Faithtech

Masterclass

Five Technology Tools Every Believer Should Know

by Delbert Baker

Digital illustration of a man with dreadlocks looking upward with closed eyes, set against a background of glowing electronic circuit board lines in teal, orange, and pink.

eanna sat in the back pew, phone in hand, scrolling. She wasn’t distracted. She was desperate. Her mother had just been diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s, and Deanna, a 47-year-old nurse and Sabbath School teacher, was trying to find anything that would help her understand what lay ahead. She ended up on a random website, then a YouTube rabbit hole, then a meditation app that felt spiritually hollow. “I had all this technology in my hand,” she told me, “but I had no idea how to use it for my spiritual life.” Deanna’s struggle is not unusual. It is a defining spiritual tech-tension of our times.

Technology is Not the Problem
Technology is not the enemy of faith. It has never been. The printing press put Scripture in the hands of the people. Radio carried the gospel to remote villages. Television brought evangelism into living rooms. Each generation has faced the same question: Will we master this tool, or let this tool master us?

Most believers use technology reactively; they scroll what is served, consume what is convenient, and follow whatever algorithm decides they should see next. Very few have made a deliberate, Spirit-led decision about what it should do for their faith.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.” In a digital age, guarding the heart means guarding the feed. The question is whether you will be intentional about how technology will shape your faith.

Five Tech-tools Worth Knowing

Here are five categories of technology that, used with intention, can genuinely deepen your walk with God:

Bible Study Apps

Black icon of a closed book featuring a white Christian cross on the front cover and a bookmark ribbon extending from the bottom edge.

Tools like YouVersion, Olive Tree, and Logos put an entire theological library in your pocket. EGW Writings: Ellen White’s complete library, fully searchable. Along with reading plans, many apps offer Greek and Hebrew word studies, cross-references, and commentary from reliable sources. They can turn a five-minute commute into a seminary moment.

Prayer and Devotional Apps

Black icon of two hands pressed together in a prayer gesture, with simple lines radiating outward above the fingertips.

Apps like the Adventist devotional app, GospelTruth.AI, and Lectio 365 help believers build and sustain daily prayer rhythms. They offer guided devotionals, and prayer journaling.

Sermon and Podcast Platforms

Black icon of a speaker standing behind a podium holding a microphone, facing four silhouettes representing an audience in the foreground.

Platforms like YouTube, Spotify, and the Adventist Church’s Hope Channel and 3ABN make world-class preaching and teaching available on demand. Choose voices that feed your spirit.

Digital Sabbath Tools

Black icon of a family of four standing together, with a church building, flying birds, and a circular sun in the background.

Apps like One Sec, Freedom, and Screen Time help believers practice intentional digital rest. They allow you to block distracting apps during worship hours, Sabbath, or prayer time, building a digital boundary that honors the rhythm God built into creation.

Community and Accountability Platforms

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Group chats, shared reading plans, and video calls have made spiritual accountability communities possible across distances. A WhatsApp group of five believers committed to spiritual growth is a powerful discipleship tool.

Wisdom for the Digital Age

Technology will not automatically make you more spiritual. But neither will avoiding it. The believer who ignores the digital world cedes enormous spiritual territory. The believer who engages it wisely gains a remarkable set of tools for growth, connection, and witness.

Ellen White wrote something in 1903 that still rings true today: “Every faculty, every talent, every power of mind and heart, these are to be employed for the Lord” (“The Ministry of Healing,” p. 500). She could not have imagined the smartphone. But she understood that what we do with our capacities and our tools is a spiritual question.

Deanna eventually found her footing. She downloaded a grief and faith devotional app. She joined an online caregiver support group through her church. She started using a Bible app to pray Scripture over her mother every morning. That is the invitation. Not to be tech-savvy. To be tech-wise.

Know This

A truth that reframes how you see technology and faith. Nearly 65 percent of Americans say they use their smartphones within five minutes of waking up, before prayer, before scripture, before a single conscious thought about God. Meanwhile, research shows that the first input of the day shapes emotional and cognitive tone for hours. What if the f irst five minutes belonged to God instead?

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Try This

Start with these free Adventist apps, your digital faith toolkit, download these and put them on your home screen this week:

Sabbath School & PM: the official GC app for your weekly lesson study.
Breath of Life Ministries & Hope Channel: sermons and Adventist programming on demand.
Amazing Facts: Bible studies and daily devotionals. All free and grounded.

White line art icon on a black background depicting a stylized person kneeling with hands raised near their face.

Pray This

A prayer to make your own, for wisdom in the digital age: Lord, I live in a noisy world and carry it in my pocket. Forgive me for the hours I have given to screens that I could have given to You. Teach me to use what I hold in my hand for what matters most, to know You more, to serve others better, and to guard my heart in an age that constantly pulls it away. Amen.

Delbert Baker, Ph.D., is an international educator, author, and certified executive leadership coach. He is a former President of Oakwood University and the Adventist University of Africa in Nairobi Kenya.

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