Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

By PurposelyReligion & Spirituality Christianity Education Parenting Kids & Family

Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland episodes

August 18 Celebrating 10 Years of God Providing
In 2016 Anna and I started a nonprofit focused on sparking positive purpose in youth. I began teaching part time and speaking part time, and ten years later we are doing this as a full time ministry to equip and empower parents, youth, and leaders to love God and use the best tech well.

As we look to this next year we feel a strong conviction, especially after six months in the classroom for Nathan this year, to make resources that families and churches can use to strengthen, encourage, and empower the best tech choices, available.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4qk7TRw
28 min
August 11 A Simple Tech Standard: Is it Safe, Ready, Good?
Safe, Ready, Good is the standard every parent can apply to the tech in our homes, and to any tech we dream about bringing through our door.

First we ask if it is safe. Is this technology safe by design, or are there additional controls we can add that will help to keep it safe? Then, is my child ready?

Sometimes this is an age thing (they should be 15 before getting a smartphone), and sometimes it's a maturity thing: They need a healthy RESET even if they're old enough.

Finally we look at the fruit; is it good?

The best tech will make our children look more like Jesus, and that's the standard we set for using the best tech well.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4x4fSok
27 min
August 04 A Gospel Standard for Our Tech
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 is a gift to everyone living in this tech world. We can quickly reflect on the what, why, and where of tech quickly in order to use tech intentionally.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3TwksNy
28 min
July 28 How Do We Raise Up Our Kids?
God has given us our children as a mission field, and He's proclaimed His Good News that we aren't in charge of saving them; just loving them. It's not easy, but it is freeing, and it's exactly what our children need.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4px0rSK
26 min
July 21 The Gospel in a Tech World
Parenting is hard, and parenting in a tech world can be downright overwhelming. The good news is that we have a good God who calls us to faithfulness, not perfection. So today, rather than focusing on ourselves as parents, we're going to reflect on who God is, who we are, and what it means to be a child of God.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4fxV1ma
28 min
July 14 Talking About P*rn with Our Daughters, an Interview with Kristen Jenson - Part 2
For part two of our conversation as we dive back into the unexpected places our children may run into unsafe pictures, and how we can intentionally help them both before they find such content, and especially after they've come across it.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4ffawQF
23 min
July 07 Talking About P*rn with Our Daughters, an Interview with Kristen Jenson - Part 1
Today we get to talk with Kristen Jenson, author of Good Pictures, Bad Pictures, a resource that has been an encouragement to Anna and I as we raise our humans in a tech world. It's also one of the resources we reference most when giving workshops for parents on how to engage this tough conversation. Today we discuss Kristen's new book: Good Pictures, Bad Pictures, A Guide for Girls.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4ffzjTR
23 min
June 30 Our Kids Need Healthy Boundaries (Lessons from Teaching, Part 3)
Our opportunity as parents is to set loving boundaries. This will involve saying "yes" whenever we can and "no" as often as we need to. When it comes to tech, it is unloving to give our children gifts we know will harm them or those around them. Instead we give them gifts that will produce good fruit, that are safe by design and, in the case they're not inherently safe, they are appropriate for this child in this season.

Creating loving boundaries models the love God has for us, and the love He showed even to Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:22). We can extend this same mercy and love to our kids, and it starts by having healthy boundaries around our tech.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4oQiaUQ
28 min
June 23 Our Kids Love Real Life Adventures (Lessons from Teaching, Part 2)
Our kids are capable of having fun at the pace of real life. It's hardwired into them. Teaching sixth grade this year gave me a front row seat for just how much today's youth love having social, interactive, creative fun at the pace of real life.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4xFUpmw
27 min
June 16 Our Students Are More Capable Than They Think
The last six months of consistent classroom teaching has reminded me of an important lesson: Students are more capable than they think. In reading, writing, and math, many times what our students need aren't intensive lessons covering specific steps for success, but rather repeated opportunities to achieve, to practice doing important skills even if they do it poorly early on, and a chance to see their own growth over time.

It is a beautiful thing to see a student learn a new skill, and it is a satisfying moment for everyone when that student realizes he or she is capable of learning beyond what they expected for themselves.

Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4aRIEzw
25 min

About Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

From the publisher's feed

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