85 - Behind the Mic with guest Kris Emerson

In this episode, we sit down with Kris Emerson, preacher and host of Excel Still More Podcast, for an honest look at podcasting as ministry: the wins, the pivots, the discouragements, and the moments that prove it matters. Kris shares how a simple idea recorded on the closet floor grew into a weekly tool for spiritual growth, and why his message has shifted from self-improvement to Jesus-anchored transformation.

We also talk shop — recording habits, personal standards, editing philosophy, multi-host dynamics, and how to balance creativity with calling without getting swallowed by metrics. If you're building something, teaching something, or trying to grow without drifting, this conversation will encourage you to stay consistent, stay humble, and stay Christ-focused.

Contact the Exhorter Podcast

• Email us at media@clovischurchofchrist.org
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Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Jon 0:04

Okay, welcome to the Exhorter podcast where you aim to stir up love and good works through bite-sized biblical discussion. This week we have had a guest with us, Kris Emerson, uh from Lindale Church of Christ in Texas. Also uh the host of the Excel Still More podcast. ESM. I'm seeing you short net these days on things.

Kris 0:25

Too many uh Microsoft Office results Excel type in Excel.

Jon 0:29

Okay, that makes sense. We brought you out here to do uh a Clovis youth forum and to teach to a bunch of kids, and we've had a great time of it. We decided we'd take some time to podcast a little bit too. Uh this will be kind of one of two episodes. This will gonna be the uh talking shop episode. I have admired uh Chris, your efforts, and uh the podcast for a long time. Um, I think Melissa, my sister, turned me on to it probably like six years ago. I mean because you've been doing it seven years now. It'll be so we're about three years into our podcast, um, almost about 90 episodes, and uh we've kind of shifted a little bit and kind of softened up over the time. And this you're the first person that um we've actually I'm I can talk to, and we've actually been able to talk to about kind of a meta or about behind the scenes of the podcast that actually does podcasting as well.

Kyle 1:22

It's sort of like the parable of the sower and the seeds. It's the parable about parables that if you don't understand this, how will you understand any other parables? So it's like the podcast about podcasts today.

Jon 1:34

Yeah, and if that's cool with you guys, uh I just have some questions here, and just feel free to you know toss them out as we have them.

Kyle 1:39

I think Nate and I will have minimal contributions to this one. Um you guys always pipe in, but my first It's been on seven episodes.

Nate 1:45

I know something about podcasting.

Jon 1:47

He came in into a later season. He wasn't he wasn't on original three.

Nate 1:51

Yeah, I wasn't invited originally. I was I I'm still the replacement. I don't know.

Kyle 1:55

He's yeah, but everybody liked BJ Honeycut more than Trapper John on MASH, so you know. Did we? Was that a slam against Paul? I didn't mean that. Paul, if you're listening, I'm sorry.

Jon 2:04

Paul Paul we love you. Hey, you know what? He has had ample time. I have four mics here and he'll come back. Chris, did you ever imagine the podcast would um reach so many people in general?

Kris 2:16

I did not. I did not. I was uh what February, January of 2019, and uh a buddy had just said, Hey, why don't you record something that's not worship, not sermon that bridges together some good self-help stuff that works with with the scripture? And I sat down on the floor of my closet and recorded three episodes. I did a little bit of research, I tried to get a good launch going, so I figured out you know the idea of having three and how to leverage your social media to try to get some attention. So I was trying, but uh, you know, I thought it would just be among our brothers and sisters in Christ, a few, but it it it had a good first year, and then COVID was the next year, and and that was a game changer as far as just people looking for access to content. And um so yeah, it it it uh became more than I thought, and it's led to a really cool relationship, so it's been nice.

Jon 3:02

So your impetus for actually hitting the record the first time was you were someone dared you to? No, uh, basically. Someone basically thought it would be a good idea, and you Yeah, but did you have any aptitude or or focus about that before? Because not really.

Kris 3:18

I'd spent about a year just reading some books, just different things. And I noticed that uh, for instance, in a lot of really great modern self-help books, there's a ton said about gratitude, and how gratitude and thankfulness are the most important elements to whatever, but they never mentioned God. And I'm thinking, that's so weird. Like, who are you grateful to?

Kyle 3:36

Like your Thanksgiving has gratitude is gratitude is good for you, yeah, but aside from God, yeah, it's like thank you, blank.

Kris 3:43

Yeah, which sounds so strange and it's missing out on ultimate power. And so that was kind of rolling around my head a little bit, frustration with some of what I was seeing. And like I said, a friend, uh, we weren't even that close at the time. I just basically said, if you can find me a jingle, I'll start something. And like the next week he sent me the little whatever.

