Thread is rolling out a whole new way to engage in God’s story.
Thread is a unified, immersive platform—combining a weekly podcast, a resource-rich app for your members, and a leadership portal that equips you with tools to guide your church with clarity and consistency.
Connecting Your Church Community Daily.
Connecting Your Church Community Daily.
Our Why:
Despite great effort and intention, the reality of church experience today is often disjointed sermons, a lack of unified direction, and devotionals resources that are non-existent or disconnected from the direction of the church. Members crave immersive content that will help them connect deeply with God, one another, and the mission. Yet, while ministry leaders juggle many responsibilities it can be difficult to equip their communities effectively.
The Thread Podcast & App provide a structured, yet flexible, weekly framework that aligns Sunday sermons with daily devotionals, small group discussions, family devotionals, leadership training, and even a full kids’ curriculum. This creates a cohesive spiritual journey for the entire church, and more - each family unit! By integrating engaging content and practical resources, Thread Podcast unites the church with a Biblical vision that supports leadership and deepens discipleship from the youngest children to the most mature members.
Every resource right at your fingertips.
Thread Podcast
Weekly Enriching Podcast Episodes
Practical application tools for daily life and ministry
Study recommendations from trusted scholars & teachers
Consistent weekly rhythms across the entire church
Thread App
Daily devotionals tied to each week’s teaching
Family devotionals for parents and kids
Small group guides with ready-to-use questions
Custom church branding (logo + personalization)
Shared Series Library – access to content from other churches
Tools to foster collaboration between churches
Thread Leadership Portal
Sunday Service Planners for service flow & coordination
Sermon starters & tips
Kids’ church curriculum aligned with the weekly series
Leadership development resources for ongoing growth
Upload your own sermon or series into the app
Global push notifications to your congregation
Centralized communication hub for events, updates, and reminders
Meet the Thread Podcast Team
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Joel Nagel planted and led the Lansing Area Church of Christ for 22 years. He has a passion for helping small churches “punch above their weight” through collaboration, shared resources, and expository teaching curricula. Joel serves as Director of Church Initiatives for CHORD and as Program Director for Thread, where he produces the Thread Podcast, develops immersive and integrated content for each episode, and facilitates groups of churches who choose to preach in step with the podcast.
He holds a Master of Arts in Theopoetics and Writing from Bethany Theological Seminary and a BA in Ancient History from Michigan State University. Joel lives in Michigan with his wife, Beth (a total baller), and their two daughters. And of course, he’s the one who makes sure Dave explains all the big words he uses.
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Dr. David Pocta is a spirituality scholar, ministry builder, and educator. After nearly three decades of pastoral work, he earned his PhD in Spirituality from the Oblate School of Theology, where he now serves as Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemplative Spirituality. His research interests that include the spiritual journey, spiritual wilderness, contemporary church culture, and Christian mysticism. His dissertation explored how the wilderness seasons of Christians reveal the need for a reimagined church culture within Protestant evangelicalism. Through Thread, David is especially passionate about illustrating the deep threads woven throughout Scripture that bind us to God’s love.
David is a collaborator and builder who delights in creating spaces for honest dialogue and authentic learning. He lives with his wife, Beth, of more than thirty years in San Antonio and treasures his two daughters, their husbands, two grandchildren.
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Hannah DeSouza holds a Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, with particular interests in the intersection of literature and theology, as well as liberation theology.
She previously earned degrees in English Literature and Spanish (BA) from King’s College London and in Victorian Literature (MSt) from Oxford University. Before pursuing theological studies, Hannah served in ministry—first in Boston and later in Moldova, where she lived and ministered primarily among refugees following the outbreak of war in Ukraine.
Hannah is passionate about making theology accessible to everyday Christians and is eager to bring that vision to life through her work with Thread.
CHORD Partnership
CHORD is a leadership development center committed to equipping churches with biblically sound teaching and holistic leadership training. Through a variety of transformative programs, CHORD fosters spiritual growth, community engagement, and effective leadership at every level of the church. One of its most impactful initiatives is Thread, a program designed to provide cohesive, accessible resources that strengthen both church leaders and individual members.
At the heart of Thread is a weekly podcast, featuring in-depth discussions, biblical insights, and practical applications tailored for church-wide spiritual maturity. This program is designed not only to equip leaders with rich theological teaching but also to engage the broader congregation, ensuring that every member—from elders to new believers—has access to resources for personal and communal spiritual growth. CHORD’s mission is to cultivate thriving, unified churches by providing thoughtful, transformative content that strengthens leadership, discipleship, and community engagement.
