Meet Elijah Holbrook of Sunday Shuffle in East ATL

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elijah Holbrook.

Elijah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
So before we jump too far into this here is a little bit about me. My name is Elijah Holbrook, I’m 25 Years old and I currently serve on Staff at The Bridge Community Church in Buford, GA as their Pastor of Church Life & Operations. Ministry has been something that has always come as a second language to me due to the fact that I basically grew up in a Pastor’s home, but for the last four years, it has become my life. Even though ministry is a big part of my identity, this isn’t the only thing that drives me. At the end of the day, when I lay down at night my focus is connecting people to people and how I can do this more.

The reason I’m so passionate about connecting people to people is not only because I am in ministry, but because when I was going through High School and College, it was so hard for myself to personally connect with people. I could be very surface level, talk to everyone who passed me on the street or in the halls, but it never got personal. And something that I have learned in the last 4+ years is that in order to make a difference, in order to really get to know your neighbor… even if they are just your Instagram neighbor is that you have to find out what you have in common and actually do life together. You have to call, facetime, and sit in a coffee shop together and share stories, and move past the surface level, “how are you – good.”

Sunday Shuffle was created for this reason to help create and build authentic relationships & community. Breaking that down it looks like this: sharing your story, connecting the dots, and showing off your local church. I started Sunday Shuffle my first Sunday back in Atlanta after living in Nashville for two years. It was while I was walking into my church where I felt so heavy on my heart to go deeper, to share my story, connect dots, show off my local church, and to simply do life together. It’s crazy the power a boomerang on Instagram with the words “Sunday Shuffle” & tagging 6 of your friends can do. It’s crazy to me that now over hundreds of people each week have taken this and ran with it… or shuffled with it.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Now at the beginning, yes and no. It was weird for me to start something like this. It was weird because usually, I’m the support system of everyone else’s ideas. I’m the hype man. I’m the one who can execute it for you and do it well. But it was when I saw my friends from all over the U.S take this and run with it that I knew this would be something one day. It was then I stopped seeing myself in the shadows of people. It was then I saw how important unity no matter your location is. It’s been cool seeing people literally from East to West Coast take this and run… I mean shuffle with it.

Sunday Shuffle – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Sunday Shuffle (@sunday_shuffle) is a new movement that was created to build awareness of Local Churches on Social Media. Our goal is to always help others share the good news & be proud of their local church. Some if not most people do not like to personally speak on their stories or post but would rather share their story/voice through pictures, captions, and creative boomerangs that can create influence quickly. Once a week, on Sunday, we take over the Instagram world via boomerangs labeled Sunday Shuffle with the Church we attend in order to let our followers know what Church we attend, in hopes that one day those who do not attend a local church will be with us.

Our end game goal is for all to find a relationship with God, to create an online community, and to spread the good news of Jesus.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
To be honest, since Sunday Shuffle is so new, we are just now hitting our peak. Due to the extra time we have been given through COVID-19, our team finally was able to hit a creative breaking point. I think that one of the proudest moments was when we saw our Instagram account finally begin to gain some traction. Personally, though my proudest moment as the founder, was being able to see my creative team begin to release new content based off of their personal conviction/passion.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @sunday_shuffle

Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.