Tithe.ly and Breeze ChMS’ inaugural Modern Church Leader Conference kicked off in Dallas on Monday (Oct. 21), bringing together hundreds of leaders to explore the future of technology and innovation in the church.
In addition to offering over 40 practical training workshops led by industry experts like Phil Cooke and Dustin Stout, the conference featured Pastor Miles McPherson (Rock Church), Pastor Erwin McManus (Mosaic Church), Nona Jones (chief content & partnerships officer for YouVersion), Julie McCoy (president of BrandWell), Pastor Levi Lusko (Fresh Life Church), Pastor John Amanchukwu (Upper Room Church of God in Christ), and comedian Andrew Stanley, among others.
During the opening session, a panel of church technology experts discussed how technology has evolve ofter the last 10 years, encouraged church leaders not to fear but rather to leverage technology to impact Christ’s kingdom, and answered questions regarding artificial intelligence (AI).
The panel included Blue Van Dyke (StudioC), Rafi Ghazarian (Saddleback Church), Ben Boykin (Rock Church), Michael Whittle (Pulpit Al) and Tithe.ly founders Dean Sweetman (CEO) and Frank Barry (COO).
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Van Dyke reminded the church leaders that “technology is submissive to ministry. It is not the lead role.” He said that we who develop and implement technology in churches are the “supporting actors.”
Sharing how he approaches church technology, Van Dyke said that he always asks the question: “How is it that we can use technology to be more effective and more efficient at what we do, which is ministry…What does it do for ministry? How is it benefiting us?”
“It’s not about the technology,” he added. “It’s about the technology doing what we’re trying to do anyways, ministry, but just at scale and more efficiently.”
Echoing what Van Dyke said, Ghazarian, who serves as Saddleback Church’s CTO, made the comment, “Technology is a tool, but it’s also a great amplifier.” He continued, “And if we have the greatest mission as a church to fulfill the Great Commission and we’re not using the tech as one of the greatest amplifiers that God has given us, then it’s just such a waste.”
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Barry asked if anyone in the audience was “afraid of AI?” As many raised their hands, Barry, a former youth pastor, shared that he has “talked to all kinds of pastors who are afraid of AI.”
Directing the topic of AI to the panel, Ghazarian said that as a “geek, I love the times we’re living in with technology. Just you look at the last 20 years, whether it’s the mobile phone or the internet.”
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