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Why Customers Leave Even When Your Offer Is Great
19 Plays17 days ago
In this episode, Ken Freire talks with Dustin Dozier, founder of The Connected Church and campus pastor at Upstate Church Five Forks, about building real belonging in churches and businesses alike. Dustin shares how his own story of finding community shaped his passion for helping churches move people from attendance to connection, and how that work grew into a business, a book, and a practical framework for healthier growth.
Resources Mentioned
- The Connected Church — https://www.theconnectedchurch.com/
- Upstate Church Five Forks — https://fbsimpsonville.org/locations/upstate-church-five-forks/
- Dustin Dozier Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/dustindozier/
- Dustin Dozier Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/dustin.dozier.96/
Timestamps
- 00:01–02:28 — Dustin’s roles in ministry and entrepreneurship
Ken introduces Dustin Dozier, who explains his dual role as pastor at Upstate Church Five Forks and founder of The Connected Church. - 02:28–06:48 — The problem The Connected Church solves
Dustin breaks down church assimilation, why many pastors burn out, and why smaller, under-resourced churches struggle to help people move from attending to belonging. - 06:48–10:18 — Dustin’s personal story and how he found his niche
He shares how finding belonging in a youth group as a teenager shaped his calling and eventually led him into connection systems and church growth strategy. - 10:18–13:33 — The Connected Church book and mission
Dustin talks about his upcoming book, the disconnect of modern life, and how churches can respond by creating deeper relational pathways. - 13:33–20:48 — Business lessons from church growth
Ken and Dustin explore what churches and businesses can both learn about customer journeys, personal invitations, handwritten notes, and clear next steps. - 20:48–26:26 — Growing the business, handling feedback, and staying encouraged
Dustin shares how he is getting feedback from other leaders, navigating self-doubt, and learning when to pause and regain perspective. - 26:26–29:37 — Trend report questions: experiments, weak spots, and industry shifts
Dustin answers rapid-fire questions about online courses, backend follow-up systems, building a local pastor network, and why he believes people are craving deeper community. - 29:37–32:20 — Legacy, family, and where to connect with Dustin
Dustin reflects on the legacy he hopes to leave, emphasizing faithfulness to his family and genuine care for pastors and churches, then shares how listeners can reach out.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:01
Ken Freire
Welcome back to another episode of the Solo Scaled Podcast. And today I am with Dustin. Dustin, you know what? didn't even ask you how to say your last name.
00:00:11
Dustin Dozier
Oh, yeah, it's fine. It's kind of people church it up or French it up, but it's Dustin Dozier, D-O-Z-I-E-R.
00:00:18
Ken Freire
Dozier, you see, was going to French it up and be like, Dacier. Yeah.
00:00:20
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, it's Dozier. No, it's Dozier. So, yeah, that's it.
00:00:24
Ken Freire
You're like, it's Dozier. You're good South.
00:00:28
Dustin Dozier
Frank.
00:00:29
Ken Freire
Dustin, you the founder of the Connected Church, and we're going to talk a lot about that. And you're also the pastor of the Upstate Church for Five Forks Campus.
00:00:37
Dustin Dozier
That's absolutely right. So, yeah, I get the privilege of serving on an awesome team at a multi-site church. We have 10 locations now. So it's actually, it's a little confusing, but the church as a whole is First Baptist Simpsonville Upstate Church. So we have 10 different locations, and I lead Upstate Church, Five Forks.
00:00:57
Ken Freire
Yeah.
Church Operations and Dustin's Role
00:00:57
Ken Freire
And what's unique about this, and you and have been texting back and forth about this, most multi-site, when people hear multi-site campus, there's literally one main location and then they broadcast to all these other sites.
00:01:01
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:01:11
Ken Freire
But what you guys do differently, which I loved, I was like, yeah, someone else is doing this, is that you are, it's almost semi-autonomous.
00:01:11
Dustin Dozier
That's right.
00:01:17
Ken Freire
And some people might be like, you're nerding out using language they've never heard.
