I sat down with Alex Suber, ChurchCandy’s Director of Operations, to break down exactly what is working right now to get new guests through church doors. Alex and I have worked together closely, and this conversation was packed with the strategies, mistakes, and insights we have learned from helping hundreds of churches grow with digital marketing.

The Two Biggest Factors That Determine Church Growth

After working with churches across the country, we have seen two factors that consistently separate growing churches from stuck ones: content quality and follow-up systems. If your content does not stop someone from scrolling, they will never visit. And if your follow-up is weak, the people who do visit will not come back.

It sounds simple, but most churches get one or both of these wrong. They either over-produce their content so it looks like a TV commercial (which people scroll right past), or they have no system for following up with guests after they visit.

Why Most Church Ads Fail

One of the biggest mistakes I see is churches creating ads that look like commercials. Fancy cameras, blurred lobby backgrounds, lower thirds with the pastor’s name. It looks professional, but the problem is that when people see something on their timeline that looks like an ad, they skip it.

The ads that perform best for our churches are the ones that feel real. A pastor talking to the camera on their phone. A genuine invitation to come check out the church. No scripts, no production crew. Just authenticity. That is what stops the scroll.

Alex and I also talked about the importance of fresh content. You cannot run the same ad for six months and expect it to keep performing. People get tired of seeing the same thing. We recommend churches create new ad content at least every few weeks.

The Follow-Up System That Actually Works

Getting someone to plan a visit is only half the battle. What happens after they fill out a form or show up on Sunday is what determines whether they come back. The churches that are growing the fastest have personal, hands-on follow-up systems.

Here is what we see working:

• Personal video messages. Send a short video from the pastor within 24 hours of someone planning a visit. Use their name. Make it personal.
• Text from a real number. Not an automated system. A real person texting from their cell phone so it shows up as an iMessage or blue bubble.
• Follow up more than once. Most churches follow up once and stop. The best churches follow up multiple times over several weeks.
• Retargeting ads. Keep showing ads to people who have already interacted with your church online. Stay in front of them so your church stays top of mind.

Pastor Sherman Dumas at Kingdom Culture uses personalized videos as part of his follow-up, and it is one of the main reasons their retention rate is so high. Pastor Ken Bennett at Connect Church built a detailed follow-up system that helped them grow from 150 to 600 in six months.

How to Calculate Your Ad Budget

One question I get all the time from pastors is, “How much should I spend on ads?” Alex and I built a calculator to help churches figure that out. The inputs are straightforward: how many new guests do you want per month, how many people typically come per family, and what your cost per planned visit is in your area.

For most churches, we see about 2.5 people per family that plans a visit. The cost per planned visit varies by market, but we walk through the math in this episode so you can see exactly what to expect.

Common Mistakes Churches Make With Digital Marketing

• Over-producing ad content. It needs to look natural, not like a commercial.
• Not following up quickly enough. Speed matters. If someone plans a visit on Monday and you do not reach out until Friday, they have already forgotten about you.
• Stopping ads too soon. Digital marketing is a long game. The churches that see the best results commit to running ads consistently, not just for a launch or Easter.
• Ignoring retargeting. Someone who visited your website or watched your video is way more likely to visit than a cold audience. Keep showing up in their feed.
• Not tracking results. If you do not know how many people planned a visit, how many showed up, and how many came back, you cannot improve.

Final Thought

Growing your church in 2025 is absolutely possible. But it requires intentional content, consistent advertising, and a follow-up system that makes every guest feel valued. Alex and I broke all of this down in this episode because we want every church to have the tools they need to reach more people.

If you are ready to get started, grab a free copy of my book, the Plan Your Visit Playbook, which walks you through the entire process step by step. And if you want more stories about what is working, check out how Pastor Derrick Hawkins brought 950 people to his church’s first Sunday.

Pastor Taurus Solomon never planned to plant a church. After a painful church split in Atlanta that left deep wounds, he did everything he could to avoid it. But God had other plans. What Taurus has built in Dallas, Texas, is a testament to what happens when you follow God through fear and come out on the other side.

Creating that kind of welcoming environment for people with church wounds is something I’ve seen other pastors prioritize too. Pastor Brandon Holmes at Promise Co. Church took a similar approach, reaching former drug dealers, single moms, and people who had sworn they would never step into a church again.

When God Calls You Through Pain

Before Dallas, Taurus was serving in ministry in Atlanta. Then a church split happened, and it broke something in him. He described the experience as painful on levels he did not have language for at the time. He was healing, his marriage was stable, and the last thing he wanted to do was start over.

“I was kicking and screaming. I was mad,” Taurus told me. “I did everything in my power to not plant a church.” But with healing came a new level of trust. He followed God to Dallas, terrified but obedient. And every fear he had turned out to be a lie.

“Honestly, every fear that I had about planting a church was not real. Everything the devil told me about it was a lie,” Taurus said.

Creating a Safe Place for the Hurting

Because Taurus experienced church hurt firsthand, he built his ministry to be a safe place for people carrying similar wounds. His church in Dallas is intentionally welcoming, non-judgmental, and focused on genuine care. People who have been burned by church before feel comfortable walking through the doors because the culture is built on honesty and love.

