Reaching the Younger Generation | John Giftah | Vivian Williams (Iconic Worship) Interview (Part 6)

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0:49 Speaker 2: Very few people have been successful in reaching the younger audience,

0:54 Speaker 2: and you're actually able to do that much to the

0:57 Speaker 2: fact that you are young. And I'm also able to

1:01 Speaker 2: reach people, especially beyond the four walls of the church

1:04 Speaker 2: because of using these kind of creative means and things

1:07 Speaker 2: like that. But what is your word of advice to

1:11 Speaker 2: I'm sure that a lot of churches ministries across well

1:13 Speaker 2: like we want to reach the younger audience, but they

1:16 Speaker 2: still are holding on to old strategies, old principles. I

1:20 Speaker 2: always tell people what work for Doctor Billy Graham is

1:22 Speaker 2: not going to work for John GIFTA, it's not going

1:25 Speaker 2: to work for viv and it's not going to work today.

1:27 Speaker 3: Right, we need new updates.

1:29 Speaker 2: I always remember how when they went to when they're

1:33 Speaker 2: moving toward s Proformer's land, Right, the first time they

1:36 Speaker 2: come across this rock, God says, hit the rock. And

1:39 Speaker 2: the second time they're like, oh, I know the formula,

1:41 Speaker 2: and they try to hit the rock. Moses hits the

1:43 Speaker 2: rock and nothing comes. Then God said, I want you

1:46 Speaker 2: to speak to the rock. So it's the same thing.

1:48 Speaker 2: Oh Like people tend to think like it's the same thing.

1:51 Speaker 2: Evangelism is the same thing, you know, But no, you know,

1:55 Speaker 2: it's a new day. It's a new, big generation. We

1:58 Speaker 2: need to make sure that we are synced with God

2:01 Speaker 2: and follow new strategies that will work for the next generation.

2:04 Speaker 3: So what is your take on that?

2:09 Speaker 4: First thing would be? You know what I've seen churches

2:15 Speaker 4: or ministers impact the young generation is they try to

2:25 Speaker 4: be likable by them, but at their heart they still

2:29 Speaker 4: view them as Okay, it's young people. What do you know.

2:34 Speaker 4: For example, a young person comes centers pastors, this is

2:37 Speaker 4: what God is talking to me, This is what God

2:39 Speaker 4: is eating me immediately they bash it down and like, no,

2:42 Speaker 4: that's not true, you know, stuff like that. What's funny

2:45 Speaker 4: is a lot of churches I've seen this old old

2:48 Speaker 4: pastors try.

2:49 Speaker 3: To wear some jeans.

2:51 Speaker 4: Okay, to wear jeans and try to wear some cool

2:55 Speaker 4: T shirts with cam Yeah, okay, first of all, it's

2:59 Speaker 4: very funny. But second of all, people don't really care

3:03 Speaker 4: about the outside up here, and they care about how

3:06 Speaker 4: you talk to them. Are you condescending to them? Like

3:09 Speaker 4: a lot of people are really really condescending to the

3:11 Speaker 4: young people, like, yeah, I know who I am opinion

3:14 Speaker 4: communistry for so many years. But at the same time,

3:17 Speaker 4: touch them.

3:19 Speaker 2: You know, so.

3:21 Speaker 4: That instead of trying to look like them. My advice

3:24 Speaker 4: would be to try to really understand their heart and

3:28 Speaker 4: where they're coming from. You know, no one I think

3:33 Speaker 4: when you teach their heart right as new going back

3:36 Speaker 4: to forget Bible, forget Christianity, but as an old man,

3:39 Speaker 4: how do you connect with someone who's younger Because you've

3:42 Speaker 4: seen so much life. They're just born and they're seeing

3:44 Speaker 4: a different kind of life. Your twenties are different from

3:47 Speaker 4: their twenties. Their entertainment is your entertainment. Your food is

3:50 Speaker 4: different than their food. Your culture is different from their culture.

3:54 Speaker 4: So are you able to touch their heart? Able to

3:58 Speaker 4: see things from their point of view? Are able to

4:00 Speaker 4: go are you able to go down to their level? Yeah,

4:03 Speaker 4: but people expect them to come to their level. Understand

4:06 Speaker 4: me from here?

4:07 Speaker 3: Mmm?

4:08 Speaker 4: True, but you know, sitting down with them, having a

4:11 Speaker 4: chat with them, being open to them. Today, young people

4:14 Speaker 4: are afraid about talking about their sin to their pastors

4:17 Speaker 4: because of being judged, and rightly, so they should have

4:20 Speaker 4: that fear. Yeah, because once they confessed, they sin to

4:23 Speaker 4: the pastor, then they're remote from the worship team, They're

4:25 Speaker 4: removed from from everywhere, So they're afraid.

