On January 9, 2007, when introducing the iPhone to the world, Steve Jobs proclaimed: “Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.” He was more correct than he could have ever imagined. Since that time, smartphones have enhanced our lives in many ways, but they have also staked a claim in our lives.
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Smartphones began to stake a claim in five key areas of our lives:
Our Attention
Our Moments
Our Time
Our Relationships
Our Futures
Regardless of faith or politics, a unifying pain point in culture is this tension around smartphones. And while every person knows there is a problem, we collectively lack clarity on what we can do about it.
Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation (and a noted atheist), says: “Religious communities have an ability to set norms [around technology]… and that’s magical.” In other words, not only is there an opportunity for the Church to lead culture, but culture is waiting for the Church to lead.
But we can’t lead the way until we model the way. And this begins with Church leaders. We provide a platform for church staffs to embed a healthy culture around technology. By modeling well and leading with clarity, the Church is able to do two things:
As the “light of the world,” those outside of the Church will “see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
Our phones contain all of “the worries of life,” choking out the Word (Matthew 13:22). By changing our relationships with our phones, we cultivate healthy soil that can bear good fruit.
We believe the Church can think and lead well on the topic of technology, drawing culture closer to God and cultivating healthy soil within the Church.
Our community has collectively reclaimed over 2 million hours of phone-free time
Users log an average of 2 hours each day, making time for connection & productivity
Growing community of over 15,000 members committed to reclaiming time every day
Reclaimwell (formerly Aro) was founded by Heath Wilson and Joey Odom in 2019. Heath and Joey met in a small group at Buckhead Church in Atlanta, GA. Their experiences as dads and husbands led them to start Reclaimwell, to help their families and others thrive in relationships by changing our relationships with our phones. Since its founding, the Reclaimwell community has reclaimed over 2 million intentional hours apart from phones. Reclaimwell has evolved from focusing on families in a direct-to-consumer model to focusing on serving church staffs in a business-to-business model. Many of the largest churches in America have experienced the power of reclaiming time off phones every day through Reclaimwell.
Heath Wilson was a co-founder of eVestment, a financial technology company that was sold to NASDAQ in 2017. At the time of sale, eVestment had offices in 6 cities around the world and exceeded $100m in annual revenue. After building a business that served the financial markets, Heath is now focused on building a business that serves the Church. He and his wife, Mistye, live in Knoxville, TN with their four kids, Reese, Maddox, Zane, & Echo.
Joey Odom co-founded Reclaimwell alongside Heath Wilson after a successful 15 year career as a top producer in commercial real estate. He hosted The Aro Podcast, a top 1% global podcast, in its run of 100 episodes. Joey is a dynamic speaker who inspires hope in audiences around the topic of reclaiming the areas in which our phones have staked a claim. Joey and his wife, Cristin, live in Knoxville, TN with their two kids, Harrison & Gianna.
