6 to Seek Out in 2023

[Tom Pounder] Today, we're going to talk about six people or groups of people that you should be following this year. Are you ready? Because it's time. [Announcer/Intro Voice] You're listening to the Church Digital Sidekick Podcast, part of the TCD Podcast Network. [Tom Pounder] Hey heroes, my name is Tom Pounder and this is the Church Digital Sidekick Podcast. This is the podcast where I normally bring on ministry leaders and we talk about how you could do ministry more effectively in this very digital and online world. But today I'm doing something different. This is something I do once a year and I highlight six people or six groups of people or six groups. that you should be following in this new year see i love to follow people on social media i'm very avid on twitter i make no bones about it i love twitter and it's a place where i really make a lot of connections uh on social media and i make these connections and i learn from a lot of different people and as i'm learning from them i think well we should all be learning from them And so I like to share them and I use one of my podcasts throughout the year and I share about these people or these groups of people and why you should be following them. And so this year I'm highlighting six people that I really or groups of people that I really feel like are awesome especially as we're living in this very digital and online world these people have a lot of experience with digital and online ministry and i really feel like they can help take your church and your ministry to the next levels remember digital is not a replacement to in-person ministry digital is really a tool and what these six groups of people really do is they really help you take your church to that next level for digital and online ministry so that more people can hear about Christ, be encouraged in their faith, and share about their faith as well. But before I go and highlight who these groups of people are, I do want to just tell you what the criteria is. And the criteria is really simple. they have to be involved with some sort of ministry component and they have to be actively involved with ministry and helping support ministry but they also have to be consistent in sharing about the encouragement i know a lot of bloggers i'll know podcasters vloggers that really they have great content but they don't post very often and these people have to be consistently posting because we want to be consistently encouraging people there so those are the only two criteria you've really got to be involved with ministry and then you've really got to be consistently posting and encouraging other people as you're ministering to people all right so that's the criteria now you ready to get into who these groups of people are me too but before we do that i have a special announcement from jeff reed that i'd love to share with you right now [SPEAKER_01] hey sidekick fans jeff here from the church digital digital church network and i'm bringing to you an incredible opportunity to help churches like yours connect with spiritual explorers digitally maybe you've heard of this thing that's called he gets us you've seen their ads on the nfl games or all over social media or even physical billboards around town you see he gets us is a us-based ad campaign that'll connect people seeking spiritual answers with pastors and volunteers who have the answers to these questions and get them connected to your physical and or digital expression of church this is a great opportunity that will only expand as oh by the way he gets us is running several super bowl ads that's right he gets us has got two ads running on the super bowl imagine the potential reach that your church can be a part of by the way for free you see that's right you'll get 12 months of he gets us 12 months of spiritual explorers delivered to your inbox 12 months of the platform and the technology completely for free. For more information, go check out thechurch.digital slash hegetsus, thechurch.digital slash hegetsus. And oh, by the way, if you got questions, you can text me, 484-324-8724. Number four, the church. All right, let's get you back here to the TCD Sidekick Podcast. [Tom Pounder] Thanks, Tom. All right, so there you have it. That special announcement from Jeff. It's a great opportunity for you and your church, and I would encourage you to take up the information on that. Again, if you missed it, the information is in the show notes. I would love to share it with you so that you and your church can really benefit from this. All right, so are you ready to get into the six groups of people that I'm highlighting? Me too. They are in no particular order. I'm just going down this list that I made up, and we're going to start highlighting them right now. The first person is Jeff Reed and the Church Digital Podcast. Listen, I've highlighted Jeff before in this list, but that was years ago. And also a lot has changed since COVID. And what has really changed is that not only is Jeff the founder of the Church Digital, but he also works for Leadership Network and he works for a new thing. He's really on the forefront of Metaverse Virtual Reality Church and helping... People start digital in metaverse churches, and he is just a fantastic resource for online ministry. His podcast is fantastic as he brings on new people every single week, and they're just encouraging you as they think about different ways how to minister to people online. And what I love about Jeff is that he's very personable, he loves to interact with people, and he loves to bring in people who are really in the trenches trying new things. There's so many great opportunities with online ministry. Jeff brings them on and shares you different ideas. I know that every time I listen to Jeff's podcast, I'm just encouraged and inspired to think, how can I think differently about the online ministry I am currently doing right now? So check out Jeff Reed and his podcast, The Church Digital Podcast. The second is the Online Church Blueprint Podcast posted by Andy Mage and Mark Lutz. These two guys I met for the very first time at Exponential and they're fantastic and they're innovative and they're great digital and online ministry people. They are two people who are really seeking out to figure out what are some new ideas, new tricks, new tips, and best practices for how to do online ministry today. They're talking about digital small groups. They're talking about ministry in Twitch. They're talking about any way that you can do online ministry and give you very practical insights today. So if you're looking for a new podcast to check out with online ministry, check out the Online Church Blueprint hosted