Who’s on this episode?
Jeff Strommen @jstrommen | Dave Wager @wagerdaw | Pastor Kirk Gerbers @kirkgerbers | Sarah Gerbers @sarahbeth_gerbers
Podcast: Download
Take a look around. Someone somewhere is taking a selfie right now. They might be wearing a Chewbacca mask, too. Chances are, they’re taking 100 photos just for one measly Instagram. That’s what life has become – one measly, filtered, selfie-centered photo. Is there anyone who will risk it all to live an unfiltered life? This week, Jeff and Dave sit down with Kirk and Sarah Gerbers, youth pastors from Destiny Church in De Pere, Wisconsin.
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Show Notes
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Kirk & Sarah Gerbers
Kirk is a youth pastor of over 10 years. Born and raised in Green Bay, Kirk spent some years in Flint, Michigan and has been youth pastoring in De Pere, Wisconsin since 2013. He is on Twitter, but as you will find out in this week’s episode, he would rather be face-to-face than thumb-to-thumb.
Sarah is a professional photographer and owns Selah Photography. Born in Milwaukee, she met Kirk in college and the rest is history. In her time on social media, Sarah has found the good and the bad. She was in it for the wrong reasons and then started over.
Conversation Starters
Do you think the average person who is on a social media site spends too much, too little, or just the right amount of time using it?
What is the point of social media? Why is so much time and energy invested in snapping, gramming, liking, commenting, sharing? Is it all healthy?
What would you do with your time without social media?
How has our society changed since social media really took off in the mid-2000’s?
Could it be that my attitude or outlook on life has been based on how people think of me on social media?
Things to consider
Candace Payne, better known as the Chewbacca Mom, went unfiltered on Facebook and has inspired over 150 million people!
As humans we love to hide.
What kid didn’t grow up playing Hide & Seek? (By the way, has anyone seen Billy? It’s been 13 years…) Adam and Eve sinned and then immediately hid. Did you know that we can hide on social media, too? We can hide in our profile. We write our own profile, so we can write anything we want to. We can hide in our pictures. We take dozens of pictures before we get one that makes us look good enough to post. We can hide in the filters (or with photoshop). We can change the parts of the pictures we don’t like before we show them to the world.
If you live out your identity in Christ, there is no reason to hide.
Jena Kingsley tests social media activity on unsuspecting New Yorkers
The word “Friend” has evolved.
The average American has 328 Facebook friends, but says they only have 2 close friends. In the 90’s (the last generation to spend their teen years without social media) the average American claimed to have 6 close friends. 1 in 4 Americans claim they have no close friends at all! Could it be that loneliness can exist even while we are around others? Could we create such a world where we close ourselves off to those who we are closest to? Are they really your friends?
Watch Steven Furtick’s “God can not bless who you pretend to be.” (the story of Jacob and Esau)
So, what can we do?
- Talk to people – with our voices – in real life (IRL)!
- Be vulnerable. You connect best with people through pain.
- Be Present. When you’re with someone, put away your distractions and focus on the person you are with.
- Go off the Grid. If you’re desperate for change, you have to be willing to change. “The Grid” is full of noise. It doesn’t take long before your life is unhealthy and out of balance. Delete apps. Unsubscribe from emails. Close social media accounts. Turn off your smartphone.
- Practice solitude. Getting quiet is one of the best ways to hear from God. Often, we ask God to show up, but we can’t even hear when He does because we have so much noise around us.
