Missional AI Podcast

Join hosts Joshua Seale and James Poulter weekly as they explore the intersection of mission work and AI. Featuring exclusive interviews with innovators using artificial intelligence to expand global impact, this podcast brings you insights from the frontlines of the Missional AI community. Discover how AI is transforming outreach with thought-provoking conversations and practical applications. Where faith and technology converge to create new possibilities for mission work in the digital age.

Missional AI Podcast is a technology podcast hosted by Missional AI, with 42 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Missional AI hosts Missional AI Podcast, a technology show with 42 episodes published.

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  Missional AI Podcast

  God in a Box? AI, the Church, and the Next Five Years | Live from Wildfires Festival

  Aug 18, 20261h 7m

  Recorded live in a packed tent at Wildfires Festival 2026, this Missional AI lab brings together Joshua Seale (Executive Director, Global Missional AI) and James Poulter ("JP," author of the forthcoming AI at Work) for an unscripted, audience-driven conversation on what it means to follow Jesus in the age of artificial intelligence.From Bible translation timelines collapsing by decades, to a leaked "escape" from an AI sandbox, to Sam Altman's own language about "building God in a box" — Joshua and JP range across theology, technology, geopolitics, and pastoral care. They talk candidly about AI as therapist and companion, the risk of a lost generation of young workers, what international AI governance might actually require, and why the church may be better positioned to respond well to this moment than it was to social media.Huge thanks to the team at Wildfires Festival for creating space for a conversation like this — in a tent, in a field, with hundreds of people lining up at the mic with hard questions. Labs like this are exactly why Wildfires matters, and if you've never been, put it on your calendar.Recorded as part of the Missional AI series. Find more at Missional AI's events, the weekly Missional AI Podcast, and the upcoming Build Hackathon in London.IN THIS EPISODE02:03 Welcome from World Vision & Wildfires03:16 Intros: Joshua Seale & James "JP" Poulter05:18 Is it too late to control AI?07:20 Beginning, middle, or end of the AI cycle?09:16 Implications for the church10:29 AI's #1 personal use case: therapy & companionship12:20 People turning to AI to study Scripture12:44 Bible translation timelines collapsing14:35 Biblica's chatbots: 1M+ conversations, 92% non-English18:16 AI, government, and policy18:40 Andy Burnham's new AI minister19:31 The OpenAI "sandbox escape" & AI 2027 predictions22:01 Sovereignty, infrastructure, and integration31:19 Q: Ken Coster on governance and sovereignty33:21 A: International cooperation & sovereign AI35:41 Missional AI's Ethics & Standards initiative37:42 What road safety campaigns teach us about AI38:37 Q: Model bias and secularism39:58 Q: AI in defense40:05 Q: Open licensing — doesn't that cost revenue?40:26 A: 300% revenue growth after opening licenses42:05 Anthropic vs. OpenAI's defense deals44:53 Claude's Constitution & practical AI guardrails45:34 Grading AI models on theology and spirituality47:42 Q: Deterministic AI and safety standards48:25 Q: Did the AI really "escape," or was it PR?49:10 Q: Energy, water, and kingdom warfare49:57 A: The Mythos leak & the chair-and-throne analogy53:21 "Seemingly conscious AI" and moral agency55:06 Q: AI dependency among young people55:47 Q: Preparing the church for job loss and meaning56:19 Q: Policy, human rights, and AI literacy59:43 Closing charge: investing in young people1:02:18 Building AI-ready roles for the next generation1:03:56 Wrap-up: where to find Missional AI1:04:52 Closing prayer

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  Missional AI Podcast

  Gareth Russell: Your Reputation Now Lives in ChatGPT

  Aug 2, 202634 min

  Most of what an AI model says about your ministry doesn't come from your website. It comes from what other people have published about you — and that changes almost everything about comms strategy. Recorded at Premier in Central London on the eve of Missional AI London, host James Poulter sits down with Gareth Russell, founder of Jersey Road, an integrated comms agency working exclusively with Christian organisations across the UK, Australia, and the US — including YouVersion, Gather, and Come and See. Gareth explains why authority beats volume in the new generative-engine landscape, why that's unexpectedly good news for smaller ministries with modest budgets, and why he'd rather talk about reputation governance than reputation management. Christian organisations, he argues, shouldn't be protecting a brand — they should be building trust. Handled well, even a public crisis can leave an organisation stronger. The conversation also covers AI impersonation and misused imagery, the generational divide that leaves leadership teams too slow to respond, what ABBA Voyage and Tim Keller's enduring reach suggest about teaching legacy, and why outsourcing your thought leadership to AI is the fastest way to sound exactly like everyone else. (00:02:22) Who Jersey Road are, and why they dropped "PR" (00:03:58) GEO, AEO, AIEO: the new optimisation landscape (00:06:13) Why earned media drives what the models say (00:08:39) Volume, recency, or authority? (00:10:45) Reputation management to reputation governance (00:13:30) New categories of AI risk (00:16:18) William Booth, brass bands, and meeting people where they are (00:18:35) The generational block in leadership teams (00:19:33) Legacy and posthumous teaching content (00:22:49) Live translation and global reach (00:27:44) Don't outsource your thought leadership (00:30:16) Authenticity is overdone — credibility is the new currency Newsletter and upcoming global gatherings: missional.ai

