This time, I had the opportunity to chat with Endz, a visionary leader driving the Indigitous mission through gaming ministry.
Endz provided an overview of Twitch raids and his five-step process for sharing faith. He also showed us how to adapt his method of incorporating the gospel into other hobbies and shared his take on handling failure when trying something new.
Q: So tell us, Endz, what are raids?
Endz: Raids are usually done when you finish your stream; you still have viewers, and you transfer them to a different streamer.
I thought of creating a raid party where I stream, and then we reach out to a different streamer and interact with the streamer for 10 to 20 minutes. I don’t end my stream; instead, I ask my viewers to come back to my stream, and then raid a different streamer. The cycle repeats 2 to 3 times an hour.
Q: I remember discussing this in our previous conversation, and I wanted to know more about your experience.
Endz: I prefer off-stream ministry because when I am streaming, I usually get distracted by the game I’m playing while trying to talk with people. The people who join my stream usually know me already.
I find it more effective when I am not streaming. I go to a different streamer who I don’t know yet and has 5-10 viewers who I don’t know either. This way, I’m reaching out not only to the streamer but also to their viewers.
Then again, I’m also a very small streamer. I usually only have like 3-4 viewers at a time, 7 on a good day.
Q: What is your process of raiding other streamers?
Endz: I usually stream first so that I can gather a few people, maybe around 3-4, and explain what the raid outreach is and the process. Then once we are ready, we find someone to raid, preferably someone who is also playing the same game or a game that we are familiar with.
Once we are ready to raid, I usually have a raid call, for example “AzurePenguinGaming Raid, VOTD: John 3:16. Jesus Loves You.” All my raiders copy the same thing, and by this time, the streamer who is being raided will thank the raid and introduce him/herself to us raiders, and that is where I take down notes.
I have a notepad where I input all the information — more on that later. Then I usually have this 5-step process that I go through when I raid a person.
- Interact: Let them know you are there; say ‘Hi’ or something.
- Information Gathering: Ask questions about the game they’re playing, how the person is doing, what level they are on, or who their favorite character in the game is just to get the conversation going.
- Present the seed: Let them know that I am a Christian streamer and this is the ministry that I am doing. Ask them if they have a prayer request; this is usually the time you will know if they are a Christian or not.
- The 4th step can go two ways, depending on whether they are a Christian or not:
- If they are a Christian, you can start conversing about Jesus and how God has been working in your lives.
- If they are not a Christian, this is the time you can share the gospel, if time permits.
- Watering the seed: This is the follow-up. Remember why we took notes a while ago? You can use that as a reference for the next time you come back to the streamer later.
Q: What is one of the most memorable experiences from these events?
Endz: Good question. One of the most memorable experiences was when I raided someone who is a Christian, but he is not active in church anymore. We ended up talking about how he has been treating God like a genie and why bad things happen to good people and stuff like that.
We spoke for about an hour and 20 minutes. He stopped playing the game and just spoke to me and the chat. He said that he never thought that someone would reach out to him and pray for him during the stream. He had already blocked off everyone in real life.
It just goes to show that people — especially during the pandemic — use gaming and streaming as a platform of escapism from the real world, and if we don’t go there, they are very similar to unreached people.
Q: What do you want to achieve through this initiative?
Endz: My goal is to share what I’m doing with more people and hopefully inspire someone to replicate it. At the end of the day, what I’m doing isn’t limited to gaming or Twitch; it can also be done in real life. Just replace the gaming with what you are comfortable doing and hold a conversation around that. Then you can follow the 5-step process I discussed earlier.
Use your hobby as a bridge to converse with someone and make them comfortable with you. I found that two introverts can become extroverts once they have a common interest. They can talk about something all day and feel close to each other even though they just met.
Q: How do you handle hardship and failure when trying something new?
Endz: Since I grew up playing games, I’m familiar with failure. That is what I like about gaming; it simulates failure in a safe environment, and you just need to keep at it to get better in the game. The same goes for anything in life. For sure, you will fail but think of it as progress versus failure. You just need to move on and keep doing it.
If you want to experience the raid for yourself or have any other questions, I stream from Monday to Thursday, 9 PM – 11 PM (GMT+8). The raid usually starts around 11 PM after I stream at twitch.tv/AzurePenguinGaming.
<end of conversation>
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