Taking the gospel global through social

Twanna Henderson: Welcome to T Time: Spiritual Conversations For, With and About Women. I'm your host, Twanna Henderson and I want to remind you to like this podcast and share it with your family and friends. Well, I am excited about today's guest. Our guest is Pastor Keshia Dixon. Pastor Dixon, affectionately known as Pastor KD is the online campus pastor for First Baptist Church of Glenarden, located in Glenarden, Maryland. She is a preacher, a teacher of the Word of God and an author. And in her role as the online campus pastor, she is responsible for utilizing digital tools to discover, meet, engage, and disciple and minister to people all over the world who desire to connect with the church, and currently the online campus there has members on six continents. That is so amazing pastor KD, welcome to T Time.

Pastor KD: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

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that's a great question. And: 2020

Twanna Henderson: You know, that's very interesting, because it's, you know, it's very new. I mean, this is a very new area for a lot of us. And, you know, a lot of churches are really trying to, you know, kind of figure this thing out and just navigate through this. When you when you talk about, you know, an online campus and members, how are members recruited? I mean, how are people? How do you get people to become a part of an online campus?

Pastor KD: That's a great question. And so I'll, I'll give this disclaimer, we really don't go after members, if that makes sense. You know, we believe that church membership, of course, is Spirit led. So we don't necessarily promote in terms of marketing strategies and things like that on our online campus, but we do during our broadcast, allow people to go and let people know that membership is available to them, no matter where they are in the world. So we leverage our viewership, our followship, if you will, depending on what social media vehicle you're using, our subscribers, if you're talking YouTube, and so we use those platforms that we've already engaged people on to let them know that if God is speaking to them, if the the preaching and the teaching of pastor John K. Jenkins Sr., is ministering to them, and they feel led to connect with our church, then they can do that no matter where they are in the world, and they respond. So they're responding to the Word of God through our senior pastor, and then they want to connect with us, and that's when they meet me.

Twanna Henderson: Okay, well, that is so amazing, because, you know, it is, it's just a whole new world, so to speak. And, you know, a lot of times I mean, I can see someone, you know, viewing a broadcast, who lives you know, I know you guys are in Maryland, who may be in Seattle or somewhere. I don't know. You know, how does that work? If they're out of state? What does that look like? I mean, can connect from out of state? And, and what does that look like if they are have a connection with a church where they are. I mean, how do you how do you figure that out?

Pastor KD: Wow, these are all really great questions. And I actually have two answers, I have our First Baptist Church of Glenarden answer. And then I also have some advice for other churches who may be thinking of engaging in online campus. So how we do it here at First Baptist is, and I think this was the biggest pivot that we had to make was converting or transitioning, many of our key offerings to a virtual format to accommodate our membership. One of the things that pastor Jenkins was clear on from the beginning, is that we only have one church membership. So there's no e membership or anything like that, that's different from your membership here at the church if you were local. With that being said, the first charge that I had coming in the door, and setting up this online campus was to make sure that our online community has the same opportunity, and meets the same membership requirements as people who would be local. So that means making sure that our new members process is virtual and sustainable. So that people, because remeber that classes are required for membership, we've we had to create a virtual baptism process, because we're a Baptist Church. Therefore, if you've never been, you know, fully immersed after accepting Christ, then you have to be baptized in order to be a member. So we had to create virtual baptism opportunities.

Twanna Henderson: Let me pause right there. I mean, does that mean I go in my bathroom bathtub? And what does that look like?

Pastor KD : It could look like that, it could absolutely look like that. And, and we've started virtual baptisms, in February. So we've been doing them. We did February, March, April and then in about a week and a half, our May virtual baptisms are going to be held. And so it could absolutely look like that. We give people plenty of options, we created instructional videos to show people how the virtual baptism might look, we have an amazing productions department that built a set, you would think you were in a luxury home, but it was actually a set that was built so that we could film these demonstrations for people so that they would know how to conduct it. But in its basic sense, it could very well be a person in his or her bathtub. I think our sweetest moments have been the baptisms where parents get to participate in the baptism of their children, which they love, because even on site, the father doesn't baptize his or her children, you know, that's done by church staff. So some of our families, you know, we've had husbands to participate in the baptism of their wives. Amazing, pools, tubs. So it could be done many ways.

