00:18:46.348
If you called to be a nurse and this sort of sense
00:18:46.348 --> 00:18:49.985
That a higher spiritual calling
00:18:49.985 --> 00:18:51.720
Would be someone that's a pastor,
00:18:51.720 --> 00:18:53.822
Billy graham's calling isn't higher than the calling to
00:18:53.822 --> 00:18:57.092
Someone that's called to be an entrepreneur.
00:18:57.092 --> 00:19:15.110
Music
00:19:15.344 --> 00:21:47.529
That picture way in the back is the only one we could find.
00:21:48.663 --> 00:21:52.000
There's, you and craig in what would be the early days.
00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:56.838
Craig's got a a flip phone in his hand.
00:21:56.838 --> 00:22:00.242
And we also have a photo of you holding up a tiny iphone.
00:22:00.242 --> 00:22:04.413
And it's currently on display at the museum of the bible.
00:22:04.413 --> 00:22:07.649
Right.
00:22:07.649 --> 00:22:08.850
You had it in your hand the other day for the big event
00:22:08.850 --> 00:22:11.453
That you did, beyond a billion event.
00:22:11.453 --> 00:22:14.623
And so if we go kind of from
00:22:14.623 --> 00:22:18.927
What is day one of what we are
00:22:19.561 --> 00:22:22.898
Now, getting to celebrate in the beyond a billion.
00:22:22.898 --> 00:22:26.668
Yeah.
00:22:26.902 --> 00:22:27.803
So the the initial idea for your version
00:22:27.803 --> 00:22:30.872
Started in the airport security line in chicago.
00:22:30.872 --> 00:22:34.709
Is the tsa line? of course.
00:22:35.310 --> 00:22:37.679
Just, god uses all these kind of interesting places.
00:22:37.679 --> 00:22:41.049
What year?
00:22:41.349 --> 00:22:42.284
2006, october 27th, 2006 for whatever is now.
00:22:42.284 --> 00:22:46.855
I was distracted that day with just this thought of.
00:22:46.855 --> 00:22:50.125
I wonder if there's a way to use
00:22:50.125 --> 00:22:51.226
Technology to help me read the bible more consistently.
00:22:51.226 --> 00:22:55.263
Even though i was on staff at the church at this point,
00:22:55.263 --> 00:22:57.933
Like five years in that life church,
00:22:57.933 --> 00:23:01.203
I felt like a very inconsistent bible reader,
00:23:01.203 --> 00:23:03.939
And it was a bit of an embarrassment.
00:23:03.939 --> 00:23:05.707
Maybe there's a way that technology
00:23:05.707 --> 00:23:07.142
Could just be helpful to do it.
00:23:07.142 --> 00:23:08.844
So there in the security line i had this idea
00:23:08.844 --> 00:23:11.513
For for youversion is originally a website.
00:23:11.513 --> 00:23:14.216
This predated apps.
00:23:14.216 --> 00:23:15.484
This was, a couple of years before the app store came out.
00:23:15.484 --> 00:23:19.054
Okay.
00:23:19.054 --> 00:23:20.155
So there wasn't really a concept of mobile phone and
00:23:20.155 --> 00:23:22.791
Phone apps.
00:23:22.791 --> 00:23:24.092
But this website idea had
00:23:24.659 --> 00:23:26.094
Some novel features, and i wanted to come up
00:23:26.094 --> 00:23:29.431
With a name for it. so they're in the airport.
00:23:29.431 --> 00:23:32.033
I'm an activator.
00:23:32.033 --> 00:23:32.801
So in the airport
00:23:32.801 --> 00:23:33.735
Between the security line and the gate,
00:23:33.735 --> 00:23:35.704
The best name that i could come up with was youversion.
00:23:35.704 --> 00:23:38.540
Okay.
00:23:38.540 --> 00:23:39.474
And people say where the name come from.
00:23:39.474 --> 00:23:41.743
There's the where the name come from
00:23:41.743 --> 00:23:42.878
Is that literally came from like
00:23:42.878 --> 00:23:44.312
800ft of careful market research at the airport.
00:23:44.312 --> 00:23:47.482
Just the best name i came up with at the day at that day.
00:23:47.482 --> 00:23:51.453
So now i wish it was as easy as doing that.
00:23:51.453 --> 00:23:53.555
And it's done.
00:23:53.555 --> 00:23:54.756
But the reality is we had all kinds of obstacles
00:23:54.756 --> 00:23:57.692
That we had to face
00:23:57.692 --> 00:23:58.927
To even just be able to get this website launched in 2007.
00:23:58.927 --> 00:24:01.663
So it was late 2006, 2007.
00:24:01.663 --> 00:24:04.599
We decided we'd, you know, i have a lot of ideas.
00:24:04.599 --> 00:24:07.235
We decided we'd actually try this and try to do it.
00:24:07.235 --> 00:24:10.338
The first obstacle i encountered was that
00:24:10.338 --> 00:24:12.541
We did not have access to the bible text
00:24:12.541 --> 00:24:17.312
To be able to use on the website,
00:24:17.312 --> 00:24:19.114
And the first obstacle was that i was so ignorant
00:24:19.114 --> 00:24:22.484
That i didn't even know that people own the bible.
00:24:22.484 --> 00:24:24.786
I thought that it was free
00:24:24.786 --> 00:24:27.322
And like it's been around for thousands of years.
00:24:27.322 --> 00:24:29.858
And of course,
00:24:29.858 --> 00:24:30.859
I just didn't even comprehend the concept of
00:24:30.859 --> 00:24:33.128
English translations and the cost involved in it.
00:24:33.128 --> 00:24:35.864
And the publishers own the rights to make.
00:24:35.864 --> 00:24:38.233
Me feel better. i've never thought of that.
00:24:38.233 --> 00:24:40.201
Yeah, well, it just it's i mean, it
00:24:40.201 --> 00:24:42.871
It's like in retrospect, it's common sense.
00:24:42.871 --> 00:24:45.307
But at the time, i'm just like, i never thought about it. yeah.
00:24:45.307 --> 00:24:48.043
We also felt like it need to be free for
00:24:48.043 --> 00:24:49.778
The people were trying to reach, because at that point in time,
00:24:49.778 --> 00:24:53.315
You had
00:24:53.582 --> 00:24:54.583
You had a generation of people that couldn't
00:24:54.583 --> 00:24:55.650
Fathom paying $0.99 for a song that they loved.
00:24:55.650 --> 00:25:00.021
Right? yeah.
00:25:00.021 --> 00:25:00.722
And you were asking them to pay
00:25:00.722 --> 00:25:02.691
$25 for a digital copy of a book that they didn't understand.
00:25:02.691 --> 00:25:06.061
And so we're just like,
00:25:06.061 --> 00:25:07.262
This is we've got to figure out how to to have it be free.
00:25:07.262 --> 00:25:11.066
So and the bigger problem was i noone had no relationships
00:25:11.066 --> 00:25:14.436
With any of these publishers.
00:25:14.436 --> 00:25:15.570
I had no credibility, no connections, no like,
00:25:15.570 --> 00:25:18.907
Oh, i'll just call up so-and-so and have them help us.
00:25:18.907 --> 00:25:21.943
So what i did was and in may,
00:25:22.577 --> 00:25:26.247
I posted a blog post with just a picture
00:25:27.082 --> 00:25:30.752
Of what the website was going to look like,
00:25:30.752 --> 00:25:33.088
And i announced that the website's coming in september
00:25:33.088 --> 00:25:36.291
And you could sign up to to get an early access to it.
