The Church Digital Podcast

Jim’s words kinda shocked me. Having worked with Jim Tomberlin at Christ Fellowship Miami, and studied his multisite movement materials over the years, I kinda felt like I had a solid grounding on the mindset of Jim Tomberlin. So, when he casually dropped the line, I didn’t quite know how to respond. It’s not, “Get as big as you can.” It should be, “Get as big as you need to be in order to multiply healthily.” For a guy who dedicated decades to multiplying through multisite churches, mergers… and is now championing the cause of phygital churches… the idea shouldn’t be a surprise. The endgame of our buildings, our gatherings… are we multiplying? Is it helping to multiply? The mystery of church multiplication isn’t necessarily hard. The American Church needs to think differently. Let this podcast be the start of a new conversation in your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Couple questions on the docket this week on BETA SHOW: Jeff, can you talk about ways that your attendees can engage that’s outside/beyond a physical location? // Really, THE biggie in light of seeing churches come back with 50% attendance is this: How can we reach new people while not meeting in person? I’m thinking we need to more than double, or it will feel too discouraging to come to a very small gathering. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We are launching a new show over here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL. But we need your help. Text your questions to 4THECHURCH (484/324-8724) and we'll answer them here on THE BETA SHOW. Seriously. Grab the phone. Text 484/324-8724 and tell us your questions. Where you're stuck. What questions you're asking of leadership. What questions leadership is asking of you... and let TCD help your church take some practical next steps, and give you some advice on how to BETA the situation at your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Well, we got here quicker than we thought. Episode 100 of The Church Digital Podcast launches this week, and we’ve got a solid podcast for you. We’re going old school this week for the podcast, bringing in guys who have been doing online ministry for years… decades… If you’re a regular listener to the podcast, you’ve probably heard me tell the story of Disneyland Starbucks. Rey De Armas and I are sitting at an outside Starbucks with Saddleback’s Jay Kranda, Dunham & Co’s Nils Smith and First Impressions Guru Greg Atkinson. What followed for me was one of the most influential conversations of my life. Online ministry is as controversial mid/post-COVID as it was pre-COVID. Some churches want to do it. Some churches want to forget it. How do we, as innovators, visionaries… as people who may not see eye to eye with leadership… how do we process this? Who challenges you? Who grounds you? How do you respect yet push leadership at the same time? This just scratches the surface here on Episode 100. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We’re going back to the building, right? But we’re not supposed to go back to February 2020. How exactly are we supposed to do that again? Lay the groundwork for your digital strategy to complement your phygital church. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We are launching a new show over here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL. But we need your help. Text your questions to 4THECHURCH (484/324-8724) and we'll answer them here on THE BETA SHOW. Seriously. Grab the phone. Text 484/324-8724 and tell us your questions. Where you're stuck. What questions you're asking of leadership. What questions leadership is asking of you... and let TCD help your church take some practical next steps, and give you some advice on how to BETA the situation at your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

How do we pastor people phygitally? How do we care for people in digital space? Great question, and I honestly thought I had an answer to that until I heard from Korey in a Facebook Group. “Well, 25 people in my church have died as a result of COVID.” Korey, from Grace Community Church, has experienced a whole other perspective than I (and most of you) probably have had in this COVID season. As a Campus Pastor in New York, he has seen his church lose 25 people to coronavirus. How do you pastor a church that you can’t hug? How do you care for a church that you can’t be in physical space together? These are the issues that Korey and other pastors across the country are wrestling with daily. Let’s learn from stories like Korey and get a glimpse of the Church’s future. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Wrestling with your church's PHYGITAL approach to online + physical services? Jeff & Rey are diving in, answering YOUR QUESTIONS on how to get more impact on your PHYGITAL church services. Got questions? Text them to 484/324-8724. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We are launching a new show over here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL. But we need your help. Text your questions to 4THECHURCH (484/324-8724) and we'll answer them here on THE BETA SHOW. Seriously. Grab the phone. Text 484/324-8724 and tell us your questions. Where you're stuck. What questions you're asking of leadership. What questions leadership is asking of you... and let TCD help your church take some practical next steps, and give you some advice on how to BETA the situation at your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Episode 97 was incredible! We did a deep dive into Creative Online Services with lead creative Craig Dockery at Crossroads Church. Incredible conversation, but man, Crossroads has a ton of resources and staffing to make their incredibly creative worship services happen. Most churches today don’t have large creative teams or financial resources to do creative services. So while there are applicable lessons in from Crossroads there may not have been much practical. So, let’s start to have some practical conversations on Church Online Services. We’re bringing in Patrick Hudson, Lead Pastor at Nuvo Church. Nuvo’s got one of the most creative worship services I’ve ever seen… and he’s still in Church Plant mode (still operating digitally, not yet launched physically). There’s an incredible opportunity we have today. Mid-COVID, or even Post-COVID, we’ve got an opportunity to look with fresh eyes on our corporate worship services. Don’t recreate. Reimagine. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

You got questions. You're new to this whole digital church thing, and you need some help. You're heading back to the building, but 50-70% of your attenders are staying home. What are you going to do? That's the topic on the inaugural episode of The Church Digital's BETA Show. Pre-COVID we were doing the whole physical church service thing. COVID hit, physical shut down, and we poured all our resources into Online. Now, how do we do physical and digital at the same time, without more resources? This is the question we're answering here on BETA000.  Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We are launching a new show over here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL. But we need your help. Text your questions to 4THECHURCH (484/324-8724) and we'll answer them here on THE BETA SHOW. Seriously. Grab the phone. Text 484/324-8724 and tell us your questions. Where you're stuck. What questions you're asking of leadership. What questions leadership is asking of you... and let TCD help your church take some practical next steps, and give you some advice on how to BETA the situation at your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

As churches start to head back into their buildings, Pastor, we have the opportunity to continue to blur the lines of Phygital. We have an incredible resource available to us. Creatively, what if we embraced the idea of creative services online, even as we went physical. What if we grabbed hold of these digital resources and really thought digital first... how can physical and digital services benefit from the creativity we could do? To this end, we’re bringing in Craig Dockery from Crossroads Church in Cincinnati. Arguably, one of the most creative online services right now, Craig and his team have taken a fresh look even going back to the liturgy of their Church Services as they’re producing these online services. In the end, the Online Services greatly benefit from these creative elements, and now as Crossroads is going back to the building they’re wrestling with the physical impact of these elements. Love the idea of experimenting, and Crossroads is a great example of a church wrestling with the idea of a Phygital Church Service. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Pre-COVID I don’t think I heard much about the idea of a church becoming the “Christian Netflix”… but thank you very much Coronavirus for once again providing Your Church opportunities that it didn’t have before? So is there merit to the content-heavy “Church as Christian Netflix?” model? How does it complement your church’s mission and vision? Does it assist in your disciple-making strategies? In this COVID season, I’ve heard more and more churches asking questions about going this way. So why not do an episode about it? We’re bringing back Andy Mage from Bay Hope Church in Tampa, FL into the conversation. Andy, as well as, Cinematographer Andres Aquino have been working hard building Bay Hope TV, a content engagement platform that feeds into a discipleship process. Phenomenal stuff. So, what does it take for your church to be the next Christian Netflix? Find out in this episode of The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

COVID is teaching us, the church, many lessons. Obviously, there are many lessons about the value of Church Online or Discipleship Online. But why stop there? Church Communications Directors have been working overtime in this COVID season, managing the chaos that has been 2020. While we don’t talk about Communications much here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL, let’s pause and ask some questions. To that end, we’ve pulled in three church communication experts from around the country to ask them some simple questions… what have you learned in this COVID season? What are you currently experimenting with? How can communication help your church go PHYGITAL? All sorts of fun questions that can help your church take the next steps in communications. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

This is not going to be your typical The Church Digital Podcast. What does church discipline look like at your church? I want to be clear with the question. I’m not necessarily talking about spiritual disciplines here. Not digging into discipleship. Wikipedia defines Church Discipline as: “the practice of censuring church members when they are perceived to have sinned in hope that the offender will repent and be reconciled to God and the church. It is also intended to protect other church members from the influence of sin.” I was recently interviewed by Ed Stetzer over at NewChurches.com, and Ed asked me the question: “How do Digital-Only Churches handle Church Discipline?” It’s a great question, and one that I wanted to not speak only philosophically to, but bring to the table some active digital-only church planters, and talk through their experiences. What are they seeing and experiencing? How have they handled these issues? The following conversation is a great example of the separation, the misunderstanding, that some have of Digital Churches. While some view digital expressions of church as unhealthy, people living their lives in isolation... those doing ministry in these digital communities tell quite a different story. So, take a bit here and dive into these stories of how digital churches use the power of relationships to connect, and restore, people to God. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

