I recently gave a talk to a group of pastors at the Alliance Assembly 2024 and wanted to share it with you as I think it will serve as a helpful article to send to pastors and churches who struggle to appreciate or understand content creation and nerd-culture in general.
Here is a link to the original talk: https://youtu.be/9FA3BOpennY
Introduction
I want to start with a scripture that we’re all familiar with and is the heart behind what I do, The Parable of the Great Banquet. This scripture sticks in my mind and keeps me going.
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
When one of those who reclined at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’” (Luke 14:12–24 ESV)
The Hidden Digital Mission Field
Now, you guys are all Bible people and know that this parable is about Israel and the new covenant. But I want to challenge you to consider that the highways and the hedges, the third wave of guests, are the hidden people. The master of the house told them to go beat the bushes and see who’s in there. Dive into the ditches and see who’s fallen in and can’t get themselves out. Check who’s hiding behind doors, shut away in their homes, who will never hear the call.
That’s who we, the digital pioneers, minister to. The ones who will never come to your church, events, food kitchens, youth group, men’s breakfast, or felt-needs community ministry. They stay at home. The only people they see are the Amazon delivery guy and the Uber Eats driver. There’s a reason they’re at home—mental health issues, learning disabilities, social issues, and a lot of church hurt. They have difficulties that keep them at home, but they still long for relationships. So where do they find it? Online.
When they’re stuck alone at home with the internet at their disposal, it’s likely they’ll end up in some bad places – and that’s certainly a good reason to reach them – but most of them come together through gaming. There are 3 billion gamers in the world and 1.2 billion watch gaming content. Among people aged 18-35, watching gaming is more popular than watching sports. Crowds and crowds of people meeting regularly, playing together, chatting about their lives, sharing experiences, sometimes spending ten hours a day hanging out because of the game. Unseen masses of people that the church is almost completely unaware of.
How do you reach them? Most people in the church don’t know how to speak their language and, because of their nerdy interests, are hostile towards them. I remember when I first started my online ministry, I tried to rally support from pastors I knew. I’d begin, “Hey, I want to talk to you about what I’m into right now. I’m doing online missions…” And they’d either say, “Don’t even finish your sentence. I won’t understand it. I don’t get it. I don’t want it.” or “That sounds great, but we have absolutely no way to include you in our existing structure so try somewhere else.” – which came across as basically, “You and your people don’t matter.”
Nerd culture is one of the few global cultures that is still widely unaccepted by the church. What other culture do we tell them to drop their interests, change their language, and reorient their lives, before they can come to church?
My Journey into Digital Missions
About three years ago, I felt called to dive deeper into the digital sphere than I had ever before, and I started a live-streaming channel on Twitch. It was an amalgamation of everything I know. I love tech, I love people, I love counseling. I was a full-time preaching pastor for 16 years and in each church, I was the one initiating programs and pushing the technology to reach and serve more people. Everything came together into this one ministry.
About six months in, I realized how many unchurched, undiscipled, untrained Christian content creators are out there. They’re on a mission, serving a community, and passionate about God’s love, but distant from their church. They are part of the nerd culture and have already been rejected or are afraid to talk to their pastors about their most important interests. They stay underground and don’t tell anybody what they feel so strongly God has called them to because they’re afraid of being ostracized. Imagine having a passionate missionary in your church but them being too afraid to tell you about their mission field!
When they share their nerdy interests, they hear things like, “You spend too much time on that. That’s pretty gross. Oh, you play video games where you kill people. That’s terrible. That’s not what God wants you to do. You’re into Dungeons and Dragons? I heard in the eighties that was going to turn you into a Satanist.” So they go underground. They’re in your churches right now, making social media stuff, playing video games, podcasting, blogging, but they’re not telling you because they’re worried their nerdity will get out and they’ll get in trouble.
Many have left the church angry because they came to their pastor with ministry ideas involving their nerdy or gamer friends, and the pastor dismissed them. Instead of giving up, they left the church. I praise God that some of them have found me so I can unite, train, encourage, and help them to heal their relationship with pastors and the church.
In short order, after I’d started the channel, these people started finding me and joining my online community. I have a nice dad voice and pastor vibes, and I affirmed these folks. Many were in tears just because someone validated them, affirmed them, told them I care about them, and that God can use their skills and abilities to bring His love to the online communities they value so much.
The Alliance for Creative Outreach (TACO)
Right now, I’m split distinctly into two places. I’ve got XtianNinja, my online persona, where I hang out with people, play games, do devotions, teach, play silly games, look at weird pictures, and more. And I’ve got TACO, the Alliance for Creative Outreach, where we’re a 501(c)(3) in the United States with a board of directors, creator team, training materials, and a thriving online discussion group.
Through TACO I’ve spent the last two years reaching out to streamers with small audiences, offering eight weeks of training on how to love, hear from God, discover their audience, reach them well, do basic counseling, and evaluate their channels to make them as good as possible.
It’s the greatest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.
What I Need from You
If this stirs your heart, even a little, I want two things from you.
First, recognize that you have content creators and nerd-culture missionaries around you already — your kids, teens, 20-30-40-year-olds. Look at them as potential missionaries who can reach an audience you can’t. They’re already enculturated and passionate about sharing God’s love.
When you see nerd culture, don’t reject it. When you see a Marvel shirt or someone talking about gaming, instead of wandering off, ask them about it. I promise you, that nerd will talk your ear off. Just ask, “What’s that shirt mean?” and you’re good for two hours. Engage with them, love them, and care for them.
When I was in school, I went to a church with 1,500 people, and their tech was brutally poor. I asked the executive pastor why, and he said in effect, “There are no nerds here.” But they were there! I pitched hiring me as their “media minister” and they hired me almost immediately. Then, once I’d shown the nerds that I understood and valued what they did, they came forward in waves, and I was able to build multiple, strong teams. In your churches, right now, there are super talented, super creative introverts who will never volunteer because they feel misunderstood and are afraid of being pigeonholed or having all the tech woes of the church dumped in their lap.
There are a bunch of reasons why you don’t know the content creators, gamers, tech geeks, and nerds that grace your churches. I want you to see them.
Second, partner with me! Send those creators to me for help and disciple them yourself. Try to understand them and their culture, unite them, affirm them, help them feel
valued and understood, let me help train them up, and watch what happens!
Digital missionaries are underutilized, under-resourced, and under attack. It’s expensive and complex to do this ministry well. When I started, I worked 12-14 hour days for months on end and used every bit of energy, knowledge, and technology I had – and I still feel like I’m just getting started. Of course, I’m thankful for my team, but we need so much more help to grow our influence and reach more people and churches.
I believe with all my heart that digital missions are vital for reaching the hidden and marginalized people that traditional ministries will never be able to reach. By seeking understanding and supporting content creators, we can bring God’s love to those who need it most.
Conclusion
If you have any questions, please contact me! I’d love to talk with you.
