Intro

SPEAKER_08 0:29

FBI, Tech Disciples, addressing the technological challenges of today's church.

SPEAKER_07 0:46

Welcome to Tech Disciples. I'm Sean Alexander, your host, and to my right, I have the funky technician, my man, my brother from another mother, Stephen D. Holder. And then on the ones and twos controlling the controls, we have the legendary. Not only the one and only, but the only one. I refer to him as Storman Norman Rogers, but to the world. And he is known worldwide. He is DJ Terminator.

SPEAKER_08 1:23

X.

SPEAKER_07 1:24

Peace, peace, and love.

SPEAKER_06 1:28

Nice intro, Sean. I like that. That was good. Thank you, brother. Thank you. Yeah. So how you guys good uh good little break until we reach until we shoot today? You guys have a little bit of a just, you know, um spring, you know, things are in full bloom. So spring is here, full bloom is here, and so is a new episode of Tech Disciples. So uh Sean, what are we gonna be talking about today?

SPEAKER_07 1:53

Oh man, digital blasphemy. Uh oh, digital digital blasphemy. I mean, blasphemy is one thing, but digital blasphemy. Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

What's the uh what's uh that almost sounds like a uh uh song by uh gosh, digital underground.

SPEAKER_07 2:17

Digital blasphemy, digital underground. Yeah, well, you know, first thing I think we should do is just go on and uh give the actual definition of me. What do you think?

SPEAKER_06 2:28

Well, I mean, yeah, we can definitely do that, but what's the uh what's the what we're gonna be talking about though?

SPEAKER_07 2:33

Tonight we're talking about one of the strangest collisions between faith and technology. Okay, you know, now we've seen in a minute, uh, you know, somebody actually made a video game called I Am Jesus. A video game.

SPEAKER_06 2:50

I am Jesus who?

SPEAKER_07 2:52

I am Jesus Christ.

Main Discussion, Part 1

SPEAKER_06 2:53

That's the video, yeah. That's the game. You got it. That's a foot sweet, huh? Yeah. So they made it. All right, so they did make somebody made a video game called I Am Jesus Christ. And um, of course, the episode of the show is uh digital blasphemy. So blasphemy, now we can go ahead, I think, to define what blasphemy is, right? So you want me to do it, you want to go ahead and do it.

SPEAKER_07 3:18

But you got the voice, though. The act of insulting, showing contempt or lacking reference for God, deities, religious doctrines, or sacred things.

SPEAKER_06 3:31

Yeah, so it's a fancy way of saying pretty much making fun of, right? Making fun of, you know, our creator. Yes, exactly. So when we could think about games like this, uh it's gonna be interesting to see what comes out. Now, everybody has a foot sweep. We already used one, all right? So as we go through this, you know, we'll say if that's a foot sweep, we got Terminator over there who will play it for us. But um I kind of want to think about a little bit of let's kind of just see where it's going first and then hit our foot sweeps, just not right off the cuff right away. Because we don't know, right? There's a lot to talk about here. So one of the things I want to do is kind of clarify the tone, right? We're not about trying to mock people for doing something different, and this is a little different. Um, this is more about what happens when sacred things kind of go into digital culture. Yes, right. So, I mean, easy to say, you know, the internet, YouTube, Facebook, those types of things, but now we're kind of, you know, a video game is something a little different. So uh the expectations here, we wanna, again, we're not necessarily picking sides, we're just kind of looking behind, you know, the curtain, opening up the engine, seeing what what what's what's the will, or what are the real intentions behind this? So we're not debating uh who's saved, who's unsaved, none of that. Um and with anything new, I mean we've all been there, right, Sean? Um when it comes to just church people uh barely agreeing on anything. So entering a uh entering a video game is gonna be a little it's gonna be a little different. So anything you want to say on that? Are you good?

SPEAKER_07 5:05

Oh, one of the things, um, and you kind of touched on this, Steve, and that is you know, there's all different types of things out there. Now, of course, the number one focus, the number one priority, is is it glorifying the kingdom?

SPEAKER_06 5:24

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 5:25

You know, uh, okay, we have a video game, uh, you know, I am Jesus Christ, you know, okay. How does this glorify the kingdom?

SPEAKER_06 5:34

Yeah. That's a great point. That's a great point. That's man, that's really good, Sean. That's really well. I mean, the the uh the title alone, the title alone um gets it gets your attention.

SPEAKER_07 5:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 5:51

Right? The title alone just gets you like, wait, I am Jesus Christ. Wait, wait a minute. This is a who made this? For real. Um and when you think about the church, right, coming into digital times, now especially since you know COVID, uh a lot of people are online, a lot of people are more in social media, or a lot of churches, I should say, not just uh people, a lot of churches are instituting more. And you got to think um churches have battled a lot with technology and mediums, right? Radio, for sure. You you all aware of radio. All too well. Television, uh, film, right? There's some movies about these types of things. Disney made a movie, Mel Gibson made a movie, um, Internet, of course, live stream, and we had another episode last our first season, uh, The Gospel according to AI. So church is now fighting against not fighting, but just trying to see how technology or how how the church has a place with all this technology, and now we're talking about video games? Is that what's going on here? So um, yeah, man. I I mean, what do you think? So coming from radio, right? Do you ever have churches say, hey, we want to put our church on your radio as well? Well, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 7:09

Um just just a little background. I um worked with Radio One, uh, which is the Radio One Raleigh umbrella is made up of K97.5, Foxy 107 104, and the Lite 103.9. And there were um churches on a regular basis asking, hey, we want to broadcast our service on your station, in particular, the light 103.9.

