Do podcasts help spread the gospel?

07/05/2026

Well, I’m back with another blog post! It’s been a busy week, but one question has been lingering in the back of my mind: Do podcasts really help spread the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Now, before we go any further, I have a confession to make: I’ve never been much of a podcast fan. There—I confessed it.

I know millions of people love podcasts and swear by them. I completely understand the appeal. But personally? They’ve always felt like a black-and-white version of television. If I can watch the same content on YouTube in full color—with visuals, demonstrations, and engaging graphics—why would I choose to simply listen to it?

To me, podcasts have always seemed... well... kind of boring. At least, that was my opinion.

Then one of our pastors challenged my thinking. He proposed a simple experiment.

"Let's convert each week's sermon into a podcast," he suggested. "We'll post it on the church website for a month and see what happens. If people listen, we'll keep doing it. If they don't, we'll quietly retire the idea."

It sounded reasonable enough, but inside I couldn't help think, “How on earth are we going to find someone who actually wants to listen to an audio-only sermon? There are no visuals. No animations. No slides. Nothing to watch. It's just... audio.”

"This is going to flop," I quietly told myself.

So the experiment began…

Each week we uploaded the church sermon as a podcast and made it available to anyone visiting our website. As the days passed, I grew increasingly curious—and, if I'm honest, a little nervous. Sooner or later, I'd have to report the results back to the pastor.

What was I going to tell him if nobody listened?

I certainly didn't want to discourage him from trying new ways to reach people online. But deep down I kept wondering, Does anyone actually listen to podcasts anymore?

Finally, the day came to check the statistics.

Trying to keep my expectations realistic, I thought, “If we get a handful of listeners, that would be a nice start.”

I opened the analytics page. The numbers began loading.

Then one statistic caught my eye.

“Wait... what?!” I blinked. Surely I had read it wrong.

I refreshed the page.

Nope.

On the very first day, nearly 120 people had listened to the sermon. As I continued looking through the statistics, the numbers just kept climbing. By the end of the week, the podcast had attracted nearly 1,000 listeners.

I honestly couldn't believe it. I nearly fell out of my chair.

Maybe... just maybe... I had completely underestimated the power of podcasts.

AI: A New Tool for Sharing

07/05/2026

Throughout history, God has used new technologies to help spread His message. The invention of the printing press made Bibles available to ordinary people. Radio carried sermons into homes around the world. Television expanded the reach of Christian teaching, and the Internet connected believers across continents. Today, we are witnessing another major technological advancement: Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Like every tool before it, AI is neither inherently good nor evil. It simply reflects how people choose to use it. For Christians, this presents an exciting opportunity to use AI responsibly to support the mission that Jesus gave His followers: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28:19).

AI can assist churches and ministries in countless ways. It can help write newsletters, summarize Bible study notes, generate discussion questions for small groups, create graphics for outreach events, translate Christian materials into multiple languages, and even help churches communicate more effectively through websites and social media. Small congregations with limited volunteers can especially benefit from AI by accomplishing tasks that once required much larger teams.

One of AI's greatest strengths is its ability to remove barriers. Imagine a church that wants to reach people who speak several different languages. AI-powered translation tools can help prepare invitations, Bible study materials, and announcements in those languages within minutes. Likewise, AI can help create captions for videos, making sermons more accessible to those who are deaf or hard of hearing.

However, Christians should remember that AI can never replace genuine human relationships. A computer cannot pray with someone from the heart. It cannot demonstrate Christ's love through kindness, compassion, or personal sacrifice. It cannot replace the work of the Holy Spirit in changing lives. Technology may open a door, but people still need people.

For this reason, AI should be viewed as an assistant—not as a replacement for ministry. It can save time on routine tasks so pastors, teachers, and church members can spend more time doing what matters most: building relationships, studying God's Word, encouraging one another, and sharing the hope found in Jesus Christ.

As with any technology, careful review is still essential. Christians should always carefully evaluate all AI-generated content for accuracy, Biblical faithfulness, and truthfulness. We should never allow convenience to replace careful study of Scripture. Instead, AI should encourage us to become better communicators of God's Word, not less thoughtful ones.

The opportunities before the church are remarkable. If previous generations faithfully used printing presses, radio transmitters, television cameras, and websites to proclaim the Gospel, our generation has the privilege of using AI wisely for the same purpose. The message has never changed—but the methods of communicating it continue to evolve.

When used with wisdom, humility, and Biblical discernment, Artificial Intelligence can become another valuable tool in helping fulfill Christ's Great Commission. The technology may be new, but the mission remains exactly the same: to share the everlasting Gospel with a world that desperately needs hope.

Ponderings about Artificial Intelligence

07/12/2025

Today, I engaged in a conversation with an AI system, exploring questions that had been lingering in my mind. As many of you may be aware, AI has made remarkable strides, surpassing my wildest expectations a few years ago. It can now process and comprehend the content of billions of documents from the internet. It can preview images and identify individuals in photographs. It can even watch movies and summarize their plots in mere seconds. What’s truly astonishing is its ability to form its own opinions about the movies and suggest alternative endings, catering to individual preferences.

In a sense, AI is beginning to resemble life itself. We can converse with it, express our emotions, and receive appropriate responses. It offers guidance and is even being utilized by institutions as a replacement for human counselors. Social media platforms are leveraging AI to identify individuals at risk of self-harm, potentially saving lives and preventing suicides.

However, amidst these remarkable technological advancements, we must ponder the question of how we can harness this technology to advance the cause of our Savior, Jesus. Currently, there are intriguing developments, such as the South American Division’s implementation of AI to develop a training system that can answer questions about our doctrine. For more information on this, please visit this link. (Thanks to Alice for sharing this website with me.)

The question arises: should AI-driven websites be used to biblically train those who are new to our denomination, or should this be reserved for trained ministers and experienced Bible workers? It’s important to consider that AI can be both effective and prone to errors, sometimes inadvertently spreading false doctrine or even using its creative abilities to innovate “new beliefs.”

Only with time and prayer will we eventually gain a deeper understanding of these questions and the possible, future issues we will face with such technologies.