The Church Digital Podcast

For the love of all, let’s focus on doing something other than the weekend service ! We’ve heard it time and time again, let’s do something different. Have you ever asked yourself why it’s so hard to do something different? Lee Coate, Executive Pastor at The Crossing Church, has figured out the formula for an experimental culture at a church, and sheds some insight on how to be a church that exper...

So, what you’re telling me is you met some people in virtual reality and now you want to fly across the country and meet them in person? What are you in, some kind of cult? Real live quote from the mother of one of our guests here. Nicole the Angel started attending Cornerstone VR, a virtual reality campus of Cornerstone Yuba City. Cornerstone Yuba City is a small church in NorCal, maybe about 200...

What challenges are you facing in Digital ministry? You’re definitely facing challenges. We all are! What’s fascinating to me, in this post-COVID culture we’re moving into, is that one church’s strength is another weakness, and vice-versa. Which really gets me to the heart of this podcast. Sprout Digital is in the midst of a five year Research Project, digging into the validity of Digital Church a...

So you want to be a missionary in Belize? Awesome. Learn the language. Understand the culture. Meet some people. Listen. Pray. And eventually talk about Jesus. There’s a playbook on how to be a missionary in a foreign land. And as you probably noticed very little of the playbook has anything to do with a church service. But how do we be a missionary in, oh I don’t know, the METAVERSE? Enter Pastor...

So happy the Facebook algorithm connected Steven Barr and I together. Being a Disney freak, I was sure Facebook connected us because of my obsession with all things Disney. Come to find out, though, there’s a lot more that connects Steven and I. Steven runs a church aimed at Disney Castmembers, the employees that run Disney World theme parks. Talk about out of the box thinking, I wanted to learn a...

Uberizing Church. Yeah, at this point we’re just making up words here. That’s a good thing, though, cause we get to define each word. Ulitmately, with each new word comes a new standard. Uberization of Church brings this idea of platforming a concept, crowdsourcing it, and releasing it to others. In many ways, it’s the opposite mindset than what we typically think in church today. It’s not control...

Zuckerberg did it. With the announcement of the new parent company, META, Zuckerberg has made Facebook extremely relevant as they announced their dreams for the METAVERSE. For those unaware, the metaverse comprises of virtual reality worlds, augmented reality, digital assets and physical space all isolated or seamlessly blended together in some sort of a mixed reality. Crazy? With Facebook $$$ you...

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 ch...

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...

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 Availab...

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 t...

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...

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. Us...

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...

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 . Compl...

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...

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...

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 mini...

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 Vid...

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