Gospel Tech with Nathan Sutherland

Young people, you can make your tech support the good choices you want to make.Set spiritual practices, healthy habits, and safe hedges (Ephesians 2:1-10)Use your words and actions for building others up (Ephesians 4:29)Look to help (James 5:19-20)Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4gMgE2F 

Parenting tech doesn't have to be complicated. Two questions to help us on our way: Is true? Does it bear good fruit? These two guide our tech decisions about whether we change our tech choices, or simply remove unhealthy tech and replace it with new and safer activities.Show Notes: 

The transition from summer to the school year is a wonderful opportunity to reassess our routine and priorities. It's a time to make sure we're planning for healthy sleep habits, recalibrating screen time, and protecting what matters most from getting lost in the busyness of the fall season.Back-to-school season is the perfect time to be intentional about using tech in ways that support our goals and well-being.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4gdJk44 

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 

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 

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 4:8Philippians 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

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

Many of us feel the tension between wanting to use technology well and wondering if it’s quietly shaping us in ways we didn’t choose. This episode digs into that tension, from Pope Francis’s vision for Christian humanism in the age of AI to the surprisingly spiritual discipline of embracing boredom, and why both matter for families trying to follow Jesus in a noisy world. If you’ve ever caught yourself doom‑scrolling, multitasking your quiet time, or avoiding stillness, this conversation will feel uncomfortably familiar in the best way.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4vF2iH3 

Students risk losing up to 40% of their learning over summer break (Atteberry and McEachin). In 2020 two researched looked at 200 million test scores from 18 million students across all 50 states over an 8 year period (2008-2016).The take away: The Summer Slip is real, and it can be neutralized with just 15 minutes of reading and math each day. Parents, we don't have to run a boot camp, but we have the opportunity to keep learning engagement high. Let's make school as fun and accessible as possible for our children. Let's do it 15 minutes a day this summer and stop the Summer Slip.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/49wWoiF 

Today we cover how Anthropic's Claude Mythos was trained, the sheer enormity of the processing power we're putting into making these AI resources, and what this might look like for us to use this tech well and not as a Tower of Babel to reach heaven whether God likes it or not.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/49jyqrb 

This past week Neal Katyal, one of the leading Supreme Court Advocates in the US, indulged in a little self-adulation via a TED Talk and X tweet, where he revealed his custom AI named Harvey, is credited with helping achieve victory in a Supreme Court Case. While a lesson on humility could certainly be poignant from this episode, we are going to focus on AI, how we have learned to use it over the last nine years, and what we need to do to use this tech well.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4dmhlhi 

Meta, a trillion dollar company, is convinced you need more Virtual Reality in your life, but they also like making money, so they're moving to mobile gaming. That might be great for revenue, but it's going to be bad for focus and downtime. Make some time this week to take a brain break and experience some boredom. I dare you.While you're working on being bored, check out Mark 7:14-23 where Jesus reminds us that our hearts are our real problem. Yes, tech can feed the worst in us, and we should remove tech that causes us to sin, but it doesn't cause us to be bad. We are plenty bad on our own. We need to give our hearts to Jesus, do what he says, and use the tech that helps us look more like him.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4u04UyL 

After a recent talk at a local church I was approached by someone who works for a major tech company and regularly works with AI. He stressed three points heavily:Our children need to be intentionally prepared for AI. It makes up info, it lies to cover its tracks, and even the best AI trainers don't know what they're going to get out of this resource.Our children use AI more than adults do, so they will be the first native-use employees entering the workforce with AI in hand. It's our opportunity to equip, and warn, them.Don't use AI for anything you can't vet.Today we'll address this as well as the problem of heat pollution, how tech companies plan to handle the incredible energy draw of AI farms on the grid, how to handle tech at sporting events, and what we should do about phones in the bedroom.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3PbdX0I 

Nick Bostrom once compared our pursuit of superintelligence to mice trying to domesticate an owl. The most recent news concerning Anthropic's Mythos strikes a little too close to home. Yet not all tech news is so grim: Is Apple's Neo laptop the ed tech solution we've been waiting for? We also dive into a parent question concerning how much time is too much on tech in a day.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4ukazzv 

WARNING: The subject matter, and the content itself, can be triggering. I include this so you can be informed, but use prayerful discretion when it comes to how much you really need to know to be loving and helpful for your family, children, and community. Did you know it takes 17 strikes for a child predator to be banned on Meta's platforms? After five, eight, fourteen reported violations the perpetrator will still be active, and only after the seventeenth will the account be taken down. Wild. The good news is, there are a lot of ways to have fun at the pace of real life. I'm currently on a kick about seeing students get a chance for 6th grade camp again.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4sJM25T 