00:25:36.291 --> 00:25:39.594
And the teams looked at me like, what?
00:25:39.594 --> 00:25:40.929
What are you what are you talking about?
00:25:40.929 --> 00:25:42.330
I was like, well, we're going to have
00:25:42.330 --> 00:25:44.666
People sign up to get early access.
00:25:44.666 --> 00:25:46.434
And i was like, yeah, but we don't have any.
00:25:46.434 --> 00:25:47.836
There's no website. like, we haven't built it.
00:25:47.836 --> 00:25:50.071
There's what
00:25:50.071 --> 00:25:51.206
I've embodied to build it like we were the very, very,
00:25:51.206 --> 00:25:54.109
Very much hand-to-mouth financially at the time.
00:25:54.109 --> 00:25:56.211
The church was,
00:25:56.211 --> 00:25:57.746
I was like, i know, but this is like how you do it.
00:25:57.746 --> 00:25:59.280
You just say it's going to happen,
00:25:59.280 --> 00:26:01.282
And then it gets everything.
00:26:01.282 --> 00:26:02.651
You got to kind of get going, you know,
00:26:02.651 --> 00:26:04.052
Get everything happening.
00:26:04.052 --> 00:26:05.186
Well, little did i know that god would use that website
00:26:05.186 --> 00:26:09.658
And or that blog post and such a unique way.
00:26:09.658 --> 00:26:13.361
There was a gentleman in florida who i'd never met before
00:26:13.361 --> 00:26:15.897
Who sees it, and he wants to have a conversation with me.
00:26:15.897 --> 00:26:18.933
His name's rob
00:26:18.933 --> 00:26:20.135
Hoskins, and rob calls me, and i'd never met rob before.
00:26:20.135 --> 00:26:22.671
He runs the children's ministry out of florida.
00:26:22.671 --> 00:26:25.240
He has all these questions about the website.
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:27.909
He gets off to, he says, what are the obstacles you have?
00:26:28.977 --> 00:26:31.079
And i said, well, the first obstacles,
00:26:31.079 --> 00:26:32.380
We don't even have permission to use a bible text.
00:26:32.380 --> 00:26:34.516
And i don't even know any of the people.
00:26:34.516 --> 00:26:36.451
Well, without him telling me he he gets off the call.
00:26:36.451 --> 00:26:40.155
He calls another gentleman named mark green,
00:26:40.155 --> 00:26:42.857
Who is in my home, my hometown.
00:26:42.857 --> 00:26:46.394
And so i receive a phone call from mark
00:26:46.394 --> 00:26:48.763
And it says, hey, i hear about this.
00:26:48.763 --> 00:26:50.131
You have this website idea, tell me about it
00:26:50.131 --> 00:26:52.400
And explain it to him.
00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.502
I knew of mark green, but i had never met mark green,
00:26:54.502 --> 00:26:58.273
Mark green
00:26:58.273 --> 00:26:59.507
And, he's one of the hobby lobby family, the green family.
00:26:59.507 --> 00:27:02.310
But he also owned a chain of christian martel's.
00:27:02.310 --> 00:27:05.313
And it's so march like, how could i help?
00:27:05.313 --> 00:27:07.716
But i was like, well, i don't know.
00:27:07.716 --> 00:27:08.650
But there's one of the obstacles.
00:27:08.650 --> 00:27:10.185
And he says, well, we buy like maybe more bibles than anybody.
00:27:10.185 --> 00:27:14.122
So i could at least make introductions
00:27:14.122 --> 00:27:15.924
To the publishers of all these bibles.
00:27:15.924 --> 00:27:18.393
So instead of trying to go through the front door,
00:27:18.393 --> 00:27:20.161
I can get you right to the top people.
00:27:20.161 --> 00:27:22.597
I suppose i'd be. that'd be great.
00:27:22.597 --> 00:27:24.065
So he fires off emails, all of them.
00:27:24.065 --> 00:27:26.000
And when mark green sends an email to you,
00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:28.103
You take a meeting.
00:27:28.103 --> 00:27:29.104
And so they're willing to take a meeting and
00:27:29.104 --> 00:27:31.406
I wish i could tell you that, that they said yes,
00:27:31.406 --> 00:27:34.976
But pretty much they all said the christian version of no,
00:27:34.976 --> 00:27:39.414
Which is we'll pray about it.
00:27:39.414 --> 00:27:40.815
And and so i had this response
00:27:40.815 --> 00:27:45.120
Is that over and over again we'll pray about it, you know.
00:27:45.120 --> 00:27:48.089
Yeah, yeah. and, that was the nice way.
00:27:48.089 --> 00:27:50.792
That was the nice way of not not saying no.
00:27:50.792 --> 00:27:53.895
But we did get one. yes.
00:27:53.895 --> 00:27:55.697
And one yes was all we needed.
00:27:55.697 --> 00:27:57.332
One modern english bible that said yes, it
00:27:57.332 --> 00:28:00.335
Was, thomas nelson, new king james version,
00:28:00.335 --> 00:28:03.605
And that was, enough for us to launch the website in september.
00:28:03.605 --> 00:28:07.909
But that that step of faith and in a blog post,
00:28:07.909 --> 00:28:12.247
I didn't know what was going to happen from that.
00:28:12.247 --> 00:28:14.082
And god literally used the actual blog post
00:28:14.082 --> 00:28:17.252
To meet the, the, the one thing we needed.
00:28:17.252 --> 00:28:19.621
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:19.621 --> 00:28:20.488
And i think sometimes we,
00:28:20.488 --> 00:28:22.023
We struggle
00:28:22.023 --> 00:28:22.957
Sometimes to just take those first steps
00:28:22.957 --> 00:28:24.659
Because we think we have to have everything put together.
00:28:24.659 --> 00:28:26.694
We have to have it all figured out before
00:28:26.694 --> 00:28:28.363
We could sort of take the first step to walk into it.
00:28:28.363 --> 00:28:32.467
Music
00:28:32.700 --> 00:31:17.598
Lyircs
00:31:17.598 --> 00:31:19.500
Now. the website launched in september.
00:31:20.301 --> 00:31:22.570
What i noticed though is
00:31:22.570 --> 00:31:23.871
People were coming but they weren't coming back.
00:31:23.871 --> 00:31:26.040
And fast forward now and this is september, october,
00:31:26.040 --> 00:31:28.876
November, december and in december it became
00:31:28.876 --> 00:31:32.847
It was a realization came to me that this has actually failed.
00:31:32.847 --> 00:31:36.150
This idea did not work.
00:31:36.150 --> 00:31:38.553
And this was after all of the hurdles
00:31:38.553 --> 00:31:41.823
And all the challenges.
00:31:41.823 --> 00:31:43.091
And there's even more that take way too much time to share.
00:31:43.091 --> 00:31:46.694
You know, and as a
00:31:47.128 --> 00:31:48.229
Leader, when you kind of set a vision for something,
00:31:48.229 --> 00:31:50.198
You get people to buy into the vision.
00:31:50.198 --> 00:31:51.532
A lot of people donated time,
00:31:51.532 --> 00:31:52.967
You know, to this because they believed in what.
00:31:52.967 --> 00:31:54.902
Year we now. this is 2007.
00:31:54.902 --> 00:31:57.505
So, bobby, hold just a moment,
00:31:57.505 --> 00:32:01.075
Because everything you had ever done, god had breathed into it
00:32:01.075 --> 00:32:07.215
In a way that it was moving and growing.
