Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 99

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Description: Jay Owen, Chief of Ministry Staff at Church of Eleven22, shares how his team builds custom ministry apps in hours using AI-powered tools. His church now creates software solutions for under $3 that used to cost tens of thousands of dollars and take weeks to develop.

In this practical episode, Jay walks through real examples including:

• A personalized wallpaper creator built in 45 minutes the night before a major presentation
• A baptism registration system that served nearly 2,000 people
• A sermon search tool that indexes 890 hours of content
• Landing pages created for $0.50 in 2 minutes

You’ll learn about vibe coding with tools like Replit, where ideas become working applications through simple descriptions. Jay walks through actual builds, shows troubleshooting in real time, and explains which projects work best for this approach.

Whether you’re tech-savvy or someone who barely likes being on the computer, you’ll discover specific tools and workflows that reduce costs, improve user experience, and create stronger discipleship pathways.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Jay Owen, Church of Eleven22, Chief of Ministry Staff

Category: AI NEXT

Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 98

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Description: AI is a “force multiplier” for the Kingdom, but instead of being a friend or an enemy, you should make AI your frenemy. In this episode, Jason Morris introduces the “Art of AI Jiu-Jitsu”, teaching pastors how to use AI as an “adversarial network” to leverage its power while avoiding its weaknesses.

Since the average church cannot afford to “own the compute” or “own the model,” the speaker argues that the greatest opportunity for pastors to use AI without becoming a commodity is to own the data.

Some of the critical issues to discuss internally with church leadership are:

1. Own the Prompts: The question of “who owns the prompts” is becoming more valuable than ever, and pastors should reuse and share them among staff to create efficiency and save time.
2. Build Contextual Equity: Create a knowledge base of best practices around prompts to help onboard new staff and volunteers quickly.
3. Leverage Context: Since “content is no longer the king… context is”, your unique human context with your church is your “superpower” that AI will never have.
4. Focus on the Human Element: AI is designed for “dopamine, not truth” and excels at “sycophancy”. Pastors should prioritize relationships, care, and speaking the “cold hard truth”, actions AI cannot produce.

Jason leads the conversation by showing how AI can be used to handle the “grunt work” like administration and research, freeing you to focus on the relationships and community that only humans can provide.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Jason Morris, thechurch.digital, Director of Equipping & Mobilization

Category: AI NEXT

Exponential NEXT Podcast Episode 97

Series: Thinking Ahead: Pastors and AI

Title: Chad Williams, CEO of FiveQ agency, provides a comprehensive biblical framework for evaluating AI and technology in ministry. Drawing from Scripture, he traces technology through creation, fall, and redemption to help church leaders make wise decisions about emerging tools.

In this episode, Chad addresses the questions your congregation is already asking about AI. He explains why technology reflects God’s creative nature, how sin corrupts its purposes, and how redemption transforms even the most dangerous tools for kingdom impact.

You’ll learn four practical evaluation questions for any technology decision:

• Can I trust the source?

• Is it communicating truth or spreading lies?

• Does it amplify or replace human work?

• Am I creating or just consuming?

Chad demonstrates these principles across five ministry contexts: sermon preparation, administrative tasks, discipleship and pastoral care, outreach and communications, and volunteer training. Each example shows the “human sandwich approach” where human judgment bookends AI processing.

Whether you’re responding to concerned congregation members or evaluating AI tools for your team, you’ll gain theological grounding and practical wisdom for stewarding technology in ministry.

This episode is part of the Exponential AI NEXT podcast series. Learn more about how to get up to speed with AI for church at exponential.org/ai-next.

Guest:

Chad Williams, Five Q, CEO

Category: AI NEXT