YWJ: What inspired you to write this book?
Dyer: Well, I had been working in Web development for years. I was curious as to how do we use technology to help the church. I had a professor challenge my notion that technology was neutral in its effects. So, I started reading McLuan, Postman and Ellul; and then started to think that maybe my chosen profession was destroying the church—maybe what I’m doing was leading to the destruction of the church and that technology was from the devil. So I had to figure out how I would balance this. I did a couple of talks and a few blog posts about the church using technology, and I was contacted by a publisher to write something about this topic. Hopefully the book presents some of the hidden dangers of technology and that it ties down to God’s original plan for humans to be creators as He is. Further, that the inherent part of Christians being creators is good. For all the downsides of technology, there is still that fundamental activity of humans being creative and creating things; and that is good.

Also, one of the things I have been working on–to see if it would be helpful for people to think through technolog–are five levels of technology to think through:

1. Power: What can you do with it?
2. Morality: What morally good and bad things can you do with it?
3. Personal Transformation: How does it transform self?
4. Cultural Transformation: What is going to happen in your group?
5. Theological: What is the meaning of this and issues of idolatry?

If we can bring all of these together we can come up with a more palpable conversation.

YWJ: In what ways can Christians take part in redeeming technology?
Dyer: One way of redeeming culture is to be a culture maker, but most of us are not going to be out there making a Jesus film. The next layer is using technology for good. We must have some sense of what that technology does and what it values. The example I give in the book is when a church gave its pastor a beeper who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Now a beeper is created to annoy people; but this church used it redemptively. Every time one of the church goers prayed for him it went off–turning it on its head and using it for something unexpected. Also, in a church setting, varying the music set such as having a guy with a guitar really can have a powerful effect. You could be singing the same words, but when you vary things, it can produce a redemptive effect. Last, for me it is about understanding how technology impacts people. It is helpful to understand how they use technology and why, then you can find ways to break it up and use it for something else that will awaken something new.

YWJ: How did you come up with the title of the book From the Garden to the City?
Dyer: When I was growing up, I was taught that when you go to heaven, you go there and play a harp. I was afraid to admit that sounded boring. Then I learned we don’t go up to heaven, but that heaven comes down to us in the form of a city. The reason this is significant is because God actually brings down things people made. In some way, not only humans will be redeemed by God, but also the things humans have made will show up and be redeemed. So somehow God will redeem or transform us and also the things we have made. So I think what that does is that we need to be looking for problems in our technology that need to be reformed by God, but we still need to expect they still will be a permanent part of human existence. I think it gives us a warning that stuff needs to be redeemed and that there are positive things technology brings.

YWJ: What would a youth worker gain from reading your book?
Dyer: First, it is important to recognize that whenever you change the way people interact with language you are going to create a little bit of separation between two people. All of us are still learning how to use technology if we are 30 or older. The students are almost growing up with a different language than we are. There are pros and cons to this: not wanting to be blind to all the things that shape us; not wanting to let the kids be blind to what is shaping them…A lot of time our expectations are off, such as the assumption that younger people play more video games whereas older people really are playing them more. Our experience of technology is very different than theirs. Our usual reaction is to say, “It’s just kids these days.” There are some areas in which kids will have trouble with technology, but it is not always intuitive how they will get in trouble. As in the example I used of getting a projector in my youth group and realizing that once I put Bible verses on the screen, nobody would bring their Bibles. At first, I got a little worried; but then in another kind of way, we were all as a community looking at the same passage instead of looking at an individualized camouflaged Bible with my name printed on it. Now we are doing some kind of group experience with God.

I think it would be fun to do experiments with kids that are not about turning off your phone for an hour, but are more interesting than that, for instance, to go down the street and buy a daily newspaper for a week. I did this to try to see what it was like. I could not pull up the newspaper at work because I would look ridiculous. When I did this, the news I received was different. It would be great if you could come up with experiments with technology that would provide students opportunities to experience technology being redeemed.