00:01:18
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:01:21
Ken Freire
But yeah.
00:01:21
Dustin Dozier
I'm impressed.
00:01:22
Ken Freire
Yeah. Semi-autonomous, you are actually the pastor there. You're teaching every week. You are connecting. That's your location. And you also are in charge of other things. Yeah.
00:01:31
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, that's absolutely correct. We really have a deep conviction of the live teaching, but even more so than that, just the personal shepherding of a pastor at the campus, not being a campus pastor in the sense of a glorified welcome host or doing announcement guy, but really, yeah, I get the opportunity to really walk with families and adults at our campus. We average about 600 on a Sunday. And yeah, I get to teach and preach and just shepherd those people as best as God allows me to.
00:02:04
Ken Freire
Yeah. Now, what's unique about you is that you are both a pastor of this multi-campus site church, but you're also entering into entrepreneurship and you're truly wanting to help certain churches do certain things.
00:02:13
Dustin Dozier
That's right.
00:02:17
Ken Freire
So tell us a little bit about what you do in the entrepreneur world and we'll kind of start talking about how you got into that here in a second.
00:02:24
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, no, I appreciate that. It's quite interesting because in my role as, yes, a teaching campus pastor at a multi-site church, we have what are called dual roles. And those dual roles, it's quite interesting because most of the time in church world, anyone in ministry knows you wear multitude of hats.
00:02:44
Dustin Dozier
And so one of those hats, kind really a big hat, is am the Next Steps director. And what that means is I oversee really the assimilation process, which is a churchy word for really from first-time guest and follow-up to making sure they have a good Sunday experience to really helping them get plugged into the life of our church. So That might be membership. That might mean next steps of baptism and all those things.
00:03:13
Dustin Dozier
And what's been kind of cool is that God has allowed me in that role to really just my heart and my passion is really to see people move from just attending church, like coming in on an hour on a Sunday and kind of getting their work.
00:03:29
Dustin Dozier
moral checklist, if you will, and leaving to really finding a sense of belonging within the church. And so
Addressing Church Challenges
00:03:35
Dustin Dozier
that kind of birthed this idea of the connected church to really see people take steps to really be intentional,
00:03:44
Dustin Dozier
in that. And so, yeah, so birth this idea on the entrepreneurial side of, hey, let's help other pastors. Let's help other churches that might be under resourced or don't know, just overwhelmed in a lot of ways where pastors, they carry the weight of I want to grow the church. We want to see lives changed.
00:04:06
Dustin Dozier
But many, many churches in America are not the size of ours. And that's not a knock, but they're bivocational. They're smaller. And I want to be their champion. I want to help be a cheerleader in their corner to help them see people and help help them move people from just attending to really belonging, if that makes sense.
00:04:25
Ken Freire
Yeah, well, and you kind of hit it where a lot of pastors, especially if they're not at that size, they might be like two other staff on the team, and they're doing a lot of shepherding.
00:04:33
Dustin Dozier
That's right.
00:04:35
Ken Freire
They're doing home visits, hospital visits, all the people stuff that they're most, I won't say all, but most pastors are not like operationally inclined to like, how do you build these systems that will make it that you can both have organic health and organic growth.
00:04:55
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:04:58
Ken Freire
How do I connect? do I do next? And I feel like this isn't my place. So I walk away. But those who do have a really good connection, I'm like, oh man, I love this church.
00:05:03
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:05:07
Ken Freire
It's great. I belong here. That's kind of what I'm hearing you say.
00:05:10
Ken Freire
Is that correct?
00:05:11
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, for sure. think oftentimes, and I know this is the case for me, and it's not a knock on seminary per se, but you go to seminary and you learn a lot of incredible knowledge based on theology and even some practices within the church.
00:05:28
Dustin Dozier
But then you get into the church and And you think, wow, I have to manage a budget of X percent or amount. Oh, I have some conflict resolution and management I have to deal with. And then as you grow, just becomes really complex and you begin to wear a lot more hats.