4:28 Speaker 3: Yeah, he's afraid.

4:30 Speaker 2: Something similar happened to me once he's not confessin Like,

4:34 Speaker 2: I was just vulnerable to one of the pastors. You know,

4:38 Speaker 2: you know, you just share, like your questions, your doubts

4:40 Speaker 2: to a point.

4:41 Speaker 1: Uh.

4:42 Speaker 2: Suddenly he turned against me that you know, like that

4:46 Speaker 2: I shouldn't do ministry and stuff. So he started using

4:49 Speaker 2: or telling other people spreading rumors about me that you know,

4:54 Speaker 2: I know all about this guy, he's not fit to

4:55 Speaker 2: do ministry and things like that.

4:57 Speaker 3: So I face that, so I.

4:59 Speaker 4: Know when they talk to you. They need they need

5:02 Speaker 4: to know that there is no judgment. Yeah, but nine

5:05 Speaker 4: or ten times that's not our case. Yeah, you know,

5:10 Speaker 4: especially for example, there are people from j J Church.

5:14 Speaker 3: Right.

5:15 Speaker 4: One thing they always tell me is again, you can

5:17 Speaker 4: talk about anything to bass Samily. That's what brought anything.

5:21 Speaker 4: You know, you mess up, you do anything, you could

5:23 Speaker 4: talk to him. Of course he's gonna what is correct

5:27 Speaker 4: to be, but without any judgment, like, oh, I'm superior

5:31 Speaker 4: in righteousness. Yeah, Ine, No, we're all in the same boat.

5:37 Speaker 4: Having that all boys on out of the heart, true, right,

5:41 Speaker 4: having the openness with young people. You can have all

5:44 Speaker 4: the lights, you can put all the lights, you can

5:46 Speaker 4: play all the New Age Christian songs. But yeah, if

5:50 Speaker 4: you don't want to connect to them.

5:51 Speaker 3: True.

5:52 Speaker 4: One of the reasons why iconic worship is where it

5:55 Speaker 4: is today. Every time I tell them, hey, just a

5:57 Speaker 4: few months ago before all in his mic and prison,

6:00 Speaker 4: you're singing to you, we had the worst lives. Yeah,

6:03 Speaker 4: we have one of the worst lives. You're open about

6:05 Speaker 4: our past, people, we had the worst live. We used

6:07 Speaker 4: to be in all kinds of sin, all kinds of

6:09 Speaker 4: addiction to the Jesus treat this. Yeah, freedom, working in

6:13 Speaker 4: his in his plan. It's all because of him. So

6:18 Speaker 4: because since we say that, okay, these are a kind

6:21 Speaker 4: of people, yeah, you know, these are that kind of people.

6:23 Speaker 4: There are still people who are addicted to smoking, drinking, iconism,

6:26 Speaker 4: all kinds of sin become iconic worship and they know

6:30 Speaker 4: that it's an open space for them.

6:32 Speaker 3: Yeah.

6:33 Speaker 4: But at the same time, I'm not dilating on the truth.

6:35 Speaker 4: I'm not diluting on God's word adulted God's word. The

6:39 Speaker 4: truth is spoken, Yes, the truth are spoken, But at

6:42 Speaker 4: the same time, there's no judgment.

6:43 Speaker 2: Yeah. So I think that's a very thin line to

6:47 Speaker 2: walk in, you know. And I think a lot of

6:50 Speaker 2: things we have this very judgmental view, even when we

6:53 Speaker 2: say we don't like, oh I'm a Christian and things

6:56 Speaker 2: like that. But I think over recent times God has

6:59 Speaker 2: really open my eyes to how I can be in

7:02 Speaker 2: that place of especially going out with you know, my

7:05 Speaker 2: office colleagues and all of them, and all of them

7:08 Speaker 2: they drink smoke and I'll be the only one doing nothing.

7:11 Speaker 2: I'll just have a lime soda they make for that.

