The Church Digital Podcast

Jeff Reed
  • 5.0 (19)
  • Christianity
  • Updated Weekly

Church Online is relatively new, and while many churches are broadcasting services online, few are developing a digital strategy using Church Online. What if your church looked at Church Online as a digital mission field? What if church online was used to create biblical community? For church planting? For launching multisite campuses? Can discipleship happen online? What if we used Church Online to make disciples, empowering them with Gospel to reach their family and friends? All of a sudden, Church Online isn't an afterthought. It's vital. This, and more, through The Church Digital Podcast.

  1. 4d ago

    EP378: TCD Fall Town Hall 2026

    What did the network tell theChurch.digital, and what did we build because of it? Town Hall 2026.4, theChurch.digital's fall Town Hall, live on YouTube and Twitch. Jeff Reed walks through the fall survey: who answered and where they minister, how they are really doing, who they talk to when digital ministry is discouraging, what would most move their ministry forward, and whether TCD's teaching is shaped too much by American assumptions. Then the launches, each answering something you said: Here I Am, One-to-One conversations with TCD's leaders (with a video from Jason Morris), Scattered, a study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church (with Flatcap), Cairn, TCD's Ai, and three ways to serve. Chaplain Stacy Knapp and Flatcap close in prayer. In Jeff's words: "You may be exiled, you may be scattered, but don't forget what you are is chosen." CHAPTERS 0:00 Pre-show 17:09 Welcome to Town Hall 2026.4 22:52 The survey: where you are 25:10 Who answered 27:27 The platforms you minister on 30:36 How you are really doing 33:37 Discipling people who don't know Jesus yet 35:50 What would move your ministry forward 38:19 When leadership limits digital ministry 39:29 Is TCD too American? 42:30 Who you talk to when it's discouraging 45:00 The riskiest thing in your context 46:43 What you wish TCD would do 52:11 Here I Am 56:05 One-to-One 59:25 Jason Morris on why One-to-One 1:02:24 Scattered: a study through 1 Peter 1:04:16 Why 1 Peter 1:06:58 Flatcap on Scattered 1:13:50 Cairn 1:20:18 Serve with us 1:25:07 Prayer with Stacy Knapp 1:31:15 Wrapping up The survey results: https://thechurch.digital/townhall/results/ Here I Am: https://thechurch.digital/hereiam/ Book a One-to-One: https://listen.thechurch.digital/ Scattered: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ Ask Cairn: https://thechurch.digital/cairn/ Serve with us: https://listen.thechurch.digital/serve This season: Scattered, one Bible study through 1 Peter for the whole digital church, at your own pace, with a short devotional every morning. Optional live sessions Tuesdays at 5:00 PM ET on Twitch: https://thechurch.digital/scattered/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/378

  2. Oct 1

    EP377: A Global View of Platforms as Places with Jason Morris

    What does it mean to treat a platform as a place? Jason Morris, theChurch.digital's equipping and mobilization director, had just taken his "Platforms as Places" talk to mission leaders at the Missio Nexus conference in Orlando. On Becoming theChurch.digital he tells Jeff Reed how the room responded, and walks through the four digital disruptions he landed on preparing it: consistency, proximity, permanency and immediacy. They talk about why consistency, not geography, is what builds culture now; what the gathering is actually for; why mission organizations should budget for platforms the way they do mission fields; Jesus as the church's chief technology officer; ministry without proximity, from Paul to 2 John 12; whether theChurch.digital feels too American; new AI tools for missionaries; and Jason's closing case for digital obedience: if you disciple someone digitally, make their obedience steps digital too. In Jason's words: "Jesus is our chief technology officer as he is building his church." CHAPTERS 0:00 Live by accident, and back from Missio Nexus 4:51 Four digital disruptions: consistency builds culture 11:38 Gather for what? 16:13 Platforms as places, on the Missio Nexus stage 24:21 Jesus as CTO 30:05 Joy without proximity, and 2 John 12 39:53 Too American? A survey and a WhatsApp ask 41:33 153 Collective and AI tools for missionaries 51:45 Digital obedience: prayer-walking a feed 56:34 After the show: why we're listening one-on-one His DMC session, Platforms as Places: Rethinking the Digital Map: https://youtu.be/_wqNF3cmWlU Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Online discipleship: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-discipleship/ Theology of digital church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/theology-of-digital-church/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/377