SPEAKER_05 7:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 7:35

And um, and there was a way that um we could do that. Uh, you know, true, you know, uh he was associated with it. Um and um I personally think it's a good thing. Okay. You know, um anything that is that glorifies the kingdom, you know, you'll hear me say that a million times throughout this um this um uh this segment here. Okay. You know, if it's um if it's centered around glorifying the kingdom, I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_06 8:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 8:11

You know, ten toes down.

SPEAKER_06 8:12

So what happens when a church uh tries to put on like a um a play or something like to glorify the kingdom? Is that cool too? I'm not dear rhetorical. I mean, you can obviously you can answer. There's not like a yes or no. I'm just kind of setting us up a little bit here.

SPEAKER_07 8:29

Oh um, no, absolutely. You know, now the content of the play. That's that's the uh the thing. Um you know, churches would sometimes want to say, okay, we um not so not so much from a broadcast standpoint, but we would like you know, some of the on-air personalities, or maybe one in particular, to come out and host our event.

SPEAKER_06 8:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 8:56

You know, so um that's all fine, well and good, but you know, um if it's if the if the um church is having a gas gospel comedy show and they bring Country Wayne, you know. Now, now um I don't know if you're familiar with Country Wayne. Um Norm are you familiar with Country Wayne?

SPEAKER_01 9:20

I know the name.

SPEAKER_07 9:22

Uh I kind of forgot. Okay, well we'll just say that um some He's a comedian, isn't he? Uh he's a comedian. Um, you know, I I won't there are some individuals that are Christian comics. Okay, they consider themselves Christian comics. Okay. And one of the things, thankfully, thankfully, it's truly a blessing that I've only um you know experienced clean Christian comics. You know, clean Christian comics. But I've heard that there are some Christian comic uh comics that uh don't always have clean content.

SPEAKER_06 10:01

All right. Well, I mean, but is the well, okay, so I'm setting, I'm kind of setting the stage, right? So we talked about the radio, we talked about, you know, production or uh comics or printing on um shows, yeah. Productions. So then when we start going into like a movie, right? How do you think that sits with with with church folks, like a movie about Christ or a movie about the Bible or a movie about something along these lines?

SPEAKER_07 10:26

How do you think that's perceived? Um I've seen it work different ways, and um, I think too, we have to consideration, I mean, we have to take into consideration the next generation and how they absorb information.

SPEAKER_06 10:42

That's good.

SPEAKER_07 10:42

We live in a digital age. We do. Okay, you know, um, sometimes I'm somewhere DJing, and people are more concerned about what's going on on their phones, you know, than um, you know, stuff that's actually going on in their immediate environment. And I doubt that they're reading books online. I seriously doubt that. Um, so anything that's gonna get the attention of people, you know, because the sad thing is when I'm out and about, and you guys tell me, do you all see people with a paper Bible?

SPEAKER_06 11:22

Yeah, it's usually only in sanctuary. Yeah, it's usually only there.

SPEAKER_07 11:26

And uh, but you know, and now just playing um uh just exposing all different sides, for all we know, they could have the Bible app and look reading Bible verses on reading uh Bible verses on their phone, and we just not know. Right. It's a possibility. Possible, I don't think it's probable, but it's possible.

SPEAKER_06 11:46

So I really like what you said when you said you gotta essentially meet people with or the next generation.

SPEAKER_07 11:52

Yeah, right. In particular, the next generation.

SPEAKER_06 11:54

Um I have a I have a talk where I have like a graph and I show all the different types of technology, and it goes from like uh book to radio, I think TV, and it goes all the way on. And uh I'm gonna put this out there. I don't know if you gentlemen know about this, but do you know so the next generation? Um a lot of people are on games now, like gaming platforms, right? And it doesn't have to be like your traditional, you know, 80s Pac-Man, yeah, Pac-Man Arcade stand-up. Now it's literally just on your phone. It can be on your phone, of course, the computer games are still there. Um, you know, you can interact. Um, games are around, and what I'm really just trying to get at is the next generation, there's a lot more people in the gaming space than there would be probably in a radio space or the uh the book space, reading books, right? So now when uh I'm trying to say this, when something religious tries to enter the game space, the video game space, I think it gets a little different now. I think it gets a little different now. I'm not saying it's is positive or negative, but when you think of radio or think of a movie, um, or even if you think of kind of being in the sanctuary, it's kind of I don't want this to sound crass, but it's kind of a passive activity, right? I mean, you're just sitting there and things are happening and you're passively watching. Now, you know, you can be, you know, your own turnal excitement and uh be active that way, but for most times, like if you're in the radio listening to a church's um reach out, that's a passive thing.

