ThyWord Sponsors Gloo AI Hackathon 2026 and Builds Shepherd

ThyWord was an official sponsor of the Gloo AI Hackathon 2026, held October 6–8 at the Limelight Conference Center in Boulder, Colorado. Our team also competed in the Agents track with Shepherd, a church texting prototype built on Gloo AI Studio.

Building Shepherd for Churches

Shepherd explores a simple idea: people should be able to text their church with a question and find a path back to the community that knows them. The prototype was designed to ground responses in a church’s sermons and stated beliefs, with a consent-based handoff to a pastor when a person is needed.

Developed for the hackathon by Ajith Joseph and Bijees Raj, Shepherd is an early prototype, not a publicly launched product. Its purpose is to support pastoral relationships and help churches stay connected with people between Sundays.

Why We Sponsored

We sponsored the hackathon to support builders creating technology that strengthens churches and the communities they serve. Taking part gave our team an opportunity to explore that purpose through a practical church-focused prototype.

Learn more on the official Gloo AI Hackathon website.

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