Deltarune Chapter 5 turns Susie’s relationship with the Dark World into one of the game’s most uncomfortable questions: what happens when the place that saved you becomes the place you disappear into?

In this Nerdy Sermon, Nerd Pastor Nate explores Susie, Asgore, the Flower Kingdom, and the ending of Deltarune Chapter 5 through the story of manna in Exodus 16. Because maybe escapism isn’t always about running toward something fake. Sometimes the refuge is real. The friendships are real. The healing is real. The danger comes when we try to turn a place that helped us survive into the only place we’re willing to live.

⚠️ FULL SPOILERS for Deltarune Chapter 5 — and the previous chapters — from here on out.

Support our ministry here: https://bit.ly/givecheckpoint

👍 Like & Subscribe for more weekly deep-dives into anime, games, and pop culture from a faith perspective.

Dorcas Cheng-Tozun wrote a whole book to tell those people they’re wrong.

Social Justice for the Sensitive Soul makes a simple, radical case: the world doesn’t just have room for the quiet ones, the world needs them. She maps six real ways sensitive people move the needle without ever raising their voice, as Connectors, Creatives, Record Keepers, Builders, Equippers, and Researchers. We read that list and laughed, because it’s basically a roll call of our Discord.

There’s a story in the book we can’t stop thinking about. Dr. King once told Nichelle Nichols not to quit Star Trek. She wanted to leave and join the movement full time, and he told her that playing Uhura, a Black woman commanding respect on the bridge, she was already doing the work. You don’t need to march. You are marching.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your quiet, nerdy, behind-the-screen kind of faithfulness counts, that’s the whole conversation.

Come have it with us.

This Sunday, September 20, Dorcas is joining Checkpoint Church live for a DLC: an open conversation about quiet activism, burnout, and finding your own lane. It’s happening in our Discord, and you’re invited. No book required. No bullhorn required. No cameras-on required. Just show up.

Join the Discord: Checkpoint Church Discord Link
When: Sunday, September 20, 7pm ET

Haven’t read the book and won’t have time before Sunday? We’ve got you. Nate and Tom recorded a 30-minute conversation walking through what the book is, what hit us hardest, and the questions worth bringing. Watch it below and you’ll be all caught up.

Cheng-Tozun opens her book with a line we’d hang over the door if we had one: you are exactly who the world needs you to be. Sensitive soul, quiet one, lurker who has never once typed in chat, that means you too. Come as you are. We’ll see you Sunday.

Checkpoint Church is a digital-first church for nerds, geeks, and gamers. Find us on Twitch, YouTube, and Discord.

Quick note on origin first: the Quadrilateral wasn’t something John Wesley sat down and invented as a named framework. It came later — a scholar looked back at Wesley’s writing and theological style and noticed a consistent pattern, then organized it into the four-part structure we now call the Quadrilateral. The framework is borrowed. The ideas underneath it are genuinely his.

So what is it? Four lenses we use to understand the world and do the actual work of theology:

Scripture. The Bible — our primary source, our starting point, the biggest piece of the four.

Tradition. What did the people who came before us believe? How did earlier generations of the church wrestle with this same question?

Reason. What does logic tell us? What do we understand about how the world works, philosophically and practically?

Experience. What have I actually lived through? Have I had a moment I can only describe as encountering the Holy Spirit? What has my own life taught me that theory alone couldn’t?

Here’s the part that trips people up: this isn’t saying all four are equal partners with Scripture just being one vote among four. You might’ve heard the phrase sola scriptura — Scripture alone — used in some Christian traditions. We don’t hold to that. We’d describe our approach instead as prima scriptura — Scripture first. It’s the base, the primary grounding. Tradition, reason, and experience don’t compete with it; they help us keep interpreting it faithfully as the world keeps changing around us.

This is genuinely a tool I use constantly, not just a slide in a new-member class. Any time I’m thinking through something — a Nerdy Sermon topic, a DLC theme, a question somebody asks in the Discord — I’m running it through some version of these four lenses. What does Scripture say? What has the church historically said? Does this hold up logically? And does this match what people, myself included, have actually experienced to be true?

Next up: what all of that theological groundwork actually adds up to — what United Methodists, and Checkpoint by extension, actually believe.

It started with John Wesley and his brother Charles, two Church of England clergy in the 1700s trying to do the work of reformation — trying to figure out how to live and lead faithfully within the church they already belonged to. In the process, they accidentally kicked off a movement that eventually became its own tradition. If you know your hymns, you probably already know Charles — he wrote a staggering number of them. John is the one whose theological fingerprints are all over how we do things at Checkpoint, even now, nearly three centuries later.

A few of his ideas matter enough to name directly:

Grace, and especially prevenient grace. Wesley talked a lot about the different ways grace shows up in a person’s life, but prevenient grace — the grace that goes ahead of us, working before we’re even aware of it or looking for it — was central to how he understood God’s posture toward people. It’s grace that doesn’t wait for you to get your theology sorted out first.

