Latest / The ReForge Podcast / Faith, Technology, and the American Worker (with Shawn Maxwell) | ReForge 010

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Faith, Technology, and the American Worker (with Shawn Maxwell) | ReForge 010 · The ReForge Podcast

• 0:00
  Shawn Maxwell: We've planted, uh, I wanna say we're just over 700, 750, uh, around the world.
• 0:08
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so we go in and train and equip and, uh, you know, spread the gospel like we're called to, called to do, go and make disciples of all nations.
• 0:25
  Welcome to the Reforge Podcast.
• 0:27
  I'm Matthew Chang, and we're here to explore all things AI automation and the American worker proving that the American reindustrialization is possible.
• 0:37
  Pivotal pressing.
• 0:39
  Thanks for joining us today.
• 0:41
  Let's get into the episode.
• 0:43
  Matthew Chang: Hey, it's Matt Chang and Colin Russ coming back with episode 10 of the Reforge Pod.
• 0:48
  Matthew Chang: We are super honored today to have a tech Titan of America and one that you probably haven't heard of before.
• 0:55
  Matthew Chang: A gentleman named Sean Maxwell.
• 0:58
  Matthew Chang: Um, Colin, Sean gets the big intro from me'cause he is a Georgia Tech alum and then he pulled off the Impossible, which is, he married a girl from Georgia Tech, so there was
• 1:08
  Colin Russ: double down.
• 1:09
  Matthew Chang: that's right, there was like 10 of'em and somehow he snagged one.
• 1:13
  Matthew Chang: I have no idea how
• 1:14
  Shawn Maxwell: Should we just end the podcast right there and uh, you know,
• 1:17
  Matthew Chang: Hall of Fame.
• 1:18
  Colin Russ: Mic drop.
• 1:19
  Colin Russ: We're done.
• 1:20
  Matthew Chang: Maxwell family.
• 1:21
  Matthew Chang: Um, so, and his family's on this incredible trajectory.
• 1:25
  Matthew Chang: You know, I've, I had a lot of, um, public experience, Colin writing my first book last year.
• 1:31
  Matthew Chang: Uh, Sean's wife is publishing books, and so the Maxwell family in General's on Fire.
• 1:35
  Matthew Chang: But today is about, uh, Sean and kind of his mission.
• 1:39
  Matthew Chang: Um, Sean climbed the ladders of Corporate America being an executive at both Bell South and at and t.
• 1:46
  Matthew Chang: He and probably a few of his elite colleagues are the reason that you have broadband today.
• 1:51
  Matthew Chang: So they were the early pioneers of getting broadband, not just in theory, but deployed to communities, businesses, houses, um, really, I guess that's why we, yeah.
• 2:00
  Matthew Chang: Kind of critical infrastructure, right?
• 2:03
  Matthew Chang: Uh, things stopped working when the internet cuts out.
• 2:05
  Matthew Chang: And then, um, somewhere in Sean's career, I'm sure he'll explain to us the, the Holy Spirit tugged at him.
• 2:13
  Matthew Chang: And pulled him into full-time ministry, but he was not done deploying technology.
• 2:17
  Matthew Chang: He might have deployed more technology through the church since compared to when he was at, you know, big communications.
• 2:24
  Matthew Chang: So, Sean, welcome to the pod.
• 2:26
  Shawn Maxwell: Thanks, Matthew.
• 2:27
  Shawn Maxwell: Thanks Colin.
• 2:28
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, excited to be here.
• 2:30
  Shawn Maxwell: Excited to, uh, you know, just share God's doing, uh, in and through 1122, and then hopefully, uh, you know, apply that to, to the business community.
• 2:42
  Matthew Chang: Yeah, so
• 2:43
  Colin Russ: Oh, that's.
• 2:43
  Matthew Chang: I left a few gaps.
• 2:44
  Matthew Chang: Sean, why don't you fill in some of the gaps of your career, kind of get us caught up of starting as engineer and then I, I did certainly.
• 2:53
  Matthew Chang: Leave out your title of Chief Operations Officer of Church of 1122, the fastest growing and possibly largest church in America.
• 3:01
  Matthew Chang: So Sean, why don't you catch us up there.
• 3:04
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah, so I worked for, uh, BellSouth at and t for 14 years.
• 3:09
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, started out in engineering, outside plant engineering, just really trying to, uh, bring service to communities, uh, and.
• 3:22
  Shawn Maxwell: the opportunity to work on this broadband transformation group, which was really trying to take a legacy telephone company and make it, uh, make it broadband focused.
