Logos, Twitch, and the Great Commission
How one pastor turned his Logos sermon prep time into evangelism
3,511 followers
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165 viewers per stream
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164 new church attendees
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As a new pastor in a small town, Tanner tried lots of ideas to get more regular interaction with his members. One idea he used: live streaming his office hours via Twitch, a popular gaming platform. While he waited for people to show up, he started streaming his sermon prep in Logos—but he didn’t see familiar names from his congregation popping up. No, he saw people he’d never met from across the country who wanted to ask him all kinds of questions about God, the Bible, and what it means to be a Christian.
Tanner’s Initial Problem
As a new pastor, Tanner was interested in finding ways to connect with his small congregation in Colorado. So he set up office hours where people could drop by, visit, and ask whatever questions they wanted. The only problem: nobody ever showed up. So he ran with it, noting that sometimes God has very different plans than we do.
That’s when Tanner decided to move his office hours online. He thought maybe people were too busy and/or didn’t have time to stop by the church to meet. So he built interactive office hours and live streamed to YouTube and Facebook and even gamer-focused streaming services like Mixer and Twitch. But when his congregation still didn’t show up, he was about to give up . . . until random people—some of whom weren't Christians—started finding his live stream. And he quickly realized the traffic was coming from Twitch.
So he ran with it, noting that sometimes God has very different plans than we do.
How Tanner Pivoted with Logos and Twitch
Tanner decided to go all in on Twitch since that’s where people were interacting with him, and he decided to use his live stream time to prepare his sermons using Logos ... something he has to do each week anyway.
Suddenly his audience started growing—people from all over the world, many who haven’t been to church in years, if ever. And they had questions about God, the Bible, and what it means to be a Christian. Tanner would pause his sermon prep and instead use Logos to show his audience how to find answers in the Bible. It was everything Tanner had hoped he’d get from his congregation, but instead, here he was doing his office hours with a bunch of strangers online.
Tanner’s ministry today
Eventually, the same people started showing up regularly—about 20 people per day and over 200 total followers. They also began attending midweek Bible studies with Tanner’s congregation and even Sunday morning services, where they heard Tanner preach the sermons they watched him prepare. own ministry.
What’s next is still unknown. Tanner has good questions about how to minister to these people from afar but also how to get them connected with local churches. Digital tools make the world small, and the community Tanner has built is real. But can it replace in-person meetings entirely? Thankfully, COVID-19 has given Tanner time to work on it. In the meantime, he’ll be online, taking the gospel to the people who are hungry for it. Check out the video above to see how Tanner uses Logos in his live stream or click a button below to learn more about using Logos in your own ministry.
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