CryptoConversion

Hosting the conversation for Christians in web3

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

New episode drop with @KlenkStuart discussing and contrasting Vaclav Benda's vision of the Parallel Polis with Rod Dreher's Benedict Option. Join us as we strategize for the Christian future!

Links below 👇

[Connor Mahoney @CConnorMahoney]

Christians have been bullied into believing faith has no place in the public square. This is a lie!

Since the earliest days Christians have been taking their faith to the streets.

We need to be going CRAZY with public demonstrations. Our culture needs Christ! 👏🔥✝️

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@KlenkStuart Youtube: https://t.co/StjjDYBv5C
Spotify: https://t.co/qPAoTdXNwN

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

New episode drop with @KlenkStuart discussing and contrasting Vaclav Benda's vision of the Parallel Polis with Rod Dreher's Benedict Option. Join us as we strategize for the Christian future!

Links below 👇

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Shhh 🤫 the AI is praying 🙏

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Tonight we're live! Join for a conversation about ETH Denver, Bitcoin Building and much more?

https://t.co/PrwfiLex8g

[Connor Mahoney @CConnorMahoney]

🚨𝐀𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐁𝐔𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒 🚨

Christian Futurism space THIS SUNDAY @ 5:30pm EST with @Valuable @singularityhack @ZyMazza and YOU 🫵

On topic for discussion: WHAT we are building and WHY we are building 🕊️

Christian Futurists 🤝 Techno Optimists 🤝 e/acc

The CHRISTIAN Future is inevitable ✝️

Christ is King 👑

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@codemana18 @jordanbush @ThankGodForBTC Yes. See the episode link pinned to our profile

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Dropping imminently!

Excited to feature @jordanbush of @ThankGodForBTC on the podcast to talk about a Christian vision of our emerging monetary future.

Also, is NASA Satanic!?!?

We discuss!

[Jordan Bush @jordanbush]

Grateful for the invitation from the @CrypConvNet guys. We disagree a fair bit (which generally makes for good podcasting), including re the value of NASA, Space-X, and space travel more broadly.

It was one of my favorite interviews to date, and I think it will spur good conversation and faithful thinking.

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@jordanbush Thanks for joining us Jordan!

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@jordanbush Also had something to do with Bitcoin, lol

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

New episode is out with @jordanbush! We discussed #Bitcoin, @ThankGodForBTC & so much more. Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify!

YouTube: https://t.co/froOw5FvrB

Spotify: https://t.co/yIglC7XDAR

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Check out the latest episode featuring @kevvo_B! We had a great conversation about @faithtechhub.

Watch on YouTube or listen on Spotify.

YouTube: https://t.co/7hgX75z60W

Spotify: https://t.co/pXucRHt736

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Episode with @kevvo_B of @faithtechhub dropping soon!

Faith Tech is building a network of Christian tech builders.

We discuss Google culture, emerging tech, and building the Christian future 🚀

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@tjiijima God bless TJ!

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

Incredible! #Bitcoin #BitcoinCulture #SATOSHI

[PulpitAI @PulpitAI]

The Future of Church Tech
A Manifesto

Welcome to the Next Generation

The Church stands on the edge of a revolutionary shift in the technological landscape, unlike anything we have seen since the 16th century. We have already experienced a disorienting period of explosive growth, and everyone seems to be holding their breath, waiting to see what comes next. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt dominate many discussions of the future, as assumptions of what is possible shatter daily. Both inside and outside the Church, many seem convinced that the (real and imagined) dangers and struggle ahead of us are too massive to be understood or navigated.

It is the considered and prayerful opinion of The New Printing Press that this is complete nonsense.

This Isn't Unprecedented

You see, we've been here before. Many times, actually. It seems that throughout Church history, each new leap forward in technological progress causes some to despair and argue for a complete opt out. Inevitably, many choose to bury their heads in the sand and pretend the world will stop turning. Until, that is, a decade or so passes. Then the new technology isn't so new anymore, and it feels safe to uncritically adopt the most cringe iterations. And then defend them with all the fury of nostalgia as soon as anything new comes along to disrupt the very "traditions" that terrified us so recently.

This cycle has played out in written media (printing press, newspaper, social media), music (organ, piano, electric guitar), and is starting over in the AI space. Remember this cycle next time you see someone insist that AI (or whatever comes next) is "unprecedented." Technology is not some uncontrolled, alien interloper that threatens to destabilize God's natural world and His Church. Technology, from the first days of written communication, is the tool God has given to us to spread His Word.

Church Technological History

Medieval believers used the bound codex. Then the next generation realized the explosive potential of the moveable type printing press. Despite the widespread fears of unknown dangers present in this new technology, believers occupied the cutting edge of its development. They ignored the doomers predicting uncontrolled chaos and even the incumbent authorities demanding that all this potential be completely ignored. Martyrs gave their lives so that the Gospel could reach anyone and everyone, in their own home and native language. Wars were fought over the terrifying possibility that every Christian could interpret the Bible and follow their conscience, aided by revolutionary technological developments making this possible.

The Church would never be the same. In fact, God used this explosive shock to drive the Gospel forward in a new way. The Church went on to harness and dominate the arena of the printed word, and Christian publishing continues to provide edification and instruction for billions today. Individuals able to see the potential and drive early adoption placed the Church in the position of shaping the technology from its earliest days.

If Not Us...

