Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

“Boundaries define us. They define what is me and what is not me. A boundary shows me where I end and where someone else begins. Knowing what I am to own and take responsibility for gives me freedom.” 
-Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend, Boundaries (1997)

A question we get a lot has to do with managing tech boundaries with those we do life with: friends, family members, neighbors. How do we maintain our family’s tech policies when our kids are with others who might have differing expectations?
We must first be sure we establish our own family policy so it’s clear for us what’s a go and what’s not. If you missed the episode on why your family needs a policy and how to do that, go back and check out the past couple of episodes—Nathan walks you through how this process works and why it’s so important.
So we must first start with making sure we are clear within our family on what our tech framework is.
Second, we have to clearly and kindly communicate those expectations with others (and here’s where things can get awkward. But also why we strongly advise knowing expectations ahead of time, so when an invitation to game/play/FB messenger etc comes up, you and your kids know the answer. Check the framework!)
Today we'll talk about some tangible tips for processing this conversation with: Grandparents & babysitters, Friends/Neighbors, School, and even ourselves (we argue ourselves out of right action because we some mix of overwhelmed / under-confident /making excuses). 


OTHER RESOURCES:
We reference this book in this episode and strongly recommend it when thinking through boundaries in any area of your life: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life (Cloud and Townsend)
If you want to know more about the Gospel Tech Online Workshop you can find that here! https://gospeltechworkshop.thinkific.com/
Here's a Video Game Resource I created to help families determine what games their kids should play: https://youtu.be/22U1mc0t0mw
And you can reach out to us on social media here:
Instagram: @flintandiron
Facebook: @sparkingpurpose

Most of us have formed some tech ruts over the last few months. We've got habits that we want to change, but where do we start? Most families live with their bad tech habits because getting rid of them feels overwhelming and unreasonable. 
But we can get a fresh start with our tech by re-establishing our tech boundaries and we can do it in five easy steps:
1) Assess your tech. Take a RESET, and keep the Gospel at the center: This isn't about "fixing" yourself or your kids, it's about loving God with all you are.
2) Focus your anger. It's easy to get mad about tech but this only leads us to get cynical or anger with people who use tech. Focus your anger on removing obstacles to hope. Hope in Christ is the key to all actions we take regarding tech.
3) Remove anything that distracts. We're following Matthew 5:29 on this one - if it causes sin, cut it off.
4) Replace with Analog Adventures. There is no single replacement activity that will work for every person, but Analog Adventures will help you and your child : 
     a) be more preset
     b) have fewer negative tech habits (addiction, depression, overstimulation, joy tied to input, bullies, accidental porn exposure), 
     c) find more joy in daily life (think John Muir).
5) Create Analog Adventures that: focus on interests/passions/giftings, have a scheduled place in your calendar, and fit your ability to provide: $, location, specialists.

OTHER RESOURCES:
If you want to know more about the Gospel Tech Online Workshop you can find that here! https://gospeltechworkshop.thinkific.com/
Here's a Video Game Resource I created to help families determine what games their kids should play: https://youtu.be/22U1mc0t0mw
And you can reach out to us on social media here: 
Instagram: @flintandiron
Facebook: @sparkingpurpose

Today we're walking through the nitty gritty of actually creating a tech framework in one of the four areas of Drool Tech. The four primary areas for Drool Tech are:

music
social media
shows / movies
gaming

Today we're going to tackle the area of music because it's a not been beaten to death by others and families often have the fewest walls pre-built when having this discussion. Music is personal enough that everyone understands, but it usually isn't the #1 tech argument the family has.
For each area you’ll need to make sure you have clear expectations for:

time:
place:
content:
priorities:
safety:

When you do this you’re living out Proverbs 22:6 - you’re raising your children up in the way they should go so that when they are old they will not stray from it. 
We don’t just want our kids to know about God, we want them to know God personally and powerfully. The best way is for us to introduce them to the God we know, and we do that in relationship.


