VIDEO: A Message to Christian Content Creators… | Sean Cannell

5 things every Christian needs-to-know about creating content on YouTube and how the platform is changing|

So right now, I think there’s a unique opportunity for Christian content creators when it comes to YouTube and social media. In this video, I just wanted to actually share just from the heart as well as get into six things I wrote down and a bunch of different Bible verses that I think we need to know as Christians. Now, as you might know, Think Media podcast, our brand Think Media, we help people with cameras and YouTube, and we have a divergent audience with diverse beliefs and backgrounds and business owners and all kinds of people. But our message definitely resonates with those that would say, I’m a Christian and I’ve got some… That’s my faith personally. I really have some powerful things I want to share that I think will be valuable to you. If you’re not a Christian, then you may not want to watch this video, but you’re certainly welcome here as well. Billy Graham said that I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through believers in the marketplace. I think that there’s a massive opportunity right now if you have a message, a business, if you’re a Christian business owner, a Christian content creator, a kingdom entrepreneur, to really lean in because there’s massive opportunity happening specifically with YouTube and for content creators.

Let’s dive into some of the thoughts that I wrote down. But number one is we were created to create. God is a creator. What’s fascinating to me is the fifth word in the Bible is God revealing himself as a creator. It says, In the beginning God created. How crazy is it that the first thing that God revealed about himself was not that he was loving, was not that he was holy, was not any of these other things, but that he was a creator. Ultimately, being made in the image of God, the Hebrew word for that is barrah, and it’s to create, to shape and to form. What we do as content creators is we’re making something out of nothing. We’re using our phones and cameras. We are telling stories. We’re building businesses. We are launching products. We’re creating something. I believe we are looking like our looking like God, created in God’s image when we are creating. You were created to create. God is a maker. You were created to make and build something. I think that now is a massive time. If you’ve had something stirring in your heart to share, something to put out there in the world, this would be the time to jump in.

What are you waiting for? What’s holding you back? B y the way, I’m going to be doing Q&A here in a little bit towards the end and smash like if you’re getting value. Let’s go number 2. We were given a mission from Jesus. The Great Commission says, Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I commanded you, as surely I’m with you always to the very end of the age. Here’s what I want to lean in on. Teaching them to obey everything I commanded you. When Jesus said this at the end of the Book of Matthew, the question was, Well, what did he teach? What was the content of that? Fast forward to today, we have the full Bible, the full canon, and it’s all inspired. But in the context of this quote from Jesus, he was referring to some things that were just shared over the previous months and years. He was like, These are the things you should teach everybody. By the way, the Great Commission is not just for a pastor for a church.

It’s for anybody that would call themselves a Christ follower. What I think this is so important for content creators. Number one, we were created to create. Number two, we were given a mission from Jesus. It is my conviction that this isn’t just for Christian… That the only type of content creators representing Jesus should be creating Christian content. Fair? In fact, sometimes people are like, I didn’t even really know, Sean, that you were a Christian. That surprised me because I didn’t hear you talk about it or something. The reason was that for that had a lot to do with the fact that I don’t do Christian camera reviews. I don’t believe there’s such a thing. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? You just do camera reviews. I think there’s something about being able to be salt and light. If you do have a Bible study channel, a discipleship channel, you’re creating Christian content that’s overtly Christian, that’s amazing. I think there’s a lot of opportunity. When Jesus said, Hey, teach disciples, go make disciples and teach them everything I commanded you. What are some of the stuff that Jesus taught? Well, from an overview, I looked at Matthew and looked through the Gospels.

He taught stuff like don’t be angry with people. When I think about the power of starting a YouTube channel, we can start a YouTube channel around so many different niches or backgrounds or topics. There could be personal development channels. He taught have integrity in your sexuality. You tell each other about relationships. You could talk about YouTube channels that about these different areas of life. This is probably the most overtly scripture based video I’ve ever done. But you don’t got to be quoting scripture necessarily to teach a biblical world view or to share the highest level principles that exist in the created universe created by God, which would be the very word of God. What else? He said, Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Be people of your world, your word. In business, a business channel, that’s the number one business verse in the Bible, I think, is, Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Make a promise and deliver on your promise. Can you imagine? I went to the restaurant, they promised me the food would be good. It was good. I gave them five stars on Yelp, the restaurant blew up.

I made a promise as a Christian coach to deliver a result. Someone hired me, I delivered the result. They gave me a great review. That’s the number one verse of business. Just this idea that there could be emotional intelligence channels, personality test. You could be talking about relationships. You could be talking about business. Don’t retaliate when you’re wrong. Love your enemies. Give to the needy. The opportunities for nonprofits or philanthropic efforts. Make your business about more than money, helping people, life coaches, helping people navigate life and go to a deeper level. Because if life was only about money, then we’ll end up with an empty life. Don’t judge others. Pray. Don’t be anxious or worry. Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. Be careful with who you partner with. These are just a couple of quick overviews of the stuff that Jesus taught on. It’s like when I think about people in our community, it’s like we can have RV channels and DIY channels and artistic channels and business channels and personal finance channels. What’s interesting is that’s all in there. Jesus taught on all that stuff. Number two is we were given a mission, and I think there’s a unique opportunity for Christian content creators to fulfill the mission of Jesus.

In some cases, start a Bible study channel. That’s amazing. Start a channel for your church. But on the other hand, too, we can fulfill the great commission partly with YouTube, with social media. I think that’s a massive opportunity. Let’s go to number 3. Number 3, we are called to be salt and light. Check out this from the message paraphrase, this verse in Matthew 5, 14 through 16 says this, Here’s another way to put it. You’re here to be light, bringing out the God colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We are going public with this. As public as a city on a hill, if I make you lightbearers and you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you on a hilltop on a light stand, shine. Keep an open house. Be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Man, I love that. You are here to be light and to bring out the God colors in the world. So if you want to build a brand, you want to create a merch line, you want to launch music, you want to inspire people with creativity, you want to help bullet journals, you’re here to bring out the God colors in the world to help people.

