‘When You’re Online, Give People Hope,’ Says Digital Evangelist
By Alex Murashko
Sharing Jesus online.
In a hurting world, it should be abundantly clear to digital evangelists that their best use of time on social media platforms is to share the best news available — to all of us:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” – John 3:16
While many pastors and ministry leaders choose to spread the gospel in more old-school, traditional ways while shying away from social media, others unashamedly fish for the souls of people on apps such as Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and more recently, TikTok.
Pastor and author Chuck Tate, 52, who first started sharing (in person) the gospel while in the 5th grade, telling students the story of David and Goliath, now shares the Good News through the Internet.
Tate hosts a Bible study on TikTok (@chucketate) on Thursdays. He has more than 96 thousand followers and he attributes the growth in numbers to a recent revelation. A few years ago, he heard a prominent pastor on a podcast say that digital evangelists should “speak to people’s pain.”
“When you're online, give people hope,” Tate told Think Eternity. “Make your target audience people who are in a season of pain because they are the most receptive to the Good News. At some point, even the ones who don't want anything to do with the gospel, they may lose a loved one, may lose a job, or simply be going through a storm. It is when any one of us is in pain, that we are most receptive to the gospel.”
Think Eternity’s Matt Brown, who co-hosts an annual digital evangelists summit, met Tate at last year’s meeting in Kansas City.
“Chuck Tate is one of the great digital Billy Grahams today,” Brown said. “In addition to pastoring a local church in Illinois, he dispenses hope everyday to lots of people with short videos reminding people of the truths of God’s Word.”
He adds, “Chuck is also one of the most effective digital evangelists on TikTok. Along with Stephen McWhirter (@stephenmcwhirtermusic - 190.5K followers), he may be one of the first on TikTok to engage so successfully. Chuck is a great digital evangelist because he’s passionate, consistent with his content, and he’s full of hope. He expresses his love for Jesus in a genuine way that draws people in.”
Tate, who said his testimony is simple and that “it’s not a story of sex, drugs, and rock’n’roll,” was introduced to the power of broadcast media when he was in high school and part of a radio ministry.
“It was a local Christian radio program called ‘Jesus Today,’ an outreach for teens,” he said. “I was one of the hosts at only 16 years old. We would open in the Word and it was almost like a podcast format before podcasts were around.”
Since his early start, Tate has been involved in more radio shows, books (41 Will Come and new book scheduled for November 2024 release), TV, international programming, and podcasts.
He currently is the co-host of Revival Town Podcast with co-host Andy King.
“It's just amazing to see what God has done in the past year-and-a-half,” Tate said. “Attending the digital evangelists summit last year played a large part in my [spiritual] growth and the growth of my network. It’s amazing that we can upload things that can be seen around the world and use digital media to preach the gospel.”
Attendees at Digital Billy Grahams Summit 2022 in Kansas City. FILE PHOTO
Alex Murashko is lead writer for the Thinke writing team. His site Media on Mission features stories written by journalists with a biblical world view. Murashko is a contributor to Higher Ground at the Washington Times.
Connect: @AlexMurashko