Global AI Moves, Church Lessons: What Nvidia, Grok, and Google Mean for Ministry

Everybody, welcome to tech with that tech pastor. I am Justin Lester. I love to call myself that tech pastor. And this week, we're gonna go global. So last week we took some time to talk about Zuckerberg and about everything going on in tech in terms of hiring and how you can get super teams in your church. And so this week, I want to look at the global market. So we're going to talk a little bit about Nvidia chips, going back to China to Google, the state of Virginia, training people in AI. So for me, really, this isn't just news. I think it's more of a mirror to all of us because what's happening in Silicon Valley and across the world is telling us something about how we lead our churches, how we equip our people, and how we can steward this digital space in this digital era. So we're going to go through, like we always do, five of the top AI headlines, what it means for your church. We're going to engage them, what they mean for the tech space, what they mean for the local church. And then I want to give you our tpc, a tool to try, a prompt to play with, and a challenge that I'll give you as you go forward to play with your church's AI readiness, maybe your business's AI readiness. So as we jump into this, you guys already know what to do. Click the like button, hit the subscribe button and turn on notifications as well. All right, welcome to tech with that tech pastor. My name is Justin Lester. Let's get into our news today, Black pastor, and you're looking for a GPT that is catered to you to help you craft sermons and do pastoral care and do work. Well, I got made one for you. It's called Pastor GPT and it's made for black pastors and black church leaders by a black pastor. In here you have formative space, formative ways to engage with your preaching, your teaching, your pastoral care, or all for black congregations, black people and black pastors. Now, anybody can use it, but it's crafted especially for black people to have a space to do their own thing and to engage holistically as black individuals. So please go to pastorgpt Co and take a look at it. There's subscription models. There's a free model where you get five conversations a month. There's a first tier where you get 50 conversations a month and a second tier where you get up to 150 conversations a month. Take a look. Try it out. The. The goal of it is to give black Pastors and church leaders. A space to bleed black. Pastors and church leaders. I look forward to engaging with you in what pastor GPT can do for you, for your future, for our churches, and for all the God's calling. So, number one, so the United States lifts the Nvidia chip ban to China. So here's what happened. The United States government reversed a restriction that previously blocked Nvidia from exporting its H20AI chips to China. And these chips power major AI models that were considered very high risk for military use. So now Nvidia can resume selling to Chinese firms. So what this means for the tech world is that it's a signal that the global AI arms race is not slowing down, it's actually heating up. China's access to high performance chips means more competition, more innovation, and more than likely more pressure on United States companies to stay ahead. So what does it mean for our churches? Well, we use cloud platforms. Most of our churches do. Whether it's Apple, whether it's Google, whether it's any of our workspaces, we use platforms powered by these chips. So if the global competition over these chips intensifies, server costs are going to spike. And more importantly, the church has to start thinking about what I like to call digital sovereignty. Are we building on platforms we can trust? And do we even know where our data lives? So the takeaway for me is this. Know where your church's data is stored. Ask is your live stream your giving platform or your AI tool hosted in a place that aligns with your ethics and aligns with your values? Story number two. So Elon Musk's Grok AI wins a Pentagon deal. So what happened is this Musk AI chatbot, Grok just secured a United States defense contract. The problem is Grok has already been flagged for unstable and unpredictable responses. So Musk has shown little concern about community input. So this matters in tech because trust and you know, Musk, it's a system known for chaos and misinformation, has easy access to critical infrastructure and planning. It can set a precedent that we are prioritizing speed and fame over reliability. And so what does this mean for the church? We're entering a season where your AI tools will feel helpful, but they're not always going to be safe in this arms race. So Grok's contract reminds us that just because something is powerful doesn't mean we can use it. So vet every AI tool your church uses. I've been saying this for weeks now. Ensure not you're not asking the questions of Just like, what can it do for you? But ask the questions of who built it? What's their track record? What's this company doing? Is this company just getting big to sell? Are they just taking your data? Be intentional about tools that align with the mission of your church. Number three, Zuckerberg's $100 million war on talent. I've been talking about this because it's so vital. You guys already know Zuckerberg was recruiting OpenAI researchers with bonuses as high as $100 million when he form new superintelligence team to push Meta at the head at the forefront of the tech race. Now I'm keep bringing this up because talent, talent, talent matters. In AI, it's not just about tools, it's about people. Whoever has the best thinkers has the best system. If Meta is willing to pay that much for brain power, how are you treating people on your own team? From your sound tech to your Sunday school teacher, are they seen, are they supported, are they developed? Or you just bring people in to burn them out? So if your volunteers don't feel valued, they're going to walk. Now, while many churches are not able to match $100 million a year for one person, we can match honor, purpose and growth. All right, number four, India's Karnataka launches a statewide AI mission. So the government of Karnataka, I can't really pronounce it all the way, but it's in India launched a state level AI initiative. This includes workforce training, startup support and policy development to scale innovation at every level from rural spaces to corporate spaces. Now this matters in tech because in a first state driven grassroots level AI mission of its kind, it shows how governments are trying to localize tech for real people, not just corporations. So imagine if a church nomination did this. Imagine if a church nomination trained pastors in AI. Like helped rural congregations use chatbots or helped people get Internet in rural spaces, offered startup support to tech entrepreneurs. I think that's what the church should