Jon 4:00

Is it the same one that's still forever?

Kris 4:02

Yeah, I was like, okay. And then I just thought, I just want to bridge it. Uh episode one was called uh just get better, which I'm not particularly proud of anymore. You know, it's like just get closer to Jesus now, but in the early years, it was just get better. I almost called the show just get better and made episode one excel still more. And I'm really glad about that. Yeah. You know.

Jon 4:23

Well, that's another thing. We were talking about the other day how there have been certain uh podcasts you might put out there, and then maybe a year or two or sometime goes by, and you might look back at that and go, I see it slightly different. Uh, how do how do you feel? This is kind of a an interesting thing in the last 10 to 20 years, more preachers are putting their information out there digitally on YouTube and in podcasts and things, and they kind of live there forever until you guess. I guess you could always go ahead and take it down or re-edit it. But um, has it changed your perspective of your of the podcast? Yeah, were there learnings you know, throughout that? Has it changed your delivery and the message?

Kris 5:03

I'm sure it has. I mean, I I do podcasts like uh I make me think of like Seinfeld or something, just like everyday life, you know. My podcast or this is what I'm experiencing this week, this is what I think's interesting. So it's me, you know, each week is not it's not planned or scheduled. It's just here's my life. And I've been through a lot, like you guys, in the last six and a half years, a lot of really interesting things. And so I'm sure my uh angst or joy or frustration or where I was, that's always gonna be in there. And you have to be people have been great about getting that, that I'm just sharing my life with you. Yeah. So that's what it's gonna be. But I've also changed on things. You know, I did Nehemiah the other night with the with the young people, and I've got an episode, I think, in the first couple of years, or certainly a sermon where I applied, I'm Nehemiah and I'm gonna use it to make my life better. And then a few years ago I did a podcast, and I'm like, I'm still Nehemiah, except if I'm gonna rally up all you guys to service the church. And now, you know, if I do a Nehemiah podcast tomorrow and I may have one from last year, it's like Jesus is Nehemiah and He's just calling me to serve. Why did I ever think it was me? You know? And you you gotta give some grace towards growth. I think as long as that growth is towards Jesus, not towards self or towards self-elevation. I've like, I think I've gone the opposite way. I got a long way to go. I think I've gone the opposite way, away from me and more towards him.

Kyle 6:17

I think that's something that's a lot more apparent when when you are doing something like a podcast or you're a preacher and your sermons are recorded, and there's always this growth process, at least that you hope you see. And so if if you look back at old sermons or old podcasts and you don't like what you see, well that that means you've you've made some changes and you've grown. And that's the way I try and look at it. Uh I remember um I was got to speak at the Florida College lectures a couple years ago, and uh the president of the college, uh John Weaver, came in and talked to me. And I've I've met him a few times through my work with the summer camps, but he mentioned that he'd actually heard me preach in Abilene when he was working at Abilene Christian College, and my brother was preaching down there, and I got to do a meeting, and I was in my early 20s, and I just it just kind of like and that he said that before I I think before I did my lecture, and I just it it got in my head. I was like, oh man, well, if that's the Kyle he's heard, and then how did I even get this this opportunity to speak at lectures?

Jon 7:14

And but I'm a different person than I was, and I I think we can look at our old podcasts and but that's the thing is is uh when someone visits it, they don't necessarily you know, if you're doing my searches and stuff, you don't necessarily see that it's been three to six years uh old. So sometimes everything that someone engages with online at that time is right now. It it exists the way that you think of it, it's your perspective right now. And so that but can you get in your head sometimes though, thinking like is this gonna is this uh evergreen, as we used to say in in education, is this gonna be can this live out there for forever? And I haven't known a preacher yet that has said that they didn't change their perspective on a scripture in 10 years. You know, everyone does it. So it's just a different media and a different kind of world that uh I'm I'm I'm curious if that's affected you at all, or th or you know, I mean there's a difference between deeper and different.

Kris 8:08

You know, if I if all of a sudden I believe something different than I believed before, then I would remove that thing. And I've had a couple of sermons where what I believe now is different than what I said or expressed, and so I took those down. But through this, this is just everyday life stuff. So it's just gonna deepen and change. It is interesting that new podcast listeners, when they'll reach out and go, I'm a new podcast listener, they'll say, I listened to the most recent one somebody sent me, and then I started back at the beginning and I'm hitting them. I hear that a lot. So they start back at the beginning, and one uh one person had uh listened to the first year and then met my daughter, and she's like, You're supposed to be five years younger than this, and you just finished a swim meet or something. Like they're tracking it from behind. So that stuff's still there, people are gonna listen to that, and you just have to decide. You know, critics are gonna be critics no matter what. Sure. But friends are friends, you know, and they they get it, they get the flow of it and the change of life, and hopefully we're becoming more like Christ, and we are uh giving more of the spotlight to him as we go along, you know.