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  Missional AI Podcast

  Inside Anthropic's Faith Convenings — Live from Premier Christian Radio

  Jul 27, 202648 min

  What happens when the companies building the most powerful technology in history start inviting faith leaders into the room? Recorded live in front of a studio audience at Premier Christian Radio in Central London, on the eve of the Missional AI London Summit. Paul Taylor joins us fresh from Anthropic's faith convenings and describes the posture in those rooms: we feel the burden of what we're creating, and we want you to share it. From there the conversation opens up — why researchers are still working out what they've actually built, why AI is a shift in what it means to be human rather than another leap in distribution or connection, and why writing an AI policy is where the hard conversation starts rather than ends. Plus: pastoring people through layoffs, congregants falling in love with chatbots, seven-year-olds who assume Alexa is never wrong, and whether Africa's so-called adoption gap might turn out to be a leapfrog. Host: James Poulter Guests: Paul Taylor (Faith, Work & Tech, Silicon Valley), Gareth Russell, and Kit Powney (Tearfund) (02:23) Live from Premier Christian Radio (06:24) Is Silicon Valley hostile to faith? (08:43) Inside Anthropic's faith convenings (13:39) "They built the trellis on which AI grew" (14:57) Why this isn't Gutenberg, and isn't social media (16:52) Beyond the policy — finding the edges (21:18) AI, work, and the ministry of the layoff cycle (24:36) New pastoral territory: AI relationships (27:12) Parenting when Alexa is the fount of all knowledge (32:49) Audience Q: are we becoming digitally dependent? (37:11) Sovereign AI and models that understand local context (41:30) Audience Q: bridging the Africa adoption gap Newsletter, Slack community, upcoming events, and the full archive from Silicon Valley and London: https://missional.ai

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  Missional AI Podcast

  It's Not a Conference, It's a Movement — Geof & Mark (Biblica) on Last Mile First

  Jul 16, 202620 min

  Six years ago, Missional AI was 45 people on a Zoom call trying to figure out what AI meant for the mission of God. This year, we recorded this conversation in a sold-out room in Silicon Valley — 650 people, 30 speakers from around the world. In this special episode, we sit down with Geof and Mark from Biblica, the team stewarding the Missional AI movement. What happens when a 217-year-old organization decides its best move is to give its work away? Open licenses. Shared learning. "We'll make the first mistake for you." We get into "Last Mile First" — Biblica's most ambitious initiative in two centuries — and the staggering shift from a mission once measured in hundreds of years to one now within sight in our lifetimes: every language with at least a portion of Scripture. As Mark puts it, that's not the finish line. That's the starting line. A conversation about translation and technology, but really about collaboration, unity, and going further together. In this episode: • Why Biblica took on stewarding Missional AI • From Bible translation to evangelism, mobilization, and first reach • Why innovation isn't just digital • Going to the hardest, least-reached places on the planet — on purpose • The content gap facing frontline pastors • Close the Bible Gap, and what it means to partner well • Why Silicon Valley — and why the movement can't stay there Missional AI returns to San Francisco, March 30 – April 1. Registration opens soon: missional.ai Brought to you by Transform Iran and Kairos, a free AI-powered evangelism and discipleship platform designed for Farsi and other right-to-left languages, now used in more than 150 countries and dozens of languages: kairoschat.ai Join the movement — Slack community, resources, and more episodes: missional.ai

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  Missional AI Podcast

  Building AI for the Persecuted Church | Lana Silk (Transform Iran) on KAIROS

  Jun 26, 202630 min

  Tens of millions of Iranians consume gospel media — but only thousands ever make the phone call. Fear of punishment, fear of shame, no safe person to ask. How do you bridge the gap between curiosity and connection at scale? Stu Cranney sits down with Lana Silk of Transform Iran to talk about KAIROS, a free AI-powered evangelism and discipleship platform built for Farsi and other right-to-left languages. Lana shares her own story: born in Tehran on "Black Friday" in 1978, raised by pastor parents who felt called toward the persecuted church, and shaped by a family friend's martyrdom on the day of her own baptism. Together they explore why Transform Iran has spent 35+ years preparing for what they call "Open Iran," how AI solves the problems of access, scale, and safety, and the safeguards behind KAIROS — emotional intelligence, risk red-flagging, 24/7 human oversight, and the moment the tool started praying for people. Lana also looks ahead to trauma support in the wake of recent events, and makes a candid ask about keeping the platform free as demand surges. A conversation about laying track for a train that hasn't arrived yet. Explore KAIROS: kairoschat.ai Learn about Transform Iran: transformiran.org This episode is brought to you by Transform Iran & KAIROS, and by Gloo — helping the faith and flourishing ecosystem build technology with innovation and trust in mind. Learn more at studio.ai.gloo.com. Missional AI London is coming July 15 at Plaisterers' Hall, Westminster — one day of real conversations on how we use this technology with wisdom, not fear or hype. Tickets £99. Register at missional.ai. Chapters (00:00) Praying but not preparing (01:57) Sponsor: Transform Iran & KAIROS (02:49) Why this episode is different (05:09) Meet Lana Silk (05:33) Born on "Black Friday," 1978 (07:01) Leaving Iran and a ministry for the underground church (07:55) Baptism day and the cost of faith (09:34) How the current conflict shapes Transform Iran (11:04) Rethinking the impossible with AI (12:12) The real problem: access, scale, safety (13:41) Surveillance, privacy, and tools for good (14:23) Why a machine removes fear and shame (15:36) Emotional intelligence and human oversight (16:28) What is KAIROS? (17:19) From 7,000 articles to a discipleship tool (18:14) Training on Scripture (18:41) Sponsor: Gloo (19:47) How the crisis changes who engages (20:44) "I've had Jesus on my mind for a year" (21:24) Can God work through technology? (22:10) The day KAIROS started praying (23:46) Dreaming bigger: scale and trauma support (25:09) Getting involved and keeping KAIROS free (26:28) A picture of the Iran to come (29:11) Outro: Missional AI London

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