And like the NIV, it talks about your salt and light, a city on a hill not to be hidden so that people would see your good works and praise your Father in heaven. Question is, how can they see your good works if you’re not uploading videos? How can they see good works if you get distracted or you get discouraged and you get sidelined and you’re not posting? What would it look like if we were creating content that brought the God colors out in the world? There’s an old saying that it’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. Our conviction at Think Media, I know there’s all different expressions of Christianity is sometimes I get a little uncomfortable, though, when Christians are just known for what they’re against and not for what they’re for. When they’re just known for maybe picketing in front of places and criticizing things they don’t agree with. While maybe you feel called to that, that’s between you and God. But I think the big opportunity is rather than curse the darkness, it’s better to light one candle. What does that mean? There’s a book called Next Christians by Gabe Lyons, and it talks about the way to actually shape culture is not to curse culture, but it’s to create more culture.

So if you want to really influence the music industry, it’s not to just be like, Oh, that music is bad. It’s you go make some good music. If you really want to influence the YouTube world or the social media world, go make the best content in the world. Actually light a candle, upload some content. Now, I know that there’s a time and place for ideas, idea wars, debates, speaking directly to different ideologies and world views, and I’m all for it if you feel called to political places or all these different things. But there’s just such a massive opportunity for you to be salt and light and to go public with this and to shine like a city on a hill. I think this makes people uncomfortable because some people, especially Christians, they’re like, I just don’t want to promote myself. It’s a good point because we need to be humble. But there’s a difference between toxic ambition or selfish ambition and godly ambition. And if your godly ambition is that God would be glorified through your works, that you bring out the God colors in the world, that you recognize there’s a lot of evil and there’s a lot of falsehood and there’s a need of truth and there’s a need of beauty and there’s a need of God’s wisdom being brought into the world.

That’s a pretty good reason to shine bright. That’s a good reason to try to go viral. That’s a good reason to try to get subscribers. It’s a good reason. It’s literally a command. Jesus is like, Yo, you need to shine brighter. You’re a city on a hill. I’m not trying to hide you. You are light bearers, ultimately, not so that we’d have glory for ourselves, but that we could give glory to God. We are called to be salt and light. And as you may know, salt is a preserving agent. Sometimes people go, Man, social media is pretty dark. There’s a lot as a father now with a two and a half year old and a six month old, social media has got a lot of darkness on it. Fair enough. And you should definitely be thoughtful for yourself or for your family or for your kids. And the reason I wanted to make this video, too, is just because as a Christian myself, I’m very familiar with this world. Been in Church for the last lot of years, maybe since 2003 or 20 years or something, really in Church. So I’ve been Christian for a while.

Certain mindsets I’ll see as people hesitate, Oh, I just want to be humble. I don’t know if that’s real humility. It’s probably false humility because, meanwhile, God’s calling you to shine and to go do something and build something and reach someone and impact someone. And that sometimes we need a preserving agent. Salt is a preserving agent where, Oh, social media is so dark. Well, then why don’t you light a light? To stand for truth, to counteract. People are creating other culture. And a lot of people are trying to cancel Christian voices. It seems to be that it’s not a very popular those that are convicted with Christian values are not very popular in culture these days. But ultimately, it is our responsibility understanding that that’s just going to be what it is. What shocks me is people get mad when Christians share their point of view, but a lot of people aren’t getting mad when other people share their point of view. I’m a free speech person. That’s why I think it’s everybody’s freedom to create YouTube videos. It’s your tube. This is an urgent message to you as a Christian content creator or someone who’s aspiring to do that.

Plenty of other people are being very loud about their beliefs, their values, their world views, and that’s their choice to do. I respect their freedom to do that because that’s what free speech really is. Here’s my question. Where are the Christians? Everybody else is being loud, sharing their world view, and that’s their free will to do that. Why aren’t you? You’re called to be salt light to shine. It has been every once in a while, someone catches vision in our community like, Man, it would be really awesome if there was more positive content, more uplifting. Maybe you feel like you’re called to be a kid’s creator. Now that I have my son who watches YouTube Kids, I’m like, We need… I was talking to Griffin Fox this week in a church about this, just hanging out outside in Las Vegas. I was like, Bro, you could really create some amazing kid’s content. He’s been in kids ministry and all this stuff. But we don’t need just one channel creating great children’s content. We need thousands. Do you understand how big there’s 2.6 billion monthly active users on YouTube right now. There’s 50 billion monthly shorts views being consumed.

Youtube Kids is this massive app. And again, while I don’t necessarily agree, or there’s plenty of stuff I don’t agree with, I believe it’s their freedom to upload. It is everybody’s freedom to upload whatever content they want according to YouTube’s community guidelines. And so rather than spend all this time analyzing and calculating how dark the world is, I’m just challenging us together and myself, why don’t we light a candle? Why don’t we go start creating great content? So if you’re just joining, my name is Sean Cannell, R ymes with YouTube channel. It’s funny and cheesy, but true. And we’re talking about six things that I’ve discovered in Scripture that I think we need to know as Christian content creators. That could be that you have a Bible study channel, or it could just be that you’re a business owner, a content creator, an entrepreneur, you’re building a personal brand, you’re a ministry, you’re a pastor who wants to get your message out there or something. You may be overtly a Christian channel, or you may just be a faith based person who’s really also saying, how can I use YouTube and social media to spread messages that matter, or to just build my business to solve entrepreneurs solve problems for a profit.