Jon 9:02

Has your motivation over time changed for doing the podcast in general?

Kyle 9:06

Well, that's that's a question I had too is is what and and maybe related to that is how do you define um it being worth a worthwhile endeavor? So um like what what's your metrics for that? And and at what point do you think, like, well, it's not move on and do something else?

Kris 9:23

Oh man, it went through a bunch of cool cycles. Like at first, it was just I like to try things for about a year and then I give up on them. That's my thing. And I've changed that in my 40s through the podcast, through what I've learned by doing podcasts. So I thought at 40 or whatever I was, I thought I'll just do this for a year. And so at first it was just a curiosity to try, and then people started listening. That's fun. That's fun when you're we got on like uh Apple new and noteworthy or something for eight weeks, and so there was growth. And uh the guy that I met, the Baptism in Ohio, that guy just founded on Apple, you know, he had no church affiliation, and so there was some growth, and then it grew a while, and then by the second year, I had sponsors, so all of a sudden I'm making some money, you know. I mean, it's a it's a business at that point, and yeah, that was cool for a while. They were friends and we were really cool about it. We never made it business-y, but you know, for a few years, it was like, hey, this is a little business that I'm doing, and that motivated. And then that kind of um I mean it kept on for a while, but I forgot about it. You know, it never was then it wasn't about that at all anymore. And then I started to learn by about the second or third year, I'd get a call from a guy and he'd go, My dad's not a Christian and he will not listen to sermons. But he listens to the podcast because it doesn't feel like he's being preached to. And then I would hear a story a few months later, same story, except after they got comfortable with the podcast, which feels just very everyday. Then my uncle or my daughter, my dad, then they went and star to Lindell and started listening to sermons, and then you get a story once a year where they obey the gospel, and you're going, okay, wait a minute, you know, and that's still what it is now. I mean, I'm worn out, my ideas are probably retreads, and the sponsorship thing has waned a lot. I don't even really engage that that much. And uh but I still get the I still get the email once every you know couple weeks going, you know. I remember one one mom called me and said my daughter is um is it bulimic? Is that right? Or uh and she uh she paces her dinner by the episodes. It takes her about an hour to eat, and her goal is to try to finish her dinner by you know three episodes. I'm like, dang, you know. So I don't know, you get some emotional connections.

Jon 11:25

Is now a part of routine life for people, which I'm sure and that's what it is for me now.

Kris 11:29

It's just routine now. I'm just stubborn now. Now it's just routine.

Jon 11:32

Well, I mean, you just hit two things that you know, first one was you talked about the sponsorship. So you talked about this is a personal work that you're doing, not necessarily work of the church in Lindale. And so that's a little different. And and I I'm kind of curious as to you, is so we're doing this and we've done this as I guess we only really knew of it as okay, we're just gonna do it for you know, the church. And and elders were really great about just saying, yeah, sounds good, let's try that. Do you do you see any uh you know pros, cons, values of that kind of process of possibly doing this as a personal work versus a work for the church? Because there are there has been some thoughts or criticisms um in in in talking to people about you know maybe our episodes or things, in the sense that you are present, you are basically you know a presentation of the church, you know, out there. Yeah, and there's a little pressure being on pressure on that a little bit more than necessarily um just my Facebook audience or my friends. I'm not the most professionally behaved person. They are not the most professionally behaved people, and so and I I've kind of had that then question, okay, well, would this work better as a as a personal work, you know? Um I'm just curious from your perspective.

Kris 12:42

I think it's cool you are all members here and you're doing it here at the building and it connects and you want your members, you know, really doing it, probably even primarily for your members, and then it really's in their family. I mean, that's really important. I I think you know, a preacher does attach to the church. And so what I do does in some ways reflect on the Lindell church, and I have to keep that in mind some, but look, the bus principle is always in play for preachers. You get on one, they put you on one, you get hit by one. Like you're not married to a church forever. You you're you so this is the thing you're doing for this church. And if if Kyle moves away, another guy will sit in this seat. That's what this is. What I want to do. Yeah, you I mean, you he would go and you bring somebody else in, the new preacher would do it. But for me, I'll tell you what, I was in East Texas, like just starting out episode one with an instrumental jingle at the beginning. You know I got some heat.

