A Call To Leadership

EP266: Take a Tech Sabath with Erick Vargas

• Dr. Nate Salah

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In a world that never stops buzzing, we’ll explore how intentional rest can restore your relationships, faith, and even your focus with Erick Vargas. Join us as we unpack the power of stepping away from screens and how setting healthy boundaries with technology can transform your family life. Tune in for a conversation that challenges the hustle and invites you to rediscover the gift of real rest.


Key Takeaways To Listen For

  • Why tech addiction is silently stealing your time and how to reclaim it
  • The story behind Sabbath Space and how it helps you unplug
  • The deeper meaning of the Sabbath beyond rest
  • Practical tips for implementing a digital Sabbath with your family
  • Why intentional disconnection leads to deeper spiritual and relational connection



 Resources Mentioned In This Episode



About Erick Vargas
Erick Vargas is a tech entrepreneur, ministry leader, and founder of Sabbath Space, a revolutionary app that helps families create intentional, tech-free time to rest, restore, and reconnect. With a background in software development and a passion for spiritual formation, Erick blends his deep faith with innovative technology to help others reclaim their time and relationships. Alongside his wife, who serves as a worship leader, Erick has spent over a decade serving in young adult ministry, equipping the next generation to live intentionally and walk faithfully.


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[00:00:00] Dr. Nate Salah
Hello, my friend. Welcome to this episode of A Call to Leadership. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, your host, and I have a very special treat for you on this episode as we unpack this insanity we have with our tech, constantly connected with it, sometimes difficult to let it go. I don't know about you, but I found myself just scrolling, scrolling, scrolling for hours and, and wasted time. Granted, we could be doing this as a break or a release. However, it can become life-changing. And we sometimes need a pause, a break, a way to just have a Sabbath, a day of rest from our tech. Well, I've invited Eric Vargas who has addressed this very issue with his own app, Sabbath Space. Can't wait for you to listen in as we emphasize the importance of maintaining balance, harmony between our digital and real life interactions. This concept of Sabbath as a day of rest and reflection is nothing new and a need to disconnect from work, from technology, to rejuvenate, to find more purpose in life, get out, spend time with those we love, relationships, do other things. Can't wait for you to listen in. I'm Dr. Nate Salah, and this is A Call to Leadership. Eric, thanks for being on the program. 


[00:01:30] Erick Vargas
Thanks for having me. Excited to be here. 


[00:01:32] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, man. So you've got a really interesting journey of, of, of business and that it applies to our listener and, uh, that you've created. A tech app that's anti tech. 


[00:01:45] Erick Vargas
Yeah. So it's, it's funny. So, like full time, I run a software company. It's a CRM. If you ever heard of that, like Salesforce or HubSpot, it's like a business to business software. And, um, so I'm kind of entrenched in the tech world, and I get to see kind of behind the scenes, what big tech does to keep us on our devices, you know, all the time. Right? And maybe we didn't ask to be on our phones 5, 6, 7, 8 hours a day, but that's kind of where we're at. Right? And the reason why I built Sabbath Space to begin with is, I just had a son, uh, he's 2 years old now, but, uh, I checked my screen time and, um, I spent 6 and a half hours that day on my phone. And I'm like, wow, that is crazy. So, I started to do some of the math. If you spend six hours a day on your phone, that's like 42 hours a week. That's a full-time job, right? That's, um, a hundred days a year, a third, a third of your year, you're on your phone. It's insane. And then throughout your whole life, you're losing a decade, you know, 12 years more. Um, on your phone and you know, we're just, uh, we're missing out on life, as possible. They've invested billions and billions of dollars and thousands of hours of time, millions of hours of time into making sure, you know, we're glued to our screens. And so this is kind of my way to like put some boundaries around that, right? 