Twanna Henderson: You know, and I don't want to be legalistic, but there may be somebody listening, saying, Well, you know, you know, my family member is not, you know, an ordained person to be baptizing. How do you how do you get around that? How do you explain that to people?

Pastor KD: Okay, so here it is, and I've had these conversations with Pastor Jenkins and so I can say it, because I can say it with his permission. This is his stance as well. Fundamentally, this is his response in baptism, there is no power in the person who's doing the baptizing, there is no power in the place where the baptism is happening. There's no power in the water, the power is in your confession of faith to Jesus Christ. And with that being said, there's another pivot. And he's been really transparent about that. Some of these things, he had to pivot from thinking, you know, the way that possibly he had thought before. And so his stance, and I love it, there's no power in that stuff. The power is in that profession of Jesus Christ. So the question we get, I put it in these terms, Is this legit, you know, is this a legit baptism? Or is this temporary? And we have to go and do this again? And the answer is, it's legitimate if your confession of faith is legitimate, and so that's where the power is. And that's how we respond to that.

Twanna Henderson: Okay. Okay. At I think that's a great answer. Because I can see people asking that, you know.

Pastor KD: They ask.

Twanna Henderson: You know, am I qualified to do this, you know. Now tell me about, you said that, you know, online members or subscribers, whatever we want to call them have the same rights and privileges as any member of the church. Suppose I want to get married, you know, what does that look like? I mean, do I have to come there? Does that mean, what does that look like if someone wants to get married?

Pastor KD: That is a great question. And so what we what we have devised for our online campus members. So answer number one is a person who wants to get married, at First Baptist or by a minister of First Baptist Church of Glen Arden, after they've completed the same requirements, we have two classes that have to be completed and things like that, if they decide they want to get married, they can travel here, if they desire to, to get married here, as long as they've met our requirements. And at least one of them, of course, is a member of the church. But we do for our online campus members, we have two other options that we've presented to them. So one of them we call, well, actually, for weddings, there are three other options we have in what we call an in person travel option. So you can fly us to you, if you want one of our ministers to come and to do your your wedding. And you've of course, still completed all of the requirements, then you can fly a minister to you, now that's at your expense, not ours. So that's one option. But then we have a couple of other options where we can participate virtually either live, or we can at least send a video or recorded message. We've done the research, there are actually some states in the country where we can preside over the wedding virtually, and it's legal. Whereas in some other states, you know, the person has to be there, physically. And if that's the case, then we can participate virtually. So we've set up several options for people that include us participating virtually to whatever degree the law allows.

Twanna Henderson: Wow, I tell you times it really changed. So talk to us about some of the successes of launching an online campus.

Pastor KD: Wow, that's a great question. And thank you for asking. Um, so I think some of our biggest success, of course, has been the people with whom we have connected. So you mentioned earlier that we have online campus members on six continents, the only continent that we haven't gotten through to yet as and Antartica. But I know that there are people there, but I think that's one of the biggest success, you know, God's great commission is to go and make disciples. Go to the nations. And for so long, a lot of churches have thought that the goal was physical. And then COVID showed us that you can't physically go right now. But God's commissioned didn't change. So I think the biggest success has been how we've been able to go virtually and we've been able to make connections on six out of seven continents. To me, that's probably one of the if not the biggest success is that we're still getting the gospel out to the entire world. And we didn't have to subject ourselves to travel bans and quarantines to do it. So I think that's been our biggest success. And then I think a couple of the other successes has been the reception of the online campus. With our members here in Maryland, it has re energized or energized people. Everybody's excited. Wow, what do you mean, we have members in South Africa and Australia? What do you mean? And just to see the excitement among those of us here in a virtual context where people have been so down and I don't like that we can't do, you know, it's been a tough time. But to see the excitement, how can we help the ministries are coming together devising plans as to how they can assist with the online campus, so that's been another success.

