Nathan Marchand and I attended the Nerd Culture Ministry Summit in Marble Falls, TX early in November. This was a great time of networking and training sessions. This was one of the main reasons I did a gofundme earlier this year.
There were a couple digital churches present. The founders of Lux Digital Church and GodSquad Church were both present. These communities seek to reach people who live in the internet and would be to scared or uncomfortable at a normal church. Some don’t have a church in reaching space and others basically live online. We also had many streamers at the event such as Miss Positivity, SousyLive, and ChristianNinja and Pastor Skar. It was interesting to connect with people who minister to a segment of the nerd/geek population that I don’t really walk amongst very often. There was also the lead team for a nerd focused church plant in Germany called Nerch, the Love Thy Nerd team, and so many others. Church planting organizations, groups that are building apps and digital systems for discipleship, and people who are just interested in reaching nerds/gamers/geeks for Jesus.
I met a member of the Jesus Otaku team. I got to learn about their approach con ministries and she asked me some questions about my approach to leading services at cons.
The training sessions had a lot to think about. There was a lot of focus on digital ministry at this event which was new to me.
My favorite address came from Riot Games Head of Creativity, Magnus Lehman. He shared his story of consistently seeking God’s direction and what it was like to come out on the other side after obeying God in something you don’t want to do.
Another excellent speaker was Jacueline S. Parish who spoke on Demystifying Your Nerd. She looked at forms of love that nerds are great at building and how fun is an important part of who we are as social beings created by God.