[00:03:37] Dr. Nate Salah
Man, that hits so close to home, like for me, for our listener. I don't think very many people in our space, whether they be entrepreneurs, professionals, and people of faith, especially are going to argue with, man, we need a Sabbath from our tech. It's so true. I was just talking to my spouse about this, and we were talking about it, right? And I didn't want to miss, uh, those early moments with my son, right? And so that's why, you know, no one in like no, no one intends to be on their phone all the time, but. You know, big tech has really made our phones, these apps as addictive  was like, you know what, we need to have just a day where all the tech, everything that is digital is gone and we can actually communicate and spend time as a family and like, what was life like, what was life like before all this tech? I remember, I mean, I remember too, yeah, yeah, man, it's like you think about it, it's like people actually saw each other in person, we communicated more, we got out and did more and it's so easy to get. To get in that, that zap, I was just talking to a, um, a client the other day about like laying in bed for two to three hours, just with the thumb scroll, thumb scroll. Right. 


[00:04:40] Erick Vargas
And it's like doom  scrolling. That's what they call it. 


[00:04:42] Dr. Nate Salah
Doom scrolling. Right. So it hits all of us. I mean, this is like, this is an epidemic. This is literally an epidemic, and you're right. It's so addictive. It speaks to, you know, the algorithm speaks to everything that you want and need. Of course, they're listening. And it's kind of like a cliche joke now that as soon as you say something, talk about, I was for our, our, our great summit, our, our ministry arm, we were talking about the opportunity to Google. Really speak to different addiction. So, so guess what happens on my feed now? It's like, Hey, are you struggling with, you know, X, Y, and Z. Right. Yeah. And it's like, Oh my goodness. Well, no, but you are listening, and I'm glad that you're sharing that, right? In some ways it's a good thing. But in some ways, as you said, it can be completely destructive. 


[00:05:31] Erick Vargas
Yeah. It's, it's just gone too far, right? Like phones are a super useful tool. But now, rather than us being in charge of our phones, our phones are in charge of us, right? And so, that's what, uh, Savage Space is really, is about, is actually getting you off, it's an app to get you off your phone, which is kind of funny, it's ironic, right? Um, you gotta like, go, you know, you're infiltrating the space. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so Sabbath Space, there's a there's a couple of screen time apps out there, but Sabbath Space actually has a little unique twist, and it's a little different because I don't know if you've used this feature on your phone, but there's a screen time feature that will pop up whenever you've used an app too much. You can set that up in your settings, actually, and that's free to do. It's super easy. However, my wife tried to do that. And, after a while, the pop-up just says one more time, 15 more minutes or one hour. And yeah, you know what I'm talking about? Okay. So bypasses it all the time, right? Like, like, it's not even, it's just an extra click to get to the app, right? And so I'm like, uh, why do you even have that if you're just gonna bypass it every time, right? Like, on the other hand, try to take somebody's phone away. Impossible. So, Sabbath Space is actually, in the middle. And what it is, actually, it, it comes with a device. It comes with a keychain. Or a table stand, I have it right here for your desk or for your table side, like bedside, you know, table stand. And I'm actually, so just in our, you know, like seven minutes here today, I've gotten like 45 notifications on my phone. So I'm actually going to activate it right now. Hold on 45 notifications. 


[00:07:19]
Call me. Yeah. I like, seriously, I got so many notifications, and it's just distracting me, and I want to be in this conversation. Right. And so. Um, so what you do actually, it's pretty cool. You just activate the app, and then you tap on this device. And now I don't get any of those notifications or access to the applications unless I re-scan the device. So. It's an extra layer of friction so that I just don't bypass it, right? So, uh, at our house, um, we have that device in three places at the dinner table, we have it in our room, me and my wife. We have one on, on each side of our, uh, nightstands and then at the front of the door, right? Because let's say I get home from work, and I want to, you know, play with my kid. I can scan my phone. And I'm probably not going to walk across the house just to get on Instagram. You know what I mean? I'm actually too lazy to do that. So, but what it does, it, it takes away the time that my phone buzzed or the time that I just picked it up off of default. Right? Because that's what it's become. It's just instinctual at like mindless time on our phone. And that's what Sava Space does. It, it gives us that time back. 


