We'd like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn
Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com/AFR this this year, America celebrates its 250th birthday. Two and a half centuries of courage, innovation, faith and freedom. But what will the next 250 years hold? The next generation could hold the next Billy Graham, the next Roza Parks, the next Ronald Reagan, the next child whose life will impact generations. But first, they must be given the chance to live it. I couldn't imagine my life without him because of them. He's here. We're going to get through it and it's going to be okay.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Everyday PreBorn Network clinics helps mothers facing unexpected pregnancies discover hope through a free ultrasound. When a mother sees her baby and hears that tiny heartbeat, her baby is twice as likely to be given the gift of life. What story will God write through America's next generation? In honor of America's 250th anniversary, we're asking friends to consider a special gift of $250. Your gift can help provide nearly nine life saving ultrasounds. Dial pound 250 and say the keyword baby. That's pound 250 Baby Or donate securely at preborn.com/AFR that's preborn.com/AFR Every gift is tax- deductible.
: Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.
The Importance of Faith, Family Rhythms, and Introduction to Influencer Culture
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey, hey, hey there friends. Happy fry. Yay. It is Friday. It is Friday. It is Friday Friday. And it's a Friday in October, which is exciting to me because that is closer to the holidays. Yep, that's all that'll go this time. But you know my affinity for the holiday season, I love that. And I hope that whatever you're doing this weekend, whether you're working, you're traveling, you're spending time with family, if you're having a long awaited rest, if you're going to be one of those, people under the Friday night lights cheering on someone you love or whatever you're doing, I hope for one thing you're planning to go to church On Sunday. Going to church is so important and something that we talked about way back in week three of 2025. We talked about that in the third week of January in 52 habits for healthy kids. Going to church is so, so, so important. We'll be talking about that more as time goes on and, how to find a good church. We've talked about it before, we will talk about it again. But it's so important to get your family to church as we are navigating this world. And if you followed along since January, every Friday, as my kids say, we talk about a new healthy habit and I answer questions. We've talked about spiritual disciplines. We've talked about family rhythms. We've talked about communication skills. We have talked about tech. We spent all summer talking about tech. And then we talked about safety. And right now we're in our own little beatitudes. Ah. And we've talked about different attitudes to have, have talked about being hopeful. We've talked about being a good friend. Last week. We talked about being unafraid. And if you caught the show yesterday and heard voices of the martyrs, such an incredible message from Todd Nettleton about persecuted Christians around the world that really, deeply inspired and convicted me. To be more unafraid and to be more bold in sharing our faith and in a world that's saturated with fear, we need to have that faith, informed confidence that this world is not all that there is. We have our hearts set on eternity, and that is our goal for our families. So this week, I'm talking about being an influencer. Yes, we're going to talk about influencer culture. I'll answer some questions about that and really how you can turn influencer culture on its head, take advantage of it, and be an influencer in your own family.
Understanding Influencer Culture and Its Impact on Families
Now, it doesn't matter if you have toddlers or if you have teens or if you have grown children or if it' you and your spouse or you and your extended family, whatever, family God has given you, you can be an influencer in that family. And in a world where YouTubers and TikTok stars and online personalities shape everything, they are shaping our world so much more than we think. And if you dive down that rabbit hole, I promise you it's a little disturbing. So proceed with caution, because online personalities shape what sneakers your kids are wearing or how we ourselves. And yet we forget that we are the most important influencer in our family's life. And I'm talking especially to parents today who are deeply concerned about the dangerous influences that could harm their children, Whether it's their peers at school or questionable media. The culture at large, we are very protective about that. We embrace models of gatekeeping parenting. We want to keep all of those threats away from our kids, which is a good thing. Ironically, while guarding against these external threats, many parents are unintentionally and without even knowing it, giving influencers the most intimate access to their child's heart and mind through their phones, in their bedrooms, and even in their head, Literally in their headphones, in the very spaces where children feel the safest.
The Subtle Dangers of Unfiltered Online Influences on Children
I want to make sure you catch this. They are often left alone with these voices in their head that shape their beliefs, shape their behaviors, and shape their identities. And what concerns me is that sense of vicarious safety, because I'm in my room, because I'm curled up on the couch, because I'm in a home where my family loves me. This translates that credibility to the influencers because it inherently feels more safe than meeting a stranger on the street. And it allows their messages to slip past the radar of parental concern. Now, this is a paradox that we need to wake up to because it reveals a subtle but, powerful gap. Parents might be on high alert for obvious dangers while overlooking those quiet, quiet, but constant, influential dangers that are coming right through your digital devices into your kids most private, most sacred, most safe spaces in the world. So today, we are going to explore how you can cultivate the healthy habit of being the influencer that God designed you to be in your family. And I have help and hope for that, because there is a lot of hope in how God designed the family. So to do that, of course, we've got to look back to understand today where we are today.
The Evolution of Influencer Marketing from Celebrities to Social Media
And let's talk about influencer culture. And where did this even come from? Because we really didn't even use the word influencer until recently. And before that term existed, brands still did lean heavily on celebrities. They used athletes. They used movie stars to sell stuff. I mean, don't believe me. Just think about Micah Jordan's partnership with Nike in the 1980s. Air Jordan. And everybody wanted a pair of Air Jordans. Those were a social contagion that were unstoppable. And that is often cited as one of the first mega examples of influencer marketing. And then we saw TV commercials, magazines start to shape what you bought. How many of you got this year's wish Christmas catalog? I mean, that was like the day I would get a sharpie and you would circle what you wanted. I mean, we saw those kinds of things, But Again, this is a very static paper catalog. And that power was centralized among big corporations. They decided what would sell to whom it would sell and how it would sell. Now enter social media. In around 2005, we have YouTube pioneers. YouTube launched in 2005, which is crazy to me to think about because we have a whole generation of kids now who are being born not knowing anything but YouTube. But it doesn't seem that long ago. But the, the thing with YouTube is that now regular people, just anybody, any person, could suddenly share content and build loyal audiences. So we had early creators like makeup tutorials. Anybody remember. Anybody have kids who are millennials? Gen Z? Anybody remember Bethany Mota? She was one of the first influencers selling clothing, selling cosmetics. And she was, was really instrumental in showing companies that everyday voices could move markets. You didn't have to be Micah Jordan. You didn't have to be a Hollywood celebrity. You could just be someone who had a following on YouTube. Now, around the same time, these platforms made it possible for personalities to cultivate community. Now, the Sears catalog did not think, oh, let's create community here, where everyone can talk about what's in the catalog. They just said, no, here's the catalog we want you to buy. But now we have these communities m which are great and also dangerous because now we have micro celebrities with little niche followings. Then we started to see Instagram and the influencer boom. Remember the dot com boom? We had the Instagram boom in the 2010s. This was launched in 2010. Instagram really just poured gasoline on the fire. That was influencer culture. It was built for visuals. It showed you fashion, it showed you food, it showed you lifestyles, it showed you travel. And now these experiences, these products were curated and you could buy them instantly. And then we have the micro influencers. See, these aren't Hollywood celebrities like major celebrities that have tens or hundreds of millions of followers on social media. These influencers are relatable, accessible, interactive, and people trust them more. Your kids trust them more because it's feels like they're friends.
The Rise of Micro-Influencers and TikTok's Impact on Consumer Behavior
Most people know. Most people know they're not friends with a major celebrity like Justin Bieber, but they don't think it's impossible to be friends with a micro influencer. And we see this shift in advertising, a, brand that brands discovered, hey, influencers have marketing potential here. They have higher engagement than we do. They have better conversion than we do on our traditional ads. And that sparked partnerships between companies and influencers. Influencers. Now this is important because we're coming to TikTok and Gen Z and Gen Alpha. This is the 2000 and 2020s, the short form explosion. This is where TikTok transformed that influencer culture to be bite sized viral content. That was everything. Is it really short and is it going to go viral? Influencers became younger and they were often anonymous. Nobody knew about them until they went viral. And that was the whole goal. Enter the power of the algorithm. Because unlike Instagram, where you mostly saw people you followed, TikTok's algorithm promoted strangers content. It's the for you page. This allowed anyone to become an influencer overnight and it gave influencers outsized power because that viral trend could shape a trend, could shape music, could shape consumer behavior and even political movements. And we know that Gen Z trust influencers more than celebrities or brands or sometimes even traditional news outlets. If you don't believe that, look at the names that are associated with being followers of certain celebrities. They view themselves as part of their family, part of their supporters. They are in part of a culture looking at squads or whatever else. I won't elevate any other celebrities, but just look at the rise of that and I'll just say one more because this just happened, happened last night with Taylor Swift. I know, I did, I said it, I went there. But she is a perfect example of this. Dropping an album and you have people feeling like they're in that family waiting for that album to drop and making it a social experience. That's the reality of where we are today. And that cultural impact means fame is redefined, anybody can be famous. Consumer habits are different because one viral TikTok can sell out a product nationwide overnight. So it makes kids interested in that. They think this could be the one thing that can make me viral. I can make money on this social media platform. I could sell things. It changes their social identity because those influencers aren't just selling products, they are shaping identity and language and values. And even though influencers have seen as more real and trustworthy, their content is fake in some ways. It's curated, it's sponsored, it's staged, it's algorithm driven. And the reason this is important is because of that faith and family connection. Influencer culture reflects our humanity's deep desire to follow someone. And we want to be shaped by a voice we trust.