Jon 13:30

Yeah, that's I mean so I I picked instrumental. I was like a worship song, and it sounds kind of weird.

Kyle 13:37

I tried that a little bit and then Well, if you did some a cappella worship songs, you probably get a whole different crowd getting on your keys.

Nate 13:44

That's what we should do. We should record an a cappella version of the intro jingle. It'll be us. Just us, just us, no one's gonna be able to do that. Chris, you can do it for what part do you want to sing?

Kris 13:54

Uh bass or nothing. No one wants to hear that though.

Kyle 13:57

I try to define I try to define success in the same kinds of ways too, is not necessarily looking for uh huge followings. Um, you know, sounds like you were a little bit surprised by some of that, and like you said, the timing of COVID. And uh so I try not to find my let myself get discouraged if I if I'm not seeing these big, big picture metrics, but small things. And yeah, I think every preacher's got their stories of sermons are put up on YouTube, and I was emailed by someone like like 200 miles away in a town where there's no churches and just exchange emails over the course of two years, and she was baptized eventually. And um, you know, so we we've all got some good stories like that. And those are the kinds of things that really keep keep you going.

Kris 14:40

And we're men, like in my first year or two, I was tracking those numbers every week. It was all about, you know, you want to be successful in what you do, and that's all about growing up too. I mean, I don't think I've looked at those out, I couldn't even tell you for in the last year or two. You just but we you go through that. You go through, you know, how big, how strong, how good can it be? And then, you know, all that becomes silly, and then you still get those little emails or those calls, and you realize, you know, you're just trying to. I mean, look, the I didn't know a lot of people were gonna y'all want to get into preacher stuff. Like, I didn't know a lot of people were gonna listen, and I didn't know how people were gonna react to that. And it hadn't been all all awesome. Like you when you have a reach, um life's a little bit different. The way people react.

Jon 15:20

Exposure is expensive.

Kris 15:21

And I, you know, in many days it'd be better to just uh I think I'd I'd get out of some hot water just by uh reducing the extension. But man, one person in Arkansas that gets encouraged tomorrow is is worth the whatever that comes about. But that took a while to grow through too.

Jon 15:38

Yeah, for our economist here, that's the uh cost-benefit analysis.

Nate 15:43

What's the what's the ratio of criticism to encouragement for you?

Kris 15:48

I I think it it hit a a weird spot a year or two ago because uh for the most part is fine, a few years, but you know, then it turns out like let's say there's there's 10 churches around and maybe maybe 50 people in each church are listening. And you know, that that can be hard for local preachers to accept that there's a guy somewhere else that they're listening to. And then if the way I approach things a little bit different than that guy, which is just kind of naturally gonna happen, now you they might say we got a problem. I don't think we have a problem. I think Christians are pretty smart, you know. They listen to a podcast guy, you take what you like, you dump the rest. The preacher preaches, you take what you like, you dump the rest. Like it's actually not that big of a thing.

Jon 16:25

No, you're not preaching on Monday.

Kris 16:26

But uh, but you know, preachers are a funny, funny little group. But um, and you know, some of the criticism I get is is warranted because I I've not always said things well and I've not always had my, you know, I've been emotional about things and all that. But in in general with the podcast, I've always tried though not to be doctrinally controversial because it's never been about it's never supposed to have been about that. You're supposed to help somebody have a better week, you know. And every once in a while one would sneak in. I remember doing like uh uh Spirit and Truth a few years ago, and I brought up a scenario or something, and it became and I kind of crossed that line into some doctrinal button pushing.

Jon 17:05

Yeah.

Kris 17:05

But I try not to do a whole lot of that with this.

Jon 17:07

Well, I think sometimes we pick uh episodes here um to see if anyone's listening, like our tattoos one that was really fun. And these two were arguable. We used to flip the scripts and argued from different things. Um but I usually try to find things too that's uh a little billion. Here's the thing is I like the idea. We talk about a lot of things.

Kyle 17:28

We like more application, I think, than doctrine if that's a too subtle a distinction.

Jon 17:33

I like when we can talk about things that people are talking about outside of this building that we just don't have a conversation with about or we don't have a sermon about.

Kyle 17:43

We live it, we live in the gray, really. That that that gray area where people have questions and we're just not really sure where does the Bible even talk about this kind of stuff. Those are the kinds of topics we like to delve into. And I think it's due, it you do well to remember that that not all formats are created equal. And I I kind of agree about the not getting button pushing about doctrinal issues. Is yeah, I just think a one-sided podcast is probably not a good format. I like I like on on difficult things like that, I like to sit down face to face and just talk to someone. And I just think that's unbeatable when it comes to working through a difficult topic.