[00:08:40] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, it's you're hitting all the hot buttons. And there's so much to this because one of the things that I've found, even getting drawn into conversations, I've resisted the urge, I don't know about you, Eric, I've resisted the urge over the last few years to not engage in social conversations, especially when they're contentious because they just go down rabbit holes and then you're, you're involved for hours and then you're back and forth and you're, you're usually Having conversations, arguing with someone who perhaps is the best way to have that, um, debate is possibly in person and not over a virtual text message in front of a million people, right? And so then your day's ruined and you're like, Oh my goodness. And then it's like, you know what? How about we find a way to distance ourselves just a little bit, uh, from, from that. And this is where this is what you're talking about. And I think it's just good for the soul to have the kind of discipline to just step away from the social.


[00:09:33] 
At least the digital social interaction and perhaps have a different kind of interaction just reminds me. Yeah, reminds me of Jesus. And I'd love to get to your, your journey through seminary to, uh, somewhat on this conversation. And I'm sure it's, it's, it's informed some of your development of, of this mission to, to help people to protect their Sabbath space. It reminds me of when he would. Retreat and go to the other side of the lake, or he would take time to rest. He could have like had more social interaction, but he knew that he had to be in unity with the father. He needed to have downtime that was away and calmed his mind so that he could focus and, and remind himself and be in unity with what his purpose was. And I think we can. Man, we, these distractions become, they become obstacles and they create dissonance and they create all kinds of confusion on, Hey, what's my highest priority? What is it that I should be doing? And by the way, you mentioned, you know, children, they're watching. A hundred percent. They're watching to see, Hey, what is your life like? What are your interactions? How do you navigate and use the one gift? The one gift that you cannot replicate, you can't make any more time. Where do you spend your attention? 100%. This is it. This is, this is, and I know it sounds heavy, but it's true. It's like, man, this is it. You don't want to get to the end of the journey of life and say, oh my goodness. I spent, I invested 42 hours a week and then multiply that by the number of years you've got left in areas of my life that were not going to have the impact that were my very best. 


[00:11:14] Erick Vargas
And think about what you're missing when you do that, right? So like. You know, I get to, I get to play trains with my two-year-old, like, and I get to see him build these tracks and like, go like, you know, the Thomas, the train classic kind of toys, right. Instead of, you know, whatever fire is going on or whatever is going on in the whole world, right? Like we're not, we're not supposed to know all these catastrophes and tragedies that are going on. We're just not emotionally built for that. Right. And so that's part of the anxiety that we're, we're taking in. Right. And you know, hopefully this kind of breaks, um, you know, the phone addiction that we're, we're all kind of, you know, have succumbed to. 


[00:11:57] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, I'm glad you brought that up because I think that's an important point to talk about what we take in. And you mentioned emotionally built for absorbing all these, these tragedies. You know, I quit watching the news years ago, and I'll flip it on from time to time. Uh, it's because it's, it's mostly tragedies, and it's not that we should not be aware, we should not know how to pray, we shouldn't be, however, it's really taking our thoughts captive and what we surround ourselves with to, uh, to, to be whole, to, to be full. In fact, I remember years ago, my mom, uh, years ago when CNN was a new, the whole, the whole cable news network thing. And they were the very first 24-hour news net, news station was, it was revolutionary at the time. Yeah. So it was like, oh, this is awesome. Right? Well, my mom would watch it 24 seven and she got so depressed and anxious. And I'm like, mom, you got to turn it off. Right. You got, you got to turn it off. It is just destroying your, your, your, your mental, your emotional well-being. And sometimes people can't, Eric, sometimes. It's, it's the cycle, and it's, yeah, and it's, it's really an addiction. So like for that person, you know, what do we say? And they say, well, you know, my whole life is wrapped around in this social context, especially, uh, many generations. But I say even the younger generation, especially post-COVID. And it's like, Hey, my, all my social interaction is here on this device. What do you say to that? 


[00:13:31] Erick Vargas
That we've lost the ability to really savor real life, right? We're exchanging a friend request to actually going out and having lunch with a friend, right? Look like we were losing that, right? We've lost like, you know, hearts and likes and we exchange it. Like what was the last time you said an encouraging word to somebody's face? Right. Instead of a comment. And uh, you know, it's, it's not that one is bad, it's just, it's a cheap substitute. Right. And then you lose the soul connection that, you know, we're, we're built for. Right. And, you know, we're not tasting and seeing God's creation. Right. And we're, we're just missing out. Right. I remember the first time that. I saw the Grand Canyon and, I'm, I'm a pretty even keel guy, but my, this is one of my wife's favorite memories because, you know, we've all seen the Grand Canyon pictures of it. And, but, um, I was driving and we turned the corner, and I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, and I was just like, wow. And I was just like amazed because I never seen anything like it before in real lif,e and the pictures don't compare. Once you see it in life, um, when you see the colors and the beauty of God, God's creation, you just gotta, you gotta experience it. 


