“I believe you now

I've come too far

Now I can't go back

Back to how it was

Created for a place I've never known

This is home”

- Switchfoot

Hello, I’m Jeff Chaves and I’ve been in ministry since 1994. However, just over a year ago we decided to start a ministry that is entirely online. But let me start with a little background to my story before we get into the ministry.

I first came to faith in Christ while serving in the sound room, and working full-time in television production in the US Army. I know that sounds like an unusual combination, but a big part of my journey has been video production. It’s been my “tent making” throughout my ministry. In fact, I surrendered to the call of ministry and worked on my Bible college coursework in the break room at the local Las Vegas PBS station. You could say this form of ministry is part of my DNA. That is how God shaped me for “such a time as this.”

It took a while for that vocation to connect with my ministry. I’ve held a number of ministry positions over the years including: youth pastor, associate pastor and rescue-mission pastor. I was called as the senior pastor in a small church in 2016. To be honest, the church had plateaued, like so many other churches today, and I was at a loss about how to move us forward. Then the pandemic hit. We were meeting in a local junior high theater, and were one of the first groups to have to find an alternative meeting space. Initially, we moved into a private home. Then our governor called for the complete “stay at home” order.

God Wasn’t Surprised by COVID   

In an amazing act of provision, God had already prepared our way to go online. Years before, my wife, Peggy and I started a nonprofit video production service, Grace Pictures Inc. She hosted a talk show and has a passion for video editing. Together we figured out how to use our tools for streaming. In a matter of days, we were up on Facebook and YouTube. We talked with our church members and helped them get online with us. Within the first month, we added a couple of Zoom Bible studies.

We are not the flashiest church online, but we had something that people were looking for: community and interaction. From day one I knew that I must talk directly to the camera and elicit responses in the chat box. My teenage daughter, Grace, is our digital host and Peggy directs. We started to see results online that we never saw in that junior high school. In the first weeks, dozens of new people became regular attenders. We even had a young mother from New England rededicate her life to Christ. That was enough to convince me that online community is the future—specifically my future in ministry. 

As the shutdowns wore on, we made the ultimate decision in October 2019.  We stepped into the unknown. Away from the security of a physical church, we started CHRCH Online (ChrchOnline.com) as a completely stand-alone ministry. God provided everything we needed to make the shift, including a structure though our nonprofit video production ministry and even new video production equipment. We lost very little in the process, and continue to see new people online regularly. We have regular attenders from every region of the US and a few from Europe.

Becoming Interactive

I stated in our first livestream and continue to emphasize, “We’re on social media. Let’s be more social.” This means imagining the process differently. For example, when you gather physically, you’ll greet people at the door. Digitally we start every livestream with “check in.” Participants are encouraged to tell us where they’re from and who they’re with. This is a great way get to know who’s watching, but more than that, it really helps foster community. We also encourage people to tag their friends and invite them to the stream. We deliberately don’t use digital marketing techniques. We want it to grow organically, God’s way.

For us the next level of interaction is Zoom. We have two Bible studies that are fully interactive. One we recently started to simulcast on Facebook and YouTube. We love the fact that Zoom allows for that face-to-face time, and it’s completely portable. We have a long-haul trucker in our community who is digitally present for almost every Zoom study. We can see the countryside whizzing by behind him as he interacts. We’ve had people join us from work, from the bus, from home, on a hike in the mountains, and even from the waiting area of the DMV.

To strengthen the community involvement we encourage our group to get involved with outside service projects as well. One ministry we connect with is My360 Project. They put shoes on kids’ feet in third-world countries. Their Director, who has become a great friend, asked us if we could do a sock drive as we had done with physical church. We had no idea if it would work, but to our amazement, we received more than 1000 pairs of kids’ socks. Some people gave money, others had socks sent to our PO Box, and some, who know us well, dropped socks off at our house. This has helped people think of our online group as a real community that is involved in something bigger.

Taking the Church With Us

A tragic turn happened in May 2021. My father passed away from liver cancer at the age of 92. During his struggle, God showed us the portability of online community. If I had been in a traditional setting, I may have taken a leave of absence and traveled to be with my dad. In this case, we took our online community with us 300 miles from home to San Marcos, California. My father lived in a retirement community, and they occasionally watched our livestreams. We were able to go live on Sunday from their courtyard with a dozen or so residents on hand for his 92nd birthday. 

Sadly, the cancer progressed quickly. We returned to him just weeks later. We stayed in a hotel and continued most of the regularly scheduled Zoom and livestreams. I walked through our real-life struggle together with our community. One of our regular attenders sent me an email to thank me for allowing him to watch how I handled my father’s passing. This is truly doing life together.

In August we returned to California on a happier mission. One of our regulars celebrated her 90th birthday. We actually share the same birthday along with my daughter. We had a small celebration dinner with her and some of the other members of her family who also are CHRCH regulars. After dinner, we fired up the equipment and had our Friday Night Bible Study from their living room. We intend to do more livestreams from community member’s homes as we move forward. 

Never Stop Innovating 

We are constantly looking for new ways to connect with people and improve our stream. This means adding technical pieces as we have the budget. It also includes thinking about how to improve each element of the stream. For example, we use a countdown leading into our streams. My wife, a great editor, thought this could be a great opportunity to create a digital “announcement board.” She produces the countdown with slides for our upcoming events. She also adds short videos that are evangelistic or highlight the message. 

Another example of innovation is us finding new ways to connect. For example, as we started the sock drive, we “brought in” the director of the ministry using FaceTime. He happened to be in Alaska at the time. As we closed the sock drive we talked with him live in Mexico to announce the totals. We are planning to add more live callers in future streams. We also have a great connection to some up-and-coming Christian artists who provide worship music once a month. 

I believe the pandemic has put to rest the discussion of whether or not the church can reach people online. We are doing it and so are many others. However, there still is debate about what the approach should be and whether online is viable. We have discovered that online church may not for be everyone, but it is definitely for some. The technology has given us the ability to reach far beyond the church walls and, as in our case, create a community that has no walls and no boundaries. I don’t think I’ve ever been this excited about the future of ministry and I’m echoing the words of that Switchfoot song: “I can’t go back to how it was.”