I have always been intrigued by how things work. From my earliest memories, I can remember taking things apart, examining them meticulously, and trying to figure out how to successfully put them back together. Much of this comes from my dad, who had a nearly fifty-year career at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and loved to learn. In 1982, when I was twelve years old, he bought our first IBM personal computer. I would spend hours after school reading technical manuals and experimenting with writing software. If I didn’t know something, I would ask my dad. On more than one occasion, I asked for forgiveness because I broke something else. I excelled in math and science, following in my father’s footsteps to become a software engineer, and I have worked at JPL for the past 30 years. I have also attended church my entire life. While those worlds seemed so far apart, I have come to realize that my faith in God is strengthened as I learn more and more about how our world works—about the physical and biological systems, and about the set of laws that so perfectly govern the universe. As Galileo Galilei stated in 1623, “The laws of nature are written by the hand of God in the language of mathematics.”

Many of us in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields are wired to learn how things work and seek to increase our understanding. We ask hard questions and expect rigorous answers that must be tested. I believe God has given us the intelligence and the tools to ask and wrestle with questions so that we can grow in a personal relationship with Him. I believe God welcomes our questions because a true exploration only strengthens our understanding of God and the design of our universe. Like my dad, if I don’t understand something, I can bring it to Him.

Last fall, we launched the STEM cohort, a group of individuals at Lake Avenue Church, along with other churches and universities, who are coming together to engage in rigorous dialogue around STEM-related topics and our belief in God. As Pasadena is one of the major scientific centers of innovation in the world, many of those involved have led prestigious careers working on the leading edge of topics that have transformed human understanding and advanced technology, from astrophysics to energy to computing. For most of us, the church world and the STEM world have had little to do with each other. What we have found is that building bridges between those in the church and those in STEM fields is opening new conversations that are important for us to have. There is no better place to have these conversations than right here in Pasadena.

As we announce this year’s Infinity Summit, we are excited about a partnership that will involve thought leaders from local Christian universities and those in our STEM cohort. On Oct. 5, we will hold an all-day summit on “Navigating Faith and Humanity in the Artificial Intelligence World” at Fuller Seminary. To many, artificial intelligence (AI) is a mysterious technology, often presented as a futuristic idea in books and movies, each with its own unique twists in terms of how it will disrupt humanity. Today, we are beginning to live the realities of what was not possible even five years ago through AI, raising entirely new discussions and questions. AI holds significant promise in driving major technological transformations in our society while raising moral, philosophical, and spiritual questions. While the premise of AI raises these fundamental questions, the reality is that it may strengthen our faith as we understand and learn more about what it truly means to be made in the image of God.

"My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I call to them, they stand forth together."  - Isaiah 48:13 (NIV)