Comparing Micro-Influencers and Content Creators to God-Given Desires
Those are God given desires that the Lord has put in our heart. Think about that again. We want to follow someone. We want to be shaped by a voice we trust. And as families, we need to point our family members, our children, to follow Christ and to be Shaped by the voice of God that comes to us through his word and through trusted spiritual leaders who are in our community. We look at, compare that to micro influencers, people with smaller but really highly engaged audiences. This is where a lot of influence is happening. Typically these micro influencers have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. Now they're not celebrities, they're not mega influencers with millions of fans. But that trust factor matters, that engagement rate matters because they feel more accessible, they're more likely to engage with them, they're more likely to trust them. Now this might be mom life, gaming, fitness, homeschooling. Maybe some of those things are really good. But they speak directly into those families daily life. And maybe it's a mom who follows a micro influencer who shares parenting tips. That would be me recipes or homeschooling tips. Or kids might follow micro influencers. That's not a bad thing. But we need to be really intentional in thinking about the micro influencers that we follow. Same thing with content creators. While the word influencer means somebody who's marketing, content creator is a, is a little bigger.
Addressing Questions on Micro-Influencers, Pseudo-Faith, and Practical Tools for Families
It refers to anyone consistently producing content for us to have. And again, they matter because they have the power of algorithm behind them. When we come back, I'm going to answer some questions about how kids and teens in particular perceive these micro influencers and content creators and how we can learn from them and use these principles in our own home. I'll also talk about the risks of, following bad theology or people with a pseudo faith online and give you some practical, practical tools for how you can equip your family to intentionally select those influencers. I'll be right back on the other side of this break.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Hello, I'm Jessica peck, host of Dr. Nurse Mama. did you know that this content is listener supported?
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YOUR WAY'S BETTER by Forrest Frank: Me.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back friends. That is Forrest Frank and I love that song. What a great reminder. It's your way is better by Forrest Frank. And today we're talking about being an influencer, influencing your family and being really intentional about that. And Forrest Frank is a great example of that. If you're not familiar with him, he's a Christian music artist and that very song we were just listening to went viral all over the world. And I saw a lot of Christian influencers using that song and I saw a lot of people who came to know Christ through interacting with that song and sharing their testimonies. And Forrest Frank has been a great example, sharing his miraculous healing from a back injury and a great way. And one of the things I really appreciate about Forced Rank, I've seen him answer this many times on his Instagram and people ask him, m, would you ever consider using bad words in your music? And of course, as I would hope and expect, he always gives an emphatic no. And then when he asks why, he shows the most adorable clips of little children who are playing his music, who are doing those viral dances, the motions that go along with the song, the children who come to his concerts. And he said, I would never do that to them. And so shout out to Forrest Frank for being a great influencer. Because kids really do. Influencer culture is real. It is very, very real. And some of you may be thinking, well, my kid's not on social media, my kid doesn't have a phone, it doesn't matter. It has so saturated and permeated the culture they will not be completely unaff. That's a great protection.
Understanding Parasocial Relationships and the Dangers of Unqualified Online Advice
It's a layer of protection, but it's not a fail safe. And they will hear conversation at the lunch table, at the playground, at the sports practice, discussing the latest viral trend with an influencer. And when kids look at these micro influencers, they see them as, hey, they're my friends, even though they're really not their friends who get it. And they form what is called, now get this, parasocial relationships. A, parasocial relationship. Now what does that mean? It means I have a very deep invested friendship with you and you do not know I exist. That is how that happens. But it feels like an emotional bond. But that emotional bond is really one sided. But we've normalized that. And when they're looking at content creators, it doesn't matter who they are, kids see them as experts, whether it's gaming, whether it's style, whether it's worldview. Even if they have no formal credentials, no experience, no credibility other than a large following, that's the only thing they need for credibility. Let me give you an example of a way that I heard this. not too long ago I was looking at health influencer culture on TikTok and I saw lots of teenagers who are advising other teenagers on what to do with suicidal thoughts, what to do with depression, what to do with any number of mental health issues.
The Impact of Influencers on Discipleship, Morality, and Self-Image
And for this One, they were talking specifically about self harming and advising people to snap themselves with a rubber band that that was better than harming themselves in another way. And I will spare some of the details of that, but let me tell you, it was pretty graphic and pretty concerning because we have no evidence that that is helpful. And I know that a lot of times people have the heart to want to be helpful, but they don't know that sometimes what they say might be harmful. And especially for kids, they may not have the discernment yet. They need to understand the impact of their wor since they don't have that cognitive discernment, that wisdom to be able to think, to separate entertainment from authority. And we've seen this happen. We've seen many cases that have gone to court who have been charged on their credibility. And they have defeated those charges because in the fine print it will say this is for entertainment. But they absorb these voices as credible and it shapes what we buy, it shapes what we believe, it shapes what we pursue. So parents need to understand these micro influencers and content creators. Here's the key. Don't miss this. They often fill the space of, discipleship. If parents don't. They're shaping how we think about success, how we think about identity, how we think about morality and issues of sin, how we think about beauty and standards of self image.
Risks of Pseudo-Faith and Bad Theology from Online Christian Influencers
The call for families is not to demonize the content creators because there are some really, really great edify, but to engage and equip. Ask your family, what are you watching? Who are you watching? Help them discern those motivations and model what it looks like to follow trustworthy godly voices. Now let's talk here. Let's take a pause and talk about pseudo faith or I didn't say sumo, I said pseudo like fake faith or bad theology online. There is that. That happens. So here's some risks of that. First of all, there's a lack of accountability for online Christian influencers. If you know a pastor in real life, they're usually accountable. They should be accountable to a church body, to the church leadership, to the denomination structure, to an elder board, to whatever that accountability structure is there. But an online influencer is accountable often to no one but their followers and their sponsors. So they may be beholden to who's paying them, they may be beholden to what their followers are demanding in content. And without oversight. Theology can drift. It can become personal opinion, it can drift towards cultural trends, it can drift towards financial gain. Another problem is blended messages. So many influencers just sprinkle a little scripture on top of self help. I'm, mainly packaging self help sprinkled with scripture.
Blended Messages, Performative Faith, and Shallow Discipleship Online
Maybe it's prosperity gospel, maybe it's cultural affirmations that really sound good but are not biblically sound. We have seen so many examples of this, in recent months. I'm sure examples are coming to your own mind. And that blurring makes it harder, especially for young believers, to separate truth from half truth. They can more easily separate truth from, outright lies. But truth from half truth is really hard. There's also an element of performative faith. Even my kids have talked to me about this. It's a real turn off. And I'll talk about this more in just a second. But social media basically rewards attention, not accuracy. The influencer's goal is to gain views, gain followers, not shepherd souls. That may not be their mission. Now there are some great Christian influencers out there who really do feel a burden and a calling to shepherd their platform. And that's what you should be looking for because faith can become just stylized content instead of genuine spiritual formation and discipleship. That's the concern I have with so many people saying on social media, hey, I'm reading the Bible for the first time. Hey, I went to church for the first time. Hey, I'm engaging with God for the first time. I'm curious about my faith that discipleship should not be happening on social media. It needs to happen in person with real people walking in their real life. That's so important because. Because that is so important for authenticity. There is fragmented discipleship. That's what happens if you one thing online and yet you're seeing one thing in person. Those online influencers, maybe they just speak on isolated topics. Maybe they just have a platform for one specific thing. Maybe they talk like I do about marriage and family and parenting. Maybe they talk about homeschooling. Maybe they talk about just motivation that doesn't offer the whole counsel of God. So that is a tool. It is such an important tool, but it doesn't replace discipleship that you'll get in a local church. It creates a fragmented view of faith rather than the holistic teaching that a local pastor is going to provide through preaching and discipleship and community. And if we're really honest, there can be some subtle idolatry there because it's very easy for followers to begin elevating a charismatic influencer above God's word and let their opinion, their interpretation, outweigh what scripture says on the matter. Now what my kids critique is something that is called curated or Christianity. That is an influencer culture where faith becomes performance.