This week we saw the first prosecution of AI-based abuse under the Take It Down Act, discuss how to have friends if we're phone free, and answer a parent question about what to do if our children look up something naughty online.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/480pLZV 

This week in tech we saw Artemis II round the dark side of the moon, had a new study from Sweden that found we can decrease our chances of dementia by lowering our sedentary screen time, and we get to answer a parent question about the best way to build hedges for teen social media use.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/47T5Ax3 

As a follower of Jesus, every day is Easter! Jesus is alive, and that's a big deal in every area of life: How we think about ourselves, how we parent our kids, and how we go about doing the good works we're called to do.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3PJeaYU 

AI can be an amazing tool, if we use it right. Today we'll discuss the three best ways to use AI well, and three uses of AI that we should avoid.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4v8cRTN 

Our children want to have fun, and we can give them adventures that:Maximize adventureHappen at the pace of real lifeAre with real world peopleShow Notes: https://bit.ly/3PgUU4O 

Choosing the right tech is simple, but that doesn't make it easy. Before we give our children new tech we need to ask three questions:Is it safe?Is my child ready?Is the fruit good?Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4bfWawm 

Parenting is an impossible task, and God knows this. We don't need to be perfect. We can do three things today to love our children well and do our job as parents:1. Make time for them. 2. Correct them in love (discipline)3. Point them to Christ.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/46DuXCp 

Everyone listening to this podcast knows someone who has been hurt by this content. So how do we parent it well? Parenting p*rnography well is scary, but it can be done with hope. We can build hedges around our tech and our families to help us raise healthy youth in a tech world. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3ZSU9RA 

I've been at a conference this week with thousands of Jesus loving people from around the country, and the conversation on walking in freedom from pornography is relevant and needed. It is relevant because people are hungry to see themselves, or their brothers and sisters in Christ, walk in the freedom Christ has won for them. It is needed because few churches are having this conversation well. We love to talk about how someone used to struggle, and we love to talk about how we should never view it in the first place. We don't often get into how we can walk in freedom if we are currently struggling.This episode can help us change that.Please listen, share, and then pray about how the Lord is asking you to engage the body of Christ to see all of our members free from the bonds of sin, and walking in the freedom Christ has won for us.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3ZCFXfr 

CONTENT WARNING: We’re diving into the tough but important topic of parenting in an AI-shaped world, and while younger kids probably shouldn’t listen in, this could be a great conversation to share with your middle or high schoolers so it feels more like learning together than an interrogation. My hope is that this equips you to parent well as we raise kids in a world shaped by AI. Today we continue our conversation on parenting AI with a look at deepfakes and s**tortion. These are big topics that have an outsized impact on children. We need to know what they are, how they happen, and what to do if our child is targeted. The goal is to be a present, and informed, parent so that your children they need to grow.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4qfOCiG 

CONTENT WARNING:We’re diving into the tough but important topic of parenting in an AI-shaped world, and while younger kids probably shouldn’t listen in, this could be a great conversation to share with your middle or high schoolers so it feels more like learning together than an interrogation. My hope is that this equips you to parent well as we raise kids in a world shaped by AI.The first step to parenting AI well is to know what is out there. Relational AI is an AI assistant designed to be a sort of digital companion. There are many drawbacks to how it is current designed, and Common Sense Media says these are so unsafe they shouldn't be used by anyone under the age of 18. That's concerning because 3/5 teens use them, and 1/3 say they like them as much or more than real life people.Today's conversation will equip you to begin parenting this tech well from hope, and with a proper respect for the possible dangers it presents.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/49ViagB 

Is your child ready to play video games? If they already play, how do you know if it's going well. First we need to look at our children in real-world activities, because if they're faithful in little they can be faithful in much, and then assess their RESET to ensure the tech they use produces good fruit. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/45OiGKP 

We make three mistakes when parenting video games.We focus on whether it will be fun.We believe the lie of the "digital cul de sac"We take the path of least resistanceThe good news is that each of these have simple, if not easy, fixes! We can focus on the high priorities, build healthy real-world friendships, and choose the activities that make our children more of who God has created them to be.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/45f5239 

You can parent a smartphone well. This episode will help. Before you start, ensure that this tech is safe (enough) for your child, that your child is ready, and then keep an eye out for good fruit coming from it. After that, parenting a smartphone comes down to building hedges around your family, the device, and remembering that your network hedge doesn't effect a smartphone.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4qJKnMS 

I've had several conversations with people recently where they've asked about how Anna and I started this ministry. As we look at a new year, and new resolutions, I want to talk through what it looks like for us to follow where God leads in 2026. Show Notes: 

Happy almost-New Year! You, the listener, have been an amazing blessing to me and to this ministry this year, and I want to share a bit of what God has been doing and where we are headed this next year.