The idea of Church as Platform has been resonating for a while here at The Church Digital. Through recent blogs & podcasts we’ve been unpacking this idea of the church (not providing a service, but instead finding success in empowering others to do ministry). It’s not about our organizations reaching people, but about our organizations training disciple-makers to reach people. Today on the podcast we’re bringing in Rick Rusaw, former Lead Pastor at LifeBridge and one of the early innovators in this idea of Church as Platform. Rick gives some of the history, some of the backstory, behind the idea of Church as Platform. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Most churches shut down for the summer… global pandemic and all. Weekend services are “essential” operations, but the majority of churches have struggled to anything otherwise. This is what makes the story of SOFLO camp so interesting to me. While other churches are pausing ministry, or struggling to put the pieces together, two or three churches from the Church United Network started a movement. Dozens of churches across multiple cities worked together to create a movement of students in South Florida that would not have been otherwise possible if not for COVID. What are the challenges of living on-brand as opposed to on-mission? This is just the start of the conversation here at The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

To do digital ministry you need to think outside the box. What works in the building won’t necessarily work online. We know this. But oftentimes our ministry digitally looks a lot like our physical ministry. But, what if we did think outside the box. Enter Tyler Sansom into the conversation. Tyler is Lead Digital Pastor of Church Anywhere, a Digital-Only Church, who is taking a unique approach to reaching ones… building authentic relationships with people via social media influence. What sounds like a crazy idea, well, isn’t that crazy when you hear the stories and see the results from this influencer approach. Looking to think outside the box in Digital Church? Start here. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Hey, it’s my birthday podcast! And for the second year in a row, we’re bringing in a special guest to celebrate my birthday. Last year it was my mom, talking about how she leads her two online small groups. Mom wasn’t available this year, so instead we got Greg Nettle, President of Stadia Church Planting to jump on the podcast. What I love about Greg Nettle is the man is passionate about Digital Church. Oftentimes when I meet influential people in the church world, I have to cast vision to what a digital church can be. Truthfully, even before COVID, Greg was on the road to discovery, and has done an incredible job championing the Digital Church (and the Phygital Church) through Stadia Churches and beyond. Greg has been featuring churches with phygital and digital mindset on his podcast, “The Church Planting Podcast”. Season 3 has been exclusively Digital: I even kicked off the season with an introduction to Digital. So I’m bringing Greg on my podcast, for my birthday, and ask him what lessons he’s learning thru the podcast? Digital Church, Leading a National Organization, Race… so many challenges in this COVID season. Here’s your opportunity to learn from Greg, directly, on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

As we get further and further into this COVID season, how are we finding new people? It’s so easy to default back to our 99s and to forget about our ones. In the push to get back to whatever we think normalcy is, words like evangelism or sharing faith seem to be lost from our vernacular. On the show we talk a lot about the church helping others find their individual ones. But how can we, in this season, find our organizational ones? A different approach to connecting with people, through Search… what if we marketed church differently? Steven Fogg, founder of The Church Online Summit and Digital Marketing Guru, shares some insight that will help your church in big ways… and it doesn’t cost you a penny. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Thank you very much, COVID. That long-term vision? That playbook? Your church’s strategy? It’s all trash. Every church is in startup mode, and we’re reimagining the idea of church moving forward. Reimagining is going to require some experimentation. Is your church capable of experimenting? Do they have the vision? The resources? The ability to experiment. Often churches staff for the needs of today, not to experiment for tomorrow. Even in the midst of COVID, with the economical issues many churches are facing, the idea of hiring, restructuring, or restaffing is challenging to most. Enter Matt Lombardi from Shaar.work, an organization that connects creatives, designers, and video editors to churches. Church, looking to experiment in an area? Matt explores how churches can experiment utilizing freelancing resources to discover what tomorrow’s ministry can look like today. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Thanks to COVID, lots of churches are operating digitally. They’re broadcasting their services online. Trying to start up Online Small Groups. As a general rule, they’re moving their physical ministry digital, or even learning how to do ministry phygitally (combining physical + digital). I’m suggesting there’s a whole other category… digital-only churches. What would it be like to do church, to be the church, in a digital community? Something like Facebook, Virtual Reality? The idea is not copying the physical model of church and doing it digitally. The idea is to be the church digitally, in environments where people are, and relationally connect with people for the cause of Christ. Fun stuff, especially considering some of these digital-only expressions of church already exist. And for this podcast we’re putting together a panel of people who are involved in digital-only churches. Planters and volunteers who buy into the vision of creating a church in digital community for people in those digital communities. So, come hear the stories… the ministry… the vision behind these digital-only expression of church. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

I’ve talked with hundreds of Pastors in this COVID season. Easily. Not an exaggeration. If I count emails, texts, social media, direct messages, pings… geez, may be over a thousand. Never, never, NEVER have I heard a Pastor tell me this: “Our Church is healthier because of COVID.” Enter Ali Roohi, Pastor of CenterSet Church in California. In this COVID season, he’s seen online attendance drop. Most churches have, after all. At the same time, though, he’s seen Online Groups triple in size and giving increase substantially. How’d he do this? A major philosophical shift of his church… and you’re going to want to hear him say it… here on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL. Stadia’s Phygital Church Learning Communities: Helping Physical Churches learn to Thrive, Grow, and Multiply Digitally. Stadia’s Digital-Only Church Planting Cohort: Stadia’s looking for Church Planters who are looking to plant a Church digitally… with no physical footprint. Is this you? Check it out here.

What can we, the Church, learn from Uber? AirBNB? We’re 100+ days into this COVID thing. Our buildings aren’t getting much usage. In some areas (like where I am in Florida) we’re actually worse now than ever. In that same vein, I had a pastor tell me recently, “Jeff, we really can’t pause the ministry of the Church any longer. We’ve been in slow motion since COVID started, and we’ve got to ramp up again.” I love the idea of the Church doing ministry in this season, and while the perceived technological limitations of Church in COVID season may be limiting us, what it’s actually doing is giving us… the Church… a prime opportunity to work on what’s next: Church As Platform. The fourth in a series of, well, intentional podcasts meant to help you reshape your view of Church. Jeff and Rey bring in Doug Parks, Co-Author of Intentional Churches and Executive Pastor of Canyon Ridge in Las Vegas. Topic? Uber owns no taxi’s, yet revolutionized ride-sharing. AirBNB owns no property, yet is going toe-to-toe with hotels around the world? Why? Because these businesses learned that property is a lid of growth… they lifted the lid by giving the business to the people. Church, what if we gave the church's ministry exclusively to the people? This is the conversation we’re beginning here, on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL. Stadia’s Phygital Church Learning Communities: Helping Physical Churches learn to Thrive, Grow, and Multiply Digitally. Stadia’s Digital-Only Church Planting Cohort: Stadia’s looking for Church Planters who are looking to plant a Church digitally… with no physical footprint. Is this you? Check it out here.

What does the future hold for Virtual Reality?... for Artificial Intelligence? Talk to the business world and they're chomping at the bit to take advantage of disruptions like these. But what of the church world? As a general rule, we're more skeptical of these innovations. Is the skepticism warranted? Or are we missing an opportunity? This is where Christopher Benek comes in. As Lead Pastor at First Presbyterian Miami, he understands the value of our buildings. A Historical Landmark in the heart of Downtown Miami (located right on Biscayne Bay), First Pres' is one of the highest valued church properties in all of Miami. But is the property effective in making disciples tomorrow? Today? This is where the conversation takes us. Christopher waxes theoretic a bit, and tells us about some of the new developments coming out of the ChVRch+ platform, and how churches of today need to prepare for tomorrow's challenges. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

YouTube is powerful. Incredibly powerful... if you use it right. In this COVID-19 season, churches have been jumping onboard the YouTube bandwagon. But there's more to YouTube than just storing video. This is the heart of the podcast here. Dave Adamson is passionate about YouTube. An Online Pastor for over a decade now, Dave has been very vocal in recent years, helping churches figure out how to better do YouTube. Our conversation here hits the basics of YouTube for Churches... building a foundation for bigger and better things to come. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

As reports show COVID-19 is spiking, churches are starting to engage more and more with the idea of micro-locations as a short-term solution. It's important to notice that even with the idea of micro-locations, there's different ways these locations can look. The main difference really lies in the expectations of the volunteer leader. The two extremes are basically the "Watch Party" and the "House Church"... two extremes that show what a distributed model of smaller churches can look like. Whether micro-locations fill a short-term need or solve a long-term problem makes a huge difference, and churches that are wrestling with how to implement micro-locations need to listen here as we wrestle with the different flavors of micro-locations. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

