What started as a small online gathering is now bringing around 1,000 people to Silicon Valley. As Missional AI heads into 2026, the goal is bigger than a great event: it's a year-round movement.
In this episode, Joshua Seale sits down in Paris with James Poulter (JP) and Éric Célérier, two longtime voices in the Missional AI community. The three had spent several days together praying and planning for the 2026 Global Summit and the wider community. They talk about how the movement is changing, who the summit is for, and what it would take to turn an annual gathering into something that lasts all year.
After taking Missional AI to two continents in 2025, the community is heading to the heart of Silicon Valley, with intentionality as its theme.
2025 was the year Missional AI went global, JP says, with gatherings in Dallas and London. Now it's heading to California. Being where so much of AI is being built offers deeper connection with the tech community, and a chance to sow into it, pray for it, and invite builders to see where their work meets the mission field.
For Éric, the international growth is the point: people around the world are using AI for God's kingdom. And a common misconception needs correcting. People often set AI against the Holy Spirit, as if AI were replacing Him. That's not the case, and it isn't the intention. "The intention is really to have more of the Holy Spirit working." He's looking forward to great speakers and fellowship, and to letting God be God, with room for prayer.
That word, intention, kept coming up in their planning. The movement has grown organically, JP notes, bringing together God's people on mission in the AI field and those using AI in the mission field. Something is happening in the global church, too. In Paris, they saw people queuing around Sacré-Cœur in the middle of a workday. Now is the moment to be intentional: not to wait until February or March to decide about the summit, but to register and plan now.
Missional AI started with developers and Bible translators, but it now serves people of every technical level, in every ministry context.
Over the past year, JP has seen three groups emerge:
The 2026 program will be designed intentionally for all three, so it never feels like it's just for developers.
Éric wants to welcome a fast-growing group: people already using AI who want to use it better. He cites studies suggesting around 70% of US pastors now use ChatGPT or other models to help prepare sermons. AI can help churches with accounting, marketing, processes, summarizing sermons for small groups and cutting videos for social media, never replacing God's inspiration. The summit will share best practices, guidelines and risks, and he especially hopes pastors and denominational leaders will come.
JP adds that people minister in many settings: in church, at work, at home, in tech communities. So content will also be organized around contexts, including AI at work, in the church, in evangelism and discipleship, in nonprofits and in creative work, giving everyone a natural entry point.
Éric also wants to challenge entrepreneurs and investors to come. With so much investment flowing into AI, and Gloo now listed on NASDAQ, Christians investing in this space can see what's happening firsthand. The team hopes to map the missional AI ecosystem so everyone can understand the landscape and find the right connections.
Each of the three shared what they hope Missional AI can become beyond a few days each spring.
Joshua is excited to see a growing ecosystem. The community has always had incredible thinkers, builders and innovators, but not always the support to turn their ventures into reality. Last year, the pieces began coming together to provide capacity, connections and partnerships. Being close to key AI leaders in Silicon Valley adds another dimension.
What has bothered him for four years is the post-event fade: incredible conversations and inspiration every spring, then within weeks everyone moves on. His dream is to sustain community throughout the year, through the podcast, regional events and an open ecosystem shared with like-minded partners, so the kingdom impact multiplies across borders and time zones.
Éric dreams of informal, mission-driven gatherings in many countries: people who share a heart for mission and a mind for AI meeting in a café in Paris to share experiences and pray. Many people in tech feel alone, he says, but life happens when we step away from our screens and share a croissant. He imagines coming back to the summit to hear what has happened in Germany, Romania or Singapore because people gathered. "We are missional when we are together."
JP hopes people leave the 2026 summit not just having learned something, but with new friendships, new opportunities and a fresh perspective on what God is doing through this technology. He wants them to discover more about God and about who He made them to be, so the gathering becomes less a conference and more a community moving forward together.
When God calls you to build something, step out in faith with the right intention, then surround yourself with the right people.
Less than a mile from where they recorded, in a small Paris fish restaurant, Éric and his team decided 17 or 18 years ago to buy the Jesus.net domain. It cost $124,000, more than all the money they had, and they put it all in, not for themselves but for God's glory. A pastor friend in the US asked if he was crazy, joking that he could have bought two Porsches instead.
Éric has no regrets. Jesus.net has since grown into a movement across many countries. He reports more than a billion YouTube views, around 300 million visits to its evangelistic website and 25 million people saying they want to follow Jesus.
His advice:
Registration is open for the Missional AI 2026 Global Summit, April 7–9, 2026, in Silicon Valley. Whether you're a developer, a vibe coder, a pastor, a theologian, an entrepreneur or an investor, there's a place for you. Register at missional.ai, and don't wait until spring to decide.
As Éric tells it, the first time he visited Silicon Valley, he kissed the ground at the airport and told his driver, "I'm at home." From Paris to California, we hope to see you there.
Listen to the full episode on the Missional AI Podcast, and subscribe so you don't miss future conversations.
This podcast is made possible in partnership with Gloo, the technology platform connecting the faith ecosystem.