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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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message

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. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechurchdigital/message