That focus on healing is something I see in the strongest churches. Pastor Sherman Dumas at Kingdom Culture shared a similar heart for reaching people who had walked away from church. When your ministry is built around restoration, people come and they stay.

How Digital Marketing Changed Everything

Taurus connected with ChurchCandy early on and started running Facebook and Instagram ads. The results were immediate. People in Dallas who had never heard of his church started showing up because they saw an ad on their phone.

One of the most powerful stories Taurus shared was about a woman named Elizabeth. She found out about the church through one of the very first ads they ran. She visited a conference, then joined the church when it officially launched. She and her husband had been through a miscarriage and were in a rocky place in their marriage. Through their connection to the church, their marriage was restored, and they are now in the healthiest place they have ever been.

“Because of connecting to our church through a Facebook ad, she’s now in the healthiest place she’s ever been in her marriage,” Taurus shared.

Stories like Elizabeth’s remind me of what Pastor Sherman Dumas shared about a woman named Tracy, who found Kingdom Culture through a Facebook ad and went from hesitant visitor to one of their strongest outreach leaders.

Overcoming the Fear of Church Planting

If you are a pastor wrestling with whether to plant a church, Taurus wants you to know something: the fear is normal, but it is not a reason to stop. He was honest about how terrifying the process was. Leaving a stable ministry, moving to a new city, starting from scratch. None of it felt safe. But looking back, he would do it all again.

His advice for aspiring church planters:

• Let God heal you first. You cannot lead others out of a place you have not walked through yourself.
• Do not let fear make your decisions. Fear will always tell you to stay comfortable. Obedience requires movement.
• Create an environment of safety. People who are hurting need to know they will not be judged when they walk through the door.
• Use digital marketing to reach people you cannot reach in person. Facebook ads put Taurus’s church in front of people like Elizabeth who would never have found it otherwise.
• Steward the stories. When God changes someone’s life through your ministry, celebrate it and share it.

Final Thought

Taurus Solomon’s story is proof that God can use your pain as the foundation for your purpose. What started as a season of hurt became a church that is changing lives in Dallas. If you are holding back because of fear or past wounds, let Taurus’s journey encourage you to take the next step.

For another powerful church planting story, check out how Pastor Sammy Gomes planted Fray Church and what you can learn from it.

Pastor Erik Oliveras announced his Axios Church plant in Lakeland, Florida, just weeks before the COVID-19 shutdowns hit in March 2020. While most people were retreating, Erik and his team were stepping out in faith. Their story is one of the most compelling examples of how adaptability and trust in God can turn an impossible situation into something incredible.

That combination of digital outreach and personal follow-up mirrors what other pastors have experienced. Pastor Sherman Dumas used the same approach at Kingdom Culture, where 60% of his first-time guests came through Facebook and Instagram ads.

Launching a Church in the Middle of COVID

Erik had been planning the launch of Axios Church for months. Then the world shut down. Instead of giving up, he pivoted. The church started meeting online, then in small outdoor gatherings, and eventually transitioned to in-person services. Every step required creativity and flexibility.

“We announced our church plant, and then a few weeks later, COVID hit,” Erik told me. “But God met us there. Every step of the way.” That willingness to adapt is something I have seen in the strongest church plants across our ChurchCandy network.

From Online to Two Services

One of the most impressive parts of Axios Church’s story is the growth. They started with nothing during a pandemic and grew so quickly that they had to add a second service. Erik told me that the growth was a direct result of building strong systems before they scaled.

He was honest about the tension between wanting to grow and not being ready for it. “We weren’t ready for the growth,” Erik said. “But we built systems first, and that’s what allowed us to sustain it when it came.” That is a lesson every church planter needs to hear. Growth without systems leads to chaos.

Finding a Permanent Location

Axios Church started as a mobile church meeting in a civic center. When they were told they needed to move out, they had just over a month to find and renovate a permanent location. Erik told me he did not know how to do drywall, did not know how to do much of anything construction-related. But they figured it out.

“I didn’t have a life for a month and a half,” Erik said. “I was at the church every day. We just figured it out and trusted God.” That kind of hustle reminds me of the Eden Church planting story, where the team also had to navigate finding the right space under pressure.

How ChurchCandy Fueled Their Growth

Erik connected with ChurchCandy early in their journey and started running Facebook and Instagram ads. The impact was immediate. Before the ads, people in the community did not even know Axios Church existed. Once the ads started running, awareness exploded.

“We took what we were doing and put it towards ads on social media and it blew up,” Erik said. But he also stressed that the ads worked because they had built the systems to handle the growth first. You cannot run effective ads if you do not have a follow-up process in place. Pastor Ken Bennett proved this same principle at Connect Church.

Raising Funds as a Church Plant

Erik and I talked about the financial realities of planting a church in a post-COVID world. Dino Rizzo, the executive director of ARC, recently told me that church planters today need to raise more money and be in their city longer than expected before launching. Erik’s experience confirms that. Fundraising is not optional. It is essential.

