What if the last person on earth who wanted to build a social media platform was the one God told to build it?
I’m Anna Moore Bradfield, and in this episode of God’s Power Stories, I sit down with Shawn Whitson, founder and CEO of Acts Social, a faith-first alternative to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok built on the model of authentic community in Acts 2:42 and 47. Shawn is also the author of the upcoming memoir Called Out of Nowhere, and he is refreshingly honest about the fact that he was never the ideal candidate. He deleted most of his own social media accounts years ago because, in his words, they were just yuck.
Shawn has been a serial entrepreneur since he was twenty, and the tech company behind Acts Social had been a string of failures: an Apple shutdown, the pandemic, one hard setback after another. He had been praying about whether to walk away. Then, one December morning in 2022, right after he and his wife Sharee finished their morning devotional, he got what he calls a gut punch from the Holy Spirit. It stood the hair up on his body. It spooked him, and it was peaceful at the same time. The message was clear: build a social media platform to glorify My kingdom worldwide.
We talk about what it has cost to obey. Shawn and Sharee sold their home to fund the platform, and then sold a second home and downsized again when the money ran thin. We talk about the naming story (a trademark threat from Amazon, a shy teammate who spoke up on a call, and a dot-com that should not have been available), and about the relentless spiritual warfare and cyberattacks that have come at the platform nearly every month.
Then we get into what makes Acts Social so different. Shawn’s team trained the algorithm by flipping the usual model upside down: negativity, bullying, and put-downs get little reach, while gratitude, prayer, and encouragement can go viral. Early testers said it felt fake. It was simply too positive. We also talk about his challenge to anyone stuck in the doom scroll: try a seven-day or forty-day fast from traditional social media, and see what happens when your dopamine comes from the Holy Spirit.
Key Takeaways:
- God often calls the person who feels least qualified, and obedience matters more than résumé
- A real calling will likely cost you something, sometimes your comfort, sometimes your house
- Spiritual opposition tends to increase as your work gains attention
- Positivity is not fake; it only feels that way after a diet of negativity
- A fast from doom scrolling can change how you feel, think, and pray
Key Themes: Obedience to God’s calling · Faith-first social media · Spiritual warfare · Sacrifice and surrender · Marriage and partnership · Doom scrolling and mental health · Christian entrepreneurship
Who Will Benefit: Anyone who feels unqualified for what God has put in front of them, entrepreneurs and creators building something with a mission, parents and young adults worn down by social media, and anyone who needs a reminder that when God calls, He qualifies.
You are never too far from your calling, and God has never needed the perfect person, only the willing one.
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