Celebrating Our Listenership Podcast Episodes

Now, I don’t know, maybe somebody’s running that in the pig barn to keep critters away. Oh, right. It could happen. You know, just keep that pig running on a cycle. Yeah. We don’t have that data, Brian. Yeah. But that’s exciting. That’s a significant portion of the church and exciting to hear about.

And welcome everyone. A new look and sound to Breaking Bread. Man, I really like that music. I had no idea you were so good with the recorder. Who would have known, Arlan, that you were so good with bells and a castanet? Yeah. You know, Matt, I love the fact that we’re reflecting after two years of Breaking Bread.

And when I think back to the topics and discussions that have been had in this studio, it excites me to think about what we’ve been able to talk about here. And that’s what we’re going to reflect on. And I’ve got in the studio with me, Arlan Miller and Brian Sutter. It’s been two years, and this is a milestone for us.

Thanks everyone for being along for this celebration. Maybe for the listeners, just remind us of what the vision is here of Breaking Bread. This vision really was not even my own, but as much as an agency vision and from leadership to provide a space of teaching that meets people where they’re at and meets people in a venue that the they can take in information whether it be with a child on the hip or on the road commuting to a job and to be a slow drip of some of the teaching and some of the lessons that we learn in the counseling field, which Brian, you’re in our counseling department here. Hopefully we will help with those teachings. Yeah. I mean, it seems like it’s been a good way to get information out. And more and more people are digesting things audibly and a good way to shift that direction and it’s hard to believe it’s been two years. That’s amazing. And when I think about the mission of ACCFS, you know, helping the hurting, nurturing hope, encouraging growth, part of that speaks to are we going to hit people where they’re at?

And are we going to be able to bring that help, hope, and growth into their world in a very real and simple way? Let me just speak to that a little bit, because I’ve had a few wonderful interactions with people who listen. You know, it might be a conversation in the church hall. It might have been a phone call. It may have been an email. And we would certainly welcome that. If anybody were to email our counseling agency. [email protected] would be the easiest. Okay, and they could drop a message. Certainly. It would come to us, and we can engage you in that. Some of your thoughts and reactions would be welcome for sure.

We’d love to know where we are resonating. And frankly, what are some things, themes, ideas, or questions you have that maybe we could address in upcoming episodes? Because when you start a project like this and say, okay, we’re going to do these every two weeks. That’s been our cadence. That’s been our hope. And then you can look out into the future and get kind of scared thinking, boy, how deep is this breadbasket, right? Yeah. And so, at some point, we do like that engagement to know what is on the hearts and the needs of our listenership. So, our heart is to serve the body and to have topics that are relevant or connecting and to answer questions.

And I think that’s one of the really unique and wonderful blessings of the Apostolic Christian Church is the connection and fellowship hour and that’s a big deal. And this seems at least in my experience to be one way that has connected the body as I go and talk with different people.

One of the first things I do is once they find that I work at ACCFS is, oh, the podcast. And I think that’s so exciting. You know what, there is something I have about deeply. There are a thousand podcasts out there, right? And in every listenership that listens to a podcast has some sort of common denominator, right?

Whether it’s your enthusiasm for the history of mathematics. I just gave away this podcast. Sorry. Is that possible? Anyway, it could be your enthusiasm for cooking. It could be your enthusiasm for all kinds of special causes. And so, then you get a narrow subgroup of people who come around this audio.

And I would like to think our listenership is even more narrow yet in the sense of having more common ties and that we understand one another in special deep ways. And that’s part of what I am blessed by. It’s a community and it’s a family. And this is just a conversation that’s ongoing within the family.

And so, we want to thank the listeners for helping to make it so. Oh, absolutely. And I feel like we even have learned about our listenership. I mean, you take the number one downloaded podcast. Sure. It’s been Unmet Expectations. Doesn’t that say something about us? That all of us in some way suffer loss.

