I love weddings. They have all of my favorite things. My favorite people. My favorite food. My favorite dances. My favorite food. My favorite smiles. My favorite... food. I was given the distinct honor of officiating the wedding of two of our nerdy members of Checkpoint Church (Congrats Ryan and Hallie!) One of my secret favorite things about weddings is that they are full of all of my very favorite symbols. Weddings are quite customizable. We can change up the symbols, we ca

It’s strange to me how quickly I wax and wane between the world of nerd ministry being so widely done in one moment and then feel like every new ministry is a secret and rare thing to find. How can something be so incredible novel and yet seem so prevalent? I think this is the fascinating world of being a researcher in this world. I am constantly surrounded by it, so it feels like it is everywhere. But the truth is… Checkpoint may have been your first toe in the water with ne

Nerd Pastor Nate is a featured writer for Rethink Church writing on gaming, anime, and other pop culture topics. In this post, he discusses the controversial game 12 Minutes and the story that it tells being remarkably similar to the stories that Jesus told. Here's a highlight: "Considering that it is what I do for my ministry, allow me to affirm that games are rife for exegesis—a critical exploration of games can and does bring things to light that make us better Christians

Warning: this post will be brutally honest and yet hopelessly optimistic. Last week, we had our second ever Check-A-Thon and set the goal to reach $500 for Child's Play. We didn't meet that goal, but we did raise the very impressive $330 for children to have the joy of gaming brought their way during their hospital visits. Before the back to school season, our streams on Twitch were starting to hit nearly ten concurrent viewers on average (if that doesn't sound impressive, be

Watch Episode Three: Or Subscribe to our Podcast: TRANSCRIPT: 0:00:00.2 S1: Would you rather Him read the bible study that already connects him to what he's playing that you feel uncomfortable with and put him back to the gospel or just be salty about it, and she's like, I'll take one of everything 0:00:13.1 S2: And go, everyone and welcome to The nerds of prey, where we're bridging the gap between faith and fandom by introducing you to the leading folks on the front lines of

ICYMI: we announced last week that I was selected to be one of the speakers at the highly anticipated UMC LEAD 2022 event in San Diego, CA next January. For those unfamiliar, LEAD is the equivalent of the TED Talk program in the United Methodist Church. In around 130 days (but who's counting?), I will be among leading voices in the UMC presenting our current findings in innovative ministry. At first glance, this likely may look like a devilish temptation that could go straigh

The third entry of nerd ministry that is being done - and I’m nowhere close to the end of my research. How are you enjoying these lists? Are they helpful for connecting you with others out there doing this work? I’d love your feedback. These are intended to be brief ventures into the world of other ministries, so I will end my waxing poetic here… enjoy the list! These will be specifically related to nerd ministry, so be aware that these are not the be-all, end-all of resource

August always feels like a blur. With kids going back to school and the peak of the summer heat giving us the final sunburns of the season, it can be hard to fit in much gaming or binging of the latest and greatest. Despite that, August manages to be a month that introduces some exciting new things on the horizon - lots of teasers and anticipation enter the zeitgeist and get us excited for the future months ahead. Here are just a few (seven to be precise) of our favorite thin

Nerd Pastor Nate (Nathan Webb) has been selected as an upcoming speaker for the LEAD 2022 Conference in San Diego, CA from January 23rd-26th. According to their website: "LEAD creates space for Christian leaders to be vulnerable and courageous, connects them around their hopes for the future, and equips them to bring those hopes into reality." The full list of speakers and information on how to attend the event can be found on the site below.

Last week, I was featured on a podcast called the 1000 Question Christian podcast, where I was asked a series of questions on Checkpoint as a church model, digital churches, and tackled a controversial Biblical text. At the end, the host of the podcast gave me a chance to share one piece of advice to share with the listeners. I don't know the audience of this podcast well, but, given that this episode was directed at church planters, innovators, etc., I thought I would base m

Nerd Pastor Nate was featured as a member of the upcoming flawk community groups out of PASTORIA. In this one-on-one, NPN discusses some of the theological backing behind Checkpoint and more about how we got our start, as well as where we are headed.

Nerd Pastor Nate was featured in the September 3rd, 2021 edition of the 1000 Question Christian podcast. From the description: "A weekly podcast where we ask clergy off the wall questions. Anything from weird stories in the bible to pastoral advice! On this episode of 1000 Question Christian our guests, Rev. Nate Webb and Rev. Monica Reynolds, discuss what church is and killing servants."

No, you're not seeing the cover art for this newsletter wrong. I didn't accidentally post an old newsletter - we are hosting our SECOND EVER Check-a-Thon on September 17th at 4pm. You're gonna want to save that date! It's going be another 8-hour charity stream, but proceeds will be going to Child's Play for this one. We had so much fun with our last charity stream - so I can't wait to see what this one holds in store for us. Some of the challenges and goals from the last stre