So how could I weave this into my business? And I think the opportunity is, and I’ll do some Q&A here in a while. Thanks for being here live. Zeb, I see you and Skulki, and I see you, Sharon and Anthony and Brandon and Zeb. That’s right, Pastor Trey Vankepp. We need thousands of us to press upload to the glory of God. I agree 100 %. Okay. Number one, we were created to create. You were created in the image of God. The fifth word in the Bible is in the beginning God created. The first thing God revealed about himself was that he was a creator and you were made in his image. You got to press record. We were given a mission by Jesus, one, to teach everything he commanded, and he taught on everything. There’s an opportunity for channels from a Christian worldview or a Judaeo Christian values worldview. There’s an opportunity for business channels and motherhood channels and family channels and parenting channels and education channels and arts and entertainment and media and all these different things. That’s a mission not just to pastors or somebody that’s in vocational ministry. It’s a mission to you.

If you would say I’m a Christian, then you’re called. Mark 16, 15 says, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. What’s a better way to preach the good news to all creation than YouTube with the distribution from your home, from my home office here in Las Vegas? I’m able to connect with 174 people on here live. And if you’re watching this on the replay, hit me with ReplayFam in the comments. Number three, we’re called to be salt and light. And we’ll get in at number four in just a second. But I also want to remind you that if you haven’t heard about it, next week we’re doing a three day YouTube challenge, tub1kchallenge. Com. And link is in the description as well. I’ll come back to that in a little bit. Let’s get into number 4. We need to skill up. This is a message to Christian content creators. Number 4, we need to skill up. Let me give you some verses. Daniel 1, verse 5. You might know Daniel in the lion’s den. Daniel, Meshack, Shadrach, Abednegod. Daniel 1, they’re setting the context. King Nebikinezer is looking for young men to serve in the palace, to serve as his advisors, to be a part of government, to be a part of influence.

These Hebrews, who are in exile at the time, Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednegel, get selected for this. But this is what I find fascinating is they were trained for three years, and after that, they entered the king’s service. It’s interesting about this is these guys were trained… This wasn’t Bible College. This was training in the ways of Babel on in terms of government. I think there’s something that Christians struggle with when it comes to looking for overly sanitized information, when as Christians, we need the skill of eating the meat and throwing out the bones. Moses learned all the different skill sets in Egypt. Of course, we need discernment and we have to be careful and we have to be thoughtful and we have to have a filter that we filter everything, of course, through the Bible. But what’s fascinating to me is these guys, Meshack, Shadrach and Abednegoth, they skilled up. And Daniel, they had three years of training. This wasn’t like, I’m dabbling on my content creation skills. It’s dabbling, learning here and there, listening to Think Might be a Podcast every once in a while. This is training for three years. But then here’s what’s fascinating.

Daniel 1, verse 20, Whenever the King consulted them in any matter requiring wisdom and balanced judgment, he found them 10 times more capable than any of the magicians and enchants in the entire kingdom. This was the original 10 X, man. Grant Cardone didn’t come up with 10 X. Daniel did. There’s a lot of people with 10 X. This is So the King consulted them. They went through the same training that everybody else went through, but you should expect as a believer, you’re a Christian content creator, you should be persuaded and convicted that he who is in you is greater than he is in the world, that you have God super on your natural, that you have access to the gifts of the Spirit, that you have access to the word of God, the best, besides the gospel and a rule of truth and the canon of Scripture, it’s also the greatest success book ever written. It’s also the greatest book for content creators ever written. Anything you could ever need in here. It’s better than any self help book, better than any trending business book. And I read a lot of books. I think that’s the lifestyle of the Christian content creator.

You spent three years in Babel on, you like Moses, spending time in Egypt, but then also just knowing that that culture did not influence Daniel, Daniel influenced the culture. Lived a little bit of a different lifestyle. He had a different diet. Prayed three times a day, but also was trained. Number four is you got to skill up. If you are a Christian content creator, you got to go a little bit deeper at times than just like, I’m just going to pray and my channel is going to grow. I know that’s not what you think, but that’s how some people, like, if it’s God’s will, my channel will go. Actually, God’s will is that you would skill up. God’s will is that you take responsibility. God’s will is that you would meditate on the law, Joshua 1, so that in doing so, you may prosper in all your ways. That when you would skill up and learn skills and develop your skills and abilities, the horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord. There’s something that you have a responsibility in to skill up. These guys skilled up, but then when God super came on their natural, there’s these magicians, these enchants.

In every matter requiring wisdom and balance judgment, King Nebikinezer found them more capable. 10 X so. So I just think there’s going to be a revolution. I think we’re already in it. It’s cool to see different people that are creating content. Alan Parr and Bruce Long and Isaiah. I got some other friends right now. I got some people that have been growing with shorts like crazy. And these are Christian channels. But then you also have, you’d be shocked. I’m in a mastermind of Christian business leaders, people you don’t even know that are in places of influence and with leaders of all different backgrounds. God is up to something on the Earth. It’s pretty incredible. The opportunity for us as Christian content creators is to take skilling up seriously, but then also to entrust the whole thing. Man will make his plans. God will direct our steps and trust your work to the Lord and he will help it prosper. There’s something about skilling up and leading into the supernatural. Proverbs 22.29 says, I don’t know. I posted the wrong scripture there. Let’s look it up. I’m on a Google Doc here. You see someone who’s so diligent in business, they’ll stand before kings, not before common men.

Let me give you a different version of it. Do you see any skilled workers, truly competent workers? They receive before king. They will serve before kings, not ordinary people. It’s my belief that the lid on your content creator growth, it could be timing, and sometimes it’s good to use your season and obsc to prepare you for popularity. I just talked with my friend Nicholas Bearley yesterday about the theme of Scripture being a lot slower than we would like in terms of viral culture. You know who went viral? It was Saw. He got anointed King, put into kingship, and then he had a horrible fall, King Saw, because he didn’t really have a lot of character development time. Meanwhile, David had Lions, tigers, and Mares actually got anointed, so had to wait seven years, plus more years until he was fully Judah King versus Israel King. You saw Moses passionate but made some mistakes in his life, 40 years in the wilderness. Joseph had a clear vision of what he was called to, but then had to get thrown into a pit. Then it was like, Cool, I’m in Potter First House. Shoot, now I’m in prison.