• 3:35
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so had the, had the joy of, I mean, we all remember the dial up sound and, uh, had the, the joy of removing that sound and, and bringing broadband to folks all over.
• 3:49
  Matthew Chang: most of our audience has no idea what you're talking about, but Colin and I do so.
• 3:53
  Shawn Maxwell: Well, they need
• 3:54
  Colin Russ: just, I'm hearing that a l you know, log, login, you know, sound type thing going, so, so you were doing basically the, the copper and pots lines, taking those over to actual broadband.
• 4:05
  Shawn Maxwell: that's right.
• 4:06
  Shawn Maxwell: That's right.
• 4:06
  Shawn Maxwell: I mean, it's hard to believe that, you know, when I first started, if you had A-I-S-D-N line, it was like a.
• 4:15
  Shawn Maxwell: You were a big deal.
• 4:16
  Shawn Maxwell: Big deal.
• 4:16
  Shawn Maxwell: And now if our phones worked at that speed, we would, we'd throw'em in the trash.
• 4:23
  Shawn Maxwell: Like it, it's terrible.
• 4:25
  Colin Russ: You got like a few bars of LTE and you lose your mind like, and that's still 10 times faster than what we were saying.
• 4:31
  Shawn Maxwell: So, so that was a lot of fun.
• 4:34
  Shawn Maxwell: Um.
• 4:34
  Shawn Maxwell: Moved to Jacksonville, uh, and took over some call centers here.
• 4:39
  Shawn Maxwell: And then when the at and t bought out, BellSouth was able to pick up call center, uh, operations all over the nation.
• 4:48
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, uh, was part of, uh, global service assurance organization.
• 4:53
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, it's really probably where I cut my teeth on operations and really trying to understand, uh, how do you, how do you ensure you have.
• 5:03
  Shawn Maxwell: Consistency across locations, how do you ensure you can scale whatever process it is effectively?
• 5:12
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so being able to do that, um, was, was great learning.
• 5:17
  Shawn Maxwell: And then, uh, met, uh, pastor Joby.
• 5:22
  Shawn Maxwell: We were in, uh, a disciple group together.
• 5:24
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, our families, our spouses were, and um, we just became good friends.
• 5:31
  Shawn Maxwell: We were coaching baseball together.
• 5:33
  Shawn Maxwell: Our boys are the same age, and I think one time at Disciple Group I was, I just told him, Hey, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna be here the next two weeks.
• 5:42
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, I'm the director of a youth conference.
• 5:45
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, he was like, hold on, you take your vacation from at and t to go tell teenagers about Jesus.
• 5:53
  Shawn Maxwell: And I'm like, yeah.
• 5:54
  Shawn Maxwell: I mean, doesn't everybody, isn't that what we're supposed to do, uh, to serve?
• 5:58
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, um.
• 6:00
  Shawn Maxwell: When I got back, we just started conversations about what, what doing, what I did at camp, how could I potentially do that at church every single week.
• 6:11
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, uh, one thing led to another, started out in operations and um, you know, it's a lot of behind the scenes stuff in the church environment.
• 6:21
  Shawn Maxwell: And then as we started launching campuses.
• 6:26
  Shawn Maxwell: Really just trying to build out those processes so that, you know, we can go from one to three to, you know, now we have 16 and there'll be many more, so it's a lot of fun.
• 6:39
  Matthew Chang: Yeah.
• 6:39
  Matthew Chang: So Sean, I got the chance to hear some of the stats that your operation is supporting.
• 6:44
  Matthew Chang: I think to the average listener, you go, well, why does a church even need a chief operations officer?
• 6:49
  Matthew Chang: You know, you have service on Sunday, on on Wednesday, and maybe you have something for the seniors on Friday night.
• 6:56
  Matthew Chang: Um, but you're.
• 6:58
  Matthew Chang: You're a key executive in a church that is absolutely changing the city and cities that it, that it's based in.
• 7:05
  Matthew Chang: Um, what type of, uh, what type of weekly and annual attendance, like how many people are coming through the door.
• 7:11
  Shawn Maxwell: So if you just look at kind of live, like in person in the room, uh.
• 7:20
  Shawn Maxwell: For Easter, we had 56,000 people.
• 7:24
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, on a typical week.
• 7:25
  Shawn Maxwell: On a typical week, we're we're anywhere from 30 to 35,000, um, at, at all of our campuses.
• 7:33
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, and then you, you throw in, um, online, which since COVID has just exploded and live online, which means if we said we have a service at 9:00 AM.