00:05:46
Dustin Dozier
And don't know the exact specific data point on this, but we see that churches are dying. Pastors are burning out because the load is heavy. And many of them, they're like, hey, I'm really good at communicating God's word and preaching the Bible. And not to say they're not.
00:06:03
Dustin Dozier
good at connecting with people on a one-on-one level, but at some point the levy breaks because they're wearing so many hats. And so that's where my heart is. Hey, here's a resource you can download, or even can step into and coaching and consulting through the Connected Church and really help because that's my heart. I don't want to see pastors burn out and I don't want to see churches die and close up shop because they don't have enough or enough time or energy to put into that for sure.
00:06:34
Ken Freire
Okay, so as you started to realize that this is something that you're really passionate about, how did you get into it? Because there's a lot of people who are like, man, I love teaching, I love preaching, I love doing all these other things.
00:06:47
Ken Freire
But you were like, I really love setting up assimilation and next steps for churches. That tends to not be like the first step. So how did you find yourself into that niche?
00:06:58
Dustin Dozier
Well, it's really interesting you ask. It's really my personal story. So I did not grow up in church. I would even say now people would not look at me and have the stereotypical pastor. Oftentimes, like I'll get my hair cut and someone will say, what do you do for a living? I'm a pastor. And it's really interesting because they'll say you're a pastor. So I don't know if that's good or bad. I don't know if that's a compliment or an insult. I'm not sure. But I didn't grow up in church.
00:07:26
Dustin Dozier
And
00:07:26
Ken Freire
It's probably because you were walking in throwing F-bombs the whole time, but yeah.
00:07:28
Dustin Dozier
No, that is not. Hey, do not put that online. All right. So that is not true.
00:07:32
Ken Freire
I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.
00:07:34
Dustin Dozier
But when when I was in middle school, not growing up in church, like most middle school young men trying to find my place, just went through a period of time where I was trying to find where I belonged. And a group of my really good friends in elementary school and middle school had kind of moved on. They redistrict some of the high school lines. So I found myself in high school thinking, who am What group do I want to be a part of? Where's my sense of belonging? And here I was, this kind of skater punk and I don't know if you can imagine this, but I had long hair down to my shoulders. It was like shaved under and pulled it back like Kurt Cobain was like the guy I idolized. I just love Nirvana. And so I sat at this lunch table one day.
00:08:23
Dustin Dozier
14 years old and group of friends invited me to church and to be full disclosure honest i went because there was a hot girl and free pizza so i went and was yeah it worked and didn't know what was getting myself into just needed a place of belonging and stepped into that and what was crazy is that
00:08:36
Ken Freire
Flirt to convert.
00:08:47
Dustin Dozier
really the church, this youth group of middle school and high school students and really a youth pastor and a small group leader just loved on me. And I found my sense and place of belonging. They didn't judge me of, hey, you need to cut your hair or you need to wear khaki pants and a college shirt. I think I was wearing JNCOs. Do you remember those?
00:09:07
Ken Freire
Oh yeah, I used to have them.
00:09:09
Dustin Dozier
Yeah. So those are, if you don't know online, I mean, Google that. It's hilarious. But I would wear JNCOs and an oversized Nirvana shirt. And just through that process,
00:09:19
Dustin Dozier
I was like, man, so that's really where this stemmed from. So when the opportunity came at our church at the time, was only three locations. And really, was asked and really charged to say, why don't you kind of step into this space?
00:09:34
Dustin Dozier
I was like, it was a no-brainer. I'm thinking, absolutely. have a heart for that. And it just continued
The Connected Church and Its Vision
00:09:39
Dustin Dozier
to grow. And so... As it was growing and as our church was growing, naturally that other pastors and churches in the local space just outside of Greenville started to contact and say, hey, what are y'all doing? What systems? And we really, to be honest, it's like we're just trying some things.
