Your online church will either amplify an existing well-executed strategy or highlight widespread issues. It won’t magically fix your church’s problems. If your church knows how to attract younger people than your online ministry will attract younger people. If your church is good at small groups than your online small group strategy will work. If your church is great at getting people to fill out response cards than your weekly digital respond card submissions will be high. If your online ministry doesn’t grow most likely your church is lacking in evangelistic outreach.

Getting started as an online pastor can be overwhelming. What is my first step? Do I switch to entirely Facebook streaming? How do you become a tech expert overnight? So many questions. I would suggest first reading over my Start Here page and digest what other churches do on my Funnel page. After getting caught up check out this podcast from the Social Media Church podcast on “Started as an Online Campus Pastor with Aaron Magnuson.”

Navigating the complicated waters of the digital disruption is tough. I’m an online pastor. My perspective is muddied because I want to jump into the deep end without a lifejacket. I want everything to be online, and I wanted it yesterday.

I grew up watching the Lakers with my grandpa, and at the end of every season, they had something called exit interviews. No matter how good or bad the year went you sat down in front of cameras and got asked a series of questions about the season. It was always a frank conversation.

Technology is changing the way people are attending church—plain and simple. Discover the possibilities (and limitations) of church online by watching this talk I gave recently at an event hosted by Pushpay.