July 25, 2023
Some laud the potential of artificial intelligence to make life easier for everyone. Some fear how AI could be misused. But like it or not, it’s here—and one company is looking to bring it to the church. Michael Whittle, a California entrepreneur and lay pastor, is the founder of Pulpit AI, a soon-to-be-released platform designed to help pastors make the most of their weekly sermons. . . .
Biblical archaeology goes digital in Erika Brown’s "Just So You Know" YouTube videos designed for those with little knowledge of the Bible. Brown is a PhD student studying at Lipscomb University's Lanier Center of Biblical Archaeology.
March 1, 2022
By Kent E. Fillinger Yogi Berra famously said, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” Since the pandemic started two years ago, there have been an endless number of “experts” making countless predictions about the future of everything—including the church. Plenty of churches offered an online campus or church online on various platforms before COVID-19. Broadcast methods varied by church; the main options were livestreaming, on-demand full service (worship and message), on-demand message only, and rebroadcast (simulated live). A 2018 survey by Vanderbloeman and Jay Kranda revealed the top three broadcast platforms were Churchonlineplatform.com, Facebook Live, and YouTube.
March 18, 2020
By Chris Moon After a weekend of large-scale cancellations of in-person worship services—the result of the COVID-19 pandemic—many Restoration Movement churches are spending this week plotting their next moves. Pastors say they are looking both inward at how their online programming was received and outward at how best to serve their communities in a time of need. They say they are recognizing the way in which “social distancing” recommendations are affecting vulnerable communities, from the elderly to those in poverty. Tyler McKenzie, lead pastor of Northeast Christian Church in Louisville, said his church put together both a weekend service plan
June 22, 2019
By John Whittaker I was sitting in a coffee shop with a young man I had baptized several months earlier. “I’m lost during the sermon,” he admitted. “I don’t know whether the passage comes before Jesus or after. And it feels like the preacher just opens his Bible to wherever.” Fact: Basic Bible or Christian understanding can’t be assumed anymore. Fact 2: Folks have access to infinite amounts of nice-sounding memes and inspirational junk food on social media, and because they have such a limited and shallow understanding of the Christian faith, it all gets mixed together into a sort
By Kent E. Fillinger I grew up in the 1970s when the average American home had no computer, the Internet was little more than an idea, and smartphones had not been invented. Our black-and-white family TV had four channels: the three major networks and the local PBS station. By 2015, the average American home with a TV could access about 200 channels and three-quarters of households subscribed to broadband Internet. By 2018, 77 percent of Americans owned a smartphone, according to Pew Research Center. Since the introduction of Facebook in 2004, the proliferation of social media sites and other apps
May 25, 2016
By Jim Tune It”s staggering. We can buy Bible software that contains 2,000 Bible resources. We can read and search blogs of today”s top Christian leaders. We can attend conferences and hear the best speakers, or plug in our earbuds and listen to them preach. We can direct-message great leaders on Twitter. The resources at our fingertips are amazing. Not only that, but we can write and publish whatever we want. A few years ago we could read only those fortunate enough to be published. Now anyone can start a blog, post a video on YouTube, or publish a book.
December 19, 2015
By Becky Ahlberg Saturday, December 19 One of my favorite carols is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He wrote it on December 25, 1864, while in despair at the horrible cost of the Civil War. He had recently lost his wife and as he nursed his severely injured soldier son, Christmas brought a unique kind of misery that year. He did not know that Gen. Robert E. Lee”s surrender at Appomattox Court House was just a few months away. The despair of war was rife across the country. These are three of the poignant
August 1, 2014
By Jennifer Johnson After Real Life Christian Church (Clermont, FL) began broadcasting its weekend services on a local TV station, it started brainstorming ideas for a second show. “So much Christian TV is so lame, and we didn”t want to create something like that,” says Marc Naugler, creative video director, and Chris Gingrasso, communications pastor at Real Life. “Our church name reflects who we are””real people talking about real issues in a real way and helping people find real faith. Real Talk extends those values in a new format to a new audience.” Justin Miller, Real Life”s lead pastor, hosts
June 14, 2013
By Jennifer Johnson In 2005, three former PayPal employees launched YouTube. Today more than 800 million people, 70 percent of whom live outside the United States, visit the site each month to watch more than 4 billion hours of its free content. People also upload 72 hours of footage every minute, making YouTube the site for video sharing. In 2007, four investors launched GodTube. It grew quickly to almost 3 million users before dropping to 690,000 in 2009. The site was rebranded as a social network named Tangle, and it was acquired by Salem Communications a year later. In his
October 20, 2012
By Joseph C. Grana The venues of media are mind-boggling, mind-numbing, and virtually limitless. At our fingertips is a virtual world filled with lessons and illustrations to assist our preaching and teaching. I have chosen to briefly discuss the use of YouTube, which I find to be educational and entertaining. My students are usually riveted to the relatively short videos available on a myriad of topics. Name a topic””you will find it on YouTube. The quality may not be the best because many presentations are produced at home. The advantage is that the topic is seen as well as heard. And in
June 26, 2012
By Mark A. Taylor The discussion was about missions, but the topic was change. And I couldn”t stop thinking about the church”s task in a world changing faster than we may realize. Steve Moore, president of Missio Nexus (missionexus.org), was leading about 30 of us at the Cincinnati installment of Reset Tour, a 10-city event sponsored by the International Conference on Missions (ICOM). The Tour, which concluded with a West Coast swing in May, was expected to reach 250 missions-minded members and leaders of Christian churches and churches of Christ, according to David Empson, executive director of ICOM. From this
By Kent E. Fillinger A recent Family Circus cartoon showed Dolly telling her mother, “Billy says he doesn”t hafta” go to church anymore “˜cause his phone has an app for that!” The reality is, Billy may be right! The top-ranked online search topic in 2011 was “iPhone,” beating out Casey Anthony, Kim Kardashian, and Katy Perry. Technologies like Facebook, Twitter, mobile websites, and smartphones are changing the way individuals live and organizations operate. Church growth consultant Barry Whitlow wrote, 70% of the people living in most American communities now choose not to get up and go to a church service
October 30, 2011
By Mark A. Taylor What makes a good writer? American novelist William Faulkner in 1950 gave his answer to the question. Faulkner accepted the Nobel Prize in literature in 1950, a time when the world lived with a growing fear of nuclear holocaust. “There are no longer problems of the spirit,” he said then. “There is only the question: When will I be blown up?” He encouraged the young writers of his day to forget “anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed””love and honor and
February 18, 2011
By Dudley Rutherford From tweets to texts, blogs to apps, we are living in a technologically progressive world, and the 2011 North American Christian Convention is no exception! The NACC is taking advantage of today”s exciting technology and social networking options to promote this year”s convention. During the convention week, we”ll offer digital and Web support to attendees, along with a few surprises! Afterward, we”ll stay in touch with highlights and testimonials via e-news and other media. Check out all the ways we”re bringing technology to you before, during, and after the 2011 NACC: “¢ Twitter: Sign up today at
August 9, 2009
Jim Musser explores how the Internet, social networking, texting, blogs, and VoIP tools are reshaping campus ministry and opening new opportunities for churches to communicate and share the gospel.
March 26, 2008
How much of today’s “good behavior” is driven by character—and how much by the fear of being seen? A reflection on YouTube-era visibility, public reputation, and what it means to do good when no one’s watching.
Sponsored
Sponsored
Sponsored
June 26, 2026
Jerry Harris
June 25, 2026
Lonetta McKee
June 23, 2026
Tyler McKenzie