SPEAKER_07 13:34

You're definitely not as engaged.

SPEAKER_06 13:35

Not as engaged. If you're watching uh a movie, right, about a religious thing, about God or about Jesus, whatever, uh you're you're watching. That's still kind of passive.

SPEAKER_05 13:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_06 13:46

But in most video games, what do you do? You uh you move. You're yeah, you're you're doing something.

SPEAKER_07 13:53

Yeah, you're doing something. Right? Uh well Steve, let me see. Because I I think I see where you're going with this. I think I see where you're going with this. Let me know if I'm on the case.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

You're participating and you're also driving technically you're driving content. Yes. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_07 14:09

Uh one of the things that um now just hypothetically, say there's a video game, and what you're supposed to do is on the video game. Um, say it has um Bible verses that are unlabeled.

SPEAKER_06 14:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 14:27

And you know, you have uh there's a Bible verse that's unlabeled, and then there's choices where you say, okay, that comes from Corinthians 17, verse 1. Now, something like that, I think, would be cool. Okay. That would be cool. Terminator.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Yeah, I agree. All right. Yeah, I'm kind of torn on this too, because like you said, this is different. When you say you get into the games, it's definitely different because the first thing, especially the name of this particular game. Right, right. First thing in the mind comes in. Uh serious, like, no. Yeah, no, yeah, it's like that's when the blasphemy pops up.

SPEAKER_07 15:01

That's when the blasphemy come to mind with flashing lights.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

But um, I it I think it depends on your intentions. Sometimes um you could look at it as, well, this game teaches you uh what would Jesus do if it's if it's set up properly. But I could be wrong. I mean, I don't know. It's just this is new to me, so it's just thoughts that come came to my mind.

SPEAKER_07 15:26

Okay, but I'm I'm mad that you stole that thought from my mind. You know, because I was uh, you know, um uh you know, one thing that came to my mind is uh I think it's a Dietrich Hatton song. And he says, you know, I'm gonna be like Jesus, you know, I'm gonna walk like you, walk, do like you, you know, and is that what he wants to do? Yeah, for real. Yeah, but um when you think about it, you know, if we all took that mentality that, hey, okay, you know, someone just Norm, um, I don't know if you can, there's no way for you to show it. Maybe you can walk over here, but Yah, he has on some hot, old school Shell Toe Adidas. Now, if I were by accident to step on the Shell Toes Adidas, you know, hopefully Norm wouldn't knock me out. But hopefully he would be like Jesus and say, okay, Sean, that's your one for the day. So in that case, yeah, all right. Somebody's, you know, if it's a video game, hey, someone steps on your crispy shell to Adidas, what would you do? You want to be like Jesus and say, My brother. It's okay, but don't let it happen again.

SPEAKER_06 16:39

So good. I think so. I think I think with uh uh video games there's more interactivity, right? So that changes the tone drastically.

SPEAKER_07 16:52

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_06 16:52

Because in a game, if you don't do anything, the character is just stationary. They don't move, they don't go, they don't do anything. But in a game name, I am Jesus Christ, if you are Jesus Christ and you just sit there and not do anything. I mean, we know how the story. I mean, you know, yeah. So you gotta do something. So I think um you're essentially giving control to somebody to play as Jesus Christ. I mean, you know, we'll see here later in the Ally on Core segment how the trailer for this. And um I think giving that control creates tension, especially in a generation. Well, for a newer generation who was all about games, it's no problem, but for the older generation, they may have an issue with this. They may have an issue with this. So uh we're gonna keep talking about it, man. You know, um a movie asks you to watch, but a game asks you to act. Yes. All right. So with that, we are gonna go to our uh first sponsor.

SPEAKER_07 17:51

Uh yes, our first sponsor. Uh this uh Praise Baker brought to you by our sponsor, Jackson Theological Institute. JTI is a unique institute of higher learning that bridges together theology and psychology, helping students grow in their understanding of the mind, the behavior, and the soul. JTI offers three degree programs that can be completed 100% on a line or through a hybrid experience with eight-week courses designed for focused learning and spiritual growth. Jackson Theological Institute, embracing the kingdom, informing academia, and supporting the believer.

Praise Break — Hillsong FR, “Fasciné”

SPEAKER_06 18:40

Yes, sir, Jackson. So this is brother uh Thomas Jackson. Uh he's a minister and he goes all over. Um when I say all over the world, he does go all over the world. Anybody interested should definitely uh check him out. So, all right, that brings us to our first praise break. So, as we do, I'll do it in French, Sean will do it in English, and then we'll see what we have. Um trying to get better at this, get my fluency. All right, Hillsong FR. Hillsong FR. Hillsong FR is a group de louange name dans le groupe de Jean de l'Eglise Hillsong France. Le groupe composition France a destination de l'Eglise Francophone, Le Mission and La Bonouvelle de Jesus atravers in Louange authentique et passion.