00:09:58
Dustin Dozier
And so that kind of birthed this idea and really passion to help other churches. And so in that, was like, man, maybe there's a business opportunity here. Maybe there is not that I want to swindle churches or anything, but to really resource what we've learned, good and bad, what we continue to learn and really come alongside pastors and church leaders or even you know, key volunteers in that space and, you know, tell them what we've learned and share with them the experience that we've had. So that's kind of how the Connected Church was birthed. And so it's pretty cool. I'm just walking through the doors that God's opening and don't want to get in the way of his work.
00:10:43
Ken Freire
Yeah.
Book Announcement and Strategies for Church Engagement
00:10:43
Ken Freire
So as you start to grow the connected church, is a relatively new thing. You have a book coming out with it, right?
00:10:48
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I do. Yeah, which is scary because if you ask any of my English teachers in high school and college, they're like, what in the world? But but yeah, so I have a book called The Connected Church.
00:11:01
Dustin Dozier
It's real creative. Right. And looking to launch that the first week of February. And so Just a resource that really is the heart.
00:11:13
Dustin Dozier
It really starts with the idea that because this really does impact the church, this idea that we are the most connected people in the face of all mankind, of our history.
00:11:25
Dustin Dozier
But yet, while we're so connected, we're really disconnected and that we spend hours on our phones. And instead of having deep relationships with best friends and deep conversations that we actually are pretty shallow, I hate to admit that, but
00:11:43
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:11:44
Dustin Dozier
We spend more time comparing ourselves to people we see on social media, spend more time go, go, go and connected to our phones than we do connected to one another. And so really the heart of the book is because of that, how has that impacted the church, whether that is coming and going, whether it is, hey, I'm just going to do online. And we really do ourself a disservice of connecting with people relationally. So how do we step in as pastors, church leaders,
00:12:14
Dustin Dozier
volunteers into that space. And so the rest of the book is really, how do we do that? How do we connect with a community that's disconnected? How can we as pastors be transparent and be connected to the people in the community and with our church? How do we do that? Because, mean, you know, Ken, like,
00:12:31
Dustin Dozier
Church can be intimidating. It can be overwhelming for the first time guests. Maybe they have baggage from the past. And so, yeah, so the church is kind of or the book is launching that. The Connected Church book is launching that. And then, this business, The Connected Church, you can go to Connected Church, theconnectedchurch.com. And yeah, download some resources and some courses of what does it look like to build a connections team? How do you really implement some of these principles from the book into the life of your church? So yeah.
00:13:06
Ken Freire
Yeah. So walk us through, you know, people who listen to this, they are running a business. They're building a business. Some of them are in ministry. Some of them are not.
00:13:16
Ken Freire
But I think there's a lot of lessons that people who are not in church can learn and implement in their business. So I'm curious, what were some of the things that you found that like
00:13:23
Dustin Dozier
Absolutely.
00:13:28
Ken Freire
Kind of if I was in Greenville and I was like one of those pastors called you up like, hey, man, what you doing? Because when I hear going from three churches to 10 churches, that's a massive leap. And I know that.
00:13:38
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, that's like in four years. It's crazy.
00:13:41
Ken Freire
Yeah. And you said four years.
00:13:43
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, in four years.
00:13:44
Ken Freire
Oh, my gosh.
00:13:44
Dustin Dozier
For sure.
00:13:45
Ken Freire
So I'm assuming the connectedness, the assimilation to be a big component to that. So what were some maybe key things that you guys did that you were like, hey, this is what worked for us and potentially business owners can learn the same from?
00:13:58
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I think one thing that we learned in the church ministry context, I think is so valuable in the business side of things where you begin to grow and scale your business.
00:14:11
Dustin Dozier
One of the things, and I'm not even saying we're perfect at this, but we really focus on the relational side, being personal. I think one of the things that kills bigger churches is that things can become so disconnected and automated that it's things like, hey, I need to talk to someone about this.
00:14:32
Dustin Dozier
I would like to talk to a pastor about this. And it breaks my heart because I see other churches that will say, well, the pastor's unavailable for six months or email info at type mentality.