“There is no holiness but social holiness.” For Wesley, holiness was never meant to stay inside the four walls of a church. It was supposed to spill out into your relationships, your home, your street — wherever you actually live. That’s a big part of why Checkpoint doesn’t think of “church” as something that only happens during a scheduled event. It’s supposed to show up in how we treat each other in a random Discord thread at 11pm on a Tuesday too.

Holy living as both piety and charity. Piety being the inward stuff — prayer, sacraments, tending to your own relationship with God. Charity being the outward stuff — how you actually serve and show up for other people. Wesley wanted both, not one at the expense of the other.

The General Rules. Wesley gave people three simple commitments to hold onto: do no harm, do good, and attend upon the ordinances of God. When we built our own version for Checkpoint, we kept the first two exactly as they were and adapted the third, since we’re not an exclusively Christian space and not everyone here is ready — or ever will be — for that kind of language. Ours became: do no harm, do good, and strive to grow.

Wesley also gets credit for a framework you’ll hear us reference a lot: the Quadrilateral.

That one deserves its own post, so we’ll pick it up next.

That’s a real, meaningful fact about us. But it may not be a real, meaningful requirement for you.

We consider Checkpoint to be a deeply ecumenical space.

That means our community includes people from a wide range of denominational backgrounds — Baptist, Catholic, nondenominational, and everything in between. It also includes people who don’t believe in God at all. It includes people from entirely different faith traditions altogether.

You don’t have to sign on to any of our theology to be a part of this place.

Think of it the way you’d think about walking into any church building in real life.

You could sit in the back pew of a church you’ve never attended, listen, watch, be present, and leave without anyone requiring a statement of faith from you at the door.

That’s how Checkpoint works too — you can be a full member of this community without ever engaging the spiritual side of what we do.

But if you are curious — if you want to know what United Methodists actually believe, why we structure things the way we do, or what’s underneath the Bible study and Nerdy Sermons — that’s what the rest of this series is for. We’re not shy about our beliefs. We just don’t gate the community behind them.

Next up: who was John Wesley, and why does a guy from 18th-century England matter to a Discord server in 2026?

Let’s fill in the rest.

I’m Nathan Webb, and I’m an ordained elder — which means I went through the full schooling and ordination process required to become clergy in the United Methodist Church.

Checkpoint Church is the church plant I was appointed to build, starting back in 2020. It didn’t exist before that. It exists now because the UMC said yes to the idea of a church that lives on Discord and YouTube instead of a building with a steeple.

Outside of Checkpoint, I’m married to my wife, Logan, and we have two daughters we love with our whole hearts. We’re a beach family whenever we can manage it — sand, books, the whole slow-down-and-breathe of it.

And yes, I’m a nerd through and through, which is not incidental to the ministry — it is the ministry. I care about video games and anime the way some pastors care about golf or gardening: not as a hobby I set aside to do “real” pastor work, but as the actual lens I use to talk about God, grace, and what it means to be human. That’s the whole premise of Checkpoint. Gaming and anime aren’t sermon illustrations we bolt on afterward — they’re where the theology starts.

I also write beyond Checkpoint’s walls. I published a book this year called God and the Machine (Abingdon Press), which explores faith in the age of AI — I’m not writing as a cheerleader or a doomsayer, just someone trying to think carefully about it. And I write regularly over at Pixel & Pulpit, with a lens on those doing nerd and digital ministry.

That’s the low-down on me. Next up: why Checkpoint is a United Methodist church — and why that matters in a different way than you might expect if you’re not United Methodist yourself.

God loves you. We love you. You matter.

It goes back to the very beginning — August of 2020, when Checkpoint launched. I can’t really describe where it came from except to call it a Spirit-driven inspiration. It wasn’t workshopped or focus-grouped. It just arrived, fully formed, as the thing this church needed to say to people before anything else.

Six years later, it’s still the clarion call. It’s the last thing said at the end of nearly everything we do — a class, a stream, a Sunday gathering. Not because it’s a slogan we’re contractually obligated to close with, but because it’s the one sentence that, if someone remembers nothing else about Checkpoint, we want them to remember.

There’s a reason it’s three separate claims instead of one.

God loves you is theological — it’s true whether or not you believe it, whether or not you’ve ever set foot near a church, digital or otherwise.

We love you is relational — it’s Checkpoint specifically, the actual humans in this actual community, saying that you are wanted here.

And you matter is personal — it’s aimed at you, whoever you are, however you found us, however far outside “typical church person” you might feel.

Put those three together and you’ve got the whole of what we’re trying to be.

Everything else in this series — the mission, the covenant, the two-platform model — is really just an explanation of how we try to make those three sentences true for as many nerds, geeks, and gamers as we possibly can.

That’s What Are We, in full.

Next series: Who Are We — starting with the person who dreamed of this place before it ever existed.

A while back, our LVL2 members — the folks who’ve stepped up to help build this place, not just attend it — sat down and wrote out three covenant statements. These aren’t doctrine handed down from the wider United Methodist Church. They’re our attempt to say, in our own words, what we’re actually committing to do here, in action, not just in theory.

We covenant to affirm, include, and empower nerds, geeks, and gamers into a diverse and creative community of belonging, grounded in mutual respect and shared vulnerability.