Twanna Henderson: You know, that is pretty amazing. You know, it is different for people having that kind of online experience. Is it difficult creating a Sunday experience virtually.

Pastor KD: I would say yes, but I can't because we have the most amazing worship arts department music and worship department, our productions department. And so everybody comes together to create these experiences. And so I think that has helped significantly. So I'm not somewhere as the online campus pastor, trying to figure all of this stuff out on my own. You know, and I think that's, and that's kind of significant for any church that's looking to launch an online ministry is, it is a collaboration. Yes, my role is online campus pastor, but there's no way that I could do it all myself. So we have an amazing creative team. It's all hands on deck, everybody participates. And that makes it a little easier because we have some amazing creative folks and some amazing production folks. And some of the stuff they come up with. I'm in the meeting going, what we can do that? You know, I'm amazed at some of the things that we're able to do. So it's not difficult at all, because it's a team effort.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah. And let's be honest, the things that First Baptist Church of Glenarden can do, many churches cannot do. I mean, most churches don't have a production team and all these different things. And so, realistically, you know, the average church is, what, 100 people 125 people. But there are churches that are, you know, reaching people and serving the Lord, how, what advice would you offer to churches desiring to launch an online campus on their level?

Pastor KD: And I think you just I think you just hit one of the pieces of advice is, you don't have to be First Baptist Church of Glenarden to make an impact globally. And so I think the most important thing is to start where you are. So if your church currently does a live stream on Sunday on Facebook Live, they start building community on Facebook live, you know, start where you are, with what you have. I think that's probably most important. It's really tricky for a church with limited resources, to say, we're going to do this, that sometimes that doesn't inspire people, sometimes it demotivates them, because they see the gap between you know, and so start where you are, and build to where you're trying to go. I think that's most important. The Sunday morning experience is amazing. But build around that. You know, if a church services, say two hours on a Sunday, there are 168 hours in a week. So what can you do with the other 166? That becomes really important as well. Once services over, what other ways can you create community and connect with people outside of the Sunday moment? Because that's where discipleship happens. Discipleship doesn't happen on Sundays. It happens in those other 166. So consider how you might branch out and do new and creative things outside of the Sunday moment. That's a great way to get started. Where can we niche? What can our niche be outside of the Sunday morning?

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, that's excellent advice. With regards to the online pastor, you know, you have a very dynamic personality. What should a church look for in an online pastor?

Pastor KD: Wow. So that's another good question. And I think the most important characteristic is flexibility. The person must be agile and flexible, able to kind of shift back and forth between being, you know, technically aware and technically gifted, and also being able to connect with people. So I think flexibility becomes really important. Absolutely a person who is a great communicator, a person who can easily I don't want to, I don't want to say, make friends, but that's the best word. That's the best phraseology I can come up with a person who can make friends. It has to be natural. I don't have to pretend in this role. This is how God made me. And so I think a person who's comfortable with who he is or who she is, because that's, and genuine because that's what people connect with. That's the person that has to be totally tech savvy. No, but they can't be technology averse, either. So they can't be a person who, "Well, child, you know, all I all, you know, I just got", you know that's not going to work, you know, you have to be, you have to at least want to learn. I don't know everything about what's out there, but I like learning about it and figuring things out. And so those aspects do matter. But you can't be technology averse. You know, some people hear the term pastor and they think, oh, all I got to do is get on camera and preach to the people. No, we have a senior pastor, his name is pastor John K. Jenkins, Sr., he's the pastor of the church. As an online campus pastor, my role is a little bit, you know, it's a little more administrative. So, being able to preach good, is not is not the characteristic for this role. It's being able to connect with people.

