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1 month ago | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks |Loren Haarsma |Brian Clark |Shiao Chong
Do you have any tips for staying connected with family members through a health crisis? There’s nothing like a crisis to expose the weaknesses in any system—and that includes family communication systems. With all the technological options available to us, you’d think we would have this down pat, yet often it’s not so easy. Families are made up of different people, each with their own preferences and varying degrees of comfort with one technology or another.
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Dec 11, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Cassie Marcionetti |Clayton Lubbers |Leah Jolly |Dean R. Heetderks
It’s Friday night at Casa Adobe, a ministry house in Costa Rica, and the loudest chess club ever is meeting. Resonate Global Mission missionary Micah Schuurman and his friend, José Mario, just explained how to checkmate with two bishops. As the kids start their games, birds chirp in the garden, a German Shepherd barks at the front gate, and someone strums a guitar nearby. But the kids are definitely the loudest. “Jokes, laughter, and victory dances are all pretty common,” Schuurman said.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Clayton Lubbers |Leah Jolly |Dean R. Heetderks |Sam Gutierrez
I believe one of the things God calls us to do is explore and understand. By trade, I am a science teacher. As a human, I am constantly curious. It’s one of the reasons I do what I do. Telling me something simply isn’t enough; I need to understand. I think that’s true for many of us, and I think this drive to understand could be one of the attributes of being created in the image of God. Let me start at the beginning.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Leah Jolly |Dean R. Heetderks |Sam Gutierrez |Carol Bremer-Bennett
As Calvin Theological Seminary looks forward to its 150th anniversary celebration, it asked alumni and supporters, “What is important to your continued development and growth?”The response, said President Jul Medenblik, was an overwhelming desire for easier access to Reformed teaching and content that intersects with the questions and concerns all believers are facing.
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Dec 2, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks
In the small office I manage, I want employees to settle on certain computer apps to do their work (in this case, the messaging app Slack), but some are resisting. Should I require it? I hear you. This can be a problem in businesses, in our personal lives, and even in the church office. According to a Gartner survey, the average number of applications a desk worker uses nearly doubled from six in 2019 to 11 in 2023. People are being asked to absorb new tech tools at a fairly fast rate.
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Sep 30, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks
My mom took a phone call from someone claiming to be her granddaughter, saying she had been in a car crash, was in jail, and needed help. Thankfully Mom figured out it wasn't her grandchild and hung up. How do we guard ourselves from scammers? People taking advantage of others is nothing new, but it seems the methods tricksters use are getting more sophisticated.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Dan Veeneman |Dean R. Heetderks |Victoria Veenstra |Brian Clark
With those four words, my son sent me on a journey of self-reflection. It was a typical Sunday afternoon on the West Coast of Canada. The unrelenting pitter-patter of rain on the windows had me feeling a little Noah-esque. My family and I had just finished our bowls of Sunday soup when my son broke the silence. “Dad, I have a question about church.”I took a sip of my coffee and braced myself for what was coming.
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Jun 10, 2024 | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks |Dan Veeneman |Victoria Veenstra |Brian Clark
Should I be scared of artificial intelligence? My default position on any new technology is doubt and skepticism. Blame my Calvinist underpinnings for that but has the latest-greatest ever really lived up to the hype? Even the experts aren’t sure (or aren’t sharing) exactly how AI works. Could this possibly take off? It’s been more than a year since artificial intelligence—especially generative artificial intelligence—took over technology news.
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Nov 27, 2023 | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks
Not unless you are using the wrong ones!Each generation, it seems, has a preferred way of communicating. Researchers call people born between 1928 and 1945 the Silent Generation because they have traditionally limited their communication. But Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) are more inclined to use a telephone and email. Generation X (1965 to 1980) grew up with technology and are good with email, phone, text, or social media, but seem to prefer the authenticity of face-to-face communication.
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Oct 2, 2023 | 
thebanner.org | Dean R. Heetderks
Does God want us to create computers with artificial intelligence even though God gave us perfectly good brains to do the work ourselves? Throughout history, our God-given brains have been used to create a host of things that allow humans to do much more than one body alone could do. I think God is honored by our creativity and innovation. Artificial intelligence is just one more thing that right now might seem incomprehensible but in another five or 10 years will be commonplace.
