Welcome to JSA TV and JSA Podcasts, the newsroom for telecom and data center professionals. I'm Jamie Scott of Kataya, coming to you from Virtual Metro Connect 2021. Joining me today is my good friend, Greg Elliott. He is the vice president of business development at 1623 Barnum. Greg, welcome to JSA TV. Thanks, Jamie. Great to see you again. Great to see you. It's been a little bit. Hope this year and last isn't been too difficult for you, my friend. All good. All good. Considering. Yeah, considering, right? So for those of our viewers who are not familiar yet with 1623 Barnum, can you give us a brief overview? Sure, yeah. So 1623 Barnum is the carrier hotel, de facto carrier hotel for Omaha. And we've been over the last couple of years, the ownership's been putting about $45 million into the building. So now, in addition to being the carrier hotel, it'll be a cutting edge data center with new power infrastructure, cooling infrastructure. We have nine floors, eight megawatts of capacity and already has 50 carriers. And so that's awesome and coupled with the hyperscaler activity in the area. It's just a great spot to be at. Well, you're saying all the right things for our viewers, I'm sure, phenomenal funding and upgrades. We've got carriers, we've got OTTs. So tell us a little bit more about this interconnect ecosystem that you're creating within 1623 Barnum in the surrounding region. Yeah, so as I mentioned, Berks Group owns the whole building. And so we have control of the facility. We have the building owned carrier neutral meet me room on the third floor, where that's obviously the heart and soul of the building. And so we have 50 plus carriers and we're continually every day creating a more and more fertile ecosystem for those carriers, for our content providers, for our enterprise customers to have the more networks they have to connect with, the more flexibility it gives to our customers. And so we do that daily, talking to existing customer, asking them if there's other networks that they wanna connect to what it looks like for on the horizon to do that. So we're having those conversations, making those physical connections and making all that happen. We also have the Omaha IX, which is growing at a rapid pace. We have eyeball networks joining, it seems like weekly and content providers joining as well. We just had a couple that took down 100 gig ports. And so we just see growth there. And then we've added a mega port to the facility. They put in a redundant configuration, dual router dual switches, which is a little, they don't do that everywhere. So we're fortunate to have that deployment. And then tell our friends, tell you they're turning up a new fiber route from Chicago through Des Moines, through Omaha, through us, and then onto Denver. So just seeing a lot of new activity and new fiber growth and it's all good. Absolutely exciting news is that robust marketplace you've got going on Omaha IX, folks like mega port and Telia, good folks in general, but killer networks and capabilities. So why Omaha? What is so interesting about the latency scenario you're cooking up there? Yeah, it's a simple location, location, location. So you look at the map, Omaha is almost right in the center of the US, good spot in North America. And for years, fiber routes have ran north, south, east, west and have come through the building. But then you couple on the growth of the hyperscalers and council bluffs in Omaha, Google has one of their main North American data centers close to us, less than a millisecond away, around a millisecond, Facebook's closed, Apple's over in Des Moines. And so you have all that activity going on. And so we work with our carriers proactively to figure out, look at other data center markets both in the Midwest on the coast, up in Canada and down south. And so we're actively keeping track of those round-trip latencies that can be found on our website that people can check out. So if you find you're a carrier and you have better latencies to different markets, let us know and we can update the table. Well, I gotta say from a personal perspective, we love telling your story. We love promoting your news because you guys are just such a success story. You've got the nuts and bolts, the great data center specs and meeting room specs and you're attracting all the right folks to your space. Plus like you said, location, location, location, it's you're brewing the perfect storm, which we love. So that begs the question, what is on the horizon for 1623? What is 2021 and beyond look like? Yeah, so we have all those ingredients and things are happening, we recognize that technology doesn't stand still. So we're, we love to push the envelope as far as different events and things that we're working on. So we're just announced and in March, there's an augmented reality challenge that's going to be happening in Omaha, between Omaha and Kansas City. So that'll be cool, the community ideation on different issues and then solve those issues with augmented and maybe virtual reality. And then we'll do some hackathons. So there'll be some cash prizes available.  And then we're also working on a 5G lab in the facility, a carrier neutral 5G lab for software and hardware providers to test out what they're working on across multiple 5G providers. So that's an initiative that we're working on as well. And then just wrapping up the building improvements and having all that come online is super exciting. And then just continuing to build the ecosystem. So a lot of fun stuff going on. So fun, so innovative, AR challenge, the 5G lab. And I feel like it's a, they're great methods to also attract the younger generation into how cool our data center world is, you know? Which we need. So I just, I love where you guys are heading with this. It's such a great story. We're looking forward to further news from you guys throughout the year. Thank you so much for joining us. Tell me, what can our viewers go to learn more information? Sure. So our website, our great website that JSA helped us with. It's amazing, 1623farnum.com where you can reach out to me directly if, you know, to discuss 1623 or if you're looking at a Midwest deployment. We've been here for a long time and we know a lot of the fiber routes and different, you know, other network options. So happy to help however we can. And yes, viewers, remember that address, 1623farnum.com a site to check out. Thank you, Greg for joining us and for your time here today. And thank you viewers for tuning in to JSA TV and JSA podcasts. Happy networking.


