EP247: 5 Things You Need to Know Heading Into 2023

Number one, he gets us. Number two, Jeff wrote a book. Number three, Exponential Conference. Number four, check out the podcast. Number five is that we're looking for those leaders for DCNO. And there's one more thing. Welcome to the Church Digital Podcast. Through this podcast, we'll talk about the technological innovations within the church. But more than TED for Tech itself, we'll address deeper questions. Is disciple making possible digitally? How should we approach the digital mission field? Can a biblically grounded church operate in digital space? Oh, and where does the metaverse fit into all this? Whether you're a big or small church, an established church, or a startup church plant, the Church Digital's goal is to help churches like yours learn to be a multiplying church, digitally and physically.

Our heart? That churches like yours will discover a newfound focus on disciple making that will revolutionize your church. And now, here's your host, Jeff Reed. All right. Hey, everybody. Listen, Jeff Reed here from the Church Digital, Digital Church Network. It is, I'm really excited to be with you guys. Like, I don't know, I can't tell you Merry Christmas because it's past Christmas. Now, when I'm doing this live stream, it's not quite New Year's. It's like January or December, what is it? 20, it's 29th. So, it's not even the 30th. It's not the 31st. It's too soon for New Year's. But it's past Christmas. So, as I'm doing this stream, happy Thursday. And if you're listening to this on a podcast recording, happy Tuesday or Monday.

Like, I just, I'm really confused at this point. But I am excited, regardless of my confusion, to jump in here and to do a stream with you all. There are some really exciting things that are coming up in DCN, in the Digital Church Network, and through the Church of Digital coming up into 2023. And so, I want to take this time to get you ready, to get you informed, and to get you set so you can hit the ground running when it's time to in 2023. So, here we go. I am giving you five things you need to know heading into 2023. So, as a digital church, as a digital ministry, as a person who's passionate about digital discipleship, there are five things, five, that you're going to need to know heading into 2023.

And this is what we're going to do. I'm going to go over them right now for you. By the way, 2023 is the year of going with the goers. Now, if you'll remember, I actually said the same thing about 2022. I haven't actually changed it, but 2022 was so much fun going with the people that were actually passionate about the idea of doing and being church in digital space. They were passionate about the idea of discipling people and evangelizing and reaching people, utilizing different tools, or even exploring different things into the metaverse and beyond. Like, 2022 was an awesome year in a lot of those contexts. In some ways, it wasn't that great of a year, but 2023 set to be the exact same thing.

So, we want to go with the goers. Now, the organizations that want to go back to the church building, who cares? Like, there will be, there's a purpose for the church building. Even with the stuff that we're talking about, we want to work. We want to complement. We want to work alongside physical churches. If churches want to be physical, if church just wants to be digital, let them be digital. Let them reach the people they're reaching that way. But for us, I'm not looking to pick a fight with anybody. It's interesting. There are people looking to pick a fight with me. You talked about it recently on a podcast with Leonard Sweet. Get to it in a little bit. But there's a nationally recognized Christian author who has spoken out publicly against some of the stuff that we're doing through Digital Church Network.

Like, citing us directly in doing that. Hey, you know what? We managed to alienate a very influential person for the kingdom. I'm calling it a win. I don't know. Like, that's just kind of where we are. Conversation for another day. But in 23, you're going to continue to see us telling stories of people that are out there innovating, trying something different, experimenting. You're going to see us maybe even platforming some of those. You're going to see a lot more books starting to be written, other things. Go, oh, oh, get into that here in a little bit. But really, what we want to talk about is that there are plenty of opportunities out there for the people that want to go. And we're going to start exposing some of those ideas and platforming some of those people that are out there going, hopefully, to inspire people like you to do things differently.

So here we go. I said five things, right? Five things you need to know heading into 2023. And let me give you number one right off the bat. He gets us. Okay, look, this may be the best evangelical option, evangelism option in America today. Our friend of the Church Digital and personal friend, Tyler Sansom, has signed up for the Church Digital, signed up for He Gets Us back in, when we started talking about this in October. And Tyler told me the other day, he says, Jeff, he gets us working incredible for us. I was like, really? He's like, yeah, we've had 540 conversations with people that were asking spiritual questions as a result of He Gets Us. 540 over the span of three months. Like, okay, that number may seem overwhelming to you, but church, you have an opportunity to reach 540 people within three months within the gospel.

