New Role. New Me. What the Heck is an Innovative Tech Pastor?

I recently accepted a new role at my church as our first Innovative Tech Pastor. In tradition, my last role was our church’s first Online Pastor. When you’re a first in a role, it can feel empowering and confusing all at once. You can do whatever you like, but you need to deliver. I’ve learned that I tend to enjoy the chaos of the undefined. 

I have been the Online Community Pastor full-time since 2012. That is 12 ½ years in one role. It has been the role of a lifetime. It has defined my career really up to this point in my life. I wrapped up all my successes, failures, and learnings in publishing my book Online Church Is Not The Answer: Beyond Just Streaming Church to Hybrid Disciple Making last year. Once the book was finished, I started to feel open to exploring something else, but I still felt called to the crossover of technology, digital strategy, and the church.

When my church first talked to me about this Innovative Tech Pastor role, I was pretty hesitant. I had already been helping with some technology items beyond my role, but I was okay with it being a small scope of my weekly time. I honestly wasn’t ready to let go of the Online Communtiy just yet. As I started to dive into all things web, app, and people management system stuff, I enjoyed the problem-solving and felt I could clarify what this could look like for our church in this new season. I could see the challenges with the role, but I started to quickly get excited at the opportunity to take a swing at them. 

The first step was finding and deciding who our new Online Community Pastor would be. My decision was easy because the person was already serving on the team. It was a special moment in our worship service to pray her in, and I got my old team back together for the occasion. I felt like a proud older brother experiencing the moment in real-time. You can see the moment in this Instagram Reel or check out the YouTube worship service.

The second step was figuring out what an Innovative Tech Pastor actually does. I drafted a job description with my boss, and I think we got to 85% clarity. My main focus is overseeing our web/app presence, transitioning from a custom CMS/CRM system to Rock RMS, and overseeing the Online Community Team. 

This is a significant shift going from a small team to multiple teams. Also, I had more freedom on the Online Community Team to just shepherd and build the community. The issue with our website, apps, and Rock RMS systems/platforms is people have expectations around these things, and they need to work. No more silos.

I’m still only about six weeks in, but I’m loving using technology and digital strategy in practical ways under the restraint of budget and vision. I’m growing to love Scrum meetings too. I feel like I get to run a tech company but at a church. Maybe my next role will be a startup if I’m any good at this stuff. 

I will still be sharing updates on my blog. My topics might be a bit broader now as I dive into general technology spaces. Also, I’m still engaged in our Online Community and will still host online occasionally, but the day-to-day is now being managed by a new person. Regardless, I’ll still share my thoughts and learnings about doing church online.

Thank you for all the support over the years, and I hope you stay engaged as I enter into a new season of ministry.