Twanna Henderson: Yeah, and I'm so glad you said that, because, you know, our audience primarily is women, because T Time is for and about women. And, you know, there are so many ministry opportunities for women. And, you know, and I'm sure there are listeners who are thinking gosh I never even thought about, you know, that role. And, but not, you know, thinking that I needed to be, you know, have all of this experience in ministry or what have you, but you know, that I could really be developed to do something like this. And so I'm glad that you said that, because, um, there are so many ministry opportunities for people, and particularly for women, you know, in various roles, and particularly, now that we are in this new space, and how things have really changed a lot. I want to quickly kind of turn to giving, because that's, that's a huge part because we can't do you can't do ministry without money. I mean, if I mean, that's just the way it is. You can't feed people without money. You know, people don't want to just want to feed people. Well, it takes money to feed people.

Pastor KD: That's right.

Twanna Henderson: You can't do ministry without money. How has the pandemic caused or even forced the church to reimagine it's offerings?

Pastor KD: Wow, that's such a great question. So you know, churches spend, some churches, spend hundreds and thousands of dollars printing offering envelopes that are now sitting somewhere in a corner someplace. And so of course, electronic giving options have become king and queen during the pandemic. And so, whether we want it to or not, we had to expand how we perceive giving. And now with international implications we've had, you know, to go a step further to ensure and there are giving platforms that have currency converters, that will convert the currency for you. So, you know, jumping out there and doing things we never thought we had to do before. It's really important, but your e-giving options are definitely your best friend. And then if your church does not have text giving options, you absolutely have to, to engage those options as well. And I think the pandemic has forced us. It has been like, pivoting by force, you know, and some of us a year plus into the pandemic are still kicking and screaming, and we're still printing all of these envelopes, ready for church to reopen. So we can start handing them out, you know, and we're sitting here going, Well, we don't we're not passing no collection plate, you know, all of that stuff has to change. So now, often time might look like, Hey, everybody, pick up your device, and let's all give. That might become your offering time in your church is lift up your device to the Lord. And let's all give together. So everything has to be reimagined.

Twanna Henderson: I love it. I love it. Well, I know we're nearing our time. But you know, I know that First Baptist Church of Glenarden has a conference each year for ministry workers and church leaders called The Beyond Conference. I love that name. Tell us about this year's conference.

Pastor KD: Great. I'm so glad that you asked. So yes, every year we do The Beyond Church Leadership Conference. And this year, our theme is transition to transformation. So we're talking we're spending our time this year with The Beyond Conference, talking about how the pandemic has revolutionized how we do church. So we're spending time this year with church leaders. With ministry workers, there are workshops for church operations, how we do congregational care how that is pivoted. Discipleship. And we even typically, the conference has been one day where we just kind of open up all of our processes and show people how we do ministry. But this year, we're doing two days. And the first day now we're calling D day, D stands for digital. So we're going to spend the entire first day of the conference, looking at all things digital, some of the things you asked about, how do you curate a virtual worship experience, hosting virtual events. We, we man, our virtual events have been popping all year. So we're going to talk about that. Live streaming on a budget, worship, you know, worship and production, social media, and digital marketing, we're going to be talking about all of those areas. On the first day, which we're calling D day. So we're all about transitioning and transformation, our church theme for the year is God is doing a new thing. So he's really doing it even in our beyond conference, and I'm facilitating two workshops.

Twanna Henderson: Now we're gonna ask you, where are you going to be facilitating? Let me ask you is the conference virtual?

Pastor KD: Yes, the conference is totally virtual. And I'm going to give a little plug here, because the platform that we use for our conference, we built it. We build. So um, so we, we feel like we can really show people how to do this thing, because we build our own platforms here.

Twanna Henderson: Wow. Wow. So is so how is it different? The conference going to be different this year, the digital part any other differences for this year?

Pastor KD: Yeah, I think the digital part is huge. And then also, last year, we did the beyond conference, virtual as well. And it was great. And one of the things that we're trying to do a little different this year is to add the element of Q&A. So there will be opportunities for people to receive the presentation. But then there'll also be some Q&A. But I think the biggest shift this year is that extra day and that focus on digital. That's gonna be tremendous. We've not done that before. So we're excited about that.

Twanna Henderson: So give us the dates of the conference, and how how our listeners can register for the conference if registration has started.