Erik shared how he and his team raised funds through personal relationships, church partnerships, and creative giving strategies. He encouraged future church planters to be transparent with potential supporters and to treat fundraising as a ministry, not a burden.

Advice for Post-COVID Church Planters

• Raise more money than you think you need. The post-COVID landscape is more expensive and more competitive.
• Build systems before you build crowds. Growth without infrastructure will collapse. Get your follow-up, volunteer, and communication systems in place first.
• Get into a permanent location as quickly as possible. Mobile church has advantages, but a permanent home builds stability and trust in the community.
• Start running ads early. ChurchCandy gave Axios Church visibility that word of mouth alone could never have achieved.
• Trust God with the timeline. COVID changed everything about when and how churches launch, but it did not change God’s faithfulness.

For pastors planting in difficult seasons, the key takeaway from Erik’s story is to keep moving forward. Pastor Ken Bennett faced similar uncertainty before partnering with ChurchCandy and went on to grow Connect Church from 150 to over 600 in just six months.

Final Thought

Erik Oliveras and Axios Church are a testament to what happens when faith meets preparation. Planting during COVID was not the plan, but God used it for something beautiful. If you are a church planter navigating uncertainty, this episode will encourage you to keep going.

For more on effective church planting strategies, check out how Pastor Derrick Hawkins brought 950 people to Promise City Church’s first Sunday.

My conversation with Pastor Rod Vargas from Union Houston in Houston, Texas, was one of the most raw and honest I have had on this podcast. Rod is pastoring in Spring Branch, one of Houston’s most diverse and challenging neighborhoods. His church reaches immigrants, single moms, former addicts, business owners, and people living in extreme poverty, all in the same room on Sunday morning.

From Addiction to the Pulpit

Rod’s story does not start in a seminary. It starts in a rehab center. He grew up in Houston and battled addiction for years before encountering God in a powerful way. While in rehab in Spring Branch, he felt God give him a heart for that specific community. Years later, when it came time to plant a church, the Lord brought him right back to that same neighborhood.

“The Lord gave me a heart for Spring Branch,” Rod told me. “Most of the people here are immigrants, people with lots of wealth and extreme poverty.”

Why Inner-City Ministry Looks Different

One of the most eye-opening parts of our conversation was when Rod explained why the typical church planting playbook does not always work in the city. In the suburbs, you can run a tight one-hour service with three songs and a sermon, launch a growth track, and people will come. But in the inner city, the people Rod serves are working at rail yards, on oil fields, and running construction companies.

“Bounce houses work in the suburbs. Bring bounce houses to the city, and your church kids are going to be the only ones there,” Rod said. The methods have to match the people you are trying to reach.

Rod’s approach is built on authentic relationships and discipleship. That kind of personal investment is what Pastor Brandon Holmes also emphasized when he talked about building trust at Promise Co. Church.

Building Community Through Discipleship

Rod told me that discipleship is the backbone of everything at Union Houston. They do not just want people to attend on Sundays. They want people to grow, to serve, and to become leaders themselves.

“Because we pastored them. We loved them. And they saw that this wasn’t just leadership but a relationship,” Rod said about the people who now help lead the church.

That same commitment to discipleship over attendance is something Pastor Ken Bennett at Connect Church also practices. His detailed follow-up system, where the team remembers guests’ kids’ names and coffee preferences, helped grow the church from 150 to 600 in six months.

The Role of Digital Outreach in Urban Ministry

When I asked Rod about using ChurchCandy, he was honest about the impact. Adding Facebook and Instagram ads gave Union Houston visibility they could not have gotten otherwise. From the moment someone plans a visit, they get a personal video from Rod.

“The moment people plan their visit, they get my video. They’re already introduced to how we communicate,” Rod shared. Pastor Sherman Dumas uses a similar personalized follow-up strategy at Kingdom Culture.

Advice for Pastors Considering Urban Ministry

• Be yourself. Stop trying to fit into a model built for a different context. The Lord has given you a unique voice for your community.
• Invest in relationships first. Before you build programs, build trust.
• Rethink your methods. What works in the suburbs may not work in the city.
• Use every tool available. Digital outreach and personal follow-up work together.
• Stay faithful to your vision. One of Rod’s mentors told him, “Never let go of the vision God gave you.”

Final Thought

Pastor Rod Vargas is proving that church growth in the inner city is possible when you lead with love and meet people where they are. If you are a pastor in an urban context, listen to this episode.

For more stories, check out my conversation with Pastor Pradeepan Jeeva about planting in America’s most unchurched city.

Most church planters chase big cities, but Pastor Rory Chance did the opposite. After more than 20 years in ministry, he and his wife took a leap of faith and planted Genesis Church in Monroe, Louisiana, a small town already packed with churches. What makes their story stand out is that they became a home for people who had been unchurched or hurt by previous church experiences, and they used Facebook ads from day one to reach them.

From San Antonio to Monroe: Answering the Call

Rory grew up in San Antonio, Texas. He always thought he would live in a city. But God had different plans. About 11 years ago, God planted him and his family in Monroe, Louisiana. They built deep roots and relationships in the community. Then, while attending the ARC Launch Planters Conference, Rory felt a clear confirmation that God was calling him to plant a church right there in Monroe.