• 7:50
  Shawn Maxwell: We go live online at 9:00 AM as well while people are in the room, and they'll be online and we will have another, you know, 60 to 70 K um, there.
• 8:04
  Shawn Maxwell: And then, you know, we have events like beach baptism where we, you know, baptized.
• 8:12
  Shawn Maxwell: Practically, uh, I think it was just short of 2000 people last year, so that's 10,000 people coming to a beach.
• 8:21
  Shawn Maxwell: So you gotta get'em there, you know, you're a little landlocked, you gotta feed'em, you gotta do all the things.
• 8:28
  Shawn Maxwell: Let, yeah, there's a lot of logistics.
• 8:30
  Shawn Maxwell: So we have a great team.
• 8:31
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, you know, just love building it and love being a part of it.
• 8:37
  Matthew Chang: Yeah.
• 8:38
  Matthew Chang: So can we, um, let's pull that thread a little bit.
• 8:40
  Matthew Chang: You talked about people that are, that are watching live online is about two times.
• 8:46
  Matthew Chang: 30,000 that are, that are actually there in the chair.
• 8:49
  Matthew Chang: Um, but on an annual basis, how many people are watching recorded sermons and church functions that you put up online?
• 8:58
  Shawn Maxwell: Oh, I should have had that number, but many, many, many millions.
• 9:05
  Matthew Chang: Yeah.
• 9:06
  Matthew Chang: I, I, I watch it quarterly.
• 9:08
  Matthew Chang: You guys put out stats occasionally and I'll kind of burn'em in my brain.
• 9:11
  Matthew Chang: I wanna say that last year the number was 95 million.
• 9:16
  Matthew Chang: People watch a full sermon.
• 9:17
  Matthew Chang: So not, not clicked in for like a short, not an impression.
• 9:21
  Matthew Chang: And, and these, these guys don't preach short, Colin, so these are, these are,
• 9:25
  Colin Russ: No, that that is, that, that is, you know, I, I, I was raised Catholic,
• 9:30
  Shawn Maxwell: No, we don't.
• 9:30
  Colin Russ: that long is impressive.
• 9:32
  Matthew Chang: yeah.
• 9:33
  Matthew Chang: And then, and so you, me, you, me, so I just want to folks who mention why a Georgia Tech grad who became a, an executive in pioneering internet deployment for the biggest communication companies.
• 9:44
  Matthew Chang: Why?
• 9:45
  Matthew Chang: It's probably harder what you're doing right now at the church than what you did in corporate America, bringing access of internet to millions.
• 9:52
  Matthew Chang: Right.
• 9:53
  Matthew Chang: Um, you on top of that, you guys are, are deploying programming and how many different languages, you know, I know you're, I know you're, uh, teaching translating Bibles in different languages and you're deploying missionaries to different countries.
• 10:08
  Shawn Maxwell: Right.
• 10:09
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah.
• 10:09
  Shawn Maxwell: We have, uh, we have our Spanish, I mean, with the development of ai.
• 10:14
  Shawn Maxwell: We now can convert a sermon, like let's say the sermon happens on Sunday, that can easily be converted to Spanish.
• 10:24
  Shawn Maxwell: Have we have a couple serve staff that then review it to make sure, you know, it was, it was, uh, converted appropriately.
• 10:33
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, and then we can, we can get that out there to, to YouTube and, um.
• 10:40
  Shawn Maxwell: So we do that.
• 10:41
  Shawn Maxwell: We have, um, we have planted churches, non 1122 churches.
• 10:47
  Shawn Maxwell: We've planted, uh, I wanna say we're just over 700, 750, uh, around the world.
• 10:55
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so we go in and train and equip and, uh, you know, spread the gospel like we're called to, called to do, go and make disciples of all nations.
• 11:07
  Matthew Chang: Uh, absolutely incredible.
• 11:09
  Matthew Chang: Well, let me call in, let me frame it up to transition over to you.
• 11:13
  Matthew Chang: You know, and this is, this is being a resident, uh, of Jacksonville where 1122 started seeing that the craziness of, you know, kind of early days insurgent church, you know, maybe counterculture would be the right way to describe it.
• 11:27
  Matthew Chang: Today, the, the burden of city success kinda rests on their shoulders because some of the most influential people are in their congregation and in their flock.
• 11:37
  Matthew Chang: Um, here what we see in the city is, yeah, Colin, we we're focused on community building.
• 11:44
  Matthew Chang: We've talked about some of the challenges of, of getting, uh, young families started.