And then eventually he reaches his… Sometimes it’s going to take a little bit longer to get to your destiny. Sometimes the growth of your channel use your season and obscurity to prepare you for popularity. But the cap, ultimately, on the growth of your channel is that your content sucks. I mean, do you see any truly competent workers? They’ll serve before kings, not common men. Here’s the promise that if content is king, so that when good content is posted to YouTube and TikTok and Instagram, the algorithm promotes it. If you develop competency, we need to scale up. If you work on your content, and I want this to be challenging, but also be encouraging, I think about like, Sean, I just discovered you. You’re an overnight success. Yeah, overnight success just takes 20 years. I started shooting video in 2003 for my church. Started the first YouTube channel in 2007 for my church. Then eventually started a business called Clear Vision Media. Worked with different authors, speakers, have different background, have experience in the business world, then went back and was a director of communications at a church, and then started thinking media. It’s been a journey.

And we’re going viral in the last year. We’ve had a lot of viral Facebook Reels. We’ve had a lot of viral TikToks. We’re going viral right now on YouTube. We just went from 4 million views a month to almost 10 million YouTube Shorts. Overnight success. Yeah, it only took 20 years. So there’s just something about developing competency. The first day also that David met Goliath, when David met Goliath, that wasn’t his first day of using a sling in Five Stones. He wasn’t like, You know what? I think that based on this, I can’t go at him with armor and swords and whatnot. I’m going to go at him with a slingshot. I wish I would have learned how to use this thing. No, he had been training his whole life and preparing his whole life for this moment of opportunity that he stumbled into. He’s coming out with a charcuterie board of cheese and crackers for his brothers. He’s tending the sheep and overhears a situation that’s going on. There’s something about committing to a season of building new skills, seeing every year of your life, whether you’re crushing it right now as a content creator or you’re just starting, as it’s all preparation.

I am getting ready for that thing, that vision that God has given me, that picture that God has given me. Punchline is we need to skill up. That’s actually one of the reasons… That’s actually what we do as a company, by the way. And you probably already know that. We help you learn the skills of online video, of how to make your videos look Crispy. Omar teaches you drippy, Crispy videos, how to use the platforms, best practices for using the platforms, changes in the platforms and algorithms, as well as the macro strategy. Not just how do I start a channel and get some views. What good are views if you don’t have a clear vision of your business model? What is this all onto? What is the bigger picture? What are the pieces? Is it bigger than YouTube? Am I going to be on multiple platforms? Do I need to build out a website? Am I eventually building out an offer or an email list? There’s a long journey and a lot of skills to learn along the way. That’s why we have our free podcast. That’s why we have two YouTube channels. That’s why we have our online courses and all kinds of different things.

And if you haven’t heard, and I just mentioned it, we are doing a free three day YouTube challenge. It’s all about how to get your first or next 1,000 subscribers to 1kchallenge. Com is the URL link in the description as well. And it’s entirely free. It’s a Thursday, Friday and Saturday. There’s a morning session and an evening session. We have four special guests coming on sharing their tips, and it’s going to be really fun and it’s entirely free. And again, if like, Sean, what’s the secret behind the door number one? At the end of the challenge and during the challenge, we will let you know about other you could do with us. I have a book, I highly recommend buying it. It’s YouTube Secret, second edition or don’t. During the challenge, we talk about our course, video Raked Academy. I highly recommend buying it or don’t. It’s just a way of scaling up and going faster. But regardless, we are committed to helping you win on YouTube. Our mission is to help 10,000 purpose driven people create a full-time living, doing what they love, while making a difference in the world with YouTube and online video.

Obviously, when we help that, and that’s why no matter what your backgrounds or beliefs watching this, you’re welcome here, you can belong at Think Media, even if you don’t believe what I believe. But we do want to help most of all. Our vision is purpose driven people and people that are bringing good into the world, people that are lightbearers, people that are solving problems and entertaining and educating and bringing good. And we unapologetically acknowledge that there is evil. Satan’s real. It’s been interesting to see conversations between Andrew Sholts and Joe Rogen talking about, Yeah, Satan is probably real. Look at how much evil there is in the world. One of the greatest things that leads many people to faith is actually when evil becomes clearer than ever, they go, Oh, shoot. It must be a God. And we start that faith journey. And so we want to help people share messages that matter, lightbearers, people that want to be solving problems, making the world better. And we’re passionate. And so if that sounds like something you’d be into, that’s at tub1kchallenge. Com. You can register for free. Hit like if you’re getting value. And I’m going to do some Q&A in just a second.

Put four question marks before and after your question if you have a question. The topic today is a message to Christian content creators. I have a meeting in 28 minutes, so that is the maximum that we can go today. Recapping, number one, you were created to create. If you’re made in God’s image, God is a creator. It’s the first thing he revealed about himself in the Bible. It’s the fifth word of Genesis is a creator. So it’s time to create. Number two, we were given a mission from Jesus, teaching everything Jesus taught and all of Scripture, which might include your DIY channel of bringing out the God colors in the world of art, beauty, fashion, music, creativity, gardening. Number three, you’re called to be salt and light. Number four, you need to skill up. We need to skill up. We need to skill up continuously. I would shift the camera over here. Let me show you. I’ll just go for it. Here’s what I’m working on right now, you all. This is my current to read list. And the reason I throw that out there is not because you have to read any of that or you can do whatever you want.

