Latest / The Speak Life Podcast / Julie Smith Shares Her Experience of Using 321 || SLP484

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Julie Smith Shares Her Experience of Using 321 || SLP484 · The Speak Life Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hello and thank you so much for downloading episode 484 of the Speak Life Podcast.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Thomas Thorogood, Media Producer at Speak Life, and today we have a conversation that we recorded in our studio with Julie Smith, who is a church leader in Eastbourne where Speak Life is based.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: And she has some exciting news to share about using our 321 course.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: For those of you who don't know, 321 is a digital self-serve evangelistic course that Speak Life has been working on in various forms for the past 10 years, but we've just launched a new version of it.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: You can go to 321course.com to use it, and it can be used in all sorts of ways.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Churches have been running it in groups, people have been doing it one-to-one with their friends, and also just sharing the link to it in WhatsApp conversations.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: So Julie has a really exciting story to share about doing 321 with a friend in, among other places, an Asda car park.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: Other supermarket chains are available.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: But I hope you enjoy this conversation and do check out 321 for yourself if you haven't done so already, and do pass it on and let us know how you've been getting on with 321.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: You can email info at speaklife.org.uk.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: I will hand straight over to Julie and Glenn.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Speak Life.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: My name is Glenn.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here with Julie Smith, who's a church leader here in ESport.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: Do you want to introduce yourself to people?
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Julie and I'm a church leader here in ESport.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: And you love Jesus and you want people to kind of meet Jesus.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_02: And you've been experiencing the 321 course, which we've been developing here at Speak Life.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: So for those who actually haven't done the course, they don't know the course, they've never seen it before, this is a good exercise because I'm always having to like explain this to new people.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: How do you go about saying what even is 321?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I describe it as like a it would be like a step before alpha.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of Christians know what alpha is.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So 321 is like the step before alpha.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's really clear, eight videos, 12 to 15 minutes long, on your phone, with questions, with a whole community feel around it, with the whole like invite into the Discord group and those sorts of things.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So when I shared this as a medium, I was able to say I'm using it currently on a one-to-one.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've also tried it in a group setting.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: It feels really accessible.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that I think your families would enjoy.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Love that.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And what what is it that's accessible about actually?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_02: So okay, the platform itself is accessible and it's very sort of digitally native.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: But having like opened up on your phone and you press play on the video, what is it about the video that is engaging people?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh man, it is so the quality is outstanding.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: There are some resources, and I'm sure we all know the ones, but you press play and you think, oh, I don't really want my friends to see this.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing cringy about 3Q.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: That should be your tag on.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: There is nothing cringy about 3Q1.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, cringe-free.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_02: Cringe-free evangelism.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: I like that.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: But it is, it's such good quality that it is something that should be promoted because there is nothing that you wouldn't want people to see about it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: One of the philosophies behind it is there are lots of resources we totally believe in biblical evangelism, getting people down into the word.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_02: But what's what can be tricky about that is that Christians are used to looking at a book and being able to figure out why sentence one leads into sentence two and what the what the therefore is therefore, and all that kind of stuff.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: But like we're really used to that, and I totally believe in biblical evangelism.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: But what we want to do is kind of paint a biblical worldview that's panoramic so that we immerse people in a story, and then because it's a story, everyone, the Christian who is doing the course, the non-Christian who's doing the course, everyone is on an equal footing because episode one, you're on a space station, or you know, episode three, you're in World War II, or episode seven, and it's football analogy.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_02: Episode eight, it's a marriage analogy, and and everyone's kind of immersed in the story.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I think stories kind of communicate with people who aren't used to text-based stuff.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: Did you find that?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we are faced more now with a generation where dyslexia is far more prevalent prevalent, ADHD, autism spectrum disorders.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, sitting and watching a screen is familiar.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't mean I have to I have to try and learn a new skill in order to access this.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's just there in a format that I I know and I and I'm comfortable with.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, brilliant.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: And we love telling stories because with a story, you're immersing someone in a in a new world in a way that I'm not going to tell you 17 points that all begin with P.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: But I I am going to narrate this strange new world and everybody's inhabiting it.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_02: And then you start asking the question Were you this character?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_02: Were you that character?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Were you the other character?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: And I think everyone is used to that in a way they might not be used to sort of textually based expositions and all that.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: But also that's what draws people in.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not you don't just watch it and then go, oh, I'll I'll click that off then because you're invited into, well, where would you fit?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Who would you side with?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you feel more uh who do you lean more towards, which makes it then it feels like you're you're doing an activity rather than just coldly watching something.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Can you say a little bit about the needs that you see that 321 has served?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_02: Why why has 321 been a good fit for how you're trying to share Jesus?