Kris 18:19

Well, it sounds like you have some clarity on what you're here to do on this on the inner circle, like maybe get questions from members or things that they want to know about that maybe don't preach perfectly, but could use two or three perspectives. I mean, that's a pretty cool thing if they know that's what we're getting into. What something that may not have a printed out final answer on the back end. Yeah, but you'll have information and perspectives.

Jon 18:39

Sometimes we don't have conclusions. Sometimes we don't have sometimes okay.

Kyle 18:43

I'll sometimes I get surprised by the conclusions I come to. Like on tattoos, I was surprised. You know, Nate, Nate was a prodigal in his college years. I assumed he had a Chinese character tattooed on him somewhere that Lord tells us about. Uh and you know, I grew up born race bank in the Church of Christ, and and uh I'm unsullied by Inc, but I came across as the pro tattoo guy on that episode, and that surprised me. Yeah.

Jon 19:06

Those are fun.

Kris 19:07

Um are you like the drinker, like the person who's never drank who thinks probably one drink's okay, and then you're in the room with two alcoholics who are like, no drinks are ever okay. Is that how that went down? Like the tattoo people are like never again, and the non-tattoo guy's like, the little one won't hurt.

Jon 19:21

Kind of, but we're not bringing our wives into this conversation. Oh, yeah, you see, yeah.

Kris 19:28

Was that post-marriage?

Jon 19:30

That was post-marriage, yeah.

Nate 19:35

Maybe we should do a video episode of the tattoo.

Jon 19:41

They're not ready for that kind of exposure. Um we've seen the ESM grow uh over years, weekly episodes, books, uh, daily episodes now. And I I think I really enjoyed when you were doing videos and when we started to do videos because I didn't put the picture, the face with the and I love how you're doing it because you're not doing uh a massive edit. You're you're doing very simple in your, I'm assuming that's your office at the building. Yeah, and that's nice, it's very clean, and it kind of matches the quality of the podcasts and things too. It's not it's not like a zoom call. I've seen those. Um, and so uh I'm curious as to it, has there been it was there a growth strategy, or just every year you kind of look at it and pivot and kind of want to do something different?

Kris 20:27

I'm gonna have to. I'm way in over my head on this. So I started last fall writing the first daily Bible devotional, which is Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and it needed a ton of edit work, and I didn't know what I was doing. So it turned out if when I recorded it out loud in one take, I would catch all the mistakes. Yeah. So my brain would do that. So I thought, you know what? I'll go ahead and record that, and then I can put it out in two formats. That was not the original intent. No, and at first I didn't have a good computer in that room. So when I decided to do video as well, and this is just for one year, by the way. This will be done in after December 31st. It's a one-year deal. Uh so then I would go in there, one room, and I would record my podcast. I would record it in in audio, and then I would come in there and do it again in video. And hey, editing wise, that was terrific. But like wearing me out wise, I mean, the New Testament has 260 chapters, and I recorded 260 videos twice. Uh, about half of them twice until I until I went and got a better Mac and figured out how to get the sound quality pretty good. Now I record the podcast right there in that room as well. Um, that's a one-year project, but it helped, you know. I I like to try to be efficient. You know, I thought, okay, efficient wise, it helps with the writing of the books to do the videos. So let's let's produce two two things that help each other. And like I'm writing the Genesis, I'm gonna go ahead and do Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and maybe keep going. I don't know, but I'm not no no audio or video. I I need a it was too much.

Jon 21:49

Um you know, and then just take a picture of yourself and have AI do the whole video of you to your voice. Just put the text in, like, just put in your audio, the actual audio that you recorded, and then a picture of you, and then we'll just make a video of you. It won't look weird at all.

Kris 22:04

Uh, if it looks anything like the Sora videos my kids send me of us, uh, I'd be terrified. Yeah, yeah.

Jon 22:11

What has ESM taught you personally?

Kris 22:14

It's a lot like preaching. Uh, some of the stuff I talked about this weekend. Here somebody walks up and they're like, Man, that's exactly what I've been wrestling with. And that's, you know, you're touching on. How did you know that? I'm like, how do I know? Like, our walks are common. Four of us are on the same walk. And what I learned through ESM was from the people, from people who would reach out or talk to me. And what I'm just sharing what's going on in my life and what I'm studying. And you're just not, I would tell anybody, like, you're not alone. That's why it's good to if you want to express yourself in some way, and you can make it not about you, but just sort of be a part of your life. Um, there's a lot of people going through what you're going through. And what I learned most is I'm not alone.

Jon 22:54

Yeah.