00:14:46
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:47
Dustin Dozier
And so we try to make it super personal. So, for instance, to give you a practical example, anytime someone visits our church, one of the things that once again, not to say we're perfect at it, but one of the things that we we are diehard about is a handwritten note.
00:15:05
Dustin Dozier
that every guest that fills out Connect card or goes online and says, I want information about your church, we have a system in place where our campus pastors, other residents, if you will, at each campus, they're writing a handwritten note.
00:15:22
Dustin Dozier
That's kind a lost art. Wouldn't you agree?
00:15:24
Ken Freire
Oh, yeah.
00:15:24
Dustin Dozier
It's kind of a...
00:15:25
Dustin Dozier
I feel like I get things in the mail and I'm thinking, what in the world? But I really do think it's awesome when someone writes a handwritten note that says, hey, thanks for coming. Hope that you had a great experience.
00:15:38
Dustin Dozier
And I can't tell you if I if I had a dollar for every time someone said, man, we got your your note and really appreciate that because we went to X church and.
00:15:49
Dustin Dozier
It was like we just came in and left. And so I think that is huge. Keep it personal. I say this all the time, that people are more important than programs.
00:16:00
Dustin Dozier
And I think churches can program their self to death. But man, you connect with someone at a coffee shop, hear their story, it's huge. It is so valuable than any program that you would ever create and spend tons of money on.
00:16:15
Dustin Dozier
So I think that is huge. And I would say the second thing, and I would say this to business owners as well, and I'm still learning this.
00:16:22
Ken Freire
Thank
00:16:23
Dustin Dozier
that it's really clear next steps. What do you want? What's the journey that you want to take a church member on or a customer or client on? What does that journey look like?
00:16:35
Dustin Dozier
Because if it comes across salesy or inauthentic, no one wants that. And so, have to be really intentional, be mean about the vision and the path and say, this is what we're doing and articulate that well in your business practice and your ministry practice of guiding them because, you know, I mean, we have so much noise and different steps of I don't really know what to take, where to go. I feel like those are two good principles from what we've learned for sure.
00:17:05
Ken Freire
Yeah. You know, it's fascinating when I talk to, I, I'd work with a lot of expert led business owners. So just kind of coaches, consultants, thought leaders, and the amount of times that they don't have a customer journey of like where they're taking their people and what they want them to, to learn about before joining their program something like that is like astronomical.
00:17:18
Dustin Dozier
Oh,
00:17:26
Ken Freire
They're like, Oh, I never thought about that.
00:17:26
Dustin Dozier
yeah. Yeah.
00:17:27
Ken Freire
I thought they just like looked at my website and they bought, you know, like, no, there's tons of stuff that needs happen.
00:17:31
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:17:33
Ken Freire
But it's fascinating because in churches, it's the same thing, right? Where I remember trying to network with the churches in my area and the larger churches.
00:17:37
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:17:42
Ken Freire
I was like, I'm looking for a new church for my family at one point. And I remember the larger churches. I'd be like, hey, is there a pastor I could connect with? And every single one of them, it was like, oh, come to this lunch in that we're going to do.
00:17:51
Dustin Dozier
Oh, yeah.
00:17:55
Ken Freire
I'm like, well, what if I can't make it to the lunch? You know, can I connect?
00:17:58
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I'm sorry.
00:18:00
Ken Freire
And I'm super proactive. Most people are not.
00:18:03
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, most people are not.
00:18:04
Dustin Dozier
You're right.
00:18:05
Ken Freire
So I'm curious for, and this is the reason bring that up. Most people who are not proactive, what have you found to do to kind of bring them in and say, hey, I want to be more intentional with you guys because they tend to be the wallflower. And I think in business, this happens a lot. There's the wallflowers who watching, but you're trying to bring them in.
00:18:25
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I think for us, a personal invitation is huge because you're going have people. have people at my campus
Entrepreneurship and Business Growth
00:18:32
Dustin Dozier
that they come to church and they love what we do.