SPEAKER_07 19:38

You're flowing like fluid, baby. And I have to come behind you, really. I mean, uh, you're probably gonna come behind me pretty well. Go out here with it. All right, family. This raise break comes from France. Okay. Hillsong FR is a worship group uh that came out of uh youth ministry out of Hillsong Church in France. They write and sing in French with a heart to serve the French speaking church. Their mission is to share the good news of Jesus through authentic, passionate worship, and to invite every generation closer to the heart of God. So here is uh your praise break. Fa na sine, fascine, fasciné.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

Go ahead ébloui par ta grandeur, toi le plus haut des auteurs, je suis fâchée par toi, les mots me manquent pour te décrire, mes chants ne suffisent pour te dire, je suis fâché par toi, tu es probablement chanté plus d'un million de ma frère se jour à ces millions d'autres. Chantant si humble face à l'infini, mon cœur dit combien tu es dit, je suis fâchée par toi. Chantant Alléluia Chanton Alléluia Chanton Alléluia qui était qui est et qui sera Je suis fasciné par toi qui étais qui est et qui sera Je suis fasciné par toi qui te quitte Short Shant Yes Hill Song Fr with Fascine Fascinated Is that okay?

SPEAKER_06 26:03

Like that one?

SPEAKER_07 26:04

Yeah, I really like that one.

SPEAKER_06 26:05

Terminate were you were you okay with that? Was that good?

SPEAKER_01 26:08

Yes, sir. Alright, cool.

Main Discussion, Part 2

SPEAKER_06 26:09

Fascinated. Glad you guys liked it. So one mention on Hillsong FR. Um so they did come out of a church in France, but they have since changed their name. So uh they are still putting out music, but they're now under the name Parfaitement en parfait. So perfectly imperfect. So if you guys want to follow their music, make sure you go under the new name and not the old one. The old one will still be there for a little bit, but they're um I talked to the group and they are actively moving forward with the new name. So Patulamon out there, or Patulamon out there, Patulamon qui voudrait suive le group for uh Hillsong FR. Um just know say my non uh parfaitement and parfait suive pour set nom la. Okay, so now back to our uh our topic here, man. So we talked about the video game, I am Jesus Christ. Yes. Talked about some things that may be kind of jarring, but I think the biggest thing is it's now interactive, right? I mean, if you're gonna be interacting, like how would you like what just not even not knowing anything about it, how would you interact with a game like this? And like, you know, level one, you're in a manger. I mean, what are you doing? I'm just saying, I'm just uh curious.

SPEAKER_07 27:33

The thing about it is, you know, you talk about being in a manger. Um you know, to me, um I would think, okay, the visual I get, and I I guess it'll be interesting to get um everyone's visual, you know, uh the three of us, our visuals, once we hear the title. Um because the visual I get is you're in the world. So, okay, what would you do in situations like you know, the uh scenario stepping on um shelters, you know, just uh but um those type of real life experiences, things that we encounter every day. What would Jesus do? And for us to you know um have an idea of what he would do so we know what we should do.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

Okay, all right, and I think what would be cool is if you have scenes come up and it would give you like scripture. Okay, somehow give you scripture. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, so I think there's a way to make it positive if it if it's teaching you.

SPEAKER_07 28:38

Positive and educational, absolutely. And and it's it it would uh could definitely be um a good teaching tool if done right, you know, if done in the correct way.

SPEAKER_06 28:49

Yeah. So I like what you said, uh both, you know, both guys good answer. There's no wrong answer. I'm just kind of curious myself. Um, when we talk about getting into the game and playing as Jesus Christ, um Sean, you made a point about uh, you know, you know, what would Jesus do? But we gotta re this we gotta remember this this is what he did.

SPEAKER_05 29:08

Right?

SPEAKER_06 29:09

So um not and again, I think I think there's gonna be a couple groups of people, right? I think there's gonna be some groups of people that are like, hey, this is a really an avenue to reach out to those people who are just you know game heads and all they do is play games. Well, here's a game about Jesus. Who's that? Starts a conversation. Your other group of people are gonna be people who How dare you exactly what you pick up a Bible. Yes, right. Like, how dare the blasphemy, right? Blasphemy. That's exactly what's gonna happen. That's gonna be the other group of people. And especially if those people are well, especially, but if they're in the church, they're gonna kind of take away possi and possible avenue for somebody who's not on their level to kind of get into the word, right? And then I think a last group of people, which I mean, we have to talk about it a little bit because I'm pretty sure it's gonna be out there. Um, they're going to be out there. These are the people who try and do the exact opposite of what the game is trying to do, for whatever that is, right? They're gonna go in the opposite direction, they're not going to follow if there's quests or whatever. Things like that, people who are gonna try and um, you know, break the game or you know, make silly references like, oh, it took this long for him to come back, things like that, right? And that's you know, it takes away, I think and you can't get away from it. People are gonna be people.

SPEAKER_07 30:32

Yeah, the thing about it is um we all know people who just look for the quick route, look for the shortcuts, the quick and easy route.