Pastor KD: Awesome. So yes, the conference will be June 18, and 19th. So that's a Friday and a Saturday. And you can visit, we have a website that we set up just for the conference, it is www.thebeyondconference.com, thebeyondconference.com, and registration has begun, we actually have some really great rates that we're pushing right now there is a registration fee. And we do have some additional savings, if you register as a group of five or more. And the registration not only gives you access to the platform for the workshops, but you also get you know, access to these experts to us, those of us that are going to be facilitating the conference, you'll also get access after the conference. So once you register, you'll be able to go back and view the workshops, maybe you missed a session that you really wanted to see. So you'll be able to go back and access the conference after it's over if you register, and then we also have vendors. So you'll be able to have access to some vendors, some of the people that we work withthat are going to be presenting and and have some options available for you as well.

Twanna Henderson: So TheBeyondConference.com.

Pastor KD: Yes.

Twanna Henderson: TheBeyondConference.com. Write that down everybody you definitely want to. We're just a couple of weeks out from the conference now. So you definitely want to register for the conference and get your ministry teams as well to register for the conference. You will be blessed if you're a leader, if you're a ministry worker, if you're listening to this and you say hey, you want to go to your pastor or your leaders and say this is something that I want to be a part of, or can you know my ministry team, be a part of this you want to let them know. This has been so exciting on today, Pastor KD, I know that we've got many listeners on today and some are women who are leaders and ministry workers and and they are just kind of along with how your church is trying to pivot in In the midst of this new normal, that they found themselves and I want to ask you, if you will, just take a moment to pray for them and for all those serving in churches and even those who are even not connected to a church, as we wrap up, can you do that for us, please?

Pastor KD: Absolutely. I would love to. Let's go before the Lord, dear Lord, how we just honor you and thank you, God, we thank You because You alone are God, you are King of kings, You are Lord of lords. You are great and mighty, you are greatly to be praised, and we are honored to be called your children, God. So we just thank you, thank you for this great opportunity that you've given us to do ministry. To do Kingdom work. God wherever we are, and in whatever role we serve, you've called us to go and make disciples. So God, I look to you right now, the very many women who are serving and doing their very best to reach the world for you. God, would you empower them, give them give them supernatural endowment to be able to do the things that you've called them to do? God let us not think about gender issues or barriers that might try to prevent us from doing your work God, we speak against those things in the name of Jesus. Lord, we ask that you would help us to just have patience, that the thing that we're building will come to fruition. God help us Oh Lord, to not be weary in our well doing God help us to not be demotivated when those everybody on our teams doesn't see what we see. God help us to not turn our backs when things don't go well when stuff doesn't always work out. Because God we all know that we're doing this great work and we're doing it for you. And you are the God of the increase as we plant seeds oh God and as others water It is you who bring the increase and so God we thank you right now for increase that we've not even seen yet God, we thank you right now for a doors opening that were closed yesterday. God, we thank you right now for opportunities to go and stretch beyond where we are currently. We thank you God for the open mind to try things that we might not have tried this time last year. Give us oh God, a courageous spirit that says God, I'll do it for you. And if we do it for you, that you will bless it. God, we thank you. We ask that you touch and bless each and every person who's under the sound of my voice right now God, even if they don't yet know you, Lord, use something in this broadcast God. Something in this prayer, Oh, God, to touch their hearts and draw them to you. God, we know that you are the one who brings salvation. God you just asked us to plant the seeds. So right now God, we plant the seed of your word. And we ask that you cause it to grow in the hearts of everybody who's listening. Lord, we love you. We honor you. We thank you. We trust you. We believe you. And we're so thankful to be your children and your servants. We offer this prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Twanna Henderson: Amen. Pastor KD it is so great seeing you again. Thank you for being a guest on T Time today. It's been so good having you.

Pastor KD: Thank you for inviting me. I'm so honored to be with you today.

Twanna Henderson: I look forward to The Beyond Conference. To all of our listeners. I look forward to connecting with you the next time be blessed of the Lord.

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