Welcome back everyone. We've been talking about how businesses are using IT and I have mostly given an example of how small businesses use IT because even the smallest business nowadays uses information technology quite a lot quite often at least in terms of cash registers and things like that and a lot of small businesses also improve their business by using the internet and resources on the internet like social media to market or help people be aware of what they're doing. Okay so now I want to talk a little bit about bigger businesses. So in a bigger business most people think back about what businesses actually provide. So bigger businesses might have a product but they also probably have some sort of service right. So can I say it's somewhat rare to just have a business that only produces products. A lot of businesses in a lot of countries are services actually service-oriented businesses. Okay so these companies use IT in a lot of different ways. I'm just going to generalize this. So imagine a normal business. Any business office you go to just like a small business is probably going to have a computer where their computer is a personal computer that they use to do a lot of different things. This is similar to a cash register in a very small business. So a very large business if they don't have a product that they're selling they probably don't have a cash register. But they probably have computers for each employee or almost every employee. Then they also most likely have the internet. So internet is really indispensable for major businesses these days. At least one or several departments in the organization need access to the internet. Maybe not all of them, most of them. So a computer for each employee probably. Internet available to almost everyone. And then on the back end, so these are actually kind of, can I say client side services. Right so we provide a computer to the employee. If the company's nice they provide the computer to the employee. They provide the internet to the employee. These are services for the client or the person who's doing the work. Okay but on the back end, what we call the back end, there's actually a lot going on. Okay so if a company especially large companies providing computers to each employee they probably have some sort of authentication server. Right so authentication server that keeps track of all of the computers who's logging in who is allowed to log in and what can they do. So the authentication server whenever somebody is on their computer they want to log in. They check with the authentication server if they can log in then they can get access to the computer. If they can't they get logged out. Most businesses offer some sort of authentication mechanism to get on to their IT systems. This is good for a lot of different reasons because imagine that I'm working with a customer list. So imagine this is a list of all of my customers. I don't want just anyone to be able to walk into my office and get on my computer. Right so if there's a customer list located on this computer we want to restrict access to who's allowed to have access to that customer list. Right so then you need the actual login password username to get access to the customer list. So for example, okay so the back end we have authentication server but for these to talk to each other we also need a local network. Right so some sort of networking infrastructure so that way the computers and servers can actually talk to each other. This is kind of like in your home you probably have an access point that connects into the wall and then you get internet from that access point.  So you can connect your laptop you can connect your phone all in the same network and then all of those devices can connect to the internet. So companies also have that kind of infrastructure except a lot more advanced. Okay I might show you some technology in a second and I would grab it. So they have the authentication server they need a way to talk to each other so they have a local network and then they probably have some sort of storage on the network so I'll say network a network accessible storage. Right so and these are all also services that are provided by the company so the company gives everyone a computer we have a local network we have authentication server we have some sort of storage and then actually connection to ISP the internet service provider that provides the internet. Okay now this is more of a common type of scenario that you would find in a major business or even a even a medium fairly large-sized business this is what you would normally find with a very large business you'll find the same thing except split up into smaller units that are actually manageable. Once networks get too big or there's too many devices on a network becomes harder to manage them so then you have to usually we split them up into smaller groups and then connect all the groups together in different ways depending on what they need. Okay so this is what we would call the infrastructure and the infrastructure is actually the devices that are on the network that support whatever the business is trying to do. So how does the computer support what the business is trying to do people can send emails business emails people can make word documents excel spreadsheets things like that from their computer. Okay well how does the authentication server support the business? Well if this person for example whoever's on computer A if they move to computer B the authentication server can say yeah you can have access to both of them because you're okay on the network or maybe we want to restrict them to only one computer likewise with an authentication server network storage and a local network this person can log into computer A and get all of their files if they move to computer B they can also get all of their files right so no matter where they move to they have access to company documents that they need while at the same time restricting everyone else so no one else can get access to confidential documents. Okay so there's lots of different reasons I guess why this supports whatever the business is trying to do so local network help communication help two people actually work with each other for example over the network we can send data instead of having to walk to somebody's office and hand them a document. Okay storage lots of reasons we would use storage and then ISP because all of the services that we're going to access that are outside of our our company are going to be online or on the internet or we're going to try to communicate with other organizations for example stock management companies to be able to order more stock okay so this is about the infrastructure and next I'll talk about or maybe I can cover it really quickly other than infrastructure once we have infrastructure in place then we have people that can use technology right we can use technology to do whatever it is that the business is trying to do but we can also use information technology to change the way we interact with our customers so for example the internet gives us a reach or it gives us access to a lot of people that's one of the great things about the internet is we can access billions of people pretty much immediately okay so this opens up new types of business opportunities for example before if I opened a shop in Chuncheon right so I have a dress shop in Chuncheon the only people that that can come to my shop are the people in Chuncheon right and I don't know I'll give them a hat are the people in Chuncheon and maybe people who are visiting Chuncheon right so it's going to actually be very difficult for my shop in Chuncheon to be very well known unless I'm doing something really interesting or I have a really good product and then a lot of people come and see it it's going to be hard for me to be found okay so then my customers are going to be maybe you know a thousand people possible of which maybe five percent actually come and buy something in my shop okay so I have a limited number of customers that are likely to come to my shop okay with the internet that completely changes so imagine I have this this dress shop or whatever it is and I put it on the internet okay how many how many people might come to my website or might buy one of my dresses as long as I put it on the internet well anyone now all of Korea can potentially can potentially act this is Korea by the way so okay so this is Korea I'm in Chuncheon but now everyone in Korea can actually access my shop through the through the internet so then now my customer base rose from 1,000 to you know 40 million okay now um is it only Korea no now because I'm already on the internet I already have a website if I make my website in Chinese now I can access all of China I'm just imagine this is China I can access all of China and they can connect to the internet and come to my shop so now I have all Chinese people who may be able to purchase something from my shop if I make it in English German French then now I can get Germany I can get the a lot of French-speaking countries Spain Spanish Spanish is I think the number one spoken language in the world number two something like that lots of speak people speak Spanish so the more languages my website supports the more people can potentially come to my site and buy something whereas before I was limited to a physical location and they had to actually walk into my shop to buy something so the internet helps us to have a massive massive reach now imagine that in my shop I was selling a dress okay so I'm selling this dress really bad weird looking dress okay I'm selling this dress and this dress is 200,000 won okay which is pretty expensive for a dress right whenever people come in I might maybe maybe in a in a month two people buy the dress okay so I made 400,000 won off of this dress in one month okay that might cover my costs it might not cover my costs depending on how expensive rent is but if I'm online first off I have access to a lot more people so if two people out of 1,000 actually buy my dress then that