The Church Digital Podcast

Why is a digital church perceived to be so threatening to a physical church? Rather than see a digital church as complementary to what’s happening physically, a digital church is seen in competition, as if the Gospel means less digitally than physically. Reality is we see today that these digital churches are reaching a different type of person than physical churches are reaching. These digital churches are not in competition, they are completing our call in making disciples… just using different methods. Which gets us into this podcast episode. We’re bringing in Dr. John Harris, Lead Pastor of a Digital Church called Hearts Like His, hitting a plethora of digital church topics. Don’t sleep on the “race & the digital church” question, either. Interested or thinking about planting a digital church? You’re going to love this conversation. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

So what's going on at THECHURCH.DIGITAL? What's this big announcement? Jump on this podcast to get the news first-ish... and find out how THECHURCH.DIGITAL is moving towards helping churches like yours with practical, grounded insight & tips. Once you check out the podcast swing over to http://thechurch.digital/sidekick

We often talk, here on the podcast, about the idea of churches doing multiple strategies. At Stadia, we call it multimodal churches. Instead of running one approach, a multimodal church runs multiple modes, multiple strategies of church. Rather than simplifying approach, in this mid/post-COVID season, it’s not good to put the proverbial eggs in one basket. Instead, church, we need to diversify our approach and run multiple strategies. This begins to pull the thread on the conversation today. Jason Morris, Westside Family’s Global Innovation Pastor, is a regular here on the podcast, but thanks to a role shift and an adjusted mission/vision at Westside, Jason responsibilities now include launching a micro-location strategy, as well as, digital. So, what’s the plan? What’s the benefit? Let’s dig in yet again with Jason Morris and explore Westside Family’s A2 Communities. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The idea of a digital missionary may seem almost foreign to some. Can we really empower people to be on-mission digitally? What is that process to get people on-mission? This just scratches the surface when I sit down with Tom Pounder and talk about what a Digital Missionary is, and what they can be… Ready to think outside the box? Talk crazy? Let’s go. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

It is amazing to me how controversial the words “digital” and “discipleship” are, especially when they’re in the same sentence. The truth is that these devices in our pocket can go a long way to bring us closer to God. In season two, we’re continuing to highlight those that are doing innovative things and thinking outside the box, so let’s talk crazy on digital discipleship. This is the heart of the conversation today. We’re bringing in Tyler Sansom, Lead Pastor of Church Anywhere, to learn how they’re discipling people via their mobile app! Whether standalone, or in conjuncture with a physical discipleship system, digital discipleship has huge potential to help your church create disciple-makers. So let’s dig in with Tyler Sansom and talk through Digital Discipleship via a mobile app. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Fun stat. 49% of Church Budgets, Pre-COVID, went to salaries. Payroll. Almost 1/2 of every dollar given went to pay an employee. (Almost 25% went to pay for the building, but that’s another conversation). There’s a movement as of late. Are you seeing it? People are stepping back from paid church staff positions, but still doing ministry either through the church or moving to doing ministry more in the workplace. This bi-vocational/co-vocational mindset is anything but new, however during this mid/post-COVID season, we are seeing a surge in this mindset. So what does it mean to be bi-vocational? Co-vocational? How does this affect how we do ministry? Does being bi-vocational limit or enhance how we do ministry? This may not be new thinking, but for many, this is crazy thinking… so let’s talk crazy with Sam Chacko, Lead Pastor of Loft City Church and Bi-vocational minister. Sam’s got the insight to what bi-vocational and co-vocational means, and how it could influence your church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Thanks to the global pandemic, churches around the world have made leaps and bounds, digitally. Even, as aggressive as, the church has been in forging new digital and phygital (tm) strategies, let me tell you some terms they’re not yet taking seriously: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning. The future of not only church, but tech in general, is centered around this idea of personalization. Using data openly available to craft messages, training, and discipleship specifically for individuals. I know what you’re thinking. “Data is so boring.” But data coupled with some AI and Machine Learning? Groundbreaking potential as we tailor our teachings and resources specifically for the people. Artificial Intelligence. Machine Learning. It’s not The Matrix quite yet. Let’s learn how these things can be used to the church’s advantage. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Season Two is upon us. As we’re launching this next season at THECHURCH.DIGITAL, we are telling the story of the innovators, the out of the box thinkers, the crazies… and celebrating what God is doing though them! First on the list, Theo Davis, Digital Pastor at Restore Church, who is doing an experiment of an online bible study through Minecraft. I’ll be honest, I know very little about Minecraft. My kids, however, know a bunch. How is Theo using Minecraft to engage a different community? What does engagement look like? What’s the long-term plan? This is what I want to know! So join me as we scratch the surface of what a Minecraft church “could” eventually be, here on Season 2 of The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Trying to take your small groups to the next level, digitally? Get some quick tips on how to lead and engage digital groups better using some quick and proven methods. How can BETA Show help your groups this week? Tune in and find out! BTW, this week is The BETA Show’s last episode, as the all new Season 2 is debuting Monday, September 13th. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Whether you do ministry in an established church, or looking to start something new, in this mid/post-COVID world our churches need to think “digital” first. Let’s talk through three reasons why your church still needs to think digital first. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Wanting to plant a church? In this mid/post-COVID culture we live in, there are many complications when it comes to doing physical ministry, much less starting physical ministry from scratch. At this point, every church plant needs to embrace “Phygital” in their church. How can your church plant be Phygital? Many different paths here to integrate digital into your church’s strategy. Let’s explore some options here, and give church planters some practical next steps, here on the BETA Show. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Looking to take that next step in your digital ministry? Recognize that Digital Community is not located by physical boundaries, which leads to new guardrails defining Community. In many cases, for phygital/digital-only churches, AFFINITY is the new VICINITY. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I was in Nashville last week, and had an incredible experience (over a cup of decent coffee) that brought me some insight on Digital Ministry. What did I learn here? Let’s talk about what Waffle House taught me about Church Online. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We’ve got all these people, digitally? What are we supposed to do with them? If our churches really expect to exist digitally, then we need to be comfortable discipling people in digital space. What does a digital discipleship pathway look like? And how does a digital discipleship pathway operate compared to a physical discipleship pathway? Let’s start getting practical here on the BETA SHOW. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We get this a lot these days. Coming out of the COVID season many churches are trying to push back towards a physical-only process, while ignoring many of the lessons and principles that were learned during the pandemic... or leadership wants to still emphasize digital, but is putting all time, energy and resources into physical and ignoring digital? As people who are passionate about digital ministry, yet are seeing digital devalued, what are we to do? How do we handle situations when our vision does not align with leadership? Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