How do you start a church movement? Sure, there's probably different ways we can answer that question. If we looked at Christ's example, well, he started with 12 guys. Not a massive movement. He started with individuals and took three years to groom, grow, and disciple them. (Interestingly, one of them tried to kill Jesus, which just goes to show how difficult disciple-making actually is!) When we look at our churches today, do we see organizations who are capable of multiplication? Do we see disciple-making happening in our organizations? What would a movement look like that started with individuals and grew... are we better off abandoning our services? What role should our services play? These are just some of the questions we're wrestling with here on The Church Digital Podcast. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

The idea of a Digital-Only Church was quite controversial pre-COVID. Truthfully, it's still controversial today. What we're discovering, though, is there are pioneers out there who are testing these waters... paving the way for the settlers to come in later. Angela is one of those pioneers. In 2017, she launched a Social Media Church on Facebook... Pursuit Church Live is a digital-only church (with no physical footprint) that does ministry on Facebook. More than broadcasts and flashy content, Pursuit Church Live's goal is authentic relationships, which is quite a challenge in 2020. Through the podcast, Angela's got stories to tell, and through Stadia we're not only excited to hear Angela's stories, but to help others follow after Angela and launch more Digital-Only expressions of church. Digital Church Planting Cohorts are coming very soon. If you're interested in planting a Digital-Only Church, let's talk. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I love the Internet. Dave Ferguson, Leader of the Exponential Conference/Movement and Lead Pastor at Community Christian Church in Chicago... over the years I've been influenced by Dave. Hero Maker had a big impact in my life, and Exponential as a tribe has felt like home in recent years. So, imagine my surprise when Tanys, a faithful Church Digital Podcast listener from Canada, tags Dave Ferguson and I on Twitter, telling Dave that he should talk with me about creating a Digital Disciple-making Micro-location movement. Dave agreed, and here's Episode 79, focusing on Digital Multiplication. We've also celebrated our 10,000th Podcast Play this week at The Church Digital. In honor of you, the listeners, we want to hear from you. Swing by http://thechurch.digital/10k and let us know how we, THECHURCH.DIGITAL, are helping your church grow... Pre-COVID, Mid-COVID, we want to hear some stories! We're randomly pulling three entries, and you'll be getting a $10 Starbucks giftcard. We'll do a drawing Monday, June 22, 2020. Digital Multiplication, Physical Micro-locations, and the 10,000th Celebration. All this in one episode of The Church Digital Podcast. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Church, we are content beasts... I actually had a friend of mine tell me once, "The only people that create more content than Churches is the Porn." He wasn't a Christ-follower and I'm going to have to take his word on the porn side... That being said, our weekend services take a massive amount of work to create. That's nice and all, but we need to move beyond creating content to consume and continue the journey to move to community, towards relationships. How does that happen? Enter Kristel Acevedo, Content Creator at Transformation Church in the Charlotte. Kristel speaks to the heart of Transformation Church to not just create content for people, but to connect with these people, digitally, in community. And through that community, impact lives. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Church, why do we do this? Why do we do 'church'? I don't mean physical church, or digital church. I don't mean weekend services, or small groups. I simply mean, why is it that we do what we do? Our buildings, our online... Pastor, there are times that pride gets to us and we think that our physical or digital footprint are the endgame. I've been guilty of this, I admit it. Chances are, if you're honest, you have been to. That being said, the digital/physical representations of our church are actually the means to the end... meaning they're important, but not the focus. Our focus, our endgame? Well, Matthew 28 lays that out pretty clear. Church, we may have lost our way here, and a clear and honest refocusing of your church may be necessary. Let's better understand the idea of the "one"... not only for your organization, but the importance of helping your attenders find their "one". SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

So, who are these people who are watching our Churches Online and what are we supposed to do with them? COVID-19 has brought us tons of traffic, and maybe for the first time we, as a church, are understanding the potential of the reach of Church Online. But here's a hard truth: people are not going to stay at your church because of content. Why do people stay? Because of community, vision, being on mission... The COVID-19 lesson for Church Online, if nothing else, is integral to your vision into Church Online. Cause if people are only watching online for content, well... Netflix cost $9. They don't sell vision, but they do a great job at making a consumer. Don't even get me started at Disney+. So, what's the process to get people engaged, activated online? While we're talking, what's that even look like in the physical building? Can Physical + Digital work together, for the benefit of our people? These are the conversations we're having here on The Church Digital Podcast. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Depending on your location, gathering restrictions are starting to loosen, and churches are considering meeting together again. Some restrictions remain in place limiting size of gathering, wearing of masks, and appropriate social distancing. And while some churches are rushing to get back to the building, and the perceived normal... what if there's another way. Enter Adrienne Feldmann, Online Pastor at Northeast Community Church. Rather than rushing into the building, NECC is taking the approach of gathering their people in Watch Parties, in order to stair-step back to the building. In fact, they are launching this week with about 100 watch party locations. With a "build the plane while it's flying" approach, the watch parties serve to gather, as well as, create physical community, within the church. How can your church take this approach? Gain some practical insight from Adrienne and a church who pivoted quickly, and effectively, in order to make this happen. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Pastor, if there's one thing you've learned in this COVID-19 season, it's that you want to have influence online. For most churches, that means putting your sermons online. For Scot Mendenhall, though, that means something completely different. Scot, a pastor at Unlock Church in Minnesota, took to YouTube to gain influence on One Wheels... a motorized scooter of sorts. An incredible story, Scot uses YouTube to connect not only with his family, but then relationally connect with the digital community found in YouTube centered on these One Wheel Scooters - building friendships with people that eventually point them to Christ. He's literally bringing people to Christ in no small part due to motorized scooters on YouTube. Told you this was crazy. Check out the lesson and dig in to find out how you too can become a digital influencer like this for Christ. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Well, we're going back into the building. Or at least a small percentage of us are. Many, though, are opting to take a slower approach heading back into the space. Is there a different approach? Churches like Saddleback and Elevation have been experimenting with Micro-locations for a while now, and this week we're having a conversation with another church who has been doing micro-church for almost five years now. Greg Aukerman has served as the Director of Online Community for Crossroads Church (Cincinnati) off and on for a while now, and on his watch Crossroads built a rather effective micro-church strategy, enabling the Priesthood of All Believers to effectively reach their towns and neighborhood. How can these lessons be leveraged in this COVID-19 season? That's the question we're asking, here on The Church Digital Podcast. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

If there's a lesson the church needs to learn in this Global Pandemic: Physical Church & Church Online need to learn to play together nicely. In the pre-COVID season of our life (that was merely two months ago) Physical Church was king of the hill, leaving Church Online as the red-headed stepchild. In the midst of COVID, Church Online is the only game in town as the Physical Church doors are literally locked, and let's be real... no one knows what's coming next. What we do know is there's digital fatigue, which is understandable. We, humans of 2020, are both physical and digital people, and we need to exist physically as well as digitally. We're using our proverbial digital passport daily... Zoom calls, Netflix... but we're showing fatigue not because we're annoyed with digital, but because there's no physical in our lives. This is the conversation we're having with Greg Atkinson. Greg was one of the early pioneers of Church Online, and a guy who has seen his share of changes within the church. A man who's literal job is to help churches do physical church better, but also being one of the earliest supporters of the Church Online movement, Greg provides a unique perspective of how physical and digital need each other in order to survive post-COVID. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

In the midst of this pandemic, we're taking a moment to talk with one of the pioneers of the Church Online movement. Nils Smith was there from practically day one, diving into Church Online when the social media platform of choice was MySpace (yes, Myspace). This conversation is unique in that Nils isn't a a technology expert, at his own declaration. Nils is really good at reading, anticipating culture... and where he ends up in this conversation is a rich, deep view of the past while setting up churches (big and small) with a strong opportunity for the future. How can a small church compete with the big churches? What could a Digital Church Planter look like? All this centered around a virtual coffeeshop conversation on the past, and the future, of church online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

COVID-19 has brought a lot of confusion into the church. It's hard enough to be an existing church navigating this season. Try being a church that hasn't even launched yet. That's where Ray Hudson found himself. A Church Plant slated to launch Fall 2020, Ray launched early, digital only. And this is what makes Ray interesting. Ray is running a digital only church, but not wanting to limit himself digitally. Ray's church, Our City Center, is passionate about reaching Berkeley, CA. Even in its digital state, the church desires to connect with people in the physical space. That's really the point. If our only desire is to connect with people digitally, we run the risk of creating consumers. Ray, though, is making us ask questions like, "How can this content impact people physically? How can we love people to the point that it impacts the physical world?" This is the standard that our Digital Churches, as well as, our Physical Churches, should hold themselves to. Thus, the point of this conversation. Not sure if Ray's a Digital-Only Church or not. That doesn't matter, really. By thinking digital first, even as a Church Plant, he is impacting his community in a big way... even though he has no physical footprint. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