00:32:07.215 --> 00:32:11.552
You had never seen failure
00:32:11.552 --> 00:32:14.589
That had never been in your entire kind of.
00:32:14.589 --> 00:32:19.060
Not in a big way.
00:32:19.060 --> 00:32:20.228
I mean, there have been smaller ways, but yes.
00:32:20.228 --> 00:32:22.063
Not not in a
00:32:22.063 --> 00:32:23.531
Not in a very visible, very big like we're going to do this
00:32:23.531 --> 00:32:26.567
And it's going to work. and then it does.
00:32:26.567 --> 00:32:27.902
So the thought is, god uses a blog post,
00:32:27.902 --> 00:32:32.340
Connects you to market, mark connects you.
00:32:32.340 --> 00:32:35.610
You get the new king james
00:32:35.610 --> 00:32:37.545
Version agreed to which was your biggest hurdle.
00:32:37.545 --> 00:32:40.648
You launch everything big opening
00:32:40.648 --> 00:32:43.084
And then the trajectory is just a slow crash and burn.
00:32:43.084 --> 00:32:47.121
So what do you think at that time? yeah,
00:32:47.121 --> 00:32:49.390
Tell me about
00:32:49.757 --> 00:32:50.758
Tell me about waking up to that those days.
00:32:50.758 --> 00:32:53.428
Well, i mean, it is never,
00:32:53.428 --> 00:32:56.197
It's never fun.
00:32:56.197 --> 00:32:58.933
You probably more of what i was
00:32:58.933 --> 00:33:01.002
Feeling was letting other people down.
00:33:01.002 --> 00:33:03.204
Yeah, right.
00:33:03.204 --> 00:33:04.172
Because you have asked people to come with you
00:33:04.172 --> 00:33:07.608
And believe in what you're what you're doing.
00:33:07.608 --> 00:33:10.912
But. and i did know very clearly
00:33:11.546 --> 00:33:14.882
Because i've had a lot of other smaller failures, but
00:33:14.882 --> 00:33:17.985
I did know that part of growing and taking risks,
00:33:17.985 --> 00:33:21.789
I mean, part of it is taking risk.
00:33:21.789 --> 00:33:23.091
And part of taking a risk is failure.
00:33:23.091 --> 00:33:25.893
Now, i felt like what's important
00:33:25.893 --> 00:33:28.563
Now is to actually acknowledge that it failed.
00:33:28.563 --> 00:33:31.632
And there's a reason for that.
00:33:31.632 --> 00:33:33.201
I find that the, the fear of failure, most people
00:33:33.201 --> 00:33:37.138
Think, is the fear that keeps you from starting something
00:33:37.138 --> 00:33:39.841
Because you're afraid. what if, like, what if it doesn't work?
00:33:39.841 --> 00:33:42.443
That's the fear that holds you back from starting.
00:33:42.443 --> 00:33:44.479
I think in the ministry world and many times
00:33:45.413 --> 00:33:48.082
In the business world,
00:33:48.082 --> 00:33:49.150
The fear of failure
00:33:49.150 --> 00:33:50.451
Is oftentimes the fear that keeps you
00:33:50.451 --> 00:33:52.587
From stopping something that's not working.
00:33:52.587 --> 00:33:54.422
Oh, which is
00:33:54.422 --> 00:33:55.756
Which is a different expression of the same fear,
00:33:55.756 --> 00:33:57.925
Because that's the point you actually
00:33:57.925 --> 00:33:59.060
Have to fully acknowledge, hey, this didn't work.
00:33:59.060 --> 00:34:02.296
But the benefit of that
00:34:02.830 --> 00:34:04.432
Is that it allows you to go as deep
00:34:04.432 --> 00:34:06.200
As you need to go to understand why it didn't work.
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:08.636
And if you're going to fail, you better learn.
00:34:08.636 --> 00:34:10.705
You know from it like god uses failure to help people learn.
00:34:10.705 --> 00:34:15.443
And, and so i'm not afraid to call it a failure.
00:34:15.443 --> 00:34:18.779
I'm not afraid to just,
00:34:18.779 --> 00:34:19.680
You know,
00:34:19.680 --> 00:34:20.948
I don't try to massage it and treat it in a really nice way.
00:34:20.948 --> 00:34:23.651
So it's just really, the beginning.
00:34:23.651 --> 00:34:26.053
And we pivoted and we did this.
00:34:26.053 --> 00:34:27.588
It's like, no, no, that was the idea.
00:34:27.588 --> 00:34:29.190
And it did not work.
00:34:29.190 --> 00:34:31.058
But what that did was allowed us to say, maybe the fundamental
00:34:31.058 --> 00:34:33.995
Problem was that it shouldn't be built for a computer,
00:34:33.995 --> 00:34:38.132
Which is what we were building for.
00:34:38.132 --> 00:34:39.667
Maybe we should try to build it for a phone
00:34:39.667 --> 00:34:42.870
Because we didn't recognize the computer,
00:34:42.870 --> 00:34:45.006
Just moved the bible basically from our nightstand
00:34:45.006 --> 00:34:47.475
Where it wasn't being read to our desktop,
00:34:47.475 --> 00:34:50.745
Our physical place in our office.
00:34:50.745 --> 00:34:52.280
So still it locked into one place.
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:54.749
But at that point in time,
00:34:54.749 --> 00:34:55.616
We had these things called blackberries
00:34:55.616 --> 00:34:57.718
That we carried with us that were called
00:34:57.718 --> 00:34:59.554
Crackberry is actually because they were like an addictive,
00:34:59.554 --> 00:35:02.723
Way of responding to email.
00:35:02.723 --> 00:35:04.959
And they had very simple screens and very simple
00:35:04.959 --> 00:35:07.995
Kind of browsers on them.
00:35:07.995 --> 00:35:10.331
We thought we should
00:35:10.331 --> 00:35:11.399
Redesign the website to display it on the blackberry.
00:35:11.399 --> 00:35:14.101
And that was early 2008, january.
00:35:14.101 --> 00:35:17.138
So when we did that, it was profound
00:35:17.138 --> 00:35:19.507
How that simple change, very simple screen
00:35:19.507 --> 00:35:22.710
Really did change how we engaged in the bible.
00:35:22.710 --> 00:35:25.046
We would use it at the doctor's office
00:35:25.046 --> 00:35:27.114
While we're waiting, like just in wherever, wherever we were.
00:35:27.114 --> 00:35:30.818
Scripture could kind of intersect
00:35:30.818 --> 00:35:32.720
Those parts of our lives.
00:35:32.720 --> 00:35:34.555
So that's happened in early 2008.
00:35:34.555 --> 00:35:37.391
Steve jobs in march of 2008, comes out and announces
00:35:37.391 --> 00:35:40.828
Something called an app store
00:35:40.828 --> 00:35:42.496
And the ability to develop apps for this new phone
00:35:42.496 --> 00:35:45.166
That had just been out, called the iphone.
00:35:45.166 --> 00:35:47.435
So we thought
00:35:47.435 --> 00:35:48.736
Based on what we see god doing, we should try to build an app.
00:35:48.736 --> 00:35:52.273
Once again.
00:35:52.607 --> 00:35:53.708
Though, none of us had any idea how to build an app.
00:35:53.708 --> 00:35:56.544
I'm not an engineer.
00:35:56.978 --> 00:35:58.045
I don't write code.
