00:00:00:000 - 00:00:02:065 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Youth ministry debates. Welcome to the 00:00:02:065 - 00:00:02:112 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry fourth 00:00:03:002 - 00:00:03:076 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry and 00:00:03:086 - 00:00:04:075 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry debate 00:00:04:085 - 00:00:05:008 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry episode. 00:00:05:033 - 00:00:05:050 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And 00:00:05:050 - 00:00:07:110 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry in this one we are talking all things 00:00:08:013 - 00:00:10:077 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry social media, and I'm debating none 00:00:10:096 - 00:00:11:103 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry other than 00:00:11:113 - 00:00:27:037 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry myself. And I'm going to be taking two different stances. Stance number one is going to be on social media. That is done for you. You download it out of a pack and you just set it and forget it versus social media. 00:00:27:037 - 00:00:39:053 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry That is custom social media that has your own voice and your own face. And we're going to be going head to head. Myself versus myself. Welcome, everybody to the Hybrid Ministry show. 00:00:39:063 - 00:00:49:065 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister's show. If you've not been following along, we are currently at the tail end of a playlist where we've been exploring big youth ministry 00:00:49:075 - 00:01:05:022 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry debates. And in this one, the debate is specifically centered around social media. And rather than trying to find another opposition or another person on the other side, I figured I would genuinely argue this position from each side of the social media aisle. 00:01:05:032 - 00:01:09:020 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Done for you versus custom for you. And so when I'm wearing a 00:01:09:033 - 00:01:10:111 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry black shirt, I'm going to be arguing 00:01:10:119 - 00:01:14:051 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry packs that are done for you, that are set it and forget it. Think 00:01:14:061 - 00:01:15:080 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Sunday social, think 00:01:15:080 - 00:01:19:015 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry nuclear social, think doing membership post. 00:01:19:025 - 00:01:22:111 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then when I'm wearing a white shirt. 00:01:23:000 - 00:01:38:028 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I'm going to be arguing social media. That's custom, social media that has your own flair, social media that has your own voice in your own face. And so, just like we've programed every single one of these other debate style episodes, that's how we are going to 00:01:38:028 - 00:01:40:080 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry do this with a minute introduction and 00:01:40:080 - 00:01:46:013 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry then two minutes of an argument, then a back and forth Q&A, followed by one minute of closing. 00:01:46:042 - 00:01:53:030 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And welcome to the podcast to argue social media myself. Nicholas. 00:01:53:040 - 00:02:09:105 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. So minute on the clock. So I've been in youth ministry for 15.5 years. Started out small churches in Ohio. Always seen the value and need for social media, digital ministry. In fact, I read a book, or listen to a podcast about exiles in Babylon. 00:02:09:115 - 00:02:18:045 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It was a Barna book and talked about the value of YouTube and how the next generation is going to be asking some of the heaviest and most theologically based questions on YouTube. 00:02:18:055 - 00:02:40:084 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So to kind of get my gears turning around YouTube, I started a little like YouTube through my church podcast, moved to a church in Chicago the first day Covid hit. And while we were there, obviously we had to come up with a digital and an innovative and innovative digital solution. And while we were doing that, it really like sparked my love, my continued love for social media, YouTube, and just digital ministry. 00:02:40:084 - 00:02:54:060 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so kind of ever since then, I've seen the value of it. I've seen the power behind doing a good job on social media. And then then I moved to Texas. Which next guy can take it away? 00:02:54:069 - 00:03:13:053 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. That's great. So I moved here to Texas in 2022. I came to be, one of my really good friends. His name is Darren. I came to be kind of like his right hand man and, learned a lot of stuff about digital and kind of poured into it and really, like, brought it to life here. 00:03:13:062 - 00:03:28:021 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In where the in the current setting that I'm serving in, last summer. So about eight months ago, at this point, he stepped away to another role, at another church, and I took over and assumed his role, which is a lot more management, and it's a lot more meetings 00:03:28:021 - 00:03:34:114 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry and a lot more oversight of people. And so my schedule looks like this on screen here. 00:03:34:117 - 00:03:51:098 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is a screenshot of my schedule. I actually sent it to him last week complaining. And I'm actually getting ready to hand social media over to a resident because I'm running out of time, no matter how well I'm mapping out and blocking my time. Social media is great, but there are other things that are also taking my attention. 00:03:51:098 - 00:03:56:060 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So, excited to be with you today. 00:03:56:070 - 00:04:22:029 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. Okay, so two minutes on the clock. So, I would say our goal as youth pastors is not to be content creators, not to be social media managers. But our goal as youth pastors and pastors in general, working in the church, our goal is to be disciple makers, and we should be implementing and facilitating, a system and a program that helps move students more meaningfully and significantly towards Jesus. 