WELSTech
WELSTech exists to explore the use of technology to further the spread of the gospel. Audio episodes are released biweekly. This show is sponsored by the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS).
All Episodes
775 - Cough Drops and Use Cases
**WELSTech Episode 775 — Cough Drops and Use Cases** Sallie's voice may not be at 100%, but the show must go on! In this episode of WELSTech, Martin and Sallie power through to explore one of the most practical questions in this Season of AI: what does AI actually look like in *your* ministry context? The WELS AI Task Force has been hard at work developing a set of top-10 AI use cases for three distinct ministry roles — pastoral ministry, teaching, and church/school administration. Martin and Sallie walk through highlights from each category, from sermon research and member communication to lesson planning, student feedback, and meeting transcription. Along the way, they apply the WELS AI Ethical Framework and Risk Matrix to help you think through not just *what* AI can do, but *how* to use it wisely. This is an audience participation episode — the task force wants your feedback! How is AI showing up in your ministry? Let them know. Also in this episode: - **Ministry Resource:** Two free NotebookLM cheat sheets from Ditch That Textbook — one for teachers, one for students - **Picks of the Week:** OZLO Sleepbuds (Martin) and Google Vids (Sallie) - **Community News:** WELSTech has a new home! The site has migrated to HubSpot at welstech.wels.net (now resolving to welstech.wels.org), with all 774 previous episodes along for the ride. 📬 Share your AI use cases: welstech@wels.net 🌐 AI season resources: https://welstech.wels.net/ai/ 🎙️ Show notes: https://welstech.wels.net #WELSTech #AIinMinistry #ChurchTech #LutheranEducation #EdTech #NotebookLM #GoogleVids767 – Best of 2025
<a href="https://welstech.wels.net/2026/01/08/767-best-of-2025/" rel="nofollow"></a> <p>Take a look back at 2025 with Martin and Sallie as they share highlights, memories, and favorites from year 18 of the WELSTech Podcast.</p> <p></p> <span>Events</span> <ul> <li><a href="https://welstech.wels.net/ai-summit/" rel="nofollow">WELSTech AI Summit</a></li> <li><a href="https://welstech.wels.net/ai/" rel="nofollow">AI Focus</a></li> </ul> <span>Ministry resources</span> <ul> <li>Grace Ungemach’s weekly newsletter on digital marketing – <a href="https://learn.lutheran.marketing" rel="nofollow">learn.lutheran.marketing</a> <ul> <li>Check out this week’s <a href="https://grace-ungemach.kit.com/posts/your-2026-brand-direction-template" rel="nofollow">2026 Brand Direction</a> message</li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="https://lutheranleadership.com/" rel="nofollow">WELS National Conference on Lutheran Leadership</a></li> <li><a href="https://welstech.wels.net/ministry-resources-2025/" rel="nofollow">2025 Ministry Resources</a></li> </ul> <span>Interviews</span> <ul> <li>Lori Ehlke – <a href="https://welstech.wels.net/2025/04/17/748-lori-ehlke-art/" rel="nofollow">748 – Lori Ehlke Art</a></li> <li>Dr. Kristi Meyer – <a href="https://welstech.wels.net/2025/10/16/761-comms-and-cardigans/" rel="nofollow">761 – Comms and Cardigans</a></li> <li><a href="https://welstech.wels.net/interviews-2025/" rel="nofollow">2025 Interviews</a></li> </ul> <span>Picks of the year</span> <ul> <li><a href="https://notebooklm.google/" rel="nofollow">Notebook LM</a> – Sallie’s <a href="https://welstech.wels.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/WELSTech2025Infographic-NotebookLM-Small.jpg" rel="nofollow">WELSTech 2025 infographic</a> example</li> <li><em>Christ Begins</em> by Prof. Luke Thompson, in <a href="https://christianworship.com/" rel="nofollow"><em>Christian Worship</em></a>, hymn 385 – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHyjeng6FKM" rel="nofollow">Lyric video</a></li> <li><a href="https://wels.net/callreport" rel="nofollow">The updated WELS Call Report</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.ipitaka.com/" rel="nofollow">Pitaka Phone Cases</a></li> <li>Wispr <a href="https://wisprflow.ai/" rel="nofollow">Flow</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.plaud.ai/" rel="nofollow">Plaud</a></li> <li>The real number 1 – <a href="https://welstech.wels.net/tag/jason/" rel="nofollow">co-hosts Dr. Rachel Renno and Jason Schmidt</a></li> <li><a href="https://welstech.wels.net/picks-of-the-week-2025/" rel="nofollow">2025 Picks of the Week</a></li> </ul> <span>Next time</span> <p>Year 19 of WELSTech is ahead of us. What will it hold for tech-in-ministry?