00:35:58.045 --> 00:35:59.614
So i found a 19 year old on our team who loved apple,
00:35:59.614 --> 00:36:03.050
And back then,
00:36:03.417 --> 00:36:04.218
Those are the only two
00:36:04.218 --> 00:36:05.419
Requirements you had to have were to be 19 and to love apple.
00:36:05.419 --> 00:36:08.122
Yeah.
00:36:08.122 --> 00:36:08.923
And and so as a part time project,
00:36:08.923 --> 00:36:11.259
Literally nights and weekends, just extra.
00:36:11.259 --> 00:36:14.395
We spent three and a half months building the first bible app,
00:36:14.395 --> 00:36:18.165
Submitted it to apple, had no idea if they
00:36:18.165 --> 00:36:20.735
Were going to approve it.
00:36:20.735 --> 00:36:22.203
Because i was like, is apple
00:36:22.770 --> 00:36:23.871
Going to want a bible in their app store?
00:36:23.871 --> 00:36:25.640
I don't know.
00:36:25.640 --> 00:36:27.008
And then we also didn't know how many apps there would be.
00:36:27.008 --> 00:36:29.944
I presume there would be a lot, but the day that the app store
00:36:29.944 --> 00:36:32.913
Launched, it was it was july
00:36:32.913 --> 00:36:36.150
10th, 2008.
00:36:36.150 --> 00:36:38.319
It was a thursday evening and our app
00:36:38.319 --> 00:36:41.689
Made it into the app store on the very first day,
00:36:41.689 --> 00:36:44.592
And there were only 200 apps in the entire store.
00:36:44.592 --> 00:36:47.928
And so we just were shocked.
00:36:47.928 --> 00:36:50.398
And then we were shocked even more so by sunday.
00:36:50.398 --> 00:36:53.100
So thursday, the sunday morning, we'd seen 83,000 people
00:36:53.100 --> 00:36:57.271
Install it on their iphone,
00:36:57.271 --> 00:36:58.639
And you could tell that they were using it
00:36:58.639 --> 00:37:00.274
Like they were opening it multiple times a day.
00:37:00.274 --> 00:37:02.376
And and so,
00:37:02.376 --> 00:37:04.378
I mean, i'm a pretty simple person,
00:37:04.378 --> 00:37:06.013
But when you see god do something
00:37:06.013 --> 00:37:08.549
Unexpected, i've learned
00:37:08.549 --> 00:37:10.251
You just take whatever resources you have,
00:37:10.251 --> 00:37:12.486
Whatever energy you have, and you just push it behind
00:37:12.486 --> 00:37:15.856
The things that you see him doing.
00:37:15.856 --> 00:37:17.725
We don't have to go create our own way when he's got a way.
00:37:17.725 --> 00:37:20.261
We just want to join. you know what he's doing.
00:37:20.261 --> 00:37:24.732
1 billion downloads of the living word of god,
00:37:25.700 --> 00:37:29.570
Which is active and powerful and never returns void.
00:37:29.570 --> 00:37:33.741
1 billion opportunities
00:37:34.275 --> 00:37:36.911
To experience the word made flesh.
00:37:36.911 --> 00:37:40.581
A billion opportunities
00:37:41.115 --> 00:37:43.651
For god to draw near to someone
00:37:43.651 --> 00:37:46.854
That's hurting and someone that's searching in.
00:37:46.854 --> 00:37:50.725
Someone that needs saving
00:37:50.725 --> 00:37:53.861
From brokenness and sin.
00:37:53.861 --> 00:37:57.031
And now to imagine that every 39 days the app is opened
00:37:57.031 --> 00:38:02.636
1 billion times every 39 days,
00:38:02.636 --> 00:38:07.041
Almost 300 times
00:38:07.408 --> 00:38:10.111
Every single second, 300 times every single second.
00:38:10.111 --> 00:38:14.582
And god draws near to every single one.
00:38:14.582 --> 00:38:19.387
I'm going to tell you right now,
00:38:20.020 --> 00:38:21.122
I was one life, one life changed by the word of god.
00:38:21.122 --> 00:38:25.126
And when bobby came and said, hey, do you want
00:38:25.126 --> 00:38:27.261
To give this thing away? i said, can we afford it?
00:38:27.261 --> 00:38:30.164
Because i didn't know how much it was going to cost.
00:38:31.232 --> 00:38:33.434
And but we are.
00:38:33.434 --> 00:38:34.201
Our church took a step of faith,
00:38:34.201 --> 00:38:36.604
And we said, we're going to give the word of god away.
00:38:36.604 --> 00:38:38.939
And people have said, why don't you monetize it?
00:38:38.939 --> 00:38:41.075
Why don't you do an ad?
00:38:41.075 --> 00:38:42.243
Why don't you sell something?
00:38:42.243 --> 00:38:43.878
Why don't you charge a dollar? i'm going tell you right now.
00:38:43.878 --> 00:38:46.380
I was saved by a free bible.
00:38:46.380 --> 00:38:47.948
Our bible is not for sale.
00:38:47.948 --> 00:38:51.285
Our bible was born with the help of our partners
00:38:49.583 --> 00:38:54.688
And the generous partners who have god's word.
00:38:54.688 --> 00:38:58.359
We will always give it.
00:38:58.359 --> 00:39:00.094
And it is our great honor.
00:39:00.094 --> 00:39:02.463
And although it's free to receive,
00:39:02.463 --> 00:39:04.799
It is not free to create,
00:39:04.799 --> 00:39:06.667
And we remain unwaveringly committed to one vision.
00:39:06.667 --> 00:39:11.806
And that is just until until jesus comes back.
00:39:11.806 --> 00:39:14.975
Or as long as we live.
00:39:14.975 --> 00:39:16.243
Our vision is god's word.
00:39:16.243 --> 00:39:18.212
Every one,
00:39:18.212 --> 00:39:19.814
Everywhere and every say,
00:39:20.381 --> 00:39:24.285
Every one, and everywhere and every day.
00:39:24.285 --> 00:39:27.888
And i believe in the depth of my soul
00:39:27.888 --> 00:39:30.658
That we're standing on the edge of one
00:39:30.658 --> 00:39:34.061
Of the greatest opportunities in history.
00:39:34.061 --> 00:39:36.664
As bobby said, there's a spiritual hunger
00:39:36.664 --> 00:39:38.632
Like i've never, ever seen before.
00:39:38.632 --> 00:39:40.134
And people are tired of faith and they're they're crying out
00:39:40.134 --> 00:39:43.571
For something authentic and something real.
00:39:43.571 --> 00:39:45.539
They are searching for jesus, the word made flesh.
00:39:45.539 --> 00:39:49.977
That's where it started.
00:39:50.478 --> 00:39:51.745
So the very first device that had the
00:39:51.745 --> 00:39:54.014
The device that i held up
00:39:54.014 --> 00:39:55.115
There was actually the iphone of the 19 year old
00:39:55.115 --> 00:39:58.686
Because he actually had installed on his friend
00:39:58.686 --> 00:40:01.555
Phone first to test it.
00:40:01.555 --> 00:40:03.190
And, and that was number one.
00:40:03.190 --> 00:40:05.392
And then of course, now
00:40:05.392 --> 00:40:06.527
It's grown into being more than a billion.
00:40:06.527 --> 00:40:07.962
So had it not failed in december 2007,
00:40:07.962 --> 00:40:11.799
You probably wouldn't have been ready for immediately.
00:40:11.799 --> 00:40:15.736
Exactly, exactly.
