The Pursuit of Manliness Podcast: Ryan Beck of PRAY.COM on Faith in the Digital Age

Key Takeaways

• PRAY.COM bridges technology and faith: Founded in 2017, PRAY.COM creates a digital destination where people can practice their faith and relationship with Jesus through modern technology and high-quality media production.
• The "front door" has moved: Many people, especially younger generations, now engage with communities in digital spaces first before building in-person relationships. PRAY.COM serves as an entry point for those who are "Christian curious" but hesitant to visit a physical church.
• Content from trusted faith leaders: The platform features content from well-known pastors and Christian leaders like Jack Graham, Tony Evans, Beth Jones, and even surprising personalities like Dr. Phil, who Ryan notes is a Christian interested in creating faith content.
• Hollywood-quality production: PRAY.COM invests in professional production, including 60-piece orchestras and Hollywood-level media development to create engaging biblical content.
• Discipleship and community: Beyond introductory content, the platform offers in-depth discipleship resources, creating opportunities for people to connect with ministries that address their specific needs (marriage, finances, mental health, etc.).
• Hybrid faith experience: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend toward digital faith engagement, but Ryan emphasizes that PRAY.COM sees the ideal as a hybrid approach—combining digital and physical church experiences.‍
• Digital accountability: The platform offers features like "community boards" that help users stay accountable in their prayer life and connect with friends and family.

Full Conversation

Introduction

Jared Samuels welcomes listeners to The Pursuit of Manliness podcast, explaining the recent scheduling changes (Wednesday and Friday episodes) and introduces Ryan Beck of PRAY.COM. Jared emphasizes that while technology can supplement our faith journey, it shouldn't replace face-to-face connections, local church involvement, and discipleship.

After an opening prayer, Jared introduces Ryan Beck, who begins by sharing his background.

About Ryan Beck and PRAY.COM

Ryan introduces himself as the CTO and one of the co-founders of PRAY.COM, a startup technology media faith app launched in 2017. He mentions building it with three other co-founders: Steve, Mike, and Matt. Jared compliments Ryan on securing the excellent domain name "pray.com," which Ryan acknowledges was "expensive but fair."

How PRAY.COM Serves the Church

Ryan explains that PRAY.COM provides a digital destination for people to practice their faith and relationship with Jesus. He observes that while there's more opportunity and access to faith than ever before, churches haven't typically been at the forefront of technology, remaining primarily in brick-and-mortar spaces where access can be challenging for many people today.

The platform serves as a "front door" for churches, allowing people who are curious about Christianity but hesitant to visit a physical church to engage with Christian content from various faith leaders. Ryan mentions they've partnered with well-known pastors like Jack Graham, Tony Evans, and Beth Jones to provide content for those exploring Christianity for the first time or reestablishing their faith.

Content and Production Quality

Ryan describes how PRAY.COM creates high-quality faith content on various biblical themes and characters. He gives the example of a series on David with Tony Evans, comparing it to Charles Spurgeon's morning and evening devotionals, where users get a devotional message followed by scripture reading.

The platform emphasizes scripture as the foundation of all their content while delivering it in an engaging audio format. Ryan mentions that they have James Earl Jones reading the Bible on their app, along with collaborations with Drew Brees, Ice Cube, and even Dr. Phil, whom Ryan notes many people don't realize is a Christian.

What sets their content apart is the production quality—PRAY.COM employs 60-piece orchestras and Hollywood-level production techniques, drawing on the founders' backgrounds in faith, technology, and media from California.

Success Stories and Impact

Jared shares how he's seen people discover faith through podcasts and digital communities, eventually transitioning to real-life church attendance. Ryan confirms they frequently hear similar stories from users who:

• Use PRAY.COM to supplement when they don't have a home church
• Reengage with their faith and find pastors they connect with
• Discover local churches through the app and begin attending in person

Ryan reiterates that while the "front door" of the church has moved from physical to digital spaces, this doesn't mean people stop at digital engagement. He compares it to how movie theaters are declining but people still watch movies—church attendance may be declining, but people are still engaging with faith, just in different spaces.

The Role of Digital in the Post-COVID Church

Jared notes how the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital church adoption, with churches at various levels of technological readiness. Ryan agrees that COVID fast-forwarded digital church adoption, forcing everyone to figure out online community, not just millennials and younger generations who were already moving in that direction.

Ryan observes several post-pandemic trends:

• Hybrid church attendance (some weeks in person, some online)
• Consolidation of smaller churches into larger ones
• People shifting churches based on how they handled the pandemic
• Greater acceptance of digital church as a legitimate expression of faith

Jared expresses concern that digital spaces allow for consumption without contribution—you don't have to serve in the nursery, greet visitors, or help with communion when watching from home. He emphasizes the importance of face-to-face local church relationships while acknowledging the value of digital "front doors."

Discipleship and Community in Digital Spaces

Ryan explains how PRAY.COM approaches discipleship by asking what people do in their analog faith experience and how that can be translated digitally. While acknowledging not everything can be reproduced online, they strive for excellence in what can be digitized.

Some unique advantages of digital faith communities that Ryan highlights:

• Ability to match users with ministries that might be geographically distant but perfect for their needs
• Recommending leaders or sermons based on specific topics (marriage, finances, etc.)
• Providing resources for mental health concerns, which Ryan identifies as a pandemic-accelerated crisis

The platform is rolling out community features like "community boards" (their version of leaderboards) that allow friends and family to encourage each other in their faith journeys and hold each other accountable.

Closing Thoughts

Ryan invites pastors who might be struggling with technology to reach out to PRAY.COM for support, providing contact emails: ryan@pray.com or support@pray.com. He encourages pastors to simply direct their congregants to the app, where they'll find resources that meet needs the pastor might not have realized existed.

The conversation concludes with directions to find PRAY.COM online and download the app, with a brief humorous exchange about LinkedIn and John Fetterman's hoodie-wearing style before transitioning to mention PRAY.COM's new books.