</p> Get involved <ul> <li>Add comments</li> <li>Send us an e-mail <a href="mailto:welstech@wels.net" rel="nofollow">welstech@wels.net</a></li> <li>Join the WELSTech community: <ul> <li>WELSTech <a href="https://groups.google.com/a/groups.wels.net/forum/#!forum/welstech" rel="nofollow">Google Group</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WELSTech" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://pinterest.com/welstech/" rel="nofollow">Pinterest</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="https://instagram.com/welstechpodcast/" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Add to the WELSTech wiki <a href="http://welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net/" rel="nofollow">welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net</a></li> <li>Contribute to the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WELSTech&src=typd" rel="nofollow">#WELSTech</a> Twitter conversation</li> <li>Follow us on Twitter – <a href="http://twitter.com/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mspriggs" rel="nofollow">mspriggs</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/salliedraper" rel="nofollow">salliedraper</a></li> <li>Share with the Diigo group <a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a></li> </ul>766 – Christmas Conversation with Melanie
<a href="https://welstech.wels.net/2025/12/24/766-christmas-conversation-with-melanie/" rel="nofollow"></a>Merry Christmas from WELSTech! We’re continuing our holiday tradition of sharing a special Christmas interview with our listeners. This year, we’re excited to welcome Melanie Giddings from the Lutheran Schools Office to talk about the important work underway to develop a new religion curriculum. <p></p> The interview <p>A new curriculum in development – Melanie Giddings, Curriculum Coordinator from WELS Lutheran Schools, joins Martin and Sallie to share an inside look at the work being shared by many hands on a new Pre-K to 12 religion curriculum being developed to succeed Christ Light.</p> Christmas Coloring Book Collab <p>There’s still time to submit your AI-generated Christmas coloring page for inclusion in a WELSTech crowd-sourced coloring book. Send your entries to <a href="mailto:welstech@wels.net" rel="nofollow">welstech@wels.net</a>, and we’ll choose a random contributor to receive some sweet WELS swag!</p> <p>Try this prompt:</p> <blockquote> <p><span><span>A black and white coloring page for kids of <em>[YOUR TOPIC]</em>, thick lines, white background, no shading, no grey scale, simple vector style.</span></span></p> </blockquote> <ul> <li><a href="https://designer.microsoft.com/" rel="nofollow">Microsoft Designer</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.adobe.com/express/create/ai/worksheet/kid" rel="nofollow">Adobe Express Coloring Page Generator</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=https://colorbliss.art/" rel="nofollow">ColorBliss.art</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.crayola.com/create/custom-coloring-page" rel="nofollow">Crayola Color Camera</a></li> </ul> Next time <p>Join us in January for our look back at WELSTech 2025!</p> Get involved <ul> <li>Add comments</li> <li>Send us an e-mail <a href="mailto:welstech@wels.net" rel="nofollow">welstech@wels.net</a></li> <li>Join the WELSTech community: <ul> <li>WELSTech <a href="https://groups.google.com/a/groups.wels.net/forum/#!forum/welstech" rel="nofollow">Google Group</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WELSTech" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://pinterest.com/welstech/" rel="nofollow">Pinterest</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="https://instagram.com/welstechpodcast/" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Add to the WELSTech wiki <a href="http://welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net/" rel="nofollow">welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net</a></li> <li>Contribute to the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WELSTech&src=typd" rel="nofollow">#WELSTech</a> Twitter conversation</li> <li>Follow us on Twitter – <a href="http://twitter.com/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mspriggs" rel="nofollow">mspriggs</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/salliedraper" rel="nofollow">salliedraper</a></li> <li>Share with the Diigo group <a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a></li> </ul>765 – Christmas Coloring
