There’s a church meeting in a virtual world right now. Someone who used to wander VRchat’s darkest corners is leading it. And Jeff wrote the book on how it’s supposed to work.
This episode is one you don’t skip.
What Actually Happened Here
EP242 marks a milestone — Jeff Reed’s book on churches in virtual reality officially launched. You can grab your copy at thechurch.digital/vrbook. But beyond the book drop, this episode is a raw, real conversation about what it looks like when a church actually plants a campus inside VRchat — not as a gimmick, not as a marketing experiment, but as genuine mission to real people living significant portions of their lives in virtual space.
If you’ve been watching the metaverse conversation from the sidelines, wondering if it’s real or just hype, this episode is your answer.
Meet Stewart Freeman: A Native Missionary
The guest is Stewart Freeman, and his story matters before you ever hear his strategy.
Stewart wasn’t recruited into VRchat ministry from a seminary classroom. He was found in VRchat — in its darkest places, by his own description — before a divine intervention moment changed everything. He encountered Cornerstone Church of Yuba City, was led to Christ, and was discipled by Pastor Jason Poling.
Then God called him back in.
That’s the missiology here. Stewart isn’t an outsider parachuting into a foreign culture with a PowerPoint. He’s an insider — someone who knows the language, the community dynamics, the pain points, the loneliness that drives people to spend hours in a virtual world. He is now the Director of VRchat for Cornerstone Church, leading evangelism, planting a church campus, and shepherding an actual flock inside a video game.
This is what indigenous church planting looks like in digital spaces.
Why VRchat Isn’t What You Think
Most church leaders hear “VRchat” and picture kids goofing around in cartoon avatars. Stop that.
VRchat is home to millions of users — many of whom are isolated, hurting, searching, and forming deep relational bonds with people they’ve never met in person. For some, it’s the most meaningful community they have. That’s not a commentary on their brokenness. That’s a mission field.
The same dynamics that make VRchat compelling — anonymity, avatar-based identity, always-on social spaces — also make it one of the most spiritually open environments on the internet. People drop their guard. They talk about real things. They’re hungry for community that actually sees them.
Stewart knows this because he lived it. And Cornerstone was willing to resource and send him back in to do something about it.
What Church Planting in VRchat Actually Looks Like
This isn’t theoretical. Here’s what Cornerstone VR is doing:
Presence. They show up consistently in VRchat spaces — not just to broadcast content, but to be neighbors. To hang out. To earn the right to be heard.
Evangelism in context. Stewart leads people to Christ in VRchat. Not by sending them a link to a Sunday service and hoping they show up. The gospel is going where the people are.
Discipleship that sticks. After someone comes to faith, Stewart doesn’t just hand them a Bible app and wish them luck. He disciples them — in the same spaces where he found them, with the same relational investment that brought them in.
A church campus with structure. This isn’t a para-church hang. Cornerstone VR has a director, a flock, and pastoral oversight. It’s a church. With accountability. With shepherding. With all the messy, beautiful things real church involves.
What Jeff’s Book Adds to the Conversation
The book isn’t just theory — it’s a framework for church leaders who want to understand what faithful presence in virtual reality actually requires. Ecclesiology, evangelism, community formation, pastoral care — all of it gets examined through the lens of VR environments.
If you lead a church and you’re serious about digital missions, this is required reading. If you’re a digital missionary already operating in these spaces, it gives language and structure to what you’re already sensing.
Grab it: thechurch.digital/vrbook
The Bigger Point
“Go into all the world” didn’t come with a geographic limit (Mark 16:15). Virtual worlds are worlds. People are in them. Some of them are in the darkest corners.
Stewart Freeman was one of them. Now he’s the one going back in with the light.
That’s the story. That’s the mission. That’s why this episode matters.
Your Next Step
Listen to EP242. Hear Stewart’s story in his own words. Then do two things:
- Grab Jeff’s book at thechurch.digital/vrbook — especially if you’re a church leader trying to build a strategy for digital and virtual spaces.
- Ask your team one honest question: Are there virtual spaces where our people already live — and are we anywhere near them?
The answer to that question might be the beginning of your next church plant.