Curated Christianity, Consumer Faith, and the Dangers of Aesthetic Spirituality
And that's just natural because social media rewards image over substance, they reward engagement over discipleship. And when influencers present Christianity through filtered posts through that perfectly placed coffee cup next to the devotional outside in the beautiful nature scene, or a perfectly branded Bible journaling Photoshop, faith risks becoming a performance. And we start to feel like our discipleship journey is less than because it isn't curated. And people start to confuse aesthetic spirituality with authentic spiritual formation. That is a danger. We don't want highlight real Christianity because influencers often share those mountaintop moments, that quiet time setup, that inspirational quote, the worship clip. They often will take out the messy realities of life, suffering, doubt, repentance, perseverance. And that can make unrealistic expectations, especially for younger believers who feel like my faith isn't good enough if it's not picture perfect. We also get concerned about consumer driven faith. Many influencers monetize their platforms and tie faith to merchandise and devotionals or brand deals.
Shallow Discipleship, Individualistic Faith, and the Authenticity Gap in Influencer Culture
That is not inherently in and of itself a bad thing, but it blurs the line between ministry and marketing. And you've got to have people speaking into your platform, speaking into your ministry ministry, giving you discernment and accountability on that. And we don't want to be consumers, we want to be surrendered as disciples to Christ. Also on social media that discipleship tends to be very shallow because it's delivered in bite sized post, it's inspirational reels. Those things cannot replace the deep teaching and accountability, the connection and correction that happens within a local church. When you have curated Christianity, you have believers who are basically snacking on this content instead of feasting on the word of God, feasting on faith and those disciplines that last prayer and Bible study and fellowship and service. Social media also promotes an individualistic faith over a community faith. So when you have influencer faith, you're talking about that individual's journey, their platform, their brand, their vision, what God has placed on their heart, which can be helpful. But biblical Christianity is about life and community. It's about serving others. It's about looking to the interest of others. It's about Philippians 2. It's about being humility, taking on the humility of Christ. And when we have that curated model, it can foster isolation because people are following influencers instead of walking with real brothers and sisters in Christ, following Christ. And lastly and curated Christianity, we have a potential authenticity gap because followers rarely see influencers full lives. Now for my life I've tried to Be very transparent about this. I have struggles in my marriage, I have struggles in my parenting. I get tempted, I fall down, I sin, I repent. I am not a perfect person. My kids would be the first to come up to the microphone to do that.
The Importance of Authentic Faith and Local Church Community Over Influencers
It creates a gap between what's presented and what's real. But authentic discipleship invites people in to see those strengths and those weaknesses and see them allow God's power to be made perfect in that human frailty. So basically, Christianity curated Christianity. It risks trading that transformation of our hearts for the presentation of content. And we've got to be Christ centered and we've got to teach our families and our kids that, huh? While Christian influencers can absolutely be inspired, they can be encouraging, they can walk alongside of us. We have a lot of, of really great wise voices right here at American Family Association, American Family Radio, who are needed, who encourage us, who lift us up. That's intentional when you listen, and I think so much, our intentional listeners who are tuning in to be inspired, to be helped, to be pointed to Christ, which I can tell you in front of the microphone, behind the microphone, walking the halls of American Family association, you have humble servants of God, not perfect people. The people who have dedicated their lives to ministering to others and pointing people to Christ. Now, contrast this with connecting with the local church and being connected with a local pastor.
Comparing Local Pastors to Online Influencers: Relationship, Vetting, and Fruit
You've got relationship and presence. You've got a pastor you know who has walked through grief, who has been in the hospital, been in the funeral home, conducted a wedding, conducted a baptism. M just knowing your communion, applying scripture in context for what the community is going through. An influencer cannot shepherd you personally, but a pastor can. A local pastor also has theological vetting or should have theological vetting. They have peer review, and they're preaching and they're teaching. Now, an influencer may be really rich in charisma, but really shallow on biblical theology, which is really important. When you have a pastor, you look for fruit in their life. You can see them. You see their marriage, you see their kids, you see their service, you see their repentance, you see their attitude, you see their leadership. And it's not just the highlighted real. It's real life, and that's discipleship and community. Pastors aren't just giving you ideas. They're inviting you into the life of the church body. And influencers operate outside of that community. So here's some questions that you can think about when you're comparing an online influencer to a trusted local pastor. Think, does this influencer Point me consistently back to scripture or just mostly to themselves. Do they submit to accountability or are they operating independently? Is their message theologically sound or is it too tailored to culture, Too tailored to true, too timid, frankly? Are they walking with me through real life or only entertaining me through a screen?
Teaching Discernment and Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation at Home
Am I learning from them in addition to my church community, or am I replacing my church with them? Are things that you need to look at in influencer cult and in looking at pastor. We need to teach our kids that not every Christian online voice is trustworthy, just as you would in walking to, a stranger's house and start eating food out of their refrigerator. You shouldn't ingest every spiritual message that you find online. We need to make sure that we are looking at our families and giving them the tools that they need. When we come back, I'll talk about the irony of the passivity that we have. We're cultural watchdogs. We need to bring that to our home. And I'll tell you about some things that influence have gotten right that we can leverage, that we can use in our own homes. It's so important to provide discernment in a world full of voices.
The culture warrior: Don Wildmon
And I'll, also encourage you about the science of parents as the primary faith influencers. Don't believe that your kids aren't listening to you. They sure are. And I'll give you help and hope on that when we come back. During the Christmas season of 1976, I sat down one night to watch television.
: One man saw the battle coming. If we lose this cultural war, we're going to have a hedonistic, humanistic society.
: And he chose to stand and fight. If you will not respect our beliefs, then you will respect our money. and we'll spend it with somebody else Reverend Wildmon, Reverend Wildmon. The Reverend Donald Wildmon.
: Discover the story of the culture warrior Don Wildmon and how he went head to head with Hollywood playboy, the homosexual agenda, and the Disney empire. Things were changing and many people just sort of acclimated to it. And Don Wildmon didn't. They thought, I think, that they could just crush him. The movement Don started paved the way for Christians to boldly stand for truth and righteousness in a hostile culture. Watch Culture Warrior today for free visit culturewarrior.movie
Known by Tauren Wells: it's so unusual, it's frightening. you see right through the mess inside me and you call me out to pull me in. You tell me I can start again and I don't need to keep on hiding. I'm fully known and loved by you, you won't let go no matter what I do and it's not one or the other it's hard truth in my ridiculous grace to be known Fully known and loved by you I'm fully known and loved by you.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is known by Tauren Wells.
Welcome Back: The Irony of Unfiltered Access and Discipleship Vacuums
And that's what we all want in this world. We all want to be seen. We all want to be known. We all want to be loved. And today I just hope that I am heard. I know that some of you may be saying our voice sounds a little different. Yes. We've had to go with a different connection because of a massive cable, outage that is happening around my studio. And so I really thank and appreciate that, you tuning in and understanding. It was really important to me today to give you this message that God laid on my heart and to share some ANSWERS ON Ask Dr. Nursemama Friday about being an influencer for your family. And one of the things that I see is that parents, parents are deeply concerned about cultural influence on their kids. And rightly so. Absolutely rightly so. But the irony here is that a lot of times we worry about those outside influences, yet we are allowing unfiltered access to our kids in their phones, in their bedrooms, in their head, literally in their headphones. And that silent permission, it is an invitation for influencers to fill the vacuum on discipling our kids.
Navigating Fragmented News and Guiding Families Towards Credible Voices
And so we'll talk about. Because our kids need discernment in a world of voices. More and more families are relying on online content creators. If you were watching the trial today of Shawn Combs, you saw outside not just traditional media, But TikTokers and YouTubers and all kinds of influencers. We have seen those now in the White House briefing room. And news is much more fragmented, which is great because it gives us opportunity to curate those voices we trust. We don't just have one choice on the local news, but it's also dangerous if we don't guide our families to choose those voices that we trust. That's really important. We've got to model how to check those sources, how to seek credibility and how to pursue truth in those platforms and to be a barometer for truth on those. So some questions you can ask your family. Hey, does this influencer line up with the truth of God's word, the truth of what we know to be true about the world? Are they credible? Are they living with integrity and. And show them the value of seeking wisdom from scripture and from trusted mentors, not just leaving their discipleship passively to the algorithms. So think about what influencers. Maybe that can be a topic of conversation with your family at some point this weekend. Ask your family about the influencers they follow the most. And ask them, do they guide you towards Christ? Do they encourage you? Or do they push you away way?
Parents as Primary Faith Influencers: The 'A Team' of Faith Formation
Do they tempt you? Do they lead you in another direction? Do they say things? Do they act in ways that are contrary to God's word? We've got to fact check. Even influencers that they admire. That's really important to do. But the good news in all of this is that parents are still the primary faith influencers for your kids. And when you think of influencers, you're probably thinking someone with a camera and a ring light. But he here is the truth. The most powerful influence in your child's life is you. Research proves it, Scripture affirms it, and your daily choices demonstrate that. We know studies consistently show the greatest predictor of a child making their faith their own. Not walking away from their faith, not deconstructing their faith. It's not Sunday school attendance, it's not youth group participation, it's not going to youth camp which is so important. But it's whether they see their parents living out their faith in an authentic, healthy, relationship based way at home. That is the way. Now all of those other things help. And I was just recently with a ministry platform called Empowered Homes. And everywhere I went they had all of these mugs and T shirts and signs that celebrated the B team. And I said, okay, tell me about the B team. And they said, hey, we here at the church, church, we're the B team. Parents are the A team. We are here to support the A team. B team helps the A team practice. B team steps in when the A team needs help. But the A team is the A team. And I loved that. I thought that was fantastic. So shout out to them for doing ministry so well.
Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation: Consistency, Storytelling, and Authenticity
And kids and teens, they may roll their eyes, or even your uncle, your cousin, whoever it is you're trying to influence, they may roll their eyes and act like they're not listening. But they do absorb far more than parents realize. They watch how you handle stress, how you handle money, how you handle relationships, how you handle conflict, that is lived out faith. So we can actually leverage the power of some influencer strategies and we can use them in our very own, homes for faith formation. Let me tell you how. Let me give you a few ways. First of all, consistency is key. You will hear this in any influencer masterclass. They post consistency once A day, multiple times a day. Their audience knows when to expect content so we can translate that to our family. Be consistent. Build those small faith habits into your daily rhythms. This is influencing. Through bedtime prayers, going to church together. Okay. Hey there, guys. I'm, back. I told you we were having connection issues. I'm so grateful for your grace. Live radio is not for the faint of heart. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Let me go back to what I was saying because it's really important. And ironically, as the Lord would see fit to humble me. I was talking about consistency, and that was inconsistent. You never know when the signal is going to drop out. But let me go back and say this again. Families can. We can learn from the power of influencer strategies for faith formation. Being consistent is so important. Influencers post consistently. Their audience knows when to expect their content. So we've got to be consistent. And the good news is those are small, easy things to do. I'm talking about praying with your kids before they go to bed or reading a scripture in the morning, expressing gratitude at meals. Any of these 52 habits for healthy families. Just implementing them consistently, we can be an influencer. Number two, visual storytelling. Influencers use photos, they use reels, they use visuals to capture attention and tell stories. We can do that in our home. Create some visual anchors of faith in your home. That might be scripture on the wall. I'll tell you, I use use this all the time. When my kids are telling me they feel discouraged, I point straight to Joshua 1, verse 9 that is on my wall and say, read it. What does it say? And it says, be strong, be courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. For the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. And pointing to that is really helpful. It might be a prayer journal. It might be a memory verse card on the fridge. I've shared about my daughter putting one in her car. Take and share family photos, of service projects, of mission trips, or just maybe a prayer wall like Nick Vujicic our friend told us about the other day. Get some sticky notes and put them on one side of the wall that says prayers, unanswered prayers and answered prayers. It can be that simple. The third thing that influencers use is authenticity. Authenticity wins. Influencers have followers value their vulnerability. Sharing their struggles, sharing their failures. Real life that builds trust. We can translate that to our families by being honest about our own faith journeys with our kids. We can share when we struggle with doubt, when we struggle with fear, when God answers a prayer in an unexpected way when we're tired. But we still have hope that the Lord will sustain us. Authenticity makes you credible. Number four, community engagement. They engage with their followers. Influencers interact. They reply to comments. They DO Q&As. They host live chats. They invite engagement. We have got to invite engagement. And we are so busy. We're not physically, emotionally or mentally present. We've got to create safe spaces where we're engaging them, where we're asking fun questions, where we are doing Q&As. We're hosting live chats. You can host a live chat in your living room.
Clear Messages, Lifestyle Modeling, and Multiplying Influence in Families
And yes, they'll say that's so cringe their world of eyes, but they'll come and you never know how that influencing seed that you plant will grow later. Number five, they have. Influencers have very clear messages. Successful creators have a core message or a theme that defines them, that defines their platform. Our families need a core theme. We need a faith statement. We need a mission statement, we need a vision statement. A can be really simple. Something like, in our family, we honor God, we love others, we tell the truth. We do hard things is one that I heard. We can do hard things through Christ who gives us strength. Repeat it so often that kids internalize it and they know your family's platform. Number six, model lifestyle, not just words. The influencers don't just say what to do. They show it by modeling it in everything, in the way that they, they present themselves. Now we can do that to show them like that. When we're anxious, what does prayer look like? Even when we're anxious, what does forgiveness look like even when we're hurt, what does generosity look like even when it's undeserved? We've got to model that in ourselves, in our own faith. And number seven, the last one is multiplying influence.
Encouraging Kids as Influencers and The Power of Parental Example
Influencers encourage their audience to share their content, share their hashtags, share their challenges, share their collaboration. Collaborations. Spread the message like and follow for more. All of these phrases are now so ingrained in American society, we can translate those to our family by encouraging our kids to share their faith naturally with their friends. Invite them to church, pray for them, serve together. Come over, join our family. Devotional time. Join our family. Prayer time. Come with us to church at night. Come with us to this Christian worship service, to a, concert, to an event. We can equip them, our kids, to see themselves as influencers, which is so great. And listen, influencing happens starting even with young kids. That happens through bedtime rhythms, through gratitude, through songs and scriptures. All of those things that we've talked about through elementary kids with devotional time and serving together, encouraging their curiosity, and then in those teen years, just having those real conversations about what influencers they're having, that's really important. So something to ask yourself is if your family is seeing your faith as authentic and consistent, those are the hallmarks of an influencer and an effective influencer, being authentic and consistent. Who engage, do they see you engaging with your faith in that way? And what is one small, rich rhythm that you could start this week to influence your family? Because I will tell you, this is contagious. If someone in your family sees, hey, if a husband sees, a wife is doing a devotional every night, maybe I should do that.
Daily Discipleship, Authentic Faith, and Embracing God's Redemption
Maybe. And we can win them over even without words sometimes just by promoting that influencer culture in our homes. So what one small rhythm could you start this week? And another question to think about is, are you leading those faith conversations really primarily to their church environments, to their Sunday school, to their life group? Are you being the primary daily discipler of your children, daily discipling your family? When we look at what is said in scripture about that Deuteronomy 6, 6, 7, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts, impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get get up. That power of parental influence on faith is something that can take our fear and make it faith informed. Because kids whose parents model authentic faith are far more likely to carry that faith into adulthood. I encourage you to pray with your kids daily. Let them see you living out your faith authentically. Let them see how you handle stress, how you handle conflict, how you handle joy. Create those rhythms of family worship and open conversations. Go back, listen to any Friday show or the Doctor Nurse Mama coaching minutes. It will get you started. Encourage authenticity.
Reclaiming the Role of Influencer in Your Family Through Relationships and Example
Show them your honest walk with God and that life's messy, but it's not perfect, but it is redeemed. God redeems, he restores, he renews, and he gives us mercies for every single morning. So listen, influencer culture is shaping your family. Whether you like it or not, whether you realize it or not, it is here. And we have got to step out of this passivity and we have got to reclaim the God given role of influencer in our family. We influence through relationships, not arguments. Authentic faith at home is the most powerful influence at all. So again, ask yourself, who's influencing your kids? Strangers online, or you and as we wrap up today, just remember every word you speak, every choice you make, every act of kindness or forgiveness in your home leaves a lasting imprint on their heart. Matthew 5:16 said, Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Let Your Light Shine: The Lasting Imprint of Parental Faith
Let your light shine in front of your own children and as you you do, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you as they see your faith lived out in those small everyday influencer moments. And don't underestimate the influence you carry. Let your light shine. I'll see you on Monday.
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Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound250 and say the keyword baby or visit preborn.com/AFR this this year, America celebrates its 250th birthday. Two and a half centuries of courage, innovation, faith and freedom. But what will the next 250 years hold? The next generation could hold the next Billy Graham, the next Roza Parks, the next Ronald Reagan, the next child whose life will impact generations. But first, they must be given the chance to live it. I couldn't imagine my life without him because of them. He's here. We're going to get through it and it's going to be okay.
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: Hello and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing hope for healthy families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.