Resources referenced:
The Gospel Tech Online Workshop: https://gospeltechworkshop.thinkific.com/
Some amazing songs: Good To Go, by Canon, The Saints by Andy Mineo,  Start Over by Flame
Find us on Instagram: @flintandiron
Find us on Facebook: @sparkingpurpose

A family tech policy, or what we call a Family Tech Framework, is a powerful tool to re-establishing tech norms. It can also be something we agree with in theory, but have a really hard time implementing in our own families. It can simply feel too overwhelming to apply to real life. Where do we start?
Today we're going to talk through the process of how to make a family tech policy. There are really three steps:
1) Start with the Gospel. We have to start with heart change, otherwise we're just training our kids how to fake it well. (8:29)
2) Establish the two types of tech: Tool and Drool. (14:02)
3) Build those family norms in five areas: time, place, content, priorities, and safety. (23:10)

In the podcast I mention the Online Gospel Tech Workshop Anna and I have created to help families through this process of creating a Tech Framework. You can find the Online Gospel Tech Workshop here: https://gospeltechworkshop.thinkific.com/  You can check out a free preview of the content and sign-up to have full access when it goes live on the 21st! The workshop comes with a 100 page workbook PDF to help you walk through this with your family or even work through the process in small groups. 

If you have any gamers in your household you may also find this game review resource helpful: "Should My Child Play This Game?": https://youtu.be/22U1mc0t0mw

If you're anything like us you've probably found yourself at the end of seven months of quarantine (thanks Covid) with some tech habits that are less than preferable. Now school is starting up online and we've got to get some things worked out! 

In this episode Anna and I address what a tech policy is and three reasons your family needs one. We'll address the benefits of a tech policy that include that it:
1) Puts you in the driver’s seat of the tech conversation for your family.
2) Helps you fight for your family, not with them, when it comes to tech.
3) Allows you to parent, not police.
At the end of the day a family tech policy best emulates the way God treats us. He doesn’t rule with an iron hammer. In fact, He is notable for his long-suffering and steadfast love (Psalm 86:5, Exodus 34:6). He doesn’t micromanage our decisions - Adam and Eve were allowed to pick off the tree after all, but he also doesn’t let us go when we fail (2 Timothy 2:13). 
We hope this episode encourages you to love your family well, and to point them back to the Gospel of Jesus in hope of who they are designed to be.

Roger Smith is a 30 year educator in the public schools. He’s also the VP of Northwest Basketball Camps, the largest basketball camp organization in the United States.
In today’s interview Roger shares his unique perspective gained from teaching, training, and hiring young people for more than thirty years. His passion to see young people reach their full potential, and his heart to see them find their purpose in Christ, makes this conversation both challenging and encouraging.
In today’s podcast we’ll discuss what parents need to know about tech at home and in the classroom. We’ll walk through the benefits and pitfalls of tech in both places, and we’ll also walk through how we can intentionally use tech and not let it use us in these uncertain times. 
Join the conversations through our Gospel Tech Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gospel-tech/id1498508882
If you’d like to learn more about Gospel Tech you can watch this short video: https://youtu.be/DwED5hnXxas

Today we’re in the 6th and final episode of the Gospel Filter Series! We’re going to tie it all together in the idea that the Gospel is the reminder that we are empowered to do everything God asks of us. Paul talks in Romans 7:15,18-19 about how we all have flesh that desires things other than what God desires for us. His Solution?! Set our minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:6). 
The Gospel is the good news that God saves sinners - but we have to go beyond HEARING the good news and get to actually believing it. Faith is a verb. It's something we do. The Gospel Filter allows us to look at this world for what it is: Deeply broken and Fully Loved by God. It is already paid for, but not yet restored. It is where we are called to work and serve, but not our final home.
The tech in this world is an extension of the people in it. When we engage it we do so:

humbly
actively
with a Holy Spirit perspective
and with hope given to us by our heavenly father

This conversation will focus on how we can use tech to show God's love, and how God's love should impact the way we use our tech.