We covenant to explore hope and faith by fostering fun, learning, and meaningful connections, providing a space for those seeking purpose and belonging.

We covenant to embrace inclusivity as we explore the intersection of faith, creativity, and curiosity, reflecting God’s love for all people.

Every word in those three lines was chosen on purpose.

Some of them might land as provocative. Some might land as comforting. Some might be exactly what you needed to hear today. That’s intentional too — we wrote these to hold weight for a community that’s genuinely diverse in belief, background, and where people are in their own faith journey, if they’re on one at all.

You’ll find these posted in our Discord, and you can opt into them there if you’d like. But you don’t have to react to a message to live inside what they’re pointing at.

If you’ve ever felt more like yourself in our server than you expected to, welcomed further into curiosity about faith than you thought a church would let you get away with — that’s the covenant doing its quiet work.

Next up: the three words that started all of this back in 2020, and why we’re still saying them six years later.

We borrowed it.

The United Methodist Church has a governing document called the Book of Discipline—it’s a real, physical book, republished every four years, containing the polity, theology, and rules that hold the whole denomination together.

It opens with a mission statement that belongs to every UMC church on the planet, Checkpoint included:

To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

That’s it. That’s the assignment I was handed, along with every other UMC pastor, when Checkpoint was planted back in 2020.

What makes it ours is the where.

Checkpoint specifically is not trying to transform the world in general — we’re trying to transform the world of nerds, geeks, and gamers, because that’s the world we know and the world we love.

We want to see a corner of the internet that’s better than the one we found.

Not a nicer version of what already exists online, but something genuinely different: a place built on welcome instead of gatekeeping, on curiosity instead of cynicism.

So when people ask what Checkpoint is “trying to do,” the honest answer is: the same thing every Methodist church is trying to do. We just happen to be doing it through Discord servers and Nerdy Sermons instead of stained glass and Sunday bulletins.

Next up: the three covenant statements we wrote ourselves — the part of our mission that is uniquely Checkpoint’s.

We live primarily in two spaces: Discord and YouTube. Not because those happened to be convenient, but because each one does something different for us, and the difference matters.

Discord is our church building.

It’s the place we actually want you to be.

If someone asked me to define Checkpoint Church in one sentence, I’d say it’s a Discord-based, digital-first church for nerds, geeks, and gamers. Discord is where community happens — the voice calls, the niche fandom threads, the prayer requests, the “how was your day” conversations. It’s not a metaphor so much as a functional truth: this is our sanctuary, our fellowship hall, our hallway conversations after the service. It’s ours.

YouTube is our mission field.

This is where we go out.

It’s the world we’re reaching into — the place where new people find us before they know anything about us, where a Nerdy Sermon on the latest anime or indie game might land in front of someone who’s never set foot in a church, digital or otherwise, and never planned to. YouTube is public. It’s outward-facing. It’s evangelism in the literal sense — the good news, dressed in whatever pop culture happens to be resonating that month.

The goal is that these two feed each other.

We’re not trying to build two separate audiences.

We want the people in our Discord excited about whatever just dropped on YouTube, and we want the people watching YouTube curious enough to come check out what’s happening over in Discord. Fellowship pointing outward, mission pointing back home. Ideally it becomes one continuous loop — a space we’ve carved out for ourselves on the internet that’s safe, welcoming, and unmistakably for nerds, geeks, and gamers.

That’s the shape of it.

Everything else — the sermons, the streams, the Let’s Plays, the podcast, the sacraments, the sidebar full of channels that looks overwhelming the first time you see it — all of it lives inside one or the other of those two buildings.

Next up in this series: our mission statement, and why it starts with words that belong to the whole United Methodist Church before they belong to us.

We’ve re-visioned what this newsletter can be and we hope you’re excited for the things contained within. In this monthly edition, you can expect to find:

• a testimony on how Checkpoint is helping people walk through denominational transitions

• a breakdown of our new YouTube memberships

• an invitation to our next DLC gathering

  From visioning to revisioning, here’s how Checkpoint is living out our mission this month.

An Ecumenical Haven for In-Betweeners

While Checkpoint has a strong United Methodist DNA (being pastored by an ordained Elder and a plant through the UMC), our focus on YouTube and Discord has leaned toward welcoming people from any faith tradition, including those with no faith tradition. While this may feel obvious to the Church, it’s not always the case.

Since our early days, we’ve welcomed members and pastors from various denominations. As part of that ethos, we’ve also helped people explore their own spiritual identity — often this looks like a space to feel welcome while they ask hard questions.

One of our leaders, Resident Orthobro, put it like this recently:

It’s taken a while and being in checkpoint, reevaluating my faith, and two denominational changes and I’d say I think I’m semi there

Because if I’m being honest checkpoint is some of the reason I wanted to explore the Early churches more oddly enough.

And I mean that in the best way possible because I went from basically southern baptist (iykyk) to being apart of a community that allows for love and growth and has fairly traditional church views that I think Jesus would be happy we’re striving for. Im just lucky and glad checkpoint and NPN exists

We’re glad that people like this exist and can find a safe space at Checkpoint to do this work. We believe that Jesus is also happy that Orthobro has found a renewed passion for loving others.