means that more people online are more likely to buy my dress the other thing it does is now how do I how do I say this we can either sell one thing in a re that that's really expensive to make money or we can sell a lot of small things and make a little bit of money right so there's two kind of basically two business models either one thing that's really expensive or a bunch of small things that are very cheap but I can sell a lot of them right we'll talk more about this kind of business model later basically with these kinds of shops because it takes space because it takes work I put the price of the dress up so I have one thing that's really expensive and I don't get a lot of people into my shop so I have to basically say okay people are only going to buy something that's really nice really good quality so I have to make it really expensive okay well on the internet you have access to a lot more people so imagine that one million people want to buy something that you produce and on whatever it is that you make you make a sticker or something like that you charge a ton one so one thousand one and you can sell one million of them and it costs you five hundred one to produce it well you just made if you can sell it you made five hundred million one right because you were able to sell so many of these very very tiny things you still made a lot of money right and this kind of business model is really easy to do on the internet but it's really hard to do in real life i'm not real life like in a real space right in Chunshan first off not a lot of people come maybe for tourism a little bit but you have to be positioned in a really really good place where a lot of people will walk by if you want to sell a lot of things okay but not every shop can be in the best places so if they're a little bit hidden they can never do this kind of business model because they don't get enough traffic but on the internet if you have a million people come to your website and they're all willing to buy something that's very cheap then you still make a lot of money even after your costs because of just so many people bought something okay so i'll talk actually more about this business model probably in the the next week but think about the internet and how can i say this companies all companies all companies that are really trying to change their business get it access to more customers and make a lot more money are trying to use the internet to basically get an audience a lot of people that are willing to spend relatively small amounts of money sometimes a lot of money but mostly relatively small amounts of money and in mass so if you can have this kind of business model then people will continue to pay small amounts of money because they're more likely to pay a little bit than a lot then you can make a lot of money over time because you have access to more people okay versus making one really really quality product but very few people are going to buy it because it's too expensive right so think about your business model sometimes making a quality product and selling it in an expensive way is a good business model because maybe a lot of people are making a cheap product and selling a lot of them right so if this space is already taken the quality product might be the better business model but the internet makes it much easier to choose which one do you want to do because before it was really hard to get access to this many people I just wanted to talk a little bit about how companies are using IT not only in terms of infrastructure in their own organization but also the way that they're using IT and the internet specifically to get access to different customers okay so that's it for today thank you very much


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Please, take your seat. Introduce yourself Bhavishan. Yes, sir. So, my name is Bhavishan. I came from Kashmir. I did my undergrad at IIT Kanpur in computer science and engineering and this is in the second attempt at suicide sources. I will ask one thing.  Yes, sir. He is one of the best institutes, the twin IIT, the two IIT Kanpur. Yes. So, why you opt to come for this civil services? What prompted you to come to civil services? Yes, sir. Sir, actually during my stay at IIT Kanpur, I tried out different, this case, so I did a research internship, then I did a corporate internship and during my last year, I developed a strong interest in international relations and political philosophy, while at the same time, I thought a civil service job would provide that sense of meaning and purpose that was missing in other jobs and I wanted to be a practitioner, that is why I decided for civil services. I will tell you one thing. Yes, sir. There is a study. They tell that they spend about 6 lakhs of rupees per year for a school in IIT. Yes, sir. So, the government is spending huge amount of money. Yes, sir. For study, development of IIT students. Yes, sir. But after taking a seat over there, if you come into civil service, yes, sir, don't you think that it is a wastage of money, government is spending second. Now what happens is, you are also in a way, blocking will not be the right word. You are stopping another a meritless student to come into IIT. That is the reason that was a Pranam Mukherjee committee. Pranam Mukherjee committee recommended that this controversy was there previously. Yes, sir. Now he touched the hard-knit's nest that the technocrats, I mean doctors and engineers should not be allowed to come into the civil service. Yes, sir. What is your take on this? Be little precise and be little, give with a little narrative, say, if you can. Yes, sir. So first, I don't think it's a waste of seat because I think the major advantage is when people from different disciplines interact and the progress happens at the margins. So sir, in administration and in foreign policy, technology would be the mainstream. So it would be really helpful if IITians and other technocrats can join the civil services. So I don't think that it's a waste of seat. And the aptitude that we have developed will help in civil services. What is your take on wastage of money? Now this much of money, government is spending on it. Yes, sir. What is your take? So my training at IIT has not just the knowledge content, but has also built the aptitude, the general skills that are applicable across a broad spectrum. So and that would apply in administration too. And the history shows that IITians starting from have been successful in all domains, including administration. Okay, very different. Anyway, now my next question is, you must have heard these days a lot of criticism, this thing is coming, bureaucracy. Yes, sir. That was called the steel frame at one point of time. Yes. What do you think from your point of view, what major challenges the bureaucracy faces these days? And why it is still that the steel frame is crumbling down? Yes, sir. So there are multitudes of changes. Be specific. Yes, sir. So first would be the politicization of bureaucracy. Then would be the corporate politician and the bureaucrat Naxis that is emerging, that is leading to cronyism. So third would be bad incentives inside the services, which leads to lack of meritocracy. Fourth would be with greater privatization, the best talent is not coming to civil services. So civil services is losing its respected status progressively. You go to the constitution of India. Yes, sir. The constitution of India gives a lot of safeguards to the civil services, all India services, IES, IFS, article 31, article 3, 321 and 311. Anyway, my point is they give a lot of safeguards and also lot of other safeguards like UPSE also stands as a protection. Any action taken against has to be referred to the PSC. But why all these things remaining? Yes, sir. Previously it was not happening. Now why the bureaucracy is succumbing to political pressure? Is it for the material aspirations of the people? The bureaucracy? Yes, sir. Some material aspirations have a role to play, but apart from that, increasingly the permanent executive is reliant on the political class for its promotions, its transfers, etc. That has also led to a pliable bureaucracy. Further, there is also ideological reasons which lead to greater politicization. Further, the constitution safeguards are not as robust and have weakened over the time, especially in the post-Emergency era. So those are some of the reasons. Bureaucracy is to blame for that. Anyway, my point is keeping this thing in view, you are still want to come into the bureaucracy and with help of this, okay. Yes, sir. Now. Yes, sir. What does Bhaveshi mean? Sir, Bhaveshi means future. Future. Yes. When do we observe world ingenious day? So world ingenious day, sir, I am not sure, but I think it is on 11th of May. Anyway, 4th of March. Okay, sorry. And we have started observing world ingenious day only from 2020. By the way, when do we observe national ingenious day? Sir, I think I confuse national ingenious day with world ingenious day. Anyway, that is 15th of September. Why 15th of September? National ingenious day. Sir, I think it is to celebrate Shri Vishwaswarya's birth anniversary. Yes. Sir, Moks Kundam Vishweshwarya. Why do we call him sir? Sir, he was awarded the knighthood by the Royal Society. Did he get any civilian award from our government? Sir, yes, sir. He got the Bharat Atma. Can you tell me his main contributions? Sir, his main contributions were in civil engineering, especially in building dams and water canals in state of Karnataka. Can you name the first dam in which he contributed? Sir, in Karnataka. Sir, actually I have studied it. Anyway, you are from Rajasthan. Yes, sir. What do you know about Mr. Rajendra Singh? Yes, sir. Sir, Mr. Rajendra Singh is known as the waterman of India. He helped in what conservation efforts using traditional techniques like johards, bowdies, etc. Did he get any prize, award, recognition for that? Sir, again sir, I am not sure. But I think he got the Maxise award. Maxise award. Yes, sir. He got. Yes, sir. He got Maxise award. What else? Sir, he got one of the Padma awards, but I am again not sure which one. What else? Stock home water prize, anyway. Yes. You might be knowing about the ministry Jaleshakti. Yes, sir. Can you name some important flagship schemes of ministry of Jaleshakti? Yes, sir. Sir, Hargar, Nalsejal, that is for pipe water. Hargar Jal. So, this is a popular slogan given for. For which mission? Sir, Jaljeevan Mission. Jaljeevan Mission. Yes, sir. So, one flagship scheme is Jaljeevan Mission. Yes, sir. Can you name any other flagship scheme? Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, the Namami Ganga that has now turned into Earth Ganga. Okay. What else? Sir, Jalshakti Abhyan is all related to water. Jalshakti Abhyan. Yes. What exactly that is? You are right. Yes, sir. Sir, it is about water conservation, rainwater harvesting. Rainwater harvesting. Rainwater harvesting. So, what is the popular slogan given by our honorable Prime Minister related with Jalshakti Abhyan as it is Hargar Jal in Jalshakti Mission. Yes, sir. Here that is popular slogan. Sir, it's about conserving water. Yes, sir. The popular slogan. The popular slogan. Hargar Jal. Yes, sir. Here it is. Sir, Hargoon. Hargar. Catch the rail. Catch the rail. The popular slogan given by honorable Prime Minister. So, you are from Ajmer. Yes. What four people go to Ajmer? To this go to Ajmer? Sir, first would be Ajmer Sharif Dargah of Pazamohina Binshasti. Next, yeah. And second would be Pushkar. Pushkar what for? They go to Pushkar. So, there is Brahma Temple. Brahma Temple. So, is it the only temple in the country or in the world? Yes, sir. Related with Lord Brahma. Yes, sir. It is supposed to be the only temple. Any reason which is cited in our... Yes, sir. Say it's in mythology. Mythology, yeah. Yes, sir. So, what is the reason? Yes, sir. This is the only temple of Lord Brahma. Yes, sir. All over the world. Yes, sir. So, it is believed that Lord Shiva cursed Lord Brahma that he would not be worshipped on earth. And... Who gave that curse? Who cursed him? Who cursed Lord Brahma related with this? Sir, God is Saraswati. Was he his own son? No, Lord Saraswati. That is... Okay, sir. Okay. So, there is a bill which has been introduced in the parliament. And that is related with criminal procedure identification amendment bill. Any idea about that bill? Yes, sir. Introduced recently and what exactly that is? Sir, the criminal identification bill will lead to greater empowerment of police... Please debrief. Yes, sir. One or two lines only, not more than that. Sir, it allows them to collect biosamples. Okay. Yes, sir. So, new method of identification. Yes, sir. Is it like that? Yes, sir. Okay. UAE. Yes, sir. Free Tate Agreement has been signed by India recently in the month of February. Yes, sir. So, now you tell me what are the salient features of the trade agreement? Free Tate Agreement. So, it's a comprehensive economic agreement with UAE. So, it would allow greater investment from the sovereign wealth funds of UAE into India. And it would allow Indian services market access in UAE. It would lead to overall growth of trade. So, how much trade we are having at present with UAE and how much it is going to be increased in another 5 years? Sir, actually I read the numbers, but I cannot remember them now. But sir, I think it was in order of tens of billions. It is $60 billion at present. Yes, yes. And it is going to be increased by $100 billion by within another 5 years. Yes. So, now you tell me what is this blockchain technology, computer science, your subject. Yes. And how this digital currency, this will be issued with the backing of blockchain technology. So, first of all you tell me about the blockchain technology and what is this? With the backing of that blockchain technology, the digital rupee will be issued. Yes. So, first of all, blockchain is the distributed anonymized encrypted technology that allows different nodes to interact anonymously and with perfect security. And digital currency is based on the blockchain technology. So, for example, China has released its digital yuan, which is based on the blockchain. It would be controlled by the central bank of that particular nation. And it would allow full digitization, alternate methods of payment. Okay. My last question that relates with Minerva Mill case. Yes. So, which were the important provisions of the constitutional amendment? 46 constitutional, 42nd constitutional amendments. 42nd. Which were stuck down in this particular judgment, Minerva Mill case. Yes. So, if I recall correctly in Minerva Mill's case, the judicial review was made part of the basic structure. The 42nd amendment led to the 42nd amendment made. Can you recall? Can you say like this that two important provisions made through 42nd amendment in the constitution were stuck down by honorable Supreme Court under this particular case, Minerva Mill case 1. Presidents of direct principles of state policy were fundamental, right? And number two, parliament can amend any part of the constitution. Yes, sir. Is it like that? Yes, sir. Can you recall now? Yes, sir. So, that the first thing would be in Minerva Mill's case, Supreme Court opined that there is a harmonious construction of fundamental rights and direct principles. So, neither precede, so, fundamentals are before DPSP and they need to be understood in a harmonious way. Second would be that parliament has limited amending powers, there is judicial review and constitutionality needs to be. Yes, sir. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. So, you work of AI. Yes, ma'am.  Yes, ma'am. Ma'am, artificial intelligence is an attempt to create a synthetic, human intelligence in synthetic substrate. So, in computers, in machines, using algorithms. Okay. Do you see the upcoming of artificial intelligence as a promise or a parent? Ma'am, it's a double-edged sword. It has both promises and parents. So, in terms of promises, it would lead to, it would increase the standard of living. It would lead to greater innovation because further innovation could be done by AI itself. It could lead to self-driving cars, etc., etc. But there are several parents as well. The increasing automation would create an exaggerate the already existing unemployment crisis. There is risk of automated weapons systems. And finally, there is a risk of an artificial intelligence that could be antagonistic to human civilization, etc. I see that you mentioned in your hobby that you like keeping a watch on the market. Ma'am, it's not market exactly, but what I mean by market is marketplace of ideas. So, it's not related to stock market or share market. Okay. So, you say forecasting or prediction, predicting prediction markets. Yes, ma'am. So, what do you mean by this? Ma'am, I try to assign probability to future events. For example, who will win the presidential race in USA or when will the Russia-Ukraine war will occur or whether the Iran nuclear deal will be signed or not. Okay. And having said that, do you think that the time is ripe enough in India to have an AI act and what is the current regulation, policy or law concerning the artificial intelligence in India? As ma'am, according to my understanding, Nitya Ayub has released the AI strategy, national AI document. Apart from that, there's no regulation specific to AI, but there's general IT regulation and there's an attempt to pass the data protection law. So, in that regard, India is lacking for a specific particular law related to AI. Do you think we need an AI act in India? Ma'am, definitely we should start the consultation and discussion process to regulate the technology so that in time we can enact the proper law because it would be a complex thing to do. Okay. What is the current law with respect to cryptocurrency in India? Yes, ma'am. Recently, the finance minister announced the cryptocurrency bill that is to tax the cryptocurrencies while at the same time legitimize and allow crypto transactions in India. Do you think this is the right move? Yes, ma'am. I think it would foster innovation in the crypto, the booming crypto sector while at the same time it would tax the crypto transaction and it would also cut down on the illegal use of cryptos in let's say black market. You are from science background. Are you aware about the Nobel Prize given last year in physics? In any field of science last year? Ma'am, actually, I mean I've read the news but I'm not able to recall any of the news. I don't want the name of the persons. I'm looking for an answer from you with respect to the cause for which this award was given and how would that cause, affect or impact the society at large? Ma'am, in case of physics, I think it was related to... I'm not sure if... I'm remembering Roger Penrose who won the physics Nobel. I'm not sure if it was last year or year before. He won it for his study of black holes. He was the first one to propose the black hole model in terms of physics. In terms of physiology or medicine, I think it was... The research was about how oxidization happens within cells but again I'm not sure on the details. My last question to you is that are you aware about something called the hydroponic stem technique? Yes ma'am, as I understand it is the way of growing plants in water without soil. How popular is it in India? Ma'am, it's popular in urban settings and limited settings but I've not seen a large scale implementation. And which crop do you think is conducable for that kind of an agriculture? Ma'am, the designer crops or the home interior crops that are popular with hydroponics because they could be grown inside and maybe some kind of trash crops. What do you mean by liberalism? So liberalism is the ideology... is an enlightenment at our ideology that developed especially with John Locke that asserted an individual's right to life, liberty and property. It restricted states' coercion and over the years it has expanded into further rights with freedom of speech, with JS mill and now women empowerment, abolition of slavery and now even a welfare state. So I have been reading to you that a lot of people