SPEAKER_06 30:40

Are you saying they're gonna try and find cheat code? Is that what you're saying? Yeah, for real. Cheat code search for cheat code. Okay, well. Um, all right. So let's see, I had another note here I wanted to touch on. Um Well, I did I just think that like I would like for people to keep an open mind when it comes to this, especially if you have younger people who play games. Now, not everybody plays games, but as another avenue, we're trying to reach other people. And um do you all know? You probably don't know about this. Do you know do you know what Steam is? No. Terminator? Okay, so Steam. So Steam is an online platform for gamers to come to and play games. That's really all it is. Um, but it's very popular. Uh I'm sure. If you were in you know the PlayStation days, they had PlayStation Network, I think, something like that, where gamers came together and it is played. Um and Steam is that for like the PC, like the computers and stuff like that. And now I think you can even crossplay. Now, is this would this game be multiplayer? I'm suspecting not, but uh I mean, if it was, how would that work? And I I I'd have no idea, right? But going back to kind of the the the main, you know, the main character in the game, right? Do you think people will feel differently if it wasn't about Jesus, but it was about Moses or about Noah? Right? Like if it wasn't about Jesus Christ, but about s another biblical figure, do you think people would not have so much of uh maybe an initial resistance? And that's just you know, it's just open question. Yeah, of course. I think that's you think so? I think so. Why?

SPEAKER_01 32:21

I mean, why just because yeah, because yeah, it's not Jesus. Because it's not Jesus. I mean, but if the game was called I Am Noah, yeah, it would not there would not be as much backglass, I'm sure. Oh yeah. So yeah, what do you think?

SPEAKER_07 32:36

You think anything else, Sean? Yeah, absolutely. Not as much backlash, but um then too, you get the idea, okay, I am Noah, okay, then what? We uh in a video game, we build an ark, you know.

SPEAKER_06 32:50

Yes, yeah. I always get those two confused, like everybody else. Noah, yeah, you're building an ark, how are you gonna do it? Um I also don't know if it's gonna have the same type of gravity or you know, attracting you in as, you know, I am Jesus Christ. Um the other thing to talk about is uh briefly before we go to our next uh praise break, is do you think the problem could also be more the technology of it being in the video game or the subject matter? Right.

SPEAKER_07 33:20

Well, I think the I think the problem is uh is a collaboration the problem is a collaboration between the subject matter and the technology.

SPEAKER_06 33:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 33:29

You know, so just the idea that you know we're talking about Jesus in the video game. Right. You know, and people being able to, you know, I am Jesus.

SPEAKER_06 33:42

Right? I I I hear you, but I understand, but then but then my kind of rebuttal to that is but then what do we say to like movies about Jesus? Um I mean, because you got an actor, right? The actor is somebody else in the game. You are Jesus, but the actor is somebody. How do you like and I don't again, I'm just we're just talking, right? How because what do you do? I mean it's an actor in a movie that you're watching who's playing Jesus versus a video game where you are Jesus, again, is that tension?

SPEAKER_01 34:12

It's uh it's funny because we're as Christians, we're supposed to try to behave as Jesus would. But then if when you say I am Jesus, that's a whole nother meeting all that. Absolutely. But but you're basically role-playing Jesus in the video game. So that's where it gets murky. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:31

And if the title were different and say, you know, um do good deeds as Jesus, you know, as Jesus does.

SPEAKER_06 34:41

You know, I mean something like that in you know, the wording, but it's the wording is like, uh, well that that takes us to our uh our second praise, our sponsor, rather, I think, Sean.

SPEAKER_07 34:56

Yes, and this praise break is powered by Shellcaster. Listen.

SPEAKER_06 35:02

Yeah, run a sponsor. Oh, well, he's they're sponsoring the praise break. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Go ahead and put Shellcaster up.

SPEAKER_07 35:14

Listen. If your church is still trying to piece together live stream, website, medium, stop it. Especially if you don't have Steven De Holder, okay? Really? Thank you. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. But this is. Man, you're amazing. I'm gonna just say that and I'm gonna keep it moving. All right. Shellcaster is your all-in-one broadcast platform, streaming, fundraising, media management, all in one place. And here's the key it's 100% white label, which means you own your own content. You own your platform and your audience, okay? No middleman, no confusion, just straight control. It's not just streaming, it's a full website, a content system, a system, a digital ministry hub. Shellcaster take control of your broadcast and own your message. Check them out at shellcaster.tv and build your platform the right way.

SPEAKER_06 36:20

Yes, indeed. Shellcaster. So shellcaster, I happen to know the uh the founder of that um that platform, uh Hammond Burke. We're actually gonna be working on some other stuff together. And uh the when I was I was talking to him about it, I was like, hey man, this sounds like this could be like this could be like some some good stuff here. And getting some information on Shellcaster, like when you go to YouTube or when you post on YouTube, even our you know, our our visuals, um it's not really your content, it's YouTube's content. Like YouTube can't go down, YouTube can't insert commercials into what you're showing. But what he's talking about here, this is gonna be something entirely different and entirely not you're not conformed to what YouTube says, you're conform to what you make. So the whole your content, your audience, your all that. Um I'm actually excited about it. So once he gets up, man, you know, Tech Disciples might be we might be hopping over. So we'll take a look. But until then, we are now we're on our oh, I keep hitting this, sorry. Now we're on our now we're on a praise break. Okay second praise break, rather. The bio for this one.