Kris 22:55

I'm just not. There's not an episode I recorded where somebody came back and went like, that was so unaccessible and specific to you, and now it's like you've elevated no. It's just honest life.

Jon 23:08

Some of the best feedback I think I've gotten of our work is when someone says like this episode, or I know in the first ten minutes, four or five minutes if this is an episode for me. But they're still willing to listen to every single episode to start it, you know. And I love the idea. It's like, yeah, assess whether or not this you're enjoying this and but still tuning in, and I appreciate that. And then we'll, of course, we'll have a handful of people that get mad when I don't edit it on time or something. So I maybe I have fallen into the trap of, okay, how many people do we have at this congregation? How many views do I have? How many of you catch up people?

Kris 23:46

Come on. I still joke on Sundays in Lindo. I'm preaching something. I go, this is in the episode last week, so three of you guys know what I'm about to say. I still do that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Nate 23:53

We talk about our female viewers. We have we have three. Well, it we only have a handful, right? Yeah, our wives and mothers.

Jon 24:01

Well, my little bit passed away, so it just went down. So there we go. I didn't want to say that.

Nate 24:07

I realized after I brought it up, I was like, oh man.

Kyle 24:09

Maybe my sister's listening to foot and mouth. Well, in that, so you're you know what really just side point, what really got me was when we first started doing YouTube when I was in Utah, and I would track, you know, I had a couple sermons that were like 10 to 12,000 views, and I was pretty excited about that, a couple thousand views. And they were on things like the apocryphal books and uh you know, things that you got to preach on every now and then, but they of course appeal to a certain audience out there. And then I check our web our YouTube channel from time to time and just look at who is top, you know, which videos were top. And then all of a sudden, my buddy Randy preached a sermon, filling in one time, you know, he's a lay person, right? He's got like 35,000 views and counting on this. Like, how many times did your mom watch this, Randy? Or it was like it was like on time management. And I'm like, I've had a bunch of businessmen in China watch this like thinking it wasn't a Bible lesson or something, and that just that just bugged me.

Jon 25:04

Well, I you know, when you're talking about the initial like self-help, you you mentioned that. I think that's why I connected with yours uh earlier on, because uh Nate and I have been in the world of education, and I was actually in a company that taught emotional intelligence and soft skills and all these other things, and then so a lot of our work too is also like professional development and helping people and um and so I think it just hit at the right time, probably 19 through I definitely through COVID, that I was listening to a lot of that stuff, and I think that I appreciated having a biblical perspective to align with all the other self-help books that I was listening to and and the things that I was trying to be more of a professional on at work, and yet being then having a little balance of the grounding on the biblical side. So I think that's why I kind of connected with it because you had like a niche there. You know, people there's lots of podcasts out there about scripture and about very focused, but a lot of times yours will come in to the perspective of just how to be a better person and just how to you know live and manage.

Kyle 26:09

I suspect, I guess, to one of our earlier questions about the difference between us being more or less a function of this local church versus just something Chris does, though connected to his his work as a preacher in Lyndale. But I think that gives him a little more leeway. I I don't know technically, but it just feels like it gives you a little more leeway to cover. Yeah. You've you've you've talked about like fitness and uh finances. We've talked a little bit about finances and we but I think it gives you a little fit.

Jon 26:37

Well, I did have two sodas last night. Oh, I know.

Nate 26:40

Did you did you catch any flack, Chris, for bringing in self-help uh like philosophy or ideas to the podcast?

Kris 26:50

No, uh a lot of that was the first half. So let's say it's been going on seven years. A lot of that was more in the first half when I was really riding out all the stuff that I'd read. But when I brought on um what's his name? The the guy who wrote uh The Miracle Morning. Oh, Hal Elra Elra. When I got Hal to come on, like I got so many cool responses to that. And I mean, yeah, I got to talk to him a little bit about God and pray with him a little bit. Um, because I was trying to take his ideas and see, ask him how it connected to God. And uh no, and those days were just fun and free will, and those first few years were just party. You just you combine the stuff, I had all these ideas that were just cooking in my head. Uh, and then after after a few years, I you know, I just trying to figure out what is this thing, you know, because then I do more sermony stuff, more mixed up stuff. And sometimes maybe that creates a little bit of mixed messaging, like what am I gonna get this week? But you know, that's what was different. It wasn't a church thing, it was it was just me and what was on my mind, you know. If you're not down with that, go listen to something else. If you're down with it, then you know, podcasting is very interesting because your sound, by the way, is really excellent. When you podcast and you your sound is good, and you're talking like Nate's listening in the car, and it's like uh Nate and I are best buddies, and we know each other, but it's it's just me talking. Oh, it's so funny, man.