Share To The Checkpoint

Updated YouTube Membership Opportunities

In our 2026 Nerdy Sermon Review video, we announced several updates for the new year, including expanding our YouTube membership options.

For those unfamiliar, YouTube allows channels of our size to set up memberships for their viewers. Prior to this update, we had only one tier as we deliberated what we could offer. In that vein, we decided that we’d treat this membership program as a way to express financial patronage to our community.

This means the membership is not really designed for members of our church, but for supporters who want this ministry to thrive. The perks of the tiers are thus tied to the well-being of the ministry, as you’ll see below.

If you believe in the ministry of Checkpoint but don’t really see it as your church, this is the perfect opportunity to support us financially. Similarly, if you’re uncomfortable with tithing to a church due to trauma, this is a way to support the videos we create, like you would Mr. Beast or any other YouTuber. We need your financial support to keep this ministry thriving.

Our January DLC is quite the vision

We gather every month for what we call a Difficult Life Conversation, or DLC, where the community of Checkpoint comes together around a topic and, of course, Communion.

For January, we’re kicking off the year with a visioning night. We’ll be making bingo cards for 2026 for ourselves and for Checkpoint as a whole. We’ll talk about the merits (and risks) of goal-setting and resolutions, and offer ways to do so wisely. If you want to join us, hop into the Discord server at 8pm EST on January 25th, 2026. We’d love to share that time with you!

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this January 2026 edition of the 1-Stop Pop-Up.

As always, the best way to stay involved and informed about Checkpoint Church on a week-to-week basis is through our Discord server or YouTube channel. We strive to keep this newsletter for those who are primarily curious about the overarching events at Checkpoint, so many of the smaller, but equally exciting, elements will not make the cut for this space.

This newsletter is about showing you the heartbeat of Checkpoint — stories of transformation, opportunities for impact, and new ways to see God at work in nerd culture.

I look forward to reading your replies or comments in the section below this newsletter. I sincerely appreciate your support by subscribing to this newsletter. If you haven’t taken the time to do so, then consider doing so here:

Subscribe now

And remember,

God loves you.
We love you.
You matter.

NerdPastorNate

We’ve re-visioned what this newsletter can be and we hope you’re excited for the things contained within. In this monthly edition, you can expect to find:

• a story about why one of our LVL2 members watches Let’s Plays

• an opportunity to experience that power yourself

• a follow-up

  on our World 1-1 new visitors class

  
  From Let’s Play to new days, here’s how Checkpoint is living out our mission this month.

Who wants to watch video games?

One of our leaders at Checkpoint, DGC, recently shared on the server about her experience while watching someone play a video game on YouTube.

While nothing beats playing a game yourself as a good way to experience such impactful and empowering stories, however it can be difficult to access certain media due to not having the funds to purchase the game due to life situations, not having the right device to play it on, the license expiring, or that piece of media is lost to time.

Because of this people look towards alternate sources, to which I can understand as someone who has been there. And while I do appreciate remakes/remasters those can be hit or miss depending on the amount of the love and care put into it that respects the source material.

Which is why I’ve really appreciated streams & LPs (Let’s Play) as it not only allows someone like me who is now limited on what games I’m now able to play due to how my vision has degraded over the years and while I’m still able to enjoy this hobby that I’ve loved since I was a child it has become difficult. To which I am grateful for platforms like YouTube and Twitch despite the problems surrounding it works as way to allow those such as myself experience such great stories. There’s also the community aspect of it as it is thanks to these that has led me to meet so many great people.

This is a testimony to the power of the digital world we inhabit to promote radical accessibility for those who want to experience more of life's goodness. This is perfectly in line with Checkpoint’s vision. We’re on the Internet to step into this space and reveal how God can be experienced by those who would have challenges in any other medium.

Share To The Checkpoint

Our Newest Critpoint Venture

Speaking of Let’s Plays, did you know we have a whole separate YouTube channel devoted to them?

Critpoint is the Checkpoint-backed channel featuring a weekly demo video for a video game, followed by a continuing series of a larger game. In fact, we just completed one on the game, In Stars & Time. That means that we also just launched a new series!

The next continuing game on our channel is a complete playthrough of A Space for the Unbound, a heart-wrenching indie game developed by an Indonesian game studio. Be sure to subscribe and follow along with the series!

Our New Visitors Class went great!

We offered a new round of our World 1-1 class this past week — an event on our Discord server where people who want to learn more about Checkpoint can hear how we got started, what we believe, and more.

One of the most exciting parts of this newest offering was that it wasn’t just 90 minutes of NerdPastorNate’s face on the camera. We had 3 leaders in our community submit videos of themselves walking our new visitors through how Checkpoint addresses sacramental concerns online, our safety policy, how to support us financially, and then how to get involved in the community.

We want to start offering this more often, but it would help us to know if this is something you would like, as well. Be sure to let us know if this is something you would be interested in in the future.

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this November 2025 edition of the 1-Stop Pop-Up.

