Gospel Tech

Welcome to Week #1 of the Gospel Tech Crash Course! 

Each week this summer we’re going to address the most-asked questions from families, starting this week: Why do we need the Gospel in our tech conversations? The Gospel is more than just “good information”, it’s Good News, and in today’s conversation we’ll look at how that Good News changes even the way we use our tech.

Thanks for joining us, and welcome to the conversation!

Summer time is amazing because it’s a break from the norm. Even though workdays continue at the same old pace, the weather changes, our kiddos are out and about, and there is a sense of freedom in the air that just doesn’t exist at any other time of year (except, maybe for Christmas break).

The last thing we want is to let our summer fall victim to an endless list of “to dos” or to a series of unplanned show binges, social media trends, or gaming distractions. Let’s take control and have a plan.

Today we’ll talk through the three steps to take control of our tech this summer:

1. Prep your priorities
2. Talk it out
3. Walk it out

We are hot on the heels of our first-ever work trip. It involved five talks in three days, a pair of cross-country flights, and three lessons that are amazing reminders that God is working in hearts around the US and the world. Thank you all for being on this journey with us! So excited to see where the Lord takes this work and conversation.

Having high expectations doesn't mean being unreasonable or mean. It means knowing what our children are capable of, and acting towards that belief in hope not fear. In today’s conversation Nathan talks through how he’s been learning this lesson the hard way, raising kids who are interested in (of all things) video games. He discusses what it looks like to parent out of hope not fear, and to base our tech parenting on Biblical truths while always reminding ourselves that God loves our children even more than we do.

Tech can be a confusing topic for many parents, but not anymore! In today's conversation we're going to tackle the three things every parent needs to know when talking, and acting on, the tech in their family. By the end of today's episode you will know:

1. There are actually two types of tech

2. If your tech use is healthy

3. What steps to take for healthful tech at home

The changes to daily life have impacted all of us, but how have they impacted our children with special needs? Specifically, if I have a child with developmental-behavioral complications, such as ADHD or Autism, how might the increased social isolation and technology impact their growth and health? Today get to hear from a professional in the field who speaks to the benefits and practical steps we can take as families to support and love our young people wherever they are in their journey to love God and use tech.

We've all got one resolution for this year: Win at tech. It's been two straight years of bad tech habits and feeling like we "should" do better, and now we're resolved to do it. In today's episode we'll discuss three resolutions we can implement today that will help us all live healthier tech lives.

This Christmas I (Nathan) am picking up a tradition passed along by my papa Pete: Every Christmas Eve Papa would sit us down and read the Christmas story from the Bible--he'd make sure we all heard the promises of God before we dove headlong into our presents. As I prepared to do the same thing with my own children, nieces, and nephews I was convicted that I need to tell them more than simply a baby named Jesus was born. The entire point of Advent, and the anticipation of a Messiah, was because there are really three Advents promised by God and we need to live in light of all three at the same time. This episode is a reminder that we can do that starting today, and that it will impact every area of our lives.

A short list of verses to remind ourselves, and our family, of what God has done and is doing:

1. Genesis 22:15-18 (after Abraham puts Isaac on the altar to sacrifice)
2. Isaiah 9:2-7 - The promise of the Messiah - the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light…
3. Luke 4:16-21 - Jesus declares himself the Messiah, echoing what Isaiah
4. John 7:37 - rivers of living water
5. Revelation 22:1-3 - everything will be made right, and those rivers of living water will fill us, flow from us and from the city.

Anna's back! It has been a LONG time, 48 episodes to be exact, since we were last graced by Anna's presence on this podcast. We get an update, talk tech, kids, life, and dive into a bit of how this Advent season should be shaping the way we use our tech.  

There is a lot of new tech coming out for Christmas, and the Q is asked: Should I get get my child (insert new amazing tech) device?

To help, we want reviews of new VR set, that new smartphone and smart watch. We want to know if we should get that reader, tablet, or Echo Dot. We want more info on that PS5, Xbox One X, Nintendo Switch, and Steam Deck.Is it worth it? Should they have it?

But the conversation is actually much simpler than that. It's now about whether they would enjoy this new toy, but rather do they love their life.

