Happy Sunday! As we look toward the end of the calendar year and the beginning of a new year, I'm very aware that, on the one hand, we've been at this for 2 years and I'm super grateful, but on the other hand, it hasn't quite become what I thought it would. I started this Locals community in the hope of creating a kind of closed-loop social media platform, where like-minded people would interact and create great conversation. I had envisioned a multi-level experience with live gatherings, and lots of different kinds of content. A few things have become clear that change the vision. First, with the addition of the Way of the Fathers Podcast to my schedule (and I get paid for that) I don't really have the time to create and curate the original vision. Second, most people don't really do live events because their schedules are too busy. I am super grateful for those who have made the effort to be present for the live streams and the live conversations, but it remains just the same few usual suspects. (I was tempted to call these my "Peter, James, and John" inner circle, but then I realized that this analogy would put me in the role of Jesus, so...)

OK, so all that is to say, that I would love to hear from YOU about how we can make this community the best experience and the most fruitful for you. Here are some questions:

1) Is there a better day & time than Saturdays at 11 ET for The Journey live stream? (And I really want to hear from those of you who watch it later, in case there is a day or time when you would be more likely to attend live).

2) Is there some other content I could add or facilitate that would make it feel like supporters get more for their $10/month. (And I acknowledge that I have avoided any kind of a situation where supporters get more than non-supporter members. I never wanted a tier system where there are first and second class citizens, and I never wanted to turn this into a marketing thing or have to manage who gets what - because then you always end up having to deny something from someone, but I don't know any other way that fits with my personality.)

3) I know that the Locals app is not the greatest, technology-wise, which is why I am open to using Rumble - but it remains to be seen what that will look like - in any case, I hope that in the new year live streams can be done without the app, just in a browser - which may mean that the app becomes superfluous - but then of course that will mean that there is even less of a chance of people other than me posting in the feed. Any thoughts on this?

All this is to say that, on the one hand, I want to continue with The Original Church community, at least for the Bible Study, but I'm open to re-envisioning it according to what will be most useful or engaging for YOU. So now's the time to give me feedback - because in the next few weeks I'll be figuring things out and making some prayerful decisions about how to move forward (and I would appreciate your prayers for my discernment process).

Thanks everyone for being a part of this community - now speak up - I want to hear from you!

• with much gratitude, Jim