What does it look like to staff a church to have a phygital impact? Let’s kick around some staffing concepts to maximize your staffing structure for physical + digital ministry. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

As churches are rushing to get back to the building, let’s stop... pause... and ask the question: “Do we really need a building?” Can a church “be the church” without a building? The early church was many things... can we do these things digitally? Let’s dig into the Digital Ecclesiology of a Social Media Church. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Is your church wrestling with Phygital? Trying to figure out if hybrid is for your church? What does our mindset need to be? Learn the foundational characteristics that will help your church thrive, grow and multiply PHYGITALLY. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The idea of digital-only churches... churches without physical footprints, are not new by any stretch. As a matter of fact, there are healthy examples of digital-only churches not only here in America but around the world! But practically speaking, who are they and how do they work? Here are some key examples of digital-only churches highlighting how they are digital churches within the specific contexts of their digital community. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Pastor, you’ve got an incredible responsibility to create disciples. Why not use every tool available to make that happen? Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Stadia is championing a new word here. PHYGITAL was so much fun, let's talk MULTIMODAL, multiple models of church... in this new, post-COVID culture we live in, it is going to be so important for churches to develop multiple strategies, moving beyond just the physical building. Let's talk three reasons why your church needs to diversify it's ministry... three reasons why your church needs to go multimodal. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Are our physical services effective? Typically, we measure butts in seats to get that number. Did more people come this week than last week? You’re heading in the right direction. In most situations, butts in seats is a horrible analytic. That being said, it’s necessary… but there are others! What are we looking at? What stats should we be looking at and how do we measure them? This is where we bring in the experts. RESI has been helping stream church services for years, and they’ve gotten quite good at helping churches measure and process analytics! So jump in the conversation with Collin Jones and Jennifer Miles from Resi, and let’s figure out how we should be measuring the analytics of our church services online. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

In this new, Post-COVID society, the role of Digital Pastor is becoming more and more complicated. How do you push digital when so much pressure is going back to physical? This is the heart of the conversation with Brandon Arndt. Brandon is new in his role, having recently become the Digital Pastor at Christ Fellowship Miami as Rey De Armas transitioned out of his role recently. To celebrate the occasion, we take a trip down memory lane discussing everything from mentoring to Post-COVID culture to the first days being a Digital Pastor. All this and more on The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

As a general rule, it’s tough being a Pastor. This COVID season has been tough on the church. As a result, a number of churches are shutting down… also concerning, a number of Pastors are resigning. And while burnout or deconstructing faith is relevant in the life of ministry in 2021, there are others that are reframing their calling. THECHURCH.DIGITAL’s own Rey De Armas is on a similar journey. Recently resigning from his full-time church staff position, Rey is not walking away from ministry… instead he is walking towards a greater mission field than he’s experienced in his church staff career. So join Jeff & Rey as we go into greater detail talking about what exactly Rey’s been doing these days. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

There’s a disruption happening within the Church, and it honestly has very little to do with technology. As churches are re-opening their physical doors with mixed results, some pioneers are disrupting the church scene, launch Digital-Only, Location-Independent Churches. Are you a disruptor in the making? Here are five reasons you may be a digital church planter in the making. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Potentially, what can separate a Physical Church from a Digital-Only Church? The ability to disciple people to the point of getting them on-mission… to help them discover their personal mission? This is why I see a similarity between Microchurch Movements and Digital-Only Churches… because we have the opportunity to relationally scale digital to the place of helping find their personal mission. But how do we do that in the Microchurch space? Enter Rob Wegner, one of the leaders of Kansas City Underground and co-author of The Starfish and The Spirit, Rob has experience discipling, equipping and releasing people on Personal Mission across Kansas City. Let’s lean in and learn what it looks like in Micro, and figure out how to apply this digitally. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

“Jeff, we’re just too small of a church to take advantage of what Digital has to offer.” Many pastors have shared this perspective with me, but their logic is fundamentally flawed. The small church’s perceived weakness is actually their strength, the reason why they can be successfully digitally. Can a small church be successful digitally? Absolutely! Let’s talk about how. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

