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/...
Dec 03, 2020•25 min
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 THECH...
Nov 30, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 106
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....
Nov 26, 2020•40 min
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 t...
Nov 23, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 105
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. ...
Nov 19, 2020•25 min
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 ...
Nov 16, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 104
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 p...
Nov 12, 2020•20 min
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 buildi...
Nov 09, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 103
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 he...
Nov 05, 2020•24 min
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 n...
Nov 02, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 102
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… an...
Oct 26, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 101
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 THEC...
Oct 22, 2020•23 min
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...
Oct 19, 2020•1 hr 38 min•Season 1Ep. 100
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 q...
Oct 15, 2020•17 min
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...
Oct 12, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 99
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...
Oct 08, 2020•14 min
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 pra...
Oct 05, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 98
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? T...
Oct 01, 2020•19 min
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 C...
Sep 28, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 97
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 ...
Sep 24, 2020•57 min•Season 1Ep. 96
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 ...
Sep 21, 2020•54 min•Season 1Ep. 95
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 member...
Sep 14, 2020•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 94
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 ...
Sep 08, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 93
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 ...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 92
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 ...
Aug 24, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 91
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 ...
Aug 17, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 90
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…...
Aug 10, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 89
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 churc...
Aug 03, 2020•47 min•Season 1Ep. 88
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 copyi...
Jul 27, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 87
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 giv...
Jul 20, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 86