And we’re dealing with that loss, and we’re working through that loss, and then when the Scriptures speak to that loss, our ears perk up, for example. Yeah. And I think that’s one of the universal human experiences that Satan has been so effective at is isolating us and making us feel or think that we’re the only one.

And hopefully, you know, people hearing even just that unmet expectation is so common and very popular and you’re not alone in that. Matt what are some others you look back and think about the last two years? What are some other podcasts that really landed or have been well listened to? We could put it that way and a couple of categories I would say are among the highest numbers, Unmet Expectations and Living a Joyful Life.

So there again we get the sense that we want to live with joy. We know it, but yet it seems so elusive. That seems to be somewhat of a common theme or Decision Making has been popular. We’re all making those decisions and we’re very conscientious about the decisions we make. We take this very seriously, right?

And so, we’re thinking about that. So those are a few. And then I would say another category that I’m encouraged by is what we’re invested in, our listenership, marriage. That podcast and our marriage series have surfaced to the top. Singleness is in the hearts of our church. And I know by the numbers that it wasn’t all singles listening to that.

So, there is a vested interest that’s saying, I need to understand this space better. I think that it really speaks to the family nature, just as a family sitting around the table breaking bread together wants to understand all the participants there. Right. You know, we say all that, not to say that our listenership should only be those in the Apostolic Christian Church, while that is whom we minister to.

The thought of people sharing this, these podcasts with friends and families and neighbors and those who they think would benefit certainly is in step with our larger vision. Yeah, that even reminds me, Matt, of my mom, who has some employees and, and has in many instances shared some podcasts that were maybe specific to that person’s life situation, and they’ve really enjoyed it.

And it has been a great way for my mom to do some outreach and share biblical truths and stir up some good conversation. So, I think what a great thing if you’re talking with your neighbor and they bring this or that up or you can point them towards a topic, a podcast that maybe really connects with their life situation and what a great way to share the gospel and some good godly biblical information.

For sure. And it’s easily accessible in multiple forms, from iTunes to AC Central to whatever. One of the beauties of podcasts is they’re easy to get to, they’re easy to listen to, and they are convenient. And I’m excited every time I hear that God adds the increase and continues to expand the outreach effort.

How many downloads does a podcast get? Yeah, our average podcast downloads per episode, divide them all, is right around 900. Oh, wow. Okay? So, the ones that I mentioned here have far exceeded 900 downloads and now I don’t know, maybe somebody’s running that in the pig barn to keep critters away over and over again. You know, you just keep that pig running on the cycle. Yeah. We don’t have that data, Brian. But that’s exciting. That’s a significant portion of the church and exciting to hear about. Yeah.

And you know, I was thinking too, as you were mentioning some of those, one of my favorite podcasts I listened to, Brian, was when you, Craig, and I spoke with Matt about shaping your child’s sexual character and just the great need to be really encouraging parents to think about how they are teaching their kids in that regard. What a powerful way to get a message out there. And let me speak about that. Okay. Out of all of our episodes, I think that’s high number eight on that list.

So there again, I put that in that second category of these are things that we’re concerned about and that we’re actively learning about and we’re going to be intentional about. Yeah. Or training of our children. Yeah. That certainly speaks into things that are very relevant in our world and even that a little bit different.

It just makes me smile to think about one of the first podcasts that we did. You know, Craig and I are sitting there, we’re in a different room. We don’t have a clue what we’re doing. Yeah. Half the time, I stepped in on you halfway through accidentally and, I’m like, whoops.

Yeah. Or at the end of the session we figured out, oh wait, we didn’t record any of that and we had to do it again. And there’s been quite a journey, even just thinking from that perspective of where things are now. Maybe we should do a shout out here to Denny Virkler. Yeah, for sure.

I mean, this might not have happened. In fact, when you talk about visioning it, it really goes back to Dennis and in terms of his expertise, he really took a bunch of floundering mouths and made something actually happen. So. It’s amazing how good you can make the babble sound. Yeah. And in those early days, how many times we called him in the middle of it and he was gracious enough to answer and lend equipment. Yeah, this wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without his help.