75% of the people I talk with, who are interested in planting a Digital-Only Church, are interested in being bi-vocational or co-vocational. They’re not looking to give up their full-time job to do ministry, instead they’re wanting to do ministry alongside (or even through) their job. So I set out to better understand the heart behind co-vocational ministry. Having spent 15 years on various church staffs, I can honestly say I don’t have a solid perspective, and my learning accelerated quickly talking to Steve Pike. Steve, author of Next Wave: Developing the 21st Century Church. Steve starts talking about five different funding models for the Church. Tithes/Offerings is just one model… Bi-Vocational is another… Can the Post-COVID Church find other ways beyond tithes and offerings? Let the learning begin! Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

As social distancing relaxes, and churches re-open their buildings, what lessons have we learned from these digital-only churches? These ecclesia's without a physical footprint? Are these culturally valid? Biblically solid? Come learn why Digital-Only Churches are necessary, and what this means to you. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

There are lots of solutions out there for digital churches.  In my opinion, none of them is a game changer like Altar Live. The biggest problem in all of church online is how do we get people to stop “watching church is isolation.” In this COVID season, Altar Live grabbed the bull by the horns and solved that problem in a big way… oh, and along the way they solved some of your church’s online small group problems too. Looking for a solution to take your Digital Church deeper? Get people out of experiencing “church in isolation.” Check out this podcast with Altar Live. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Masks are finally loosening up. Social Distancing guidelines are weakening. Yay! It’s time for physical church again!!! Let’s not forget the lessons of phygital, though. Here are seven reasons why your church STILL needs to be a Phygital Church. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

If you are reading this, if you are connected somehow to THECHURCH.DIGITAL, then you probably realize this already. If not, let me tell you… you are more than a techie. In my own life, I’ve wrestled with this. And in our physical, phygital, digital-only, multimodal churches we as techies come to this place where we realize we are more than button pushers. I think this is what makes this conversation with Curtis so interesting. Starting out as a Creative, growing to a Techie… Curtis discovered God was leading him along a different path than what he was planning… God was developing the heart of a shepherd. As Curtis shows us, when God moves our heart from tech to shepherd, we discover more of who He is… showing us where we are not aligned. Our desire, the necessity, for our physical and digital churches to be multicultural comes out of this heart… Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Is it gambling or is it the future? Get a better understanding of what Cryptocurrency is, and how your church can benefit from it. Join Jeff, Rey, and Dunham + Co’s Nils Smith talking cryptocurrency and the church. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

There are some that consider Video Gamers to be one of the largest unreached people groups on the planet. While it can be discussed that Gamers may not officially be a people group, we can wholeheartedly agree that Gamers need Jesus. And that’s the heart of Pastor Souzy. Lead Pastor of God Squad, Pastor Souzy has grown his digital-only church by reaching, shepherding and discipling Gamers. Using Twitch Streams and Discord Communities, God Squad probably looks nothing like your church, but that’s not a bad thing. So let’s learn something. Let’s learn about Twitch, about Streaming, about Video Game Culture. Let’s learn the mindset about video gamers, and how we can use digital to be the church of video gamers. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

2016 we were doing Kids Church Online at Christ Fellowship Miami. What a crazy idea! Well, the idea was certainly before it’s time, and Kids Online was shut down less than six months after we started… Truthfully, the idea wasn’t bad. Just before it’s time. Christ Fellowship re-engaged the old playbook back when COVID started, made some adjustments and now have a phenomenal product aimed at connecting with Kids Online. So jump on while we revisit the past and talk a bit about what the future of Kid Min could be… and how you can get started… here on the Beta Show. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

The Church Planting Textbook for the Modern Era has been released. Peyton Jones’ Church Plantology is out, and with it comes years of insight and experience wrapped up as a readable resource. But what does this mean for digital only expressions? Peyton and I (Jeff) were hanging out in a RCA (Reformed Church in America) webinar the day before this recording having a fun conversation centered around digital church planting… so much so we ended up doing a whole other conversation on this podcast centered around the impact and effectiveness of digital church planting. Thinking about planting a Physical/Phygital/Digital-Only Church? This is for you. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

