Honest Conversation about VR Church with DJ Soto
Have you heard about Virtual Reality Church yet? It’s caused quite a stir in Christian circles. Check out his multiple features on Wired, CNN, and Today Show. I’ve gotten the chance to get to know the founding pastor DJ Soto over the last year. DJ is one of the most outreach focused guys I know and the stories coming out of VR Church back it up, but often that isn’t enough to make “Christians” happy. I’m a bit sarcastic with my use of “Christians” because many have embraced VR Church’s endeavors while others have criticized.
Criticism of 'Churchome' Reveals What Church Is To Criticizers
Every ministry has their approach. Every church does ministry a bit different. The Bible does provide a framework, but it’s pretty open-ended on how you do “church.” Now that doesn’t mean many are doing church wrong and few are doing it better. There is a range, but I find the common criticism of many online ministries more a reflection on American church.
Is "Churchome" the Future of Church Plants?
I did feel church planting needed to be disrupted and online church ministries as well. Not sure if this is the answer, but I pray more ministries consider this approach. If I could buy the stock, I would go all in.
How #ChurchOnline is Impacting the Country of Iran
Surprise! God is much bigger than America. I’ve observed great leaps in how the church in America has embraced #churchonline or online ministry over the last ten years, but some bigger jumps have happened overseas in places like the Middle East and specifically within Iran.
Round 2. Meetups.
Does anyone watch online that lives in my city? I get asked this constantly from people part of our online community. I can’t connect everyone. There were some privacy issues with sharing geo data and scalability problems. I needed a strategy to release and not micromanage.
Virtual Reality for Any Church of Any Size - Facebook Video Oculus App
Oculus has recently made two additions to its Oculus Go device. I wrote in a previous post that an estimated 22 million virtual reality devices are floating out there in the world at the start of 2018. Oculus Go is expanding this market and most importantly bringing in non-gamers. Oculus Go focused on content apps like Netflix, Showtime, Hulu, Facebook, and family-friendly carnival games. Oculus Go is not what virtual reality will be, but it’s the stopgap to help move virtual reality into the future.
Featured Resources
The same four things, licensed for one reader. If you are buying this for a team, the Church License covers your entire staff and every volunteer for less than the cost of three copies.
What you get:
Online Church Is Not the Answer, the full book as a PDF. 227 pages, 15 chapters, each one ending in a big idea you can put in front of your team.
The complete audiobook in MP3. 5 hours 28 minutes, read by Jay.
A Guide to Digital Goal Setting and Online Ministry Planning, including the team assessment.
The Church AI Policy Template, an editable policy your board can approve. What staff and volunteers can and cannot use AI for, when it has to be disclosed, where the line sits in sermon prep and pastoral care, and how member data gets handled.
Read three chapters. If you do not walk away with at least one thing you can change this season, reply to your receipt and I will refund you. Keep the files either way.
Everything in the Digital Strategy Kit, licensed for your entire staff and every volunteer on your team. No seat counting and no per person pricing. Buy it once, download the files, and send them to everybody.
What you get:
Online Church Is Not the Answer, the full book as a PDF. 227 pages, 15 chapters, each one ending in a big idea you can put in front of your team.
The complete audiobook in MP3. 5 hours 28 minutes, read by Jay.
A Guide to Digital Goal Setting and Online Ministry Planning, including the team assessment.
The Church AI Policy Template, an editable policy your board can approve. What staff and volunteers can and cannot use AI for, when it has to be disclosed, where the line sits in sermon prep and pastoral care, and how member data gets handled.
Read three chapters. If you do not walk away with at least one thing your team can change this season, reply to your receipt and I will refund you. Keep the files either way.
Overview of Book: Digital is a confusing concept, and many churches struggle to understand it, with most limiting their digital experience to streaming their church services and nothing more. In this book, you’ll learn how to think strategically about digital strategy and how to best integrate digital ideas into your church that align with your ministry’s in-person objectives. The goal is to disciple more people and not just get an online audience. Readers of this book will learn to cut through the hype and discern the most critical, high-level concepts and find practical ideas they can implement in their church. You’ll walk away with a vision and a pathway to take your church’s digital strategy to the next level and beyond just streaming a church service.