One Eighty Digital is a mighty force in the web development and website design space for churches and faith based organizations. As a church attendee, part-time One Eighty project manager, and theology nerd I was thrilled to find that One Eighty and yours truly was able to attend the Southern Baptist Convention this year. 

One Eighty Digital had a 10×10 booth at SBC 2026, our first big event. We have a team of 6, some part timers and some full-timers, we do a whole lot with a little team and we’re proud of that but we were a little intimidated with what big companies we knew we’d be meeting there, the massive budgets and teams. We went crazy with planning, strategy, a prayer and some hope that the pastors and church leaders and faith based organizations would see the value we offer. 

We learned this week that you CAN do a lot with a little when you put serving first.

A few things shape the way we approach our work: 

1. We are owned and operated by a pastor.
2. Every member of our team has roots in local churches. Many of us have spent our lives serving in small congregations, so the challenges pastors face aren’t theoretical to us—they’re personal.
3. We attack every project with a help-first, business-later attitude. We want every church to be well represented online, we want our pastors and faith-based leaders to know they are efficiently and effectively sharing the gospel with those who may not know Jesus yet but can find a place to deepen a relationship with him. 

Because we operate less like a business and more like a ministry, we strategized where we fit in the exhibit hall at the SBC 2026 in Orlando. With 200+ other exhibitors, we knew we’d be a speck on the map.

What we did:

1. We thought about our mission. The Internet is a mission field. We know it. We See it every day. We believe our mission is to help churches be found, and represented well online.
2. We know the SBC is child-friendly. We know lots of families, including our own, come with their ministry parents to the event. We brought some FUN swag that we made on our 3-D printer. It was time consuming but we were looking for ways to share joy while we were there with families. 
3. We approached attendees as friends and fellow Christ-followers, people who are like-minded who know challenges in the church, and the beauty of the church in the modern age. 

We came away with several lessons learned

1. People there don’t want to be sold to, including ourselves not wanting to sell! They want community and they want to feel supported. We learned how easy it is to have fun there when you’re just shaking hands with a like-minded Christ-followers who are ALSO on mission in their own ways. We are ALL on mission. Lesson learned: Learn to share your mission with conviction and love. 
2. We learned the value of loving families first. The SBC is not an aging organization, it is full of beautiful growing families. They can’t wait to do kingdom work. We can’t either. These are our people.
3. There is a LOT more to do to help small and revitalizing churches be found online. They are hurting, they are short on funds, they are short on staff and help. They need help getting online. They feel convicted to use God’s funds wisely. They need help seeing that being online is a non-negotiable in 2026. Many churches have suffered because they have not prioritized being online. If they are online, they lack the quality of design that makes visiting their website a positive experience for modern internet users.

I am excited to meet more people and have more conversations from the organizations we met. We had great conversations with lots of pastors and organizations we hope to help. By the end of the week, we had more conversations, opportunities, and follow-up meetings than we anticipated. For a small team attending its first major convention, that felt both humbling and encouraging.

We had a great time at SBC 2026 and look forward to exploring more events and potentially attending next year in Indianapolis.