[00:14:52] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Even VR goggles.They don't, they still don't, it may, it may, you may think it's closer, but it's, there's nothing like the full experience, full immersion. Yeah. And that's the same thing with human interaction. 


[00:15:04] Erick Vargas
Yeah. I heard, I heard somebody say this, is that like, you know, the average. You know, time, you know, lunch or dinner, it takes only like 7 to 10 minutes to eat your food. And then, um, he said, we're eating, but we're not having meals anymore, right? And back in the day, we used to spend, you know, an hour or two around the table, right? And rather than that, we, you know, everything's fast. Everything's fast food, everything, everything. And it's, you know, we're losing that, you know, so DoorDash. Or instead of home-cooked meals, right? It's just the way society is going and there's value there for sure. But, you know, uh, I don't want to be consumed by it, right? Right. And at what cost, right? 


[00:15:46] Dr. Nate Salah
At what cost? The cost of the memories, the relationships. In fact, I just got a, speaking of that, I just got a, a short sent to me electronically by a friend about, like, all the things That they wish they would have done, you know, wish they would have spent more time with loved ones, wish they would have went on that that trip, wish they would have had the longer meal, wished all these things. And in almost all the wishes were around human interaction, they were around. 3D like real people talk about the dinner table and I've heard it said, man, that's the most sacred, you know, gathering is the gathering around the dinner table where you, you know, commune and share your day and laugh and live and encourage and it's become like now it's just, well, it's just not efficient, right? So. Yeah, we'll just, you know, we'll just do our own thing. And one of the kids maybe eats in the bedroom and the parents are on the go or whatever it might look like. And it's like, Hey, you know what, maybe it's time to revisit that. 


[00:16:46] Erick Vargas
Yeah, I'm going to get a little theological on us here. So, um, so I, you know, as I was creating this, you know, app, I, I did a deep dive study on what Sabbath is. Right. Um, and a lot of, a lot of people might say, you know, Sabbath is rest. Absolutely. God rested on the seventh day. God calls us to rest. I'm like, there has to be more. I want, I want more. So I did a really deep study of Sabbath, and I started to see what God, you know, was telling us. And. He's like, you know, work six days and rest one day. And I'm looking at like, you know, in our American society, I'm like, wait a second. I have a two-day weekend, right? How do I have a two-day weekend? And then I have five days, but I'm burnt out. That doesn't make any sense. And then I realized I'm never truly disconnected from work, right? I'm never truly resting because I'm getting all the messages that, you know, you're not, you know, rich enough, you're not this enough, you're not that enough or whatever it is, you're, you're constantly in that not restful state. Right. And so, um, it's interesting, like when God first called his people to Sabbath. There was zero concept of a two-day weekend or a one-day weekend. And when he called, you know, the Israelites to Sabbath and that resting on one day, it was actually looked down upon. By the rest of the world, they're like, Oh, look at, you know, these lazy people over here, right? Because, you know, before that, it was slavery working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, you know, all the time, right?


[00:18:25]
 And, you know, one of my favorite verses is that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the son. And what that means is that the Sabbath is actually a gift. It's a gift to us, right? And so it's like, Oh, how is it a gift? It's it's because, um, you know, we're called to rest. Um, but, you know, all the study, there's a really good book on Sabbath called Sabbath out there. And he and he said, it's like, yes, we're called to like rest from Labor, but we're really supposed to actually invest that time into our community, into our families. And so what got me excited about Sabbath is not only resting, but what else could I be investing my efforts into? That's not work, right? Into my, my, that's what, you know, that's when you should do daddy-daughter or daddy-son dates, right? Or that's when you should do. Um, you know, family time and family worship and, you know, have it, just have a great meal with friends and stuff like that. Right. So that's what really got me excited about Sabbath is not only resting, but investing into true Sabbath.