by Andy and Mark. They're great guys, and you're going to be really inspired by listening to them. The third one is the Digital Pastor Community Podcast hosted by Joey Santos and Jason Morse. Listen, I met Jason many, many, many years ago when I was first getting into online ministry. And he was the one who gave me my very first virtual reality headset. It was one where you stuck your iPhone in there and it was just this virtual reality thing. But it was so mind blowing. And what I've always appreciated about Jason is that he's on just like jeff very futuristically thinking what's the next thing that we're going after what's the next hill that you can tackle as an online minister and with joey joey's been involved with online ministry for a number of years as well i've never personally met him but he's been involved in the online community for a long long time And these guys are going to give you digital pastor community. It's a place for you to really process and figure out, hey, as a digital pastor, what is life like? How can I make sense of this? How can I make sense of that? They have tons of experiences. And they're two great people who can really encourage you. I just know this, as a digital and online minister myself, it can be a very lonely place to be. These two guys will provide a community and a support for you as you are processing all the stuff that you're processing through as you continue to do online ministry most effectively. So if you want to be a part of a great community with great online ministry background people, you got to check out the Digital Pastor Community Podcast with Joey and Jason. They're two fantastic guys, and you're going to learn a ton and be encouraged in your life and in your faith as well. The fourth is the Metaverse Church Podcast hosted by Stuart McPherson and Michael Usdivine. The reality is that the Metaverse Church, Virtual Reality Church, had a huge upswing in 2021 and 2022. when Meta, while Facebook changed their names to Meta, invested billions of dollars into the Metaverse. It took it more mainstream. Virtual reality became more mainstream. But the problem is we still don't know how to effectively work in the Metaverse or how to do ministry in the Metaverse. Yes, people are doing work in the Metaverse. I've highlighted before in previous years with DJ Soto and others. There are lots of great people doing work in the Metaverse. But it's still new. It's still fresh. We're still learning how to do it. Stuart and Michael will walk you through how to do ministry more effectively in the metaverse and encourage you with different tips and tricks and ideas. It's going to be very practical and very encouraging. So if you're looking for a metaverse church podcast to get some encouragement to how to do ministry in that metaverse, you want to check out Stuart and Michael's metaverse church podcast today. the fifth one is john pile's better on the inside podcast this is a great podcast because while john has a ton of ministry experience and online ministry experience this is not specifically to online ministry this is about being you better on the inside this is about your heart this is about your mental health this is about your soul it's so easy to lose your soul to lose hope lose faith in ministry it really is okay there's lots of ups there's lots of downs John's been through it all and John brings on great people that he interviews to really encourage you in your faith and in your mental health and so that you have some sanity as you do your ministry so this is not specific towards online ministry anybody in a ministry position can really benefit from John's podcast but it's better on the inside he's got a Facebook group where he's encouraging you as well so I want to encourage you If you need some help with just your mental health and just processing things, John's got some great people on there and some great resources, great tools, some great encouragement. He's one of the nicest people I've met on Twitter, and he's got a great Facebook group, as I said before. It's a fantastic podcast. I would encourage you to check that out and his Facebook out and be encouraged today. the sixth but definitely not the least of all these that i highlighted because i love these two are the pocket pulpit podcast hosted by hector martinez and sarah kinzer it's actually funny because i've had sarah on my podcast before and we actually have a background where our paths have crossed uh many years ago and she doesn't actually live that far away from me now but Hector and Sarah are fantastic and they've really focused on social media ministry and really how you can be more effectively ministering to people on social media and again I see Hector on social media I see Sarah on social media they're ministering to people on social media just themselves not their church themselves and they've got some great people that they bring on the interview and they encourage you with so if you want to learn how to do ministry more effectively on social media check out Sarah and Hector's podcast. It's fantastic. And they've got some great people that they encourage you with as well. All right. So there you have it. My six groups of people that you should check out to this year. They're all podcasts, but they're all awesome. I've interacted with these people before. They're great people. They've got great encouragement. They've got great experience. And they're going to encourage you in your online ministry. So I would love for you to check them out. I've got all their links on the show notes. And I also would love for you to check out that great opportunity that Jeff highlighted earlier in my podcast. All that's going to be in the show notes as well. But I want to hear from you. I've highlighted six. Who else would you recommend that I should follow this year? Put it in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter at TAPounder. I would love for you to highlight those so I can start following them and learn from them as well. All right, heroes, well, this is the start of the new year. I'm excited about the start of great content at thechurch.digital, but also this podcast. So if you're not following thechurch.digital right now, go and check it out, but also subscribe to this podcast. I've got it on YouTube. I've got it on Apple, Google. I've got it on all the other platforms. Just subscribe to it today so you can get this every time it comes out. And thechurch.digital so you can get all the different writings from all the different encouragers who will help you in your online ministry this year. All right, heroes, well, I hope you have a great rest of your day, a great year, and I'll talk to you next time. Have a great one.