The Importance of Faith, Family Rhythms, and Introduction to Influencer Culture
Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey, hey, hey there friends. Happy fry. Yay. It is Friday. It is Friday. It is Friday Friday. And it's a Friday in October, which is exciting to me because that is closer to the holidays. Yep, that's all that'll go this time. But you know my affinity for the holiday season, I love that. And I hope that whatever you're doing this weekend, whether you're working, you're traveling, you're spending time with family, if you're having a long awaited rest, if you're going to be one of those, people under the Friday night lights cheering on someone you love or whatever you're doing, I hope for one thing you're planning to go to church On Sunday. Going to church is so important and something that we talked about way back in week three of 2025. We talked about that in the third week of January in 52 habits for healthy kids. Going to church is so, so, so important. We'll be talking about that more as time goes on and, how to find a good church. We've talked about it before, we will talk about it again. But it's so important to get your family to church as we are navigating this world. And if you followed along since January, every Friday, as my kids say, we talk about a new healthy habit and I answer questions. We've talked about spiritual disciplines. We've talked about family rhythms. We've talked about communication skills. We have talked about tech. We spent all summer talking about tech. And then we talked about safety. And right now we're in our own little beatitudes. Ah. And we've talked about different attitudes to have, have talked about being hopeful. We've talked about being a good friend. Last week. We talked about being unafraid. And if you caught the show yesterday and heard voices of the martyrs, such an incredible message from Todd Nettleton about persecuted Christians around the world that really, deeply inspired and convicted me. To be more unafraid and to be more bold in sharing our faith and in a world that's saturated with fear, we need to have that faith, informed confidence that this world is not all that there is. We have our hearts set on eternity, and that is our goal for our families. So this week, I'm talking about being an influencer. Yes, we're going to talk about influencer culture. I'll answer some questions about that and really how you can turn influencer culture on its head, take advantage of it, and be an influencer in your own family.
Understanding Influencer Culture and Its Impact on Families
Now, it doesn't matter if you have toddlers or if you have teens or if you have grown children or if it' you and your spouse or you and your extended family, whatever, family God has given you, you can be an influencer in that family. And in a world where YouTubers and TikTok stars and online personalities shape everything, they are shaping our world so much more than we think. And if you dive down that rabbit hole, I promise you it's a little disturbing. So proceed with caution, because online personalities shape what sneakers your kids are wearing or how we ourselves. And yet we forget that we are the most important influencer in our family's life. And I'm talking especially to parents today who are deeply concerned about the dangerous influences that could harm their children, Whether it's their peers at school or questionable media. The culture at large, we are very protective about that. We embrace models of gatekeeping parenting. We want to keep all of those threats away from our kids, which is a good thing. Ironically, while guarding against these external threats, many parents are unintentionally and without even knowing it, giving influencers the most intimate access to their child's heart and mind through their phones, in their bedrooms, and even in their head, Literally in their headphones, in the very spaces where children feel the safest.
The Subtle Dangers of Unfiltered Online Influences on Children
I want to make sure you catch this. They are often left alone with these voices in their head that shape their beliefs, shape their behaviors, and shape their identities. And what concerns me is that sense of vicarious safety, because I'm in my room, because I'm curled up on the couch, because I'm in a home where my family loves me. This translates that credibility to the influencers because it inherently feels more safe than meeting a stranger on the street. And it allows their messages to slip past the radar of parental concern. Now, this is a paradox that we need to wake up to because it reveals a subtle but, powerful gap. Parents might be on high alert for obvious dangers while overlooking those quiet, quiet, but constant, influential dangers that are coming right through your digital devices into your kids most private, most sacred, most safe spaces in the world. So today, we are going to explore how you can cultivate the healthy habit of being the influencer that God designed you to be in your family. And I have help and hope for that, because there is a lot of hope in how God designed the family. So to do that, of course, we've got to look back to understand today where we are today.
The Evolution of Influencer Marketing from Celebrities to Social Media
And let's talk about influencer culture. And where did this even come from? Because we really didn't even use the word influencer until recently. And before that term existed, brands still did lean heavily on celebrities. They used athletes. They used movie stars to sell stuff. I mean, don't believe me. Just think about Micah Jordan's partnership with Nike in the 1980s. Air Jordan. And everybody wanted a pair of Air Jordans. Those were a social contagion that were unstoppable. And that is often cited as one of the first mega examples of influencer marketing. And then we saw TV commercials, magazines start to shape what you bought. How many of you got this year's wish Christmas catalog? I mean, that was like the day I would get a sharpie and you would circle what you wanted. I mean, we saw those kinds of things, But Again, this is a very static paper catalog. And that power was centralized among big corporations. They decided what would sell to whom it would sell and how it would sell. Now enter social media. In around 2005, we have YouTube pioneers. YouTube launched in 2005, which is crazy to me to think about because we have a whole generation of kids now who are being born not knowing anything but YouTube. But it doesn't seem that long ago. But the, the thing with YouTube is that now regular people, just anybody, any person, could suddenly share content and build loyal audiences. So we had early creators like makeup tutorials. Anybody remember. Anybody have kids who are millennials? Gen Z? Anybody remember Bethany Mota? She was one of the first influencers selling clothing, selling cosmetics. And she was, was really instrumental in showing companies that everyday voices could move markets. You didn't have to be Micah Jordan. You didn't have to be a Hollywood celebrity. You could just be someone who had a following on YouTube. Now, around the same time, these platforms made it possible for personalities to cultivate community. Now, the Sears catalog did not think, oh, let's create community here, where everyone can talk about what's in the catalog. They just said, no, here's the catalog we want you to buy. But now we have these communities m which are great and also dangerous because now we have micro celebrities with little niche followings. Then we started to see Instagram and the influencer boom. Remember the dot com boom? We had the Instagram boom in the 2010s. This was launched in 2010. Instagram really just poured gasoline on the fire. That was influencer culture. It was built for visuals. It showed you fashion, it showed you food, it showed you lifestyles, it showed you travel. And now these experiences, these products were curated and you could buy them instantly. And then we have the micro influencers. See, these aren't Hollywood celebrities like major celebrities that have tens or hundreds of millions of followers on social media. These influencers are relatable, accessible, interactive, and people trust them more. Your kids trust them more because it's feels like they're friends.
The Rise of Micro-Influencers and TikTok's Impact on Consumer Behavior
Most people know. Most people know they're not friends with a major celebrity like Justin Bieber, but they don't think it's impossible to be friends with a micro influencer. And we see this shift in advertising, a, brand that brands discovered, hey, influencers have marketing potential here. They have higher engagement than we do. They have better conversion than we do on our traditional ads. And that sparked partnerships between companies and influencers. Influencers. Now this is important because we're coming to TikTok and Gen Z and Gen Alpha. This is the 2000 and 2020s, the short form explosion. This is where TikTok transformed that influencer culture to be bite sized viral content. That was everything. Is it really short and is it going to go viral? Influencers became younger and they were often anonymous. Nobody knew about them until they went viral. And that was the whole goal. Enter the power of the algorithm. Because unlike Instagram, where you mostly saw people you followed, TikTok's algorithm promoted strangers content. It's the for you page. This allowed anyone to become an influencer overnight and it gave influencers outsized power because that viral trend could shape a trend, could shape music, could shape consumer behavior and even political movements. And we know that Gen Z trust influencers more than celebrities or brands or sometimes even traditional news outlets. If you don't believe that, look at the names that are associated with being followers of certain celebrities. They view themselves as part of their family, part of their supporters. They are in part of a culture looking at squads or whatever else. I won't elevate any other celebrities, but just look at the rise of that and I'll just say one more because this just happened, happened last night with Taylor Swift. I know, I did, I said it, I went there. But she is a perfect example of this. Dropping an album and you have people feeling like they're in that family waiting for that album to drop and making it a social experience. That's the reality of where we are today. And that cultural impact means fame is redefined, anybody can be famous. Consumer habits are different because one viral TikTok can sell out a product nationwide overnight. So it makes kids interested in that. They think this could be the one thing that can make me viral. I can make money on this social media platform. I could sell things. It changes their social identity because those influencers aren't just selling products, they are shaping identity and language and values. And even though influencers have seen as more real and trustworthy, their content is fake in some ways. It's curated, it's sponsored, it's staged, it's algorithm driven. And the reason this is important is because of that faith and family connection. Influencer culture reflects our humanity's deep desire to follow someone. And we want to be shaped by a voice we trust.
Comparing Micro-Influencers and Content Creators to God-Given Desires
Those are God given desires that the Lord has put in our heart. Think about that again. We want to follow someone. We want to be shaped by a voice we trust. And as families, we need to point our family members, our children, to follow Christ and to be Shaped by the voice of God that comes to us through his word and through trusted spiritual leaders who are in our community. We look at, compare that to micro influencers, people with smaller but really highly engaged audiences. This is where a lot of influence is happening. Typically these micro influencers have between 1,000 and 100,000 followers. Now they're not celebrities, they're not mega influencers with millions of fans. But that trust factor matters, that engagement rate matters because they feel more accessible, they're more likely to engage with them, they're more likely to trust them. Now this might be mom life, gaming, fitness, homeschooling. Maybe some of those things are really good. But they speak directly into those families daily life. And maybe it's a mom who follows a micro influencer who shares parenting tips. That would be me recipes or homeschooling tips. Or kids might follow micro influencers. That's not a bad thing. But we need to be really intentional in thinking about the micro influencers that we follow. Same thing with content creators. While the word influencer means somebody who's marketing, content creator is a, is a little bigger.