• 11:48
  Matthew Chang: People are moving to Jacksonville to go to 1122 or refusing to leave Jacksonville because they enjoy 1122 so much.
• 11:57
  Matthew Chang: It's having such an impact on their lives.
• 11:59
  Matthew Chang: At the same time, it's super hard to be single in that church.
• 12:04
  Matthew Chang: Because you just have to go to the stuff live, whether you're going to church or serving, and you just kind of look around.
• 12:10
  Matthew Chang: And Sean and his colleagues have more than once asked all the singles to raise their hand and it, I can't imagine, I can't imagine being young, wanting to start a family, going to this church and remaining single.
• 12:23
  Matthew Chang: That seems impossible.
• 12:25
  Matthew Chang: So Colin, how do we, how do we tie this back to making factories?
• 12:29
  Colin Russ: I, I, well, let's see if we can, we'll, we'll, we'll keep this between the lines today.
• 12:35
  Colin Russ: Um, no, I mean, I, I, we've talked about this, uh, you know, many times community is just such an important part of.
• 12:44
  Colin Russ: You know, America, it's continued growth development, but really, you know, looking at it, that means the, the micro level, um, not looking at it kind of broadly, you know, for me being involved in the community, you know, trying to leverage my experiences to help because I believe in what my community can be.
• 13:02
  Colin Russ: Um, you know, it's important to me, but a lot of people are.
• 13:07
  Colin Russ: Reluctant to put forth the time and effort to volunteer their time, let alone somebody who really makes that full transition from, you know, corporate exec to, you know, being a, a key player in a very important community organization.
• 13:24
  Colin Russ: Can you talk a little bit about sort of what, what that transition looked like or what, what was it that really brought you to say.
• 13:32
  Colin Russ: Yes, this is where I can have the biggest impact.
• 13:34
  Colin Russ: Not necessarily connecting millions of people, but you know, connecting them in a different way.
• 13:40
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah.
• 13:41
  Shawn Maxwell: I mean, I, I'll tell you, if you looked at it on paper, it didn't make sense.
• 13:49
  Shawn Maxwell: It didn't it for me.
• 13:50
  Shawn Maxwell: It was a calling.
• 13:52
  Shawn Maxwell: It was, Hey, I'm gonna leave behind, uh, a, a significant salary, a place of significant influence.
• 14:01
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, you know, I, I was Bell Souths nominee for top 40, under 40 in Atlanta.
• 14:07
  Shawn Maxwell: Like I, everything from a career perspective was up and to the right and making that, making the shift.
• 14:16
  Shawn Maxwell: It was hard.
• 14:17
  Shawn Maxwell: I mean, it, it was hard.
• 14:20
  Shawn Maxwell: But I will tell you, uh, taking that risk has been the best thing I've ever done in my life.
• 14:31
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, one or one of the best things I've ever done in my life.
• 14:33
  Shawn Maxwell: And so I think, uh, it has allowed me to go into a season of, Hey, I took a big risk.
• 14:43
  Shawn Maxwell: God was faithful.
• 14:45
  Shawn Maxwell: Through that.
• 14:47
  Shawn Maxwell: And so now when we go and we talk about, hey, we're gonna launch two campuses next year, I, I don't have to worry.
• 14:55
  Shawn Maxwell: Like I can step into that risk.
• 14:57
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, problem.
• 15:00
  Shawn Maxwell: You know, and I think it's also allowed me to.
• 15:05
  Shawn Maxwell: To really lean on the experiences I had in corporate America, because honestly, a lot of times in churches, corporate is like a four letter word, you know?
• 15:17
  Shawn Maxwell: It's uh oh, we don't wanna do that'cause that's too corporate.
• 15:20
  Shawn Maxwell: We don't wanna do that.
• 15:21
  Shawn Maxwell: You know?
• 15:21
  Shawn Maxwell: Well, I'll tell you, I mean there's a whole book of the Bible called numbers, obviously they're measuring something.
• 15:28
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, and so you just.
• 15:31
  Shawn Maxwell: I'm able to, to take what I learned in corporate America, apply it through a lens, a biblical lens, um, to, to help the church and help us, uh, continue to grow and, and, um, make room for one more.
• 15:51
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, it's just been, it's been exciting.
• 15:55
  Shawn Maxwell: It's been a joy and, uh, love that I get to do it.
• 15:59
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, it's.
• 16:01
  Shawn Maxwell: One thing I am surprised about was, as Matt said, people are starting to move to Jacksonville because of the Church of 1122.