“It’s a small community with tons of churches. Not somewhere that I ever would have thought that we would plant,” Rory told me. But he followed the call, and Genesis Church was born.

Reaching the Unchurched in a Churched Community

What makes Genesis Church unique is the people they reach. Rory told me that most of their congregation are people who had either left the church or never been part of one. In a town with churches on every corner, Genesis became a safe place for people carrying church hurt.

“Our ministry has really become a place where a lot of people who have been unchurched for a while or gone through church have found a place to call home,” Rory shared.

That reality shaped everything about how they do ministry. Rory and his team focus on being authentic, creating a welcoming environment, and making sure every guest feels seen from the moment they walk through the door. Pastor Sherman Dumas shared a similar experience at Kingdom Culture, where many of their visitors had also been away from church for years.

Using Facebook Ads From the Very Beginning

Before Genesis Church even launched, Rory’s team started running ads through ChurchCandy. They used the ads to build a launch team, invite people to interest meetings, and create awareness in the community. And it worked.

Rory explained how the ads helped them connect with people who were interested in learning more about the church. Not everyone who filled out a form ended up grabbing coffee, but the team did not stop there. They pointed those people to interest meetings and found other ways to stay connected.

“Because we run ads and we’re one of the only churches that run ads, we’re often one of the first churches that people visit in our area. So as a church plant, that’s invaluable,” Rory said.

That approach mirrors what I see across our ChurchCandy partner churches. The ones who commit to running consistent ads week after week are the ones who build real momentum. Pastor Ken Bennett at Connect Church used a similar consistent approach and grew from 150 to 600 in six months.

Stewardship of Every Lead

One of the biggest things Rory and I talked about is stewardship. A lot of churches will spend money on ads, get a list of names, and then let those names sit in a database. That breaks my heart. Because if you are spending the church’s money to reach people, you owe it to your congregation and to God to follow up with every single one of them.

Rory gets that. His team treats every lead as a real person, not just a number. They follow up personally, they invite people to next steps, and they make sure no one falls through the cracks.

“We always talk about stewardship,” Rory told me. “If you’re going to invest money into reaching people, you have to steward those connections well.”

That commitment to stewarding every connection is a principle I hear again and again from successful church planters. Pastor Brandon Holmes took it even further by meeting every lead for one-on-one coffee, turning first-time clicks into lasting relationships at Promise Co. Church.

Is Church Planting What He Expected?

I asked Rory to be honest about whether church planting has been what he thought it would be. He laughed and said it has been both harder and more rewarding than he imagined. The challenges of building teams, managing finances, finding a permanent location, and leading through uncertainty are real. But so are the stories of life change.

Rory shared stories of people walking into Genesis Church broken and walking out with hope. Families being restored. Individuals finding purpose for the first time. Those moments make every challenge worth it.

Advice for Aspiring Church Planters

Toward the end of our conversation, I asked Rory what advice he would give to someone thinking about planting a church, especially in a small town. Here is what he shared:

• Build strong relationships in your community before you launch. People need to trust you before they will follow you.
• Be patient with the process. Growth in a small town looks different than in a big city, but it is just as meaningful.
• Invest in digital outreach early. Running ads from day one gave Genesis Church a head start that most church plants never get.
• Steward every connection. Follow up with every person who shows interest. Do not let names sit in a database.
• Stay true to your calling. There will be hard days. But if God called you to it, He will see you through it.

Final Thought

Pastor Rory Chance is proof that small-town church planting works when you combine genuine love for people with smart strategy. Genesis Church continues to grow because they meet people where they are, both online and in person. If you are a pastor wondering whether digital ads can work for your church, the answer is yes. And if you are planting in a small town, do not let the size of your city limit the size of your vision.

If you want to hear more stories like this, check out my conversation with Pastor Roberson Pier about building New England’s largest church plant.

I had the chance to join Drew Barker and Tim Ferrara on the Eyes on Jesus Podcast to talk about something I care deeply about: how churches can use social media to reach new families and grow their congregations. This was a really fun conversation because Drew and Tim brought up some tough questions, including whether churches should even be on social media at all. I appreciated their honesty, and I think the conversation we had is one that a lot of pastors are wrestling with right now.

Is Social Media a Mission Field or a Minefield?

This was the big question that framed the whole episode. Drew and Tim had actually done a previous episode asking whether churches should delete social media entirely. So when I came on, they wanted to hear my perspective as someone who helps churches use these platforms every day.

Here is where I land on it: social media can absolutely be harmful, but the church has an incredible opportunity to meet people right where they are. I do not deny that. But I also believe that if people are spending hours every day scrolling through their phones, the church has an incredible opportunity to meet them right where they are. We would never say “people go to coffee shops, so the church should avoid coffee shops.” Instead, we would say “let’s go be present there.” The same logic applies to digital spaces.

The churches that are thriving right now are the ones that have learned to use social media with purpose and intentionality. They are not just posting to post. They are creating content that speaks to real people with real needs, and they are inviting those people into community.