I just want you to know, one of the things that I just strive to create distance from is between me and hypocrisy. Nothing that makes me more uncomfortable when someone says one thing and doesn’t live it. It is my conviction and it has been my lifestyle that I believe that the best investment we can make is in ourselves and in learning new skills. I believe it’s also the pattern of scripture. Jesus grew in wisdom and favor with men. Jesus at 12 was found in the temple asking other people lots of questions, having articulate questions, seeking wisdom, seeking to get better. Books, of course, is just one way. Online courses, audiobooks, podcasts, it’s a lifestyle. The lid on your YouTube channel, I said it, in love, is probably your content sucks, among other things. What’s the opportunity? How do you solve that problem? You skill up, you improve, you train for three years. You go out and repeatedly throw rocks at glass bottles. I don’t know if David had glass bottles in those days. Increase your slingshot accuracy week after week, month after month, year over year. And then when Goliath arrives, you’re able to have the precise target where you’re able to hit this small area in the giant’s head and enter into your destiny.

Sure, God super comes on your natural. Sure, that was a miraculous event. But he prepared for that moment where his preparation met God’s power. And that’s what we need to do as content creators as well. Number five, we need to be wise and pure. Wise and pure. What? All right, here’s the verse. Matthew 10 16, Look, I’m sending you out as sheep among wolves, so be as shrewd as snakes and as harmless as doves. This is a message to Christian content creators. This is probably one of the most under read or understood verses in the Bible, and no one talks about this. I’m sending you out of sheep among wolves. First of all, it is this idea that we touched on this. You should create content. You should get on TikTok. You should get on YouTube. You should get out there. But what about social media has some bad stuff on it. Yeah, it’s a dumpster fire. But what do we do? It’s understanding there’s not good people out there. There could be trolls out there. There could be hurt people out there. It could be toxic stuff out there. You got to have your discernment on.

You got to have your discernment up. I’m sending you out of sheep among wolves. It’s also not necessarily going to be easy. You’re going to face resistance. You’re going to face challenges. You’re going to face wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves. What does that mean? A couple of things. Serpents never unduly expose themselves to attack. Something about being thoughtful. Sean, should my content be overtly Christian? Could be. Maybe I feel about doing it a little bit different. I have a different style in my content. Pray about it. Serpents never expose themselves unduly to attack. Jesus taught them parables. though seeing that there was a reason he did it. Without going into that, he was thoughtful about his brand, about his messaging, about the context of the room, about who was listening. Serpents never unduly expose themselves to attack. They also never provoke the enemy. Cunning and wisdom is another thing for this. Number 4 is we need to be wise and we need to be pure as Christian content creators. Shrewd as snakes, what does it mean? Subtle, crafty, shrewd, wise, avoiding snairs that are set up for us. Discerning the difference in audiences, Jesus would do that.

Storytelling to feed and weed. Jesus used storytelling for some people because, by the way, too, and even this training might make some people unsubscribe or not want to follow us, which is totally fine. But ultimately, as you start sharing your message, don’t be surprised. You’re like, I’m worried if I’m going to get haters or what if someone disagrees with me? That is the continuous theme of the entire Bible. If you want to be bold like Elijah, you have prophets of Baal that disagree with you. If you want to be bold like Jesus, in pretty much every room he was a part of, every context, there was people who didn’t believe or got mad or got angry or disagreed. And ultimately, they imprisoned him and ultimately crucified him. And even as we share this in Holy Week approaching Easter Sunday, he overcame death in the grave and He rose again. But ultimately, you’ve got storytelling to be in different situations, different contexts, discerning the differences and audiences. You got to be shrewd, blunt when needed. I hope you’re getting value. Let me know if you have any aha moments from this, a little bit different than when we normally do.

Shrewd as snakes. As a Christian content creator, you’re called to be shrewd, wise. But then you put a tension on this. Wisdom does not equal dishonesty. One of my favorite books in the Bible, probably my favorite book is the Book of Proverbs. James is the New Testament Book of Proverbs. James talks about wisdom. Not all wisdom is Godly wisdom. Shrewd as serpents, the reason he’s like, In harmless as doves is because wisdom does not equal dishonesty. We have to be careful, I think, as Christians, if falling into just click bait or too far into just drama. Is what we’re doing just for views or is it actually being effective? Are we spending too much time creating controversy even within Christians and the Church, or are we actually being effective in reaching people and representing Christ? Wisdom does not equal dishonesty and innocence does not equal gullibility. Got to be shrewd, thoughtful, careful, strategic. Most people would have think about… You think about Jesus, you just present Jesus in culture. It’s like, Yeah, man, just love everybody and chill out, bro. Jesus is zened out. Just loves people so much. It’s just true. Bring the little children to me.

A lot of times you don’t think of shrewd and strategic. It’s what we see here. Then innocent as doves, that means pure, no self serving agenda, purity, because doves would be cleaned for animal sacrifice according to Old Testament, and serving the Lord blamelessly. This is a message to Christian content creators. I highly encourage you to be considerate of Matthew 10 16 as a mode of operation for a way that you conduct yourself when it comes to creating content or thinking about starting a channel and how you do it. Once again, I want to encourage you, we need thousands and tens of thousands of Christian content creators sharing all different types of content. Just because you’re a Christian content creator doesn’t mean your content has to be Christian, like it only teaches Bible stories or something. But storytelling, some of the best films, one of the things we’re passionate about, Think Media, Noland Malt worked in Hollywood, worked in LA, was definitely on a grind, 12, 14, 16 hour days. A lot of times an hour or two commute because he had to live further out. He worked as a stage hand and a grip on different shows and his passion about making movies.