are saying that the current government is liberal because it is liberalizing market and other people are saying it is not liberal because it is encroaching on the civil liberties. What do you think? Are current government is liberal or liberal? So liberalism could be measured across economic or societal dimensions. I would say in economic terms the government is liberal because it has tried to bring more free market reforms. In terms of society it is debatable because some reforms like uniform civil court are liberal in nature while others could be argued to be more conservative or non-liberal or even anti-liberal. So uniform civil court is liberal or liberal? Sir, I would think that it is liberal because it protects the individual from society or religion. Have you heard about that constitutionalities are allowed in South India and constitutionalities are not allowed in North India? So if we have a uniform civil court, which one would you follow across? Till now there is no consensus on what would be the uniform civil court but I believe as law commission and others have said the uniform civil court would not be exactly uniform but it would respect diversity and it would try to protect individual rights. What do you think non-lawyer would have said about the hijab controversy? Sir, law court would have said that it is within the individual's right to wear a hijab but at the same time it is within an institution's right like a school or a religious place to enforce its code of conduct, the dress code etc. Do you think the difference between a Leviathan government and an authoritarian but your electorally silicon government is only a matter of semantics? I do not think so sir because a Leviathan as in Hobbes in Leviathan is a totalitarian government. It has absolute authority while our democratic government would be changed through elections so it is still not perfect.  So there are no fundamental rights in a Leviathan? Yes. I mean there is a right to life, right to resist but I mean so Hobbes said under the Leviathan you have a right to resist but there is no fundamental rights as such. So you have also shown interest in forecasting your production markets? Yes sir. What is the regression analysis? Sir, regression analysis is a statistical technique where you take a sample of data and you try to fix a predictive curve or a predictive equation along it and try to predict future outcome made on that based on power sample. What is the P value? P value is a statistical measure to check if your hypothesis is denied. So if P value is less than 0.05 it says that your null hypothesis is wrong and you can take a decision. My final question. Yes sir. Do you think there will have to be a proliferation of IIT and a dilution of the brand IIT? So there are conflicting interests on this. So first we definitely need more IITs to meet the demands of all the students and ensure social justice for example. While at the same time we need to maintain these standards and the brand of IITs. So I think till now what the strategy has been to ensure that the top 5 or top 7 IITs maintain their higher standards while at the same time it has more IITs are opening across India to meet the need for quality education. When I was in the university, technical college was even a good college before it got an IIT tap. Yes. What exactly an IIT tap means to you? Sir, after becoming an IIT there is this greater standardization. The institutional network of IITs is very strong. So for example there is inter IIT freedom of movement of lecturers, professors, etc. And there is institutional knowledge in IITs which could help an institution become more strong. There is an alumni network. Suppose you are recruited into the civil service and become an IAS officer. Yes. You are posted as a SDM. Yes. Sub-development magistrate. In the tribal district, people are very poor at this. Yes. What will be your priority of the work? What work will take on current devices? Yes. So first would be ensuring that the already existing schemes and laws for tribes are properly implemented like Forest Rights Act and others. Second would be to ensure that tribals have their basic Jal-Jangal Jamin. So their livelihoods are ensured. Third, the problem of malnutrition, backwardness of women, alcoholism, gambling, etc. are much more adverse in tribal populations. So that needs to be corrected. Third, we can connect the tribals to other markets or online platforms like Tri-Feed does that. So to ensure a higher income to tribal population and things like ecotourism could be implemented to maintain a balance between economics and a sustainable living. It's a different aspect. All these things combined into one. Tell one what. So that is precisely what Avijit Banerjee told in our internet. One what? Which ails the tribals. Poverty. Yes. Yes. Poverty in different forms. Yes. In different manifestos. Yes.


When I was first asked by Ernest E.B. whether I would consider being a part of these sessions today, I told him that I didn't quite perceive myself as a church planter. Perhaps a school planter, but I wasn't sure about a church planter and Ernest being Ernest continued to work on me a bit and felt like there actually might be some things that that there would be here to share and as we talked about it, it was right at a time when it felt to me like the Anabaptist conservative Anabaptist part of Christianity was maybe increasingly being impacted on political fronts in ways that were heavy on my heart and I felt like it does really have an impact on the way we approach the kingdom and the way we approach church planting and advancing the kingdom of God. So that was in my heart at that point. And so this morning, or this afternoon, I am staying kind of a half a day behind here. I would like to begin with presenting to you a number of introductory questions. Questions that I think are helpful for us to consider this topic. Are you a church planter or maybe do you consider yourself instead an ambassador or just simply a Christian or maybe all of the above? Or maybe hopefully not, but if we're going to make this multiple choice question complete, I would also need to ask or none of the above.  I'd also like to ask you this question. Whose politics do you appeal to and rely on in daily life? Now, I have this sense that as if we've had at least a long term conservative and abaptist background, we would quickly say we have a kingdom politics foundation. I sense that perhaps the unspoken reality frequently can be that we do have some really underlying allegiances politically that impact the way we look at humanity and the way that we look at Christianity and the way that we look at what is secure and what is worth investing in and what is worth advancing. And so I I urge us at the onset of this look at politics, culture and the kingdom of God's church planting to consider that question. I would also like for you to consider this. Whose culture do you most advance? Yours, theirs or God's?  I think that's an important thing to think about. And I would also like to ask this question. What risks do you consider worthy of the kingdom? I think more than we realize our perception of risks drives our decisions more than we give it credit for. And as we think about church planting, how do you view risk? What do you consider worthy risk? What do you consider unworthy risk? I think that's going to be really foundational to the direction that your investment in kingdom church planting takes. Well, I'd like to just begin with the first thing that I the first question that I presented before you. And I may, is it okay if I just turn this fan out to the audience out here? I'm standing here because I'm afraid my pages may scatter. And that might put me in a position of struggle as to what to share with you. So maybe if you, I'm feeling comfortable. Thank you so much for giving that provision to the flesh here. But that's that's super. But yeah, that's helpful for me. Is it okay with you? And if you're cold, we can shut it off as well. Whatever is good for you there. If I can do that, I will put what I have here on the podium. I sometimes have a rather massive podium in it. So I end up having kind of a collection that is sometimes a little difficult on a smaller one. I'd like to just show you though, before I go any further, something that has been in our school for some time. But initially it only had one pronoun here. I really didn't like that pronoun. And so I took a red Sharpie and crossed it out and stuck another pronoun in its place. And I decided maybe that was better than whiting it out because I felt like by doing that I could make a stronger statement. Pronouns are so powerful. And in this case, I think they actually represent two kingdoms. If you are chasing your dreams, I don't think you're chasing God. And if you're not chasing God's dreams, I think you're chasing earthly dreams, which I would say represents the kingdom of this world. If you're chasing his dreams, you are embracing his dreams. You want his dreams. That's what drives you. And so I just bring this as kind of a visual here this morning as we consider planting kingdom churches in light of culture in America that really does seem as a whole. The evangelical world as a whole really does believe, I think, that politics plays a huge role in advancing the kingdom of God. And I have this uneasy feeling that increasingly the conservative Anabaptist Church is beginning to think that they'll perhaps not dare say that quite. I feel a need to challenge that this morning, actually. And so this here is just a bit of an example of, I'd say as this originally was, would have done a great job of representing America. Chase your dreams. Be who you are. And a very sad thing is be you. I don't know what that means or how that can even be that huge or valuable, but that is the culture we live in. But by contrast, as kingdom followers, we can actually dream dreams that are way beyond us. We can dream his dreams. And I just my prayer is that as we take a look at this topic, that is what this talk will inspire