In June 2000, Jeff led his first online Bible study, taking 75 people from around the world through the book of James using a text-based system called Ultimate BB. He was doing digital ministry way before it was cool. Founding THECHURCH.DIGITAL in 2018, Jeff’s passions have evolved into helping churches (and individuals too!) find their calling through digital discipleship, releasing people on digital mission, and planting multiplying digital churches. This pursuit will expand as Jeff (and others) create the DigitalChurch.Network, an organic, decentralized network for digital expressions of church, globally. Jeff also serves as the Director of Metaverse Church NEXT for Leadership Network, and works closely with Exponential and other globally facing, multiplication-friendly, gospel-centric organizations. Jeff married his high school sweetheart, Amy, and has two kids and a dog. They live in Miami, Florida.
Shows
META27: Jeff Hook, Artificial Intelligence, and Personalized Discipleship
Blockchain, Crypto, and the Potential of Decentralized, Metaversal Movements
Articles
Go on a Metaverse Mission Trip
Church, Meet the Metaverse Mission Field Sure, we can argue about the ecclesiology of a church in virtual reality. There are some points of conversation...
How Do We Disciple Artificial Intelligence?
Artificial Intelligence: Greatest Invention of the Modern Era or the Downfall of Human Civilization? Let’s stop here for a second and recognize how far the...
Why Churches Should Utilize Personas and Target Audiences on the Digital Mission Field
Pastor, are you tired of thinking It’s not working! when trying to reach people online? Do you feel like no matter how hard you try,...
Rediscovering Your Church’s Digital Why
The digital age has revolutionized the way we communicate church, but in many ways it has yet to influence how we “be” the church. As...
Microsoft’s Altspace Closes, and the Church Moves On
When Your (Virtual) Church Home Is Taken Away… The virtual reality social space scene just got quieter: Microsoft, owner of the popular virtual world platform...
What’s NEXT for Digital, and Why Your Church Must Care
Discover Your Church’s Digital “Why?”—and Don’t Be Surprised When It Has Nothing to Do with Broadcasting Church Services Leadership Network is announcing Digital Church NEXT!...
4 Ways Your Church Can Use Tesla’s New Humanoid Robot
I was driving in my neighborhood the other day when I noticed my neighbor’s Roomba-like device mowing his yard. I’ve heard of these automated mowers,...
Evangelism in Virtual Reality: How to Start
Digital missions fields offer unique opportunities to engage in the work of evangelism in new and exciting ways. The metaverse is a series of modern...
The Strength of Anonymity in Virtual Reality
Doing virtual reality ministry is, simply put, ironic. There are many things within virtual ministry that the average church leader perceives as a negative when...
ACTS 5’s Ananias, Sapphira, and the Jerusalem DAO
As discussed on Metaverse Church NEXT, Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DOAs) can be an incredible opportunity for churches to utilize blockchain and cryptocurrencies. According to DigiDay, DAOs are...
Church in a Virtual Reality Bar?
“Hey Jeff, I’m thinking about opening a Bar in Virtual Reality, specifically VRChat.” My friend Joey is a Digital Pastor in Ohio and part of...
Bringing Evangelism into our Communities and the Metaverse
The innovators doing ministry in virtual reality have discovered that evangelistic conversations are easy in the metaverse. One reason is that people will talk about...
Mental Health Obstacles in Virtual Reality
The mental health implications of the metaverse are untested and scary. Virtual reality (VR) thrives on lack of control, and vices are flaunted with little...
Here Is the Church…
The greatest resource your church has is not your staff or building. It’s your people. Remember the old hand gesture rhyme we all learned as...
Will Churches Become Decentralized?
Will Churches Get Bigger or Smaller? Bigger churches will follow the megachurch model and find ways to succeed by big-church standards. Large churches with large...
Shared Experiences: The Key to Understanding Digital and Metaverse Discipleship
As COVID restrictions continue to relax, most churches have returned to physical buildings. Did broadcasting church services work for your congregation? You had viewers watching...
Does Virtual Reality Church Compete with Physical Church?
There’s a misconception that virtual churches compete with physical churches. The fear is that people will stop attending church if there is a virtual option....
A Pop-Cultural Examination of World-Destroying A.I.
Humans have been dreaming of artificial intelligence for over 100 years. One of the earliest references is a favorite film of mine, Fritz Lang’s Metropolis,...
Redefining Real(ities)—Virtual No More
The other day, someone asked me, “You don’t really believe it counts if someone accepts Jesus in virtual reality, do you?” My response, “You tell...
Gutenberg’s Heresy and the Metaverse Precursor
As near as I can tell, Helen Keller first said, “The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next.” To be honest, it...
Want to Up Your Sermon Game? Try Preaching in Virtual Reality
Pastor, want to discover why you should be excited about preaching in virtual reality? Let’s go back to 1946. Born in 1900, Edgar Dale was...
Meet Your Church’s R&D Department
Innovation is difficult within the church. As a non-profit, we never want to be seen as wasting money on experimentation. Time is also short since...
Psalm 139 Is True, Even in the Metaverse
The metaverse is different, it’s true. And historically, Christians fear what’s different. Humans fear what we don’t understand. So it’s easy to ignore potential Kingdom...
Blackaby’s Experiencing God, Metaverse Edition
I was having a conversation the other day with a friend (at a Starbucks, not in the Metaverse) and we ended up talking about books...
Jason Poling and the Math of the Metaverse Mission Field
Cornerstone Yuba City is a pioneering example of what a church can look like if it multiplies into the Metaverse Mission Field. Pastor Jason Poling...
The Controversial Metachurch: Fighting the Wrong Battle
I’ve said a lot of controversial statements in my life surrounding church and technology. Comes with the territory. Truthfully, I’ve seen probably 10x negative feedback...