How Church Candy Got Started

Drew and Tim asked me about my background, and I shared the story of how Church Candy came to be. I went to Christ for the Nations Institute for my theology training, and then got my marketing degree from Dallas Baptist University. I spent time as a youth pastor and helped launch Vibrant Church in The Woodlands, Texas. That church still welcomes dozens of new guests every month thanks to the strategies we put in place early on.

After co-managing campaigns for over a thousand small businesses, I realized that churches were being underserved when it came to digital marketing. Most church marketing companies were charging too much and delivering too little. I knew there had to be a better way, and that is what led me to launch Church Candy in 2021. Within a year, it went from a side project to a full-scale operation, and today we work with over a thousand churches across the country.

The Power of Making People Feel Seen

One of the biggest points I made on the show is something I talk about constantly: the single most important thing you can do in digital outreach is make people feel seen. When someone clicks on your church’s ad or visits your website, they need to feel like you are talking directly to them. Personalized messaging, real follow-up, and intentional digital hospitality can help guests feel welcomed before they ever walk through your doors.

Too many churches treat social media like a megaphone. They blast out announcements and event flyers and wonder why nobody engages. The churches that are growing are the ones that treat social media like a conversation. They respond to comments, they send personal messages, and they make every new visitor feel like they matter. Because they do.

Why Different Church Sizes Need Different Strategies

Another topic we got into on the Eyes on Jesus Podcast was how marketing strategies need to look different depending on the size of your church. A church of 100 people should not be running the same playbook as a church of 2,000. The budget is different, the team is different, and the goals are different.

For smaller churches, I always recommend focusing on what you can do well with limited resources. That might mean running a simple Facebook ad campaign with a “Plan Your Visit” landing page, or having the pastor record a short welcome video each week. You do not need a massive budget to start seeing results. What you need is consistency and a clear call to action that makes it easy for someone to take the next step.

For larger churches, the strategy expands into things like multi-platform campaigns, retargeting, and more sophisticated follow-up systems. But the core principle stays the same: make it personal, make it easy, and make people feel welcome. If you want to see how some of these strategies have worked for real churches, check out the stories we have shared on this site.

How AI Is Changing Church Marketing

Drew and Tim also asked about the role of AI in church marketing, which is a topic that comes up more and more. My take is that AI is a tool, and like any tool, it can be used well or poorly. At Church Candy, we use AI to help churches stay consistent with their content without losing authenticity. It can help with things like writing social media captions, brainstorming sermon series promo ideas, or drafting follow-up emails.

The key is that AI should support your voice, not replace it. Your congregation does not want to hear from a robot. They want to hear from their pastor. Use AI to help you save time on the production side so you can spend more time doing what matters most: shepherding your people and being present in your community.

Are Churches Stealing from Each Other with Ads?

This was one of the more interesting questions that came up. Some pastors worry that running Facebook ads to attract new visitors is essentially “stealing” members from other churches. I understand the concern, but here is how I see it: the majority of people who respond to church ads are not regular churchgoers. They are people who have been thinking about visiting a church but have not taken that step yet. Your ad gives them the nudge they need.

And even if someone does come from another church, that is between them and God. Our job is to be faithful in putting the invitation out there. The goal of Church Candy has never been about competing with other churches. The goal has always been about getting new families into community, hearing the Gospel, and meeting Jesus.

Discipleship and Community Building Still Matter Most

Toward the end of the conversation, we talked about something that I think is the most important piece of all this: getting people in the door is only the beginning. If your church does not have a plan for discipleship and community building, all the ads in the world will not help you grow long-term.

Social media and digital ads are the front door. But what keeps people coming back is genuine community, strong teaching, and a place where they can grow in their faith. I always tell pastors that the best marketing strategy in the world cannot fix a broken guest experience. Get your follow-up right, get your Sunday experience right, and then use digital tools to bring more people through the door.

Final Encouragement for Pastors

I am genuinely grateful to Drew Barker and Tim Ferrara for having me on the Eyes on Jesus Podcast. Their heart for the church is obvious, and I love that they are not afraid to ask hard questions. If you are a pastor who has been unsure about whether social media is right for your church, I would encourage you to watch the full episode above and consider what it might look like to use these platforms with intention.

We are living in a time when more people can be reached with the message of Jesus than ever before. Social media is not going away. The question is whether the church will show up in these spaces with hope, truth, and love. I believe the answer should be yes. And if you need help figuring out where to start, explore our conversation with Brady Shearer for more insights on where church media is heading.

Related Articles

If you enjoyed this episode, here are a few more conversations and resources that dive deeper into church growth and digital outreach:

• How churches can actually reach Gen-Z with social media and authentic content
• How Joe Angelo grew Vivid Church using social ads and personal invitations
• How Brandon Holmes used creative ads to grow his church with a “Coffee With a Pastor” strategy

What has been your church’s experience with social media outreach? Have you tried running digital ads? I would love to hear your story. Watch the full episode above and let us know your biggest takeaway.