• 16:13
  Shawn Maxwell: And it made me rethink, okay, what, how am I looking at that?
• 16:19
  Shawn Maxwell: How am I helping, how am I helping them establish in the community?
• 16:25
  Shawn Maxwell: And so I was like, I, I need to be a part of the Chamber of Commerce.
• 16:31
  Shawn Maxwell: The reason is because when they come to me, when they're watching online in Michigan and they have a, a plant or a business or whatever they're doing up there and they say they wanna move to Jacksonville, how can I get them connected if I'm not connected?
• 16:46
  Shawn Maxwell: You know?
• 16:47
  Shawn Maxwell: So I think that networking piece has allowed me to say, Hey, come take a look here.
• 16:56
  Shawn Maxwell: And, and quite honestly, I had.
• 16:59
  Shawn Maxwell: When I moved to Jacksonville, I had every intention of moving back to Atlanta.
• 17:04
  Shawn Maxwell: I was gonna turn the call center around and then I was out and I fell in love with Jacksonville, and I think every business should move to Jacksonville because it is fantastic.
• 17:18
  Matthew Chang: Do you see why we're winning?
• 17:20
  Colin Russ: I, I get it.
• 17:21
  Colin Russ: I mean, I've, I've, I've spent a little time there, so I get it.
• 17:24
  Colin Russ: But you know, one of the things you know, you're hitting on was, there is such a strong.
• 17:31
  Colin Russ: I guess relationship or correlation between, you know, strong communities and, and kind of that foundation it creates and the opportunities for businesses to succeed.
• 17:42
  Colin Russ: And, you know, Matt, we talk a lot about, oh, what is it gonna take to get, you know, build these factories to do these things?
• 17:50
  Colin Russ: There's a lot of kind of the academic stuff that everybody talks about and tax policies and incentives and all that.
• 17:56
  Colin Russ: But when it comes down to it, I'm a big believer that at the end of the day.
• 18:00
  Colin Russ: You're not gonna see any success unless the people who you employ feel a sense of belonging.
• 18:07
  Colin Russ: And you know, really exactly what you said, Sean, is, you know, you, you move somewhere and you end up falling in love.
• 18:12
  Colin Russ: That's a hundred percent my story.
• 18:14
  Colin Russ: You know, with Erie, I was here, you know, I came back here, you know, because this is where my kids are.
• 18:21
  Colin Russ: And then when COVID hit, I fell down and fell in love with it.
• 18:23
  Colin Russ: And it's because you can find kind of that purpose and opportunity to have an impact.
• 18:30
  Colin Russ: To have, you know, to, to influence positivity and growth and better things for other people.
• 18:36
  Colin Russ: You know, Matt, when we talk about companies looking to build, you know, it's these types of institutions that are just critical to creating that community.
• 18:44
  Colin Russ: You know, I've mentioned it before, you know, one of the biggest challenges towns like Erie, you know, these post-industrial towns face is.
• 18:53
  Colin Russ: You know, migration of ta uh, of, of their young people.
• 18:57
  Colin Russ: If you can't date, if you can't find, you know, somebody that you can start a family with, you know, that's a killer for, for, for growth.
• 19:04
  Colin Russ: But you've got, you know, an organization that, Hey, raise your hand.
• 19:07
  Colin Russ: I mean, that's, that is a hit right there.
• 19:10
  Matthew Chang: Oh yeah.
• 19:11
  Matthew Chang: So let me, let me, um, brag on something, Sean, that you're doing.
• 19:15
  Matthew Chang: I think, um, I think it, I don't know if it's starting this year or next year, but we've got this secret talent pipe.
• 19:21
  Matthew Chang: Pipeline here, Colin, in, uh, in Jacksonville, and it's called military bases.
• 19:26
  Matthew Chang: So we have two military bases.
• 19:28
  Matthew Chang: We have a, we have a naval air station, Mayport, which is carrier rated, and we've got Naval Air Station Jacksonville, which is one of these sprawling navy air bases, um, constant talent pipeline into the city and then buy orders right back out, right?
• 19:45
  Matthew Chang: And it's very easy for those military members to kind of stay on base.
• 19:50
  Matthew Chang: And to not really understand what Jacksonville's about.
• 19:52
  Matthew Chang: Sean, can you tell us what you're doing to serve that community?
• 19:56
  Matthew Chang: And Colin, we can assume how it's gonna help the city for, uh, industrial talent.
• 20:01
  Colin Russ: Oh yeah.
• 20:03
  Shawn Maxwell: Well, I mean, we, we equip chaplains.