7:15 Speaker 2: But the thing is this, sometimes people say that, you know,

7:18 Speaker 2: it's like they open up because of that they trust

7:23 Speaker 2: you because of that. You know, even last week even

7:28 Speaker 2: you know, like there was some conflicts happening, and there

7:32 Speaker 2: were two girls in all, and both of them happened

7:34 Speaker 2: to like they had a conflict among themselves, but they

7:38 Speaker 2: ended up trusting me and coming to me for solution,

7:40 Speaker 2: you know, like either did not know the others spoke

7:43 Speaker 2: to me, but you know, and I God gave me

7:46 Speaker 2: the wisdom to help them get that issue resolved and

7:49 Speaker 2: they got back together. And so in the sense, see

7:53 Speaker 2: that trust is built by you actually, like Jesus, you know,

7:57 Speaker 2: partying with the wrong gang people are making a lot

8:00 Speaker 2: of us right, but sometimes being with them and showing like,

8:05 Speaker 2: you know, I'm non judgment like I think. I still

8:08 Speaker 2: remember when I went to Sri Lanka, I met with

8:10 Speaker 2: somebody at one of the conference things and at the

8:14 Speaker 2: end of this she's she said, yeah, she's actually I

8:19 Speaker 2: think called lesbian or something like that, one of the

8:21 Speaker 2: square or something. Yeah, And then she said this in

8:24 Speaker 2: a note in the end, right, she said, in never

8:27 Speaker 2: in my life I wanted to associate or get connect

8:30 Speaker 2: or close to any pastor, but you are so different.

8:35 Speaker 3: You didn't judge me or you.

8:38 Speaker 2: Know, see when you're meeting with someone you're not you know,

8:41 Speaker 2: how do you make them feel?

8:43 Speaker 3: Is what? Will? I look at it? Like this?

8:45 Speaker 2: No, you show them that love, the kindness that leads

8:48 Speaker 2: them to start following your content in which.

8:51 Speaker 3: The word of God is being preached.

8:53 Speaker 2: But if you're going to be like you know, I'm

8:55 Speaker 2: here to condemn you, condemn you, I'm here to convert you,

8:58 Speaker 2: and things like that, they're never gonna listen to you.

9:00 Speaker 2: I always say this, like, even when you look at Jesus,

9:03 Speaker 2: he had his advertisement through healings, right, like like a

9:05 Speaker 2: Benny hind crusade. You know, it is that healings that

9:10 Speaker 2: room meant to listen to Jesus in the first place,

9:12 Speaker 2: the miracles, and then they made a choice whether they're

9:15 Speaker 2: going to follow him or not. But if you're not

9:17 Speaker 2: even giving an opportunity to draw them towards you, then

9:21 Speaker 2: it's a big problem. And I think especially that's the

9:25 Speaker 2: reason I went into even this gen Z Bible or

9:28 Speaker 2: all of these things, because even recently someone who's fighting

9:31 Speaker 2: with me saying, you know, I don't accept gen Z

9:33 Speaker 2: Bible because it's not a different language. I said, I mean,

9:37 Speaker 2: like the alphabets are not different. Okay, I said, then

9:41 Speaker 2: what do you say for French? You know it has

9:43 Speaker 2: a different line of I mean that's the same alphabets.

9:47 Speaker 2: And also you had King James version and now you

9:50 Speaker 2: have the current version. And then now you see the

9:52 Speaker 2: gen zs the way they use this lang. You know,

9:55 Speaker 2: I'm not I'm sure everyone can't be that way, but

9:57 Speaker 2: then if we can, you know, like at the most

10:00 Speaker 2: show them that, you know, sense of what are they feeling,

10:04 Speaker 2: the emotions they're going through. That will help them to

10:07 Speaker 2: actually understand that this person understands me. And like you said,

10:10 Speaker 2: when you talk about your problems and be vulnerable about it,

10:13 Speaker 2: it actually helps more. I tell people like, of course

10:18 Speaker 2: in the God uses me the prophetic, but I also

10:20 Speaker 2: share about moments when because of trusting or thinking about

10:25 Speaker 2: and thinking God was leading me and making the mistakes.

10:28 Speaker 2: That speaks more volumes to people, you know, like instead

10:33 Speaker 2: of thinking that the one with the microphone is like

10:35 Speaker 2: holier than thou, Like how can you show like I

10:39 Speaker 2: have made mistakes, I'm also like you, I have gone

10:42 Speaker 2: through this. Whether it's like a lot of times people think, oh, John,

10:46 Speaker 2: you don't know what you're in ministry.

10:48 Speaker 3: You don't know.

10:48 Speaker 2: And then I tell them, like I'm working in a

10:50 Speaker 2: full time corporate job, I'm running the ministry. Like when

10:53 Speaker 2: I tell them follow your calling, they say, you don't

10:56 Speaker 2: know how difficult it is. I said, I'm in bangaloreized.

11:00 Speaker 3: In my home. Sometimes it takes me to enough us

11:02 Speaker 3: one way to get back.

11:04 Speaker 2: But still I make sure that every single day my

11:07 Speaker 2: content is done, Like whether it takes two thirteen to

11:11 Speaker 2: nine or three thirty, make sure it's done. So that's

11:15 Speaker 2: the thing, right, Like when you talk about your struggles,

11:18 Speaker 2: it helps people to connect better.

11:20 Speaker 3: That's true.

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