[00:19:38] Dr. Nate Salah
That's beautiful. I remember that verse. In fact, I was just watching, uh, an episode of The Chosen, which of course portrays, uh, a widened, you know, viewpoint of Jesus's journey. And literally, it was the last episode I watched, and, uh, and he was going through the fields with his disciples, and, uh, and, and that statement is so, it resonates, right? That Sabbath. You know, man was not made for Sabbath, Sabbath was made for man. 


[00:20:07] Erick Vargas
And you can see in his miracles, the purpose of Sabbath, right? He's like, uh, like the Pharisees, like don't heal the man on the Sabbath. Right. And, and then he's like, you don't get what I'm here to do. I'm here to bring life. Right. I'm here to bring restoration. It's not about not doing stuff. Right. Cause that's what the Pharisees were all, it's about doing like what God's mission. Right. And so that's what I'm excited for to hear about from the users of Sabbath space is not only am I off my phone, but like, you know, that time I invested in my marriage, I invested in my kids, I invested in my community, right in the restoration that, you know, God's bringing. 


[00:20:46] Dr. Nate Salah
I love it. I love the connection of Sabbath with restoration because truly that's what Jesus was doing on the Sabbath when he got received so much opposition. It's like, Hey, wouldn't you save a person on the Sabbath or your ox, right? You're going to save an ox, but you're not going to save a person, right? You're not going to restore a human being. And it's like, Oh, my goodness. It is about restoration. It is about the relationship and the unity. At first you need it with our, with our, our God, which is the, the, the, the source of our restoration. And then it feeds into our family, our community. And of course, and then eventually into our business. I think we've got the opposite, right? And so we, we put business first and we do it, I think, in a lot of ways. Because we, we know where we're to make a provision. I think that we need to check that though. I need to, I think we need to check it because most of us are, you know, once we get to a certain place and we've, we've got achievement, we've made a provision and now, now it's just turns into an addiction.


[00:21:48] Erick Vargas
That's right. Here's actually my hot take on Sabbath. Um, it's kind of funny. I actually work more now that I take a true Sabbath. It's funny because it's actually giving me permission to work six days a week instead of five. Because I'm actually disconnecting on that seventh day. Right. I'm not like half working, checking my emails. I'm not like thinking about work. I'm like totally disconnected. Right. And so who would have thought following God's, you know, word is actually good. Totally disconnected. Tell me, tell me what that looks like. Like, oh, so like no tech. No tech, no phone, no TV, nature as much as possible, right? That's creation, yeah. I have a Tesla so that it has a screen in it and I'm like, ah, nah. Can't get away from driving. Yeah, yeah. Can't get away from driving. But like, that's when, you know, we're going like on family walks on the beach in the morning. You know, it's like cooking. And just doing what, you know, we want to do. That's not in front of the screen, you know, so it's been really rejuvenating.


[00:22:47] Dr. Nate Salah
Oh my goodness. As you're saying it, Eric, my, like, my spirit is like relaxing, just thinking about as the experience. Of that is, and, and so many of us are in this, this routine, right? This, this, this routine of like, okay, so I got my, and it's just, and then there's, I think we all have different defaults, right? Different things that were that are okay. I got some downtime. I'm going to scroll this from a scroll that or, and sometimes we can, you know, it's like, oh, it's. It's, it's helpful stuff, whether it's something to edify or to be edified and things like that. However, as you said, as you said, this is a sacred space, so let's make it sacred. Let's make it a holy space. And I love the way at the end of the, the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, be perfect as your father is perfect. And it's like, man, that's. What is it? Whoa, that's, yeah, that's a tall order, right? But if you look at the original Greek and you're, you know, you've been to seminary. So, you know, teleos is the, is the, is the word for perfect, which means complete. It means whole. It means mature. And there's a certain, there's a certain meter of the mature, complete person that creates the boundaries and the borders necessary to be whole in their lives. Because what we've, what we've got now is we've got this lopsidedness to where we're super heavy on the tech side, and we're not complete, and honestly, in some ways it's a bit immature.


