Readers of Plugged In know that we believe YouTubers can be deeply influential on their subscribers. It’s why we offer weekly reviews of noteworthy channels. And I’m sure that if you were to dive into each of the YouTube channel reviews currently on our website, you’d find more concerning than positive content overall.
But we’re not blind to the fact that there are many YouTube channels out there pushing to provide helpful, entertainment or otherwise beneficial videos that don’t require us to wade through the muck and grime. And while it’s important for us to warn families of YouTube channels that may be too intense for their children, we feel it’s also important to shine light on the channels that parents may want their kids to watch—including Christian channels.
We recently uploaded a review for one such channel: Daily Disciple, created and run by Isaac Mogilevsky. The focus of the channel? To break down “questions and struggles so that viewers can receive the invitation that Christ offers—to take up their cross and follow Him, every single day.”
I had a chance to talk with Mogilevsky a bit about the channel and Christianity.
Gospel-Centered
Whenever we review Christian-centric content, one of the unique concerns we always keep an eye out for is whether the entertainment glorifies God—and to be more specific, whether the content shares the gospel or simply promotes moral living.
When I spoke on the phone with Mogilevsky , it was clear that the gospel was forefront in his mind.
“You’ll hear me talk a lot about different things on Daily Disciple—a lot of different topics and things,” Mogilevsky told me. “But my heart and my hope is that you’ll always see a drawing back to the gospel—the key of Jesus and Him coming to save us from our sin, our ultimate problem. Let’s get to the heart of it: we have all sinned before God, and we need salvation. And that is through Jesus.”
Indeed, Daily Disciple tackles a plethora of issues—some of them directly tied to the gospel, others related to Christianity in other ways. But whether the video’s subject is based around sexuality, hustle culture or misconceptions about Christian doctrine, each ties back to Christ on the cross.
The Influence of Social Media
Go down the YouTube or Tik Tok rabbit hole long enough, and you’ll be sure to find countless videos calling Christianity hateful, misguided or backwards. These videos are often made from places of personal hurt or plain misinformation, and they can stoke doubt within the hearts of believers who have never taken the time to think through the arguments that are being brought up. Channels like Daily Disciple help to counter these false accusations with biblical truth—and hopefully persuade viewers to follow Christ.
There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and not all of it comes from secular creators: Whether intentionally or not, some of it even comes from Christian circles.
“Ultimately, what I’m working on a lot these days, especially for people that are loosely connected to Christian culture, is the idea that Christianity is a life-improvement plan,” Mogilevsky said. “One of the major things that I see even within Christian content online is this idea that Jesus came to bring you peace, joy, and happiness.”
But Mogilevsky says that the mere idea that Jesus died so that our lives here on Earth could be nicer misses the entire point. When we talked about this, Mogilevsky noted how prominent evangelist Ray Comfort from Living Waters inspired him to speak against false ideas of the gospel in favor of the true one.
“[I see] even a lot of stuff that [Ray] talked about, where people come to Jesus for all the stuff that He brings—approaching Him as a vending machine. Even in my own life, I can pick out points where I’ve approached God in that same way. And so [I’m] coming to folks, especially online, and saying, ‘Hey, look, what is the heart of Jesus’ message?’ It was not ‘I’ve come to make your life better and make you happier.’ No, it was ‘I’m going to bring you out of death into life!’”
Isaac Mogilevsky
Such Were Some of You
Mogilevsky mentioned what he believes to be key in Christian evangelism: vulnerability. Indeed, a prominent misconception of Christians is that we believe that we have it all together, possessing a confidence that the world can see as arrogant boasting. But the reality is much different: As we grow in our faith and knowledge of the Lord, we grow deeper in our understanding of how holy God is—and by contrast, how sinful and in need of a Savior we are.
The confidence Christians have, then, is not based in our own righteousness or works. Rather, our confidence comes from knowing Christ and thereby trusting that His righteousness makes us blameless before God, such that nothing we could do could possibly snatch us out of His hand (Rom. 5:11, John 10:22-30).
But because our confidence is based in the work of Christ, we cannot boast in ourselves, and we cannot act like we do not struggle with temptations to sin. We also shouldn’t hide when we have questions or doubts—as how else will we be able to answer them? But if we show that Christians still grapple with sin, we can help people open up about their struggles and grow in the faith rather than believing they must be perfect based on their own accord and staying silent. Mogilevsky says that being upfront about his struggles with his viewers has led to more genuine growth, both for him and for viewers.
“For me, approaching the online space with vulnerability, I have just seen it be so fruitful—more than information, more than ‘this is what you need to know,’ more than just facts,” Mogilevsky says. “I think that’s how God interacts with us—in a relational way, a transformative relationship. He doesn’t just give us facts or knowledge; He gives us a relationship.”
Mogilevsky knows that sharing in our vulnerability can help grow our faith in Christ. He recounted to me a story from his life where he struggled in his faith when a difficult life event threatened his family. In the moment, Isaac wondered what good God could possibly have planned to come from it. But as he looks back, Mogilevsky realized that God used that season to bring about a deeper faith that he would never have otherwise experienced—and he hopes to bring that same vulnerability to his viewers.
“I think it’s important that, as Christians, we are vulnerable in this way. Because there’s so many folks out there that are going through the same things, and I think we can approach it and say, ‘Hey, you know what? God is with us in the midst of it.’ That’s where God is at His best, is when we’re at our lowest. That’s where we need to pour into Christ.”
Make Disciples
Mogilevsky’s videos show who God is, and it seems that viewers love them. The success of the channel forces him to do nothing but offer complete surrender to God, lest he entertain the false idea that he’s the one who must save his viewers.
“It’s put me to this place of constant surrender, because when I look at the numbers online, and when I see the folks that are watching me, I am drawn to nothing but either sheer terror at the idea that all these people are watching me and I need to say all this stuff to help them—or this place of surrender, knowing that, OK, God, it’s not going to be me that’s going to help these folks; it’s going to be You,” he says.
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