• 20:07
  Shawn Maxwell: We are super involved in the, in the military bases.
• 20:13
  Shawn Maxwell: We're looking at how do we put campuses on military bases.
• 20:17
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, we.
• 20:20
  Shawn Maxwell: When, when ships are deployed, uh, a lot of times they, they don't have the ability to, uh, to stream our services.
• 20:30
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, so I mean, this, this goes back like even 10 years ago, we're, we're burning, uh, DVDs to send with them, you know, just so that they could have like a whole sermon series.
• 20:44
  Shawn Maxwell: They could have while they're, they're deployed.
• 20:47
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so we always look for any way we can, uh, help the military community, help our first responders.
• 20:57
  Shawn Maxwell: We have a first responder ministry.
• 20:59
  Shawn Maxwell: We have, uh, stop stations at all of our campuses where, um, police can just come and like come in, get a cup of coffee, get snacks in the ac.
• 21:13
  Shawn Maxwell: So that they're not sitting in their car worried that somebody's gonna drive by and try to take them out.
• 21:20
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, uh, we just, we just feel that the community is better, safer, uh, and, and a place we wanna live if, if the police are healthy, uh, rested, you know, making the best decisions that they can make.
• 21:39
  Shawn Maxwell: And so.
• 21:41
  Shawn Maxwell: So whether it's military, whether it's first responders, I mean, we are,
• 21:45
  Matthew Chang: So Colin, I think that that catcher's, mit, that this church is set up and that, you know, Sean's helping'em scale at crazy pace out.
• 21:52
  Matthew Chang: More than a campus a year.
• 21:54
  Matthew Chang: Um,'cause church is not six, you said 16 campuses, Sean.
• 21:58
  Matthew Chang: Or 18,
• 21:59
  Shawn Maxwell: Mm-hmm.
• 21:59
  Shawn Maxwell: 16.
• 22:01
  Matthew Chang: it's not 16 years old.
• 22:02
  Matthew Chang: So, so these guys are growing at, at exponential and, and of course they weren't doing a campus a year in the beginning, so they're, they're at the breakout pace now.
• 22:10
  Matthew Chang: Um, so they're, you know, I believe the focus on the military is gonna be an absolute talent magnet.
• 22:17
  Matthew Chang: For the community.
• 22:18
  Matthew Chang: Once you give those people a reason to stay, either'cause you're loving on the spouse while the the, uh, the other one is deployed, or because you're loving on the active service member, they're gonna wanna find a reason to grow roots in this community.
• 22:30
  Matthew Chang: The other one, it's a little bit the opposite side of the spectrum, but it's also an underutilized talent pipeline is, uh, Sean, can you break down the prison ministry for us?
• 22:40
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah, so we, we launched, I wanna say it was probably.
• 22:49
  Shawn Maxwell: Six years ago, seven years ago, we were in Baker, uh, correctional Institute.
• 22:55
  Shawn Maxwell: And so we launched in Baker, then launched in union.
• 23:00
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, union is, uh, everyone in there has a life sentence.
• 23:05
  Shawn Maxwell: I mean, it is, you're not getting out of union.
• 23:09
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, and so we, uh, we tried to figure out a way to take.
• 23:16
  Shawn Maxwell: The full 1122, uh, church experience into prisons.
• 23:22
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, because if we say we are a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship to Christ, uh, that it should include our incarcerated, uh, brothers and sisters.
• 23:35
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, uh, we started two campuses there.
• 23:40
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, we're now in three.
• 23:43
  Shawn Maxwell: Three prisons.
• 23:45
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, we actually, uh, are on a, it's called a Pando app.
• 23:50
  Shawn Maxwell: And this Pando app is, uh, being streamed.
• 23:54
  Shawn Maxwell: It's basically on iPads throughout prisons, and we're one of the most downloaded content on there.
• 24:03
  Shawn Maxwell: You know, they, they can have like ESPN, uh, you know, maybe a little bit of news, and they get.
• 24:11
  Shawn Maxwell: Church of 1122, uh, sermons.
• 24:14
  Shawn Maxwell: And so it, it started as we were in two campuses.
• 24:18
  Shawn Maxwell: Then it, the Pando app went to the state of Florida, then it, then it's now national.
• 24:24
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, I mean, we we're having salvations right and left out of that, we're actually having, uh, from like our baker, uh.
• 24:35
  Shawn Maxwell: Or campus or prison campuses where you could get out.
• 24:40
  Shawn Maxwell: Um, they are now coming and becoming part of our campuses, um, and serving.