00:18:38
Dustin Dozier
and they come, they're regular attenders, but oftentimes they might be bit more introverted. They might have some church hurt or baggage. They might be like what you're saying, Ken, kind of wallflower of checking things out to make sure one, we're not crazy or that we're not in genuine or big church, kind of, we just want numbers type thing. And so a personal invitation of, hey, I know you've been coming for a couple of weeks. Have you thought about this?
00:19:04
Dustin Dozier
Or if you know them well, I think it's okay to have like the big ask where if someone's really, really outgoing, I might say, you have a great personality and I love that we connected over coffee. Have you ever considered serving on our connections team? You just seem like you're an outgoing person that you are easy to relate to and start conversation. Have thought about that? And just in that personal invite, it is huge to really...
00:19:33
Dustin Dozier
and fight them into something special because lot of times they're thinking of themselves, I'm just an attender. I don't have anything special to offer. And I think for the business leader, I think you have to, and I'm learning this, that you have to really have those conversations and you got to push people a little bit, not like in a,
00:19:50
Dustin Dozier
two hour timeshare type way, you know, push them against the wall.
00:19:54
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:19:55
Dustin Dozier
So we don't say you need to come to the membership thing this Sunday. You've been coming. It's time, buddy. That's not our sentiment. So I don't think you handle customers or clients that way because everyone is different.
00:20:07
Ken Freire
Yeah. So Dustin, I'm curious, you kind of mentioned because everyone is different, what are you doing to grow your business personally? Like what's the things that you're doing that saying, hey, this is helping me to scale this?
00:20:22
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I think for me, I'm still like in this infancy learning stage. So for me, good, bad and ugly, I'm going to Christian business owners that can give me feedback, can poke holes in what I'm doing well or not so well. I literally just had...
00:20:44
Dustin Dozier
a Zoom conversation with someone on Monday who I would say is really an expert in some hospitality stuff inside church world and not. And it's like, hey, here's some things to think about.
00:20:54
Dustin Dozier
Or here's a downfall I can see in your business approach or, you know, those kind of things. And it hurts.
00:21:01
Ken Freire
Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:02
Dustin Dozier
I'll be honest, like, you know, think as a business owner and even in ministry, it's so relationally driven. Every business owner and pastor that I've met loves and you're the most passionate person about what you do.
00:21:16
Dustin Dozier
And oftentimes what I'm learning I can be blinded by things. I could spend hours on a content that I created or an idea that I have.
00:21:26
Dustin Dozier
And then when someone comes in and says, it's not that good. or you need to fix it. I'm like, okay, I'm deflated. Yeah, deflated. And this horrible.
00:21:35
Dustin Dozier
Like, who is that person? You know what mean?
00:21:37
Ken Freire
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:21:38
Dustin Dozier
And I think we have to...
00:21:38
Ken Freire
It feels so personal.
00:21:40
Dustin Dozier
It is. It's personal. But you got to be open to that feedback. That's how you grow and you're stretching yourself and your ideas. And really, I'm not the person that I might think is the best idea in the world.
00:21:51
Dustin Dozier
That doesn't mean that everyone's going to buy it or, you know, understand the mission.
00:21:54
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:21:56
Dustin Dozier
And you got to be OK with that as well.
00:22:00
Ken Freire
Yeah, well, one the things I'm walking away from this, Dustin, is I'm thinking about all the other businesses and even ministry leaders who might be listening to this is like, how can you automate things, right?
00:22:12
Ken Freire
Because automation is important, it saves you time, but how can you also be high touch?
00:22:12
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:22:15
Ken Freire
especially in the age where we're so disconnected, how do we find ways to be really high touch?
00:22:16
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:22:20
Ken Freire
It might be the note, it might be the coffee date, it might be connecting in different ways.
00:22:23
Dustin Dozier
Okay.
00:22:31
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:22:43
Ken Freire
As you are growing this thing, want you to talk to the person who's struggling.
00:22:44
Dustin Dozier
Appreciate it.
