What is Gospel Centered Gaming?

I've been a youth pastor for over a decade. In this time I have played hundreds of video games with students. I have also addressed hundreds of questions about the dangers of video games in the lives of students. Those questions need to be addressed, because, it is true - there are serious spiritual dangers in video games. However, I also believe video games can be used by God to glorify his name.

I've been on mission trips where the language barrier is thick, but I can pull out my phone and play a game with an orphan child to help break the ice and begin to build a relationship.

I've met students too shy or unsure of church to open up to me as their pastor. Yet after a night of playing video games with a group of guys a church we connect on a common ground and they are able to trust me enough to pour into their life.

I've been separated across the country from my dearest of friends and had an online game to bring us together to have an evening of fun like we used to have in my living room.

Video games can be an amazing tool to glorify God and make his name known. It can be done without having to make bible-centric games or worship song versions of Guitar Hero. It can be done by remembering that video games, like anything else in our life, should be used to glorify God or strengthen the relationships in the Body of Christ.

However, the second we allow video games to distract us from Christ, delay our mission for him, diminish our ability to share the gospel, perverse our minds, or incite sinful behavior, then certainly we need to assess the nature of our relationship with video games. Again, this goes for anything in our life - movies, books, TV, music, etc.

Gospel centered gaming is playing video games with our mind's on Christ, considering the eternal significance of our actions. There is nothing wrong with taking some time adventuring in a virtual world, just like there is nothing wrong with reading a fictional book, or watching a movie. But, if playing a video game becomes more important that our higher call as believers, if it consumes our thoughts, motivates our actions, or isolates us from the world we are called to then we are no longer looking at video games with Christ in mind, but we are trying to fulfill our own selfish desires - which is sinful.

My hope for this site is to provide commentary on gaming as a believer in Christ, offer video game reviews from the perspective of a believer, and give helpful tips for parents and children who are trying to carefully navigate the role video games play in their lives.

Always feel free to comment, I will try my best to address questions and keep the conversation open. This is not a place of hate, but of open conversation about Christ followers and their interaction with video games and video game culture. Thanks for taking a look! I hope you'll continue to follow along and be a part of the dialogue.