In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how just a few weeks ago YouTube celebrated its 20th anniversary. Few could have imagined that a 19-second video of a man looking at elephants at the San Diego Zoo could have led to the creation of a global media powerhouse. With 20 billion videos having been uploaded to date, we thought it was fitting to discuss the countless ways that YouTube has revolutionized media and our culture.

Episode Links

In today's episode, Dr. White shared a ton of facts and figures on YouTube related to its history, its growth and where it's headed in the future. Here are a collection of articles and blogs that we'd encourage you to take a look at if you're interested in learning more or finding any stats that were shared today:

Wendy Lee, “YouTube turns 20 years old. How it changed TV as we know it,” Los Angeles Times.

Todd Spangler, “YouTube Says It Now Hosts More Than 20 Billion Videos, Unveils New Features and Easter Eggs in 20th Birthday Celebration,” Variety.

Dade Hayes, “YouTube's Revenue Will Top Disney's This Year As It Becomes “The Home For All Things Video”, Analyst Says,” Deadline.

James Hardy, “Who Invented YouTube: The Visionaries Behind the Digital Revolution,” History Cooperative.

Viraj Mahesh, “20 ways we're celebrating two decades of YouTube,” YouTube Official Blog.

“YouTube” 1440.

If you're interested in checking out YouTube's first video ever posted, you can click HERE to watch “Me at the Zoo.” And you can click HERE to check out the most-viewed videos of all time on YouTube. And then Dr. White mentioned a recent news article discussing just how much people increasingly trust their peers and the type of content that they release on social media today. You can read “Gen Z increasingly listens to peers over doctors for health advice” found in Axios HERE.

Finally, Dr. White turned the conversation to the takeaways for the church, and how we need to meet people where they are at in order to share the message of Jesus with them. He wrote about this in depth in his book, Hybrid Church, which you can order from Amazon HERE. The primary way to meet people where they are in today's culture is through YouTube. If you are interested, here are some of the channels tied to Mecklenburg Community Church that he mentioned in the conversation today, including the link to the Church & Culture Podcast on YouTube if you're interested in checking us out there:

Mecklenburg Community Church | @MeckChurch

MecKidz Children's Ministry | @MecKidzChurch

REALIFE High School Ministry | @REALIFEHSM

MAXlife Middle School Ministry | @maxlifemsm7079

Meck Creative | @MeckCreative

Church & Culture | @churchandculture

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

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