The Sidekick Podcast

Being a Digital Missionary is not a new option for people. It has been around for a few years now and I have been talking about it for a while as well ( here , here , and here ). Tyler Sansom at Church Anywhere has been leading the charge of being a Digital Missionary by being one himself and encouraging others. Today Tyler joins me on the podcast to talk about what it looks like to be a digital m...

When the pandemic hit, most Churches and ministries were focused mainly on just creating online content. Quality was secondary. Now that we are over a year in, we can focus more on creating quality online experiences for our Churches and ministries. That is why Meagan Ranson is on the podcast today. Meagan has been working in Church Communications for over 15 years. She also works with Church Fuel...

It’s officially crunch time for Easter Prep. There is one month to go before one of the biggest ministry opportunities you have each year. Are you ready? Recently, Mark MacDonald, Ben Stapley and I hosted a “Critical Church Easter Prep” Clubhouse Room where we highlighted things your Church can be doing this Easter a month away. In this hour long conversation, Mark, Ben and Justin Nava share insig...

Social media is a beautiful train wreck. It’s amazing that you can connect with people from all over the world. But, it is also train wreck because in the blink of an eye you can go viral for all the wrong reasons. That is why there is so much potential and hope for us as ministers. The world is at war with each other. It’s a war of words. They use a variety social media platforms to attack each o...

Social media is ever changing. What was once useful and state of the art 2 years or even 2 months ago may not be useful today. For instance, Snapchat was once the new kid on the block with their Stories feature. And while Stories is very impactful today, there are other social features that are really taking hold these days. Enter TikTok and Clubhouse. TikTok has been around for a few years and it...

It’s time to stop messing around and start getting serious about preparing for Easter. Hopefully you are already planning and preparing but just in case you are not, today is your start date. Ben Stapley joins the podcast today to talk about this. He is the Weekend Experience Director at Christ Fellowship in Miami, Florida. Ben shares simple and effective steps you can be taking right now to...

When Covid hit and shut most everything down in March and April of 2020, many Churches were caught in a bind because they had not invested any money or equipment into streaming their Church services before. So many Churches had to scramble and figure things out on the fly. Christopher Wesley is a friend of mine and was tasked with figuring things out for his Parish. We talked about what they did t...

What I love about social media is that every year I discover new people that I learn from and follow. Then, what I like to do is to share them with you all. In fact, I take 6 people or groups and highlight them once a year, usually at the end of December or early January. To find out my lists from previous years you can just like the year ( 2016 , 2017 2018 , 2019  and 2020 ). While 2020 was...

Follow up from a ministry event is always important. And the great thing about it is that there are a variety of ways you can follow up with people after an event is over. One of the biggest events of the year for your Church or Ministry is Christmas. So how do you effectively follow up after Christmas services at your Church? That is why I have Jeanette Yates sharing with me today. She is th...

Creating student discipleship opportunities is a primary objective for Student Ministers. And while Christmas time is a festive and celebratory time of year, there are also plenty of discipleship opportunities you can have with students. To talk about student discipleship opportunities over Christmas is Cory Sullivan. We go over some very simple things student ministers can do and welcome you to s...

In the Bible it says, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT). That was really pushed to the limits in 2020. There has been so much emphasis on what went wrong in 2020 that it is hard to think about what being thankful in 2020. So, I called up and texted a bunch of my friends and asked them what they have to be thank...

We all know what a tough here 2020 has been. We don’t need to get into how much it has changed the world and people all over anymore. However, what do do need to get into is how can we help people finish the year strong. Especially students. With me today is Cory Sullivan and we are going to talk about how we, as ministers, can help students finish 2020 strong. We talk about 4 specific things stud...

Let’s face it, the world is not going to back to “normal”. At the time of this episode the pandemic has been going on for over 7 months and it doesn’t seem to be nearing an end anytime soon. And, even if it did end today, people will not go back to a “normal” life for quite some time. So how do you disciple others in this pandemic world so that they can grow spiritually and also disciple others. T...

Digital Discipleship can be done in a variety of ways. It doesn’t have to be done through just online groups. It can be done through text messaging and encouragement. Today Penn State Alum Steve Lutz joins the podcast to share about what he and his Church is doing through Front Yard Mission. Front Yard Mission is really assisted through Next Step  which helps people in your Church go through...

You social media community can be very diverse. But that doesn’t mean you have to confuse them with your social media posts. That is why Adam McLaughlin is back on the podcast today. Using his blog post, “ Your church’s social media strategy is confusing your community “, Adam and I discuss how you can work at clarifying your strategy on social media so that your community can be engaged more...

Student Ministry has changed over the years. Every decade has brought changes that have helped student ministers adapt and minister more effectively teenagers as they change. However, with all the tech advancements that have occurred that ministers have relied on to connect with students, when the coronavirus hit the world, an interesting thing happened. Students becomes less interested in connect...

Communicating Next Steps is really important to do in ministry. You want people to discover how they can take a next step in their faith whether they have been a believer for a long time or just a short while. And now, in this phygital world we are living in, it is even more important to effectively communicate what those steps are. To help me break it down on what that looks like is Rey De Armas....

Ministry has changed in 2020. One of the ways it has changed is that online has become a primary method of reaching and ministering. And while online gaming has been happening for years now, ministries have gone all in on ministering to others through video games. online gaming Steve Cullum is an avid gamer and has discovered some cool ways to use video games to minister to people. That is why he...

That is why I have Sly King on the podcast today. Sly King is in charge of Social Media and the Online Church at the Worship Center Christian Church and is actively looking for ways to engage people online through a variety of tools. We discuss some new ideas of how Churches and Ministries can maximize the digital content and experiences in this new normal. We are living in a new normal. Actually,...

Ads are really important to reach more people, especially in the area of COVID. And, for a while now, digital ads have been really valuable in the online world we are living in. But where can you advertise and how can use utilized them for your ministry purposes? That is why Joe Radosevich is joining me on the podcast. In today’s podcast, Joe, the Lead Pastor from Belgium Community Church in...

When COVID-19 happened, ministry changed instantaneously. That’s an understatement. But out of that, new things happened. I talked earlier about some lessons learned from doing ministry during a pandemic in my recent blog post . But, to talk about this more and to get more perspectives on what ministry lessons have been learned during this pandemic is Cory Sullivan. So what are you taking with you...

Video is so important in this digital world. Photography is very important as well. What communication tool that tends to get lost these days is writing. While not as popular these days, writing is a very effective tool to communicate your message to those you are trying to reach. And that is why Robert Carnes on the podcast. Robert is the author of “ The Original Storyteller ” devotional boo...

Content is king! You’ve heard that phrase numerous times. And, that is true and important. But, when a pandemic come into play it is very easy to produce so much content that you are giving people content fatigue. Too much of a good thing can be bad. Not only can you burn people out but you, the content creator, can burn out. So, how do you balance it all? That is why Meghan Howard is on the podca...

Discipleship is so important in ministry. It always has been important but now it has become a key emphasis in the Church and that is a great thing. So how do you train and equip disciples? And, how do you train and equip disciple makers so that they can make more disciples? That is why Stan Rodda is on the podcast with me today. Today we talk about how to train and equip disciple makers and...

Phygital is the combination of physical and digital. It’s used primarily as a marketing term but has come into play more since the coronavirus hit. Thanks to the coronavirus that combination has increased all the more as we are relying a lot more on digital tools. The thing is the world has changed and it is not going back. So how do you do ministry in this new phygital world? That is why I h...