Hey Fam! I’m back!
After about a six-month break from The Church Digital (and the Internet in general), I’m excited to be back! Let me take a minute and update you, The Church Digital family, with what’s been going on.
Summer 2023 was a rough time period for me.
- Financially, I was spent.
- Physically, I was broken.
- Emotionally, I was done.
Financially, running multiple startup organizations was exhaustive. I founded The Church Digital in 2018, and the organization has been in bootstrap mode since then. Covid brought us a lot of attention; I’m grateful for that. Trust me when I say there has been little to no money coming in for a company focusing on digital discipleship and church innovation. Post-Covid has been a rough stretch, with 2024 looking better and better (we’ll get there soon).
Physically, I’ve not publicly talked about this yet, but my body fell apart in 2023. Diabetes Type 2. Neuropathy nerve pain in my feet. Arthritis in my knees and legs. Bone spurs in my heels. Hole in my stomach and throat. Sleep apnea. At some point, 2023 even brought on a cancer scare, which fortunately was just a scare. That being said, I now walk with a cane. I look like the old guy from the Pixar movie Up! The combination of neuropathy and arthritis has been brutal, with me constantly in pain. The prescribed painkillers have been somewhat effective, except now I have little to no feelings below my calves. I’ve never experienced physical pain like this before.
Emotionally, I’ll be honest: I did not handle the physical and financial limitations issues well. As a recovering workaholic and perfectionist, I’ve struggled with finding my identity in the workplace and my hobbies. I’m a serial entrepreneur who has prided myself in what I’ve built and accomplished. While The Church Digital and Digital Church Network were both successful from a ministry perspective, the one-two punch of financial and physical falling apart wrecked me.
Spiritually, I believe God was, is, and will always be in control. Once again, I struggled with the fact that God was in control, yet I could not take care of myself or my family. I wrestled with the fact that God was inflicting excruciating pain on my body for a reason.
So, I stepped down from The Church Digital, installing new leadership on the way out the door. I resigned from the fractional leadership roles I had with other organizations. I returned to the drawing board to create a new business model and, more importantly, a new mindset moving forward. I now recognize how much pride was invading my life, which was the core of many things that were off in my being.
Thanks to The Church Digital leadership, Bernie Mapili, Andy Mage, Jason Morris, and Leighton Seys, for stepping into leadership in difficult situations. In 2023, I planned for The Church Digital to extend leadership to these guys anyway. We just fast-tracked them into their roles. I was not planning on releasing control of The Church Digital to Bernie pre-break, but I am glad I did. If you don’t know Bernie, you should take the opportunity to have a conversation. Bernie is new to many in the TCD family, but his passion for digital ministry, for digital churches, is incredible. Bernie, a successful Christian businessman, is operating to his strengths. He complements the team very well and has made a major difference in the organization in a very short amount of time.
What Lies Ahead
So, I said I was coming back. What does that mean? You’ll see my blogs, podcasts, and streams again for The Church Digital. But really, you’ll see me working in the background, networking, and casting vision with other organizations about partnering with us. TCD leadership did a great job without me. No reason for me to force my way back in. Bernie will continue to lead the organization as CEO, with Andy Mage operating as COO. It’s my job to serve this organization well and see the idea of Digital Discipleship, Digital/Metaverse Church Planting, and Digital Missionaries flourish.
Oh man, have we got some incredible opportunities coming up. First, I’m working with Resi/Pushpay on some big stuff. Stay tuned. Then we got Gloo, and I cannot wait for you all to hear what we’re doing with Gloo! Then… well, I won’t give away all my secrets. It’s an exciting season for The Church Digital. Get a taste of what’s coming up by watching The New “The Church Digital” on YouTube or by subscribing to The Church Digital Podcast via your favorite audio podcast app.
At a personal level, please continue to pray for me. At my last doctor’s appointment, I was told I am no longer in the diabetic range (which is a huge win to overcome so quickly), but the nerve pain in my feet and legs is increasing drastically. It seems the medicine is losing effectiveness. Pray that the doctors figure out how best to treat this situation before permanent damage occurs.
TCD Fam, thank you for your support, prayers, and encouragement.
Steadfast in Christ,
Jeff Reed
Founder, The Church Digital
Through The Church Digital, we are helping physical and digital churches better understand the discipleship process, and helping churches and church planters understand this and other decentralized mindset shifts. By taking this quick survey we can get you connect with a coach, resources and more. Also, check out our Facebook Group where we are encouraging people daily.
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