When we look at the idea of a Phygital Church, one that truly utilizes digital and physical, there is going to be a tension of who is priority? The majority of churches spun up their Church Online quickly in order to do ministry in this COVID-19 season. Did we learn anything in this season? Or are we attempting to go back to status quo? The idea of a digital first mentality is challenging to some, if not most. In this theoretical world that COVID-19 has created for us, I believe this wholeheartedly: in this post-COVID-19 society, those who prioritize digital first will pay off dividends in the months and years to come. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What does a church look like in Virtual Reality? Greg Nettle, President of Stadia Church Planting and DJ Soto, Lead Pastor of VR Church... who's discipling and shepherding people in the digital community of Altspace VR (and Rec Room)... jump in on a conversation helping to redefine what the digital church looks like tomorrow... scratch that... what the digital church looks like today. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

In the hectic-ness to build a Church Online, we often forget the biggest part... okay, Jesus is the biggest part. Didn't mean to Jesus juke you there. So let's call it the second biggest part, and no I'm not talking sermons. Church, we are in the people business. Oftentimes that gets forgotten among all the hectic-ness of COVID-19, or life in general. Church, we cannot automate away discipleship. These relationships, online, are the strength of Church Online, and should be valued above all, save Christ. That's the heart of this conversation... how to be relational thru Church Online. Don't make it about the number of views or the nameless IP addresses that clicked through for a brief moment. Make it about the relationships you're building and the opportunity you have to impact a life, online. Tyler excels at this. Rey as well. So, what comes out of this is a solid conversation on how to approach Church Online from a relational vantage point... a lesson we all need to learn. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We're wrapping up here on our our 3rd part of the Biblical Functions of a Digital Church. We've covered the easy stuff coming into this episode. What's left is the hard stuff. Justice. Compassion. Mission. Body Ministry. How do you do these things digitally? Global Mission? Local Mission? All of a sudden, there's a challenge to Digital-Only church. I'm not saying that it's impossible. I am saying that it's not easy.  And there's the challenge. Even in context of what we, the Church, are doing in this COVID-19 season. A digital church does not recreate a physical church model. It reimagines the model. As you're listening to Part 3 here, or even Part 1 or Part 2... remember that a digital church is a reimagining of Church, but still grounded in scripture. So jump in with us, and help us reimagine what a Digital Only Church can be. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES ARE AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What is a Digital-Only Church? Well, thanks to COVID-19 we've got maybe a couple hundred thousand of them right now in America. Pre COVID-19, though, the idea was quite controversial. Stadia is passionate about planting Digital-Only Churches, and even still in this COVID-19 season we're still wrestling with how to make Digital-Only churches effective. To that end, I want to present this conversation to you. Biblical Functions of a Digital Church, Part 2 was actually recorded before COVID-19 happened, and as a result of the COVID-19 crisis I delayed releasing the content as other topics were more critical to discuss. This is a great time to continue the Digital-Only conversation, and I'm excited to assemble these Online/Digital Pastors together and wrestle with the simple context of how a Digital-Only Church can fellowship online. Fellowship. That's all we covered. What was supposed to be a simple conversation ended up being anything but simple, but it's a solid conversation that has implications for future Digital-Only churches, but also for Phygital Churches today who are figuring out how to better create community digitally. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The hardest thing in Church Online is meeting people. I recently had an online pastor tell me that he had over 500,000 people attend Easter services online and thru television, but only collected 11 connect cards over the entire weekend. Meeting people through our Online Services can be a difficult thing to do. I've been learning something with this new Stadia relationship... Rather than going big to connect with individuals, sometimes it's better to start with the individuals... but how do you meet individuals, online? Enter Patrick. He's in the process of planting a physical church in Columbus, OH, but he's not letting this COVID-19 season slow him down. Even though Patrick is living in Michigan, a completely different state than where he's preaching, he's working out a process where he meeting and mobilizing people in Columbus. This system is completely free, by the way. Completely relational. Completely inspirational. Church plant, small church, big church... there's something in this podcast for you. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Covid-19 is challenging, stretching the Church. As we've discussed... the Church has responded well, but at what cost? Our newfound love of Digital Church in this season of Coronavirus has churches growing at incredible rates, but the consensus of many of our pastors and staff is that this environment, at the pace and expectation we're executing, is becoming unmanageable. There are pending philosophy questions we need to eventually have. This is not that conversation. Let's focus on this: As Pastors, as Church Staff, how do we manage ourselves? How do we care for our souls? If the first step of leadership is leading self, then what are we doing in this season to properly care for us as we lead others? I myself have made this mistake: Covid-19 is a marathon, not a sprint. It's not going away anytime soon. How do we effectively care for ourselves in this season? This is the question I asked Mindy Caliguire. Mindy is a former Willow Creek staffer, who has written a number of books on Soulcare, is President and Co-founder of an organization called Soul Care, who's literal purpose is to help churches/organizations answer questions like these. This is really the heart of our podcast here. No techy stuff. No strategy. No philosophy. Let's just focus on a simple question of how can we keep pastors emotionally and spiritually healthy in this Covid-19 season. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Church, you should be celebrated. You survived Easter 2020 Church Online. A month ago most of you weren't even broadcasting online, and now you just completed the biggest Sunday of the year. Congratulations!!! Well, what now? As we continue the learning experience that is this Coronavirus season, there's a word we all need to learn... PHYGITAL: the combination of Physical and Digital. You see, we all know how to do Church Services physically. The Church has been doing physical services for centuries. And now, with Covid-19 staring us in the face, we've figured out how to do a digital church service. But, we really haven't figured out how to do both yet. How do you do a phygital church? Herein lies the future... it's not physical, it's not digital... it's both. So, what should tomorrow's phygital church look like? Let's find out. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Don't forget about the Kids & Students. In the midst of the Coronavirus season, with the pressure of Easter looming, what are we doing with Kids and Student ministry? Like everything else in the church world today, everything is new. All the playbooks, all the strategies are done. While we're reinventing church for adults, don't forget we need to reinvent church for kids and students. Enter into the conversation Ileana Siljee and Tony Cobb, two staffers over at Christ Fellowship in Miami. Co-workers with Rey, Ileana and Tony are reimagining the Kids and Students spaces respectively. With an attitude of newness, experimenting, and learning from success and failures, CF is working through this process of how to redefine Student and Kids ministry. Along the way we talk big church and small church... one-way versus two-way communication... all around a solid conversation with a heartfelt reference to Christian Music's Legend: Steven Curtis Chapman. Geez, you gotta hear that. So don't forget about the kids! Take time to not only figure out how to reach them with content, but with conversation as well. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

My favorite part of this podcast episode is that it is everything I expected it to be, and I had set the standard very, very high.. Larry Walkmeeyer is the Lead Pastor of Light and Life Christian Fellowship in Long Beach, CA. Larry is also author of one of my favorite books of 2020, The Mobilization Flywheel. The heart of this episode with Larry is centered around multiplication, disciple-making, leading people to be on mission for the kingdom. Notice we didn't say "on mission for the church", but "for the kingom." It's interesting how those two get confused sometimes. As Larry and I dig into the conversation, hopefully you'll begin to see that "normal" as we knew it February 2020 is gone, and that's okay, cause I believe God has something better in store for His bride. COMPLETE SHOW NOTE AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

