Becoming theChurch.digital EP375: Platforms as Nations with Dr. Sam Hayes

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
Chat is open the whole hour. Bring your questions for Sam.
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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
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