When we think about what we’re doing at Think Media, we’re still just getting started. We’re teaching YouTube and social media. We’re doing some of this stuff. But as far as our vision and some of the people on our team in terms of storytelling, in terms of crafting redemptive content that might not be the chosen, which is awesome, but that’s a certain type of content. Here’s the message I’m trying to encourage you with. What has God put on your heart? What do you see? What’s the vision you see? What is the conviction you have? What is the gap you see in the marketplace for music or creativity or YouTube or humor or entertainment or all of these things? What is the vision God has given you? In order to get there, we got to be wise and pure. Matthew 10, 16, you’re going to need to be shrewd and you’re going to need to be innocent. I hope that’s encouraging. Then number 6, before some Q&A, we need to take action. We need to take action. I just want to challenge you if you felt maybe discouraged because you have been creating content that hasn’t grown.

I want to encourage you to get back in it. I want to encourage you, if you haven’t started, now is the time to start. I want to encourage you that you’re needed. Matthew 9, 37 through 38, He said to His disciples, The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who’s in charge of the harvest, ask Him to send out workers into the field. The opportunity on YouTube isn’t the problem. The harvest isn’t the problem. The need isn’t the problem. The demand for Christian content and family friendly content or content that you want your kids to watch or Gen Z and young millennials and elder millennials and Gen X and baby boomers sharing and helping and passing along wisdom to the generations. The demand for it is there. Supply and demand. The hunger for it is there. The harvest is not the problem. The workers are the problem. People taking action. People punching fear in the face and pressing record. People willing to go through three years of training to skill up. People willing to do the hard work and to defeat the lion and the bear and develop the slingshot skills needed to be ready when Goliath shows up.

But I believe that’s you. If you’re watching this and you clicked on this video, I think you understand that God put something, some passion on your life. You’d only be watching this video if you wanted to create content, your faith based, your Christian. So pray and take action. I think there is something about this. I think a powerful prayer to pray because that’s the exact thing that Jesus said in this context. He’s like, Listen, the harvest is great. The demand on YouTube is there. There’s 2.6 billion people and the platform is growing. The harvest is great, but the workers are few. We need more channels. If you feel like it’s too crowded, you’re wrong. We do need more content creators, not just content creators that lob stuff out there. You got to skill up. You got to be wise. You got to be strategic. And then I’d pray. God, give me a vision. Give me a vision for the content you’re calling me to create. Help me see the opportunity on the platform. Help me discern what my unique skill, gift sets, and abilities. Set me free from any negative self talk and comparison that just puts me into paralysis because I just feel like, Oh, what’s the big deal?

Or, What’s the need? Or, Why would anybody care about what I have to say? You got to get rid of all that. Be strong and courageous. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power, love and self discipline of a sound mind. So get into that state and then ask for more workers into the field. Two things to pray about. One, God, give me a vision, strengthen me, help me, give me clarity on the content you’ve called me to create. And two, God, I pray for Christian content creators, those that are creating content right now. If you are here, you’re a pretty unique person. Obviously, we probably met sometime, or we’re just meeting. We’re here on Think Media podcast. You may have been a part of this journey, but I want to implore you, that’s why I wanted to shoot this video, is to be more thoughtful than I really do believe you’re called to creativity or else you want to be watching this video. You’re called to YouTube or else you want to be watching this video. Here’s what I mean. You’re passionate about this industry. You’re passionate about the creator economy.

You’re passionate about messages that matter, being platform, being shared on YouTube. You’re probably passionate. You’re passionate about Jesus. You’re passionate about the Bible, and you’re trying to figure out what does it look like to be a Christian business owner, Christian content creator, or how can I share my faith and impact the world and change the world and solve problems? Again, if that’s you, I want to challenge you that God would… He not only calls us to unique vocations, I think he calls us to unique prayer lists, if that makes sense. I pray for YouTubers. That’s what I’m trying to say. Other people don’t even probably know who they are. They wouldn’t think of it. Makes sense? This is our sphere of influence. You’re here. I’m asking you to pray. I’m asking you to pray for Think Media. I’m asking you to pray for me. Pray for Omar, pray for Noland, pray for the content creators you follow. Then pray for the people that you follow on YouTube. Pray for influence. Take prayer to a whole… That was the instruction. Pray to the Lord who’s in charge of the harvest and ask him to send more workers in the field.

Pray for the most subscribed channels. pray. We just need more. I don’t think anyone’s going to argue that the world needs more prayer. But when you discern and get clear, and this could be the moment you do it, I think this is my world. I like this world of content. I started thinking, I get invited to speak at these different events in the creator economy and all this stuff. It’s probably a largely non Christian community. I don’t curse the darkness. Thank God that I’m in this community and I love this community. I want to see God’s goodness and his love and his kindness experienced by this community. Your prayer list for yourself and for others, I think that’s a needed thing and we need to take action. 1 Corinthians 12. 32, From the tribe of Issacar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe and their relatives. Number 6, we need to take action. All these men understood the signs of the times and they knew the best course of action Israel should take. One of my favorite verses, 1 Corinthians 12. 32, because the 12 tribes of Israel all had different skill sets. I think that this is a particular skill set that we need as Christian content creators.

Two things that these leaders understood. They understood the signs of the times, and they knew the best course of action Israel should take. What does that mean? We understand that television consumption is going down and YouTube consumption is going up. We understand that the number one platform being watched in American families’ living rooms right now, more than Netflix and Hulu and HBO Max is YouTube. We understand the signs of the times. People are spending more time on their phones. They’re consuming more content. It’s this whole other conversation about how healthy that is or isn’t. But we should be lighting a candle there. The signs of the times, where is people’s attention? Where is the opportunity? Where is the need? We’re also living in times where there is record depression, record loneliness, record suicide, record… We’re living in a dark time where there’s never been more need for salt and light. Man, what’s happening in the times? We’re living in an era of a lot of confusion. That’s a vacuum for truth. They understood the science of the times, and then they knew what the best course of action was to take. Wisdom, strategy. How do we approach this?