SPEAKER_07 37:23

Here we go, fam. This next praise break comes out of Memphis, Tennessee. We're talking about Terry Ann. A singer-songwriter who's a deep gospel roots. She started in church at a young age and later stepped into the national stage, okay? Even uh taking a shot at American Idol. But it wasn't the spotlight that uh shaped her most. It was the setback after rejection, and while battling stage right, she made the decision to stop performing for people and start singing for an audience of one. Now her music reflects fate role and real life testimony. And that brings us right here a reminder that no matter what you've been through, you are a living, breathing, walking example of what God can do. Let's get into the praise ring testimony.

SPEAKER_02 38:32

This is the moment where everything turns, didn't think I would see it. Was hard to believe. Heaven crashes to earth. I've read the stories of all that you've done, parted the sea and set captives free, never thought I'd be one.

SPEAKER_03 39:09

I am a living breathing, walking just the money. I am the living legal star. Take a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 42:44

It was it was nice and uh put well together. So um yeah, thank you to both of those artists for allowing us to have them on our praise breaks. And if anybody else wants to be an artist on a praise break or a feature on a praise break, ah, a feature on the podcast, uh go to TechDisciples. During the praise break, right. If you want to be our praise break for the podcast, go to our website, techdisciples.org, and submit your music. All right, so we've done a lot of talking uh kind of conceptually about you know video games and how it makes people feel and how um uh we can kind of not expect, but just kind of the uh the pros and cons. I think we made a good case for it is a learning tool for those people who take it seriously. Yes, all right. I think it's gonna be a con for the older generation who are just against it because it's blasphemy, right? You're making fun of something. Um, but then again, you know, you have radio programs, you have movies, you have comic people making intentionally making fun of it. The thoughts behind this um this game could be different. So Terminator, you can go ahead and start our transition music, and uh we're gonna get ready to transition to Alian Core. Let me come to Alion Core, make sure you turn around. If you are on YouTube, go to our YouTube channel to see our visuals at us laughing at each other. We have uh we do that so well. We do it. I love laughing. We have um coming up. We went back to Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, got some updates there, and we will unleash, I don't say unleash, but we will show the trailer to I Am Jesus Christ. Coming right up, Alian Call.

SPEAKER_07 46:07

Yeah, I don't say it that well either.

SPEAKER_06 46:08

It's a cool word though. It really is.

SPEAKER_07 46:10

Tech Disciples, I am Sean Alexander. To my right, my brother from another mother, Stephen D. Holder. And uh over there, you know, at the soundboard. I mean, he, you know, whether it's soundboard, whether it's uh turntables, this guy is just amazing. To me, he's Norman Norman Rogers, but to the world he is known as DJ Terminator. Okay.

SPEAKER_06 46:47

All right, man. We're back at L core. Yeah. Oh, what do we have? We have an update, Sean, I think.

SPEAKER_07 46:52

Uh yes. Uh, you know, just want to let everybody know that uh we're also you know available on iHeart and they can listen to this, you know, to the show on iHeart. I think there's a big steam, man. And you you said it's so smooth. Oh yeah, you know, we're on uh Bill One iHeart. They can listen to the show, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 47:09