• 24:49
  Shawn Maxwell: We have to find where they can serve.
• 24:51
  Shawn Maxwell: 'cause you know, a lot of'em, you need a background check and, uh, there's certain things you've done that would limit you from doing that.
• 24:58
  Shawn Maxwell: It doesn't stop people from serving on our, uh, reach team, the doors greeting, that kind of thing.
• 25:05
  Shawn Maxwell: And so, uh, it's just great to see, you know, God redeem their lives.
• 25:12
  Shawn Maxwell: So I.
• 25:13
  Matthew Chang: so Colin, that, that to me, you know, as, as we've talked about this workforce shortage and we're critically low, especially in the trades, right?
• 25:21
  Matthew Chang: People that have the technical skills to work in a advanced factory or the supporting trades, electrical, welding, you know, mill riding.
• 25:28
  Matthew Chang: That, that to me is something where private industry and groups like the church that are actually re helping assist the desire for inmates to get out, they want to get out'cause they want to have a life on the other side of the prison walls.
• 25:42
  Matthew Chang: They have a community to root into to immediately support them as they make that transition.
• 25:47
  Matthew Chang: Um, if we can keep our service members here and we can put our former inmates back to productive work.
• 25:54
  Matthew Chang: I think it for a market like Jacksonville, it's winning in the national labor market'cause of that additional talent increment from both sides.
• 26:04
  Colin Russ: I mean, I, I think the root of, you know, you, you look at the incarceration aspect of it, you know, one of the biggest factors in recidivism is whether or not they have, you know, an established, supportive base to return to.
• 26:17
  Colin Russ: Do they have the opportunities?
• 26:18
  Colin Russ: Do they have the people that are gonna help, you know, keep them, you know, between the lines on the right path?
• 26:23
  Colin Russ: Having that community to go back to that, it's not even just a new one, but it's something that they're.
• 26:28
  Colin Russ: Yearning to become more engaged.
• 26:30
  Colin Russ: And, you know, that that is such a critical factor in creating opportunities.
• 26:35
  Colin Russ: And it goes beyond that is just, you know, w we've seen people over the last, you know, five, six years become incredibly isolated since COVID.
• 26:44
  Colin Russ: Being able to build that community back and create kind of that place of belonging is, is huge in terms of people having a future and having opportunities.
• 26:53
  Colin Russ: I think.
• 26:54
  Shawn Maxwell: yeah.
• 26:55
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, I would totally agree.
• 26:56
  Shawn Maxwell: I, I think, um, what I have seen is it's not only beneficial to the inmate.
• 27:05
  Shawn Maxwell: It's beneficial to our congregation as well to, to come alongside these brothers and sisters and, uh, and, and help walk with them, uh, disciple them and, um, you know, it just brings their community closer.
• 27:23
  Colin Russ: I mean, that is just such a big thing that again, unfortunately is, is lacking in more places, um, than really I wish it was.
• 27:31
  Colin Russ: But that, that opportunity for community and to be accepted and really just have the path is huge in any aspect of life.
• 27:38
  Colin Russ: But I think just in the context of, you know, creating opportunities, like you said, Matt, for workforce, you know, a, a place where people can get to know you, you know, and get beyond.
• 27:49
  Colin Russ: What your past may have been, but recognize you have an opportunity.
• 27:53
  Colin Russ: That's what's gonna open doors and, and, you know, create opportunities for people who want to be part of something bigger, whether that's spiritually or being involved, you know, in, you know, a new career opportunity.
• 28:04
  Colin Russ: That's just gonna be huge.
• 28:06
  Colin Russ: So one of the things we do like to kind of hit on, and I know we, we've been, you know, covering a lot is ai.
• 28:13
  Colin Russ: Um, so we've got our, kind of our fun question that we hit on.
• 28:16
  Colin Russ: What is your AI of choice and what was your la the last question you asked it, Sean?
• 28:23
  Shawn Maxwell: Oh.
• 28:25
  Shawn Maxwell: Hold on, let me, uh, lemme see.
• 28:28
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, my mine would be gr um,
• 28:31
  Colin Russ: need to keep a tally of this.
• 28:32
  Colin Russ: By the way, Matt, we, we've gotta get a counter going of what everyone's using.
• 28:39
  Matthew Chang: So far, I think we've had'em all.
• 28:41
  Matthew Chang: So.
• 28:42
  Shawn Maxwell: okay.
• 28:42
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, mine was, mine was grock.
• 28:45
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, my last question was.
