The Power of Podcasts

What podcasts do you listen to?

When I downloaded my first podcast in 2008, I remember having to load it onto my mp3 player so that I could listen to it while walking my dog. It didn’t download automatically nor did it sync efficiently. It was quite a bit of work, but since I’m a learner, I was stoked at the possibility of learning while walking, commuting, and going from one place to another. Trust me, I’ve tried reading a book while walking and it never ends well.

But now it’s 2017. And since then, the percentage of U.S. adults who’ve listened to a podcast in the past month went from 9% in 2008 to 21% in 2016, according to a survey conducted by Edison Research.

Podcasts have passed the tipping point, which is why it’s now commonplace to talk about your favorite podcasts, in the same way we do with our favorite books or TV shows (Seth Godin believes we’ve actually hit a podcast surplus in his fascinating article here).

In fact, when we conducted our research on the State of Church Planting (you can download it here), we even measured the impact of podcasting on a church plant.

Take a look at this image. It shows the average number of commitments to Christ made in church plants who used podcasts as a form of communication versus those who didn’t. Amazing, isn’t it?

In fact, we also discovered that among new churches that utilized a podcast as a means of communication, 40% started another new church within their first 5 years of existence!

Not only are podcasts a great way to pass time while mowing your lawn, grocery shopping, commuting to work, or exercising, but they are a great way to develop yourself–both personally and spiritually.

This is why I host the New Churches Q&A Podcast (we’ve recorded 100+ episodes), and love being on others.

Here’s a list of the other podcasts that I’ve been interviewed on over the past year:

• Daniel Im: Surprising Factors That Make Canadian Churches Grow – Canadian Church Leaders Podcast with Carey Nieuwhof
• EP 57: Daniel Im – The Jeremy Roberts Leadership Podcast
• Going Outside with Daniel Im – Going Outside with Alton Lee Web
• LP12: How to Plant Missional Churches (Daniel Im) – NexGen Podcast
• Episode 11: Mid-Sized Groups – The Groups Matter Podcast
• Episode 10: Daniel Im – Rejoice Church Podcast
• 041 Daniel Im – “Planting Missional Churches” – The Rising Generation Leadership Podcast
• Using Technology to Unleash a Culture of Multiplication – Exponential Podcast

I’d encourage you to check these podcasts and episodes out! If you want to see a list of appearances for 2017 click here, and for 2018 click here.