00:22:49
Ken Freire
They're like, man, I've been at it. I'm pushing. I'm trying my business and I'm not growing. Is there any words of encouragement that you have for them to just like keep going?
00:22:59
Dustin Dozier
mean, obviously as a pastor and as a Christian, think prayer is huge. I think really being dependent on God in that.
00:23:04
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:23:09
Dustin Dozier
And I think you have to find your identity and your calling in that. For me, mean, there's going to be times where super busy or times someone says something or it's not going according to plan that, man, it's natural to be down on yourself. But I would say,
00:23:24
Dustin Dozier
If you feel like, man, this is what I'm passionate about. This is what fills my bucket. This is what energizes me. Learn, continue to push forward. You just never know what is going to happen and trust God in the process. Now, obviously, think you have to have people in your corner that you trust that are really solid voices that You will accept criticism, but they're also your biggest cheerleaders.
00:23:52
Dustin Dozier
You have to have people in your corner, whether it's your spouse, your kids, a business owner, a best friend that that says, hey, keep it up, keep going.
00:23:52
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:24:01
Dustin Dozier
And so this is you're passionate about and get after it. Keep going. But I also say. If you find yourself in a spot that, and this really was being fully transparent, about six months ago, I found myself thinking, this wrestling with this inadequacy of, what am I doing?
00:24:19
Dustin Dozier
You know, like, got so much on my plate and no one, like, writing a book, like, who does that? I mean, I wasn't good at English in high school, much less college.
00:24:27
Ken Freire
Thank you.
00:24:31
Dustin Dozier
That's not good. Or start a business. You're already wearing so many hats. And so I really wanted to call it quits. And I'm so thankful for guys on our team here at the church, friends that held me accountable and really pushed.
00:24:46
Dustin Dozier
So put people like that in your corner that aren't just yes men. I'm not just saying like fluff, but are going to push you to that next level in a good, healthy way. And also think in that period, you know what did, Ken, is that it actually allowed me to kind of hit pause.
00:25:03
Dustin Dozier
and pull myself out from like being in the like right next to the tree, you know, and pull myself and see the forest, take a deep breath and say, OK, here's some things that I need to reclarify or some a different direction I need to take.
00:25:10
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:25:20
Dustin Dozier
And I think it's good to do that. I think we
Quick-Fire Questions and Insights
00:25:22
Dustin Dozier
just are man, our foot is on the gas 24 seven. And sometimes we just need a break. We need to pull our head out and say, OK, let me look at this from a bigger, bigger picture.
00:25:32
Ken Freire
Yeah, Dustin, love all that. I love what you're doing. love how you're trying to help other churches grow.
00:25:37
Dustin Dozier
OK. OK.
00:25:40
Ken Freire
One of things that I want to before we wrap up our time, I ask all of my guests these same five questions. And these five questions, I'm trying to grow what I call the expert-led business trend report.
00:25:50
Ken Freire
Right. So you don't have to answer very long, quick 30 seconds, just knock these out.
00:25:55
Ken Freire
But I'm just curious where you're at. And then I'm going to compile this into a large report. So the first question is, is what's something in your business you're experimenting with right now?
00:26:05
Dustin Dozier
So right now I am experimenting with really kind of like the online course thing. I know a lot of people do that.
00:26:12
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:26:14
Dustin Dozier
I'm new to it. And I think just in a fast paced world, being able to have an online course, if you will, of really short segments and modules to help people so they can do it in their own timing. So I'm experimenting with that to see how it goes.
00:26:29
Ken Freire
Sweet. right. Question number two, which part of your business feels the most in flux or you're like, this is the weakest area?
00:26:36
Dustin Dozier
I would say it's kind of the back end, ironically enough, of the business. Because it's an online resource, I'm learning and I'm very deficient in kind of the follow-up of someone purchases an online resource or they fill out a connect form. What is that or contact form? What does that look like for me and follow-up and making sure they're nurtured and loved on and that? So I'm learning in that.
00:27:03
Ken Freire
Sweet. That's great. Question number three. What's a goal you're building toward this year that you're really excited about?
