I never got into cat videos on YouTube. I know. That makes me a weird elder millennial. I am, however, addicted to TikTok. Apparently my attention span is well suited for the one-minute video. So I did what any rational preacher would do, I started using the platform I enjoy to declare the Gospel I am passionate about.
Let me back up a bit …
When I reflect about my call to ministry, I am consistently drawn to Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. It’s not just that God takes very dry bones and recreates them into actual life. It’s the mid-step that really compels me. There is a point where the bodies are there, right in front of Ezekiel. They look alive. But there is no breath. No Spirit, no Ruach, no Divine CPR has occurred.
Ezekiel is called to prophesy again, but this time he prophesies TO the wind to enter the thing that looks like life. So the thing that looks like life becomes actual life.
How incredible is that?
The very fact that dry bones are reformed into fleshy blobs is already a miracle. One could easily stop here and marvel at the amazing sight. But it’s not enough that something LOOKS like life. The real miracle is actual life, flesh holding and interacting with the windy Spirit of God.
That’s the call that drives me to TikTok—to see the spaces that look like life, to prophesy to the actual source of life and see the miracle.
The trouble is, I’m not the only one talking….
The witness is loud from the other kind of Christianity
I hope you know what I’m talking about. The other kind of Christianity that is appalled that someone like me would ever, ever be allowed to be called Reverend or to wear a stole or to stand in a pulpit. The other kind of Christianity that has a variety of litmus tests for who is in and who is out. That kind. They are really loud.
So I feel called to be loud too.
My gift was never for dismantling arguments or digging into all the jots and tittles that academics love so much. I don’t use $10 words. I’m a Wesley fan, so it’s plain words for plain people from me. You probably won’t find a video of mine attempting to break down the subtleties of Hebrew found in a clobber passage. There are other folks doing that.
But guess what I can do in one minute?
I can breathe out the love that God has for the people around me.
I can breathe out the love that I have for the people around me, because I’m doing my best to love everyone irrationally.
I can ask the Spirit of God to move in this space that looks like life and ask that my videos are actual life for the people who so desperately need a breath of fresh, Divine air.
I can be a voice opposed to the loudness of judgment, which feels like another way of combating the thing that looks like life but is not.
It’s not usually polished or pretty. I’m not filter savvy but I’m not sure the Gospel should have a catfish filter anyway.
Before the camera starts, I’m usually questioning my own sanity
I wouldn’t call myself a vain person or even a very self-confident person. I dress for comfort and aim for cute. My makeup is minimal, and if it takes longer than 20 minutes, I’m out. My kids are sometimes screaming in the background, the dog has to pee for the umpteenth time, I have no background that’s Instagram worthy, and I’m not actually that good of a preacher.
But you’ve played that head game too.
So you probably know the “WHAT WAS I THINKING?” moment we all have sometimes.
I started making these videos mid-pandemic. I had already been forced to embrace the close-up camera shot because our church services moved fully online. The surprise was that it turned out that I have some gifts for breaking the fourth wall and connecting through the screen. I took a chance and took it to TikTok.
I always wanted to do ministry where the not-so-churched people are, but I’m not extroverted enough to strike up conversations in bars. I can, however, talk to my phone camera.
And then the fruit grew
I serve just across the river from Omaha, NE, and I have a lot of family and former school buddies who live there now. They’ve never come to my church. But they found my TikTok. They met Rev. Alexis for the first time. And they love the message. Because how could one not love one minute of the best news?
My church members enjoy my TikTok. Who wouldn’t love a one-minute summary of the sermon? (Do you think some of them are skipping the 15-minute version and JUST doing the one-minute version?)
There are a few faces following my account that I have no previous connection to. I don’t think I’ll ever go viral or be a huge presence. It’s not why I do it anyway. I never set out to be a megachurch pastor in the local church or to leave local church ministry for full-time online ministry. There are people who do all of those things well, and I pray they stay true to their first loves. But I’m doing the thing I love the most, the thing I feel most called to, in a space I delight in, where the people are that need to hear love and life. Does it get much better?
How’s your TikTok account?
You should all have one now that you’ve read this article.
Just kidding. Sort of.
I would be willing to bet that you have a medium you enjoy: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, SnapChat, the local paper, blogging, Reddit, YouTube, etc. What is a space that isn’t overtly churchy where you interact with the world?
Are you on it? Are you sharing what you love on it, or are you just observing? If you’re not on it, why not?
I believe in the priesthood of all believers. Which means if you’re reading this, you have a call to priesthood in some form or fashion. The priestly work is simply being a bridge between the people and the Divine. The prophetic work is simply breathing out the Spirit of God upon the people. Are you doing that in the spaces you already love and occupy?
Don’t wait to be perfect. Just be loving.