00:04:22:029 - 00:04:26:038 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so I know and I believe that social media 00:04:26:053 - 00:05:00:036 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry obviously is still important, and I believe that it has a role within the life of the local church. But I also believe that we should be primarily focusing on making disciples. And my argument for why you should consider done for you. Pax is it just while it's important, while social media can be a mechanism for life change and for disseminating the hope and the message of the gospel, I also know that as my calendar gets more and more full, as my plate gets more and more stacked up, and as I have more and more of those proverbial plates spinning, so to speak, that social media 00:05:00:058 - 00:05:14:000 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry is one of the first things to kind of like fall off my radar and so, yeah, so I believe in social media, but I also believe in delegation. And so if you can delegate that either through a team or through a, 00:05:14:011 - 00:05:20:101 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry just downloading a pack of especially like if you're a member, you're already paying for it like it's included. 00:05:20:110 - 00:05:45:009 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You should go ahead and check something like that out because, while the while like, I believe that we're busy, I believe that social media is important. I also believe that our ultimate goal is to raise up leaders and to help point people towards Jesus. And so if social media is taking that away from me, I don't want to, become less effective as a disciple maker because of social media. 00:05:45:009 - 00:05:57:084 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so because of that, I would recommend that you grab something that's done for you, that's taken care of, and you don't even have to worry about it. And it frees up your time to be the best version. And pastor of you that you can be. 00:05:57:094 - 00:06:23:016 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. So I would say two minutes on the clock. I would say my argument is that in social media, the goal is not to just get your announcements or your information pushed through. It's it's a very, very small part of it. In fact, the goal on social media is engagement, which my argument would be as youth pastors, as ministry leaders in churches, our goal should be engagement across the board. 00:06:23:038 - 00:06:47:118 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We would want people to engage not just with our church for the sake of engaging with our church. We would hope that they would engage with our church, and that's going to be helping to move and promote them towards and for life change. And so the same thing is true on social media. And just like every single time you're hanging out with a student at Starbucks, you're not only ever posting announcements in the same way that you're, or like you're hanging out at Starbucks. 00:06:47:118 - 00:07:03:107 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You're not only ever talking about spiritual, so if you're talking about life, you're talking about fun stuff, you're talking about interesting things. And you see, you know, the latest neighbor gets a stand up routine, like whatever that might be. And I think the same thing should be true on social media. And I think you should have a custom fingerprint of our own church. 00:07:03:107 - 00:07:26:012 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Right. And so because of that, I think that helps drive engagement and so people respond to people, people like some of our best performing posts on social media, our faces, not graphics that we cooked up in Canva. And so the more we can get faces, my face, my leaders faces, my senior pastor's face and other students faces, that's the goal on social media. 00:07:26:012 - 00:07:52:046 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so in the same way, like announcements are good, graphics are good, done for you. Stuff is good. But Dunphy can only take you so far because if it's done for you, it means it's also done for many. And if you're just posting something that someone else has already made, that can be done at any given church in any given context across America, only you have been called to be the youth pastor and the shepherd of your church and the students that God has entrusted to you. 00:07:52:057 - 00:07:59:032 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So lean into the customization of that and use it to spread the message of good news and hope of Jesus. 00:07:59:041 - 00:08:09:022 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. Okay. So I have a question for you. Nick. White shirt. Nick, how much time do you spend on social media per week? 00:08:09:032 - 00:08:26:099 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah, so let's see. Good question. I used to spend a lot of time on social media when I was editing our teaching videos. Probably took me ten hours a week between that, and then our other social media content, like our short form content, we finally built up our budget in such a way to be able to pay an editor, which I get. 00:08:26:099 - 00:08:46:069 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry That's a luxury. Not everybody has that. I would also say, like, if you have the potential to just, like, film yourself in the back of the room with a camera. Cameras have come a long way even since I started at this church in Texas. And so you could probably get a decent camera, a decent lens, and a decent like, just, what am I looking for? 00:08:46:069 - 00:09:01:017 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry An adapter into your soundboard? You can probably get that for a thousand $2,000. And again, you might have to work your way up for it. You might find a donor for it. If there is some money for it. But you can put a camera in the back of the room and you can film your messages, and you can use those for clips and stuff like that. 00:09:01:017 - 00:09:14:094 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then I also come a long way. So to answer your question and spend a lot of time when I've done a lot of the work myself, but do things like opus clip link down below if you want to check that out. If you have some sort of long form version of your message without lower thirds is going to crop it out. 00:09:14:094 - 00:09:39:097 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Opus clip is an amazing solution that will give you clips and chunks of your teaching, and of your messages that you can sprinkle on all throughout social and listen. Maybe video is not even an option for you. Maybe just like record your sermons through soundboard and post to audio. Have an audio sermon like that's still a version of hybrid Ministry of Digital Ministry might not be the most effective just on social media, but there's even ways to do that where you have like the sound wave bar, right? 