you towards. That is that is in my heart. I'd like to look at the four options that I gave. The first was, do you consider yourself a church planter? Second was an ambassador. The third a Christian. The fourth, all of the above and the fifth, none of the above. All of those are powerful things to think about. And I'd like to just walk through that a bit. And in fact, at one point in one of these options, I believe that if you embrace that, it ends up addressing a much larger identity. That is actually useful in asking the questions about politics and culture. And so you might be thinking about that as we walk through this. But first of all, the first option, do you consider yourself a church planter? Well, let me just ask you to start with, have you ever in your journey through the New Testament found this phrase, go you therefore and be church planters? Have you ever seen church and planters planted side by side? I haven't either. Does that mean it's a wrong concept? I don't think so. Paul had an interesting comment. Paul had this to say, I planted a polis watered, but God gave the increase. Paul saw the development of kingdom churches as being a joint effort of planting, watering and God giving the increase. If you have any one of those three pieces missing, it's messed up. It just won't work. You need planters, you need waterers, but above everything else, God needs to be there to make the increase. And so while the term church planting isn't directly side by side, in that verse you get probably as close as you'll get. For Paul says, I planted and a polis watered, but God gave the increase. So I'm okay with that term, but before we're finished with this talk, I would suggest another possible upgrade to that term. That I think we do find in scripture, but I'm okay with either one. So that is our first possibility for who we identify ourselves to be. The second option is an ambassador. Now, let me ask you this. In your reading of scripture, have you ever come across the term ambassador? Yes. In fact, you know how many times? Not often. Any guesses on it? Twice. And the same person says it twice. You know who that person is? Paul claims that. He claims that in, oh, let's see. Ephesians 620 claims that he's an ambassador in chains. In 1 Corinthians 5, he talks about the ministry of reconciliation. And he says because of that ministry of reconciliation, he is an ambassador of Christ. In fact, that is a passage that is so powerful. If you have your Bibles, I would ask that you might just take a look at 1 Corinthians 5. How's that? You know what? You're totally right. Thank you so much. 2 Corinthians 5. Yeah, we are one book behind on that. Thank you so much for that. That is so right. 2 Corinthians 5. And in chapter 4, Paul has just talked about, I'd like to just start with verse 16 in chapter 4 and then read all of chapter 5. In chapter 4 verse 16 says therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, and as much as we having put it on will not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent we groan being burdened because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now he who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the spirit as a pledge. Therefore being always of good courage and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith not by sight. We are of good courage I say and prefer rather to be absent from the body and notice carefully where Paul considers home and be at home with the Lord. Therefore we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad. Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men but we are made manifest to God and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves it is for God, if we are of sound mind it is for you. For the love of God controls us. Having concluded this that one died for all therefore all died and he died for all so that they who lived might no longer live for themselves but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh even though we have known Christ according to the flesh yet now we know him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creature the old things passed away behold new things have come. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Notice verse 19 very carefully here namely that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. And some translations would say the ministry of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors of Christ as though God were making an appeal through us we beg you on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Here we see an incredible purpose of every believer. Paul is saying we've been given a special ministry a ministry of reconciliation and that ministry places us in a position of ambassadorship. That ministry actually places us where we are the king's voice to a foreign set of people. We are the king's voice. Let me ask you is there anything more noble anything of higher purpose than that privilege. I think sometimes we've read this passage we've read about how as believers we are ambassadors and it has hardly really connected with us. I'm curious has anyone in this audience ever actually personally met someone who was an ambassador of any country. Any of you okay we I see several of you well just to try to have us capture a little bit the honor of being an ambassador. Let's say that suddenly there's a tap on this back door and to our total surprise it happens to be President Biden. And he says you may not be aware of it. I've been watching you. I see a nobility in you that I haven't seen in any other group of people. I see a loyalty and allegiance a commitment. And because of that I'm just simply going to ask all of you to represent some of my many different embassies in the world. Now that feels so far fetched me be hard for you to imagine that. But let's say it happened you think you might be contacting your family before the day is over at the very least saying what happened. I would feel like a pretty unique experience right. What if instead Jehovah God comes in here and he says as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I have seen your walk of allegiance to my kingdom. I've seen that you are strangers in pilgrims here and that your heart is not for here. Your heart is for my heavenly home. I'm asking you to be ambassadors here in this strange land in all the places that I want to reach. Now let me just tell you something if President Biden would have come and given you that and you would have accepted that. You would actually carry with you out of that back door all of the authority of the United States. You would carry all the authority that he has because you are representing him and his kingdom. And that might feel like a pretty sizable thing on your shoulder. I would like for us to somehow be able to grasp that when Jehovah presents that to us. His kingdom is of such vastly greater size and duration than the U.S. and its leadership and its kingdom. And that's the extent of his resources and the extent of his authority and his power. Just put President Biden into such a small comparative place that if we could really see that we'd say there's just no question. If I'm going to live my short life here is the kingdom that is worth investing in. That is something that I believe God really wants his children to grasp. And somehow I feel like if that's something that we can grasp it's going to really revolutionize church planting missions, our own journey more than anything else I can really think of. And so the second option that I gave was the option of us being an ambassador. I would like to just mention what I read from an organization called Branches Worldwide about an ambassador. From that article it said an ambassador is one who is sent to represent one country or government to another. While in the other country the ambassador presents and demonstrates all the best that their country or government has to offer. Since you're representing God's government and his abilities, you have access to all the best he has to offer. Is that not an empowering, powerful thing to think about? And I would like for you to notice in 2 Corinthians 5 Paul was not seeing his experience in Rome as home. Paul was seeing heaven as home and he in fact in Philippians to the Philippian church says this. Our citizenship is in heaven from which also we eagerly await for a savior the Lord Jesus Christ. And in John 17 14 Jesus says I have given them your words and the world has hated them because they are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world. And Peter in 1 Peter 2 says beloved I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. I'd like for us to think just a little bit about what are some of the characteristics of a good ambassador. Well a good ambassador has a strong patriotism to the country he represents. You know what patriotism can be great if it represents an allegiance to the right country. I would just desire for conservative Anabaptists to represent a patriotism to the king of kings that far exceeds what American patriotism has ever shown to an on looking world. So a good ambassador gives a strong sense of patriotism to their home country. He's always aware that they are a minority in a host country. If it's believers here in America we don't see ourselves as a minority in a host country. We're not really ambassadors. And he's entirely grounded in good ethical and moral judgment. Those are characteristics of a good ambassador. I think we need to think a little bit about if I am an ambassador how should it look. And so I'd like for you to think about that. Some marks of an ambassador of God is that you've got to be a citizen of heaven. You really can't be an ambassador of that kingdom if that's not where your citizenship is. An ambassador has to be a citizen of the country that he represents. And so if you're going to be an ambassador of the kingdom of God you must be a citizen of heaven. You must be above reproach selfless in constant contact with the throne of God. Steadfast and loyal diplomatic and have a thorough knowledge of the host country that you're representing. Those are all critical factors of being a good ambassador. I'd also like for you to consider this. An ambassador doesn't appoint himself. He doesn't even appoint himself to the country he represents. And he does not support himself. Paul said my God shall supply all my needs. Paul understood that as an ambassador of the heavenly kingdom his king was going to supply all of his needs. An ambassador does not belong to the country that he has been sent to represent his kingdom to. He does not enter that country with personal interest. And he has written instructions as to what he's supposed to be doing in that host country. Does that sound familiar? Do we as ambassadors of the kingdom of God have any written instructions? The word of God. And he doesn't take insult personally because he's not the kingdom. He represents the kingdom. And you know if we can really grasp that well.  