As always, the best place to stay involved and aware of Checkpoint Church on a week-to-week basis is our Discord server or on our YouTube channel. We strive to keep this newsletter for those who are primarily curious about the overarching events at Checkpoint, so many of the smaller, but equally exciting, elements will not make the cut for this space.

This newsletter is about showing you the heartbeat of Checkpoint — stories of transformation, opportunities for impact, and new ways to see God at work in nerd culture.

I look forward to reading your replies or comments in the section below this newsletter. I sincerely appreciate your support by subscribing to this newsletter. If you haven’t taken the time to do so, then consider doing so here:

Subscribe now

And remember,

God loves you.
We love you.
You matter.

NerdPastorNate

Hello! Welcome to the new and improved 1-Stop Pop Up.

We’ve re-visioned what this newsletter can be and we hope you’re excited for the things contained within. In this monthly edition, you can expect to find:

• a recap of my time in Boston studying how Howard Thurman relates to digital ministry with the Phygital Fellows

• an opportunity for you to make your mark on the lives of nerds, geeks, and gamers on our 130,000+ subscriber YouTube channel

• an interesting new study that you can now take advantage of for yourself on our Discord

From discipleship to digital creativity, here’s how Checkpoint is living out our mission this month.

Shipping Nate to Boston

I spent some time in September in the foggy town of Boston, thanks to the generous support of the Wesleyan Impact Partners and their Phygital Fellows program. My time would be spent learning from innovators in the Boston University area, with a special focus on Howard Thurman, the theologian behind works like Jesus & the Disinherited and Meditations on the Heart.

We spent time touring many different facilities designed for community use. Honestly, it made me long for my own college days. Being among students who work hard and strive for knowledge is what this Enneagram 5w4 desires most. In one of the pictures above, you can even see that the Howard Thurman Center was streaming Lo-Fi Girl during some downtime, which felt like a full circle moment, considering I was there to study on behalf of digital natives on the Internet.

The highlight of the trip is always the conversations that happen amongst these genius peers of mine (one of whom will be our DLC guest this month, October 26th), but apart from that, the highlight was a fantastic optional outing to hear the first of a series of discussions on Thurman from some of the leading scholars across the country. The offerings from these teachers enamored me. On a lighter note, I have now added the word “Thurmaneutics” to my lexicon.

I’m walking away from this trip with plenty to chew on. I’m sure my writing going forward on Pixel & Pulpit will continue to reflect this. I want to dive much deeper in metaphorical theology, somatics, and the meditations of Thurman.

Share To The Checkpoint

We’re inviting YOU to be a part of our Nerdy Sermons!

Yes, you’re seeing double. We decided to extend our IndieGoGo campaign into October. We’ve not quite reached even 10% of our goal and we wanted to see if we could do a better job explaining why it’s important.

We’re aiming to raise $10,000 to fully fund our Nerdy Sermons, the video essays that we’ve now made over 170 of and reached over 1,000,000 people on YouTube. These are resources that we consider invaluable for providing nerds, geeks, and gamers with tangible expressions of the gospel message through their favorite video games and anime. We’ve been hard at work making these for five years on our own through generous grantors, but we need help to keep these messages going into the future.

If you’d like to learn more about what our perks are for supporting this, you can watch this video:

Please take the time to consider supporting this cause! We need your help to connect the love and grace of Jesus with the world of nerds, geeks, and gamers.

Support our cause here: https://igg.me/at/EK2cWMDA-5M/x/38327436#/

An Anti-Book Study on Wesleyan Vile-tality

The Checkpoint Discipleship Team is hosting an anti-book study. Not sure what that means?

An Anti-Book-Study is a book study that you don’t need to buy the book for, or even read it, really. Anyone is welcome to join us for any or all of the sessions, and we will provide helpful files to condense and present the information in a way that makes it more easily accessible. The deeper intent is to create and offer a space to gather, with a little structure and a whole lot of the Holy Spirit.

Each Thursday evening, from October 16th through November 13th, for approximately an hour, members of the community will gather and discuss a chapter in the book Wesleyan Vile-Tality: Reclaiming the Heart of Methodist Identity by Ashley Boggan. This book examines the history of John Wesley’s work in reforming the Church of England and the subsequent movement that now encompasses, but is not limited to, the United Methodist Church.

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this October 2025 edition of the 1-Stop Pop-Up.

As always, the best place to stay involved and aware of Checkpoint Church on a week-to-week basis is our Discord server or on our YouTube channel. We strive to keep this newsletter for those who are primarily curious about the overarching events at Checkpoint, so many of the smaller, but equally exciting, elements will not make the cut for this space.

This newsletter is about showing you the heartbeat of Checkpoint — stories of transformation, opportunities for impact, and new ways to see God at work in nerd culture.

I look forward to reading your replies or comments in the section below this newsletter. I sincerely appreciate your support by subscribing to this newsletter. If you haven’t taken the time to do so, then consider doing so here:

Subscribe now

And remember,

God loves you.
We love you.
You matter.

NerdPastorNate

The Intersection of Anime and Politics

Anime, like all forms of art, reflects life and culture. There are instances where its narratives delve deep into political discourse, either intentionally or incidentally. Some anime, like “Elusive Samurai,” are explicit in their political themes, drawing from historical events. Conversely, at a glance, shows like “One Piece” might seem to revolve solely around whimsical adventures.

