Por Grayson Hester
In our increasingly digitized and disembodied age of communication, one can’t help but wonder how Jesus might have shared his message in Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (NRSV).
Would he have added, “For where two or three are gathered—or hopping on a quick Zoom call, or participating in a Facebook chat, or setting up regular donations via Tithe.ly—in my name, I am there, albeit more so in Spirit than in body, but ‘there’ all the same, among them?”
It remains an urgent question in 2026—not so much whether Jesus is 
spiritually present (as we can assume), but how “gathering” looks, what qualifies as gathering and what even constitutes “church” when four walls are no longer an ironclad part of the deal.
One digital congregation living the question, and thriving along the way, is Daybreak Metropolitan Church in North Texas. Their lead pastor and founder James Briggs sees what many of us deem as flexibility—or even capitulation—as a trait of thriving: faithful (or strategic, in Briggs’ words) agility.
“In order to foster strategic agility, you’ve got to take the limits off of God, and there are so many different ways in which we can do that,” Briggs said. “I think one way is being comfortable in once again, saying, ‘I don’t have all the answers to what is in front of me. To whom can I connect?’”
And Briggs knows agility. In addition to his role as a pastor, he also serves as an educator and coach in the local school system; he is one of a growing cadre of ministers who practice their call multi-vocationally. Adaptability and a willingness to change course at a moment’s notice serve his players on the field and his congregants in the pews equally well—even when there are no pews at all.
“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we were meeting in brick-and-mortar buildings. And ever since then, we have continued to have worship on Zoom,” he said. For the past six years, Daybreak has broken molds, opting to meet virtually and explore how Jesus might show up in the digital space, too.
Crisscrossing the vast expanses of Texas week after week is no small feat. All too often, the games and events in which young athletes are all but required to participate—if they want a shot at a career in the Lone Star State’s famously competitive sports environment—take place on Sundays, if not consuming entire weekends. That makes the church’s digital-only services all the more essential.
“We do see ourselves as a vehicle to make the word of God present and known to folks who have busy lives,” Briggs said. “We’ve got families who have young kiddos who are participating in youth sports and travel teams; when you’re on the move, you still want a word, and we see ourselves as meeting that need.”
The parallels between athletics and discipleship are abundant—so much so that even the writer of Hebrews compared a life of faith to a race—which makes Briggs’ three-pronged role not just coincidental, but symbiotic.
Shaping lives happens in classrooms, in practices and in sermons. What matters more than the setting in which it occurs is the willingness of a minister (or coach or teacher) to answer the call.
“One of the things that’s been a blessing to me with regards to being in ministry and being a teacher and coach,” he said, “is that I know that I am going to be able to have an influence, a positive influence and a spiritual influence, just by being a walking epistle.”
This commitment to his communities, both academic and ecclesial, has resulted in genuine thriving on the individual and collective levels alike. When worry finds itself directed at the well-being of students and of schools, of churchgoers and the houses of worship they attend, places like Daybreak and people like Briggs reveal slightly different stories.
The community, even outside the church’s “walls,” has reacted positively.
“Coach Briggs is one of those coaches who shows up every day, and when he shows up, he shows up not just for athletics, but he’s involved,” Leslie Slovak, an administrator, said. “His students that have gone on to college still reach out to him for advice. Coach Briggs has never met a stranger, and I think everyone that’s ever met him has the same sentiment.”
That said, while the benefits of multi-vocational and digital-only ministry are clear and many, the unorthodox format comes with challenges. To be involved in multiple helping professions at once can place a significant emotional burden on the person coaching, teaching and preaching; the novelty of such a position can, at times, serve only to compound the difficulty. “It feels lonely sometimes because when you’re in ministry, you feel the pressure, you feel the weight of producing,” Briggs said. “There’s a pressure, and there’s this sense of lonesomeness, because you just don’t know who else is going about ministry in this very unique and different way.”
To assist ministers in these singular positions, CBF has a clergy support ecosystem so that pastors like Briggs, congregations like Daybreak and communities like North Texas can continue to coexist with and uplift one another. Burnout benefits precisely no one, which is why CBF’s Clergy Support seeks to help keep ministers from feeling isolated with resources and peer connections, including folks who consider themselves among the ever-expanding ranks of multi-vocational ministers.
“Participating in the Thriving in Ministry program has blessed me essentially because I learned that I was not in a fight all by myself,” he said, “that there are so many other ministers in different areas, different regions of the country who were at work just like I was.”
Just as on a sports field or court, everything is achievable when it’s done with a dependable team by your side. “You just never know in what ministry context you’ll be pastoring or preaching, so you’re going to have to learn how to do everything,” Briggs said.
“That is what so many multi-vocational pastors do. You do a little bit of everything. And over time, you find yourself connecting with folks who can give you a little bit of advice or who has a contact. That’s the blessing of all of it.”
To learn more about how CBF helps ministers thrive, connect with CBF Director of Clergy Support Kelly Adams at kadams@cbf.net.
Find Rev. James Briggs’ video about his ministry here.