• 28:49
  Shawn Maxwell: Average commercial real estate commission rates, uh, because my wife is, uh, is looking at potentially, uh, purchasing the building she's in.
• 29:01
  Shawn Maxwell: So, uh, I was just trying to, trying to understand the market and what, what, what's going on there.
• 29:10
  Matthew Chang: Let said it's way too high.
• 29:16
  Colin Russ: It's always,
• 29:17
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah, anything
• 29:18
  Colin Russ: always have the sixth fan.
• 29:19
  Shawn Maxwell: is way too high for me.
• 29:21
  Shawn Maxwell: Right.
• 29:22
  Matthew Chang: That's right.
• 29:24
  Colin Russ: Well, uh, this has been awesome.
• 29:26
  Colin Russ: So Sean, um, you know, before we, we wrap here, we, we like to hit on kind of where people can find you.
• 29:32
  Colin Russ: How can they learn more about what you and, you know, church 1120 are doing?
• 29:38
  Colin Russ: You know, what, what are your socials?
• 29:40
  Colin Russ: How, how can we get in touch with you?
• 29:43
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah.
• 29:43
  Shawn Maxwell: Uh, Sean dot Maxwell at c OE two two.com.
• 29:48
  Shawn Maxwell: Um.
• 29:49
  Shawn Maxwell: You can, uh, at Sean Max in Jax, uh, is my Twitter, you know?
• 29:56
  Shawn Maxwell: And, uh, yeah, any of those reach out.
• 29:59
  Shawn Maxwell: Happy to, uh, happy to talk further and, um,
• 30:04
  Matthew Chang: And the church website.
• 30:05
  Matthew Chang: How do they, how do they see your organization?
• 30:08
  Shawn Maxwell: um, coe two two.com.
• 30:11
  Matthew Chang: Oh, nice.
• 30:13
  Matthew Chang: Oh, we have that in the banner.
• 30:14
  Matthew Chang: Perfect.
• 30:15
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah.
• 30:15
  Colin Russ: Oh man.
• 30:16
  Colin Russ: We are getting fancy now, aren't we?
• 30:18
  Matthew Chang: I'm just, I'm just gonna warn, listen.
• 30:19
  Matthew Chang: So if you have any, if you have any, uh, non-Christians in the audience, just be real careful going to that website.
• 30:27
  Matthew Chang: 'cause that non-Christian status may be temporary.
• 30:30
  Matthew Chang: You know, once you start attending some of this stuff, it's going through the military on DVDs.
• 30:34
  Matthew Chang: They got it running on the prison app.
• 30:37
  Matthew Chang: I said, I, I'm pretty sure the stat for last year's 95 million YouTube views.
• 30:41
  Matthew Chang: Um, so it's on the next level, but none of that's possible without engineers like Sean.
• 30:46
  Matthew Chang: Imagine the backend infrastructure it takes to run that.
• 30:49
  Shawn Maxwell: Yeah.
• 30:50
  Shawn Maxwell: Well, thank
• 30:51
  Colin Russ: get into the server farm, I'm sure.
• 30:53
  Shawn Maxwell: yeah, I'm, I am hopeful that someone will listen to this, to this podcast and say, you know, I should move my manufacturing plant or my whatever, fill in the blank, my business, uh, to Jacksonville.
• 31:09
  Shawn Maxwell: And so if I can be part of that, it'd be great.
• 31:13
  Matthew Chang: Let's go.
• 31:15
  Colin Russ: that was, this was great.
• 31:17
  Colin Russ: Thank you so much.
• 31:18
  Colin Russ: Um, and for our audience, you know, you can find me, on X at that, Colin.
• 31:24
  Colin Russ: We've got, uh, Matthew Chang, of course at Matthew Chang.
• 31:28
  Colin Russ: His is a little easier.
• 31:30
  Colin Russ: Um, you can also find us on LinkedIn.
• 31:31
  Colin Russ: You can follow, uh, the podcast, uh, on socials at the Reforge Pod., Matt, anything else you got?
• 31:39
  Matthew Chang: It was great.
• 31:40
  Matthew Chang: Thanks for being here, Sean.
• 31:41
  Shawn Maxwell: Thank you.
• 31:42
  Shawn Maxwell: Thanks for having me.
• 31:43
  Shawn Maxwell: Take care.
• 31:48
  Thanks for tuning in to the Reforge Podcast.
• 31:51
  Make sure to like, subscribe and follow us on all of our social media at the Reforge Pod.
• 31:56
  We'll see you next time.