And so one of the freedoms of being an ambassador of the kingdom of God is that you can live free of concern about insults. Because as much as they may think they're directing at you they're missing the target. Their insult if you are representing a king other than yourself actually transfers to that person. And so freedom of being an ambassador is being free of needing to carry any insult that may be directed toward you. And I would like to say that being an ambassador is the highest calling that a human can ever have. Especially and only if that ambassadorship is to the only king of kings and lord of lords who is eternal. I'd like to read another article that was in a magazine called The Forerunner and this was in 2004. This was not a Pilgrim Church writer as far as I know. His name is David F. Mays or Maas. His last name is spelled M-A-A-S and I apologize to not knowing how that's pronounced. But here's what he had to say about citizenship. Having our citizenship in the kingdom of God by definition makes us aliens in the physical country in which we live. Like ambassadors of a foreign government we cannot participate in the politics of another country. We cannot, I'm sorry, a practice that would distract us from our real spiritual goal. However, we realize that the Apostle Paul has challenged us to be ambassadors for Christ. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were pleading through us.  And so he is saying that an ambassador by definition cannot really invest himself in his host country's politics. As I was thinking about that as a definition of ambassadorship, I think that really does answer a question that may sometimes, I know that there was a point when I was teaching in public school in Kansas and I was asked by a friend who was also on the fire department, the local volunteer fire department. If I would consider being on the local city council, well, I knew in my heart that didn't really feel like something I could do, but I felt like I needed a longer explanation than what that initial interaction had. And so I told her, you know, I'd like to discuss that, but I think we're going to need a little more time for it. And so one evening we spent maybe several hours talking about it. But we have well meaning Christians saying if you're really going to be responsible, you've got to get involved in politics. But if we are foreigners and aliens and ambassadors here, I don't see how we can. And it feels like an awareness and an identity as an ambassador actually frees us of that. Our head pastor in Brooklyn, New York, where we go to church, they're followers of Jesus Mennonite Church, he works in a secular workplace and it was right during the 2016 election when really the fervor was high in politics. And so he was asked, have you voted yet? And one day he said, no, actually I can't. And he was hoping that would kind of stir a further question and he did. So shortly he said, why can't you? He said, because I'm an ambassador. Oh, really? We didn't know you were an ambassador. Why didn't you ever tell us that? And he said, yeah, I'm an ambassador. And he quoted scripture and explained it from that standpoint. Oh, okay, okay. But, you know, as kingdom followers, I think that actually is a very deep reason for us to invest in the enduring kingdom and to stay out of the temporary kingdoms. I think some of the huge atrocities of our Mennonite past have been from being somehow led to think that believers should get involved in that. But it goes way beyond that. It goes way back to the 300s when the church suddenly became a part of the state system. And the atrocities that have just littered the human landscape since then, when believers somehow embraced that idea are so high and so costly. And I just feel like we can't repeat that again. And it feels like that is a place where we're just at the very crossroads of again. And it feels like it's something we really have to take a look at. Well, I need to continue. So the third option that I had presented was, do you identify yourself as a Christian? Well, I really hope you do. I don't really think you would likely be here if you didn't. But I think it's still a valid question to ask. And I think it's an identity that we need to think about. The fourth option is all of the above. So I'd like to just recount a little of what we've set up till now.  Does every follower of Christ embrace the ministry of reconciliation? If we are a follower of Christ, is there any other option? I don't think so. And so if we are ministers of reconciliation and by virtue of that, that places us in a position of ambassadorship in representing Christ to a watching world. Then at least our identity is at least Christian and ambassador. Now let's go to the church planning thing. I would like to suggest to you that maybe if you are an ambassador, then you are developing an embassy in this foreign realm. And if you're developing an embassy, maybe we should be calling it embassy planters or embassy developers rather than church. I mean, either we can work. But just to follow through on the actual term that we are in Christ of being an ambassador, then there is something I think really beautiful to think about. Our efforts to develop embassies are really kind of the fruit of being an ambassador. And embassies are where you go to for protection. And shouldn't our churches be the places of protection in a foreign country? Shouldn't that be the place that everyone says, you know, when things get tough and even when they don't, this is my place. This is my, this is what represents my kingdom. This is my place of security. So I've already addressed the next question. Whose politics do you appeal to or find your security in or go to internally for your sense of security? Do you go to the earthly one? The American in for most of us that are here probably are Americans or have American connections or to the heavenly, the divine kingdom. Jesus made clear his allegiance when he had this to say, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrests by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place. Jesus did not see the Roman Empire or any other empire of the world as holding any place of allegiance to his identity or person. He saw no, he felt no security there. He said, that's not where his kingdom from. In fact, at one point he says, if it were, I protect myself like these kingdoms protect themselves. But he said, that's not where it's at. I think that too gives us insight as to how we respond to challenges. Do we fight as the kingdoms of this world fight? If you're going to be involved in local politics, you're forced to. And then when the disciples were just wrestling with how do we pray Jesus? Jesus in his model prayer at one point says, your kingdom come. Your kingdom come. Your will be done where? On earth as it is in heaven. And so Jesus was saying, you have a kingdom mindset right now. And you think of how that kingdom can come right here. You're whole in the host country you're in. You are bringing the heavenly kingdom too. That was what Jesus saw as the placement for our allegiance for our sense of purpose here on this earth. I also find it interesting that Jesus had to say, for I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of the one who sent me. Jesus's function here was just simply to reflect the king. It was totally to reflect the king. Even though he was divine, he didn't feel the obligation to represent himself. It still went to the king, even when Jesus was here. Well, the final question that I asked was the question of risk. You know, I think so much of what we do is driven by our perception of risk. I either do or don't do something because of whether or not I think that risk is worthy of its cost. We do that in finances. We do that in marriage. We do that in everything that we face. I think that risk question is there. There's an excellent book that I would encourage you to read. It's called Reach in America. It's written by Gary Miller. Excellent, excellent book. My oldest daughter is a big fan of Gary Miller. And when she saw this book was available this summer, she said, Dad, we got to get that book. And I said, OK, I was happy that this is the kind of book she was wanting to read. And so as we were traveling to my home state of Kansas, she was reading pieces of it out loud and I said, boy, that could be really useful here. Gary talks about risk and he asks some huge questions about risk that I think sometimes we don't really think about very carefully. I think we could maybe it would be interesting to actually just stop and think what is biblical risk management? We often hear about risk management, but what is biblical risk management? What does God view as worthy risks? What does God view as unworthy risks? What did God through Jesus actually present as the greatest risk? And he asks some interesting questions. He says that what God Jesus actually presented as the greatest risk and that frequently was money and covetousness and some of those kinds of things. We actually seem to be pretty OK with I think as a culture, but the things that God calls us to risk, we often ask some big questions about. And