You know that playbook you had? The strategy that you built for your church? For the foreseeable future it's trash. Not to mention, when the dust settles on this COVID-19 season, I don't think we'll recognize the world we'll see. So, in the midst of this new season, how does the church find its voice? This is the heart of this podcast, bringing in friend of the pod, Ben Stapley, one of the lead church communication guys in the country. Ben shares some great insight in how it's time for the church to PIVOT! PIVOT! (Insert "Friends" couch jokes here.) An excellent podcast talking about how your church needs to communicate to your staff, to your congregation, and to your community... this is a podcast you'll not want to miss. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What is the role of the Church? In this Coronavirus season, that is a difficult question. How do we broadcast our church service online? By far this is the most popular question the church is asking in this Coronavirus season. While it's a valid question to ask, for me a much more interesting question is: How do we stay on mission? Better yet, in this new Coronavirus Season, has our mission, has our methods, changed? Software vendors have bugs. Internet Service Providers will fail. Any given week we will need to experiment with new methods. What if our services are just a front-door to what's next, and we haven't figured out what's next in the midst of Coronavirus? Jump in this podcast and learn how your church, how your staff, how your people can stay on mission during Coronavirus. We've been too dependent on the Queen in recent years. It's time to be dependent on some other pieces during this season. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Evidently, even the Easter Bunny has to worry about Social Distancing. So, have you come to the realization yet that Easter is only going to be online yet? Or are you still holding out hope that the world will somehow miraculously solve a global pandemic in the next couple weeks? It's time to embrace the facts. Easter is going to be online. What we do with Easter in the midst of Coronavirus? How do we pivot? How do we prepare? How are we effective? For this conversation Jeff and Rey bring in an old friend, Heredes Ribeiro, into a conversation about creativity in this Coronavirus season, and how your church can not only survive, but thrive online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Need a break from coronavirus? I hear you. Hopefully this podcast is what you're looking for. My favorite book so far in 2020 has been Daniel Im's No Silver Bullets. Yes, it was written 5 years ago and I'm late to the party, but the book hit me with the right message at the right time. Discipleship, Disciple-making, Multiplication, On-Mission... whatever the term is... I've been noticing that a lot of our churches, a lot of our church onlines, are missing this. And the more I delved into the book No Silver Bullets, the more it resonated with me. So, I did what any normal online geek would do... I tweeted the author, thanking him for the book. Next thing I know Daniel Im's on my podcast talking intentional discipleship, flipping the classroom, even discipleship online. Literally one of my favorite conversations to date, Daniel is a necessary break from the noise of Coronavirus while still providing relevant answers we need in today's Coronavirus season. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The Church [Office] has left the building as well. But how do we office, how do we as a church staff function digitally? This is the heart of today's conversation. And we brought in experts: Janie Mehaffey and Heidy Tandy. Janie and Heidy work with Stadia Church Planting, a 100% virtual office company with 50+ employees scattered across 20+ states. How do you lead people when they're not gathered physically? How do you keep vision aligned? In this Coronavirus season, how do you put boundaries in place for workplace and family? These are great questions, and this podcast brings you the answers you need. So join Jeff, Janie and Heidy while we discuss the finer details of Virtual Office in this Coronavirus season. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Well, church, we survived. Coronavirus took its shot at us, and we made it. We survived. We figured out how to stream the service. How awesome. We did it! Wait, so it's not just one week? We have to do this again? Two weeks? Three? August? Are you kidding me?!?! Church, we survived. Church Appreciation Sunday is a fact. Church Online Platform reports over 10,000 new accounts created. Countless more of you streamed on Facebook and other social media. Congratulations. Remember there's more to church than this one hour on Sunday? In this coronavirus season, what are we doing for discipleship? How is your church keeping people on mission? Streaming is a necessary piece, but it's just a piece. In this episode Rey is joined by Andy Mage from Bay Hope Church, as well as, Mark Brandt from Lutheran Church of Hope for a detailed conversation in what's the next steps for all these new Churches Online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

"Reducing large gatherings." - President Trump said it in his broadcast Wednesday night. Whether Coronavirus gets to a full-fledge pandemic here in America, we are seeing the effects culturally. Virtually, all of us are on lockdown at this point. What's next? Here's our reality. Our world, our culture is being impacted by Coronavirus. How is your church responding? Church Online is part of the solution for your Coronavirus problem. Let’s discover how. Joining Jeff is Greg Nettle, President of Stadia Church Planting, Ben Cachiras from Mountain Christian Church, and Nathan Hawkins, from Stadia in a information conversation surrounding the how to do ministry, how to do Church, how to BE the Church, when locked down. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL STADIA RESOURCES AVAILABLE AT STADIACHURCHPLANTING.ORG 

Whether coronavirus is a legitimate fear or not is not the topic of conversation here. Fact is, we face all sorts of city-wide emergencies on a regular basis. Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Bitter Cold... Institutional churches face challenges like this on a regular basis in situations that prevent them from gathering. So what's the plan? How would your church respond in a situation where you weren't able to gather? It's 2020. You should probably have a plan. That's where we are with this podcast. Whether coronavirus is a thing or not isn't the point. Your church needs a plan, and we're providing you, well, at least the start of that plan! So join Jeff, Rey, as well as, Kevin Lee from Saddleback Church, Jason Days from Outreach Magazine, and Andrew Statezny from CDF Capital, as we discuss the Church and Preparing for Emergencies. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What makes a successful Digital Church? Church Online? Church overall? What is it? I'll tell you what it's not: our Sunday morning attendance numbers... yet this is where many of our analytics (and attention, for that matter) stop. A quote from Ed Stetzer years ago has always haunted this line of thought for me: "When you build your churches like theaters, don't be surprised when your parishioners act like show-goers." I don't believe I'm overstating here. We, the Church, we know this is bad. We know the success story to an effective church in 2020 isn't solely found in the pews on Sunday morning... that being said, very few of us are doing anything about it? Why is that? Well, why not ask Ed Stetzer? I almost don't know how to properly announce Ed here. Countless books, sermons, blogs, articles, interviews, conferences... the man is synonymous with Mission & Evangelism in the Church today. What better person to ask, "How did we get here?" Although, maybe the better question to ask is, "We're stuck, where should we go from here?" Is this a Digital Church podcast? Maybe. Church Online? Probably. Really, this podcast episode has implications across your entire church as strategically we all need to acknowledge where we are as a church and how in 2020 we need to shift priorities in order to be a successful church. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Can a digital-only expression of church hold up to the Biblical standard of a church? This is the question that we, here at The Church Digital and Stadia Church Planting, are wrestling with. Can you create community online? Sure! Can you worship? Of course! Can you pray digitally? We do all the time... can you operate as a church exclusively in digital space? Therein lies the topic of the podcast, as we're bringing in a panel of guests from around the country to ask the rather complicated question: Can a digital-only expression of church hold to the Biblical standard of church? What challenges would it face? Jump on the podcast as Jeff Reed, Rey De Armas, Jason Morris, Ian Kirk and Joe Santos wrestle (practically) with the ecclesiology of a Digital Church. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The hardest lesson I've learned in my technology-based ministry life can be boiled down into five simple words: it's not about the tech. What is it about, you ask? Enter Aaron McClung, President & CEO of AM, a Creative Agency that works with churches, non-profits, and corporations doing, well, creative things. The company pivoted several years ago because it discovered something: its clients didn't understand their why. Through a process of discovering AM's own why, it's developed a process of helping organizations find out their why. It's not just businesses who need to ask the question why. And not just churches. Individuals need to as well. And that's the core of this podcast... two techy guys who have discovered their personal mission talking about how we can help others find their personal mission in Christ. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What if we ran Church Online not like a Pastor would run a church, but like a missionary would run a missional movement. Crazy idea, I know. But that's really what we set out to do through Christ Fellowship Miami years ago. To that end, we're introducing Mike Christian to The Church Digital Podcast today. Mike worked with Jeff over at Christ Fellowship Miami as the Online Small Groups director. Mike was a vital part of Christ Fellowship's Online Strategy of Groups and Microchurch movement. The effectiveness of the movement was grounded in a simple-to-say, hard-to-execute philosophy: how can Church Online effectively create disciples for the purpose of multiplication. Honestly, Mike had a little bit of experience in this area before Church Online. Mike served as a missionary in India for a number of years, and was actually had his passport revoked by the Indian government. While India was trying to squash Mike's ability to disciple people in the country, Online Tools (and the Holy Spirit, of course) have allowed Mike's ministry to expand far beyond anyone would think possible. As a result, churches are being planted and multiplied in India, in Nepal, in Kenya... all because of a man's faithfulness to be obedient to make disciples of all nations utilizing Church Online. VIEW SHOW NOTES @ THECHURCH.DIGITAL

It’s 2020. Do churches really need a mobile app? Isn’t my website good enough on mobile devices? The answer for many churches today is, unfortunately, yes. Many churches don’t have an effective strategy for how to utilize mobile app, as well as, mobile web, more effectively. Enter Jon Crabtree into the conversation. Jon works with Subsplash, a company who has helped thousands of churches move their ministry to mobile app and beyond. In episode 047 here, Jon drops some solid strategy for how your church, big or small, can effectively use mobile app in your physical church ministry. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Can a mobile app create community? Most people would accuse the mobile app of tearing down community, at least physical community. But can the mobile app create community? Maybe the better question is how can the Church of 2020 leverage mobile to complement their already existing strategy? Enter Matt Welty, Pastor of Technology at Crossroads Church based in Cincinnati. A large multi-state multisite church, Crossroads, spends a lot of energy is utilizing the mobile app to not just communicate to a person, but to leverage the tools to create community that COMPLEMENT their physical campuses and not COMPETE against them. So jump in the podcast as Jeff, Rey, and Matt dig deep into the philosophy of creating community via mobile app. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Sometimes innovation is overly complicated and very costly. Sometimes innovation is just looking at what you have differently. What you’ll discover here in this episode of The Church Digital Podcast is two churches that have done some incredibly innovative things with what they had. So much effort goes into creating the musical worship portion of the worship service each week, what if we did musical worship via video? Churches are doing teaching each week via video… why not musical worship? Enter today’s podcast, where churches have launched in a Bar utilizing video worship… even going as far as launching a multisite campus without having a band on stage for musical worship. Crazy concept, I know. But imagine the scalability and savings if it could work. Remember, not everyone needs to buy into it, but enough need to buy into it to make it worthwhile. As an aside, hear me publicly admit that I was wrong! (My wife doesn’t even get that treatment.) All this and more here on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