If you’re a Christian business owner wanting to use content, understanding where’s modern marketing going, understanding how do I build a brand, a business and stand out in this environment. Not only also then recognizing the opportunity or problems, but then knowing the solutions. You might say, Well, I don’t know the best course of action to take. Well, that would be the thing to pursue in prayer and in learning and in scaling up. Last verse, Isaiah 6.8, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? I said, Here I am. Send me. I feel like this, what’s funny about this is like, sometimes we say, I don’t know if I’m called to this, which you should certainly pray about because you may or may not be. But here’s what I think is fascinating about this verse. It says, Many are called, few are chosen. Too many Christians misinterpret that verse to think, I’m just waiting to get called by God. Here’s how I understand it. Have you ever moved apartments or moved houses? Is there any worse thing in life than moving? Your back hurts, you got to pack up.

Have you ever helped a friend move and they were so unready that you were so frustrated because you showed up, they’re scrambling their stuff all over the floor. They haven’t boxed everything up. You’re judging them. You’re super upset. You don’t want to be there. And they’re like, Yeah, come help me move and I’ll give you some mug root beer and a Domino’s Pizza. You’re like, That’s a great deal. I was going to have an entire Saturday to myself, but mug root beer and Domino’s Pizza? You sold me. What’s funny about moving is if you call your friends to say, Hey, will you help me move? All of a sudden, if someone knows you’re moving, they see you on Call or ID, they don’t answer. All of a sudden, if someone knows that it’s Moving Day, you call them and they go, Oh, that’s… Think of a thing. Think that… Think of a family thing or whatever. Many are called, few are chosen. So you call all your friends, who gets to actually come help you move? Anybody who says yes. I’m back. I don’t know how long it was gone, but I hope you could hear me.

So someone just goes, the call goes out. The call goes out. I’m too busy. I’ve got something to do. I’ve got something happening this week. But as soon as someone goes, Yeah, I think I could help. But then it’s like, I choose you. You’re on the team to help me move today. Somebody else goes, Yeah, I think I could do it. You’re like, You’re chosen. That’s what I feel like is happening here in Isaiah because when he says, I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? It doesn’t say, Hey, Isaiah, will you go for us? And he’s like, Oh, yeah, here I am. It’s like the Lord is shouting, Who shall I send and who will go for us? The cool thing is Isaiah was listening like he was willing. It’s like many are called, few are chosen. We get to debate theology all the time. It could be all different backgrounds. But I think that most of us would agree, the call has gone out. The great commission has gone out. The calling is there. So if you’re doubting your calling, let this be a sign. It’s like the Lord is saying, Yeah, if you feel the desires of your heart, I want to express my creativity, I want to share my message.

I want to create content. I want to put something out in the world. I want to do this. He’s saying like, Hey, who shall I send? Who’s going to go? You could say, Here I am. I mean, send me. Like, Sean, did you ever have an angel call you to YouTube? No? That’d be weird. And some things that anyways. But that’d be cool. If that’s what happened to you. I’ve seen, though, I’ve had a lot of different God encounters and a lot of different things that have happened in my life, but I don’t have any audible voice. But as I cracked the Word open and I began to see God’s revealed will and Scripture, I just want to challenge you. A lot of times the desires of your heart, if you feel pulled in a particular direction, it’s like you go to a bookstore, which section do you go to? I don’t go to gardening. I don’t even really go to history. I don’t really go to the children’s book section. But now I do actually because I’ve got kids. But I go to the self help personal development. I go to the business section.

So it’s like there’s just certain ways that God has wired you. Yet he’s calling all of us. He’s like, Yo, who’s going to go? Who’s going to actually start creating this content? Who’s going to start this new YouTube Kids app niche channel with a particular type of content? Who’s going to go? And Isaiah was like, Oh, I’m glad I heard you. I’ll go. And I think that that’s the challenge for us as Christian content creators. We need to take action. Harvest isn’t the problem. The workers are. We got to understand the signs of the times and know the best course of action to take. And the call is going now and it’s an open call. The only reason few are chosen is because a lot of people don’t want to come help you move. They’re like, Oh, skip the call or ID. God’s challenging me to get out of my comfort zone. Oh, God’s calling me to go move something heavy. Oh, I wanted to just take my Saturday off instead of sitting down editing video, forgetting to turn the mic on, being super frustrated, reshooting the video, having my computer crash, putting it out there, feeling super discouraged because I don’t like how I look on camera, I don’t like how I sound, what’s the point of doing this?

I uploaded the video, I only got seven views. You know what? I’m not going to answer the call anymore. Many are called, but few are chosen. I really do believe that God has unique gift sets, niches, channels, and topics for each of us. But most callings are going unanswered. A lot of people have said, The best books, the best YouTube channels, the best albums, the best records, the best businesses, the best solutions to problems, you want to know where you can find them? In the graveyard. There were ideas in here or a call in here that never actually left for someone stepping out and pressing record. I’m going to challenge you. We need to take action. Hey, if you got value today, hit the like button. If you got any questions, put four or five question marks before and after it. Hey, I appreciate some super chat. I want to support the message. I really appreciate you. Thanks for the super chat. I’m just seeing these. There’s a cycling one. Can I get to it? Thank you so much. Cohan Cycling, really appreciate you. Thanks for the love. It did freeze and I’m back, I hope.

Here’s another one, too. Thanks for all the love. Sign up for your Facebook page. Does Christian content pay the bills? That’s a good question. Yeah, I think it really does. We’re living in an era where… That’s a whole another touchy subject for another one. I wouldn’t even say touchy. Christian’s money mindsets, because Jesus talks more about money than almost anything else. There’s a lot of verses on money. Of course, greed is very dangerous and making money, the first thing. But Jesus’ ultimate thing was, Seek first the kingdom and all these things will be added to you as well. I think that one of the things we’ll be talking about on the challenge that’s coming up is how to monetize. We’re going to be talking about how to get your first 1,000 subscribers or your next, and how to earn $1,000 in multiple different ways. There is a real business model you can build around any type of channel. Thank you, Mimi, for the super chat. Thank you for being here. Smash like. Can you repost your question if you posted one? For the younger guys who don’t have a lot of time to record, what should we do?