The penultimate addition to the Gospel Filter series is here! In episode 5 of 6 we're addressing how the Gospel enables optimism.
We’re natural cynics. We look for the flaw, wait for the bad, and expect the worst.
But God is the ultimate optimist. He pursues the bad way before they become good. He doesn't just pick the ones who have a head start, or those doing impressively well on their own. He picks the ones in dead last, the drop-outs, the complete embarrassments. Then he makes them good.
It's easy to be demoralized in our broken world. Thanks to tech we can see brokenness on a scale of Biblical proportions. In 10 minutes online I can observe death, hurt, sickness, corruption, and hate on the scale of millions - it's hard to fathom yet alone impact. So what do we do with this information? If you're anything like me, you probably become cynical.
In college I double-majored in history and political science. It took me all of one semester to become jaded. Most of us see there's  too much injustice, over too much time, to expect anything other than the worst. Any attempt to simply be "optimistic" comes off as either trite or creepy. You either become PollyAnna, singing about how great your suffering is, or the Joker, smiling through the tears.
However, the Gospel enables optimism because we can look to the source of hope.
.We  engage people online with hope because in God there is hope for all of us.
.We engage this broken world because we know the already but not yet. We have present power and future hope.
.We go all in this life because God went all-in.
In Christ we no longer have a right to our cynicism. God paid for it in the blood of his Son Jesus. Our only option now is prayerful, repentant, humble optimism.

In this episode Anna and I walk through how the Gospel lovingly establishes a basis for truth in our lives, which in turn lets us make intentional decisions regarding our choices, tech, and loving action.
The Gospel does this by:

Showing us the truth
Freeing us in truth
Freeing us for the good works God has planned for us.

In his teaching Ravi Zaccharius returned repeatedly to what he said was the saddest account in the whole Bible - Pilate interviewing Jesus. One on one he asks Jesus if he is a King. Jesus asks him if this this rhetorical, or if he’s actually seeking truth (John 18:34). Pilate’s response is to glibly ask “What is truth?” and then walks away (John 18:38).
The Truth, the one that will set us free, is God. (John 8:32)
A brief aside - I’ve found conversations about big ideas like “truth” and “reality” can be very confusing, especially when people don’t share the same groundwork for understanding. So I can point to God’s truth, but if a person says “there is no god” then we need a simpler place to start. John Mark Comer gave the best definitions I’ve heard:

Truth is that which best corresponds to reality.
Reality is that which happens when you’re wrong.

So what is the truth? That we are slaves to sin. We don't get to pick what we want to do - we do what our desires tell us. (John 8:34, Romans 6:6-7)

“Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” / “We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”

Set us free how? By the death and resurrection of Jesus. (John 3:16)
Set us free why? To bring God glory and participate in the work he’s planned for us (Romans 8:29, Eph. 2:10).

Quick Recap: The Gospel is foundational to our tech because it impacts everything we do. We've discussed previously how the Gospel is a "been done", it's good news of what God's already done for us. It's not a list of to-dos so God will love us or take pity on us. He already loves you and me, even though we were his enemies (not just lost puppies with good intentions - Romans 5:8, Ephesians 2:4-5). 
So we don't earn salvation, Jesus did. This means we can be assured of our wholeness and eternal life not because we look at our life and say "Yes, I'm awesome, I'm certain God loves me because of me" but we can with real clarity say "Yes, I'm terrible - and I'm certain God loves me because of Jesus." See episodes 1 and 2 for more on this! 
In today's episode we're going to talk about the action of the Gospel. It's true we don't act in order to earn God's love (see above), but God's love must push us to action - we love because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:19). We'll look today at the four things we're empowered to do in faith (which is a verb) because of God's love for us:

pray
make disciples
repent
forgive
trust


I didn't have a chance to go into this on the podcast, so I'll put it here: God shows us that love is an action, not just a feeling. God's love from heaven was real, but it was only powerful in defeating sin, Satan, and Death when it came as Jesus, the Son of God, as a human who would live, die, and rise again to physically bring us new life. It was the same love, God's feelings for us didn't change, but it had to actually happen to win us the victory. The only difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament is a new covenant in Jesus' name - we still serve the same God. It took action to get that new covenant - and Love came down to establish it. Not a love of warm feelies, but a love of action - even action to an innocent death on a cross. What held him there? It wasn't nails (Matthew 26:53). It was love. Not soft, push-over, do-what-you-like because I don't want to offend you love, but a love more than willing to offend if it meant choosing the highest good for the other person. Jesus set his godhood aside like a robe (Philippians 2:7) and became fully man - not because he wanted a challenge, but because he wanted many siblings in the kingdom of God (Romans 8:29). So we also love - not to make ourselves or others "feel" good, but to extend the love that looks to others good and not our own. It's the same good that God establishes for all who love him. It's a love that keeps God a father, not a genie. He knows how to give good gifts (Matthew 7:11), not simply fulfill wishes, and he is working all things together for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28) - to those who do the will of his Son (John 14:15).