BibleProject - Happy New Year and What's Ahead for The Bible Project

Episode Date: December 31, 2019

Check out all we're up to in 2020 and beyond at www.thebibleproject.com. View our classroom beta at www.classroom.bible.  And learn how you can join a growing family of supporters at www.thebibleproject.com/vision Happy New Year! Theme Music:Defender Instrumental by Tents Show Produced By: Dan GummelPowered and distributed by Simplecast.

Hey, this is Cooper at Bible Project. I produce the podcast in Classroom. We've been exploring a theme called the City, and it's a pretty big theme. So we decided to do two separate Q and R episodes about it. We're currently taking questions for the second Q and R and we'd love to hear from you. Just record your question by July 21st

and send it to us at infoatbiboproject.com. Let us know your name and where you're from, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds and please transcribe your question when you email it in, try to keep your question to about 20 seconds, and please transcribe your question when you email it in. That's a huge help to our team. We're excited to hear from you. Here's the episode.

Hey, this is John at the Bible Project. And this is Tim. And it is the last day of the decade. Yes, not just of the month or of the year. Nope. It's the last day of the decade that we're will be known as the teens. The teens? I don't know.

The 20 teens. The 20 teens. Yes, well, we are going in the 2020s and we just wanted to do a quick episode on the podcast and to just wrap up the year. To say thank you to everyone who's been part of this podcast and a part of this entire project. You guys make this possible and we're really grateful to be able to do this. Yeah.

Yeah, 2019 has been a really amazing and fun year for the Bible project. We've gotten to work on a lot of videos and a lot of new projects, which we'll talk about in a minute. But we also wanted to just mark the conclusion of this year and thank all of you, our listeners and those of you who support what we're doing. We're finishing, we have been finishing December with like a call to any and all to join the Bible project to learn about what we're doing and to get involved if you feel compelled, no pressure. Yeah, we don't talk a lot about raising money. No, in fact, almost never. Yeah. In fact, which is maybe never, maybe never.

But at the end of the year, it's kind of a big time for nonprofits, to bring in money and we have a campaign going and it's the last day of the year. And so lots of people are scrambling to figure out what they're going to give to in the last day of the year. Yeah. And there's lots of really cool things to give to. Yep. And if this is something that you wanna see continue, you can give to us, it's thebiboproject.com slash vision. And you can see what we're up to. We're really just raising money to supercharge next year.

Yeah, that's right. So everything that we bring in in December is towards our 2020 projects. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, this whole project got started back in 2014. And this was your idea and then some other friends influencing you and you're thinking, what if we could create an animation studio, make awesome video content and give it away without a doubt? It was sort of my idea, but then when I came to you, you're like, oh yeah, I've got 100 animation studio make awesome video content and give it away.

With that one. Sort of my idea, but then when I came to you, you're like, oh yeah, I've got 100 videos I want to make. And here's the list. And it was like, oh wow. Yeah, that's right. So it's truly, it's been remarkable because we have been able to just create,

as we've been able, the average monthly supporter for the borrow project gives around $20 a month. Right. Yeah, we don't rely on some big, massive grants. That's right. Yeah, it's all just kind of listener viewer supported. Which is incredible. Yeah.

So we've just, yeah, been able to grow the team as support has grown and It's just been an amazing an amazing journey and this last year we I mean we've passed We haven't passed my original list of videos, but we've passed my original number for that idea Right, I do have a number for videos for sure. The original list. We're still knocking out But we've added to the list. That's right. We have over 140 videos now on our YouTube channel. Yeah. And we're gonna put out another 15 in 2020,

finishing off season six, and then starting season seven in the fall. In the fall, that's right. That's right. That's right. It's just season seven. Whoa. We've been talking about seven.

We sure have been. Yeah, that's exciting. Let's see, in this podcast, I mean, we've been having conversations now with the microphone on a strange thing. It's really strange. A lot of people listen to this podcast. And on iTunes, you can listen to them many things,

but on iTunes, it's number three, in spirituality and religion. Yes. We're right behind Oprah and Jolo Stade. Yeah. So how it is that, does it people could like fill up stadiums? I totally. Yeah.

That's crazy. It is. And then two guys from Portland talking about the vocal theology. That makes one guy who knows a lot about the Hebrew Bible and another guy will just constantly try to keep up. That would make a great show. Yeah, yeah, there you go. So, strange things do happen in the world. Somehow the Bar of Project podcast gets listened to. So that blows us away. We were having these conversations anyways. Yeah, yeah. And it's a privilege to be able to have them. That's right. And we get to have them because people give us money to make cartoons on the internet.

Let's make beautiful animations, explain things on the internet. Yeah, that's right. What a privilege. Yeah. So in 2019, we've been able to really take a deep dive into some new kind of initiatives for the Bible project. Right. So we've been talking about this for a while, classroom. We talked about it maybe a year and a half ago on the podcast.

Oh, that's right. We got applications. Yep. Lots of you applied. We filmed five classes so far. Correct. And it's been a lot of fun. Yeah.