  3. Sep 30

    EP376: The Stream Ends. Then What? Arno Pretorius on Church That Keeps Going

    The stream ends. Then what? Arno Pretorius, founder of Kingdom Spaces (Next Is Faith) in South Africa, has spent two years and about 2,800 hours building an answer, largely on his own. On Becoming theChurch.digital he tells Jeff Reed what he found when he looked at how churches actually work week to week: not a lack of technology, but tools so fragmented that the Sunday gathering and the rest of the week feel like different churches. They talk about the person who has watched a church's YouTube thirty or fifty times and still isn't connected to anyone, why notes are the feature churches underestimate most, turning anonymous viewers into people who are known, the 250,000 hours of church content that go up every Sunday, why the church should own its own platforms, and what accountability looks like in a digital church. Arno's advice for a church whose stream ends with nothing after it: decide what the stream is for. Jeff's: if he led a church under a hundred people, he'd double down on digital. In Arno's words: "I would say success is if we can convert those anonymous people into people that are known." CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and next week's Town Hall 7:18 Meet Arno, and a call into digital ministry 14:09 What Kingdom Spaces is: one church, not two 18:02 Two years building alone, and a digital ark 20:21 What churches actually lack 24:24 The stream ends. Then what? 27:54 Notes: what churches underestimate most 33:21 Bad days, and how many AI agents 44:45 Success: from anonymous to known 50:46 250,000 hours of church every Sunday 54:19 Why the church should own its platforms 58:40 Coaching churches, and what accountability means 1:08:00 First advice: know why you stream 1:10:54 Small churches should double down on digital 1:17:10 Chat in the room and online 1:23:46 Closing: the gap between Sundays Kingdom Spaces: https://kingdom.online Follow: @kingdomspaces · @nextisfaith Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ Church online: https://thechurch.digital/guides/church-online/ --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. This season: The Listening Tour — less broadcasting at digital ministry, more listening to where it actually is. https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/376

  4. Sep 23

    EP375: Platforms as Nations: Dr. Sam Hayes on Digital Missiology

    Digital platforms now hold more sustained human gathering than the streets of most nations. So what happens when the church stops treating them as tools, and starts treating them as mission fields? This week on Becoming theChurch.digital, Jeff Reed sits down with Dr. Samuel L. Hayes Jr., author of Global Digital Missiology: A Framework for Christian Leadership in the Digital Age (ElevateInk Academic, 2026). THE BOOK Sam's book, with a foreword by Jeff Reed, gives digital ministry what it has mostly been missing: a missiology. Grounded in research with apostolic leaders across six continents, it lays out the Nine Processes of Global Digital Engagement - how to build the plan, develop the team, and execute the strategy - so digital mission is strategic rather than accidental. https://amzn.to/3T5Dxq1 WHAT WE'LL TALK ABOUT - Why platforms function like nations, and what "make disciples of all nations" means when a nation is a platform - The Nine Processes, and where most churches skip straight to posting - Stewarding physical-first churches through digital change, and unleashing digital-first ones - Who pastors and equips the digital missionary ABOUT SAM Dr. Samuel L. Hayes Jr. is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel who spent 25 years in Special Operations, enlisting as a private and retiring as an O-5. He is Co-International Director of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders, leads His Glory International Ministries, and teaches management and leadership — as adjunct assistant professor of management at Fayetteville State University and as doctoral chair for the school of business at Liberty University. He holds a Doctor of Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary, where his doctoral research first crossed paths with theChurch.digital, and lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina. https://www.samuelhayes.org https://kingdomstrategistpro.com --- Becoming theChurch.digital is the show for church leaders figuring out digital ministry in public. This season: The Listening Tour — less broadcasting at digital ministry, more listening to where it actually is. https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ https://thechurch.digital @bethechurchdigital CHAPTERS 0:00 Welcome, and remembering Steve Reed 6:16 A new fall season, and a partnership to pray for 8:39 Town Hall, October 7 9:28 Time zones, and the events calendar that fixes them 10:26 Meet Dr. Sam Hayes 12:50 Why write a five-year academic book on digital missiology 17:05 Writing for the seminaries that aren't listening yet 18:37 Platforms as places, platforms as nations 21:44 The mother, the gamer, and the bishop on Discord 24:50 The surprise in the data: every leader had a digital native 26:34 A person of peace inside the platform 27:32 APEST: digital pastors, digital apostles 29:40 Talking to a pastor who isn't sold 32:45 The shadow side: data extraction and vulnerable people 36:30 Vanity metrics, and a year spent earning a church's trust 37:15 A success story from Africa 42:50 Steve's story: the people group he already had 50:12 Three horizons for a physical church 55:17 Avatar churches, and who actually gets persecuted 59:36 Trained for one war, facing another 1:03:54 A Bible study coming: Peter, and a scattered church 1:05:35 What should a church not do digitally 1:09:50 All you need is a cell phone 1:10:59 Next week: Arno and Kingdom Online Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/375