<a href="https://welstech.wels.net/2025/12/11/765-christmas-coloring/" rel="nofollow"></a> <p>‘Tis the WELSTech Christmas season! Join us for a giveaway announcement that involves the good news of Christmas, coloring books, and AI. You could win a fun WELS item while you exercise your AI skills. Christmas concerts, anniversary offerings, travel apps, managing your smart home, and free EDU GPT round out this episode. Let’s goooo!</p> <p></p> The discussion <p>Celebrating in color – Martin and Sallie are collocated, Christmas-color coordinated, and collaborating on a coloring project. Everyone is invited to participate in an AI experiment, creating Christmas-related coloring pages which we’ll compile into a sharable book. Send your entries to <a href="mailto:welstech@wels.net" rel="nofollow">welstech@wels.net</a>, and we’ll choose a random contributor to receive some sweet WELS swag!</p> <p>Try this prompt:</p> <blockquote> <p><span><span>A black and white coloring page for kids of <em>[YOUR TOPIC]</em>, thick lines, white background, no shading, no grey scale, simple vector style.</span></span></p> </blockquote> <ul> <li><a href="https://designer.microsoft.com/" rel="nofollow">Microsoft Designer</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.adobe.com/express/create/ai/worksheet/kid" rel="nofollow">Adobe Express Coloring Page Generator</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=https://colorbliss.art/" rel="nofollow">ColorBliss.art</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.crayola.com/create/custom-coloring-page" rel="nofollow">Crayola Color Camera</a></li> </ul> Ministry resource <ul> <li>WELS Christmas Concert details – <a href="https://wels.net/events" rel="nofollow">wels.net/events</a></li> <li><a href="https://welshistoricalinstitute.org/175th/" rel="nofollow">WELS 175th Anniversary</a> – <a href="https://welshistoricalinstitute.org/175th-offering/" rel="nofollow">Special Offering</a></li> </ul> Picks of the week <ul> <li><a href="https://www.iexitapp.com/" rel="nofollow">iExit</a></li> <li><a href="https://hubitat.com/" rel="nofollow">Hubitat</a></li> </ul> Community feedback <p><a href="https://openai.com/index/chatgpt-for-teachers/" rel="nofollow">Chat GPT is free for teachers until June 2027</a></p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.tomsguide.com/ai/chatgpt-is-now-free-for-teachers-7-powerful-ways-to-use-it-in-your-classroom" rel="nofollow">Learn more from Tom’s Guide</a></li> </ul> Next time <p>Melanie Giddings, Curriculum Coordinator from the Lutheran Schools office, shares details on this important work.</p> Get involved <ul> <li>Add comments</li> <li>Send us an e-mail <a href="mailto:welstech@wels.net" rel="nofollow">welstech@wels.net</a></li> <li>Join the WELSTech community: <ul> <li>WELSTech <a href="https://groups.google.com/a/groups.wels.net/forum/#!forum/welstech" rel="nofollow">Google Group</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/WELSTech" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="http://pinterest.com/welstech/" rel="nofollow">Pinterest</a></li> <li>WELSTech on <a href="https://instagram.com/welstechpodcast/" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></li> </ul> </li> <li>Add to the WELSTech wiki <a href="http://welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net/" rel="nofollow">welstechwiki.gapps.wels.net</a></li> <li>Contribute to the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WELSTech&src=typd" rel="nofollow">#WELSTech</a> Twitter conversation</li> <li>Follow us on Twitter – <a href="http://twitter.com/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/mspriggs" rel="nofollow">mspriggs</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/salliedraper" rel="nofollow">salliedraper</a></li> <li>Share with the Diigo group <a href="http://groups.diigo.com/group/welstech" rel="nofollow">welstech</a></li> </ul>