As of this past Sunday, we have officially reached 500 subscribers on YouTube! This has been a long time coming with plenty of effort and intentionality. It takes time to grow and develop a channel - especially one as niche as a nerd-based ministry. But this isn't just a time to celebrate another huge milestone. This latest development will officially have community integration on all three of our platforms! This is a big step forward to being taken seriously and connecting with new folks.
For those unfamiliar, Checkpoint is everywhere, but we have three leading platforms on which we keep our sights set. On Twitch, we aim to meet people and get to know them. We see this as the 'coffee shop' for our church plant. We then invite people to enter 'our space,' which is our Discord server. This server exists as a digital 'church building' where we fellowship and build relationships beyond pleasantries. Our third platform is mainly used for discipleship and exploration of our faith - our YouTube channel. We post our podcasts, our sermons, and our discussions. Some of the content is funny, and some are serious, but it ultimately allows for identity forming.
With the requirements of the platform, YouTube has set milestones in place. You have to reach 100 subscribers to unlock the custom URL feature. We've been there for a while - but now that we're at 500, we unlock a new feature: the Community tab. This opens us up to a whole new section and demographic of YouTube. We now have ways to interact on this socially and develop a place to form a community on our third central platform in ways previously unthinkable. I'm excited to see how we use this feature and what we consider the best utilization.
Good work, folks! But I'm even more excited because this means we have unlocked the ability to build community on all three platforms of significant focus. We still have milestones ahead on each of them, but we are a legitimate presence in all three, which is well earned.