00:40:15.736 --> 00:40:17.738
That's the thing. i tried the first app.
00:40:17.738 --> 00:40:19.907
We would have been busy trying to fix the web.
00:40:19.907 --> 00:40:21.742
Yeah, and we wouldn't have been able
00:40:21.742 --> 00:40:23.744
To in a position to see the opportunity.
00:40:23.744 --> 00:40:26.213
And that's why i want to encourage people.
00:40:26.213 --> 00:40:27.515
It's like when you
00:40:27.515 --> 00:40:28.549
When something doesn't work,
00:40:28.549 --> 00:40:30.117
There's something else
00:40:30.117 --> 00:40:30.985
That god wants to unlock in it for you,
00:40:30.985 --> 00:40:33.120
But you have to actually be willing to have the courage
00:40:33.120 --> 00:40:36.423
To kind of move on to make that possible,
00:40:36.423 --> 00:40:38.692
Because otherwise you're going to be stuck on the wrong thing,
00:40:38.692 --> 00:40:40.661
Wasting your energy on the thing
00:40:40.661 --> 00:40:42.096
That that isn't working and missed the opportunity.
00:40:42.096 --> 00:40:44.598
You hear the announcement, you start a new thing.
00:40:44.598 --> 00:40:50.004
Youversion now for mobile app and you're in the first,
00:40:50.004 --> 00:40:54.542
Very first day of the app store along with 200.
00:40:54.542 --> 00:40:58.178
I don't know how many apps are in the app store now.
00:40:58.178 --> 00:41:00.080
But millions, several million.
00:41:00.080 --> 00:41:02.149
Several million. yeah.
00:41:02.149 --> 00:41:03.751
And youversion,
00:41:03.751 --> 00:41:06.487
Was day one of the app store.
00:41:07.121 --> 00:41:10.124
Now you're across all the platforms.
00:41:10.124 --> 00:41:12.192
And if we're at this beyond
00:41:12.192 --> 00:41:14.762
A billion thing, where where can we go now?
00:41:14.762 --> 00:41:18.532
I'm looking at us
00:41:18.532 --> 00:41:20.434
A saying over your shoulder every language, you know,
00:41:20.434 --> 00:41:23.737
You know, i'm looking at every person a global impact.
00:41:24.805 --> 00:41:27.975
It it so where
00:41:27.975 --> 00:41:31.245
We're now present day again.
00:41:31.812 --> 00:41:33.781
Yeah.
00:41:33.781 --> 00:41:34.949
We have celebrated with you with the billionth download.
00:41:34.949 --> 00:41:38.552
There's a handful of other apps in the whole world
00:41:38.552 --> 00:41:43.991
That have had that kind of of engagement.
00:41:43.991 --> 00:41:48.028
And what's what's
00:41:48.462 --> 00:41:50.898
The next season for you, bobby?
00:41:50.898 --> 00:41:54.001
Well, we're we're living in,
00:41:54.001 --> 00:41:57.771
Unprecedented acceleration right now, which is one of the
00:41:57.771 --> 00:42:01.375
My favorite parts of the story is that,
00:42:01.375 --> 00:42:05.112
If i wish that i had the kind of faith to just believe that
00:42:05.112 --> 00:42:09.183
This type of thing would have been possible
00:42:09.183 --> 00:42:10.618
When i was sitting in the airport security line.
00:42:10.618 --> 00:42:12.519
Yeah, but i didn't have that kind of faith.
00:42:12.519 --> 00:42:14.188
I had just enough faith to take the first step.
00:42:14.188 --> 00:42:16.624
And but of course, with what we've seen god do,
00:42:16.624 --> 00:42:19.226
Your faith has to grow, right?
00:42:19.226 --> 00:42:21.095
You know, you've
00:42:21.095 --> 00:42:22.196
You've seen too much, right for for not to believe
00:42:22.196 --> 00:42:24.498
That god could do more.
00:42:24.498 --> 00:42:26.433
So we really we have the faith
00:42:27.067 --> 00:42:28.335
To believe, like you like mentioned before, that,
00:42:28.335 --> 00:42:31.538
The second billion will happen and much less time.
00:42:31.538 --> 00:42:34.108
It took 17.5 years to get the first billion,
00:42:34.108 --> 00:42:36.310
We think, going to be less than five
00:42:36.310 --> 00:42:37.611
For the second, less than three for the third.
00:42:37.611 --> 00:42:41.448
There's an acceleration that's picking up
00:42:41.448 --> 00:42:43.083
The biggest days of engagement in the history of the app
00:42:43.083 --> 00:42:46.420
Have been just in the last month.
00:42:46.420 --> 00:42:48.589
You know, in fact, probably last sunday
00:42:48.589 --> 00:42:51.225
Was probably among the all time highest days ever.
00:42:51.225 --> 00:42:54.328
And it's not because it's a it's not because it's easter
00:42:54.328 --> 00:42:57.197
Or because it's a particularly special sunday.
00:42:57.197 --> 00:42:59.867
It just happens to be the last one.
00:42:59.867 --> 00:43:01.168
And the momentum has really picked up globally for it.
00:43:01.168 --> 00:43:05.439
We do want to see god's word in everyone's heart language.
00:43:05.439 --> 00:43:08.175
And so we've partnered with those
00:43:08.175 --> 00:43:09.677
That are doing bible translation work.
00:43:09.677 --> 00:43:11.345
It's something i didn't know as well, besides the fact
00:43:12.446 --> 00:43:14.581
That people own the bible with the fact that the bible's
00:43:14.581 --> 00:43:17.551
Not yet been translated into everyone's language.
00:43:17.551 --> 00:43:21.422
And so when you really think about that and you think,
00:43:21.422 --> 00:43:25.025
You know, what would that be like for us
00:43:25.025 --> 00:43:27.795
If we had to learn spanish in order to read the bible?
00:43:27.795 --> 00:43:30.998
Wow. you know,
00:43:31.365 --> 00:43:32.366
If we had to learn something different
00:43:32.366 --> 00:43:34.201
And or it was never available in english
00:43:34.201 --> 00:43:36.270
And we never heard jesus's words in english,
00:43:36.270 --> 00:43:39.039
How would that change
00:43:39.039 --> 00:43:40.207
Everything, you know, change our relationship
00:43:40.207 --> 00:43:42.209
Or change our understanding of god?
00:43:42.209 --> 00:43:43.911
Well, that's the truth and the reality for for
00:43:43.911 --> 00:43:46.280
I think maybe currently about 800 million people.
00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:48.882
Wow, that still don't have it available in the heart language.
00:43:48.882 --> 00:43:51.852
So we're committed to partnering that.
00:43:51.852 --> 00:43:53.821
The bible app
00:43:53.821 --> 00:43:55.055
Today has the bible in over 2300 languages, all for free.
00:43:55.055 --> 00:43:59.727
But that's through partnerships with so we we're continuing
00:43:59.727 --> 00:44:02.930
On that path.
00:44:02.930 --> 00:44:04.064
That's something that we hope to have accomplished.
00:44:04.064 --> 00:44:05.532
We're not doing the bible translation work,
00:44:05.532 --> 00:44:07.167
We're just partnering with those that do.
00:44:07.167 --> 00:44:09.269
But we're hoping to accelerate
00:44:09.269 --> 00:44:10.504
That and be a part of seeing that happen by 2033.
