A new app from Pastor Ron Carpenter lets users have “1-on-1 personalized interactions” with an AI version of him any time of day or night. Carpenter, senior pastor of the multi-site Redemption Church, posted videos demonstrating how the Ron Carpenter Ministries Advanced Archive app answers people’s questions and even “prays” for specific needs.
The artificial-intelligence app, which costs $49 per month, is drawing mixed reviews. Some of Carpenter’s social media followers call the AI app “epic” and “next level,” while critics say it depersonalizes ministry and is even heretical.
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Carpenter, who founded Redemption Church in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1991, moved to California in 2018 and planted another campus in San Jose. In 2020, the megachurch pastor experienced a bungled succession attempt involving Pastor John Gray and Relentless Church.
Pastor Ron Carpenter: App ‘Grows Along With You’
On the Google Play store, the app is touted as a service that will change lives and equip leaders. It can “transcend traditional time and access barriers,” according to a description, which states, “The software grows along with you, referencing past conversations, and personalizing responses.”
In a Nov. 21 video, Pastor Ron Carpenter demonstrated how the app answers his question, “Do you have anything you could tell me about prayer, Pastor?” After several seconds, the AI voice, which sounds like Carpenter’s, responds, “Hey, let me tell you something about prayer. It’s not just a ritual or a routine. It’s a lifeline. Prayer is that intimate conversation with God where you can pour out your heart…”
Nine days later, Carpenter shared another video, starting by saying, “I’d love to have my own personal pastor.” He tells the app, “Pastor Ron, I’m not feeling well today. Could you pray for me?”
In a voice that sounds like Carpenter’s, the app replies, “Hey there. I’m sorry to hear you’re not feeling well. Let’s take a moment to pray together.” It continues, “Heavenly Father, I thank you that you know us and hear us. Right now I lift up my friend to you. I ask for your healing touch to be upon…”
AI Pastor App: Innovative or a ‘Horror Show’?
In an article on its website, polemical news site Protestia expressed hope that the $49 monthly price “dissuades most people from being tempted to use this thing.” On X, Protestia shared video of Carpenter’s prayer demo, calling it a “horror show.”
Comments on that post express dismay and alarm at the app’s implications for ministry and faith. “The one thing the world will not be able to replicate in the AI age is the Holy Spirit,” one comment stated.
“This is heresy. AI can’t talk to God. God doesn’t hear AI,” someone else wrote. “This pastor is making our relationship with God a superficial self-help psycho babble farce.”
Another person commented, “This is like asking your toaster to pray for you.”