How do we measure success? Are metrics important? Where is the Holy Spirit in a world where data is king? Look, we know the rules of engagement have changed. Nickels and noses may be solid metrics, but they can’t be the only metrics. And this really begins to scratch the surface. What are we, the church, actually trying to achieve here. Into the conversation, let’s bring Craig Whitney, VP of Planter Development at Stadia. Who better to speak to the effectiveness of churches than the leader of the group who is effectively training the next generation of pastors. Also in the conversation is Jared Roth, who is quickly becoming one of my (Jeff’s) favorite people. Why is Jared awesome? Well, you’re going to have to listen to the podcast and find out. Defining success, and more clarity around a multimodal church. All this here on The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I ran into Dave on Twitter, talking similarities between Micro-church and Digital-Only churches. But what started out as a digital/micro convo quickly got much larger talking about many other models of church. What lessons is Community Christian learning? What are they looking to get into next? What’s the minimal/essential ecclesiology that aligns biblically without limiting multiplication? At what point is Jeff going to launch a digital-only church through Community Christian? These are many of the questions we’re talking about here in the next episode of The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I thought I knew what to expect with Jared & Angie. Leading one of the largest (if not the largest) digital only expression of church in America, I was expecting the couple to fit the mold a digital pastor… what we see so often in our Phygital Churches. To be honest, Jared & Angie, and much of this conversation, was a complete surprise. There are people planting digital churches who see themselves as disruptors. They’re proud that they’re doing something different. They wear it as a badge of honor. I was half-expecting this from the Hughes. What I heard instead was a passion to reach and disciple people with any method possible. Their aggressive, go get it attitude speaks volumes. Their passion to connect with people using digital tools, incredible. The fact that the digital-only church didn’t exist until before COVID, and the fact that they themselves didn’t do digital ministry anywhere before COVID, shocking! Reality is they were broken vessels before God, and God rebuilt them in incredible ways influencing people with the Gospel literally around the planet. All this while working other full-time jobs outside of the church. Think you understand digital ministry? Interested in planting a digital-only church? You need to hear this conversation. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Our churches know what it looks like when God moves in a physical space, but maybe we’re so busy producing the digital elements that we miss what God is doing in front of us, digitally. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Founder of The First Impressions Conference, and one of the early Church Online guys, Greg is an expert in Church Guest Services, physical & digital. What are visitors looking for in digital church? Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

We talk often here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL about digital-only churches, interviewing these innovative pastors that run churches that exist in digital-only space. Stories like DJ Soto and Angela Craig certainly are inspiring. But, how do you get started in planting a Digital-Only church? Enter Stadia. We are passionate about planting multimodal (multiple models of) churches, even to the place of helping church planters start digital-only churches. Which brings us to this podcast where we talk with the first graduating class of digital-only church plants. What is it like to start a digital-only expression of church? What are the obstacles, celebrations, stories of these churches? Let’s find out as we interview Mark Lutz, Chestly Lunday, and Christopher Monroe talking planting digital only churches through Stadia. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

The Bible calls us to go and make disciples… no one questions that. How we define discipleship? While the church doesn’t challenge to make disciples, there are plenty of disagreements on what exactly a disciple is. Enter into the conversation Kevin Marsico, US Director of The Timothy Initiative. Used around the world, The Timothy Initiative is used to create disciples and plant churches physically and digitally… domestically and internationally. The Western Civilization Church is struggling, and the twenty-year decline has nothing to do with COVID. It’s time to look on church, on discipleship, differently… Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Let’s come to clarity. The Western church has done some things right over the years. That being said, there’s still a lot to learn. The mass accelerator of COVID changed all the rules, and as a result the church has more questions than answers, especially in the long-term usefulness of digital church. While some of the Western Church struggles with the long-term longevity of Phygital/Digital, the global church has had huge success with the digital church. Digital discipleship? Digital evangelism? Digital only expressions of church? Recently, I was told “Jeff, you know who’s really good at digital church? Every pastor in the Middle East. Because of persecution, it’s one of the few opportunities the Middle East has to grow the Church.” Dig into this episode of The Church Digital Podcast and discover what we can learn from the Global Church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

COVID accelerated culture, but how has this cultural shift influenced physical church services? Look beyond masks & social distancing and find opportunities to creatively connect in physical space. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

For the podcast here, Clivane has a unique perspective of church online. She’s Canadian (okay, that’s not unique). She’s a millennial (once again, not unique). She works at an Anglican Church (historically, not unique at all). But individually, we here at THECHURCH.DIGITAL are broadening perspectives here and looking to learn. What does digital community look like to a millennial? On-Mission? If evangelism is a dirty word to Millennials, then, what does the future of the Church look like? Where is GenZ in all this? These are just some of the topics we are hitting here, on The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

In the year 2021, Small Groups may becoming old hat. Crazy to think, right? How these smaller, church-based biblical communities operate has evolved over the years. But the core foundation of the strategy, loosely based on biblical principles, really hasn't changed since the 1980s... and just imagine with me how much culture has changed since the days when the mullet was popular? So, maybe we're just talking crazy here, what would happen if we blew up Small Groups and started from scratch? What could the 2021 version of church-based smaller communities look like? To be effective in this new culture, what needs to change? Complete Show Notes Available on THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Pre-COVID, One Community Church was a force to be reckoned with. Located in Plano, the multicultural church was highly effective utilizing physical ministry, but in the weeks leading up to COVID, there was an organizational tension that maybe the church needed to firm up its digital strategy. March 2020 confirmed the thought and the church quickly learned that it needed some help to develop that Phygital Strategy. Matt, as the staff person championed to help develop that strategy, reached out to Stadia Phygital for help. In the conversation here, Matt talks about the tensions observed and the lessons learned in transitioning a large, physical organization towards a phygital mindset… and why One Community Church will be a Phygital organization for the long-haul. Complete Show Notes Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Easter is right around the corner, and while “what is the experience going to be?” is a big question, equally important is, “how are we going to follow up?” That’s why BETA Show is talking with Text In Church’s Jeanette Yates, helping churches develop a strategy towards intentional follow up for Easter, including some freebies! Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