Well, a lot of people have iHeart, man, but we're trying to get all the major podcast platforms so people can catch us. But yes, we are an iHeart. Thank you for for that, Sean. So alright, we are Ali on Call, the after show. So uh we got some, we got some we have a clip, of course, but we also have we also have uh fun footage. We also actually have some updates. So I went back to Buffalo. Uh I was fortunate enough to go back to Buffalo this past um, well, during when we were shooting. And um I got some photos here. So terminator, go ahead and put up our first photo. All right, so the guy in the middle here is my elementary road dog, Eric Williams, okay? I'm talking Futures Academy, school 37 on Carleton Street, Buffalo, New York. That school is still there. Me and this guy were uh road dogs. And um, you know how people say, you know, you're gonna grow up to be a minister, you might know somebody who knows a minister. I mean, I know Brother Thomas and all these other, you know, other guys now, but I actually have a childhood friend who is a minister. So I went back to Buffalo and he was being uh ordained. So let's put up the next photo. And uh it was a great service, man. Um, I had to get a picture of the uh pamphlet bulletin because um I I I got there late. Sorry, Eric. But I did get there. And uh yeah, I mean, I'm not quite sure how the you know configuration works in in this uh uh uh religious organization, but there he is in the middle, and there he is on the right with his wife, lovely wife, uh giving his um uh his his talk there. It was a really, really nice um uh service. And what's funny is I won't talk too much about this, but he's actually a musician as well. And during his talk, uh he he was like, Yeah, you know, I'm in I'm in my faith now, I'm doing all this great stuff, and he's starting his church, and he got a call to go perform with uh a major artist. Um I think it he's he's he's performed with a lot of major artists, but this one, I guess it was like maybe during the peak of his you know faith career, if you want to call it that, and he was he was conflicted. He's like, Can I do this? Because I got this Jesus thing going out of it. That's me paraphrasing. That's not what he said. But I mean, that just goes to show that, yeah, you know, this is this is real, and uh you got to be uh you gotta be in the forefront and know kind of what's going on, know about your faith, and still, you know, reach out to other people who knows who he could have touched on those, on those, um, on those uh those platforms, exactly. So go ahead and put that one, uh, take that one down, put up our next one. Now, this is me and Eric, and I'm cut off because the guy next to Eric is our elementary school teacher, Mr. Florence. Mr. Florence had drip, bro. Let me tell you, Mr. Florence. Mr. Flo Mr. Florence walked into a room, boy. Everybody just got quiet and just looked at this man walk. And uh, you know, it was the first time. I gotta go back just a little bit here, but everybody says how you know we need more teachers of color, we need more teachers, no more male teachers. And I have to say, I definitely got blessed and was lucky because Mr. Florence, he was my first teacher when I went to Futures Academy. I saw, to me, to me, I saw a man of color handling business, handling children. He was doing reading, writing, arithmetic, history, um, on the board, right? Pembership, I can see it. Y'all quiet down. Y'all do this, y'all do that. And um, I actually graduated when I graduated with my master's from Buff State, I went back to find him. And he was the hardest teacher to found, but I found him. I got a picture with him. I'm not gonna put it up here, but uh Mr. Florence is still doing things, so shout out to him, shout out to Eric. And uh oh yeah, we got a hand clap. I think we got a hand clap for that. Uh possibly. All right. Show him some love. So Mr. Florence and I'm still on the dumb. But and um let's go to our next picture. This one I hope doesn't get me in trouble. I don't think it's going to, but okay. So everybody here, so that's James, that's Renisha, that's Eric, and that's me. Everybody there went to Futures Academy. So that's just a shout out to the future squad. Uh, we all came to support Eric in his um in his um uh ordaining there. So thank you all. And what's our last photo? So yeah, Eric is a preacher. If you are in Buffalo, New York, please check him out at Life Turning Point. Uh 86 896 Jefferson Ave uh Sundays at 9. So he will love to have you. So that's my updates from Eric. And now we're gonna go to our second update piece here. Go ahead and put up this picture, Terminator. Do you guys remember this guy? You can say no, it's okay. Terminator, remember him? Okay, sorry, that's that's not a trick question. This is Brother Joseph. Uh, he I had a picture of him up on our other episode. Uh, it might have been gospel according to AI. And uh this picture was taken a couple years ago, and when I went to this church, they were worshiping at a firehouse. Um, I don't know if I said that in that episode, but they didn't have a building at the time. So I took this picture with him, and he's like, Yeah, you know, we're trying to get it together, we're trying to get our own building, and the Lord's looking out for us, and it's just time. I'm like, okay, cool, cool. So, fast forward, let's go to the next picture. They got it. So they got their building. We got a hand clap for that one. We gotta have a hand clap for that one. They got their building. Their uh their grand opening was early February 2026. I wasn't able to make that, but I did uh saw them online. That is the building. It's an AI rendered image of it, but it's just like that. That building is nice. They got a gym, they got a nursery, they got classrooms, they got, I think they have two baptistries, or maybe one baptistry and like a mobile baptistry, hallways and pond hallways of um, it's nice. It's a nice building, and their sanctuary sanctuary is really nice as well. Hoping to connect with them and get some other things going on. And let's let's go ahead and put up our last picture. And so here we are again, and and this is the new building, and um, this is the Buffalo uh Main Street Church of Christ in Buffalo, New York. Uh definitely want to check them out. And I was talking to his son because I was helping him do a little bit of uh tech stuff there, and um, I was telling his son about the podcast and the French thing. He's like, Oh, my dad speaks French, my dad speaks French. I'm like, really? He's like, Yeah, I just talked to him in French. I'm like, okay. So me and Brother Joseph met out, and I started talking to him in French, or at least trying to. And I'm like, hey, make so uh dude uh votre fils medique vous parlez français. And he's like, oh yeah, yeah, Jean-Par de France is cool. He smiles, right? And then Norm, get this foot sweeper, just get it ready. Just get it, don't play it yet, but get it ready. So I'm like, I'm doing something. I'm talking to French to you know, this preacher guy. You know what he tells me? What he's like, oh yeah, I speak Italian too. Foot sweeps. That's that's foot sweeps, bro. I'm like, wait a minute, I'm trying hard here to connect on a French level. And you gotta go ahead and tell me you speak Italian. So how was this French? It was good. I thought it was great, you know. I mean, it's I think it's better than mine, but I think we always think that. But anyway, um, yeah, so shout out to Brother Joseph, Main Street Church of Christ. Please check them out. Go to the website, they'll be in the credits, as well as Eric. So anybody in Buffalo right now, no excuse. You got Eric Williams who has life turning point. You have Brother Joseph's who has Main Street Church of Christ in Buffalo. Eric is English, I'm sure he has people there. Um, Brother Joseph speaks English, French, Italian, and they have a Spanish ministry.