Herein lies the paradox: anime both is and is not political. It exists in a duality where it can simultaneously encapsulate and eschew political notions.

The Perspective of Metaphorical Theology

Drawing on metaphorical theology provides further insights. This approach examines how pop culture intersects with larger moral, religious, or philosophical debates. Anime can be perceived through this lens, akin to other cultural phenomena such as video games or movies. While anime might not overtly express religious or political intentions, the act of viewing and interpreting it through a metaphorical lens invites deeper understanding. For instance, comparing elements of anime to religious narratives or symbols does not imply a direct equivalence, but rather an exploration of shared themes or moral questions.

The Role of Community and Social Context

Our engagement with anime doesn’t happen in isolation. Within Wesleyan theology, there’s a notion that there is no holiness but social holiness. This suggests our pursuit of spiritual and moral values is inseparable from our community interactions. In this light, the question of whether anime is political transforms into a broader discourse on community, unity, and division. Anime, as a collective experience at conventions like Comic-Con, symbolizes both unity through shared interest and potential division through differing interpretations.

Exploring the Discourse

Questioning anime’s political nature is more about exploring art’s capacity to unify or divide audiences. It serves as a reflection of its audience’s social, cultural, and political bearings. Engaging with anime invites us into discussions about the broader role of pop culture in community and moral discourse. Ultimately, the query of whether anime is political encourages us to ponder art’s greater societal impact. It’s a conversation about the intertwining of cultural products with personal and communal identity.

As we continue discussing and debating such themes, it’s crucial to engage in these dialogues with openness and readiness to explore perspectives beyond the surface. In this convoluted dance of is and is not, the simplest takeaway may be this: Anime, in its essence, mirrors the complexities of life. As we navigate its narratives, we discover reflections of our societies, inviting us to partake in broader conversations about art, politics, and personal belief systems in our shared cultural spaces.

Hello! Welcome to the new and improved 1-Stop Pop Up.

We’ve re-visioned what this newsletter can be and we hope you’re excited for the things contained within. In this monthly edition, you can expect to find:

• an example of someone whose life has been changed by the work of Checkpoint Church

• an opportunity for you to make your mark on the lives of nerds, geeks, and gamers on our 130,000+ subscriber YouTube channel

• an exciting new initiative that you can now take advantage of for yourself or your church community

From discipleship to digital creativity, here’s how Checkpoint is living out our mission this month.

A Story of Renewed Life

Every week on our Discord server, which doubles as our church building, I posit a question to the community that is more spiritual in nature than our usual nerd-themed conversation starters. Recently, I asked the question: How are you intentionally taking steps to grow in this current season of your life?

This was one of our members’ responses:

Isn’t that incredible?

In the world of church planting, this is about as ideal a result as you can hope to receive. This is practical and exhilarating discipleship. We don’t want people to find our community and only think we’re nerds to hang out with. Sure, we love to hear that we’re fun, but the goal of our true Church is to make disciples — we want our members of Checkpoint Church to grow in their faith walk.

Prayer, engaging with sermons, living out faith in a community of people — this is the stuff we’re called to facilitate as the Church. This is good news! If you want to share this good news on your social media feed, you can use this button right below here.

Share To The Checkpoint

We’re inviting YOU to be a part of our Nerdy Sermons!

We’ve launched our second IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign. We’re aiming to raise $10,000 to fully fund our Nerdy Sermons, the video essays that we’ve now made over 170 of and reached over 1,000,000 people on YouTube. If you’d like to learn more about what our perks are for supporting this, you can watch this video:

We’re over halfway through September and seriously under our expected contributions to this campaign. Please take the time to consider supporting this cause! We need your help to connect the love and grace of Jesus with the world of nerds, geeks, and gamers.

Support our cause here: https://igg.me/at/EK2cWMDA-5M/x/38327436#/

What is a spiritual pilgrimage into a video game? (And how can you take one?)

In 2025, we’ve launched an exciting new venture: the Pixel Pilgrimage.

We started this experiment on YouTube & Twitch with a game called Neva back in January. It was a huge success, leading to some truly exciting work. We offered another into a game called Everhood and, as of September, we’ve now hosted our third official pilgrimage into The Beginner’s Guide. We’ve even had a privately offered pilgrimage by one of our members at a conference recently!

What is a Pixel Pilgrimage?

In envisioning how we can spiritually explore games, I have been developing a practice of engaging with games as if they were a sacred site, one that is explored like a spiritual journey.

With many popular pilgrimage sites, guides will offer questions to their venturers. Ultimately, the goal of exploring a site isn’t sightseeing, it’s self-seeing. So, we’re playing games together with the intention of exploring who we are, instead of just what the game is about.

But here is the really exciting news:
You can now take a Pixel Pilgrimage yourself!

With a group or on your own, we’re offering our first pilgrimage (the one into Neva) on our new hub website that you can find by clicking here. The pilgrimage itself costs $50, but feel free to reach out to me if you’d be interested in a group package or, even better, if you’re curious about what it might look like to have me offer a private pilgrimage for your church or small group.