Would you find a way to make that work? And oh, by the way, He Gets Us is not charging you a penny. And oh, by the way, there are going to be two Super Bowl ads coming out in 2023. Literally two different Super Bowl ads exposing the idea of, hey, Jesus gets you. Hey, there are people out there that want to talk with you about your struggles and problems. There are people that want to be the Jesus in your life. So check this out. If you want to sign up for He Gets Us, thechurch.digital slash He Gets Us. It's a great opportunity. By the way, we're going to do an open office on this January 12th, Thursday, January 12th, 1 p.m. Eastern. Thechurch.digital slash open office. Get you more information on that.

Would love to have you all come hang out in Zoom. Randy Larson from He Gets Us from Glue is going to be there, as well as Tyler Sansom. I'm trying to get Tyler on, trying to lock in the times to make sure it's good. But I want Tyler to share. You know, lead pastor of a medium-sized church now, First Capital Christian. Lead pastor. Man, what's the benefit? How are you seeing benefit of reaching 500 people with the gospel? 500 conversations. Man, crazy, crazy stuff. Number one, He Gets Us. You need to know that heading into 2023. Number two, I've got a new book release coming out in January. Actually, Dr. John, Dr. John Harrison, I co-wrote a book on digital evangelism. Now, a lot of you know the first book, VR in the Metaverse Church, holding it literally in my hand on the video.

It came out in November. But we turned book number two quickly around. And so we launched that. It's going to publish January 16th, 2023. Sharing Jesus Online, Helping Everyday Believers Become Digital and Metaverse Missionaries. And that book, it's not so much about the church leader. It's more about the individual. Hey, you know that person who's sitting in your pew? What if they were actually activated digitally to be something for the kingdom? Where they were able to share Jesus, not only in possibly in physical space, but in digital space, in Metaverse space as well. And what would be like a really simple framework? How can we help people that are not comfortable sharing their faith to share their faith?

These are some of the things that we dove into the book. And by the way, the foreword was written by Dave Ferguson. If you guys are familiar with Dave's blessed practices, basically we ported the blessed practices over into the digital and the Metaverse space. So how can we begin, you know, how can we do bless digitally? Great stuff. Dr. John poured his heart into the book, man. It was incredible to see him just blow that thing up and put his years of knowledge into it. A doctrine in transformational discipleship, I think. Like, that's crazy. And it's going to be available for you guys. Excuse me as I'm coughing. Oh, by the way, the book is free. Definitely excited about that. More information coming soon.

I am still choked up. Number, this is the second one I've done these back at the back. So I apologize. Number one, we are looking at He Gets Us. How important that is. Thechurch.digital.com. He Gets Us. Huge evangelism opportunities for the church. Number two, hey, we're training individual people on how to share their faith digitally through this book, Sharing Jesus Online. That's going to come out January 16th. Number three, Exponential. Hey, guess what? Exponential Conference is coming up later this year in March. And I want to invite all of you watching this conference to come be a part of that conference. We're developing a digital and a metaverse track that'll be simultaneously be running.

Well, together. They'll be interwoven together. But the heart is, we're going to have 11 sessions, 12 sessions. Speakers like Jason Dukes here. Dr. John Harris just talked about Jade Earhart talking some of the stuff he's doing on Twitch and Bo Sarge. Mark Lutz will be there as well. Just a great lineup on digital and metaverse ministry. Now, this is not broadcasting. If you know me, like it's not broadcasting the church services. It's much more the disciple making, the spirituality, the pastoring, the shepherding, the multiplying, the disciple making aspects that we're going to get into on these conferences. And so, listen, arguably probably one of the largest tracks of online ministry that's out there right now for a conference in 23.

