Host Team

 What Is The Host Team? 🤷‍♂️

Thank you for your interest in the OAG Host Team. We’re so excited that you’re interested in stepping up to help us lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. This introduction will give you all the info you need to make a decision whether or not to join the Host Team. 🙌🏼🌍

What Is Church Online? 🤔

In addition to meeting in our physical church location, OAG also meets globally online. OAG Online was launched in 2020 amid the COVID-19 outbreak out of our desire to do everything we can to reach people who don’t know Christ during a time when we could not meet as a church in person. But once the quarantine was over, it made sense for us to continue to live-stream our services online.

We host our weekly online church services on our website, Facebook Live, and YouTube Live, reaching people all over the world. Each service features worship, an engaging message, live community, and a team of volunteers ready to welcome, interact, and pray with guests. That’s you! And this page should help you understand what your purpose is and to be more effective at ministering the Gospel to all kinds of people. 🙌

Our Team 🖥📱

The Host Team is a team of volunteers who create a friendly and comfortable environment in our online services. As a member of this team, you'll serve with team members at various locations. Be sure to show up (log-in) at least 5 minutes early to your service so you can connect and be ready in prayer! 🙏🏼 (Keep in mind that most of our services/Bible Studies include a 5 minute countdown, so we need to be ready by at least 5 minutes before the service is scheduled to start.)

The Chat Host "Big 3" 💪🏼

Being a Chat Host is fairly simple. It all boils down to 3 easy things—what we call the "Big 3." These 3 things you'll do are welcome, discuss, and pray. Let's unpack each of those.

1. 👋🏼 WELCOME:

First, welcome each new guest into the chat area. A good idea is to use @ tagging to welcome each guest by name. A friendly welcome can be made even friendlier by using exclamation marks, emojis, and a follow-up question to get to know them.

Example: Hi @johnfrommichigan, welcome to OAG Church Online! 🎉 We’re so happy you’re here today. How’s your day going so far?

2. 🗣 DISCUSS:

Next, spark discussion in the chat area. You can do this by asking icebreaker questions or recapping key points from the message. Open-ended questions—questions beginning with who, what, when, where, why, or how—are always great conversation starters.

Example: I love that Pastor Strickland just mentioned _____. That’s so powerful! How do you think we can apply this into our everyday lives?

3. 🙏🏼 PRAY:

Finally, offer prayer to guests in the chat area. You can pray with people right in the chat area, or encourage them to utilize our Digital Prayer Card if they’d rather send their prayer request privately. It’s amazing to see how loved people feel when someone reaches out to pray with them!

Example: Hi @martha75, I’m so sorry to hear that you lost your grandfather this week. Could we pray together here for you and your family? Let’s pray: God, we lift up Martha and pray that you would be with her and her entire family today. We ask that you would bring them your perfect peace and comfort, and that you would surround them with people who can encourage them in this season. Thank you for loving us and being with us in every difficult moment. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

What If I'm Not Technically Inclined? 💻 ⌨️

We understand that some folks are not technically inclined, and it’s easy to be intimidated by all of this. But training is available, and once you’ve gone through a little training, it’s not really difficult. We already have several folks working as hosts who would not describe themselves as technically inclined, but with a little help, they’ve been able to be excellent hosts. So don’t let that hold you back.

What If I'm Not Confident Praying With People? 😔 🙏

Praying with people is definitely a skill, and like any skill, it must be developed. It really just takes practice. Again, training is available, and we also provide resources about what to say and do in specific situations. And if things get to deep for you, Pastor Daniel is almost always available to help.

An Important Note About Those We May Be Reaching Online: ❤️

At OAG, we’re passionate about doing everything we can to reach people who don’t know Christ. When our guests arrive in the online service, they may not know anything about us, our church, and our God. They may even be there to make fun or trouble. We encourage you to show them extra grace and love. Just by being there, they’re taking a small step toward giving God another chance in their lives. Remember that their behaviors, attitudes, and addictions are an attempt to fill a void that only Christ can fill, so they often feel very broken, empty, and alone. We can show them the love of Jesus by welcoming them, letting them know that we’re glad they found OAG Online, and encouraging them to stick around and share their thoughts on the message. 🔥

Don’t be surprised when you see guests post about ungodly things. We have the ability to delete overly vulgar posts or mute chatters who consistently disrupt the service, but overall, we want to do whatever we can to help these guests experience God’s love like never before. Seeing some of them begin to attend regularly and even surrender their lives to Jesus are some of the greatest joys of serving at OAG Online! 🙌🏼