Lessons Learned from 7 Years of Beyond Today

[Darris McNeely] We're approaching seven years of production on Beyond Today. It's hard to believe that Steve and Gary and I have been doing this job in this studio here at the home office in Cincinnati for this long. And we're approaching nearly 200 programs for Beyond Today.

[Steve Myers] A lot of people that would be surprised by that.

[Darris McNeely] Very true, but we've been thinking about it today as we've concluded a couple of days of taping programs exactly some of the lessons that we've learned on the years of working together as a team.

[Gary Petty] And you know one of the most important lessons I've learned is really how to work together as a team. This is a remarkable group of people, who come together—the cameramen, the sound people, the director, the producer. I mean, it's a lot of people to come together and do a lot of work to produce every program. And the teamwork and working together—it's just been an amazing experience.

[Darris McNeely] Absolutely, working with a group of young, creative people also has really added to, a dimension of understanding about the talents and the abilities that God has provided among the people on this team and this project that we've had.

[Steve Myers] Yeah, I think it's interesting you can see people's dedication and how they are totally engulfed in preaching the gospel and trying to serve God. And yet at the same time we can have a lot of fun. Maybe it doesn't always come across on camera, but we really enjoy what we're doing and we enjoy each other. And I think there's a sense of collaboration, that we can get together and we can do a serious thing, but we can also have fun while we make it happen.

[Darris McNeely] We deal with some very serious subjects as we do Beyond Today programs. Dealing with the Bible is a very serious matter. We take that very seriously. We don't always take ourselves seriously, and I think that helps also to create this level of teamwork and unity among all of us on this production team that keeps the project going forward.

[Gary Petty] Well, also the fact that everybody gets a chance to participate. Everyone can give an idea. Anyone can say, "Hey, I don't think that works." And we can have a discussion around it. And feelings don't get hurt because maybe something doesn't work or feelings don't get hurt because maybe an idea got thrown out—because all of us have had to go through that. Everybody involved has had an idea they thought was their baby and got thrown out, or got a good comment from someone else that helped them get better. And the whole thing is getting better to serve Jesus Christ and our Father and preaching the gospel.

[Darris McNeely] I think one of the things I've learned is you better check your ego at the door when you come in to the production meeting, when you come into the studio. Let God do His work through everybody involved in the program and don't think it's all about you and the individual.

[Steve Myers] There's no doubt that you know God's behind it. God's got to be behind it. We've got to put Him first. It's not about me. It's not even about us, but it's about His word and His will. And we've got to submit to that will. And of course that we see as we work together. We want to please Him and honor Him in what we do.

[Darris McNeely] I think it's not about us. It's not about any one individual. It's about the work of God. It's about the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and that's what we're trying to put out here with Beyond Today. And that's just a few of the thoughts and the ideas that we've learned in these nearly seven years of production of Beyond Today.

[Steve Myers] That's BT Daily. We'll see you next time.