one of the things that I think is really important for us to consider is that our perception of risk is always limited. And it easily misses the counter and greater risk. I think we should daily ask God to give us intervention of those faulty perceptions of risk. They can very easily take us places away from the kingdom just because it looks too dangerous. So I think we need to ask God daily to give us a clear understanding of the true nature of every risk. What we see and what we don't see in the risk and a heart and a mind that is willing to embrace the risks God would have us take. I think this part here is something that I think is really important for us to think about. The risks most critical for believers to take are also those that the enemy would least want us to take. And his counter tactic for those risks I think typically is fear. And so we're so gripped by fear over a risk that God is calling us to take. And so void of fear of the very things that God would want us to not consider. And because of that I really believe we need to take a careful look at that. And I think politics and earthly governments are driven by the desire to protect certain interests. But they're very different interests from what the kingdom of heaven interests are to protect. And yet I think the more that affluence becomes a part of our culture, the more compelled we feel to have governments that will protect that affluence. And the more compelled we feel to be a part of politics so that that will happen. I think that's really sobering. On the other side, if the interests we feel driven to protect are the interests that our King Jesus holds to protect, we're going to be the deadliest threat on Satan that exists on earth. And so in wrapping it up I would just like to say being an ambassador for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords places us in a very unique position with ultimate authority because what our King has we represent. So we can represent the authority of God himself. We can represent the power of God himself. We can represent the honor of God himself. The values of God, the hope of God, the future of God, all of those we possess as ambassadors of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That is the greatest possession we could possibly have. You know there's a warning in Scripture in Hebrews 12, 16 where it says don't be like Esau and he explains why. Because he had a pretty intense immediate need and that intense immediate need drowned out a much greater value. And in fact it so thoroughly drowned it out that he didn't care about the greater value. I have this burden that increasingly the American church is becoming an Esau. It is seeing a need that's being threatened and it perceives the protection of that need as of greater value than that eternal treasure of the Kingdom of God. And so we enter the temporary kingdoms. We enter the temporary solutions at the expense of that eternal long term gift that is the birthright of every believer. How much authority and power do you desire for your life? Where do you look to find it? How can you get it? How can it be good and uncorrupted and useful? Let me just tell you something. Power without God quickly corrupts. I think you've seen it. And yet power from God when he receives total honor for it cannot be corrupted by its very nature and is capable of tearing down all other powers. That is what we have in Christ. And so I would just urge us to think about this. Jesus so early in his life and I'm not sure who the youngest children would be that are here. Do we have any 12 year olds here? I see some that look a little younger. Oh, we have a 12 year old back there. Excellent. Well, Jesus at 12 had an understanding of life purpose that I think few people at 50 or 60 or 90 have. His parents were just shocked why he would be in the temple when he was supposed to be with the family and head home. And he asked a powerful question. He said, didn't you realize that I must be about my father's business? I would just urge you make that so characteristic of you. That if people say, where is John? Where is Joseph? Where is Mary? Well, don't you know he's about his father's business? That's who he is. That's his identity. That's why he's here. That's who we should be. And so I just urge us that I am realizing that I missed one part of my talk and that is whose culture do you advance most? And that may be something that you've been wishing I would address. And it looks like I'm kind of pressing my time. Let me just really quickly hit that one. We live in Brooklyn, New York in a setting of very many cultures. In fact, there's one part of Queens where 800 different languages are spoken. And so the whole question of how do you integrate with cultures becomes much bigger than what my experience as a farm boy in Kansas ever offered me. And so that question of culture is a tough one. Do we, in the mix of that, whose culture do we push? I would just be here to say that culture sometimes gets a really bad rap. Every last one of us, by virtue of being human, have a culture. And every last one of those cultures have some piece of the image of God in it. And that piece is beautiful. That piece you don't need to despise. That piece you can totally embrace. Every one of our cultures also has the imprint of the fall on it. And that piece you don't need to embrace and you shouldn't embrace and you should gladly reject. And the Bible really provides for us a foundation for developing a culture that goes so beyond my culture or anyone else's culture. A culture that is a biblical culture and that should supersede all cultures. Now I know that's a very simple covering of it and I know it can get more complex than that. But I do urge us that we treasure the culture that God has given us in a way that is wholesome without defending the parts that really are not worthy of defense. We do the same with every culture that God calls us to. We can treasure in that culture everything that is good and we can also reject what isn't. But above everything else that scripture can help us define that ultimate culture and we can grow toward that. All right. Well, I'm just going to quickly open it up for any responses that you might have to what has been shared. I'm not sure how you would prefer doing this. I think it's live. It sounds like you have a question. Go ahead. Hey Dwight. So this is great. This is great. Your focus on being an ambassador for Christ is a great reminder of our purpose and I thank you for that. As I've come out of evangelical circles and have embraced the kingdom of Jesus, one of the things that I feel like is the hardest for people to understand is this topic about politics. In fact, just this week I had two people at work tell me, gosh, I agree with you on 99% of things, but this is the one thing I just can't agree with you on.  But instead Jesus doesn't say that to people like Cornelius and other Roman officials instead uses them for his ministry. And, you know, they also cite the idea that many people work for companies that they may not directly support.  Right. And I'm in a lot of work where I understand that I would never invest in a company that supported alcohol because 50% of alcohol sales come from 90%. Come from the top 10% of alcoholics of alcohol drinkers who are very basically they're classified as alcoholics. And so by promoting any company that sells alcohol, you're also promoting alcoholics in their behavior. So I guess I have two questions. I know that was long winded, but it's how do you respond to someone who gets all of the ideas of the kingdom. But this is one topic that they're really struggling to understand. They mentioned things like this. And then the second part is this kind of goes to the last part you mentioned about culture. Is it time that we also start talking about being an ambassador, not just in the kingdom of Jesus that goes against the kingdom of government, but maybe also the kingdom of work as well. That's something that I feel like from my time in Kingdom circles that has not been something I've heard as much about. Should that be something that's talked about more? Well, a quick response. I think it's a totally valid question. And I am feeling like maybe we have more of an allegiance to worldly values of finances and work. Than what we may realize. And so I thank you for bringing that up and I think that's something that needs a more careful look. I think that was actually what drove the Russian Mennonites and the German Mennonites into politics is because through their work ethics and through their success financially. They developed quite the empire that they really then wished they could protect. And I think the evangelical world also has developed quite an empire, but also the conservative Anabaptist scene has too. And I think on that front, that is a place we need to take a second look at. On the other question about Cornelius and that question, I think to use that example is to argue out of silence. We don't know the rest of Jesus's conversation. And we do know that Jesus could see through the heart of a person. He could see what was the most important first conversation. I often interact with people who there are a host of things that I don't agree with. But my first conversation is not going to be the bulk of those disagreements. And I think Jesus very likely may have done the same. But I don't think it's fair to say that that example makes certain that Jesus was supporting being a centurion, for instance. I think he was addressing a number one issue. And since Jesus does talk about his view of his kingdom not being of this world, I think there is where he is directly talking about how we look at it. And so wherever Jesus directly talks about it, we need to directly hear and apply. Where it's an example and he is addressing something else, then to use that as an example out of silence to make a principle. I don't think we can ever make principles out of arguing through silence. But that may not be a complete answer, but that's just kind of a first thing that comes to me.