  5. Sep 16

    EP374: The Listening Tour Begins: Platforms Are Places

    Episode 374 launches the Listening Tour. For the rest of 2026 Jeff Reed wants to stop broadcasting at digital ministry and start hearing from the people doing it, from Africa, Pakistan, India and Southern Asia to churches here in the U.S. theChurch.digital is rebuilding, money is tight, and he takes a line from a Kansas City microchurch leader as the rule for the season: don't create anything until you really need it. The big idea is platforms as places. Using digital to get people into a building is no longer radical in 2026. What still is: treating Twitch like Argentina and Discord like Paraguay, and equipping and sending missionaries into platforms the way an agency sends them into countries, because platforms have culture. Jeff also lays out a healthy church digital strategy, evangelism, discipleship, generosity and empowerment, and the long road of solving a church's problems before it trusts you with the ones you care about. Then it gets personal. The digital missionaries struggling most are the ones living inside a platform, facing persecution from Christians who say the church doesn't belong in virtual reality, and doing it alone. Jeff is candid that he was one of them: a year of depression and isolation, a season of pushing God away, and the moment he told a missionary who was praying for him that he didn't need more prayer. What brought him back was a question from his leadership, is this yours or is it God's, and the conviction that if God gets the successes, God gets the failures too. He closes with a word for anyone in the field who feels alone, and a preview of the Listening Tour guests: authors on digital missiology and theology, success stories, and people who are struggling and willing to say so. Full episode page — transcript, chapters, and the live chat alongside it: https://thechurch.digital/shows/becoming-thechurch-digital/ep374-platforms-are-places/ Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Caring for online pastors: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-pastor-care/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ The EDGE framework: https://thechurch.digital/guides/edge-framework/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Old lo-fi and a tired week 06:05 Launching the Listening Tour 08:15 Don't create it until it's needed 10:37 Wings with a global mission leader 13:37 Click-and-mortar churches 16:28 Platforms as places 20:29 You're not wrong, you're early 23:35 A healthy church digital strategy 28:02 Persecution from inside the church 32:53 Depression and doing what God asked 38:05 Apostles, shepherds and teachers 41:29 Nobody should do this alone 43:24 A year of isolation 46:25 Carrying the missionaries 49:52 God gets the failures too 51:15 Is this yours or God's? 53:51 What my family has carried 57:54 Still early: be encouraged 1:00:49 Next on the Listening Tour ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ JOIN THE FAM 💬 Discord — https://discord.thechurch.digital/ 📱 WhatsApp — https://whatsapp.thechurch.digital/ MORE FROM THECHURCH.DIGITAL 🌐 Website — https://thechurch.digital 📺 Subscribe — https://www.youtube.com/@bethechurchdigital FOLLOW Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/bethechurchdigital/ Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/bethechurchdigital ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ theChurch.digital exists to empower the rest of us to make disciples. Beyond the building. The great commission, but digital. #DigitalMinistry #DigitalMissionary #ChurchOnline #BecomingTheChurchDigital #DisciplesMaking #ChurchTech Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/374