Can a church exist without a building? Sure. Hear stories how God is moving through digital-only, location-independent churches. Join Jeff and other digital-only church planters while they explain the ministry and celebrate the joys and the challenges of digital only churches. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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. Access Show Notes on THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I’m guilty of many things in life. I admit before you publicly that I occasionally overstate things to prove a point, but when I tell you here that there are multiple times in this conversation you can hear my head literally explode, well, that’s an overstatement too. What is not an overstatement is that Sam George challenged me in a way that no one ever has before. Sam George is a specialist of sorts, specifically on diasporatic movements. If Ekklesia is the gathering of God’s Church than Diaspora is the scattering of His Church. And, as Sam tells me, God moves in that scattering and in the subsequent regathering. We’re talking topics we don’t often hit on The Church Digital Podcast. Global Church. Multicultural Church. Persecution. Revival. Walking away from this conversation, I did have one thought come to mind. My view of the future digital church is too small and this conversation with Sam George just scratches the surface of the necessity of digital influence for tomorrow’s (and even today’s) church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

WandaVision has taken the world by storm. With it’s unique storytelling approach, are there lessons for we the church? Dive into this recording of a recent Clubhouse conversation. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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. Access Show Notes on THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Pre-COVID, very few churches were doing groups online. Now as a result of social distancing, churches had to onboard their groups very quickly to digital methods. Interestingly though, as we’re coming out of the COVID and getting back to the building, some churches report up to 90% of their groups are staying online. So, since our groups are staying Phygital, let’s talk about how to give our groups purpose. In a recent webinar I (Jeff) did with Gloo we talked specifically about strategies to get our groups on mission... multiplying... So many challenges for 2021’s church. So many opportunities for ministry not of large masses, but of smaller individuals. This is the heart behind this conversation to get our Phygital Groups to Multiply. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We call it The BETA Show. Of course we're going to experiment... Here with THECHURCH.DIGITAL we have been testing the waters with this new Clubhouse platform, and unlike most social media, this seems to be a great opportunity to physically dialogue, to actually talk, with people. So, we're moving The BETA Show over to Clubhouse occasionally to see how the engagement is over on Clubhouse. Why Clubhouse? Jeff did a recent livestream over on Facebook about the potential of Clubhouse. Not on the platform? Hit us up and we'll try to send over an invite! Android users, and people who can't make the conversation in real time... the majority of conversations will be recorded and made available via The Church Digital Podcast feed, so make sure you're subscribed to that. We'll also have show notes here on The Church Digital Blog. As we’re coming out of the COVID season and approaching the next normal, what is the role of digital? As we’re going back to our buildings, with hopes that eventually our people will return to the physical space, are there digital lessons that we should be bringing along? What many churches have yet to realize is that digital ministry is different than physical ministry. Many churches are just doing digitally what they do physically… these are oftentimes the churches that are reporting burnout among staff and zoom fatigue among attenders. So let’s pause here, and reflect… what is the difference between physical and digital? With a solid panel of pastors and ministry leaders recorded on Clubhouse, this is a great conversation with applications for your specific church! Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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. Access Show Notes on THECHURCH.DIGITAL

As stressful as the world is becoming in the 2020s, what is happening to our mental health? Okay, this may be a bit “off-brand” for THECHURCH.DIGITAL, but this issue is prevalent in our churches and our culture today, and we as a Church have to address mental health for what it is. Let’s address the stigmas and the misconceptions, and start to scratch the surface on the Church’s role in mental health. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We call it The BETA Show. Of course we're going to experiment... Here with THECHURCH.DIGITAL we have been testing the waters with this new Clubhouse platform, and unlike most social media, this seems to be a great opportunity to physically dialogue, to actually talk, with people. So, we're moving The BETA Show over to Clubhouse occasionally to see how the engagement is over on Clubhouse. Why Clubhouse? Jeff did a recent livestream over on Facebook about the potential of Clubhouse. Not on the platform? Hit us up and we'll try to send over an invite! Android users, and people who can't make the conversation in real time... the majority of conversations will be recorded and made available via The Church Digital Podcast feed, so make sure you're subscribed to that. We'll also have show notes here on The Church Digital Blog. Is your church thinking above the funnel? In past years, we treated the weekend service, the large gathering, as the front door of our church. Recently, though, some churches have been having success thinking above the funnel and connecting with people even before they get to that digital (or even physical) weekend service. What tools can we, the church, use to meet, engage and develop relationships with people digitally? This is the heart of the conversation. What are some practical ways your church can connect with people before they set foot in your physical and/or digital church service? BETA15 is here to answer that question. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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. Access Show Notes on THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I can remember a conversation I had with a Lead Pastor back in early 2019… “you know, there are probably only 20 people in the country who actually serve full-time as a digital pastor.” It has been fascinating to see how churches are pivoting to Digital as a result of COVID. Some churches are embracing the opportunity, even as far as moving people from other staff positions to lead, to champion the Digital opportunities within the church. To that end, we brought in a panel of new Digital Pastors, and talked about the transition to Digital and what the future of Digital looks like? What has their perspective been? What are the challenges? Who has their go-to supporters been? Do they actually like shepherding people digitally? Fascinating conversation focusing on today’s Digital transition and tomorrow’s Digital future. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Cough Cough, we’re 45ish days until Easter. How’s your communication plan? In this Mid/Post-COVID environment, it’s going to be important for our churches to market, to communicate externally, what’s happening at Easter. Developing that marketing strategy is essential, and we’re bringing in a specialists… David Uribe… to help your church develop an effective external marketing strategy. Through this plan and other free resources, Uribe Creative is helping your church thrive this easter season. Free Template to Build Your Easter Webpage Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