We’re so excited for this new venture into spirituality and gaming! I genuinely hope you’ll ask me lots of questions about what it entails.

Thank you for reading! We hope you enjoyed this September 2025 edition of the 1-Stop Pop-Up.

As always, the best place to stay involved and aware of Checkpoint Church on a week-to-week basis is our Discord server or on our YouTube channel. We strive to keep this newsletter for those who are primarily curious about the overarching events at Checkpoint, so many of the smaller, but equally exciting, elements will not make the cut for this space.

This newsletter is about showing you the heartbeat of Checkpoint — stories of transformation, opportunities for impact, and new ways to see God at work in nerd culture.

I look forward to reading your replies or comments in the section below this newsletter. I sincerely appreciate your support by subscribing to this newsletter. If you haven’t taken the time to do so, then consider doing so here:

Subscribe now

And remember,

God loves you.
We love you.
You matter.

NerdPastorNate

✨ Join our Nerdy Community on Discord: / discord 🤖🎮

Support our ministry here: https://bit.ly/givecheckpoint

In the new anime To Be Hero X, a hero’s strength literally comes from the crowd’s faith. But when that faith falters, heroism turns into a dangerous popularity contest.

In this Nerdy Sermon video essay, we dive into To Be Hero X’s critique of performance-based heroism and contrast it with a powerful biblical insight from 1 Corinthians 3:6–7. 🤓✝️ Just as the anime’s heroes learn the peril of basing their worth on public approval, the Apostle Paul reminds us that “God gave the growth” – real spiritual growth isn’t a popularity ranking we earn, but a gift from God. We explore how chasing trust points in the anime world parallels the pressure to “perform” in real life faith, and why letting go of that pressure is so freeing.

Whether you’re an anime fan curious about Christian perspectives or a geeky believer tired of feeling like you have to be a “perfect hero,” this discussion is for you. 🤝 We’ll break down To Be Hero X’s Trust Value power system (heroes have numbers on their wrists showing public trust and show how it brilliantly illustrates the trap of performance-based identity. Then, we’ll switch gears to the gospel: why faith thrives not by earning applause, but by embracing grace. Prepare for honest reflections on nerd culture, church life, and why you don’t have to carry the world on your shoulders to make a difference.

0:00 - Hook

1:00 - Intro

1:44 - The Plot of To Be Hero X anime

4:21 - A Critique of Performance-Based Faith

5:20 - We Do NOT Follow Paul or Apollos

6:58 - Jesus wants Witnesses not Saviors

9:18 - Imperfect People are the Church

10:20 - What does this mean for us today?

14:00 - Thanks for watching!

👍 Like & Subscribe for more weekly deep-dives into anime, games, and pop culture from a faith perspective.

📚 Looking to study this in a group? Subscribe to our Bible Study Curriculum here at www.jesuslovesnerds.com.

Writer, Director: Nathan Webb

Editor: Erica Pead

This Nerdy Sermon brought to you by:

Sierra Reese

Andrew James O'Brien

Doxius Faust

Mark and Janice Lelache

Janet Gibson

Ryan Lelache

Ashley Neumann

Ben Gibson

Danielle Crowder

LeAnn Fenton

#ToBeHeroX #Anime #Christian

Launch Day is here. Our Indiegogo campaign is live to fund 12 new Nerdy Sermons, support our editor, and make production upgrades so this message lands clearer and travels farther.

Back the Indiegogo →

If you’ve ever shared a sermon with a friend, found courage in a homily about your favorite game or anime, or just love seeing church show up online with kindness and creativity—this is your moment to jump in.

What your backing powers

• Nerdy Sermons remain free on YouTube (sustainable because of you)

• Better editing + production = stronger reach and clearer teaching

• A louder signal that nerds matter and belong

Perks (quick look)

• $10 — Party Member: Name in video description credits + IGG role & emoji in Discord

• $25 — Jesus Loves Nerds Passholder: Everything above + 50% discount for one year of Jesus Loves Nerds curriculum access

• $50 — Side-Quest Insider: All above + monthly 3-min BTS micro-doc

• $100 — Boss-Battle Backer: All above + your name read aloud in a sermon + invite to a virtual celebration gala

• $250 — Checkpoint Crate (25 available): All above + Scripture-reading cameo + Supporter Box (sticker, magnet, art print)

• $500 — Legendary Patron (10 available): All above + a custom 60-sec Nerdy Devo on your favorite game/anime + signed A5 art print

Back the Indiegogo →

Can’t give today? Sharing helps more than you think. Copy/paste:

I just backed Checkpoint Church’s Indiegogo to fund 12 Nerdy Sermons—because gamers & geeks deserve hope that speaks their language. Join me: #INDIEGOGO

Thank you for helping us show up online with good news, good art, and nerd-level care.

Because gamers, geeks, & digital natives deserve hope that speaks their language.