But the Church hasn't played this foundational role in each generational technology. Often, uncertainty has caused the majority of churches to ignore or actively suppress a technology until the early adoption and even wide adoption phases have already passed. The results are familiar by now, if unfortunate. By the time believers recognize that television or social media isn't going to disappear and realize that it has positive use cases, the technologies have already been completely shaped from their earliest days by the world. The use cases, design, goals and methods of the technology have already been formed by people whose ultimate goal is not the spread of the Kingdom.

We don't have to look very far to see the results. God is greater than man, and the Church often still makes powerful use of these technologies (think of Billy Graham's pioneering use of television for example). But they often feel like awkward retrofits, struggling against the base-layer design decisions of the technology. If you've ever attempted to plan out your church's social media usage, you've experienced this exact struggle. The goals of evangelism and discipleship can be furthered through wise and careful use of the tool, but they aren't exactly what the tool was designed to do. Because we didn't design Facebook or Tiktok.

Answer the Call

Our generation, just like past generations, faces a newly unfolding landscape of technologies, some of which seem to hold promise and peril in equal measure. Our early engagement with technological revolutions is a crucial make or break period. We have the responsibility to go into all the earth and subdue it in the name of Jesus. To shrink from this command of God is not wisdom, but disobedience. The World needs the Church, because we have been given God's truth and wisdom, and are filled with His Holy Spirit. We are uniquely able to understand the ethical and human questions involved here. In Christ, we can build a good future.

Mindless optimism won't get us where we want to go. We cannot and should not embrace every possible tool or use case. Wisdom is our calling, as well as courage. But we must accept the responsibility of God's call to dominion. To honor God with our lives by building the future He desires for our children requires a Church engaged with, not just the correct use of technology, but the very formation of technological primitives. What better offering to our Lord in a technological age than tools fashioned by the prayerful minds of Christians animated to work by the same Spirit that filled Bezalel, tools fashioned specifically for Kingdom goals? The opportunity that stands before the Church today is the same that stood before the Reformers confronting the explosive power of the moveable type press. By our participation in the earliest days of today's technological toys, we can shape their development for tomorrow. In so doing, we allow the Church to have an active role in tomorrow's technological landscape.

This is going to require enormous amounts of hope, hard work, and grace for one another. Not everyone will agree with one another on the best tools to use or how they should be developed. This is a feature, not a bug. Just as in other areas of God's Church, we should expect large amounts of positive diversity in our approach to technological futurism. By allowing each other to experiment and even fail, we will be ensuring many fruitful lines of exploration to bless our children.

Local Church First

Ok this is all very nice in the abstract. How could ever practically hope to get there? At Pulpit, we believe that the prime mover of progress and adaptation in the Church continues to be the local Body of Christ, as guided by the local church pastor. We love them, serve them and believe in their unique giftings to crush this mission. We love their unique and specific vision, the hard-earned wisdom that they bring to any ministry endeavor, and the practical considerations that keep them focused. They are the operators on the ground, in the field, dispelling myths with hard experience. We think that they are fully capable, not only of selecting for themselves the tools suited for their missional environment, but of contributing to the future by calling for and shaping the tools they really need. They can already see over the horizon to what the emerging needs and circumstances will be, and their vanguard pioneering role is vital input that builders would do well to heed. Want to see what the Church of the future will look like? The quickest way would be to ask your pastor what he sees coming, and how he feels called to prepare.

The Christian Builder

Now, this doesn't mean that pastors always have the time or inclination to build this future. In fact, some are so overwhelmed by the daily demands of ministry that they are even tempted to resist technological progress and the adaptation it entails. But that is where the Christian builder steps in. As servants of local ministers, we are called to lift their hands and provide the structure and vision they need to navigate the evolving landscape. We want to translate their operator's savvy into strategic plans for development of new tools and weapons for the fight. We are in the business of arming the local church pastor with Gospel-advancing weaponry powerful enough to make the past generations jealous. We believe that they have the wisdom to know how these tools should be best deployed.

We see God bringing to the forefront a new generation of optimistic founders, creators, experimenters and builders. We feel strongly that the time is now to exercise holy imagination. What might God want the Church to look like in five decades? What tools and techniques might we use to spread the unchanging message of the Gospel? How can we learn from past generations' successes and failures as we move forward? This is our calling. We've spent long enough afraid of the consequences of engagement. No more shirking our stewardship.

Start the presses.

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

This will be a big one!

[Jordan Bush @jordanbush]

@Lopp has generously offered to come on the @ThankGodForBTC podcast next week to discuss some of these issues. In the meantime, these tweets are making the task of setting an outline for the episode refreshingly easy.

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

@jimmysong please unblock @CryptoPengFun. He is a good Christian brother and just got carried away because he likes bitvm.

Thank you @jimmysong, and God Bless 🙏

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

We stand with @jimmysong in this fight ✊✝️

Unfortunately our co-host @CryptoPengFun is missing this because he got himself blocked by Jimmy.

F's in the comments for Matt 😢

[CryptoConversion @CrypConvNet]

We stand with @jimmysong in this fight ✊✝️

Unfortunately our co-host @CryptoPengFun is missing this because he got himself blocked by Jimmy.

F's in the comments for Matt 😢

[Jimmy Song (송재준) @jimmysong]

@lopp That's like saying Bitcoin is a monetary gun to your head threatening you with eternal debasement.

The choice to buy Bitcoin is yours. The choice to follow God is yours. The consequences are what they are, there are no threats.