[00:24:20] Erick Vargas
Oh, yeah, absolutely. And we, you know, we didn't necessarily even ask for it, right? Like another example that is kind of culturally relevant today is just like how are, you know, our food is in our society, right? Like, try to go keto for a week, and you'll realize how much sugar is in every single thing, right? All the chemicals in the food, all of the stuff that keeps us unhealthy. You know, no one, everyone tries to, you know, their best to make The good and right choices, but, you know, are our society and our infrastructure is pulling us in the wrong direction, right? And so the way I describe what Sabbath space does is. Just don't keep the cookies in the house, right? And so that I'm not, if it's there, I'm going to eat it, right? I'm just going to eat it. It's addictive, and I want it and, but I'm probably not going to drive to the store and pick up cookies just because I want cookies. I'm probably just going to grab the apple that's easily accessible to me and then have that, right? So that's, that's kind of the idea. 


[00:25:24] Dr. Nate Salah
No, I love that. And I love, you know, you can, here's the other thing. You can also prepare for the day of Sabbath where you're like, well, I still need my tech for X, Y, and Z. Well, can we get that out maybe the day before? Yeah, I'm thinking about, for example, we have a, you know, we're building our platform for our leadership development model, a great summit for entrepreneurs and business people that are, it's faith-infused. Now we have a daily dose of devotional that we're, that we're getting ready to launch. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's eBase, you know, it's electronic-based download. And so on. And you're, you're, you're, you're, you're ministering to me because, for example, say, you know, Saturday or Sunday, whatever the day is. We need to be able to push that out early, push it out early a day early so that you'll have that devotional available to you. So you don't have to go to the tech because I think that's the other part is as leaders in the space of technology and technology distribution, especially those of us who care about the faith component and being whole. We have to take responsibility, we have to take responsibility, just like, you know, in the real world, great examples like a Chick-fil-A or a Hobby Lobby.


[00:26:38]
 So, like, what do they say? Look, you know, on the Sabbath, they consider the Sabbath on Sunday, we're not gonna, we're not going to serve, we're not gonna work, we're not gonna do any of that. And it's a taking responsibility as, as leaders, uh, for those who are called to walk alongside of us, it's, it's, it just, it hits, it hits, it hits on so many levels.  First, we have to take it in our own lives, in our own homes. And for someone listening, maybe this is like way out there because someone listening right now is like, well, you know, I've got three teenagers, you know?  Yeah. And, and, and everybody's doing their thing. And boy to gather and to say, Hey, look, we're going to take this day. And, and give it and truly make it sacred and a day of restoration. There's some prayer that has to go into that. Sure. There's some communication that has to go into that. Um, and, and we have to take the lead. 


[00:27:31] Erick Vargas
One thing that we've kind of, uh, built into the app to make it a little bit easier is you, you have the ability to kind of customize what you want blocked, right? So, like, um, for example, I have, we call it modes. So, I have, I have a devotional mode, I have a church mode, I have a work mode, right? And then I have, like, a sleep mode. And, um, like, my devotional mode Everything's blocked except my, my Bible app, right? Cause I'm not going to walk again. I'm not going to walk across the house just to, you know, scroll on Instagram or whatever it is. Right. And then like the phone is a tool, right? So people need a call. People need a text. So like on my, on, on Saturdays, I say, okay, just no social. Just no social for that day, right? But I still have, you know, the tools. I make my phone a tool again, right? Um, instead of all consuming. And so there are different modes so that you can like say, okay, we're just gonna put this one away for for a little bit. You know what I mean? 


[00:28:36] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, no doubt. No doubt. I love that. I mean, even as I think about it, I have some Jewish friends and clients, and they're like, Hey, you better call me before five o'clock on Friday. Exactly. You know, we're not, we're not having a conversation. I'm sure there's emergency type of, you know, usage, I would suspect. However, that's the level. And yeah, tell me about how seminary influenced this, this journey. 


