Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

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Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland episodes

December 14, 2021 96. Anna's Back! Christmas Edition.
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.
43 min
December 07, 2021 95. Game Like You Love Your Life
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.
36 min
November 30, 2021 94. Permission To Parent
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.
30 min
November 23, 2021 93. Shepherding A Child's Tech
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.
48 min
November 16, 2021 92. We All Need A Little More Romans 8:1 In Our Lives
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.
45 min
November 10, 2021 91. Why Is The Gospel Our Standard For Tech?
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.
43 min
November 02, 2021 90. How to Make An Awesome Analog Christmas
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.
47 min
October 26, 2021 89. Three Encouragements For Parents
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.
42 min
October 19, 2021 88. We Were Made For Adventure!
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.
36 min
October 12, 2021 87. How Do We Talk With Our Kids About Tech?
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.
57 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