So we did Ephesians. Yeah. We did Jonah. Yep. And when I say we, I mean you. Well, no, and a whole production team. Yeah, we filmed it masterclass style, fluent students, it was a blast. We've got Kyrissa building out a great kind of user experience questions, so it's a full on interactive thing. It's a lot of content and it's gonna be something that

You're really gonna have to commit to it's like 14 hours to get through a class Yes, and it's for people who are teaching through the Bible is our target audience But if you're not teaching through Bible, you still might enjoy it Yeah, and then intro to Hebrew Bible is kind of us going back and starting from the beginning Yeah, and when I say us, I mean you. That's right. And that was a great class. It was super fun.

Then we just filmed a intro to biblical cosmology, which is Genesis 1 class. Genesis 1 and I say we... And that was an awesome class. Oh man, it was so fun. Oh, yeah. So much fun. Mine vendor.

And the next class you're going to teach is... The Adam and Eve story Genesis Three and four actually two through five two through five until Adam and Eve die in chapter five Genesis. Yeah, yeah, all right. It's gonna be awesome man classroom dot buy room. Yep, you can go there now But March 1st it'll be rock and roll and rock and roll lens right another big Part of the Bio Project that really picked up Steam in 2019 was our localization project

of getting all of our videos and libraries beginning to be translated and localized into languages all over the world. We had a new team member come on at the beginning of 2019, Alison Martin, who like, and then she hired a few more people. She built a team and they're like going to town.

They're rocked. They're 21 different languages in production as of right now, by the end of the year. Yeah. If you go to thebibelproject.com slash languages, you can see what we've got going. Yeah, that's right. You can see what's already in progress and then what's Slated to start going Public in 2020. Yep, really exciting. They're doing a great job. They came up with a really thorough process and

Are now connecting with dozens of film studios Lots of studios lots of language advisors. Yeah, lots of people on the ground in different places making this happen. And if you're part of that, listening, thank you so much. There's a lot going on there. Other cool stuff. Well, yeah, we were talking about the podcast, but one thing we forgot was in 2019, we started doing interviews with scholars whose books I found helpful for videos we were working on.

Yeah. And I got to awkwardly sit in and that was awesome. So, uh, NT Wright, um-hmm, Matthew Crossman, Haley Gornson, Jacob, Scott McKnight, Crispin Fletcher Lewis, and our very own on our team,

Chris Aquinn. It's an all-star lineup. Yeah, man, it's just Bible, scholar, all-stars right there. So that's super fun, and, fun and we will continue to do those as they make sense. It's the end of a decade. Wow, it feels momentous.

You know what's funny is that you're the only person in my life who keeps bringing that up. Really? Is this such a big deal? No one else in my life is making that a big deal. But I feel like it ought to be. Yeah. I don't know what else to say about that.

Thank you, John. Oh, you know, everyone's gonna have those 2020 glasses on. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, all kinds of. You know what year the glasses were great for was 2002, because then you had like the two on both sides and then the zeros in the middle. Yeah, the symmetry. 2020 is also symmetry.

Yeah. It's just a forward symmetry. Yeah. A, B, A, B. Yeah. Two, zero, two, zero. I feel like, and I've said this before, the 20s. Hmm.

It's gonna be a wild ride. Yeah. Is this John the futurist? John the futurist. Oh, yeah. Am I gonna be driving my own car by the time we have this conversation in the next decade? Uh, by 2029.

Right. I mean, it's gonna get weird. Things are gonna get weird. Yeah, I guess so. But 2020s also will be great for the Bio Project. We are gonna continue to chug along. There's lots of videos we wanna make. This classroom initiative for us isn't just about teaching.

I mean, it's a great venue for you Tim to teach through the Bible. Oh, sure. But in 2020, we're gonna bring in a few. Yeah, that's right. We're gonna do professors. Yeah, we're gonna add to other teachers to the mix. Yeah.

And that's really exciting. You'll find out more about that as time goes on. But yeah, the goal would be, five years from now, this podcast is like the super deep archive on all kinds of topics and biblical theology. There's all kinds of classes about books of the Bible from a great lineup of scholars all for free and lots more videos. And even more ideas that we're cooking up and when I say we, I mean you.

So. But yeah, can we talk about video commentaries? Oh, okay. Let's talk about that. Well, I think it's really exciting. Yeah. So one of the most impactful and packeding series is the Read Scripture series. Yes, yes. Because you're actually getting an overview of the whole book of the Bible.

And then it really empowers you to go, okay, I'm going to read this book now. And so we were talking with our friends at the U version Bible app, who very graciously put our videos in their app. And they said, if you ever thought about doing videos on chapters of the Bible, and we're like, well, you know how many chapters of the Bible there are. That's a lot of videos. Over a thousand. Yeah. And then you had the great idea of, well, let's just do the greatest hits. So let's just go through and just like the, let's do some really great chapters. Yes. Yeah.

