Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

Gospel Tech is a resource for parents who are feeling outpaced and overwhelmed as they raise children in a tech world. Our goal: Equip parents with the tools, resources, and confidence they need to raise kids who love God and use tech. Gospel Tech’s mission is to equip families to love God and use tech. We want to empower parents to: Talk about healthy tech Communicate the Gospel Connect the hope of the Gospel to their everyday tech lives Introduction to Gospel Tech Three years ago I (Nathan) started Gospel Tech as a ministry to help connect the Gospel to the daily tech lives of families in practical ways. As a middle school teacher I saw a need for intentional, Gospel-focused conversations about tech. Tech was creating more distraction than inspiration in the classroom, and I saw the need for more than just new habits—there was a desperate need for new hearts. Gospel Tech bridges the gap between scary tech conversations and the hope of the Gospel. With engaging stories and practical applications I bring Gospel-centered tech solutions families can apply in everyday life. Gospel Tech Resources Beyond The Podcast The Parent Tech Workshops: A two-part series addressing: How should we handle Tech’s Big 3 (smartphones, gaming, pornography)? How do we make tech safe at home? (two types of tech, tech health, and building tech trust) Youth Talks: The Tech Talk: Use the best tech on purpose, not for purpose. The Hope Talk: A conversation about our goals, purpose, and how making a mistake doesn’t make us a mistake. The Family Tech Framework: A two-hour workshop where families leave with the words to say and the plan in place for healthy tech at home and in daily life. Part 1: Talk It Out: Parents learn key points of discussing healthful tech. Part 2: Walk It Out: Families work together to create a Family Tech Framework customized to their needs, goals, and season of life. At the end of the day our children aren't problems to fix, they're people to love. We need to point them to the purpose and hope available in Christ, in the work he's already done to make them new and to call them on to good works, and then use tech from that hope. This is why I love to say that in Christ we use tech on purpose, not for purpose. That's the goal of Gospel Tech. Thanks for letting me be on this journey of parenting with you. -Nathan Sutherland

Episodes

April 25, 2024 47 mins
Everyone wants to live their best life, but what if living your best life now literally means living for, and with, Jesus? Today we end our Season One of Can We Talk with a conversation about how Christ empowers us to live the best life possible, and how that doesn't always look like what we'd plan (mainly because our plans are rarely ever truly what is best).

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3UxknHe
Mark as Played
Drool Tech is designed to take our time, focus, and money. Not only does it manipulate our decisions, our investment includes the loss of opportunities we would have had if we'd been able to move on with real life. The loss of relationships, real world stress, and experiences of personal agency (you made a choice, saw the outcome, and learned from it), have made a brittle and anxious generation of youth and adults. Yet there is gre...
Mark as Played
What does it mean to be a Christian? It seems simply, we've all known this since summer camp: Put your faith in Christ and you get eternal life. But is that what Jesus taught us? What did Jesus say about his power for our life today, not just our life in eternity? Today we're talking about what it means to be buried with Christ, raised to new life with him, and how that empowers living for God's kingdom today.

Show Notes: https://bi...
Mark as Played
April 16, 2024 38 mins
Jonathan Haidt’s new book changes the tech conversation. From this moment onward, no one can respond to concerns about tech with “nuh uh” and be taken seriously. The research has been compiled, the conversational table has been set with delicious morsels of facts, research, relationship, and experience, and now the meal can commence. This book will change the way legislation, lawsuits, school boards and admin, parents, and young pe...
Mark as Played
We can know God. Not just as a theory, or a vague idea, but as a person to interact with, talk to, and be loved by. Today we discuss how we can know God, why it's reasonable and relevant to do so, and what knowing the God of the Bible means for the rest of our daily life as believers.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4aOl1Wd
Mark as Played
Martin Luther, in summarizing many church fathers and mothers, cited the three temptations that draw us away from God: The flesh, the world, and the devil. Technology offers the same three distractions from God's best for us, and today we look specifically at how these sublte lies slip easily into our daily lives, and what we can do to recognize and resist them with truth and hope.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3TUrvfi
Mark as Played
April 2, 2024 30 mins
”The devil’s three temptations of Christ aren’t about getting him to “sin”, as we think of it, but to get him to take his rightful kingdom by an easier road—to do the right thing in the wrong way.” -John Mark Comer, Live No Lies.

Today we discuss the three temptations of technology, not to be afraid of it, but to expose it for what it is. We can live free with tech, and we can also live free of it if necessary. This conversation is ...
Mark as Played
God matters today. Many of us believe that, but we need to connect that truth to our daily lives in a world filled with frenetic goal chasing, instant gratification technology, and the many fears being shouted from every digital rooftop. Today’s conversation focuses on how God fuels the most important conversations and solutions to the problems of our day.