—Nerd Pastor Nate
Checkpoint Church • discord.gg/checkpointchurch

P.S. Day-one momentum is huge on Indiegogo. Even a $10 boost today helps unlock visibility for the whole campaign. If this mission resonates, back it now: https://igg.me/at/EK2cWMDA-5M/x/38327436#/

Beyond the MCU action, we connect these moments to Scripture and Wesleyan theology. Discover how “no greater love…to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13) comes alive both in the Fantastic Four’s story and in Jesus Christ’s atoning work. We’ll unpack multiple atonement perspectives – from substitution to victory – through a nerdy lens, then ask what it means for us today. Whether you’re a Marvel fan curious about faith or a gamer geek growing in Christ, this sermon will inspire you to “die to self” and live with love. Join our community of spiritually curious nerds, geeks, and gamers as we find God in the comics and embrace a hero’s heart in real life. Buckle up, because this one’s going galactic! 🚀

• Last Week’s Results: A tie between green and purple lightsabers… Hulk, is that you?

What’s new?

• Announcing a Change to Checkpoint Church

• Here’s what you need to know:

  • Nerdy Sermons going Bi-Weekly

    • We’re focusing our efforts on improving the reach of our Nerdy Sermons. The quality of the exegesis and sermon-writing won’t be changing. But by allowing more breathing room for the videos to reach their target audience, we will be able to offer a more technologically appropriate amount of effort.

  • New Podcast: The Checkpoint Church Podcast

    • While the sermons will be every other week, that doesn’t mean we won’t maintain a weekly presence. We will be launching a community-centered podcast called the Checkpoint Church Podcast with the goal of building a more cohesive voice for the people who call themselves Checkpoint Church.

  • 1-Stop Pop-Up going Monthly

    • This newsletter began as a means to delivering information about what was happening during the life of the week at Checkpoint, but most of this information is offered in a daily capacity on our Discord server. To avoid redundant posting and overusing your email addresses, we are going to have a more extensive, monthly newsletter.

  • To The Point Newsletter Site Adjusting

    • With the adjustment to a monthly newsletter cadence, we are going to experiment with the To The Point website. You will likely notice some subtle changes in names, branding, and content on this site in the coming days. We will never subscribe you to an additional newsletter without your consent, but consider this your notice that this space will be shifting it’s branding — we understand if that changes your relationship with the newsletter.

  • All of this is an experiment and may not go beyond a temporary status. The reality of this ministry is that it is solely managed by Nerd Pastor Nate and the tasks have surmounted into a level that need additional staffing, which we cannot afford at this time. If you feel led to support this ministry financially, then know you will make a huge impact in the future of what this ministry is capable of offering.

• New Pixel Pilgrimage Incoming: The Beginner’s Guide

• The September CheckBox Sign-up is LIVE!

  • Sign up for your box today using this link. Curious as to what is included in the CheckBox? Check out our video of the contents of the August box below.

The Usuals

• Tuesday - LVL2 Debrief @ 12 pm EST

• Wednesday - Lunch w/ CPC on Discord @ 12pm EST

• Sunday - Mana & Mingle/DLC @ 8pm EST

Important Links

• Join LVL2

• Support CPC

• Linktree

Financial Update

• Needed: $12,500.00

• Received: $12,208.99

#content of Last Week

• DEMOndays: Baby Steps

• In Stars & Time, Episode 24

• Last Week’s Results: It was a tie! We can’t decide between solo gaming or constant live-streaming.

What’s new?

• New Nerdy Sermon:

• The September CheckBox Sign-up is LIVE!

  • Sign up for your box today using this link. Curious as to what is included in the CheckBox? Check out our video of the contents of the August box below.

• Have you seen NerdPastorNate’s latest Shorts project?

  • He’s been posting mini game reviews that serve as sort of micro-devotionals.

• Anime Club Watch-Along

  • A group is watching the anime this month together on Tuesdays at 8:15pm EST on our Discord server. It’s Bring-Your-Own-Player style, so have some method of viewing the anime on your own screen while sharing space and conversation with Checkpoint peeps.

• New Merch Store

  • We’re thrilled to announce the soft launch of our brand-new merch store hosted on Fourthwall! This fresh storefront features 5 launch designs, including:

    • 🕹️ The Classic Checkpoint Tee

    • ✝️ The bold Jesus Loves Nerds Tee

    • ❤️ The clean and simple Love Anyway Tee

    • 🌈 The updated You Matter Tee (now on darker colors!)

    • 👕 A lighter, cooler version of the Ludogood Tee

    All shirts are $25 and available right now. Whether you’re repping your faith in the wild or just want to help spread the word that nerds matter, this is a great way to support the mission of Checkpoint Church.

    👉 Find your vibe here

Mark Your Calendars

• 08/19 - Opening Night Live Livestream

The Usuals

• Tuesday - LVL2 Debrief @ 12 pm EST

• Wednesday - Lunch w/ CPC on Discord @ 12pm EST

• Sunday - Mana & Mingle/DLC @ 8pm EST

Important Links

• Join LVL2

• Support CPC

• Linktree

Financial Update

• Needed: $12,500.00

• Received: $11,889.77

#content of Last Week

• DEMOndays: Ball x Pit

• In Stars & Time, Episode 23