And by chapters, we don't think of them as chapters because chapters in the Bible, they didn't show up till... Yeah, much later. And the chapter numbers don't always correspond to the actual literary design. Yeah. Of the... Often do. Stories and poems. They often. It just so happens that on the first page of chapter numbers don't always correspond to the actual literary design of the stories and poems. They often, it just so happens on the first page of the Bible, it's screws it up. It screws the first one up because the first creation story ends at Genesis 2 verse 3. Yeah, they could have just moved it three verses one word. Anyway, so we call them literary units. Literary units, technical terms. And so we've been saying, hey, we're gonna do these videos on literary units

Yeah, and it's just not very catchy. No, we need to find out So we also call them video commentaries because you're really getting in the text. Yeah, that's right But man, we're doing some visual development on that and I think it's gonna be really really great videos because they're gonna They're just gonna have so much payoff for what like when I'm reading the Bible Yeah, yeah, I feel like like these when we talk about themes it's really cool to see how a theme stretches throughout the whole Bible and it's beautiful but then you open up Isaiah and you're lost. That's right but what if there were 66 videos or more for all the major literary units in the book of Isaiah what if one day that would be One day. That would be so awesome.

And it would be so fun. So we're piloting that new series next year. Yeah, near the end of 2020, we'll start releasing some samples of what would be a video series that would just start going through either the greatest hits or if we might eventually land on a book and just like work through a whole book. Yeah, cool. Yeah.

Other videos, Water of Life's coming out. Hmm. Tree of Life is coming out. Yep. We're finishing the How to Read series. Yeah. And we're gonna start a new word study series. Yes. Totally. Yeah. We're gonna host series on Exodus 34, verses 6 and 7.

The most quoted verse in the Bible. That's right. The most re-quoted and referenced verse in the Bible. That's right. The most re-quoted and referenced verse in the Bible by other biblical authors. Yeah, as much as people quote Jeremiah 29, I know the plans I have. That's quoted outside the Bible. As many calendars as you've seen that on,

within the Bible itself, Exodus 34, 6 and 7 is brought up 20 more times. It's like the favorite verse by Biblical authors. Correct. That's right. So if you don't know what those verses are, go look them up, and then you'll hopefully be able to excite it about a whole series of podcast conversations and videos that we'll do on those two verses. All right. We've been bantering long enough. Yeah. We're just a really grateful and excited for this next year. Yeah, we are eternally grateful to all of you for your enthusiasm and support for what

we're doing. We're having the time of our lives and it's such a privilege to get to work on these projects and to know that so many of you are behind us. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. Yes. So, thank you. Yes. So, happy new year. I think it's the thing that people say on the last day of the year.

Happy new decade. Yeah. From your friend at the Bible Project. Hi, my name is Heidi Foster and I am the bookkeeper here at the Bible Project. Hi, I am Donald Arnie and I am a localization coordinator. Ah, this is our office mascot. This is Beeko, my mixed breed rescue. He's a part of the crew here and shows up a few times a week. Hey there, I'm Allison. I am leading our localization team with the Bible Project. This is Nathan Blair. I project manage many of the wonderful things that are going on here at the Bible project.

Hey y'all, I'm Ali. I'm on our strategy and engagement team. I'm not from Portland. Alright, my name is Rose. I'm an illustrator and storyboard artist for our theme videos. Hey, my name is Danny Dancy. I am the audience engagement coordinator at the Bible project. Hi, I'm Nisa, I'm a protection illustrator on the animation team of the Bible project.

And I'm Everett, I'm a storyboarder and illustrator. My name is Joel, director of finance at the Bible project. My name is Joshua Espacandon, and I am one of the animators here at the Bible project. My name is Anna, and I am a localization project coordinator at the Bible project. Okay, why don't you let me interview you now, Dan. Okay, see how it goes. Okay, introduce yourself. My name is Dan Gummel, I produce the podcast.

This is Josh Edelman and I'm the Senior Director of Operations here at the Bible Project. Hi, my name is Ryan. I manage all of our analytics data. Merry Christmas everyone. Thank you so much for everything you do. It is such a privilege to be a part of this team. And you guys are included in that, and we are so grateful. This would not be possible without you.

Hey, on behalf of the Bioware Project, we are so grateful for your support in the way that you've faithfully followed this project and it truly wouldn't be what it is without your generous support. And so we look forward to what's to come in 2020 and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2019. Happy Holidays and thank you so much for supporting us at the Bible project. I want to thank you so much to our supporters out there and all of our fans of Happy New Year. Merry Christmas everybody.

This year has been full of so much support and so much love and it's just incredible to be on the Bible project. I can't even thank you. Happy New Year 2020. Wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Merry Christmas, everybody. Thank you very much for everybody's support. Thanks everybody so much for joining us this year, for supporting us, for watching and sharing the videos. It's been a great year and I can't wait to turn out even more videos next year.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Happy 2020. Happy holiday season, everybody. 2019 has been a whirlwind, and you guys all help get us across the finish line. I want to say Meli Kaliki Maka and how holy Maka Hiki Ho, which in Hawaiian is Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Yeah, Happy 2020 everyone, here's to an awesome new year ahead for all of us.

For these Navidadi Prospero Agnio, can I say that? an awesome new year ahead for all of us. For these Navidadi Prospero Agnio, can I say that?