For more information, check out exponential.org. And check out the digital through Leadership Network. We're doing a digital and a metaverse learning tracks for that. So, number one, he gets us. Incredible stuff. Thechurch.digital.com. He gets us. Huge evangelism push for your church. Number two, new book, Sharing Jesus Online. Number three, Exponential Conference. Number four, man, if y'all have been sleeping on the Church Digital Podcast, y'all got to get into this. Like, we are coming off right now a podcast right at the end of the year with Leonard Sweet. Lynn Sweet talking digital church. Church futurist, church academic, incredible insights. And by the way, Leonard, and I talked about it in the podcast, at a personal level, Leonard was hugely influential in my life.

Even going back like 20-some years ago, the first time I read his book was 1998, 1999, Soul Tsunami. And really laid a foundation for what a digital and a metaverse church needs to be today. And so this guy, 20-some years ago, was talking way ahead of the curve. And so definitely it was exciting to have Leonard Sweet on. But we've got other people coming on in January. We've got Brad Briscoe talking priesthood of all believers from NAM. Brad Briscoe is, North American Mission Board. Jason Shepard, leader at Church Project, talking accountability, talking volunteer structures and how to help people find their passion. So some incredible stuff. February, by the way, I am crazy excited. February, we're going to be doing a season.

Season four is going to be on Gamer Church. Highlighting planters and pastors that are using video games to reach people. I mean, we're talking, I'm not like VR. I mean, VR is metaverse. VR is not video game. Video game is not yet metaverse necessarily. But what I want to get into is like the guys that are using e-game for the king, e-sports for the kingdom. The guys that are doing church in video game space. The guys that are streaming on the spaces, utilizing, playing video games on Twitch to reach different people. Like, the beauty of what video game church is and potentially can be is incredible. And gamers, I mean, I don't want to say they're, oh, it's been said to me that in America, they're one of the largest unreached people groups.

I don't know that I would necessarily say that a gamer is a people group. But the point is that people are saying that if you did consider it, there's a huge need to reach people in that space. And I love some of the things that are happening. And so February 23, we're going to be starting a new season, a couple months, doing a deep dive on video game church. And, oh, by the way, there's tons of other podcasts in the Church Digital Podcast Network. I'm so excited about all the things. If you want to subscribe to the Church Digital Podcast, thechurch.digital.com slash podcast. Or you can watch us on YouTube, youtube.com slash thechurch.digital. All sorts of stuff fun there. So number one. Oh, hey, Tyler Sansom.

What's up? Tyler, we were just talking about you. I don't know if you came on for that, heard that beast, but definitely excited. And we do want to book you for the He Gets Us thing that's coming up soon. Andre was on the podcast as well, not just in December, right? Now, where is it? November, December, towards the end of the year. Barbecue Church. Barbecue Assemblies of God. Good stuff there. Yeah, Digital Church is great. We got two different people right here watching the stream here on social. Two completely separate approaches for utilizing digital. Tyler, more established church, doing digital, but really strongly pushing the discipleship and the multiplication piece. Andre, using barbecue digitally, barbecue digitally, digital barbecue.

Andre, I can't get together with you when you come down. I'm sorry. I'll have to miss you in January. But definitely excited that you guys are on. So let's go back. Number one, we talked about He Gets Us. And we've got this open office coming up January 12th, 1 p.m. Eastern. Hopefully, Tyler's coming to that. We got to seal up right now. We got a book launch that's coming January 16th, Sharing Jesus Online. We've got an exponential conference. By the way, Tyler will be speaking at that conference as well, an exponential Orlando in 2023, March. Number four, we've got the podcast, which has been flying and would love to get you guys to jump onto that. Number five, Digital Church Network. We are looking for leaders to take us into that next season of what Digital Church Network needs to look like.

Now, look, the Church Digital is more about the established church. Digital Church Network is more about the planter in digital metaverse space. The Church Digital is helping the established church do ministry. Digital Church Network is more about the disciple making and the multiplication. And yes, there's overlap. There's established churches that want discipleship. There's planters that need some coaching in that space. And so we do blend it up. But the goal for us is to find leaders that can take Digital Church Network to the next level. You see, when we started DC and when we started the Church Digital, like even way back, I always wanted this thing to be bigger than me. And I knew that I would be the lid for what was possible for the kingdom.