Sometimes I feel like I need permission to parent. It's not that I feel I'm doing a bad job, but I just feel like I'm in over my head. In business, teaching, and speaking we call it the imposter syndrome. It's that feeling you get when you give a presentation, or discipline your child, that you're not nearly qualified enough to be making these decisions. Today I want to tell you that you are everything your child needs in a parent, and it isn't your confidence but your Christ-like love that's going to make a difference raising your child in a tech world. 

There’s a solid book on parenting written by Ted Tripp called Shephering Your Child’s Heart. It’s worth a read. I just reread it and realized there isn’t really a book like this about tech.

So while I may never write that book, I figured this episode could be a crash course in how we can apply Biblical principles of parenting to raising healthy youth in a tech world.

Our conversation today follows three key steps we can all take to help love our children like Jesus in light of the Gospel.

We are all experts at judging ourselves. We are incredibly critical of our flaws, mistakes, and shortcomings. One reaction to these harsh critiques is to make excuses: It wasn't that bad, I couldn't done worse, it's "relatively harmless". 

Today's conversation looks at how we have a higher standard than simply explaining our mistakes away, and we must accept that hope for ourselves so that we can extend it to our children as we look to raise them well in this tech world. 

I often get asked “But why is it Gospel Tech?” Why not just something like ‘Healthy Tech’ or something that focuses on making good tech decisions?

The answer is pretty simple: the Gospel is the only thing that gives us the power to make meaningful change. Yes, we could remove smartphones and that would provide a benefit. We could protect from pornography, and that would stave off some addictions and hurt. But at the end of the day we haven’t changed our character or the character of our children. At the end of the day, we still have hearts that yearn for purpose and we lack an object of our affections that can handle that kind of weight.

That’s where the Gospel comes in. In today’s conversation we’ll talk through the three reasons the Gospel is so foundation to our conversations and practices with modern technology.

Christmas is coming and, given the oddities with logistics and shipping in this 2021 Covid year, I decided to address healthy-tech Christmas choices early enough for it to still be useful for you! In today's conversation we're diving into how we can wow our children this Christmas while giving gifts that reflect the truth of the Gospel and the hope we have for our children. 

Parenting can be tough! In this digital world it's easy to feel like you're constantly one step behind. There are just so many apps, games, websites, videos and, on top of it, voices of people who seem to know more who keep telling you what to do.

Today's episode is about setting aside our very real, but overwhelming, worries and concerns and turning our hearts back to what is most important in our lives as parents. The goal of this episode is to give you a reminder of why you do what you do. These three encouragements are what we all need to remember in order to raise healthy youth in a tech world. 

We were made for adventure. The God of the universe saw all he made and said "Let's make men and women in our image" (Gen. 1:27), and in the process we bring God glory not simply be being obedient, but by reveling in all of God's amazing creation. As John Piper says it: We are called to be Christian Hedonists, finding our adventure in fully enjoying God each and every day. 

In today's conversation we'll discuss what it looks like to do exactly that,  three ways we often go off the rails with our adventures, and what we can do to intentionally enjoy adventures to God's glory and our good.

Digital tech is everywhere, and it can be an amazing blessing. But how do we know when it's a blessing and when it's a distraction? Even more importantly, how do we talk about such a complicated subject with our children, teens and young adults? 

In today's podcast we're going to walk through how to point our children to the big picture of the Gospel, address the truths about tech when it is unhealthy, and raise kids who intentionally use tech for God's glory and their good. 

Pornography is real and it is hurting our children's minds. 7/10 tweens and 8/10 teens will encounter nudity or content of a sexual nature online (Bark, January 2021). So what can we do? A lot! There is great hope for this conversation and very practical, loving steps we can take to help our children know what love is, what God says about their bodies and sex, and how to handle pornography when they run into it (because odds are they WILL run into it in this digital world). 

What can we do with the Gospel when it comes to tech? What can we do, starting today, to apply the tech to our lives in faith? Today's conversation gives seven steps every family can take that put the Gospel at the center of our tech lives in practical ways, and that will challenge all of us to trust God more in areas of our lives that can be easy to excuse because they're "not that bad". Let this episode encourage you to see God for all He is, and see the amazing hope and opportunity there is in loving God and using tech.

Roger Smith is a 30+ year educator, the VP of a national sports camp, a parent of two young adults, and a major advocate for young people growing up in a tech world.