I love Christmas because it is one of the few remaining buttresses of Christian virtue left in America. Everyone in America understands the idea of lavish gifts, of the frailty of gifts alone to make the recipient happy, and how beautiful it is to give a good gift to someone you love. Today we remember how Christmas fulfills a promise of God, and how it is one of three Advents God has promised to bring us for His glory and our good.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4qtjVXX 

Grace is key to parenting tech well, and to overcoming unhealthy tech habits. Grace is costly, grace overcomes wrath / judgement at mistakes (specifically God's wrath at sin), and grace demands a response. By understanding God's idea of grace we can better apply it to ourselves and to our children when parenting tech.Show Notes: 

The good news of the Gospel applies even to our tech lives. Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son is a beautiful reminder that in tech, as in life, there are three types of people: rebels, self-righteous, and saints.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4ptaQ1a 

We are new creations in Christ, and that means we will use tech differently. The question is, which tech needs to be redeemed, and which needs to be removed?Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3LSF1Qk 

We fail a lot as parents. God doesn't call us to be perfect, but to be faithful. Through intentional repentance, confession, and prayer God can overcome the mistakes we make and even use our brokenness to bring his kingdom.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/43DdLvo 

In Christ we are new creations (2 Cor. 5:17), and that must change the way we parent our children. We must speak gently, act rightly, be generous with our time, energy, and resources, and think of our children the way God thinks of us. This is an act of the will, for sure, but it's only truly possible through the active working of God's Holy Spirit giving us the heart and will to love as he calls us.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/49fQFyl 

As we look towards Christmas and the greatest gift God gave us in his Son, we need to think intentionally about how we can give our children the best gifts. Namely, we want to give the egg, not the scorpion (Luke 11:11). Today we continue our conversation about Analog Adventures this Christmas, and get into how these this Christmas can be a time to focus on fun at the pace of real life. Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3WO7A3O 

Giving good gifts is a gift and responsibility as a parent (Just see Luke 11:11). This Christmas we can give our children amazing gifts that inspire, encourage, and equip them to have fun at the pace of real life. That's right, we're talking Analog Adventures! Over the next two weeks we'll discuss Board Games, Art, Competitive Fun, Books, and STEM.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3X7gpFN 

While nerds are great at lots of things, we can struggle being present, knowing our limits with tech use, and generally submitting to God's kingdom and not our own. It is easy, in Tolkien's words, to move from Escaping to a better Reality towards Deserting the call God has put on our lives. The problem, at the end of the day, isn't that we haven't made a good enough reality yet, but that our world is broken and needs the great Restorer.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/47BNX4U 

Nerds are amazing at experiencing wonder, seeing past the mundane into the Reality God has made, and avoiding the typical traps that come with pursuing purpose in the daily grind. Today we'll celebrate how God has made nerds, and how you as a parents can celebrate your child, your own nerdiness, or maybe even grow in the area of faithful imagination.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4h99rJE 

Sometimes the hardest part of healthy screen time is knowing what to do instead. So how do we know if our child has too much screen time, and what can we do instead? There are three questions we need to ask, and then four activities we can use to quickly point our children back to analog adventures.  1. Are screens babysitting?  2. Does my child content with screen time?  3. Is tech a consistent battle for our family?The average school-aged child has six "blocks" of discretionary time a day. We will look at four possible analog adventures: books, board games, art, and baking.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4nNUQWC 

Have you quit praying? Think about the last week: What happened when you saw that last horrible news article, or video on SM, or had someone at work tell you about another heart-rending tragedy. What did you do? If you're anything like me, you didn't pray. You might've shrugged, or cried a little, or made a snarky remark (also more like me than the other two)--but if you're like me, you didn't pray. Our lack of prayer shows we are forgetting just who it is we serve. We serve a God who is:A good fatherCreator God of everythingCalling us to kingdom workWe pray to see His will be done and His kingdom come. Let us not give up in doing what is good, but instead to pray without ceasing, even if it means we pray about our lack of desire to pray.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4pS7m8R 

There are three unique struggles on social media thanks to the advent of AI:Bots and the Dead InternetSo much p*rnProblems with Reality RetentionThere are three steps we can take today:Step 1: Get internet out of the bedroom.Step 2: Get your family hedges setup — start talking about this!Ask your child: Have they seen AI generated content? How can they tell what is real and what is fake?For younger children: Let’s play a game called “real” v. “story”. .Elsa and Frozen, Vacation we went on as a familyStep 3: Get off the internet. If you’re under the age of 16 you don’t need SM. If you’re under 15, you don’t need a smartphone.Show Notes: https://bit.ly/4pCrZWn