Gaming isn’t a distraction from ministry. For millions of people, it is the mission field.
Bubba Stallcup figured that out a decade ago. Now, as the CEO, President, and Founder of Love Thy Nerd — a 501(c)3 ministry dedicated to bringing the love of Jesus to nerds and nerd culture — he’s proof that you don’t have to abandon your calling to reach people where they actually are. You just have to be willing to go there.
In Episode 254 of The Church Digital Podcast, host Jeff Reed sits down with Bubba to talk gaming ministry, digital missions, and why the Church keeps sleeping on one of the most engaged, most connected, and most spiritually hungry communities on the planet.
Who Is Love Thy Nerd?
Love Thy Nerd exists to do one thing: love nerds. Tabletop gamers. Video gamers. Cosplayers. Comic fans. Anime enthusiasts. The people who built entire communities around the things they love — often because the Church told them those things didn’t belong in the pews.
Bubba spent 12 years on church staff as a Youth Pastor and Technology Director before making the leap to full-time nerd culture missionary. That background matters. He knows how churches think. He knows where the gaps are. And he knows exactly what it costs to tell a gamer kid that their world doesn’t count.
Love Thy Nerd shows up at conventions, online spaces, and local communities not to drag people to a church building — but to be the Church right where nerds already gather.
The Mission Field Nobody’s Talking About
Here’s the stat that should wake up every youth leader reading this: the average gamer is not a lonely teenage boy in a basement. The average gamer is an adult. Gaming crosses every demographic — age, gender, income, geography. And the gaming community has built some of the most robust, loyal, and vulnerable relational networks on the internet.
These are people who know how to be in community. They just haven’t been told the Gospel in a language they understand.
That’s a missions problem. And it’s one the Church keeps ignoring because the medium looks unfamiliar.
What Gaming Ministry Actually Looks Like
This isn’t about putting a game console in the youth room and calling it outreach. Real gaming ministry looks like:
- Showing up consistently in spaces where gamers already gather — Discord servers, Twitch streams, local game shops, conventions
- Building relationships before building programs — earning trust the same way any missionary would in any culture
- Creating content that serves the community rather than just recruiting from it
- Training volunteers who are already gamers to see their hobby as a calling
- Partnering with local churches to create on-ramps for people who wouldn’t walk through a traditional church door
Bubba’s model through Love Thy Nerd offers a framework for exactly this. Their outreach resources (lovethynerd.com/outreach) are built to help churches and individuals get started without having to reinvent the wheel.
What Youth Leaders Need to Hear
If you lead teenagers, you are already working with people who live in digital and gaming culture. The question isn’t whether you should care about this space — it’s whether you’re taking it seriously enough.
The kids in your ministry aren’t just playing games. They’re forming identity, finding belonging, processing grief, experiencing conflict, and building their worldview inside these spaces. Minecraft worlds. Fortnite squads. D&D campaigns. These aren’t distractions from real life. They are real life for a generation that’s grown up digital.
Ignoring it doesn’t protect them. It just means someone else is discipling them there.
Romans 10:14 cuts right to it: “How can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Somebody has to go. Gaming culture needs missionaries, not critics.
Practical First Steps for Churches
Ready to move beyond theory? Start here:
- Audit your community. How many people in your congregation are gamers? Ask. You’ll be surprised.
- Find your Bubba. There’s almost certainly someone in your church who already loves this space. Equip them. Empower them. Don’t make them hide it.
- Start small and local. Host a tabletop game night. Partner with a local game shop. Launch a Discord channel for your youth group.
- Learn the culture before you try to change it. Spend time listening before you start leading.
- Connect with Love Thy Nerd. Their outreach resources exist to help you do this well.
Don’t Miss This Episode
Bubba Stallcup is exactly the kind of leader the Church needs more of — someone who took the Great Commission seriously enough to follow it into uncomfortable territory. This conversation with Jeff Reed is practical, inspiring, and more than a little convicting.
Listen to Episode 254 now — and if it challenges how you think about digital missions and gaming ministry, leave a review. Every review helps another church leader find this podcast and start thinking bigger about where their mission field actually is.