That’s for sure. And it is continually an effort. Every episode has him in the background working things out. Can I ask you a question, Matt? Yeah. Something I think I missed somewhere along the line, but can you share where the term breaking bread comes from? So, breaking bread, I mean, Christ broke bread with his disciples.

And it was always special moments when they broke bread together. And there’s something I think very profound about when we eat bread, when we eat a meal together, we’re really staving off death. I mean, when you really look at it, we’re staving off death. We are providing our bodies the nourishment for life.

And Christ identifies himself as the broken bread. He identifies himself as being the solution to our spiritual death. And so, that’s a little bit of the tenor that we want to take here, is when we share bread together, we break Christ, and I think and hope and pray that in every episode, Christ is broken. He is the solution to raising our children, our marriage, our singleness, our joy, our unmet expectations.

It is all in the context of Christ. He at the end is the answer. Yeah. He is the true place where help, hope, and growth come from. Yeah. For sure. And I think that takes us back into the vision of ACCFS as well as just Breaking Bread in general, that our heart and our desire is to share Christ and that everything that we would be about would be motivated by a love for Christ, understanding him deeper and bringing his truths and his life, his bread, so to speak, in a way that’s digestible.

And I would say almost without fail in every episode as I interview you brothers, Amber, and others, I get to this critical moment when I realize this requires faith. To move forward with this requires Christ and requires belief, faith, trust, and clinging to him. And whenever that moment hits, it’s always refreshing. It’s always a wonderful moment. And just to give the listener a window, I think one of the things I so much appreciate in every episode I’ve been a part of, you’ve started us off with prayer, Matt. And I assume that’s universal because we see and understand the need there.

And that’s who we lean on and look to. Yeah. Language is complicated. Communication is complicated. Messaging is complicated, isn’t it? And so, we have to allow the Holy Spirit to cradle these things. And what better context to offer this faith and this hope than in the context of the community and the family that we are part of, and that the listenership is part of, where they can feel that safety to just to share together and learn together and be encouraged together. And let me give this to you too, Arlan, because you and I get out to a fair amount of our churches.

We are encouraged over and over. I am refreshed and encouraged every time. Arlan, speak to that, because we’re really speaking to this family here. For sure. And you have another view of it. I would agree with that. You know, as we travel and as we interact and as we have a chance to teach and to encourage and to learn alongside, you just feel that love, you feel that support, you feel that desire to grow deeper into that knowledge of Christ and to help lift the family up and strengthen the family. There is not a weekend when Katie, I, and the family have not left where we have not felt that common spirit and just thankful to be part of this effort. And we pray that our efforts can just continue to further that. That’s the heart of ACCFS and specifically the Church Outreach side.

And I would like to believe that perhaps this podcast can bring that person who can’t see a way out right now. They haven’t been to church in four weeks because they’ve had kids sick. You know how that gets or whatever. You get closed in because of life and responsibilities and you lose a bit of that connection. And there is a family out there. Yeah. And even just the faithful reminder of a connection, of being a part of a larger body. I think that can be another thing that’s easy. Probably not necessarily for you two brothers as you travel so much but for most of us, I would say even myself, I don’t travel nearly as much, and it can be easy to just get isolated even within your own local congregation and just a faithful reminder that God has placed people around the world.

Yeah. In our church denomination, and what a neat thing that is. Yeah, it is. We are thankful first and foremost to God above who gives the blessing. And that’s our prayer that he would continue to do so, and that help, hope, and growth could be shared. Thank you for that. We can look at metrics. We can look at numbers. I’m not even sure what they mean, but God is the only metric by which it needs to rise or sink, if that makes sense. And we trust that’s happening. So, thank you. And to our listeners we trust and pray that you have felt the love from this agency through this medium of podcasting because it truly is the heart here at ACCFS.

We love each and every one of you and we’re so thankful and feel privileged that you would listen.