And so even, you know, in 22, I started bringing in leaders, started bringing in other people. You've even heard me drop many of their names on this podcast, on the stream today, because I want to involve others in the conversation. And that is my hope heading into 23, is that we can start to bring other leaders into this conversation of Digital Church Network so that the Digital Church Network can be bigger than what I, myself, I, Jeff, can do with it. So look, I get this question asked all the time with Digital Church Network. Jeff, I don't understand. Why are you doing DCN? Like, what's the endgame? What's the goal of that? And so, like, I want to tell you, right up front here, we're going to be hosting a number of events in town halls discussing our why.

But essentially, the heart of it is our New Things Movement system. New Things is our strategic partner. And it's this idea of growing a disciple, making that disciple into a leader, helping that leader plant a unique expression of a church. That church that multiplies into multiple churches in a network. That church that multiplies into multiple networks, which becomes a movement. So the movement system is all about helping an individual, through discipleship, grow to a multiple network, multiple church movement. And we're already seeing opportunities of this happen in the metaverse. And there's plenty of opportunities digitally, even globally, to start to help people and start to help ministries, start to help organizations develop their discipleship, their disciple-making movement system.

And so when we look even at what digital ministry can be, oh my gosh, what would that movement system look like in many of our churches moving forward? And so, hey, for more information on DCN, if you want to be part of a leadership thing, if you want to learn more about what the movement system actually is, if you want to attend an interest meeting for what DCN is, go ahead and check that out. And so, if you want to learn more about what you want to learn more about, you can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com. You can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com. You can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com. You can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com. You can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com.

You can get connected to digitalchurch.network.com. And so, great opportunities for you to get connected in there. Once again, we've got He Gets Us. Jeff wrote a book. Number one, He Gets Us. Number two, Jeff wrote a book. Number three, Exponential Conference. Number four, check out the podcast. Number five, hey, we're looking for some help with DCN. And Andre just told me through chat, he's interested. And so, I've got to reach out to Andre, have a conversation with him soon. Number five is that we're looking for those leaders for DCN. Oh, and there's one more thing. You know, it's interesting. Steve Jobs, one more thing. I just said in DCN, I just told somebody, I was like, if Steve Jobs was alive today, I think Steve Jobs would be getting the Elon Musk treatment.

Like, I just, I don't, I think the narcissism, a narcissist needs people around him who can keep him in check. And what I know of Steve Jobs, I don't, I don't think he had that. And I think 2023 is the year that we kind of push away the narcissist leader and we kind of wait to see what the next leader looks like. It'll be interesting to see what comes from it. But hey, Steve Jobs always had his one more thing. And so, I got one more thing for you. We got the five, number six, or the one more thing. We are launching, the Church.Digital is launching a consulting company. We are working with, man, some of the best names right now in digital discipleship. Jason Morris, you know, many of you know.

Dr. John Harris, Ann Bosarge, Mark Lutz of Lutz Digital Church, and more. And so, look, we're serious. We want to help established churches understand their digital why. How many of your established churches, you know, you're broadcasting a church service, nothing else. Everybody's frustrated. Leadership's, it's taking away from the physical building. You haven't figured out the group structure yet, or even what discipleship or evangelism looks like. You haven't figured out the why. You haven't figured out the purpose. And so, this is what we want to do here with the consulting. We are very close to launching this consulting company. We're weeks away. And so, if you're interested in more information on the consulting, go to thechurch.digital slash consulting.

Thechurch.digital slash consulting. Hey, so there's a lot there to remember for 2023. And I got to tell you, I'm excited about the year ahead. Any questions? I tell you, I wasn't planning on it. I'll just give you my cell. 484-324-8724. Or message me on whatever social media platform you are watching this video on. And I am looking forward to walking with you, the goers of 23, and helping, equipping you to do the ministry that God's called you to do digitally and in the metaverse. And so, with that, we're going to land a plane. This is Jeff. For me, wrapping up 22, heading into 23. Y'all have a good day. Bye.