00:44:10.504 --> 00:44:13.974
We're adding features that are always focused on
00:44:14.975 --> 00:44:17.544
How to make it easier
00:44:17.544 --> 00:44:18.746
For people to make the bible a part of their everyday life.
00:44:18.746 --> 00:44:21.582
So we look at a lot of data, and we're trying to get it
00:44:21.582 --> 00:44:24.184
To where we can really help you individually,
00:44:24.184 --> 00:44:27.421
Wherever you're starting, whether you're not a believer.
00:44:27.421 --> 00:44:30.991
Because surprisingly surprising to some people,
00:44:30.991 --> 00:44:34.561
We have a lot of people that download our app.
00:44:34.561 --> 00:44:36.196
They're not believers, not christians.
00:44:36.196 --> 00:44:37.865
People say, well,
00:44:37.865 --> 00:44:39.066
Why would you download a bible if you're not a christian?
00:44:39.066 --> 00:44:42.302
It's because there's a lot of people
00:44:42.302 --> 00:44:43.637
That are searching for truth and for answers.
00:44:43.637 --> 00:44:45.906
And in a world where so much content is created by ai
00:44:45.906 --> 00:44:50.377
And people are wondering, how do i trust what is real?
00:44:50.377 --> 00:44:54.081
What's the veracity of the content i consume?
00:44:54.081 --> 00:44:56.483
Is it actually true or not true?
00:44:56.483 --> 00:44:58.252
That video i used to be able to say,
00:44:58.252 --> 00:44:59.853
I saw it with my own eyes and i know it's true.
00:44:59.853 --> 00:45:01.755
And now you can't say that anymore.
00:45:01.755 --> 00:45:03.123
And well, the natural consequence of that
00:45:03.123 --> 00:45:06.393
Is to actually create a desire inside of people for content.
00:45:06.393 --> 00:45:11.098
That's true for things that they can trust,
00:45:11.098 --> 00:45:14.201
Because everything else feels so shaky
00:45:14.201 --> 00:45:17.504
And the bible stands alone. it's so unique.
00:45:17.504 --> 00:45:20.040
There's nothing else like it.
00:45:20.040 --> 00:45:22.075
So for thousands of years,
00:45:22.075 --> 00:45:23.377
It's been carefully moved from generation to generation.
00:45:23.377 --> 00:45:25.679
Right now, at the museum of the bible,
00:45:25.679 --> 00:45:27.548
You can see the dead
00:45:27.548 --> 00:45:28.749
Sea scrolls on display, and you can see the consistency
00:45:28.749 --> 00:45:31.451
Between an artifact from thousands of years ago
00:45:31.451 --> 00:45:34.922
In the text that we're reading today,
00:45:34.922 --> 00:45:37.724
And know that this has stood that test of time,
00:45:37.724 --> 00:45:40.794
Which is way different than any ai generated content
00:45:40.794 --> 00:45:43.530
Or something that you're going to see.
00:45:43.530 --> 00:45:44.765
So we actually feel like the bible is really built
00:45:44.765 --> 00:45:47.534
For this moment.
00:45:47.534 --> 00:45:48.402
It's like the antidote for the problem
00:45:48.402 --> 00:45:50.971
That people are feeling right now.
00:45:50.971 --> 00:45:52.840
So, so that that causes us to just say,
00:45:52.840 --> 00:45:55.475
What can we do to to really push into this acceleration,
00:45:55.475 --> 00:45:58.879
To add as many features that we can
00:45:58.879 --> 00:46:00.514
That can engage people to kind of help build
00:46:00.514 --> 00:46:02.482
That trust connection that we're just talking about.
00:46:02.482 --> 00:46:04.985
So we're always working on it.
00:46:04.985 --> 00:46:06.353
Some people think, well, the bible i've already done,
00:46:06.353 --> 00:46:08.055
It's like,
00:46:08.055 --> 00:46:09.122
No, we've got like 230 people that work full time,
00:46:09.122 --> 00:46:11.558
Doing nothing but trying to make it better.
00:46:11.558 --> 00:46:13.160
And it's in all these languages. we have content.
00:46:13.160 --> 00:46:15.629
We still need a lot more content in languages like arabic and
00:46:15.629 --> 00:46:19.299
And romanian and just,
00:46:19.299 --> 00:46:20.968
You know, we're expanding kind of the base
00:46:20.968 --> 00:46:22.970
Of all the bible plans that we have in english.
00:46:22.970 --> 00:46:25.305
We're trying to have create similar types of experiences
00:46:25.305 --> 00:46:28.408
For people wherever they are in the world,
00:46:28.408 --> 00:46:30.510
That they open in their fields like it's created for them.
00:46:30.510 --> 00:46:32.980
So we are very much just getting started,
00:46:32.980 --> 00:46:35.182
Like we feel like the billions, it's a milestone,
00:46:35.182 --> 00:46:37.684
But it's just a it's a milestone. yeah.
00:46:37.684 --> 00:46:39.820
I don't feel like
00:46:39.820 --> 00:46:41.088
God has so many more things planned for us to move forward.
00:46:41.088 --> 00:46:43.290
Help me,
00:46:43.290 --> 00:46:44.691
Land the plane.
00:46:45.092 --> 00:46:46.193
You understand that?
00:46:46.193 --> 00:46:47.494
You understand that term, you're a pilot, and,
00:46:47.494 --> 00:46:52.199
We've hit a lot of things here.
00:46:52.866 --> 00:46:54.801
We've hit, you know, stepping out on faith.
00:46:54.801 --> 00:46:59.072
We've hit failing.
00:46:59.072 --> 00:47:01.775
We've hit all sorts of things.
00:47:01.775 --> 00:47:03.377
We've hit this dynamic of of,
00:47:03.377 --> 00:47:06.513
You know, what is the kingdom?
00:47:06.513 --> 00:47:09.182
It's everything, you know, how kind of wrap this up.
00:47:09.182 --> 00:47:14.721
And then,
00:47:15.022 --> 00:47:18.392
Just just just kind of give me a summary of what you
00:47:18.392 --> 00:47:21.862
What you think we've actually discussed today?
00:47:21.862 --> 00:47:25.265
Yes. you put a bow on all of that.
00:47:26.033 --> 00:47:27.701
Yeah, i do, you do a little, do a little cleanup for me.
00:47:27.701 --> 00:47:29.937
And then i got one last thing for you.
00:47:29.937 --> 00:47:31.338
Yeah, well,
00:47:31.338 --> 00:47:33.941
I would say,
00:47:33.941 --> 00:47:39.446
We can never underestimate what god wants
00:47:40.314 --> 00:47:44.351
And can do through single acts of obedience in our lives.
00:47:44.351 --> 00:47:48.555
When we surrender
00:47:48.989 --> 00:47:50.924
Everything that we have, all of our experiences,
00:47:50.924 --> 00:47:53.193
Including the stuff that we're not proud of.
00:47:53.193 --> 00:47:54.962
Yeah.
00:47:54.962 --> 00:47:55.862
To him, i found that god uses all of it.
00:47:55.862 --> 00:48:00.167
Our responsibility
00:48:00.600 --> 00:48:02.836
Is to just listen for his voice
00:48:02.836 --> 00:48:06.206
The best way.
00:48:06.206 --> 00:48:07.474
One of the best ways to listen for his voice is in his word.
00:48:07.474 --> 00:48:09.977
Yeah.
00:48:09.977 --> 00:48:11.078
So if you're not someone who is engaged in the bible
00:48:11.078 --> 00:48:14.114
Daily like i am, i wasn't.
