Day Edwards - “Disrupt-her”and Trailblazer in the Faith and Tech Worlds

The combination of faith and tech is not the first collaboration to come to many people’s minds. But Day Edwards has turned both fields on their heads with the advent of Church Space - a new app and website that connects vacant church spaces with business owners, event professionals, and church planters seeking space at an affordable rate. Not only does Church Space take an ingenious approach to uplifting such a critical community, but its founder reflects that same dexterity. There would be no Church Space if it weren’t for the formative experiences that shaped the life of tech mogul, woman of faith, and all-around visionary Day Edwards. Day’s entire life experience culminated in the idea for Church Space. Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Day grew up understanding the in’s and out’s of organic church building by watching her mother play a pivotal role in her family’s church community. Day’s mother established and grew local churches from the ground up throughout Austin, leading Day’s mother to grow their family’s church into a pillar of their Texas community. Their living room sanctuary became the community’s sanctuary.

“Watching my mother taught me a lot about building for your community and how churches are effectively established and launched. She showed me what both evangelism and successfully launching businesses and nonprofits looked like.”

While this day-to-day exposure to the power of communal worship always directed Day’s work and interest to some degree, one event in particular defined Day’s life path. Due to the stress of juggling both a growing family and a growing ministry, Day’s mother suddenly passed away from a heart attack. “[My mother’s passing] gave me a heart to serve churches and church leaders. I wanted to help them become revenue-generating while taking the stress off of pastors and church leaders.” Day went on to launch The Consultancy PR firm, which immediately drew the attention of new budding ministries. With an increased understanding of the church marketplace and its publics, Day Edwards launched Church Space in January of 2019.

Since then, her revolutionary app has met incredible success. Excelling in the marketplace, Day received the 2019 Essence New Voices Pitch Competition and the Texas Black Expo CEO and Roundtable Pitch Competition, all while Church Space was still building itself from the ground up. Dubbed the “Airbnb” for Churches by CBN News, Church Space continues to re-imagined revenue-generating models and systems for the Christian marketplace.

“Since working with Church Space we have been able to afford more mission trips, and reconnect with our community by renting space to local businesses and event hosts,” said satisfied Church Space user Pastor Tony Ervin of Houston. “I would have never thought renting our space could have yielded over $23,0000 while increasing our churches’ attendance and community support.”

These are the types of responses to Church Space that makes this work worthwhile, according to Day. “My most rewarding moments are always just helping local churches gain revenue, then watching them help their local communities flourish with that extra revenue. It’s all a domino effect”.

Even with this success, Day still had her challenges. As a Black woman entrepreneur, she’s had to learn how to advocate for herself first and foremost. “My biggest lesson has been to ask for what is deserved of my work; to never hold back because I’m a woman or a woman of color. Being involved with multiple networks of diverse women, I realized that most times, as women of color, we don’t articulate what we want while watching our counterparts (who may not be women or people of color) get exactly what they ask for. It’s ok to come to the table with your demands,” Day says.

It was through these lessons that she bolstered her passion. Day’s desire to complete God’s will by helping ministries flourish mirrors her ability to inspire other aspiring black women entrepreneurs in the tech space. Her advice to those pursuing their own successful enterprise? “Keep going and be loud about your brand and your access. Oftentimes we get overlooked and we have to be our own cheerleaders, our own walking billboards. Rely on yourself and know your worth.”