Are you a pastor hoping to fill your pews and build a vibrant church community? When I met Pastor Joe Angelo, he and his family were about to leave everything they knew behind and move from the Midwest to southern California to plant Vivid Church. They drained their savings and stepped out in faith, trusting God’s call to build a church in a city they didn’t yet know. In our conversation on the ChurchCandy podcast, Joe shares how that leap of faith, combined with social media ads and personal invitations, led to a marketing strategy anything I’d seen before.

Joe didn’t just pack a moving truck and hope people would show up. He studied California culture, wrestled through hospitality differences and spent months building a launch team through Facebook and Instagram ads. More importantly, he used those ads to create personal connections long before their first Sunday service. Below is Joe’s story and the lessons any pastor can use to attract more guests and grow their church.

Leaving Everything to Plant Vivid Church in California

When Joe told me he’d used his family’s savings to move to California, I almost didn’t believe him. “We emptied our accounts to obey God’s call,” he told me. “We knew the cost would be high, but we also knew that God provides where He guides.” Joe and his wife didn’t have a guaranteed salary or congregation waiting; they had a vision for a life‑giving church and a conviction that their obedience would open doors.

The transition wasn’t smooth. California’s culture felt foreign to a Midwesterner, and the cost of living was shocking. Joe said the first year was filled with questions: How do we adapt without losing who we are? How can we honor the community we’re called to serve? Those questions pushed him toward relational ministry. He began inviting strangers to coffee, listening to their stories and learning the rhythms of the city.

Key takeaway: Growth starts with sacrifice. Many pastors want bigger attendance but aren’t willing to do something uncomfortable. Joe’s willingness to sacrifice time, money and familiarity created the foundation for everything that followed.

Building a Launch Team with Social Media Ads

Vivid Church’s launch team didn’t materialize by accident; Joe leveraged Facebook and Instagram ads to reach people who would never see a flyer or drive past their signage. He targeted ads at local residents with simple messages inviting them to connect over coffee or attend an interest meeting. “Ads are like digital billboards,” Joe said. “They get attention, but they only matter if you follow up personally.”

Key takeaway: Use ads to start relationships, not to replace them. Every form submission is a real person with real needs. Your job as a pastor is to connect, listen and serve.

This idea of using ads as a conversation starter rather than just a broadcast tool is something Pastor Sherman Dumas also embraced at Kingdom Culture, where personalized follow-up videos and genuine outreach turned 60% of Facebook ad respondents into first-time guests.

Intentional Relationships and the Power of Personal Invitations

As effective as Joe’s ads were, he’s the first to admit that personal invitations made the biggest impact. “Nothing beats looking someone in the eye and inviting them yourself,” he told me. He modeled this by meeting dozens of people for coffee each week. He learned their names, remembered their stories and sent hand‑written notes after each meeting.

This approach aligns with what we teach at ChurchCandy: run ads that spark curiosity, then build a system to move people from online interaction to real conversation. Joe organized dinner parties, coffee dates and small group gatherings. Each ad included a clear call to action—fill out a form to grab coffee with the pastor—which started a conversation that often led to new friendships and future leaders. Within months, Vivid Church’s interest meetings grew from a handful of people to dozens of engaged volunteers who felt like family.

One of Joe’s favorite moments came after an ad invited a young couple to coffee. They had never attended church, but Joe listened without judgmen and shared his story. Weeks later they visited Vivid, and today they lead a small group. “A personal invitation from someone they know beats any Facebook ad,” Joe laughed.

Key takeaway: Don’t rely on ads alone. Challenge your team to personally invite at least one person every week. Teach them how to share their faith story in a sentence and how to follow up with genuine care. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Joe’s strategy of combining personal invitations with digital ads reminds me of Pastor Brandon Holmes and his “Coffee With a Pastor” approach. Brandon built Promise Co. Church in Waco by meeting every new lead over coffee, creating trust before they ever walked through the church doors.

Balancing Ministry, Family and Setting Boundaries

Ministry can consume every waking moment, especially when you’re planting a church. Joe was candid about the toll it can take on your family. “My kids didn’t sign up to plant a church,” he said. “So we set boundaries: dinner is sacred, phones go away, and our date night is non‑negotiable.” This discipline protected his marriage and ensured that his children experienced planting a church as an adventure rather than a burden.

Joe also spoke about maintaining devotional time in the midst of chaos. He scheduled prayer and Bible reading into his daily routine and made sure his team did the same. He believes that a church will never be spiritually healthier than its leaders.

Key takeaway: Healthy churches are built by healthy leaders. Set practical boundaries around your time, prioritize your family, and guard your spiritual life. When you model balance, your team will follow.

Lessons for Pastors Who Want to Grow Their Church

Joe’s journey offers practical steps that any pastor can implement:

1. Step out in faith. Growth rarely happens in comfort zones. Don’t be afraid to make bold decisions when you feel called.
2. Target your community with social ads. Use Facebook and Instagram to reach people in your city who aren’t looking for a church but are open to connection.
3. Create a clear next step. Invite interested people to coffee, dinner or an online call. Make it personal, simple and immediate.
4. Train your team to invite. Empower volunteers and leaders to share their stories and personally invite friends.
5. Prioritize family and spiritual health. Set boundaries, schedule family time and keep your devotional life strong.