  6. Sep 9

    EP373: GTA 6, Dating AI, and the Loneliest Job in Ministry

    Episode 373 opens with bad timing and good humor. Jeff booked a 2pm Wednesday stream and Apple scheduled its foldable iPhone announcement on top of it, on the same week a sprinkler repair cut the fiber to his house and left him offline for three days. It is a solo, unscripted hour from a ten-by-ten guest bedroom in Miami. The first real turn is GTA 6. Miami is renaming itself Vice City for the launch, and the new game lets players date a character powered by AI: texting, holding hands, planning dates. Jeff's line is that digital relationships can be just as damaging as physical ones, and that the church is quick to believe that and slow to believe digital can be restorative. Then the provocation: there needs to be mission work done in the GTAs of the world, the same way people are called to inner-city Miami. If someone wants to plant a church in GTA, he will sign on the dotted line. The title comes from a conversation with Dr. Sam Hayes about a fall conference Jeff has decided not to hold. What he senses instead is a moment for pastoral care: digital missionaries in a season of strife, frustration and persecution from inside and outside the church. He calls it probably the loneliest job in church ministry, and names how easy isolation has become, especially with AI doing more of the work. His answer is to give God the failures as well as the glory. The last third is a case study. A Miami church plant launching its mobile app the night of the stream, whose pastor trusted Jeff only after months of solving the problems he actually had, first production and then the unglamorous digital work. Now people arrive at the guest center because ChatGPT, Instagram or a blog sent them. His conviction for 2026: the number one thing you can do for a physical church is help it get people into the building using digital, with AI making work possible that no church that size could otherwise afford. Full episode page — transcript, chapters, and the live chat alongside it: https://thechurch.digital/shows/becoming-thechurch-digital/ep373-the-loneliest-job-in-ministry/ Going deeper: What is a digital missionary? https://thechurch.digital/guides/what-is-a-digital-missionary/ Caring for online pastors: https://thechurch.digital/guides/online-pastor-care/ Hybrid church: https://thechurch.digital/guides/hybrid-church/ AI for churches: https://thechurch.digital/guides/ai-for-churches/ CHAPTERS 00:00 A foldable iPhone and three days offline 09:55 Released, and what comes next 15:58 Miami becomes Vice City 17:06 Dating an AI in GTA 6 22:53 Mission work in the GTAs of the world 25:06 The loneliest job in ministry 29:51 Giving God the failures too 37:51 A year of earning one church's trust 48:55 Digital gets people in the building 51:46 Why AI makes it possible ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ JOIN THE FAM 💬 Discord — https://discord.thechurch.digital/ 📱 WhatsApp — https://whatsapp.thechurch.digital/ MORE FROM THECHURCH.DIGITAL 🌐 Website — https://thechurch.digital 📺 Subscribe — https://www.youtube.com/@bethechurchdigital FOLLOW Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/bethechurchdigital/ Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/bethechurchdigital ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ theChurch.digital exists to empower the rest of us to make disciples. Beyond the building. The great commission, but digital. #DigitalMinistry #DigitalMissionary #ChurchOnline #BecomingTheChurchDigital #DisciplesMaking #ChurchTech Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/373

  7. Sep 2

    EP372: Jeff is Not Dead Yet!