00:27:10
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, so a goal that I'm building for in 2026 is really, and I'm starting on a small scale locally, of a network of pastors that are in this space where we can just learn.
00:27:25
Dustin Dozier
It's not a networking in the sense of, look what I'm doing. It is a place of humility and learning and growth where we can really together make an impact in the bigger seed church.
00:27:38
Ken Freire
Awesome. All right. Question number four. Where do you see the industry shifting and how are you preparing for it? And for you, maybe the industry might be like ministry and church.
00:27:48
Ken Freire
I'm just curious.
00:27:48
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:27:48
Ken Freire
Where do you see it shifting and are you preparing for it?
00:27:51
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, I definitely think in a weird way that the church has been disconnected and or people attending church, we see the decline of attendance and many churches that aren't offering connection, but I'm hopeful because I see in a younger generation, especially in young professionals and college students that are wanting deeper community and belonging. And so they're looking for churches that offer that and not fancy, but just great community. So I personally think I'm hopeful that I think churches are going to shift that way. Ministry is going to shift that way and really see an awesome boom life change happening across ministry.
00:28:34
Ken Freire
All last question. What's the legacy you want to leave behind?
00:28:38
Dustin Dozier
And that's a good question. You know, like as a pastor, always tell people or ask people what are what's going to be preached at your funeral? So that's kind of a similar question.
00:28:45
Ken Freire
Yeah.
00:28:47
Dustin Dozier
I would say one. And this is personal. I hope that people say that I loved my wife well, that I love my my three kids well, that businesses can come and go. Churches and ministry can come and go. But my family is my family.
00:29:05
Dustin Dozier
So I hope that is a legacy in regards ministry and the connected church. And I hope that it is one that he was the real deal.
00:29:15
Dustin Dozier
He really cared about churches and pastors and to see the church grow.
00:29:23
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:29:26
Ken Freire
want to connect with you. What's the best way to reach you?
00:29:29
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, so right now I would say feel free to reach out to me, DM me on Facebook or Instagram at Dustin Dozier. You can also go and visit theconnectedchurch.com.
00:29:45
Dustin Dozier
And and so that's not fully developed yet, but it's still up and live because I'm testing a bunch of things. But or even my church email, ddozier at upstatechurch.org. Feel free. I would love to answer questions, help your church in any way possible and would love to connect. I love I love people. So. So,
00:30:03
Ken Freire
Yeah. And for those who are listening to this, would say, Dustin, you are the real deal, man. You've been great friend since we've connected.
00:30:08
Dustin Dozier
yeah. You're kind.
00:30:10
Ken Freire
been fun just to hang out and talk and chat, you know, lot via, you know, Facebook Messenger. So you are genuinely care about people.
00:30:16
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:30:20
Ken Freire
And I'm excited to see the Connected Church grow, man.
00:30:20
Dustin Dozier
I appreciate that.
00:30:23
Dustin Dozier
Yeah, well, appreciate that, Ken, and it's an honor to be on here. I'm cheering for you. The new book out, man, I can't wait to get a copy and share that and just your heart for businesses and for leaders. It's definitely needed in this space because, you know, as a pastor, there's a lot of people, there's a lot of weight, but business owners, whether it's small business or big, they carry a lot of weight and they need people like you in their corner. So I appreciate
Contact Information and Conclusion
00:30:48
Dustin Dozier
the time.
00:30:50
Ken Freire
Thanks, Dustin. For all of you listening, man, go check out Dustin.
00:30:51
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:30:52
Ken Freire
Go check out the Connected Church. And if you're still interested in trying to figure out like, what kind of business am I supposed to be running? Man, reach out to me. It'll be a great time. We'll just love to help you in any way possible to help you scale your church, scale your business and your church.
00:31:07
Ken Freire
Hope guys have a great day.
00:31:08
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.
00:31:08
Ken Freire
God bless. Let's do both.
00:31:11
Dustin Dozier
Yeah.