unknown 54:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_06 54:59

They have a Spanish ministry. So anybody in Buffalo saying, I don't go to church, like listen, they speak your language, okay? We're gonna figure it out. So thank you to those guys there. All right, now we've done enough talking. Those are our updates for uh this episode. So now we're gonna kind of get to the the big kahuna, the the the big dog, the idea that we've been seeing. So this is what we're gonna do. We're gonna set the trailer up, and I want you guys to think about the tone of this trailer, all right? Think about the visuals that you're gonna see. I want you to think about how it makes you feel, because this is what most people are gonna kind of connect to. All right. So, and then after that, we'll do our reflection. So, does that sound cool? Sounds good to me. All right, here it is, the trailer for the video game. I am Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 55:49

Many people have attempted to write about the things that have taken place among us. Reports of these things were handed down to us. There were people who saw these things for themselves from the beginning. They saw them and then passed the word on. With this in mind, I myself have carefully looked into everything from the beginning. Try to catch that.

SPEAKER_06 57:29

All right, what are your first impressions? No no foot sweep music yet.

SPEAKER_07 57:34

No okay, um I'm having a difficult time um making a clear distinction between an in-dail documentary and an actual video game. Because with the video game, you get to you get to maneuver, you get to make choices. And um, like in the the graphics and everything, I think, are great, and it would I think it would make a great uh documentary to be like, hey, this is what the life of um Jesus Christ looked like. But when we implement it, when we get into okay, well you can make choices, it's clearly documented in the Bible the choices that our Lord and Savior made.

SPEAKER_01 58:28

So having the option to you know make different choices, uh Terminator I'm kind of torn on it, torn on it too, as well. Uh I don't think there's enough for me there's not enough information there about what the whole game is about. Um what choices like like Sean said, what are the other choices you can make? And I really feel it needs to be interactive with the Bible, with scripture as well. Um you know, if it's just about pretending pretending to be Jesus, then I don't I don't I don't I don't I'm not for that.

SPEAKER_05 59:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:12

But if it's but if it's interactive with scripture and um it's actually educational, then then I could see. But it for me it's not enough information in that in that trailer to to make a yes or no thumbs up or thumbs down, in my opinion. Okay.

Credits

SPEAKER_06 59:28

No, good, good, good comments, good feedback. Um when I saw the trailer too, I uh was first I I was resistant myself and I played video games. I was like, oh, here we go of another religious thing. Even though the trailer was named I am Jesus Christ. But I started going through it. It took me a couple times to watch it. Um now, as it turns out, there's also so this game drops, or it already dropped, it drops April 2026. So I think by the time we're shooting this, I think it's already dropped. And there has since been another trailer released, but this is the one that I kind of already got together and um put to piece together. Um I feel like it can go in a multiple different directions. Um, I feel like it could be a learning tool if it is aligned with the Bible and a learning scriptures. Um when it comes to making choices and stuff, I don't know. It's almost like it has to be like a fixed storyline because it is fake. I mean, it's already it's already done. If you start making choices and not doing certain things, then that changes the entire Bible. We can't do that. Exactly. So um, yeah, I don't know. I think there's definitely more to kind of um explore there if you were kind of interested into it, but just off the and you can go ahead and start our um credit music terminator because we are getting ready to head out of here, but just off of that alone, would you, you know, would would you play it? Or uh did the trailer make it worse or better for you? Uh the trailer really just left me with more questions. More questions. Okay. Agreed, agreed. More questions. But is now it left you with more questions. So is that creative ministry or is that digital blasphemy? Just I'm just saying, because you're you got more questions.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:14

Like I was saying, I need to know more. Okay. I don't think it's fair to make a decision of just that one thriller. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:21

If uh if you were to say, okay, Joey, you have to make a choice. I'm afraid I'm gonna go with digital blasphemy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:30

Go ahead, but supposed to be stuff. So it's supposed to be free? Go ahead, go ahead. Uh jingle. So you know, huh?

SPEAKER_07 1:01:37

Yeah, because you're you're making choices that are clearly documented. Um, you're making choices about stuff that's clearly documented. Jesus did this, but now you have the option to do something different.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:53

Okay, no, listen, there's no wrong answer. This is why we're here. So, whether you call it innovation, awkwardness, experimentation, or digital blasphemy, the church still has to decide what reference looks like in the digital age. So, to everybody, remember to like, subscribe, follow us on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and our other social media platforms. Don't forget our podcast platforms, Apple, Spotify, our high, our iHeartRadio, Amazon, and of course, if you want to tune in and see our visuals with us with us laughing at each other, our YouTube channel, search Tech Disciples, have a music, have an event, want to become a sponsor or partner, visit us online at techdisciples.org. All one word, techdisciples.org. I have nothing else. So until the next time, I am Stephen DeHolder. I am Sean Alexander.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:51

He's in love.