When COVID hit, the majority of churches did not have a digital strategy, at least in context of broadcasting services or making disciples online. March 2020 saw many churches scrambling to adopt digital strategies, sometimes taking the path of least resistance. Facebook Live, YouTube Live… these are great tools! But they are borrowed platforms. While they are easy and free, there ultimately is a “cost” to the church. What if Facebook, what if YouTube, were to say, “Churches can no longer use our services?” Would your digital strategy still exist? If our digital strategy is totally dependent on borrowed platforms, ultimately, that means that these platforms have the ability to control, to possibly limit or restrict, the voice of the church. Radical thought? Probably. Something we the church need to be concerned about? Definitely. Join in the podcast as Jeff and Rey talk with Collin Jones, President of Resi Media, in their conversation centering around Churches “owning” their platforms. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Butts in seats. Nickels and noses. Unfortunately, this is how the Church has historically gauged its success. COVID did many things, and thankfully the pandemic brought attention to the need of a new scoreboard for the Church. As we’re re-developing our strategy, how do we measure the success of our church? With a panel of Church Leaders from a Gigachurch all the way to a Church Plant, hopefully this conversation even starts a larger conversation at your specific church. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

Discipleship means a lot of things. At it’s core value, though, there are two different ideas: 1) Knowledge-Based and 2) Obedience-Based. Many churches operate in a knowledge-based system of discipleship. In fact, our buildings exist as the center of that knowledge. Come to the building and we can teach you more knowledge. Unfortunately, knowledge-based discipleship tends to move away from action. We as Christians have a cognitive understanding of what God has called us to, but we don’t do it. God calls us to make disciples. But many of us are too busy consuming a product instead of denying self and carrying the cross Christ gave us. This is where Obedience-Based Discipleship comes into play. This is why today’s podcast may be difficult to listen to… cause maybe our strategy for doing church, for making disciples, isn’t working and if we can figure out how to this digitally… So, let’s dig into some new ideas here. Maybe this is the new wineskin your church needs for 2021? Let’s explore what discipleship can look like, digitally. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Have you made it to Clubhouse yet? The new, up-and-coming Social Media Network has been taking the world by storm... well, a slow storm. The audio-only platform creates a phenomenal opportunity for people to engage in new ways. How can your church take advantage of Clubhouse? We’re bringing DJ Chuang into the conversation to talk about Clubhouse & the Church. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

Of course COVID caused a radical shift for churches. I think it’s important to notice that, even for the guys doing Online Ministry for years COVID brought a change. For this conversation, we’re bringing in Saddleback’s Online Campus Pastor, Jay Kranda. Jay’s been doing online ministry for a decade now, and over the years he’s seen lots of changes (including while under the pressure cooker of COVID.) How has ministry changed and how can we as digital pastors, church staff and volunteers manage the tension? Let’s find out. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We’ve been preaching and teaching to a camera for about a year now. What have we learned? How do we get more effective communicating to a digital audience? How do we get more comfortable with the lens? Are there better methods for our communication? Join Jeff, Rey, and Patrick Holden, Lead Pastor of NUVO Church as we pull these threads, and more, on this episode of the BETA SHOW. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

Research December 2020 tells us that 80% of people cold to Christ don’t care about our worship services, physical or digital. Event-based evangelism has been waning for years, and now COVID has effectively killed it off. While today’s large gathering church services do serve a purpose beyond evangelism, it’s important for churches to recognize that there are other ways we need to share Christ with those who are far from Him. Enter the Search Engine. 40% of people who are cold to Christ, when they have spiritual questions, will hit Google and try to find the answer. This incredible opportunity is entirely missed by churches today who do not understand simple processes in not only how to shape content to make it effective for online environments, but also how to utilize metadata and other descriptive fields to make the information more findable for searching. Part One of the Pastor Google Ongoing Series: We’re doing a deep dive into simple processes how to make YouTube the Evangelical Engine it has the potential to be. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Recently, celebrating its 25th Anniversary, DC Talk’s Jesus Freak revolutionized Christian Music back in 1995. Tonally ground-breaking in the day, it’s lyrics speak a radical, eerily relevant message to Christians in today’s COVID-saturated, race-intensified culture. Remember, relive and maybe even rediscover the album with a message 25 years in the making. Watch the Online Video Here.

It’s always a good podcast when Jason Morris is involved. Jason, along with being the Global Innovation Pastor at Westside Family, has been actively working with Stadia Church Planting in helping with the Phygital Cohorts we’ve been doing in 2020. It was in one of these passing Phygital conversations Jason mentioned to me that Westside Family was revamping their online micro-location strategy. As a passing thought, I asked Jason to jump on a call with me so I could hear how the church is developing their online/micro-location strategy. He brought Heidi Tompkins along, and this ended up mind-blowing, revolutionary conversation about how digital church is redefining discipleship, disciple-making, and evangelism in the church. So check out the episode here and let's dig into Westside Family’s Acts 2 Revolution. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