This Episode of The Church Digital Podcast may challenge some established norms. If so, that’s cool. They probably need to be challenged. A small, but growing number of physical churches are finally seeing that community can be created in virtual spaces, and now more than ever churches are currently operating small groups online. However, church today views these small groups as complementary to the physical ministry of the church (primarily which happens during that one-hour-on-Sunday service). Enter Jate Earhart. Jate is no stranger to the podcast, as we talked about his online discipleship ministry for video gamers (called Love Clan) back in the early days of the podcast. Well, Jate is once again challenging status quo, and I for one am grateful. Jate is expanding Love Clan, hoping to grow it into a Digital Church. This is not a flippant decision. As a matter of fact, Jate is driven to validate and verify the ecclesiology of his Digital Church. He’s well grounded when it comes to defining what a church is and is not. As a matter of fact, Jate is studying right now with some church planting cohorts, essentially going through the same process a physical church planter will go through as he’s examining what his potential Digital Church could look like. So, check out this episode where Jate Earhart and Jeff Reed dig into the foundation of Church in hopes of starting to build the Construct of a Digital Church. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

One of the greatest untapped resources in Church Online, I believe, is the Kids Church Online. There’s huge potential here to reach kids in unique ways. Several years ago, while I was Online Pastor, we briefly experimented with the idea of Kids Church Online. Here’s what I know. My kids are digital. I’ve got an 11 year old and a 9 year old. I cut cable almost a decade ago at this point, so any of the content they watch is app based: Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Pokemon App, iTunes… they live in these apps on their iPads or on the Apple TVs. What if my kids were addicted to Church Online instead of Pokemon? Similarly, what if Kids Church Online helped me as a parent disciple my kids? Could Kids Church Online make me the spiritual hero in the lives of my kids? Fun conversations like this, and more, as Rey DeArmas and I get interviewed on our own podcast, here on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

One of the things that I (Jeff) love about Church Online is that we are basically learning about all of this, together. Big churches, small churches, traditional churches, charismatic churches… we’re all exploring this same space of being church, digitally. The best part is instead of being territorial, we work together and learn together. Some of the happiest times I’ve had in the past year is sitting at a coffeehouse or restaurant with ministry people, and just learning from each other’s experience. This is the experience that we’re bringing to you with The Church Digital Podcast. We’re bringing in five different online ministers from around the country… different denominations, strategies, and sizes… from a gigachurch all the way down to a church plant… all with the goal of learning from one another. And you, listening audience, get to come along for the ride. Interested in jumping into a cohort like this, where we can learn from one another? THECHURCH.DIGITAL is setting up Coaching Cohorts, putting Church Online people together to learn from each other, just like this. For information on our Coaching Cohorts, check out thechurch.digital/cohort. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

2019 has come and gone, and with it, 40 podcasts recorded on the many different facets of Church Online. Each podcast offering many lessons and insights into how to utilize Church Online more effectively for your church. With so many lessons, Rey and Jeff figured this was a great chance to review the year and pick out our highlights! Did you miss some of these podcasts? Go back and catch some of these lessons to better prepare you for 2020. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I (Jeff) used to consider myself innovative. Then I met Daniel. While most kids were running away from church, Daniel at age 11 was trying to figure out how to plant a church in a video game platform known as Roblox, and over eight years later his church has impacted over 24,000 lives. Even today, as a 19 year old college student, Daniel is still making strides with how to grow and stabilize his Robloxian Church. Looking for a fresh perspective on Gen Z? Check out The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Hey Church! This is your podcast. Two incredible organizations… Living As One and Leadership Network… got together and created a survey to discover how churches like yours are utilizing Church Online. For churches already doing Church Online, this is a great way to see how churches your size are utilizing the technology. For churches not yet taking advantage of a strategy utilizing Church Online, here’s your chance to see how churches similar to yours are doing it. More than just where we are today, in this episode, we dig into where we are going. These trends that we’re seeing today are going to lead us to where, tomorrow… all this, once again, on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

One of the pioneers of Church Online jumps on the podcast here, Jay Kranda, from a small little SoCal Church called Saddleback. No stranger to the podcast, Jay goes into detail here talking about Saddleback’s relaunch of their micro-model… Saddleback “Home Gatherings”. As always, there’s a ton of value and insight in any of Jay’s podcast so enjoy this one (and go check out EP004 with Jay Kranda as well!) COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Stat time, are you ready? Here we go. The average church in America has 73 people attending a week. 80% of churches in America today are under 200 in weekly attendance. These are shocking stats for me. As a guy who spends so much time working with multisite churches, megachurches, even gigachurches… I don’t think I had completely realized how small churches are in America. Joe Radosevich understands this. As a Pastor of a Church Plant in Belgium, Wisconsin, he has a clear view of the reality of pastoring a small church. What makes Joe unique from many of his contemporaries is that Joe embraces technology in a big way to interact with his small church and engage his surrounding community. What does a small church strategy look like for church online? Find out, here on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I’m (Jeff) going to be honest here. I’ve never really enjoyed chat hosting. Maybe I never did it right. Recently, I had a conversation with Evan Connelly, where he went into detail about how the systems he was rolling out through his Church Online for Chat Hosts and I realized it was true… I never did do chat hosts right. So, we invited Evan on the podcast for a fresh perspective on how to do Chat, right, online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I’ve been hearing whispers of this new concept in church. Jeff, you got to talk to these guys. They’re doing Pop-Up Church. Honestly, I had no idea what Pop-Up Church was? My best imagination was something involving Ego Waffles. So, I called a friend of a friend of a friend, and eventually got in touch with Brandon Catoe, Pop-Up Pastor at Christ Fellowship West Palm Beach. To my disappointment, Ego Waffles were not involved. What I did discover, though, is a new way to effectively launch and mature multisite campuses effectively… a new strategy utilizing Church Online to birth new physical locations while extending the reach of your physical location. How effective? Try being ready to launch four new locations in one year… Looking for a fresh, innovative idea for church? Look no further than Brandon Catoe here on EP035 of The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The idea of the multisite church was born in the 1990s as church attendance was growing faster than the church buildings could sustain. Even in those early days, there were questions about the validity of the Multisite Church Model, Time has worked in multisite’s favor, though, as a “radical” idea 20 years ago has turned into a “cool” idea 10 years ago, transitioning into a widely accepted “mainstream” idea today. Church Online is on a similar path. Early pioneers started making Church Online a reality about 10 years ago. What was a radical concept in 2009 is trending towards the “cool” church thing of 2019. Will it make it to “mainstream” in 2029? This is the question we asked Jim Tomberlin, Chief of Staff at Christ Fellowship Miami and founder of Multisite Solutions. Jim has had a rich history as one of the early pioneers of multisite in the 90s, eventually joining staff at Willow Creek in the mid-2000s, helping them transition to the multisite model. Through his company, Multisite Solutions, Jim has influenced hundreds of churches going multisite. His depth of understanding on multisite strategy is phenomenal. Multisite church has driven a lot of innovation for the church in recent years. What does Church Online need to do to turn the corner and follow in the path of big brother multisite? All this and more on Episode 34 of The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I (Jeff) believe this to be true: In the future, bigger churches will continue to get bigger; but smaller churches will continue to get smaller. And that may not be a bad thing. The mega churches will find a way to succeed. Despite recent attendance trends, the church-growth formulas will continue to succeed. There are people who will continue to connect with these larger, physical expressions of church. To reach different people, however, maybe we should be thinking about a different model. This is where Micro-church comes in. Micro is a discipleship-oriented movement where the church empowers people to be the shepherd, the campus pastor, to lead smaller movements of church. Rather than paying a pastor to be the spiritual overseer for hundreds or thousands of people, the Micro-movement empowers “normal people” to be the volunteer pastor over dozens of people. A model far easier to scale, and most would say the Micro model is closer to the Biblical account of what the church is. There’s different flavors of the micro model. Through this podcast we talk with churches who are having success with the micro model. So how does Micro complete the ministry of Church Online? How is Micro an effective model for evangelism and discipleship? What are some steps you can take at your church to start a micro movement? Find out in this discussion with Rob Wegner & others here on The Church Digital Podcast. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Why do we do Church Online? I’m willing to bet that you’ve asked this question of yourself, and of your church’s leadership… maybe even asking some of your high-level volunteers. I’m also willing to bet that there’s some discrepancy among the three groups. Ten years ago, Church Online was defined as the broadcasting of our church services on online platforms. Arguably, that is no longer a holistic definition of “church” than the person that just attends that one-hour church service on Sunday in your buildings. There’s more to Church than that one-hour on Sunday, both in physical buildings and in digital environments. The strength of Church Online isn’t broadcasting our services around the world… the strength is engaging people to the point they become disciple-makers. So how do you redefine your why of Church Online? How do you talk with leadership? How do you embrace the perceived weaknesses? How do you develop a strategy? This episode is for you. Recorded live from the Church IT Network at Church of the Resurrection in Kansas City, Kansas, “Redefining the Why of Church Online” is a panel of Online Pastors from around the country who have wrestled with reshaping the “why” for their church. This is a great opportunity to learn from their experience, and heed their advice. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