00:48:14.114 --> 00:48:15.916
I was in that same spot, you know, back in 2006.
00:48:15.916 --> 00:48:19.953
And i was just trying to solve a problem for me.
00:48:19.953 --> 00:48:23.790
And i did i do have daily engagement in god's word today.
00:48:23.790 --> 00:48:28.362
But the benefit of that is that you're able to then
00:48:29.429 --> 00:48:32.899
Discern god.
00:48:32.899 --> 00:48:34.434
Where do you want me today.
00:48:34.434 --> 00:48:36.436
What do you want me to take this step.
00:48:36.436 --> 00:48:38.372
Is this from you.
00:48:38.372 --> 00:48:39.573
And and when you have that type of connection,
00:48:39.573 --> 00:48:41.608
That type of relationship with our creator, the types
00:48:41.608 --> 00:48:45.479
Of things that he can do through that are incredible.
00:48:45.479 --> 00:48:48.582
That's my journey is just,
00:48:48.582 --> 00:48:50.817
A set of
00:48:51.051 --> 00:48:52.619
Steps of obedience when when i hear god's voice,
00:48:52.619 --> 00:48:56.923
There's been there's plenty of places
00:48:56.923 --> 00:48:58.592
Where it was delayed obedience, which means it's disobedience.
00:48:58.592 --> 00:49:01.928
But it was enough obedience in the right moments,
00:49:01.928 --> 00:49:04.264
In the right times for him to kind of take
00:49:04.264 --> 00:49:06.833
The gifts that he's given me and multiple
00:49:06.833 --> 00:49:09.169
And do something with them,
00:49:09.169 --> 00:49:10.137
Because i hear his voice and do that.
00:49:10.137 --> 00:49:12.406
And so i feel like that's maybe like a way to sort of pull
00:49:12.406 --> 00:49:15.442
Various parts of what you said all together.
00:49:15.442 --> 00:49:17.577
Beautiful.
00:49:17.577 --> 00:49:19.079
I, i, i want to,
00:49:19.079 --> 00:49:22.282
For every person that raps on the praise program,
00:49:23.216 --> 00:49:26.219
Then they have to pray at the end.
00:49:26.219 --> 00:49:27.788
So i'm going to i'm going to ask you
00:49:27.788 --> 00:49:29.156
To pray here to say i did the rap.
00:49:29.156 --> 00:49:30.824
I think i think that should be a partnership here.
00:49:30.824 --> 00:49:32.926
I do the rapping, you do the prayer.
00:49:32.926 --> 00:49:34.528
You're the guest and i'm the host.
00:49:34.528 --> 00:49:36.663
You rap now you're going to pray.
00:49:36.663 --> 00:49:38.265
But but i think that this little tiny little moment
00:49:38.265 --> 00:49:44.171
Of january, february of
00:49:44.704 --> 00:49:47.607
Oh eight, working on the idea that you're
00:49:47.607 --> 00:49:51.912
Taking the bible from just a desktop.
00:49:51.912 --> 00:49:55.916
A mobile.
00:49:55.916 --> 00:49:56.783
Device to a mobile device was a spark
00:49:56.783 --> 00:50:00.087
That you jumped into that even,
00:50:00.087 --> 00:50:04.424
You know, with just what would have been a tiny little sector
00:50:04.424 --> 00:50:08.261
Of the world of people carrying blackberries at the time.
00:50:08.261 --> 00:50:12.599
That wouldn't have been a giant,
00:50:12.599 --> 00:50:14.901
You know, kind of world changing thing.
00:50:14.901 --> 00:50:17.637
Little did we know.
00:50:17.637 --> 00:50:19.239
You know, this, you know, piece of fruit
00:50:19.239 --> 00:50:23.043
We carry around in our hands called apple
00:50:23.043 --> 00:50:26.213
Would become a device that virtually.
00:50:26.213 --> 00:50:30.283
And the smartphone in general,
00:50:30.917 --> 00:50:33.854
Carried by virtually every person on earth.
00:50:34.721 --> 00:50:36.890
Okay. you know, we do a lot of traveling.
00:50:36.890 --> 00:50:39.226
We've been in africa,
00:50:39.226 --> 00:50:40.360
And you walk around and somebody might be walking
00:50:40.360 --> 00:50:44.898
With water on their heads, you know, still,
00:50:44.898 --> 00:50:47.400
They don't have running water, but they do have a device.
00:50:47.400 --> 00:50:49.736
Right.
00:50:49.736 --> 00:50:50.837
And because communications is always going to find
00:50:50.837 --> 00:50:53.373
A way to happen at light speed, and that little moment,
00:50:53.373 --> 00:50:58.912
That little thing, what if god's word to be in
00:50:58.912 --> 00:51:01.982
Everybody's hand?
00:51:01.982 --> 00:51:03.583
What if, what if?
00:51:03.583 --> 00:51:05.118
And that changed the trajectory of the kingdom of god in a way
00:51:05.118 --> 00:51:09.990
That you could have never foreseen? that's right.
00:51:09.990 --> 00:51:12.459
Thank you. love that.
00:51:12.459 --> 00:51:13.860
Yeah.
00:51:13.860 --> 00:51:14.728
Pray for the audience, if you would.
00:51:14.728 --> 00:51:15.829
Please, sir. yeah.
00:51:15.829 --> 00:51:17.497
Father, we, we thank you for everybody
00:51:17.497 --> 00:51:19.232
That's watching and listening right now.
00:51:19.232 --> 00:51:20.967
Father, i pray that you will
00:51:20.967 --> 00:51:22.736
Just speak to them right here in this room. yes.
00:51:23.737 --> 00:51:25.939
You've put dreams in their heart.
00:51:25.939 --> 00:51:28.041
Yes. good ideas. visions.
00:51:28.041 --> 00:51:31.278
Maybe some things that they've been hesitant to
00:51:31.278 --> 00:51:34.147
Step into trying to figure out.
00:51:34.147 --> 00:51:35.782
Get all the pieces in before they take the first step.
00:51:35.782 --> 00:51:37.851
God, i pray that you'll give them the boldness
00:51:37.851 --> 00:51:39.753
And the courage to step in to what you've called them to do.
00:51:39.753 --> 00:51:44.457
Father, we're just so humbled,
00:51:45.091 --> 00:51:47.561
Each of us, that we even have the privilege
00:51:47.561 --> 00:51:51.464
To be used by you and your your big plan and your work.
00:51:51.464 --> 00:51:55.168
Like you could do this all by yourself.
00:51:55.168 --> 00:51:56.770
God, you don't need us.
00:51:56.770 --> 00:51:59.873
But you choose to do your work in us.
00:51:59.873 --> 00:52:02.042
And we see that in ephesians when we know that we said,
00:52:02.042 --> 00:52:05.212
When paul writes that you can do infinitely more,
00:52:05.212 --> 00:52:08.048
Immeasurably more than we can ask, think, or imagine.
00:52:08.048 --> 00:52:11.585
But it's through your power at work within his father.
00:52:11.585 --> 00:52:14.621
So i pray right now the people that are watching
00:52:14.621 --> 00:52:17.424
That will just seek your wisdom, your guidance,
00:52:17.424 --> 00:52:20.026
And step in boldness
00:52:20.026 --> 00:52:21.361
Into what you've called them to do,
00:52:21.361 --> 00:52:22.729
That they'll listen, to hear your voice, that they'll
00:52:22.729 --> 00:52:25.632
They'll they'll be in your word,
00:52:25.632 --> 00:52:27.567
Make it a part of their everyday life, god,
00:52:27.567 --> 00:52:29.769
So they can walk in step with you.
