Episode 34
Will AI Change How We Do Ministry? - Part Three
About this episode
Will AI change how we do ministry? In this episode, Luke and Adam argue that it already is, and that the more important question is where to draw the line. Featuring insights from Pastor Puia Fanai, Craige Young, Pastor Jëan Ross and Pastor Russ Willcocks, they look at AI triaging thousands of messages at Hope Channel, a Bible study chatbot on WhatsApp that hands people to a real mentor, church website chatbots that answer within 24 hours instead of next Sabbath, and what responsible sermon prep looks like when AI is in the room. The thread running through it all: AI can change the how of ministry, but not the why. It can filter, curate, research and follow up. It cannot love, pray, discern or carry someone's suffering. Moses still needed Jethro, and the church still needs Moses.
This is Part Three of AI in the Age of Christianity, a series where Luke and Adam bring in guests, explore the hard questions, and work toward a framework the church can actually use.
TIMESTAMPS
00:00:00 Could AI pray for me?
00:00:45 Welcome, and this episode's question
00:01:15 Luke's hypothesis: AI changes the how, not the why
00:02:15 Adam's light bulb analogy
00:03:40 Clip 1: Pastor Puia Fanai on triaging engagement and Bible study chatbots at Hope Channel
00:07:40 Compression and curation: AI's core strength at scale
00:10:00 Clip 2: Craige Young on 24-hour follow-up and church chatbots
00:12:15 Getting the chatbot experience right
00:17:00 Agentic tools and the pastor's personal assistant
00:18:40 Can AI help pastors preach?
00:20:00 Clip 3: Pastor Jëan Ross on sermon prep, slides and research
00:23:20 A great study partner, a poor architect
00:27:10 Clip 4: Pastor Russ Willcocks on Moses, Jethro and what technology can't do
00:29:30 Pulling the threads together
00:32:30 Next episode: would you push the button?
FEATURED VOICES
🔗 Pastor Puia Fanai, Hope Channel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/puia-fanai-21945b196/ | https://www.facebook.com/rspuiafanai/
🔗 Craige Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ucyinc
🔗 Pastor Jëan Ross, Amazing Facts https://www.amazingfacts.org/
🔗 Pastor Russ Willcocks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russ-willcocks-13126640
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Transcript
one thought I was like, could AI pray for me?
What would that be like if you asked it to pray?
I've never tried that. That's an interesting
experiment. Does God listen to AI's prayers?
Yeah, lots more to think about on this topic.
Wait a second. Was that yes that God listens
to the prayers of AI or was that yes like, yes,
let's move on? Let's move on because I don't
know. That's not for me to answer that question
because man, my goodness, that sounds like a...
That's an interesting topic. Hi everybody. Welcome
back to the BlueVignette Podcast. My name is
Luke Farooja and I'm here with my co -host Adam
Weeks. Hi Adam. Hey, Luke. Ah, it's good to see
you again. I am excited about this topic. This
is this is going to be good. Yeah, absolutely.
It's going to be great. So we started this series
looking at how Christianity is affected in this
age of AI. It feels like things are constantly
changing. New news comes out about AI all the
time. And I want to ask you, Luke, our question
today is Will AI change how we do ministry? And
before we get to our guests and the people we've
interviewed, I'm curious, what do you think?
How will AI change how we do ministry? So AI,
it's been really interesting, right? Because
we've both been going out and talking to people
and learning how it's being used out in the wild,
so to speak. And so as I've been hearing some
of the thoughts that there's been quite a wide
range. If you're asking for for how I would think
about it, what my basic hypothesis is, I think
it is going to change dramatically, fairly dramatically,
how ministry takes place as a tool. But I don't
think it's going to change why ministry takes
place. And so I think that there's a really a
really important line that we need to draw. And
I think some of the places that we're going to
go in this conversation will detail that. But
I'm going to lean on the side of as long as we're