How do you market Church Online? I used to think SEO, SEM, SMM. Gotta love acronyms! All of these are valid, and helpful in ministry, but at the end of the day I could never shake the idea that God’s called us to something other than writing a check to Google or Facebook! So how do you market Church Online? Or even Church? What are ways to draw attention to this? Let’s dig in with Communications Specialist Jennifer Miles as we discover “how to market Church Online.” COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I love a church that takes a risk. That’s what Bay Hope Church has done. Evidently, there’s this thing called TikTok. It’s currently the #1 app downloaded from the iOS App Store, and with over 80% of teens currently owning an iPhone, it’s quite obvious there’s a digital mission field in front of us. Enter Andy Mage and Jessica Spivey from Bay Hope Church in Tampa, Florida. They’ve been experimenting with TikTok with some good success thus far. How’d they get started? What does the content look like? How have the responses gone? Find out here on THE CHURCH DIGITAL PODCAST. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

One of my favorite podcasts to date, Mark Venti from Churchome lays it out. “We’re experimenting…” “We’re following the Holy Spirit, but learning from Silicon Valley…” Mark and Churchome are on a mission to impact people in their homes as much as in their church buildings. After all, churches didn’t have buildings for the first 300 years they existed. Churchome has received some notoriety, and my blog posts I’ve written on them have become some of the most-read blogs on my site thanks to Google. In the midst of the criticism, Churchome has been highly effective in creating a digital mobile-app strategy for reaching people who would never go into their physical campuses. Takeaway from this episode? I’ll give you two: 1) Don’t be afraid to experiment. 2) Don’t copy and paste someone else’s strategy. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Engagement is one of those words that no longer has meaning. It’s been used and misused so often in recent years that the heart of the word has been lost. However, engagement is the heart of Church Online… it should be the heart of anyone who does ministry online. Enter Seth Muse into the conversation. Seth is Communications Director at Hope Fellowship Church and created a social media post a couple weeks ago that blew me away because in a very simple way Seth drew attention a problem that I think we see too often in our Church Communications, in our Churches Online, and in our Churches overall. Dive into the podcast as Seth and I explore the concept of engaging content in social media, as well as, Church Online. Remember, effectively engaging online has everything to do with our posture. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Working on a Church Staff has been one of the greatest joys and greatest burdens in my life. Confession: I spent many years on staff feeling alone and frustrated. While I was friends with the people I worked with, my ideas in ministry really separated me from those around me. I just thought differently. I’m not saying I’m right or they’re wrong. Fact here is, it’s a lonely place to think different than everyone else around you. Then, I met guys like Matt, Jason and Jason from the Church IT Network. Guys who thought like I thought, who were asking the same questions that I was asking and struggling to communicate to leadership like I was. I quickly realized I wasn’t alone in ministry. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Remember when Apple was an innovative company? Steve Jobs would be speaking at a keynote, flash that sly grin, and then say to the audience: “Oh, one more thing…” Those days are sadly behind us it would seem. For the entirety of my life, I’ve been Apple Fanboy #1, but after the presentation this September, I am willingly relinquishing my Fanboy status. I will no longer claim to be an Apple Apologist. In search to become the most cash-rich corporation in the world, they’ve lost some of the principles Apple was founded on, innovation. Church, there’s a connection here for you. If you can hold on past my (Jeff’s) tirade against Apple, hopefully, there’s a worthwhile lesson in Church Innovation and new methods needed to reach new people. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

This episode we’re honored to talk with the organization who essentially created Church Online. Life.Church is one of the pioneering churches out there creating a movement in digital church. Having watched the Life.Church movement grow over the years, I was almost closet fanboy in this conversation, geeking out over methods and systems that Life.Church utilizes. That being said, the thing that surprised me the most was how this megachurch, really this gigachurch, was grounded in reality of the individual. A church with dozens of physical campuses… not including over tens of thousands of people watching online across every major continent… I had imagined attending a church like Life.Church would be easy for an individual to get lost. That’s the hardest part of Church Online, right? Preventing people from attending church in isolation? Ryan and Life.Church in general, have discovered that to grow Church Online you don’t need nameless individuals staring at video displays… The first step to Church Online is realizing that every number, in fact, has a name. Jump in the podcast and discover what’s next. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Church Online definitely has strengths and weaknesses, but the power to train and to equip someone is unparalleled. But why do we struggle with the concept of equipping and discipling someone using Online Technologies? Enter personal friend, Ken Schafer, into the conversation. Ken works with churches around the country helping create equipping scenarios in physical environments, as well as, online… and I (Jeff) credit Ken as being one of those guys who years ago told me, “Jeff, you’re wrong” but years later now says, “Jeff, you’re right.” So when did Ken see the light? What got him to embrace Online? Come find out in EP024 of The Church Digital Podcast! COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Before my wife and I got married, we were praying about becoming missionaries. Challenges like learning new languages, adapting to new cultures and new food came to mind. We quickly realized that we would be on separate hemispheres from our collective families. And while God didn’t call my wife and I to move to another continent 20+ years ago, we’ve eventually become a missionary in a different context… In EP023, we dig in with Tom Pounder, Online Pastor at New Life Christian Church and creator of Digital Bootcamp on Facebook, not only into the question of what is a “digital disciple”, but also, how can we create one? Can we create a disciple who can utilize online tools to create other disciples? Can we reach into the sub-cultures found on the Internet to meet new people who need Jesus in their lives? I don’t know that this podcast answers all the questions… but we certainly start the conversation with you on how your church can utilize Church Online to disciple Digital Missionaries. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I love hearing stories from people who have been impacted by Church Online. Sometimes it feels like the stuffy shirts and the academics argue about what “church” can and can’t be, meanwhile normal people are just doing it. Thus the point of this week’s podcast. Linda has been leading online small groups for about three years now. While we’ve been sitting around whether Church Online is legitimate on this podcast, Linda’s been busy creating Biblical Community each week, Online. Oh, did I mention that Linda is MY MOM? Proud of LINDA REED (my mom) here, and how she’s adapted to online environments to create lasting, discipleship-oriented relationships. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

The challenge before Church Online is that it is guilty of being church in isolation, allowing people to abandon biblical communities. These views are often short-sighted, not realizing that technology is capable of allowing biblical community to still happen using digital platforms, but larger than that Church Online is capable of creating communities. Potentially leaving one community to start another physical community utilizing Church Online. This is the conversation of today. Enter Danielle Hicks, Watch Party Pastor at Elevation Church. Elevation utilizes Church Online to reach thousands and thousands of people. Their strategy doesn’t stop with just broadcasting the service, but challenging those listening to gather together in watch parties… to be missional with the broadcast and use the broadcast as a front door to… Well, tell you what, you’re just going to have to listen to find that out. Jump on in as we explore Elevation’s Watch Parties. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We’ve talked a lot about Church Online and the potential power that it has to be a strategic force for the church. Today’s church online has many obstacles to overcome. Arguably, in today’s culture, so does the church. The church has an opportunity to create a new ministry model tapping into some biblical truths. After all, there’s nothing new under the sun, right? The issues of today’s Church Online, and largely the Church overall, were written a couple thousand years ago in the Bible. Create Disciples. How do we do this today? Enter Austin Ridge’s Discipleship Pastor, Jeff Moore, as we explore Austin Ridge’s strategy for disciple-making. With Women’s Ministry, Men’s Ministry, Life Groups, Classes… Austin Ridge has a lot going on all the time, but how does disciple-making stand out among the other things? Join us as we dive into the Strategy of Discipleship. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We’re in Week 3 of this deep dive into the Online Ministry at First Capital Christian Church. Church Anywhere, as it’s called, utilizes its Church Online broadcasts as a way to cluster people together into communities and disciple their members and attenders away from just consuming content towards literally “being” the church in the community. Honestly, is this not the biggest challenge facing the church today? How do we move our attenders away from being consumers and get them to the place where they are disciples who are capable creating other disciples? To that end, we set up this conversation, inviting Tyler Samson back to the podcast. Tyler’s no stranger to THE CHURCH DIGITAL PODCAST (see Episode 017: Stories from Church Anywhere & Episode 018: Randy Kirk, Church Anywhere, & Not My Kingdom) but we added to the Podcast, Jared Kirkwood, one of the Pastors at Mariners Church, as well as, the Pastor overseeing Rooted. Rooted (experiencerooted.com) is a highly effective discipleship material that helps create disciples who in turn are capable of creating disciples… ironically, Rooted is the discipleship material First Capital Christian uses as their discipleship pathway, which made for a fascinating conversation not only on how to make a disciple online, but how to make a disciple in general. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