00:52:29.769 --> 00:52:31.771
Not not missing a step, but knowing
00:52:31.771 --> 00:52:33.640
That this step is guided by you, you're giving them
00:52:33.640 --> 00:52:36.509
This step for today, in this step for tomorrow.
00:52:36.509 --> 00:52:38.378
Father, knowing that you're going
00:52:38.378 --> 00:52:39.479
To have incredible fruit in doing a measurably
00:52:39.479 --> 00:52:42.515
More through them, through their steps of faith.
00:52:42.515 --> 00:52:45.218
Father, we pray this and we declare this in jesus's name.
00:52:45.218 --> 00:52:48.955
Amen.
00:52:49.189 --> 00:52:50.523
In conclusion, bobby,
00:52:51.024 --> 00:52:54.928
The beyond a billion
00:52:55.362 --> 00:52:58.698
Celebration that we,
00:52:59.132 --> 00:53:02.636
Aired right here on tbn live.
00:53:03.270 --> 00:53:05.372
And we're going to air it again. and thank you for the number.
00:53:05.372 --> 00:53:07.440
Of times and and celebrate with it
00:53:07.440 --> 00:53:10.543
With you.
00:53:10.543 --> 00:53:13.113
In conclusion.
00:53:13.113 --> 00:53:16.316
You you have to sit here today
00:53:16.950 --> 00:53:20.587
And say, this is only god could have done this.
00:53:20.587 --> 00:53:24.824
Yeah, only god could have done it.
00:53:25.558 --> 00:53:27.961
And the only thing you can boast in
00:53:27.961 --> 00:53:32.932
Is that god chose you to do something
00:53:32.932 --> 00:53:36.936
In that mystery that he flows through us.
00:53:36.936 --> 00:53:40.307
But i think the biggest takeaway
00:53:40.940 --> 00:53:43.209
For me is you didn't run out and build a deck
00:53:43.209 --> 00:53:48.782
And raise money.
00:53:49.149 --> 00:53:51.551
You just got the kid
00:53:51.551 --> 00:53:55.322
That was working on
00:53:55.322 --> 00:53:56.956
Some little project in the church to start researching
00:53:56.956 --> 00:54:00.493
How to do something, like you did in a back
00:54:00.493 --> 00:54:03.863
Of a honda dealership in oklahoma city,
00:54:03.863 --> 00:54:06.866
To build something you had no idea how to build.
00:54:06.866 --> 00:54:10.170
And i think that's what god loves.
00:54:10.170 --> 00:54:12.005
Yeah, i think that's what he loves to,
00:54:12.005 --> 00:54:14.841
To show himself, because the word says
00:54:14.841 --> 00:54:17.844
He has chosen the foolish to confound the wise.
00:54:17.844 --> 00:54:20.814
And that's happened here, i love that.
00:54:20.814 --> 00:54:23.583
Thank you for your bold steps. yes.
00:54:23.583 --> 00:54:26.720
Even if you didn't even know what you're doing.
00:54:26.720 --> 00:54:29.389
God got the glory.
00:54:29.823 --> 00:54:31.991
And that's awesome.
00:54:31.991 --> 00:54:32.826
Well, can i can i just add to it?
00:54:32.826 --> 00:54:35.362
Because i don't want there to be any any confusion by anyone.
00:54:35.362 --> 00:54:38.365
It is 1,000% something that god has done.
00:54:38.365 --> 00:54:41.768
I often tell people,
00:54:41.768 --> 00:54:43.770
If you used a group of people from silicon valley
00:54:43.770 --> 00:54:45.972
To create the bible,
00:54:45.972 --> 00:54:47.006
That people would have said that makes sense.
00:54:47.006 --> 00:54:48.641
Those guys are smart in silicon valley.
00:54:48.641 --> 00:54:50.310
If i had used a publisher in new york to do it,
00:54:50.310 --> 00:54:52.879
They would say, that makes sense.
00:54:52.879 --> 00:54:54.781
But the fact that he used a church in oklahoma
00:54:54.781 --> 00:54:58.318
To do it is, i think, for one important purpose.
00:54:58.318 --> 00:55:01.221
And that is it doesn't make sense.
00:55:01.221 --> 00:55:02.822
Yeah, it could only be him. yeah.
00:55:02.822 --> 00:55:05.725
He gets 100% of the credit.
00:55:05.725 --> 00:55:08.027
It's nothing that we could have ever done on our own.
00:55:08.027 --> 00:55:10.430
And so it's all him.
00:55:10.430 --> 00:55:13.099
And you're right.
00:55:13.099 --> 00:55:14.768
So many people have excuses about why they don't start.
00:55:14.768 --> 00:55:17.604
My job, my goal in life is
00:55:17.604 --> 00:55:19.305
I just want to always be tuned into what?
00:55:19.305 --> 00:55:20.640
God's business, whatever it is.
00:55:20.640 --> 00:55:22.075
And i believe that god brings his resources to his vision.
00:55:22.075 --> 00:55:25.111
So i don't get worried about resources
00:55:25.111 --> 00:55:26.846
Because he provides them.
00:55:26.846 --> 00:55:28.181
He we have all kinds of people
00:55:28.181 --> 00:55:30.083
That step up to fund what we do, and it's donor supported.
00:55:30.083 --> 00:55:33.319
It's not ads, doesn't cost anything.
00:55:33.319 --> 00:55:34.954
I think we should
00:55:34.954 --> 00:55:36.089
Probably mention that because some people may not know
00:55:36.089 --> 00:55:37.891
There's nothing for sale in youversion.
00:55:37.891 --> 00:55:39.692
It's all completely free.
00:55:39.692 --> 00:55:42.095
We just,
00:55:42.328 --> 00:55:44.130
We just trust god when we step in faith,
00:55:44.130 --> 00:55:46.232
And he provides, you know, each step along the way.
00:55:46.232 --> 00:55:48.568
And so
00:55:48.568 --> 00:55:49.803
There is a purity in that, that, i try to try to always walk
00:55:49.803 --> 00:55:52.739
In, but, yeah, i'm an imperfect person for sure.
00:55:52.739 --> 00:55:56.376
This is definitely not something i've done.
00:55:56.376 --> 00:55:58.511
It's something that god's done for sure.
00:55:58.511 --> 00:56:00.513
We can claim we're the generation
00:56:00.513 --> 00:56:03.716
That can start putting in the phraseology
00:56:03.716 --> 00:56:07.053
Of things that god wants to do in our generation
00:56:07.053 --> 00:56:10.089
With the word billions.
00:56:10.089 --> 00:56:11.791
Let's think billions.
00:56:11.791 --> 00:56:13.059
Yeah. now, because that's what god wants to do.
00:56:13.059 --> 00:56:15.895
He's proven it through you, bobby.
00:56:15.895 --> 00:56:17.730
Thank you for what you've done.
00:56:17.730 --> 00:56:19.332
Youversion, is available, and it's most likely
00:56:19.332 --> 00:56:23.002
On all your phones already.
00:56:23.002 --> 00:56:24.871
Thank you for what you've done.
00:56:24.871 --> 00:56:26.439
Thank you. see you next time. bye bye.
00:56:26.439 --> 00:56:26.439

Beyond a Billion: Reaching the Ends of the Earth

February 20, 2026 | 56:44

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