Show Notes: 
Mark as Played
March 26, 2024 23 mins
How do we teach our children to use tech well? We've setup hedges, we've assessed tech health, and we know the lies tech will tell us. Today we discuss how to help our children use tech well by looking at the fruit, the fit, and the safety of our new tech. Doing this empowers us to use the best tech, stay hope focused, and fight for our children (not just with them) when it comes to technology.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4cvRWQT
Mark as Played
Today we focus on the "tech" of culture, God, and tech. Nathan Sutherland shares a bit of what we can do to be intentional with our tech use, how we can talk about tech with our children, and how there is great hope for tech used well for ourselves and our children.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/43qKq5S
Mark as Played
March 19, 2024 17 mins
We continue our conversation about how to use to use tech well with a look at how to keep our tech use healthy. We do a quick dive into RESET and building hedges, and equip ourselves with the information we need to fight for our children, not just with them, when it comes to tech.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/43rGfqn
Mark as Played
Our cultural moment is unique because we aren't just post Christian, we're quite nearly pre-Christian. As a middle school teacher Nathan Sutherland saw the number of students who didn't have proper context to understand even simple Biblical text references from Western authors: baptism, floods, and overcoming giants. Today we discuss the idea of what has shaped modern thinking, what it means to be post modern and maybe even post-po...
Mark as Played
March 12, 2024 32 mins
Today we begin a three-part series addressing a parent question about how we can use tech well. To begin, however, I need to address the elephant in the room: Tech isn't without goals of its own. Tech makes four promises it cannot keep, and we run into trouble when we begin to believe these lies and try to use tech to fulfill needs it cannot meet. I end the conversation with a host of amazing thinkers and writers who point us to st...
Mark as Played
There are some conversations that feel a little too loaded, even a little too taboo, to discuss with neighbors, co-workers, friends, or family (sometimes that last one especially). Today we kick off a series called Can We Talk, a discussion designed to help us reclaim the conversation around culture, God, and tech. You won't find hot takes, click bait, or knee-jerk reactions from our Twitter feed (we still call it Twitter, after al...
Mark as Played
March 5, 2024 14 mins
Covenant Eyes can be an amazing resource for image accountability on digital devices, but it can also feel overwhelming. Today Anna and Nathan talk through when Covenant Eyes is a good resource, and how it might be a benefit to families. Check out the video version on YouTube for the extended version that includes a full walk through of installing Covenant Eyes on Anna’s phone.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4c2z5g3
Mark as Played
February 27, 2024 37 mins
Today's conversation is aimed at the men in the room: Those same ones I've talked to about what it means to be a nerd dad. How can we be great husbands, fathers, and men in a digital age? What does that look like when Jesus never mentions the internet, smartphones, or video games? Today we'll talk about the clear standard we are given as men to live humbly before our God, and what that looks like when it comes to being sober minded...
Mark as Played
February 20, 2024 22 mins
iPhones are notoriously difficult to keep accountable and therefore to keep safe for young eyes and minds. Apple has doubled-down on user privacy at all cost, which means it is difficult for an iPhone to default to safety. It’s not surprising then that one of the questions I’ve been hearing a lot recently is how to protect, track, and mend mistakes made on an iPhone.

In today’s conversation we’ll talk about why iPhones are so diffic...
Mark as Played
February 13, 2024 37 mins
Sometimes our tech is just a little too far for fun. Instead of using it because we're ok, we find we need it to be ok. In today's conversation we'll learn from the work of Anna Lembke, professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. Her book Dopamine Nation has been an encouragement and reminder, and in today's conversation we'll discuss how tech...
Mark as Played
*NOTE: This episode might be one to listen with ear buds in, as this topic is sensitive for young kids.

Pornography is a conversation frought with emotional, societal, and spiritual baggage. It's something we'd like to pretend doesn't exist, and especially something that our children will never have to deal with. The problem is, they will—and making them deal with it alone isn't helpful. ENTER: Today's conversation! We're going to t...
Mark as Played
Every parent is likely to face the question: "Can I get a smartphone?" As a parent there is a double-sided fear: I don't want to say no out of reflex, because I'm old and don't understand, and I don't want to say yes out of guilt and give my child something dangerous or unhealthful. What can we do? Today we'll talk through the five cautions to understand with a smartphone, the age our children should get a smartphone, and how we ca...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

    Death, Sex & Money

    Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Crime Junkie

    If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.

    Start Here

    A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2024 iHeartMedia, Inc.