80 days and counting until Easter 2021 is upon us. If your church is like most, you’re currently avoiding thinking about the massive stress that is a Phygital Easter Service. It doesn’t have to be that way, and through the BETA SHOW we’re going to give you some practical insight today to help your church prepare for Easter 2021. With guest Ben Stapley we’re discussing in greater detail how to thrive this Easter both physically & digitally. Don’t avoid it. Embrace it. Learn how on the BETA SHOW. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

Stadia has group of churches we call the “Futurists”. These churches are focused on experimenting phygitally. Understanding the heart of disciple-making, what does it look like to multiply our churches physically, as well as, digitally? To most, the idea of a Virtual Reality Multisite Campus seems like a crazy idea. Do people really want to attend church in virtual reality? To answer this question, we’re bringing together a church currently doing physical and avatar (virtual reality) church every week. We’re also bringing in a church that is already successful in physical church, that is wanting to multiply their church into a virtual reality multisite campus. We’re bringing back Jason Poling, no stranger here to THECHURCH.DIGITAL podcast. Jason is Lead Pastor at Cornerstone Church up in the PNW, and his church is currently doing church services regularly in physical & VR. For the conversation, we’re also bringing in Josh Amstutz, Lead Pastor at Lakeland Church in Wisconsin, and some of the other staff at Lakeland. Their church is interested in experimenting with a Virtual Reality Multisite Campus, and this conversation with Jason is the first step in discovering practical steps for the journey to set up a multisite campus. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

One of the most under-utilized tools online, Facebook Groups allows for incredible engagement digitally. In this COVID season (and beyond), how can churches use Facebook Groups to build better relationships online? We’re asking three seasoned experts (Katie Allred, Jeanette Yates, and Julie Harris) this question live, answering your questions on how your church can better utilize Facebook Groups today. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW 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.

2020 huh. Painful doesn’t even start to describe. COVID brought a run of painful, culture changing events. The church, the country, the world may never be the same. Through the awkwardness of social distancing came the culture-shift of Phygital. Sure, business knew how to do phygital, but churches traditionally were slow to the concept. Well, mid-March was a time of reconciliation, as the majority of Churches were suddenly forced to move their ministry to digital, with mixed results. Along the way, THECHURCH.DIGITAL was running alongside churches, helping every opportunity we could. Through our 66+ episodes of The Church Digital Podcast and hundreds of blogs, we’re proud to see Churches embrace a Phygital mindset. So as painful as 2020 was, step back with me and let’s celebrate the Phygital year of 2020 by recapping the Top 6 The Church Digital Podcast Episodes of 2020. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Check your tech brains at the door for this conversation. We’re wrapping up 2020 not talking about anything tech as much as a core component of what a church multiplying movement actually looks like. Enter No Place Left, a Global Organic Church movement that is making a difference in the world, one disciple-maker at a time. Through their intentional (yet organic) approach NPL has a vision of being the church outside of physical buildings, equipping people to become disciple-makers. Learn more about the vision, strategy, and method to create disciple-makers who create churches until there’s no place left. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I love conversations with DJ Soto. DJ challenges me, regularly, and this conversation once again pushes the limits. As Lead Pastor of VR Church, DJ is stretching the boundaries of Avatar Church. Yes, Avatar Church. Here at The Church Digital Podcast, we talk Physical/Phygital church all the time. We talk Digital-Only Churches like Jate Earhart's Love Clan... now we really do a deep dive here talking about putting a church in the Virtual Reality world. Actually, VR Church is different than Digital-Only Churches as it deserves the separate category of Avatar Churches. Here on the Podcast with DJ, we’re talking Avatar Church, VR Church’s Christmas Services, and a bleeding edge church concept involving MMO video games like “Final Fantasy XIV”. Crazy, radical stuff. And. It. Just. Might. Work. Jump on the podcast here and be challenged in your concept of what church is, and how we can be the church digitally. It’s not time to recreate the church. It’s time to reimagine the church. By the way, Stadia Church Planting is looking for Church Planters who are interested in planting digital only churches and avatar churches. Is this you? Check out http://stadiachurchplanting.org/digital. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Christmastime is here. Time for love and cheer, and CHRISTMAS MOVIES. THERE ARE SO MANY CHRISTMAS MOVIES. Time to GEEK OUT about the greatness of CHRISTMAS MOVIES like Muppet Christmas Carol, Batman Returns, and Die Hard. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas Movie. Are you a geek? Do you love Christmas? Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? If "Yes", you will definitely want to watch the Unofficial Geek Ranking of Christmas Movies. Watch the Online Video Here.

It’s the most difficult part of Church Online. You’ll have hundreds, maybe thousands of viewers online. But who are these people? How can your church serve them spiritually? Church is more than that one-hour on Sunday. How can we get these people engaged in the rest of your church? The Connection Card can do it. You beg for those connection cards to get filled out... and unfortunately no matter what you do, people just don’t fill these online forms out. THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS! Just in time for those Christmas Services, join us as we discuss five better options than the connection card. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We've launched 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.