Addressing Questions on Micro-Influencers, Pseudo-Faith, and Practical Tools for Families
It refers to anyone consistently producing content for us to have. And again, they matter because they have the power of algorithm behind them. When we come back, I'm going to answer some questions about how kids and teens in particular perceive these micro influencers and content creators and how we can learn from them and use these principles in our own home. I'll also talk about the risks of, following bad theology or people with a pseudo faith online and give you some practical, practical tools for how you can equip your family to intentionally select those influencers. I'll be right back on the other side of this break.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Hello, I'm Jessica peck, host of Dr. Nurse Mama. did you know that this content is listener supported?
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YOUR WAY'S BETTER by Forrest Frank: Me.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back friends. That is Forrest Frank and I love that song. What a great reminder. It's your way is better by Forrest Frank. And today we're talking about being an influencer, influencing your family and being really intentional about that. And Forrest Frank is a great example of that. If you're not familiar with him, he's a Christian music artist and that very song we were just listening to went viral all over the world. And I saw a lot of Christian influencers using that song and I saw a lot of people who came to know Christ through interacting with that song and sharing their testimonies. And Forrest Frank has been a great example, sharing his miraculous healing from a back injury and a great way. And one of the things I really appreciate about Forced Rank, I've seen him answer this many times on his Instagram and people ask him, m, would you ever consider using bad words in your music? And of course, as I would hope and expect, he always gives an emphatic no. And then when he asks why, he shows the most adorable clips of little children who are playing his music, who are doing those viral dances, the motions that go along with the song, the children who come to his concerts. And he said, I would never do that to them. And so shout out to Forrest Frank for being a great influencer. Because kids really do. Influencer culture is real. It is very, very real. And some of you may be thinking, well, my kid's not on social media, my kid doesn't have a phone, it doesn't matter. It has so saturated and permeated the culture they will not be completely unaff. That's a great protection.
Understanding Parasocial Relationships and the Dangers of Unqualified Online Advice
It's a layer of protection, but it's not a fail safe. And they will hear conversation at the lunch table, at the playground, at the sports practice, discussing the latest viral trend with an influencer. And when kids look at these micro influencers, they see them as, hey, they're my friends, even though they're really not their friends who get it. And they form what is called, now get this, parasocial relationships. A, parasocial relationship. Now what does that mean? It means I have a very deep invested friendship with you and you do not know I exist. That is how that happens. But it feels like an emotional bond. But that emotional bond is really one sided. But we've normalized that. And when they're looking at content creators, it doesn't matter who they are, kids see them as experts, whether it's gaming, whether it's style, whether it's worldview. Even if they have no formal credentials, no experience, no credibility other than a large following, that's the only thing they need for credibility. Let me give you an example of a way that I heard this. not too long ago I was looking at health influencer culture on TikTok and I saw lots of teenagers who are advising other teenagers on what to do with suicidal thoughts, what to do with depression, what to do with any number of mental health issues.
The Impact of Influencers on Discipleship, Morality, and Self-Image
And for this One, they were talking specifically about self harming and advising people to snap themselves with a rubber band that that was better than harming themselves in another way. And I will spare some of the details of that, but let me tell you, it was pretty graphic and pretty concerning because we have no evidence that that is helpful. And I know that a lot of times people have the heart to want to be helpful, but they don't know that sometimes what they say might be harmful. And especially for kids, they may not have the discernment yet. They need to understand the impact of their wor since they don't have that cognitive discernment, that wisdom to be able to think, to separate entertainment from authority. And we've seen this happen. We've seen many cases that have gone to court who have been charged on their credibility. And they have defeated those charges because in the fine print it will say this is for entertainment. But they absorb these voices as credible and it shapes what we buy, it shapes what we believe, it shapes what we pursue. So parents need to understand these micro influencers and content creators. Here's the key. Don't miss this. They often fill the space of, discipleship. If parents don't. They're shaping how we think about success, how we think about identity, how we think about morality and issues of sin, how we think about beauty and standards of self image.
Risks of Pseudo-Faith and Bad Theology from Online Christian Influencers
The call for families is not to demonize the content creators because there are some really, really great edify, but to engage and equip. Ask your family, what are you watching? Who are you watching? Help them discern those motivations and model what it looks like to follow trustworthy godly voices. Now let's talk here. Let's take a pause and talk about pseudo faith or I didn't say sumo, I said pseudo like fake faith or bad theology online. There is that. That happens. So here's some risks of that. First of all, there's a lack of accountability for online Christian influencers. If you know a pastor in real life, they're usually accountable. They should be accountable to a church body, to the church leadership, to the denomination structure, to an elder board, to whatever that accountability structure is there. But an online influencer is accountable often to no one but their followers and their sponsors. So they may be beholden to who's paying them, they may be beholden to what their followers are demanding in content. And without oversight. Theology can drift. It can become personal opinion, it can drift towards cultural trends, it can drift towards financial gain. Another problem is blended messages. So many influencers just sprinkle a little scripture on top of self help. I'm, mainly packaging self help sprinkled with scripture.
Blended Messages, Performative Faith, and Shallow Discipleship Online
Maybe it's prosperity gospel, maybe it's cultural affirmations that really sound good but are not biblically sound. We have seen so many examples of this, in recent months. I'm sure examples are coming to your own mind. And that blurring makes it harder, especially for young believers, to separate truth from half truth. They can more easily separate truth from, outright lies. But truth from half truth is really hard. There's also an element of performative faith. Even my kids have talked to me about this. It's a real turn off. And I'll talk about this more in just a second. But social media basically rewards attention, not accuracy. The influencer's goal is to gain views, gain followers, not shepherd souls. That may not be their mission. Now there are some great Christian influencers out there who really do feel a burden and a calling to shepherd their platform. And that's what you should be looking for because faith can become just stylized content instead of genuine spiritual formation and discipleship. That's the concern I have with so many people saying on social media, hey, I'm reading the Bible for the first time. Hey, I went to church for the first time. Hey, I'm engaging with God for the first time. I'm curious about my faith that discipleship should not be happening on social media. It needs to happen in person with real people walking in their real life. That's so important because. Because that is so important for authenticity. There is fragmented discipleship. That's what happens if you one thing online and yet you're seeing one thing in person. Those online influencers, maybe they just speak on isolated topics. Maybe they just have a platform for one specific thing. Maybe they talk like I do about marriage and family and parenting. Maybe they talk about homeschooling. Maybe they talk about just motivation that doesn't offer the whole counsel of God. So that is a tool. It is such an important tool, but it doesn't replace discipleship that you'll get in a local church. It creates a fragmented view of faith rather than the holistic teaching that a local pastor is going to provide through preaching and discipleship and community. And if we're really honest, there can be some subtle idolatry there because it's very easy for followers to begin elevating a charismatic influencer above God's word and let their opinion, their interpretation, outweigh what scripture says on the matter. Now what my kids critique is something that is called curated or Christianity. That is an influencer culture where faith becomes performance.
Curated Christianity, Consumer Faith, and the Dangers of Aesthetic Spirituality
And that's just natural because social media rewards image over substance, they reward engagement over discipleship. And when influencers present Christianity through filtered posts through that perfectly placed coffee cup next to the devotional outside in the beautiful nature scene, or a perfectly branded Bible journaling Photoshop, faith risks becoming a performance. And we start to feel like our discipleship journey is less than because it isn't curated. And people start to confuse aesthetic spirituality with authentic spiritual formation. That is a danger. We don't want highlight real Christianity because influencers often share those mountaintop moments, that quiet time setup, that inspirational quote, the worship clip. They often will take out the messy realities of life, suffering, doubt, repentance, perseverance. And that can make unrealistic expectations, especially for younger believers who feel like my faith isn't good enough if it's not picture perfect. We also get concerned about consumer driven faith. Many influencers monetize their platforms and tie faith to merchandise and devotionals or brand deals.
Shallow Discipleship, Individualistic Faith, and the Authenticity Gap in Influencer Culture
That is not inherently in and of itself a bad thing, but it blurs the line between ministry and marketing. And you've got to have people speaking into your platform, speaking into your ministry ministry, giving you discernment and accountability on that. And we don't want to be consumers, we want to be surrendered as disciples to Christ. Also on social media that discipleship tends to be very shallow because it's delivered in bite sized post, it's inspirational reels. Those things cannot replace the deep teaching and accountability, the connection and correction that happens within a local church. When you have curated Christianity, you have believers who are basically snacking on this content instead of feasting on the word of God, feasting on faith and those disciplines that last prayer and Bible study and fellowship and service. Social media also promotes an individualistic faith over a community faith. So when you have influencer faith, you're talking about that individual's journey, their platform, their brand, their vision, what God has placed on their heart, which can be helpful. But biblical Christianity is about life and community. It's about serving others. It's about looking to the interest of others. It's about Philippians 2. It's about being humility, taking on the humility of Christ. And when we have that curated model, it can foster isolation because people are following influencers instead of walking with real brothers and sisters in Christ, following Christ. And lastly and curated Christianity, we have a potential authenticity gap because followers rarely see influencers full lives. Now for my life I've tried to Be very transparent about this. I have struggles in my marriage, I have struggles in my parenting. I get tempted, I fall down, I sin, I repent. I am not a perfect person. My kids would be the first to come up to the microphone to do that.