Nate 28:07

When when I heard you talk on Friday night, right, uh for the first time in person, I was like, I know this guy. I listen to him every morning while I'm in my cold clench. He doesn't know me, but I know him.

Kris 28:20

We get a lot of fanboys then always uh the the guys who want to say something nice. You said it actually. This is so funny. Oh, the guys who want to say something nice, but they're dudes, they go, uh so I listen to your podcast, uh it's a lot, but I always do it like 1.5 speed. You know, it's a different way to go. And like I'm not impressed with hearing your voice or anything, but I just sort of like ramp around your content as best I can.

Nate 28:44

I like to that was not the intent, but I mean you've got you know some of the messages.

Jon 28:48

No, no, it's because he lives life in the fast lane.

Kyle 28:51

Like Cold Plunge is what I'm saying.

Nate 28:53

Yeah, three to five.

Kyle 28:54

I'm from I'm from Portland, where it's you're always trying to one up someone. Well, I knew this band before they were discovered, and I always like to tell people I listened to Chris when he was back at uh Eastside in in Baytown, Texas, you know, before some days. So I knew him before y'all did. So that's a name dropper, though. Yeah. Um did I mention I spoke at Florida College Lectures two years ago?

Nate 29:13

You also mentioned that you had a couple of sermons that got 10 to 12,000 people.

Jon 29:17

You want an autographed copy of her lectures? Yeah. You've been doing this for seven years. Do you do you fight the performative nature of this? Is it still sincere? Is it um how do you keep it, you know, where you can do it? How do you expect him to answer that? Is it still sincere? Oh, very insincere. I okay, let me rephrase that. Uh, how do you keep it real? You know, how do you keep it sincere?

Kris 29:39

It feels more sincere now than ever before because the chasing you know numbers is gone. Um, the the the peak of the sponsorship stuff is is gone in an amicable, good way. You know, I was like, uh and now it's just it's probably just habit. It's kind of like building sermons or going. To the gym or whatever, you just you know, a discipline becomes a habit, and then a habit becomes an addiction, and then you gotta discipline it again. And I feel like this has almost become like I don't I mean addiction in a non, you know, uh detrimental way. It's just that's what I'm gonna do once a week. I'm gonna sit down, I'm gonna share some ideas, and uh I I've used it selfishly about once a month. If I want to polish up a future sermon, you know, uh you know I'm I'm big on efficiency when uh when things get get full, and so so they borrow from each other some, but uh but you say that a lot.

Jon 30:29

You yeah, you got admitted a lot, but uh seven years will be February, January, whatever.

Kris 30:35

And um I don't know. It it won't there is a little bit. I guess if there's something that's maybe not as awesomely sincere, it's that I just don't want to let people down, you know. Like you you sometimes you keep doing something because you just you know, somebody will walk up and go, never stop doing that. And I'm like, Never? Never? I'm like that's a long time, never, you know. So there's a little bit of that, but that's okay.

Jon 30:54

Well, then what's next? Anything exciting you're looking forward to other than not doing video for Genesis?

Kris 31:02

Yeah, no more recording daily Bible devotionals. They will be done. I'll keep doing the the books for a while just because it's a fun little project, and I'm enjoying the chapters, I'm just enjoying studying the chapters. But uh, you know, we I was talking to a guy the other day, so you guys have a pretty good sized church here, and you have two ministers and and some other workers, you know. Our our congregation has just me, and uh and I've always liked that because I love to preach and teach, but I do so much public presenting, yeah. Uh podcast stuff, daily Bible devotional stuff, um, and then all the sermons and classes, and you can't do it all. And so if you do a lot of that, there's things you're not doing, and there's some one-on-one local Lindell stuff that when I go talk to churches that have two or three preachers, and I'm kind of like, what do y'all do all day? You know, they're like, we visit more. Yeah, we spend more now. I I will say, Lindell, now we're getting into shop a little bit on churches. The way we've a good thing we've done, because I just can't, is instead of teaching Bible studies, I just taught every three years, I taught the church how to teach Bible studies. And now, like my mom's converted more people than I have. Like, yeah, you you so I couldn't, I'm this is too much. This public thing I'm having to do all week is too much. So we taught, we taught the members to teach, which is 2 Timothy 2,2, or we helped the members learn how to preach uh or do studies. Like the eldership does more uh new member studies by a lot than I do. I'm like an emergency person, you know, crisis person. And I I don't know that that's properly balanced, but you can only do so much. And so I'm thinking about a little, I mean, I'll keep doing the podcast next year and keep preaching.