00:09:39:097 - 00:09:59:056 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And like you can do overlays and B-roll and, and you can do your slides and stuff like that as you clip up some of the things. So like, you don't have to be hamstrung by the equipment side of your, of your life. And then that being said, I built out a whole strategy. I owned it, but then as I've owned it, I've handed it off. 00:09:59:056 - 00:10:17:018 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So on the capturing and creation side, I have a whole team of students who are building that out every single Wednesday night. And then on the editing side, I have a whole team of students, and even some leaders and other staff members who are helping, do some of that. But I don't manage much of it anymore. 00:10:17:018 - 00:10:29:052 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So I would say in an honest assessment, I spend less than an hour per week and have a fully customizable social media, YouTube channel, Instagram, all those things. 00:10:29:062 - 00:10:33:003 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. I mean, my question to you, black shirted Nick would be like, 00:10:33:003 - 00:10:45:034 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I get that you were all about done for you, but have you considered raising up volunteers to give you a hand on some of these things as you've, you know, gotten busier and lost some of your time that you used to have? 00:10:45:044 - 00:11:21:066 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah, actually, yes. I have raised up volunteers in in my space. And that's one of the reasons why, the done for youth stuff. I mean, I'm not so far down the done for you path. It's because of my own prep of raising up volunteers. So I have a couple of students, who I've raised up in who have taught how to run and do social media for themselves, and how they, can, come in at edit off of our computers, our machines, our software that we spend the money for that we've invested in. 00:11:21:075 - 00:11:43:079 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And they have my help, my troubleshooting ability. But if I didn't have them at this current juncture, I'm not sure that I would have as much time to devote towards, you know, five, five, days a week, two posts per day, ten, ten different pieces of content. Like, I don't know that I would have that amount of time to get something like that off the ground. 00:11:43:079 - 00:12:10:093 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So something that's a little more done for you, something that's just a little bit more turnkey. In my current role, with the amount of direct reports I have, with the amount of people that and meetings that I've found myself in. Had I not raised up those volunteers to continue to keep doing what I'm doing as I've stepped into this new leadership role and I'm not I'm not 100% sure how well I would be at launching a brand new hybrid in social media, like kind of ministry and campaign, like right now. 00:12:10:102 - 00:12:21:095 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. So final minute on the clock. My final closing argument is honestly my own social media pack. I don't mean for this to be like self-promotion and like a plug, but the fact of the matter is this is that I 00:12:21:111 - 00:12:32:100 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry have a pack that has a whole done for youth section. In fact, I was just on social media not ten minutes ago, and one of the members from my cohort, I follow their youth ministry. 00:12:32:109 - 00:12:55:086 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I ran across a takes 60s to pray post. I ran across one that I had made and I had created myself. And so I saw another youth ministry. I saw another youth pastor use my content for their own students. And that's why I would recommend this, because sometimes you have the bandwidth, sometimes you have the margin, and sometimes you have the creative energy, but other times you simply don't. 00:12:55:086 - 00:13:09:101 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so you need something that's still good, that's still effective, and that's still going to push the mission of Jesus forward in your space, in your context, in your church. And you can do all that through social media and on your social channels. 00:13:09:111 - 00:13:30:062 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah, right. So my argument is that social media is best when it's custom. People respond best to faces. And you, if you're the youth pastor, you've been called to shepherd your people, which also includes putting your face on your Instagram, on your YouTube, on your TikTok, and, shameless plug my done for you and custom for you social media pack. 00:13:30:062 - 00:13:54:048 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I have four different seasons summer, fall, winter, spring, $17.99. Or you can become a Patreon member, which gives you access to our weekly bonus podcast. And then as a part of that $4 per month membership cost, the $17.99 social media pack will coach you through how to have a custom and hybrid social media ministry. It will give you scripts. 00:13:54:048 - 00:14:10:089 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It will tell you, it'll give you filming prompts. It will give you man on the street questions with the graphics and the overlays so that your social media can be custom, but it doesn't have to break the bank financially or from a time standpoint. Check it out. Link down below in the description. 00:14:10:099 - 00:14:33:044 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Well, hey, thanks everybody for hanging out on this episode. And I think, and I hope that you're able to tell that my genuine answer is that, yes, it should be custom social media and that yes, it should be done for you. Social media. And I have the perfect tech to blend those two things together. There is information and a link down below in the show notes. 00:14:33:044 - 00:14:53:059 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Or if you just have questions, bro, reach out to me. Shoot me a DM. If you found this episode helpful, interesting, or at least just something comical to laugh at because I was literally debating myself just with a different outfit, then hey, go ahead and give us a like or subscribe. That would be the greatest form of payment, especially if you choose not to go check out the social media pack. 00:14:53:068 - 00:14:57:009 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But until next time my friends. And as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.