The Importance of Authentic Faith and Local Church Community Over Influencers
It creates a gap between what's presented and what's real. But authentic discipleship invites people in to see those strengths and those weaknesses and see them allow God's power to be made perfect in that human frailty. So basically, Christianity curated Christianity. It risks trading that transformation of our hearts for the presentation of content. And we've got to be Christ centered and we've got to teach our families and our kids that, huh? While Christian influencers can absolutely be inspired, they can be encouraging, they can walk alongside of us. We have a lot of, of really great wise voices right here at American Family Association, American Family Radio, who are needed, who encourage us, who lift us up. That's intentional when you listen, and I think so much, our intentional listeners who are tuning in to be inspired, to be helped, to be pointed to Christ, which I can tell you in front of the microphone, behind the microphone, walking the halls of American Family association, you have humble servants of God, not perfect people. The people who have dedicated their lives to ministering to others and pointing people to Christ. Now, contrast this with connecting with the local church and being connected with a local pastor.
Comparing Local Pastors to Online Influencers: Relationship, Vetting, and Fruit
You've got relationship and presence. You've got a pastor you know who has walked through grief, who has been in the hospital, been in the funeral home, conducted a wedding, conducted a baptism. M just knowing your communion, applying scripture in context for what the community is going through. An influencer cannot shepherd you personally, but a pastor can. A local pastor also has theological vetting or should have theological vetting. They have peer review, and they're preaching and they're teaching. Now, an influencer may be really rich in charisma, but really shallow on biblical theology, which is really important. When you have a pastor, you look for fruit in their life. You can see them. You see their marriage, you see their kids, you see their service, you see their repentance, you see their attitude, you see their leadership. And it's not just the highlighted real. It's real life, and that's discipleship and community. Pastors aren't just giving you ideas. They're inviting you into the life of the church body. And influencers operate outside of that community. So here's some questions that you can think about when you're comparing an online influencer to a trusted local pastor. Think, does this influencer Point me consistently back to scripture or just mostly to themselves. Do they submit to accountability or are they operating independently? Is their message theologically sound or is it too tailored to culture, Too tailored to true, too timid, frankly? Are they walking with me through real life or only entertaining me through a screen?
Teaching Discernment and Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation at Home
Am I learning from them in addition to my church community, or am I replacing my church with them? Are things that you need to look at in influencer cult and in looking at pastor. We need to teach our kids that not every Christian online voice is trustworthy, just as you would in walking to, a stranger's house and start eating food out of their refrigerator. You shouldn't ingest every spiritual message that you find online. We need to make sure that we are looking at our families and giving them the tools that they need. When we come back, I'll talk about the irony of the passivity that we have. We're cultural watchdogs. We need to bring that to our home. And I'll tell you about some things that influence have gotten right that we can leverage, that we can use in our own homes. It's so important to provide discernment in a world full of voices.
The culture warrior: Don Wildmon
And I'll, also encourage you about the science of parents as the primary faith influencers. Don't believe that your kids aren't listening to you. They sure are. And I'll give you help and hope on that when we come back. During the Christmas season of 1976, I sat down one night to watch television.
: One man saw the battle coming. If we lose this cultural war, we're going to have a hedonistic, humanistic society.
: And he chose to stand and fight. If you will not respect our beliefs, then you will respect our money. and we'll spend it with somebody else Reverend Wildmon, Reverend Wildmon. The Reverend Donald Wildmon.
: Discover the story of the culture warrior Don Wildmon and how he went head to head with Hollywood playboy, the homosexual agenda, and the Disney empire. Things were changing and many people just sort of acclimated to it. And Don Wildmon didn't. They thought, I think, that they could just crush him. The movement Don started paved the way for Christians to boldly stand for truth and righteousness in a hostile culture. Watch Culture Warrior today for free visit culturewarrior.movie
Known by Tauren Wells: it's so unusual, it's frightening. you see right through the mess inside me and you call me out to pull me in. You tell me I can start again and I don't need to keep on hiding. I'm fully known and loved by you, you won't let go no matter what I do and it's not one or the other it's hard truth in my ridiculous grace to be known Fully known and loved by you I'm fully known and loved by you.
Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back, friends. That is known by Tauren Wells.
Welcome Back: The Irony of Unfiltered Access and Discipleship Vacuums
And that's what we all want in this world. We all want to be seen. We all want to be known. We all want to be loved. And today I just hope that I am heard. I know that some of you may be saying our voice sounds a little different. Yes. We've had to go with a different connection because of a massive cable, outage that is happening around my studio. And so I really thank and appreciate that, you tuning in and understanding. It was really important to me today to give you this message that God laid on my heart and to share some ANSWERS ON Ask Dr. Nursemama Friday about being an influencer for your family. And one of the things that I see is that parents, parents are deeply concerned about cultural influence on their kids. And rightly so. Absolutely rightly so. But the irony here is that a lot of times we worry about those outside influences, yet we are allowing unfiltered access to our kids in their phones, in their bedrooms, in their head, literally in their headphones. And that silent permission, it is an invitation for influencers to fill the vacuum on discipling our kids.
Navigating Fragmented News and Guiding Families Towards Credible Voices
And so we'll talk about. Because our kids need discernment in a world of voices. More and more families are relying on online content creators. If you were watching the trial today of Shawn Combs, you saw outside not just traditional media, But TikTokers and YouTubers and all kinds of influencers. We have seen those now in the White House briefing room. And news is much more fragmented, which is great because it gives us opportunity to curate those voices we trust. We don't just have one choice on the local news, but it's also dangerous if we don't guide our families to choose those voices that we trust. That's really important. We've got to model how to check those sources, how to seek credibility and how to pursue truth in those platforms and to be a barometer for truth on those. So some questions you can ask your family. Hey, does this influencer line up with the truth of God's word, the truth of what we know to be true about the world? Are they credible? Are they living with integrity and. And show them the value of seeking wisdom from scripture and from trusted mentors, not just leaving their discipleship passively to the algorithms. So think about what influencers. Maybe that can be a topic of conversation with your family at some point this weekend. Ask your family about the influencers they follow the most. And ask them, do they guide you towards Christ? Do they encourage you? Or do they push you away way?
Parents as Primary Faith Influencers: The 'A Team' of Faith Formation
Do they tempt you? Do they lead you in another direction? Do they say things? Do they act in ways that are contrary to God's word? We've got to fact check. Even influencers that they admire. That's really important to do. But the good news in all of this is that parents are still the primary faith influencers for your kids. And when you think of influencers, you're probably thinking someone with a camera and a ring light. But he here is the truth. The most powerful influence in your child's life is you. Research proves it, Scripture affirms it, and your daily choices demonstrate that. We know studies consistently show the greatest predictor of a child making their faith their own. Not walking away from their faith, not deconstructing their faith. It's not Sunday school attendance, it's not youth group participation, it's not going to youth camp which is so important. But it's whether they see their parents living out their faith in an authentic, healthy, relationship based way at home. That is the way. Now all of those other things help. And I was just recently with a ministry platform called Empowered Homes. And everywhere I went they had all of these mugs and T shirts and signs that celebrated the B team. And I said, okay, tell me about the B team. And they said, hey, we here at the church, church, we're the B team. Parents are the A team. We are here to support the A team. B team helps the A team practice. B team steps in when the A team needs help. But the A team is the A team. And I loved that. I thought that was fantastic. So shout out to them for doing ministry so well.
Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation: Consistency, Storytelling, and Authenticity
And kids and teens, they may roll their eyes, or even your uncle, your cousin, whoever it is you're trying to influence, they may roll their eyes and act like they're not listening. But they do absorb far more than parents realize. They watch how you handle stress, how you handle money, how you handle relationships, how you handle conflict, that is lived out faith. So we can actually leverage the power of some influencer strategies and we can use them in our very own, homes for faith formation. Let me tell you how. Let me give you a few ways. First of all, consistency is key. You will hear this in any influencer masterclass. They post consistency once A day, multiple times a day. Their audience knows when to expect content so we can translate that to our family. Be consistent. Build those small faith habits into your daily rhythms. This is influencing. Through bedtime prayers, going to church together. Okay. Hey there, guys. I'm, back. I told you we were having connection issues. I'm so grateful for your grace. Live radio is not for the faint of heart. Thanks for hanging in there with me. Let me go back to what I was saying because it's really important. And ironically, as the Lord would see fit to humble me. I was talking about consistency, and that was inconsistent. You never know when the signal is going to drop out. But let me go back and say this again. Families can. We can learn from the power of influencer strategies for faith formation. Being consistent is so important. Influencers post consistently. Their audience knows when to expect their content. So we've got to be consistent. And the good news is those are small, easy things to do. I'm talking about praying with your kids before they go to bed or reading a scripture in the morning, expressing gratitude at meals. Any of these 52 habits for healthy families. Just implementing them consistently, we can be an influencer. Number two, visual storytelling. Influencers use photos, they use reels, they use visuals to capture attention and tell stories. We can do that in our home. Create some visual anchors of faith in your home. That might be scripture on the wall. I'll tell you, I use use this all the time. When my kids are telling me they feel discouraged, I point straight to Joshua 1, verse 9 that is on my wall and say, read it. What does it say? And it says, be strong, be courageous, do not be terrified, do not be discouraged. For the Lord, your God will be with you wherever you go. And pointing to that is really helpful. It might be a prayer journal. It might be a memory verse card on the fridge. I've shared about my daughter putting one in her car. Take and share family photos, of service projects, of mission trips, or just maybe a prayer wall like Nick Vujicic our friend told us about the other day. Get some sticky notes and put them on one side of the wall that says prayers, unanswered prayers and answered prayers. It can be that simple. The third thing that influencers use is authenticity. Authenticity wins. Influencers have followers value their vulnerability. Sharing their struggles, sharing their failures. Real life that builds trust. We can translate that to our families by being honest about our own faith journeys with our kids. We can share when we struggle with doubt, when we struggle with fear, when God answers a prayer in an unexpected way when we're tired. But we still have hope that the Lord will sustain us. Authenticity makes you credible. Number four, community engagement. They engage with their followers. Influencers interact. They reply to comments. They DO Q&As. They host live chats. They invite engagement. We have got to invite engagement. And we are so busy. We're not physically, emotionally or mentally present. We've got to create safe spaces where we're engaging them, where we're asking fun questions, where we are doing Q&As. We're hosting live chats. You can host a live chat in your living room.
Clear Messages, Lifestyle Modeling, and Multiplying Influence in Families
And yes, they'll say that's so cringe their world of eyes, but they'll come and you never know how that influencing seed that you plant will grow later. Number five, they have. Influencers have very clear messages. Successful creators have a core message or a theme that defines them, that defines their platform. Our families need a core theme. We need a faith statement. We need a mission statement, we need a vision statement. A can be really simple. Something like, in our family, we honor God, we love others, we tell the truth. We do hard things is one that I heard. We can do hard things through Christ who gives us strength. Repeat it so often that kids internalize it and they know your family's platform. Number six, model lifestyle, not just words. The influencers don't just say what to do. They show it by modeling it in everything, in the way that they, they present themselves. Now we can do that to show them like that. When we're anxious, what does prayer look like? Even when we're anxious, what does forgiveness look like even when we're hurt, what does generosity look like even when it's undeserved? We've got to model that in ourselves, in our own faith. And number seven, the last one is multiplying influence.
Encouraging Kids as Influencers and The Power of Parental Example
Influencers encourage their audience to share their content, share their hashtags, share their challenges, share their collaboration. Collaborations. Spread the message like and follow for more. All of these phrases are now so ingrained in American society, we can translate those to our family by encouraging our kids to share their faith naturally with their friends. Invite them to church, pray for them, serve together. Come over, join our family. Devotional time. Join our family. Prayer time. Come with us to church at night. Come with us to this Christian worship service, to a, concert, to an event. We can equip them, our kids, to see themselves as influencers, which is so great. And listen, influencing happens starting even with young kids. That happens through bedtime rhythms, through gratitude, through songs and scriptures. All of those things that we've talked about through elementary kids with devotional time and serving together, encouraging their curiosity, and then in those teen years, just having those real conversations about what influencers they're having, that's really important. So something to ask yourself is if your family is seeing your faith as authentic and consistent, those are the hallmarks of an influencer and an effective influencer, being authentic and consistent. Who engage, do they see you engaging with your faith in that way? And what is one small, rich rhythm that you could start this week to influence your family? Because I will tell you, this is contagious. If someone in your family sees, hey, if a husband sees, a wife is doing a devotional every night, maybe I should do that.
Daily Discipleship, Authentic Faith, and Embracing God's Redemption
Maybe. And we can win them over even without words sometimes just by promoting that influencer culture in our homes. So what one small rhythm could you start this week? And another question to think about is, are you leading those faith conversations really primarily to their church environments, to their Sunday school, to their life group? Are you being the primary daily discipler of your children, daily discipling your family? When we look at what is said in scripture about that Deuteronomy 6, 6, 7, these commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts, impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get get up. That power of parental influence on faith is something that can take our fear and make it faith informed. Because kids whose parents model authentic faith are far more likely to carry that faith into adulthood. I encourage you to pray with your kids daily. Let them see you living out your faith authentically. Let them see how you handle stress, how you handle conflict, how you handle joy. Create those rhythms of family worship and open conversations. Go back, listen to any Friday show or the Doctor Nurse Mama coaching minutes. It will get you started. Encourage authenticity.
Reclaiming the Role of Influencer in Your Family Through Relationships and Example
Show them your honest walk with God and that life's messy, but it's not perfect, but it is redeemed. God redeems, he restores, he renews, and he gives us mercies for every single morning. So listen, influencer culture is shaping your family. Whether you like it or not, whether you realize it or not, it is here. And we have got to step out of this passivity and we have got to reclaim the God given role of influencer in our family. We influence through relationships, not arguments. Authentic faith at home is the most powerful influence at all. So again, ask yourself, who's influencing your kids? Strangers online, or you and as we wrap up today, just remember every word you speak, every choice you make, every act of kindness or forgiveness in your home leaves a lasting imprint on their heart. Matthew 5:16 said, Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Let Your Light Shine: The Lasting Imprint of Parental Faith
Let your light shine in front of your own children and as you you do, I pray the Lord will bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you as they see your faith lived out in those small everyday influencer moments. And don't underestimate the influence you carry. Let your light shine. I'll see you on Monday.
We'd like to thank our sponsors, including PreBorn
Dr. Jessica Peck: We'd like to thank our sponsors, including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion and has seen over 100,000 commitments to Christ. Will you join PreBorn in continuing this good work supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com/AFR the views and
Jeff Chamblee: opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.
It's Ask Dr. Nurse Mama Friday! Be an Influencer to Your Family (Best of show from 10/03/25)
https://giving.preborn.com/preborn/checkout/afa?sc=43490GF2022&campaign=404750
Chapters:
(00:00) We'd like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn
(01:51) The Importance of Faith, Family Rhythms, and Introduction to Influencer Culture
(04:25) Understanding Influencer Culture and Its Impact on Families
(05:57) The Subtle Dangers of Unfiltered Online Influences on Children
(07:22) The Evolution of Influencer Marketing from Celebrities to Social Media
(10:53) The Rise of Micro-Influencers and TikTok's Impact on Consumer Behavior
(14:10) Comparing Micro-Influencers and Content Creators to God-Given Desires
(15:43) Addressing Questions on Micro-Influencers, Pseudo-Faith, and Practical Tools for Families
(16:37) Without people like you, this podcast would not exist
(19:14) Understanding Parasocial Relationships and the Dangers of Unqualified Online Advice
(20:41) The Impact of Influencers on Discipleship, Morality, and Self-Image
(22:12) Risks of Pseudo-Faith and Bad Theology from Online Christian Influencers
(23:42) Blended Messages, Performative Faith, and Shallow Discipleship Online
(26:17) Curated Christianity, Consumer Faith, and the Dangers of Aesthetic Spirituality
(27:31) Shallow Discipleship, Individualistic Faith, and the Authenticity Gap in Influencer Culture
(29:34) The Importance of Authentic Faith and Local Church Community Over Influencers
(30:59) Comparing Local Pastors to Online Influencers: Relationship, Vetting, and Fruit
(32:40) Teaching Discernment and Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation at Home
(33:37) The culture warrior: Don Wildmon
(35:53) Welcome Back: The Irony of Unfiltered Access and Discipleship Vacuums
(37:04) Navigating Fragmented News and Guiding Families Towards Credible Voices
(38:34) Parents as Primary Faith Influencers: The 'A Team' of Faith Formation
(40:17) Leveraging Influencer Strategies for Faith Formation: Consistency, Storytelling, and Authenticity
(44:17) Clear Messages, Lifestyle Modeling, and Multiplying Influence in Families
(45:37) Encouraging Kids as Influencers and The Power of Parental Example
(47:19) Daily Discipleship, Authentic Faith, and Embracing God's Redemption
(48:39) Reclaiming the Role of Influencer in Your Family Through Relationships and Example
(49:43) Let Your Light Shine: The Lasting Imprint of Parental Faith
(50:03) We'd like to thank our sponsors, including PreBorn
Live