[00:29:01] Erick Vargas
Yeah, well, you know, because I had to do kind of like study on Sabbath and like different historical takes on Sabbath and different denominational takes on Sabbath, like Saturday, Sunday, you know, what to do, what not to do. It just helps me. It helped me kind of take introspection or like, like, is my Sunday, like, is just going to church, calling it a Sabbath, like I would encourage anybody. Or I would encourage you to just, Hey, how do you do this? Like a Sabbath, right? How do you Sabbath? Right. And, um, I was asking a friend who was a pastor. I'm like, Hey, how do you Sabbath? And he's like, well, right. And, and I'm like, okay, so we're not really, um, taking God seriously as that, like this gift that he's given to us. Right. And, um, If it's truly a gift, then we should be excited for these gifts. And it shows us how far off base we are when we're like, Oh yeah, God gave us a gift. Whatever. Right? No, like it's a rejuvenation, right? Like you feel refreshed after your offer. And everybody knows everybody knows it. Right? 


[00:30:10] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. And here's the thing about that. That refreshment is when we empty our cup of that tag. We get to fill it with something else. So that feeling where you said, you know, what am I giving up? Well, just like thinking about, okay, well now you're probably going to think, well, I think we should go on an outing. We should go and do life together, go have a picnic, or we should have a conversation or finish that project together that gives us life and experience as a, as a community or as a family. Oh, remember we were always talking about going and serving, in this environment, but we were just like life just kept going on and on. Now, this gives us an opportunity. Yes, you have intentionality about that. 


[00:30:56] Erick Vargas
And for me, one of the things that really gives me life is just cooking for my family, right? And so I like on Sundays to make, or and Saturdays, you know, special meals, you know, whether it's just like a nice brunch for my family and I, you know, when I'm not on my phone, I actually create the space to think about. You know, how am I going to bless, you know, them with a delicious meal? Like, what do I want to cook? What, how do I want to love them in this specific way? And that's the space that Sabbath space kind of provides you because you need the space, right? Or you're, or those new ideas aren't going to happen.


[00:31:31] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah, man. So, and you went to seminary to be a pastor. Is that what your original intention?


[00:31:37] Erick Vargas
No, no. Well, right out of college, I, you know, like I thought I was going to go into ministry full time and, you know, but when you get married, you gotta, you gotta work. So, uh, so I, I, that's what started my career in tech, but, you know, me, my wife is a worship leader and we've been doing kind of young adults ministry for like, you know, 10 years now. So God said yes to both, basically. 


[00:31:59] Dr. Nate Salah
Yeah. Well, and the thing about ministry, the way I understand it, ministry is not a destination. It's an orientation, not a place to go. It's a person to be. We're all, we're all ministers wherever we are. And this is the unique journey that God's had you on with the exposure to tech, exposure to the church, the need, especially with, as you mentioned, with the young adults, And some of the challenges they face with isolation and with the, with, with tech, it's not just them, of course, it's, it's, it's, um, epidemic across, across the globe and your place to, uh, to foster. That return, uh, to that relationship, to that unity is, um, it's a blessing to have you and to have you and, uh, to have your, the opportunities you bring to people, uh, and so easy to download on the, uh, app store or, uh, or, uh, Google play, just, uh, Sabbath space. 


[00:32:54] Erick Vargas
Yeah, just on the app store, you just search Sabbath space and you'll see it pop up, or you can go to the website Sabbath space. io. And so when you sign up, actually, we ship you the key. Uh, to tag, and so you get like, you know, a piece of mail from us with the key chain in it and a little letter from our family and how, uh, it's affected us and some ideas on how you can invest in your Sabbath. I love it. 


[00:33:19] Dr. Nate Salah
Absolutely love it. And what about those cool, uh, Cool boards, where do we get those? On the website too, that you can check at the door, at the..


[00:33:27] Erick Vargas
Yeah. So you can get, you can get the keychain, by itself, or you can get both a package of the keychain or, or the, the stand right here that I like for my, for my desk. Um, yeah, it's, you know, super easy. Just sign up, and we mail it to you.


[00:33:40] Dr. Nate Salah
That's awesome. That's awesome. So, if I were to ask you this journey as it's taking you on, what are some of the things that you're finding out about your own journey and your walk as you're pursuing this, this ministry? 