    After a year away, Jeff Reed is back behind the desk. Episode 372 is the first Becoming theChurch.digital in ten months — and Ecamm told him exactly how long it had been when he opened it: the last time he went live was December 2nd, for the Giving Tuesday stream. This one is less a teaching session than a homecoming, and it is unscripted in the way only a first stream back can be. He does not skip the hard part. Jeff talks openly about being released from a church role the week before, what that cost, and the conversation with a youth pastor in a Starbucks that happened to fall on the same afternoon. He calls it the unfiltered version, and it is — but it is not the point of the hour so much as the ground the rest of it stands on. The line the episode turns on is this: "You're not wrong. You're not weird. You're still early." Jeff's argument is that the people doing ministry in digital spaces are pioneers rather than oddities, paving a road where there isn't one — and that after years of being dismissed, a wave of early-adopting physical churches is finally willing to lean in. The room agreed in real time; you can read the chat alongside the transcript below. He gets concrete about what digital actually did. People who found a church through search, read a blog, walked in the front door, connected, served and gave — all inside twelve months. And what AI is doing now: seventeen SEO-oriented pages off every English sermon, a 250-person church carrying a thousand-page website, roughly 2.5 million words this year, with Jeff reading, proofing and editing behind all of it. Then the part he refuses to hand off. Jeff has sat in rooms with digital missionaries the wider church has never pastored — people who told him plainly that nobody else cares about what they are doing as much as he does. His conclusion is that where no one else is providing pastoral care and support, theChurch.digital has to. Bivocational, not slowing down, and openly looking for people to jump in. Full episode page — transcript, chapters, and the live chat alongside it: https://thechurch.digital/shows/becoming-thechurch-digital/ep372-jeff-is-not-dead-yet/ CHAPTERS 00:00 Back on the air 12:17 I'm not dead yet 19:37 What happened last week 24:02 You're not wrong, you're early 29:55 Sunday faith into a Monday-through-Saturday life 33:00 What the AI actually does for a 250-person church 45:00 EDGE, and why it takes time 45:51 Pastoral care for the pioneering crew 55:01 One family of sites, theChurch.digital first 1:04:22 Bivocational, and not slowing down ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ JOIN THE FAM 💬 Discord — https://discord.thechurch.digital/ 📱 WhatsApp — https://whatsapp.thechurch.digital/ MORE FROM THECHURCH.DIGITAL 🌐 Website — https://thechurch.digital 📺 Subscribe — https://www.youtube.com/@bethechurchdigital FOLLOW Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/bethechurchdigital/ Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/bethechurchdigital ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ theChurch.digital exists to empower the rest of us to make disciples. Beyond the building. The great commission, but digital. #DigitalMinistry #DigitalMissionary #ChurchOnline #BecomingTheChurchDigital #DisciplesMaking #ChurchTech Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/372

  8. Jan 14

    EP371: Jeff & Flatcap Talk TCD Streaming Network, Surgery, and Sabbath

    Jeff Reed is heading into surgery, and in true theChurch.digital fashion, he's not slowing down—he’s going live. In this unfiltered conversation, Jeff and Leighton talk about what’s really happening behind the scenes: the weight, the vision, and the spiritual war zone that comes with pioneering digital ministry. This isn't just about health. It’s about what’s next. Jeff drops the curtain on the upcoming TCD Streaming Network, a platform built to elevate digital missionaries and stream the future of church—no buildings required. If you've ever felt like you're building something no one understands, this conversation is for you. They’re calling out the status quo, amplifying the call to digital missions, and showing what it means to walk through pain with purpose. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to go all-in on digital discipleship—consider this it. Full notes, chat and shorts: https://thechurch.digital/371

See All (382)

5
out of 5
19 Ratings

About

Church Online is relatively new, and while many churches are broadcasting services online, few are developing a digital strategy using Church Online. What if your church looked at Church Online as a digital mission field? What if church online was used to create biblical community? For church planting? For launching multisite campuses? Can discipleship happen online? What if we used Church Online to make disciples, empowering them with Gospel to reach their family and friends? All of a sudden, Church Online isn't an afterthought. It's vital. This, and more, through The Church Digital Podcast.

Information