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