Tech Tips: Using Technology to Strengthen Your Faith
Too often, technology gets a bad rap with many Christians. Unquestioningly, there are many temptations associated with technology. But technology is simply a tool. And like any tool, it can be used for good or for evil. Here are some of the ways I use technology to to learn, grow, and strengthen my faith…
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Christian Tech Tips:
1. Podcasts – I absolutely love listening to podcasts. I find it to be a much better use of my time than simply listening to music on the radio. Some of the podcasts I listen to are from New Testament Christians, others are just encouraging leaders.
Although, I used to simply download podcasts from iTunes, I now use an app on my iPhone called Downcast. To me, it is well worth the $1.99. It downloads all of my podcasts when they’re published. Here are a few of the encouraging podcasts to which I subscribe:
Chris Gallagher’s “Preacher’s Pen Podcast“
Several shows from the Equip Network (my favorite is probably “Ministry Geek This Week“)
Michael Hyatt’s “This is Your Life“
2. Social Networking – I have used facebook for several years, and have just recently started to get into twitter. I find these social networks to be enormously encouraging. Of course, your experience with these tools will depend on the people with whom you connect and how you use them. Here are some suggestions:
Follow people who encourage and strengthen you. You can decide who to follow on twitter and with whom to be friends on facebook. Choose wisely.
Use it to be encouraged, but also to encourage others. Post positive things that will help, both your Christian and non-Christian, friends, family, and followers.
If people are posting worldly or discouraging content, unsubscribe from them. On facebook, you don’t even have to stop being friends to unsubscribe from their updates. Simply go to the person’s profile page, hover over the “friends” button, then deselect “show in news feed” on the drop down menu. This way, they still see your encouraging updates, but you don’t have to see theirs.
Limit your time on these sites. They can be fun, they can be encouraging, but they can also be a waste of time. Decide how much time you’ll spend on these sites and discipline yourself. If you need a little help, there is a cool plugin for the Google Chrome browser called “Stay Focused.” It will let you set how much time you want to spend on particular sites, then it will block those sites once that time has been exhausted.
3. Blogs – There are several blogs I follow regularly and love to read. I used to depend on seeing a link to a new blog post on twitter or facebook; now I use google reader to let me know when a new post has been published. These are links to blog feeds, if you start a google reader account, you can copy and paste the feed URL into the subscribe box and you’ll be able to read them all in one convenient place. These are just a sampling of the blog feeds to which I subscribe:
Baptism365 – News about those baptized into Christ, throughout the world.
Christian Courier – Wayne Jackson’s site.
Daniel Howell – Great ministry tech advice.
Forthright Magazine – Some great articles on various biblical topics.
Sam’s Noggin – If you homeschool, you should definitely be aware of this great blog!
Colley House – Fantastic posts about faith and family.
Faughn Family of Four – Great posts from Adam Faughn.
The Morning Drive – Love Scott’s Monday posts about marriage!
These are just a few of the ways I use technology tools to grow in my faith. Feel free to share some of your thoughts, tips, and advice in the comments section below.
I love you and the God who made all this technology possible loves you,
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