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The world is changing. It’s time for the church to as well. Like it or not, we’re moving into a post-christian society. As a church, we can lament what was, or we can adjust our strategy to better work with the world around us. Church, this digital disruption we’re experiencing is a huge opportunity for us to reach beyond our walls digitally and start assisting people in their personal mission to reach their coworkers for Christ. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Here's my question: "Can 'church' work in virtual reality?" To be honest, I (Jeff) went in a skeptic.  To find out the truth, we interviewed DJ Soto, the first Church Planter in Virtual Reality, for a conversation on the theology of Virtual Reality. Midway thru the interview, I realized that this was completely the wrong question to be asking. God moves in virtual reality, and DJ's got the stories... the testimonies... to show it! So, seriously, how can Virtual Reality create disciples? Listen to the interview and find out. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Love video games? Love discipleship? Sharing your faith? Thinking outside the box? This is your episode. Until Jate Earhart, I (Jeff) don't think I've ever seen the words "discipleship" and "video game" in a sentence together. Jate, in his 20s, runs a video game ministry called Love Clan that disciples those involved to share their faith, encouraging those engaged to not only evangelize, but to disciple, on-going relationships for Christ. Powerful stuff right? My favorite part of the episode is talking innovation. While Jate works at a church, his ministry is not directly supported or run by a church. There's no master plan. No funding. No directive. This is a story of a man who is passionate about video games, and Jesus, and wants to bridge them together. Honestly I never thought God could use video games for His glory. After this episode I see how that limits God. Come. Learn. Be encouraged. And ask yourself what are you passionate about that God can use? SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

You've been broadcasting your church services for a while now, but for one reason or another you feel stuck. How do you improve quality? How do you increase engagement? How do expand your reach? In this episode of The Church Digital Podcast, Jeff is joined by Steve Kaminsky from Portable Church Industries as well as Paul Martel & Collin Jones from Living As One discuss in greater detail the production details involved in improving the church's live video broadcast each week. Complete with philosophy, techniques, and practical examples, this is an episode you won't want to miss. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

As we've discussed, there's more to Church Online than broadcasting services online, but broadcasting services is a necessary piece. And while technology has become simpler in recent years, most churches out there have no place to start. In this episode of The Church Digital Podcast, Jeff and guest Steve Kaminsky from Portable Church Industries review many of the top technologies for small and medium size churches to begin broadcasting services online. ACCESS SHOW NOTES AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Plenty of people can see the positives of Church Online, and how Church Online can complement their church's ministry at physical campuses. Some can see of Church Online can even expand their church's influence to disciple a whole new group of people. But while many see the positives, many do not. In 2019, most churches do not have a purpose, or see the why, behind Church Online. We've discussed this in the past: some of Pastors may have theological issues, while others may have practical concerns, with Church Online. Both theological and practical concerns are understandable, but need to be addressed. And that's where we come in. It's up to us to have these conversations. But where do we get started? In this episode, Eric Geiger, Lead Pastor at Mariner's Church in California, explains to us what high-level leaders are looking for and how we can give high level leaders the information they need to make decisions on issues like Church Online. SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What started as a simple podcast with the goal of a strategic conversation on Omnichannel Communication and Unified Commerce quickly went another (and far more interesting) direction. On the podcast Eric Geiger, Lead Pastor at Mariners Church, transitioned quickly to the theological role of Ekklesia biblically, and some of the perceived challenges that Church Online faces. A fascinating insight from one of the Church's thought leaders, this podcast is definitely not one to be missed. ACCESS SHOW NOTES AT THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

The strength of Online Technology (and Church Online) is in our ability to communicate. But are we communicating effectively?  Throughout the service portion of Church Online there are several key positions that communicate volumes to the audience: 1) Teaching Pastor, 2) On-Screen Host, and 3) Chat Hosts. All three positions have VITAL communication that Church Online needs to know in order to effectively help attenders be discipled. Listen to the podcast as Jeff and Ben Stapley, Weekend Experience Director at Christ Fellowship Miami discusses some tips and tricks for these position to best communicate to Church Online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The number one argument we hear about why Church Online isn't Church is that it causes the abandonment of Ekklesia, the gathering together of Church. But what if Church Online isn't the abandoning of Ekklesia... what if it's the birthing of Ekklesia. On the podcast today Kevin Lee, Online Small Groups Pastor at Saddleback, talks about the training Saddleback does for their online volunteers to create Ekklesia opportunities in micro-locations. Communion? Baptism? Pastoral Care? Find out how these biblical ordinances can exist through Church Online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

 What does it mean to disciple someone Online? Let's back up and ask another question first... what does it mean to disciple someone? In this Episode we talk with Westside Family Church's Global Innovations Pastor, Jason Morris, in what is one of the most biblically refreshing podcast conversations we've had to date. Westside Family is an incredibly innovative church, but in ways that will certainly surprise you. Through the episode, Jason, Jeff, and Rey will talk about what a Discipleship Pathway is, how it's implemented at Westside Family, and how you can begin to implement one at your church. Remember, online can complement the physical (as well as the physical complement the online). COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What exactly does an Online Pastor do? This episode explores in greater detail the life and ministry of Online Pastors, people who wrestle with pastoring, shepherding people in different spaces. The skills to properly manage a fully-functioning Church Online is broad... but the goal of an Online Pastor is not creating a church sub-culture for Online, but inviting the entire church to benefit from the Church Service, from Discipleship Online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I (Jeff) first heard of Church Anywhere about a year ago, meeting Tyler on Facebook. I immediately fell in love with his Church. First Capital Christian is many things. Big is not one of them. Cordon, Indiana is a town of about 3000 people, yet the church is reaching 800-900 a week in "an old building on the wrong side of town". Almost 30% of the town attends church. Scary stat right there... How did this happen? According to Tyler Sansom, a digital strategy empowering people with the Gospel through Church Online. First Capital has launched 14 different micro-locations within two hours of their campus, and in the process is discipling leaders with the Gospel to impact their city for Christ. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL Interested in a firsthand experience of Church Anywhere? First Capital Christian is doing one of the first CHURCH ONLINE conferences ever. More information at CHURCHONLINE.ME - By the way, Jeff will be one of the keynote speakers at the Conference! So come out and show some support.

Can Biblical Community exist in Church Online? We sit down with Jay Kranda, Online Pastor at Saddleback, and asked him that question. He may be a little biased, as Saddleback currently has over 2400 Online Groups meeting regularly meeting is both digital and physical spaces. We had some really interesting dialogue discussing everything from Online Groups meeting in homes, following church leadership while leading your area, working alongside other ministries, and why Lebron James is the GOAT. Well, maybe not the Lebron part. Saddleback didn't always have it together. They've learned along the way, asking many of the questions you're asking right now. Through wisdom, but also through time and experimenting, they've found the beginning of the formula. In this podcast we'll explore what Saddleback is learning in this process, and talk through takeaways for your church. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

There's no way around it... Church Online is a new concept. With the newness comes uneasiness and doubt, especially from people carrying organizational responsibility. How is this going to hurt attendance? Giving? Things right now are good with our church. Are we sure we want to try a massive paradigm shift like Church Online can be? To that end, Rey and I got together and compiled a simple list. Six Things We Wish Pastors Knew About Church Online. Maybe you want to take notes and have this conversation with them. Maybe you want to do the subtle copy/paste, and send this podcast to your pastor. Either way, this podcast is meant to help you start the conversation with your church on the effectiveness of a healthy Church Online. COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Welcome to The Church Digital Podcast! We'll be hosting an ongoing dialogue here on Church Online, sharing stories and challenges surrounding doing ministry in digital spaces.  What is the strength of Church Online? What the Church today perceives at its strength may not be the best use case. Meet Jeff & Rey and join in the conversation as they explore the positive uses for Church Online in your church. The strength of Church Online isn't the big, it's the small. It's not the masses, it's the individual.  COMPLETE SHOW NOTES AVAILABLE ON THECHURCH.DIGITAL