Planting Vivid Church required courage, creativity and a commitment to people. Joe Angelo’s unique marketing strategy didn’t just fill seats; it built a community where people feel seen and loved. If you’re a pastor looking to attract more guests and grow your church, learn from Joe’s example: use ads wisely, but invest most of your energy in personal relationships. That’s where real growth begins.

I first heard about Pastor Roberson Pier from a mutual friend in the church‑planting world. They told me about a couple from Boston who felt called to move to Hartford, Connecticut, after having recurring dreams and confirmations from God. Against all odds, Robe and his wife sold their home, left their jobs and moved to a city where they knew almost no one.

When we finally sat down together for the ChurchCandy podcast, I learned that the story was even wilder than the rumours. Robe and his team launched Freedom City Church with a crowd of around 1,000 people, making it the largest church plant in New England. Along the way they overcame fear, loneliness and the belief that “New England is too hard for church planting.”

The Call to Plant Freedom City Church

Robe and his wife were comfortable in Boston, but they couldn’t shake the sense that God wanted them elsewhere. In our conversation he described how dreams, prayer and repeated confirmations built their conviction to plant in Hartford. Obedience meant selling their house and uprooting their family with no launch team in place. They arrived in Hartford armed with faith, a vision and a willingness to start from scratch.

“We had no playbook other than obedience,” Robe told me. “We prayed, we listened and we took the next step even when it felt risky.”

That obedience was tested early and often. Without a core team, the Piers had to do everything themselves — from leading prayer meetings to setting up chairs. But they refused to quit. Over time, their passion attracted others who shared their vision.

Building the Church From Scratch

Launching a church isn’t as simple as putting out a sign and hoping people show up. Robe stressed that while prayer and faith are essential, hard work and smart systems are what turn a dream into reality. They developed clear follow‑up processes for every new visitor, invested in leadership development and built a structure that could handle growth.

The result? When Freedom City Church officially launched, nearly a thousand people came through the doors. They didn’t stop there — they continued to refine their systems to ensure that guests became part of the community. Robe sees data and numbers not as cold statistics but as a way to measure whether people are being reached effectively.

Engaging the Community and Creating Belonging

One of the biggest takeaways from our conversation is that personal connections still matter, even in large launches. Robe spent countless hours meeting people in coffee shops, hosting interest gatherings and getting to know Hartford’s neighbourhoods. Those conversations created a sense of belonging long before anyone attended a Sunday service.

At ChurchCandy we teach that relationships precede discipleship, and Robe’s story illustrates this perfectly. He balanced big advertising pushes with one‑on‑one coffee meetings. When asked about their remarkable launch day, he told me, “The systems matter, but what people remember is how they felt. Did someone call them by name? Did they feel seen?”

That emphasis on making every guest feel seen is something I hear from the most effective church planters. Pastor Brandon Holmes built Promise Co. Church on that same principle, using one-on-one coffee meetings to make each visitor feel personally valued before they ever attended a Sunday service.

Overcoming Challenges and Breaking the New England Stigma

Planting a church anywhere is hard; planting one in New England — a region famous for its spiritual dryness — can feel impossible. Robe talked openly about the skepticism he encountered. Some told him that starting a church there was foolish. Others questioned whether families would commit to a new community.

His response? Obedience and persistence. He and his team kept praying, kept knocking on doors and kept serving the city. They tracked their progress, celebrated small wins and refused to believe that the ground was too hard. Their story proves that faith, strategy and resilience can overcome any stigma.

How ChurchCandy Helped Them Grow

As Freedom City Church prepared to launch, they partnered with ChurchCandy to handle their digital outreach. We helped them develop targeted ads, craft compelling landing pages and build an automated follow‑up funnel. Robe credits this partnership with amplifying the reach of their message.

“Brady and the team helped us get our invitation in front of the right people,” he said. “More importantly, they showed us how to connect with those people personally.”

The results speak for themselves. The combination of prayer, systems and strategic marketing created a launch that exceeded expectations. More importantly, those efforts have continued to bring new people into the church each week.

Pastor Sherman Dumas experienced a similar breakthrough at Kingdom Culture, where combining ChurchCandy’s digital strategy with personal video follow-ups led to 300 guests on opening Sunday and sustained growth afterward.

Final Thoughts for Church Planters

If you’re considering planting or relaunching a church, Robe’s story offers two key lessons:

1. Obey the call, even when it scares you. Recurring dreams and confirmations are pointless if you ignore them. Take the next step, trust God with the details and be ready to sacrifice your comfort.
2. Pair faith with systems and strategy. Prayer and obedience create momentum, but you still need clear processes and smart marketing to serve people well. Don’t be afraid to use tools — like our Plan Your Visit strategy — that make it easy for guests to connect.

Freedom City Church’s incredible launch shows what can happen when courage meets strategy. If you’re a pastor who feels stuck, I’d love to help you craft a plan tailored to your community. Let’s chat about how ChurchCandy can support your vision.

When I first sat down with Pastor Pradeepan Jeeva, I expected to hear a typical church‑planting story—fundraising, volunteers, maybe a few creative outreach ideas. What I got instead was an incredible journey that started with Sri Lankan Hindu refugees and wound up in the heart of Seattle, one of the most un‑churched cities in America.