Roger has been on the front lines of education since the advent of the personal computer and the internet. Now his elementary school students show up with smartphones and are issued school laptops. In today’ interview he shares encouragement for parents, timely reminders, and some impassioned challenges for how we can fight for our children in this tech world.

We need to have transparent tech. Many of our digital devices are branded with the idea of freedom, privacy, and personal exultation:

• Our shows are selected based on our preferences.
• Our social media is populated by people who follow us.
• Our devices are encrypted and personal.
• Our online identities are easily obscured or hidden.

Yet instead of online anonymity healthy tech means we:

1. Avoid digital secrets
2. Apply the Gospel in action
3. Have a plan for what to do when tech is unhealthy

Today's gives practical steps we can all take to ensure our tech is transparent.

It’s back to school time!

So how do we keep our technology safe? Or, for many of us, how do we push tech back into the normal little box we used to keep it in?

Today we’re going to talk specifically about how we can prepare for this new season of school and tech in three areas:

1. our home networks and devices
2. smartphones
3. specific steps for safe tech times and places

We have a problem with comparison. We are constantly trying to decide if we’re good enough for God, as parents, as citizens, based on how we perceive we rank to those around us. It’s for this reason social media is so devastating to so many of us. We are constantly bombarded by our inadequacy but, unlike the Gospel, social media offers us no recourse.

This is a problem in our personal lives, as it leaves to spiraling anxiety and depression, poor sleep, and lack of general satisfaction, but it is also detrimental to our spiritual lives and the lives Christ has called us to as His Church.

Today we’re tackling this conversation, and my hope is we’ll come out of it more prepared to love, repent, and be the body of Christ.

It can be easy to tell when our children are unhealthy with their tech (check out episodes, 71, 54, 53, 49 and many others!), but what should we do about it? One of my all-time favorite options is the Analog Adventure. Today we'll discuss how we can find real-world outlets for energy and creativity that our children will love to do and that will inspire more of who God has created them to be rather than distract from his purpose and plans for them.

Should our children be on social media? This conversation can feel loaded. Kids often believe it includes a request for a smartphone (because which kid honestly would prefer to use social media from a shared public computer?) and parents frequently have no idea what to make of most of the apps out there. 

Today we're going to clarify that there is, in fact, a Biblical standard for social media. We'll talk about how we make these big decisions with our children, what parents need to know in order to be informed, and what benefits and potential pitfalls we should expect when stepping into the world of algorithm-controlled relationships. 

Should our children play video games? 

More than 2/3 of Americans play video games, and it's a fairly even split between males and females (although mays tend to put in the most time). So there's a good chance our children will ask us if they can play video games, and we want to have an answer built out of the Gospel not simply our opinions or feelings in the moment. 

In today's conversation we'll look at video games versus some of the other favorite entertainment tech options (social media, shows, music), and remind ourselves what the Gospel says about our gaming. 

Then we'll walk through how we can help ensure gaming stays a benefit, not a distraction, to God's purpose for them.

Finally we'll address what to do if and when gaming gets out of control—how to spot it and how to lovingly intervene.

What gets you out of bed every morning? There is a difference between making through today, and living with the legacy God has given us. Legacy is a word fraught with the middle school trauma of poorly-executed motivational speeches. We have come to think of legacy as the influence we have on the world after we're gone, but is that what the Bible tells us? Today we're going to discuss how legacy is less about what or who we become, and more about being who God has made us in Christ.  It isn't about carpe-ing the diem or achieving some scrap of success. It's about living in light of a greater hope, looking to those who have lived long, and not so long, yet reflect the hope available to each of us today through God's saving work in Christ Jesus.

Healthy tech doesn't have to be elusive or overwhelming. In fact, it can be practical, accessible, and something you can begin to live out today. With our foundation in the Gospel we have a basis for truth, and therefore reality. Now we just need a practical way to live it out. Today we'll discuss the #1 thing every family can do to begin healthy tech at home, as well as a couple bonus ideas for connecting the Gospel to our tech in practical ways. 

We’ve all seen it: someone we know uses a screen and comes away distracted, moody, forgetful, or just a little bit off: broken commitments, dropping friends, change in attitude, low energy or motivation.

At some point we’ve probably all been that annoying tech-user.

But what is that screen actually doing? Is it rotting our brain? Is that screen really responsible, or is it just a personal issue?

Today we’re going to put this question to rest and point back to what Jesus invites us to have in the Gospel.