Ministry At Scale

Most Christians know that they believe — but far fewer can clearly articulate why. Matt Ward, founder and CEO of BeliefTrack, built a free web-based platform to change that — and what started as a personal faith inventory has grown into a powerful discipleship and leadership vetting tool for churches. In this episode of Ministry at Scale, Chad Williams sits down with Matt to explore how a simple question — "What do I actually believe?" — became a tool that has tracked over 115,000 individual Christian beliefs.Key TakeawaysA personal faith journey sparked a ministry-sized tool. Nearly 10 years ago, Matt began wrestling with his own beliefs as a young adult — not what he was taught, but what he could confidently own. That process of honest self-reflection became the foundation for BeliefTrack's nearly 300 theological questions, spanning beginner to advanced doctrine.The confidence rating is one of BeliefTrack's most disarming features. Rather than simply asking "do you believe this?", users rate their confidence on a scale from 1 to 10. It's a simple mechanism that creates honest self-awareness — and opens the door to deeper study, better conversations, and more confident outreach.BeliefTrack has nearly 800 registered users and has tracked approximately 115,000–116,000 individual Christian beliefs — a number Matt says far exceeded his expectations, driven by people's genuine hunger to go deeper with their theology.Churches are using BeliefTrack as a leadership vetting and discipleship tool. The recommended church rollout starts with the pastor crafting their core beliefs, then having leadership go through the same process — creating a transparent, side-by-side comparison that surfaces theological alignment and gaps before someone steps into a teaching role.The platform reveals a surprising reality: congregations aren't as theologically aligned as pastors assume. Matt's experience with users from across denominations shows that even within a single church, meaningful doctrinal diversity exists — particularly on topics like eschatology and inerrancy. BeliefTrack helps pastors see those gaps clearly and respond with targeted discipleship rather than assumptions.AI played a supporting role in refining the platform's questions. As a software engineer, Matt used AI tools to help audit his question bank for unintentional bias — ensuring that users are genuinely guided toward reflection rather than nudged toward a predetermined answer.BeliefTrack is free — and Matt wants to keep it that way for small churches. Church accounts are available now, and the long-term vision is for small churches to always have free access to the platform as a discipleship resource.Does Your Church Know What It Believes?If you've ever wished you had a window into what your congregation actually believes — or if you're a ministry leader wanting to equip your people with tools for deeper theological engagement — this episode is for you. BeliefTrack is the kind of simple, mission-aligned tool that could transform the way your church approaches discipleship. Listen now, then head over to BeliefTrack.com to set up your church account and see it for yourself.RESOURCESConnect with Matthew — matt.ward@belieftrack.comMatthew Ward, Founder and CEO — BeliefTrackBeliefTrack YouTube Channel — https://www.youtube.com/@BeliefTrackBook Recommendation: Living on Target — a discipleship book Matt's church is currently using; focuses on prioritizing relationship with Christ, family, church, and the world.Online Resource: Gavin Ortlund / Truth Unites YouTube channel — accessible theological discussions on a wide range of topicsFive Q Launch AI — Ready to turn AI experimentation into real ministry impact? Learn more at fiveq.com/launch

Featuring Adam Graber, Christianity Tomorrow & Co-Host of Device & Virtue PodcastRecorded live at the Digital Ministry Conference 2025How do we saturate the digital world with Scripture? In this episode of the Ministry at Scale Podcast, Adam Graber unpacks findings from groundbreaking research conducted in partnership with the British and Foreign Bible Society. With a deep understanding of digital theology and years of experience consulting ministries worldwide, Adam reveals the current state of Bible engagement across 27 “digital nations” — platforms with over 70 million monthly users — and outlines where the greatest gaps and opportunities lie.Listeners will discover which platforms are overserved or underserved by digital Bible creators, the surprising dominance of individual creators versus organizations, and what types of tools and alliances are still desperately needed. Whether you're a ministry leader, strategist, or digital content creator, this episode offers data-driven insights and a compelling challenge to rethink your role in the digital Bible ecosystem.Recommended Resources:https://adamgraber.com/Christianity Tomorrow Adam on LinkedInDevice and Virtue Podcast