Jon 32:38

Yep.

Kris 32:38

Uh, but I travel quite a bit, and that's a chunk away from local work. I I want to, I've been there 10 years. I really wish I had a little more time to invest locally in relationships. That's the goal next year is to dial some of that back.

Jon 32:51

That's a great goal. Chris, thanks for talking shop here. Um, if you would like to learn more about Chris's podcast, you know where to find it. We've already mentioned it a half handful of times. Also, make sure that you uh check out all the lessons from this weekend.

Nate 33:04

Like and subscribe so that we can get 10 to 12,000 views like Kyle Servants.

Jon 33:08

Like Kyle Service.

Nate 33:09

Yeah, thank you.

Jon 33:12

Also, uh the host of the Exhorter Still Sorry, that's my podcast. Um our podcast. Uh it starts with E. E. I was trying to look at that earlier. Yeah, John would really like to talk about his podcast. No, you know what I meant. So rude. Okay. Um also make sure that you uh check out all the lessons from this weekend. Yep. Yep, okay. Keep that yep, yep. Yep. Yep. Well, he usually says the just the like, subscribe. Oh, do you oh hey, I don't care about that. John wants me to say something.

Nate 33:50

He wants me to say like and subscribe, and I want you to do that too. Like and subscribe. Um so that we can get stop it. Okay, well that's you are that's part of the go line. There's no way. Just go. Because they're so similar. Well, and I when I say that, I mean just the format.

Kris 34:08

Yeah.

Nate 34:08

Yeah.

Kris 34:08

What I want to get used to. You do them in one take? No, that's the secret though. Like it's 15 minutes, 20 minutes of content with gobs of tiny micro edits. Like if I say something dumb, I stop. And I'll have notes written around. But every once in a while I'll take a sermon and do a podcast. Well, then I'm kind of used to myself online. But the other day was the first time I went and built like an outline for something that wasn't already a sermon.

Jon 34:30

Is it because you wanted to get it right?

Kris 34:32

I I it was something I was a little less comfortable with. So I did online research and I pulled in, I pulled in points that were not my own. And I wanted to do honor to those points. I wanted to word them properly. But um normally, you know, you just life gets in the way, you go to the airport, meet somebody, and go home and record about it.

Jon 34:48

Well, that's funny. We will come in sometimes with half-baked ideas, sometimes they're fully baked ideas, but we don't generally share a lot about it. So then we have that kind of natural feel about it, and we really don't know where you're going with this. That does get us into some trouble because we'll take it in a direction that Kyle. It's like Michael Scott.

Kyle 35:08

Sometimes I start a sentence and I don't really know where I'm going when I begin, but yeah.

Kris 35:13

But dude, you're doing like a 60% edit, so I mean a lot of it can't do they trust you, you can't do a whole lot wrong.

Kyle 35:20

Well, it is it is a I I put a lot of trust in him, but I also put a lot of work on him because I I don't have to edit it, so it's not my problem.

Jon 35:29

But I enjoy the I think I I I love more the fact that it is feels more uh genuine and conversational than I listen to a lot of multi-person biblical podcasts, and they we used to do these kind of tech talks, and they sound just a little too scripted. Well, it's just a it's just a different type of podcast. Like it it it I don't compare them because one is a little bit more like a lesson than the other one is we're just trying to model biblical conversation for people that don't have it throughout their lives.

Kris 36:02

So it's really interesting listening to you talk about it because I get calls, you know, a few times a year. I want to start a podcast, what I need to do. And my first question, one of my first questions is how many guys are gonna do this thing? If you're monologuing, it's got to be so clean. It has to feel like I'm just talking to you in the car, a straight 18 minutes, a pure fire with no repeats and no ums. You have to make so you have to edit. You can't video it because you have to edit it. Yeah, and then if you want to do two guys or three or four, that's a totally different like you you do want to speak freely. This should feel like a friendship and there needs to be some looseness to it. Of course, when you're interviewing someone, that's a that's a different animal.

Jon 36:36

It is different. And we've I'd say um, so I'm coming from studio and videography and that technical side of video production. So I knew right off the bat I didn't want to do a three-camera for three-person video edit because it would never get out there. We've tried once or twice, and it took me like two months to actually. It never gets it's just too much work, and so we kind of settled with this feel, and I can kind of get one of these done in an afternoon and try to get a little bit more. You got a great setup over here.

Kris 37:06

You certainly make me look like a beginner.

Kyle 37:08

No, I think it just it just points out how much work and effort and tech it takes for John to make us sound possible.

Jon 37:17

I will concede to that one.