[00:33:52] Erick Vargas
Um, what I'm finding is that, you know, we all know the right things to do, right? We know intellectually, we know the facts, we know the statistics, we know all this kind of stuff. Putting it in practice is another animal. It's harder. Right. The everyday life of, um, you know, your phone addiction. Like we need tools to help us to kind of get us out of the state into what God has for us, and so it's okay. Just like it's okay to say, Hey, I need help with this. Because it's crept into my life further than I want it to have. And, that's why we need, you know, brothers and sisters to do this alongside. So one feature that I'm super excited for that we're going to be rolling out in about a month or two, is that we're going to be able to Sabbath with friends. Meaning that, let's say we're friends on the app, we can see, oh, you've, you spent 12 hours in Sabbath this week, right? And like, um, kind of joining alongside of others to do this together, right? Because imagine you're with your friends with, you know, three or five people and, you know, four people are on their phone and you're, and you're not. That's hard. It's hard to do, right? But if you collectively say, no, we're all putting our phones to the side and we're going to talk, right? We're going to have dinner. Then it becomes easier, different, and a, you know, a collective thing that you can do with your community. 


[00:35:17] Dr. Nate Salah
Oh, 100%. And if you're listening and you're thinking, Oh my goodness, I don't even know where to start. I think exactly what Eric just said is have real conversations and say, Hey, you know what? I've let this take too much of my life. Too much of the value that I have in and of those relationships. And it's going to stop. I'm making a conscious effort now to invest my time in restoration with those whom I care for. And I want you to join me. Ask your spouse, ask your husband, your wife, ask your kids to join you on a journey of restoration. Yeah. Who doesn't want that? 


[00:35:57] Erick Vargas
Yeah. I mean, I guarantee if you ask your wife or you ask your kids or ask anybody that you want further relationship, Hey, like, can we just have dinner? Put our phones to the side. Like, who's going to say no to that, right? 


[00:36:10] Dr. Nate Salah
I want, yeah. And, and the other part is that I love how you brought in the, almost like the memory of ways that you enjoy boring into people, for example, for you, it's, it's, it's providing a meal, making something I, same as me, I'm a, I'm a bit of a foodie, I love to, to find a meal and, and, and, and make it good. And of course, as you, you're probably the same way. You're like, just waiting to see if somebody is like, Ooh, that was good. Or if they're going back up for seconds. Because it brings you joy to, to, to nourish, and we uncover, these, these almost forgotten joys of our lives, through the, the, the realignment, if you will, and the protection of this most precious gift, as you had, as you had rightly said, which is called the present, and that's, that's one of the reasons why I believe it's called the present is because, in fact, It is a gift.


[00:37:06] Erick Vargas
The way I say it is, let's disconnect so that we can reconnect, you know, with God and others. 


[00:37:11] Dr. Nate Salah
So, yeah, yeah. So, hey, Eric, I get to ask this question every so often when there's time and, uh, on the show, and I'd love to ask it of you. One day, you will be at the end of this side of the journey to heaven, the Great Summit, if you will. And you'll get to see all of the people who you got to bless, whether it be through the app, through your ministry, through your business, through all the things that you've encountered. If there's one thing you'd like others to have said about you, what would it be? 


[00:37:43] Erick Vargas
I would like- that's a great question, I would like people to say that, you know, he took risks for the Lord. Amen. Yeah. Amen. Yeah. Just like, just like, uh, God called Abraham out into an adventure. I think he has a calling like that for everybody and, you know, he took the step forward and look what he did. Right. And I think there's a similar call for all of us. Amen. 


[00:38:08] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, you, my friend, are on your way. Eric, thanks for being here today.


[00:38:13] Erick Vargas
Thanks for having me. It was super fun. 


[00:38:15] Dr. Nate Salah
Well, my friend, I am so thrilled that you joined me on this episode of A Call to Leadership. And before you go to the next episode, especially if you're binge-listening, take a moment. I would love to get your honest review right here on your screen. Your feedback is so important. It helps the podcast. It encourages me, and it helps me, helps me to give you more and more and more value. So, I can't wait to read your review. I can't wait to be with you on the next episode. I'm Dr. Nate Salah. This is A Call to Leadership.


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