Josh Kashorek is the Marketing Director at Five Q, a digital marketing agency focused on helping ministries reach more people online. With over 15 years of experience in digital strategy, analytics, and marketing, Josh brings valuable expertise to this topic. In this episode, Josh shares insights from Five Q's annual Ministry Benchmark Study, analyzing digital metrics across over 1,000 ministries. Here are some of the key topics covered: The Continued Importance of SEO Nearly 70% of ministries gained rankings for keywords in Google's top 100 search results this year, up from 50% last year. Josh emphasizes that SEO remains crucial for driving organic traffic, which comprises over half the traffic for many ministries. Website Speed Impacts User Engagement While ministry websites showed modest improvements in PageSpeed scores, Josh notes there is still plenty of room for optimization – especially on mobile devices. Faster websites lead to better user engagement and reduced bounce rates. Social Media Integration Trends 83% of ministries did not list any social media channels on their websites, choosing instead to drive traffic back to their owned properties. Among those promoting social, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube were the top channels utilized. Follower Growth Insights The median number of Facebook and Instagram followers grew year-over-year across ministries studied, while Twitter and YouTube follower counts shrank slightly. Realistic Posting Frequencies Despite advice to post daily, the median number of monthly posts was 16 on Facebook, 13 on Instagram, and lower on Twitter and YouTube – highlighting the content creation challenges many ministries face. The full benchmark study is available for free download, and ministries can request a personalized scorecard and strategy consultation from Five Q. Listen to the entire Ministry of Skill podcast episode for more valuable digital marketing insights and to learn how you can better evaluate and improve your online impact.

Josh Kashorek is the Director of Marketing at Five Q, a platform helping organizations leverage no-code tools and automation. His creative mindset and technical skills converge in an insightful perspective on how ministries can steward AI for greater impact. In this thought-provoking episode, Josh shares: The Existential Crisis Inspiring His AI Experiments Josh opens by recounting the "minor existential crisis" sparked by a report predicting that up to 70% of work activities could be automated by 2030. As someone in marketing/communications, he wondered if his skills were becoming obsolete. This led him to dive into exploring AI capabilities hands-on. Overcoming AI Content Creation Challenges While tools like ChatGPT can generate passable content, Josh outlines key hurdles like factual inaccuracies, lack of unique voice/opinion, and generic sameness across outputs. His solution: provide contextual guardrails by inputting your ministry's real content to infuse your distinct voice and brand. A Replicable Framework for Automating Workflows Josh walks through his code-enabled workflow for rapidly generating branded social media visuals with compelling quotes from source material. What manually took 15 minutes was automated in a mind-blowing 3 seconds! He encourages ministries to analyze repeatable tasks for automation potential. Embracing Joy over Fear in Kingdom Stewardship Drawing inspiration from the Parable of the Talents, Josh challenges listeners to not cower under the "weight of stewardship" amid radical changes like AI. Instead, he cheers embracing your God-given role and responsibility with joy, trusting your ministry is part of God's plan. Whether providing a basic AI content creation demo or translating a biblical narrative, Josh casts a vision for faithfully experimenting with these emerging tools. His parting charge? Use AI as a megaphone to amplify your ministry's unique voice and mission, not replace it. Don't miss this creative thinker's perspective on facing technological disruption as a "Christitunity" to invest the Master's resources for greater Kingdom impact.

Corey Alderin is the founder of Sermon Shots, a platform that helps churches transform their full sermons into popular short-form video content for Instagram Reels, Facebook Reels, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts. In this hands-on workshop, Corey shares his expertise on leveraging AI to create thumb-stopping, engaging clips that reach people where they are consuming content. Why Vertical Video Content Matters Now More Than Ever Corey highlights the seismic shift happening in social media, where follower count doesn't determine who sees your content. The AI algorithms analyze each video's content and match it with the right audience members most likely to engage. This unlocks massive reach potential even for ministries with small followings. 5 Keys to Creating Viral-Worthy Vertical Clips 1. Captions - With most viewing on mute, having captions is crucial 2. Keep It Brief - Shorter videos perform better to sustain engagement 3. Grab Attention Early - Use a provocative hook in the first 2-5 seconds 4. Leverage Music - Adding the right music can invoke desired emotions 5. Highlight Faces - Close-up shots of faces are proven attention drivers Walk-Through: Turning a Sermon into Multiple Engaging Clips In the live demo, Corey shows exactly how the Sermon Shots platform utilizes AI to streamline the clip creation process: 1. Upload your long-form video content 2. Select from pre-built appealing designs and styles 3. Let the AI suggest top moments or identify them by keyword 4. Fine-tune clips with text, branding, zooming, music and more 5. Preview clips on each platform to optimize appearance 6. Download ready-to-post video clips in a fraction of the normal time The Power of AI to Multiply Your Content's ReachWhat used to take hours can now be done rapidly thanks to AI capabilities like speech-to-text, facial detection, and identifying engaging moments. This allows ministries to repurpose one sermon into a stream of natively formatted videos perfectly suited for each social platform. Corey's innovative approach combines AI's efficiency with human curation to create ultra-engaging content that expands your ministry's reach and impact like never before. For a first-hand look at this game-changing process, listen to Corey's full instructive workshop now!