The Rural Think Tank
…It's Different Out Here.
Rural churches cannot assume relationships are formed only locally. Social media, gaming, and interest-based online communities now shape belonging for many young people.
Pastors can serve rural families more wisely when they learn where relationships, schedules, trust, and daily life are actually shaped now.
In rural America, the church is one institution that is still standing in most small towns. Schools consolidate. Stores close. Young people leave. But the church remains. When a data center arrives, the church becomes part of the conversation whether it wants to be or not. This is the final post in our five-part series …
Why do some rural communities welcome data centers while others fight them? Why does one town see economic promise while the next town over sees cultural threat? The answer is not that one community is rational and the other is not. The answer is that different communities have different conditions, and those conditions shape how …
Rena Schroeder has been a Republican since she was a teenager. She voted for Ronald Reagan. She has argued about abortion on social media. She runs an equine learning nonprofit on her ranch in Lott, Texas. Then she learned that OpenAI wanted to build a massive data center, part of the company’s $500 billion Stargate …
Rena Schroeder has been a Republican since she was a teenager. She voted for Ronald Reagan. She has argued about abortion on social media. She runs an equine learning nonprofit on her ranch in Lott, Texas. Then she learned that OpenAI wanted to build a massive data center, part of the company’s $500 billion Stargate …
A data center is built in the next county. Construction crews arrive. New families move in. The community starts to change. And the rural church, which has been holding this town together for generations, suddenly finds itself pastoring a community it does not quite recognize anymore. This is the scenario playing out in rural communities …
The data center did not create the divides in rural America. It revealed them. And in some cases, it is widening them. This is the second in a five-part series on AI infrastructure and rural America. The first post looked at the scale of data center development and the bipartisan wave of local opposition. This …
Rural America is becoming ground zero for the AI revolution. Not in the way you might think. The United States has more than 3,000 operational data centers, with another 1,500 in some stage of development. Of the centers currently planned, 67 percent are headed for rural areas. That is a sharp reversal. Right now, 87 …
Rural churches often want to reach the next generation, but that work becomes harder when leaders use outdated assumptions about schools, schedules, and belonging.