I think it’s about priorities, it’s about discipline, and then it’s about choosing what you’re going to sacrifice. Number one, you make it a priority, and what can you do and put it on your calendar? Number two, you got to be disciplined. When you’ve got kids full-time work in school, it just takes more discipline to not be like, I don’t feel like it. You got to sum in that energy after work. Go on a walk, get hydrated, crush a Red Bull if you have to or do whatever. And then number three, though, is choose what you’re going to sacrifice. Because we only do have so much time in the day. But if you’re like, Well, I have to work full-time and I need to have my four hours of video gaming and my four hours of shows. And then I need to work out and then I need to do this and I just can’t find time for YouTube. Question would be, what would you give up for a season? Dave Ramsey always says, live today like no one else, so that later in life, you can live and give like no one else. One of the things I’m most passionate about, especially for young people, and you say for younger guys, I think in your 20s, if you live with fierce discipline and a high level of sacrifice, it’ll transform the rest of your life.

So f you, when everybody else just wants to go and hang out or just wants to do something that’s not moving you towards your goals and dreams, of course, be kind, of course, be involved in community. But there’s just so much and the data is in, whether it’s gaming or time spent on our phone, not creating, just time scrolling. And not a gaming YouTube channel, because that’s cool too. But are you just gaming or are you building your brand and following the thing that you feel called to create? I think that a lot of us could benefit from the law of sacrifice. In order to go up, you’ve got to give up. A lot of good questions. Let me know your AHA from this, and then let me know if you’d like me to do videos like this in the future. I would love your feedback. I do have a meeting in just a few minutes. Sean, thank you so much for the message today. My God used this to light a fire in both new and existing content creators. I appreciate you, Jesse’s life. Can Fig Media create an updated Made for Kids video to help Christian content creators?

Yeah, great. Add it to the list. Really good idea. Michael says, Trying to help the church I attend. We have no money to rent a space on Sundays. Such a powerful message, though. How’s a very small church with no money or a real building? I think that there could be a difference, Michael, between church content and what I’m creating. So I would do what I’m doing, even if I was a local church pastor. So doing live church well is a challenge. It is sound board, how are we pulling audio, broadcasting worship is a real mixing it properly. Is it even good in the room, let alone good online? I would stick with what you can control with the level of excellence and don’t stream church, for example. The content you create at church could be social media and maybe some pictures and some Instagram stuff and some awareness. But here’s my point. Think about what I’m doing. You have a USB mic, a camera, a light, and you or the pastor or whoever could do a weekly Bible study. You could create a video podcast. This is a controlled environment. You don’t want me to sing.

I’m not going to do any worship videos like that. Praise and worship is not going to be happening right here. It’s a controlled environment. I can’t have four guests on in this exact situation. I could have four guests on on StreamYard really easy. So that’s what I think, Michael. My friend, Bradyy Sheree, from Pro Church Tools talks about this concept called the 167. There’s 168 hours in a week, and most churches only have influence in one of those hours. People come to church, there’s some music, some announcements, sacrament, whatever else. What are you doing in the other 167? That’s the opportunity. The other 167 is, forget what I’m talking about, this set up. Youtube Shorts from your phone. Youtube Shorts, green screen, reacting to culture, bringing biblical wisdom. Youtube Shorts just literally from your smartphone. Vertical video, live streaming. You could bring guests on YouTube live now just the same way as you can on Instagram. Social media content just from your phone, probably not in a Sunday morning set up. You could try to do that there as well. Plug in a wireless mic into lightning port or USB C. Hook it up to pastor’s shirt, film, cut out clips.

It really isn’t about your resources. It is about your resourcefulness in a major way. It’s a really good question. I hope some of that stuff is helpful. The 167, man. This Christian content creators are called to the 167. O h, 1 hour on Sunday is good enough. What? We are one hour in Sunday in the Word, one hour, not even, we’re 28 minutes in the Word, 20 minutes in worship. Then the rest of the week, we are being bombarded by news, by YouTube, social media drama with your in laws. There’s a need of Christian content creators, redeeming, edifying, strengthening, strengthen, encourage, and build up. Prophetic. There is a need for Christian content creators to be pumping out valuable content. I appreciate all these questions. I’ve got a transition here. Let me see what these guys are doing. I should probably jump off here. Smash like if you’re getting value. If you want to talk more about this, but also some specific tactics, tube 1kchallenge. Com next week, not this week, depending on when the replay is, April 13th or something, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, three days, morning and the evening sessions, entirely free. It’s all happening in a private Facebook group.

T ube 1kchallenge. Com, link in the description down below if you want to register. Thank you so much for the super chat. I really appreciate you, David. Thank you for hitting like and thank you for the love today, everybody. I would love any feedback. I’m going to be able to go back and read this chat. So if you had any takeaways from today, I would love any aha moments you have. If you have any questions, I’m going to go back and read all the chat or leave it even better in the comments once the live stream is over. And if you have any ideas or topics you’d love for me to cover, I just wanted to put this out there. And so let me know your feedback. I appreciate you so much. My name is Sean Cannell. This is the Think Media podcast channel. Subscribe if you’re not scribed. And if you haven’t seen, I did a video actually about three Bible verses. Every content creator should know, no matter what your background or beliefs. I think you’ll love that video. So click or chat the screen to check it out. Sending you massive love and respect.

And we will talk soon. God bless.