Why Tech Needs A Pastor

You listening to Tech with that Tech Pastor? My name is Justin Lester, or Reverend Dr. Justin Lester, where theology meets technology and faith meets function. And I want to spend some time in this podcast talking through so many different areas. And so this is the inaugural episode of Tech with that Tech Pastor and I'm so glad you're tuning with us today. I want to give you an overview of what this podcast is, a little bit about me, if you will, and then we'll dive into what the topics we're going to cover for our first month are going to look like and then go forward with it. I'm grateful. My goal is to run this once a week and so we'll see how God allows us to grow and to have guests on and all of that. So this month you're going to get me as we dive into setting a foundation and baseline for what this podcast is all about. So welcome to Tech with that Tech Pastor. So one why Tech needs a Pastor. So let me just set the tone for this podcast and I wanted to share with everyone just who I am, what I'm here for, why you should follow and subscribe. So a number of you probably are already on my Instagram, my TikTok, and you're tuned into this because you've seen the promos for it, you see me talk about it. Thank you for tuning in. For those of you who don't know who I am, let me explain who I am. My name is Reverend Dr. Justin Lester. I grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I went to school at Marquette University, Vanderbilt University, and then got my Doctorate of Ministry at Boston University. God has privileged me to pastor across the country. Currently I pastor Friendship Baptist Church in Vallejo, California, where I'm privileged to serve some of God's favorite people. And the cool thing is the location of my church speaks to some of my passions. My passion is to understand the intersection of faith and technology. I pastor in the Bay Area, about an hour or so away from San Jose. San Jose, as you guys know, is the midpoint, the main spot of Silicon Valley. And that speaks to all those different technology companies. So you have Cupertino, Palo Alto, all of those. And so some members of my church are in that, but also my passions are in it. And to you where this came from 2008, when I first said yes to Jesus in terms of full time ministry, the Lord told me very clearly that I would pastor in California. When and where I didn't know. But eventually it happened. And what happened is God allowed me to move all the way to California, because we're on the verge of the next Great Awakening. And the next Great Awakening for us is going to be. We'll have this in a later episode where it talks through. There's a couple of things that happen to happen. Political turmoil, generational changes, financial increases and changes in our community that speak to the evolution of a community which then is an awakening and need for Christ. And so when I moved here, I knew that we were on the verge of the next Great Awakening, the fifth Great Awakening. And so I've been. It's been exciting to pastor here and to see so many things. I've been able to go to Nvidia's conference and go to AI conferences, Enterprise generated AI conferences, Blackest tech, all of those. And I'm actually putting on one of my own called Theo Tech later this year that I'd love to have you a part of. And so for me, that's really who I am, my baseline, all of that. And for me, the main thing too with this is that technology is not evil. I look at technology like this. I look at the techniques around technology, that our technique is actually a form of technology. And so when we look at our techniques, the uniqueness, the ways that we're able to code our lives and code our leadership, to me, that's a form of technology. So it's not just tech, but our technique is a form of technology. And so tech is not evil, but it sure isn't neutral. And so my goal is to stand at the intersection not only of faith in technology, but also I'm a black leader. And so I stand at the intersection of bias and neutrality and understanding of people to ensure that people are part of it. And so every code base has a creator, and so do you. And so that's where I come in, where it comes to who Jesus is and who God is, that we are made in his image, and then also how we apply this work. So for me, there's a couple things I think I want us to see here. One, not only am I a pastor who's passionate about this, but I'm also passionate for those of you who are in the field for technologists. What I've recognized in my time pastoring is that oftentimes scientists and leaders like that get thrown away. You're thrown to the tech team, you're doing TikToks and you're doing fun things in church instead of being the leader that you are. And so I want to have a space where as a pastor, I'm able to acknowledge that you matter, you are important, you are valuable. That your dreams, your goals and your gifts are important to the world. Because of that, I think the world needs pastors in the AI space and I feel those AI leaders need pastors as well. I read an article a while ago that talked about how some technology companies are looking for chaplains. And so for me it's to be that. And so this birth and made me, if you will, hit record on the mixtape to start something to engage in this. And so my research going back to BU was on gamification, how we gamify our churches. And one of the tools of gamification is a tool, artificial intelligence. I became very interested in how we build and it goes to my background in ui UX and qualitative and quantitative research and data driven institutions, which I'll talk about in the course of our episodes. So the what what are you going to get in this podcast? You're going to get me to talk about faith. I'm going to always bring up faith. That's just who I am, a person who believes in Jesus, I the Lord Jesus Christ, and I trust the Lord Jesus. So I'm going to talk about faith and leadership. And for those of you who are not faith filled people, there's a lot for you in that, even if you're not a person of faith as well. And then for those of you who are people of faith, we're going to talk about faith and leadership. Technology works of that nature. And I think this podcast is for anyone. So if you're a pastor, if you're an entrepreneur, if you're a parent, if you're a creator, if you're a husband, if you're a wife, this is for you to have a space to dive into the world, your faith understanding and hopefully give you 10 to 15 minutes. Sometimes they'll be longer. We have guests have a chance to have a conversation to think about what's going on, what technology in this merging intersection is and what's possible for the future. So my goal here always is to leave you with a couple of things. I want to leave you with a prompt to try. I want to leave you with a tool to try as well. And so I'm gonna give you a truth and talk about this, but give you a prompt and a tool to try each and every week. So for this week I want you to think about this. If there's a prompt I'd have you to try. That prompt would be very simple. Some of the lines of let's see based upon all the memories that you have about me. Give me a three day leadership guide to perfect one area of my life. So go on your large language model and say based upon the memories you have with me, give me a three day guide to perfect one area of myself. There's a tool I want you to try. It's a tool called Napkin AI. Napkin AI is an amazing tool. Napkin AI, you're able to go in and be able to put a link in or put a blog in and you're able to get a entire infographic from what you put in. So go try Napkin AI and then go ahead as well when you do so and try the prompt as well. Give me a three day guide to learn something about myself over the next three days to perfect it. So that's our podcast. That's the first one we have. My goal, like I said, this podcast I'm committed to do for at least two years to give you something, some insight, some thoughts on artificial intelligence and ministry. Sometimes we'll have guests, sometimes it'll just be me. This first month will just be me. But I hope you like and subscribe and share this with someone as we talk about tech with that tech pastor to give you tools, tips and tricks on next week we're going to talk about five ways AI can bless your workflow and not steal your soul. I think it'll be worthwhile for you to be here. So that's our podcast today. Thank you for tuning in with me. I look forward to seeing you next week here at Tech with that tech pastor. God bless you. Thanks for vibing with me at Tech with that tech pastor. I'm so glad you're here. Hope this episode blessed you and if it challenged you, made you rethink something or think about something different, do me a favor. Like it. Share it and leave a review if you will at the end. Or and tag me on Instagram at thattechpastor. Tag me on TikTok. Thatperiodtechperiodpastor. If you got a question for future episode DM me or leave it in the comments on YouTube and drop a comment in there on YouTube if you will. Or DM me if you will on Instagram or on TikTok. I would love to hear from you and follow up with all of you to know that you're with me. Until next time. Keep building. Keep believing. Don't let the algorithm be your shepherd. Peace. Love gigabytes. Peace.