Pradeepan grew up in the United States after his family fled civil war in Sri Lanka. A random act of kindness from a Norwegian Lutheran pastor saved his parents’ lives and opened the door for them to encounter Jesus. That moment eventually led Pradeepan himself to choose faith as a high‑school sophomore. He later studied pastoral ministry at Oral Roberts University, earning a bachelor’s in Pastoral Christian Ministry and a master’s in Educational Leadership. For more than eight years he served as a youth and young adult pastor, guiding hundreds of young people from diverse backgrounds toward a meaningful relationship with Christ. Church planting had been on his heart since college—he just didn’t know where that dream would take him.

From Refugee Roots to Planting in Seattle

The Jeeva family eventually felt called to Seattle. After serving in ministries from Minnesota to South Korea, Pradeepan and his wife Amreitha moved to the Pacific Northwest and began building what would become Kalos Church. Amreitha shares her husband’s passion for the local church. Adopted from India and raised in Kansas, she studied Child and Family Studies and leads initiatives caring for orphans and poor communities in Southeast Asia. Together they carry a vision to reveal “the beauty of Jesus” in the Seattle area.

Those early days weren’t glamorous. Meeting locations shifted. A pandemic paused Sunday gatherings. Spiritual warfare, controversial questions about sexuality and social justice—issues that many pastors prefer to avoid—were unavoidable. Rather than retreat, the Jeevas leaned in. They opened their home for conversations, invited skeptics to coffee, and listened more than they spoke. Their biggest takeaway? People aren’t looking for perfect churches; they’re looking for people who will truly see them.

How Digital Ads Helped Kalos Church Grow

Personal connections were only part of the story. After the pandemic the Jeevas needed a way to reach people who weren’t going to walk through the door on their own. That’s when they partnered with ChurchCandy, the digital‑marketing agency I founded. ChurchCandy’s plan focuses on targeted Facebook and Instagram campaigns, landing pages and personal follow‑up that convert online interest into real Sunday‑morning visitors. We don’t chase likes or comments; our success metric is simple—new guests in your church.

Working together, we implemented the “Plan Your Visit” strategy. Ads invited Seattle residents to plan a visit on Kalos Church’s website; once they filled out the form, volunteers texted and emailed to answer questions and make them feel welcome. This approach consistently helps churches bring 20–50 new visitors per month, and Kalos Church was no exception. It wasn’t magic—it was intentional outreach combined with personal touch. As Pradeepan told me, “We realized our message was solid; we just didn’t know how to connect the dots between someone clicking on an ad and them actually meeting us face‑to‑face.” Once that system was in place, Sunday attendance started to climb.

Pradeepan’s experience with the “Plan Your Visit” strategy mirrors what I’ve seen with other pastors who partner with ChurchCandy. Pastor Ken Bennett at Connect Church used a similar combination of targeted ads and personal follow-up to grow from 150 to over 600 in just six months.

Lessons for Pastors Planting in Hard Soil

1. Honour your story. Pradeepan’s background as the son of refugees and Amreitha’s journey from Indian orphan to pastor’s wife aren’t side notes; they’re the very things that allow them to connect with people who feel like outsiders. Don’t hide your story—share it. Authenticity builds trust.

2. Lead with relationships, not invitations. Before they ever advertised their church, the Jeevas spent hours listening to people’s stories over coffee. They learned the power of asking a simple question—“How can I pray for you?”—and then following up. Church growth flows naturally when people feel seen and heard.

3. Use digital marketing as a bridge, not a billboard. A well‑crafted Facebook ad is a conversation starter, not a silver bullet. ChurchCandy’s strategy combines paid ads, simple landing pages, and personal follow‑up. It works because it creates a clear path from an online click to an in‑person conversation.

4. Put safety and systems in place. Early on, the Jeevas made rules to protect themselves and those they were reaching—always meeting in public, never meeting alone with someone of the opposite sex, and inviting trusted team members into follow‑up conversations. Systems foster growth while keeping everyone healthy.

That principle of leading with relationships before invitations is exactly what worked for Pastor Brandon Holmes at Promise Co. Church. His “Coffee With a Pastor” campaign turned Facebook ad clicks into face-to-face conversations, and many of those coffee meetings led to lasting church members.

Planting a church in the most un‑churched city in America wasn’t easy. It took perseverance, courage and a willingness to embrace both the messy human stories and the power of digital tools. If you’re a pastor feeling stuck—whether you’re launching a new campus or leading an established congregation—remember that growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you combine compelling storytelling, genuine relationships and proven marketing strategies.

0If you’re ready to see what targeted ads and personalized follow‑up could do for your church, I’d love to chat. ChurchCandy has helped over 1,000 churches across the U.S. attract new families, and our “Plan Your Visit” system can help you consistently welcome 20–50 new guests each month. You can schedule a free strategy call to see if it’s a fit for you.

Church planting is hard, but you don’t have to do it alone. As Pradeepan’s story shows, the right partnerships can turn a vision into a vibrant, growing community.