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so for me, I would not call myself a natural evangelist.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so the 321 videos gave me a platform that was really accessible.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we tried to use 321 with a group of people.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the group of people were had slightly chaotic lives, and actually we found that a commitment to a certain day at a certain time in a certain place just was not gonna work.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But of course, 321 you can do on your mobile anywhere.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, we did the first video sitting together in Asda Car Park.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it just it made it something that and eventually the lady that I did the whole course with, she would watch the video on her phone at home, I would watch it on my phone at home, and then we would chat about it.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: We would either WhatsApp or we would voice note, um, and it meant that it was really, really she could get it whenever she needed to, and it didn't have to be in a certain place at a certain time with her life organized around her.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: It just meant that it was there when she needed it.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_02: And because it was on a digital platform, was that any kind of a barrier like you have to kind of give your email in and like create a parking lot of the phone?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't seem to be with the people we've we've used it to, no.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: They've all been more than happy to sign up to it.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: So there you are in as the car park.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: Are you in the driver's seat?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm in the driver's seat, she's in the passenger seat.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: You have it on a phone.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on my phone.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah and you hit play, and and how is she reacting to it?
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh she was mesmerized.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, this woman doesn't stop talking, she's absolutely fantastic.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: But we both just sat in enthralled, I guess, by what was going on, and then were able to talk about the questions at the end.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um and it was brilliant.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And she just said, Well, from this one I can do them on my own.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: Fantastic.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: So so she was given the confidence to take it away, and then in what kind of settings would she do episodes two, three, four, and and the rest?
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh when our kids were in bed.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or when they were at school and nursery.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: So when she just had time on her own.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think because they're, you know, 12, 15 minutes max, it doesn't feel like you've got to set an evening aside.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's accessible for that moment in time.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know the then the baby might wake up crying, but you've managed to get it done.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: So it worked, it worked solo for her.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: And it worked for you, like as when you did it together, episode one, there were some questions.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: Did the conversation flow?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it did.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: It did, and they were good to bounce off each other.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I tried whenever we were watching them apart to make sure that I said, What about the questions?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: What did you think?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: What should you, you know?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: So it were trying to pick it out with her as well.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: So give us a sense of where your friends are kind of coming from as they begin 3-2-1, and then we'll think about, you know, where where it left them at the end.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: But where where were they sort of spiritually speaking?
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the one.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: So this particular person had no idea about anything.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd started some conversations with her, um, and she just kept saying, but why didn't I know this?
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Why why didn't anybody tell me this before?
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like creation had no idea.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Dropped out of school quite young, just didn't have any.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe he did, but it clearly hadn't been a conscious thought.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: So some of the questions that you posed in the videos were like, Oh, I've never really thought about that.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I don't know, I'd never I'd never given any conscious thought.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, really, from absolutely nothing.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then uh through one of the videos, um, she said, I now know why they did bl um bread and wine at school.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Had no idea what that meant.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So even though she'd been involved in and had seen some of those practices, didn't know what they meant.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't know what they were grounded in.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_02: It joined the dots.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, totally.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_02: In lots of ways.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: And so so even though she didn't really know anything about Christianity, the Bible, um, episode one still, she was able to kind of latch onto some things and and and figure out.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: She found she found the the I think they built.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: So the first couple were a little bit, I can't remember, I think she used the word random, like, oh it was a they were quite big concepts to get her head round.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: But they grounded her then.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So as we got through towards the end, it's like, oh, I'm more comfortable with this language, I'm more comfortable with the pictures, I'm more comfortable with what where this is pointing, because it had started.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_02: And I think part of the philosophy b behind the first episodes being like very grand, is that if people don't have an any understanding of Christianity, at least we're good everybody is all at sea.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Because in episode one, we just sort of launch into you're on a space station and you've woken up with no memory of why you're there.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_02: And at that stage, everybody is equally kind of cut cut adrift in in space.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah, and so you know, welcome, welcome to the weird, basically.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: And then so she's doing these episodes in in her spare time, she's put the kids to bed, she's got some time.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Is she kind of like whatsapping you?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Is she like reacting?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, really like the last one.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, anything from it?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, I just really liked it.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And sometimes there was nothing like more.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I guess not being there with her meant I couldn't go through the questions.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: But she did it.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And she would then watch the next one and she'd say, I've watched it, have you watched it?