For most Online Ministry people, Twitch is probably not on your radar. For Jate Earhart, broadcasting has become a regular event. Jate streams on Twitch for hours a day, connecting/engaging/building relationships with people. And his digital church, Love Clan, is growing as a result. Who’s he reaching? Some of these stories are borderline unbelievable, but give testimony to the fact that to reach different people, we need to do different methods. Interested in planting a digital-only expression of church like Love Clan? Stadia Church Planting wants to talk to you. Check out http://stadiachurchplanting.org/digital for more info. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

Can you relate to this question by a church volunteer? “I talked my church leadership into trying a live, viewer-interactive service this Dec 20. I’m a volunteer tasked with creating the format; staff will execute logistics. How can I start small and set us up for hopeful success to build on?” Join us here as we talk about how to support a culture of iteration within the church. (Side note: LOVE that the volunteer is driving the innovation!) // Got questions on Online Ministry, text them to 484/324-8724. Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We've launched 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.

We got Episode 106 here and have brought in Professor Steve Lowe from Liberty University to have a great conversation around the theological implications of Church Online. Liberty is starting an online track where you can eventually get your MDiv with an emphasis in Online Ministry. We've also got Seminary student, Dan Tebo, joining us as we unpack what Liberty is doing to get into this space and the future of the theology of Church Online. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

2020 has been crazy, so we’re taking a break from trying to solve the world’s problems and instead focusing on more important things. THECHURCH.DIGITAL is giving you permission to start the holiday early and jump on with us while we debate holiday crises like “do we really want giblets in our gravy?” Join us to see the Ultimate Thanksgiving Smackdown. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL.

As church leaders in the midst of this COVID season, there are certainly questions on this whole Digital Church thing. Is this effective? Is it working? Chances are your church leadership thinks they have an idea of what’s happening. There are even “experts” like me to tell you what we think is happening. But has anyone actually taken the time to ask the actual people attending (or not attending) our online services? Enter Barna Research into the conversation. Barna & Stadia just partnered to release the largest report to date on Church Online usage to date... the report centers church attenders, church dropouts... people passionate (and not passionate) about Church Online. What are they receptive to? What are they looking for? Physical? Digital? Hybrid? Barna’s Report confirms some trends that we already understood, but also opened up a number of trends that I, for one, didn’t see coming. So for the conversation we’re bringing in Savannah Kimberlin from Barna to help us unpack what’s happening here, and help us get a grasp on the future of Hybrid Church. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had this conversation: “Leadership doesn’t understand. They’re wanting to play it safe. How do I get them to see things from my perspective?” COVID has certainly changed the rules. How can you help your church wrestle with bigger, bolder ideas? 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.

Remember back when churches met in large gatherings. Those physical services were so powerful, you could just feel the spirit of God moving across the room. It was always interesting to me that people received that feeling differently. Some people report a warmth. Others (including myself) often feel a chill. Has anyone experienced anything like this online? An odd conversation of sorts, how does the Holy Spirit show itself online? Or even physically? A really interesting conversation into what the Holy Spirit looks like in our different gatherings, physically & digitally. We’re bringing into the conversation a rich tapestry of ministry leaders for the conversation: two digital pastors, a creative/video editor and a live production guy... all to wrestle through this idea of how the Holy Spirit moves, digitally. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

It’s easy to feel underwater with this whole phygital thing. Physical strategy is one thing... now a digital strategy is complicating things greatly. Let’s look at some practical, small steps that can help your church get on top of this whole phygital approach. 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.

I love talking with people who get it. People that you don’t have to convince of a good idea. People that are usually already running down the road about the time you say “hey, look over there!” Jason has been another one of the COVID contacts that is changing the way he looks at Church. Jason is Lead Pastor of Cornerstone Church, and you can hear his story in the podcast, but I’m pretty sure Cornerstone is the only one (if not one of a few) churches that are doing services Physically (in buildings), Digitally (broadcasting video), and also Avatar (Virtual Reality Campus). That’s right. Jason is doing a three-fold ministry approach, hitting physical, digital, and avatar. Not bad for a small church. Jason tells lots of stories here, talking about the challenges of getting started in virtual reality, and the eventual ministry payoff. Incredible conversation with immediate application for churches brave enough to think outside the box. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

We got past Halloween. It's not even Turkey-time yet, and here in America we may not even know who the President is, but dang it, it's Christmas-time. Crank out the Christmas Playlist. Put on your favorite Christmas Sweater, and let's start to figure out how in the world we are doing Christmas in this mid/post-COVID 2020 season... Like the BETA SHOW? Check out more episodes here. Answering Your Questions: THE BETA SHOW We've launched 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.

We’ve talked a lot here about the idea of multiplying church, which can be difficult to understand sometimes since the idea of multiplication is so, well, rare in the US church world. Even pre-2020, we’re lucky if we’re growing, most likely we’re flatlining, or even trending down. Even now in the foreseeable post-COVID future we are trending away, where Barna predicts 20% of churches shut down in the next 18 months, the idea of church multiplication seems a distant memory. Or, maybe we’re just not doing it right? Have we overcomplicated the idea of church, and in the process designed something that actually prevented multiplication? Enter Ed Love, Director of Multiplication for the Wesleyan Church. Ed, and the Wesleyan Church, has been wrestling with this issue for a while, and several years back hit the scripture again to discover the Wesleyan Church’s “essential ecclesiology” for church multiplication. Healthy things multiply and through this essential ecclesiology from the Wesleyan Church, we’ve got an excellent blueprint towards Church as Platform, Microchurch, and even Digital Church Planting. What’s the ecclesiology look like? Dig into the conversation here, at The Church Digital Podcast. Complete Show Notes and Online Video Available at THECHURCH.DIGITAL

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