Why we built PealCast

Dear friend,

A few years ago I built a small tool so the older members of my church could still hear the service over the phone when they couldn’t make it in. That became PhoneLive — and it taught me something I haven’t been able to shake: the people a church most wants to reach are usually the ones hardest to see.

Online church has the same quiet problem, just flipped. When someone stops coming to the building, you notice. When a family watching from their living room drifts away, nobody does. The stream turns your congregation into a view count — a number you can’t welcome, can’t pray for, can’t follow up.

I built PealCast to give that back. Not analytics for their own sake, but the two lists a pastor actually wants on a Monday morning: who’s new to welcome, and who you’ve missed — each with a name and a number, so a text at the right moment is still possible.

PealCast is part of Smart Talk, the same company behind PhoneLive. We’ve spent years helping churches reach the people technology usually leaves behind, and this is that same work aimed at the screen. I say that because when a church trusts someone with its members’ contact info and its Sunday stream, it’s fair to ask whether we’re real and whether we’ll still be here in three years. We already serve churches. We’re not going anywhere.

One thing I want to be plain about: this is pastoral, not surveillance. Connecting is always opt-in, every number is verified and consented, and the list stays yours. The goal is never to monitor anyone — it’s to help you notice who to love.

If this sounds like the church you’re trying to shepherd online, I’d genuinely love to show it to you. It takes about twenty minutes, and you’ll see your online congregation by name.

Grateful you’re doing this work,