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, I haven't done that yet, and I needed to catch up because she was ahead of me.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: At one point she was two videos ahead of where I was, so it was like, okay.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Did she binge or was it kind of pretty spaced out?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty spaced out.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: So she did it within like four weeks or how long did it take?
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Something like that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And then she gets towards the end of 321.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_02: And what's what's her reaction?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she's picking up the pace.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: She's watched more them more regularly.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then she messaged me and said, I've watched the last one.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And she said, Well, it was really good.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I like the picture of the marriage.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, and and she said, Well, I guess we're family now because I've prayed the prayer.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that was it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_02: I guess we're family now.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: I guess we're family now.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because that's that's a big part of 3-2-1.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if if God is a father loving his son in the joy of the spirit, you're invited.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: So that absolutely what you're invited into is a family.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Jesus is extending the family, that's what church is.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_02: She had that kind of understanding.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_02: And and how have things been since then?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: We haven't actually managed to meet yet, we're meeting this week.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she's saying, Well, I've chatted with Jesus this morning and I was really worried about this.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I talked to my mate Jesus, and he said it's all gonna be okay.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And so it just feels very natural for her.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: She's just carrying on.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_02: And what do you think would serve her and what would serve you best from this point, having done 3-2-1 together?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because we're always trying to think about how to develop these resources.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, what what what would best serve you?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: What would best serve her?
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think ultimately, like you said in 3-2-1, we now it's about grounding people into a church family because it's very easy once we've started with this massive, yay, this is brilliant.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: If we don't get grounded in that, can be really hard.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I think now it's looking for discipleship resources for her that are gonna meet her where she is.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um the video format works really, really well.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but bearing in mind that she knows absolutely nothing, discipleship's gonna look like, okay, we really are starting with the basics, which 321 have covered, but actually how we grow in that is really important now.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so looking back at 321, why why do you think what what was its benefit to you and what was it bet what was its benefit to her?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it had an unexpected benefit.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I had assumed that we would manage a group.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had assumed that it would be a platform that we would use and we would all sit around together and then we would have good discussion about it afterwards.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: I just hadn't expected it to be so useful on a one-to-one.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: I would still love to do the group because I think there is something really special about that connection with people in the same room, hearing the same thing, learning from each other.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: I also think in a group where we've got I've got some new believers who want to learn how to disciple others, actually, for them to be able to facilitate the conversation of the questions is really good, but they haven't got to learn all the material to stand up and do the talkie bit.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: Do you see what I mean?
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the talky bit's done for us, but actually new believers or new people who want to grow new skills can actually just fill the questions, and that's a really good way of learning those sort of leadership skills.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um but the unexpected thing was just how good it was on a one-to-one.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Just brilliant.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of that is to do with friendship and church and and doing life and applying what we've learned when the kids are screaming and the bills are stacking up and the chaos has come.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: So where's Jesus in the middle of that?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: It has to be applied applicable because he is so in the middle of all of that.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if we don't plant him there through doing life with people, then he'll just stay on a phone or he'll stay up here and I have to go and talk to Jesus where opposed to I'm he's here, he's with me, he's in it now, in the midst of this.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that uh because digital evangelism is not a replacement for life on life discipleship and just the mess of of sharing life with other people.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's just a tool that we're already using for every every other aspect of life.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Your phone is a tool that's helping you do everything else.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_02: And so this is not to replace the the friendship and just the walking alongside people.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: We need we need Julie Smiths.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody needs a Julie Smith in their life.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah, yeah.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: But thank you so much.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: And that's yeah, that's gonna really help us as we yeah, as we try to just we try to equip people.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_02: Digital evangelism is not something off in the ninth d dimension.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: It's just it's just a tool, it's like a little pocket of seed that you can go out and scatter and away you go.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: But you need to scatter it and then pick up what comes from it.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: If we just scatter it without that relationship, actually we'll get people who've gone, yay! Right and then they fade.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: So it's about picking it up afterwards as well.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_02: So what would you say to people if uh they were considering doing three two one?
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Do it.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Watch it for yourself, get to know the material, and then share it.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Share it far and wide.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I've already shared it with a national group that I'm a part of that I have a franchise for down here.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully they're all using it as well.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, good on you, Julie Smith.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: 321 Ambassador.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: You should be.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_02: Gold starts.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and if you uh you guys want to use 321 at home, go to 321course.com.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: And the best thing is like use it yourself, love it, and then you WhatsApp it to your friends, and then maybe do it in person.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: But it's a resource that uh that you can share Jesus far and wide with.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Julie.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_02: Excellent.