be doing. I think liberation looks completely different in this era. So the takeaway for me is we don't need to think like movements. Sorry. We need to think not just like ministries, but like movements. Every church could be innovation center. We have buildings that we don't use for five to six days a week. We can be innovation centers. We can equip our people not just with Bibles, but with tools for the future. Then lastly, Google is partnering with Virginia to host AI job training. So Google announced a partnership with the state of Virginia to offer AI training and certifications to cover 10,000 people. They're teaching people how to use AI ethically and strategically and practically. Now this is workforce empowerment at scale. In my opinion. The message is very clear to the people and to all of us. The future isn't just for coders. It's a person who knows how to ask better questions faster. So what does it mean for the church? We've got church members who think AI is not for them and this proves otherwise. If the government is willing to help regular people get AI literate, I think we need to do the same on our discipleship and leadership pipelines. So offer AI literacy sessions for your church, offer 60 minute workshops to shift your congregation, how they view the world for the future. Shameless plug. I would love to come in and teach your church on it. All right, so that's our five news stories today. I think it's some important things to know. There's a lot of things happening globally, but I think those global, global stories have local implications and something that you can do for you. So we'll be right back and we're going to go through our tool of the week. Then we'll go through our prompt to try and then we have our challenge of the week. I want to tell you about something. So this August, I'm having a conference here in Napa, California called Theotech. Theotech is a first of its kind conference where we're coming together to merge theology and technology. A conference for the courageous. We have individuals from LinkedIn, Apple and Google coming in to speak with us and engage with us. Even the leader of the black AI think tank is wanting to speak as well. We're going to have a preach a hackathon on Friday. People from givelify and Glue and pushpay and right now media will also be here as well. It's going to be really a lot of fun. It's not a bunch of sales pitches. Rather it's organizations and companies and people who I believe are going to leave an indelible mark on our communities. Indelible mark on our future, indelible mark on our culture. So if you want to come, here's what I want to do. I want to give you code here for the month of July called Friday, each and every Friday. But for you and my podcast, you also guys get this user code Friday, you get $150 off your ticket comes down to 249 and you build a come on out. So please come on out to Theotech this, this summer, August 13th, the 15th, in that beautiful Napa Valley, California. I would love to have you in the place as we have some fun diving into the merging of theology and technology in a conference with the courageous. All right, welcome back. Tech with thy tech Pastor. Listen, our tool of the week is this. I have been enamored with this new tool called DIA from the browser company. It's a. It's a browser. So AI browsers, I think, are really gonna become the next big thing with agentic work. So now AI browsers that are working in tandem with you. And so the one big one out there that I don't have access to because it costs way too much money for me right now is Perplexity's comment. I've heard nothing but good things about Perplexity's comment, but the one I have and the one that I'm playing with the most is DIA from the browser company. So it's this new AI browser from browser company and it literally like you can be on YouTube and you can search the transcript of the YouTube video. So I don't even watch many YouTube videos unless I just want to be entertained because I can just search the transcript and tell me what exactly what happened. There's so many like you can. I have notifications up in the morning. I have a devotional that's set for me in the morning. I have challenges throughout the day. I have a challenge in the middle of the day. Things in days with to summarize articles and manage tabs. It takes away ads from me on websites. It's super cool and I don't even have to leave the page I'm on. And the tabs look great, the UI is great, and you're seeing these a lot more. So no Perplexity comments out. I was playing around with arc. There's another one called Mirror. I think AI browsers are really going to be a big thing. I heard ChatGPT is building their own browser as well, which then challenges Chrome and challenges Safari with AI tools. And with Apple just deciding to not be a part of the AI race, there's going to be a lot of room for the taking. So how do you use this on a regular basis? I think you can use this to help create documents, to have conversations with things, to build curriculum that Instead of opening 15 different tabs and five different tools, you can use this one AI browser to get everything for you and it does it right in front of you. And it's free. So here's a prompt you can try inside of DIA if you want to get one or your AI browsers, whether it's mirror arc, Comet, dia. You're my ministry strategist. Summarize the top three takeaways from India's AI mission that can apply to building AI literacy in a small to mid sized church and provide practical examples. Go try that mega prompt if you will. And here's my challenge for you. So our tool was dia, that was our prompt. And here's our challenge. I want you to run the prompt I just gave you, number one. Number two, I want you to use what it gives you to draft a one page AI training resource for your team. How can you train people in your space to use this and then post it or share it or just have a chance to go play around with them and have some fun? And if you do post it and tag me in it, I'll hopefully get a chance to respond to you and engage with you. All right, so here's the thing. We're done. This proves one thing. AI is not slowing down. Governments are funding it, billionaires are racing for it, and everyone is trying to be best trained for it. Evil all the way down to Google, going to Virginia. So while the world is chasing power, we remember that as Christians, we're not chasing power, we're owning. We have purpose. That when we use stories and we have stories, it's not just to inform things, but to be sure we're changing the world. We change how people build, we change how people serve, and we change how people lead. So I want to challenge you. Take these new stories and take them to heart and turn them into action. Don't just listen to them, but lead with them. So until next time, I'll see you guys. This is tech with that tech pastor. I'm Justin Lester. I'll see you soon.