May 15, 2026

AI Meets Its Match: A Formation Story

I broke AI a few weeks ago—okay, that might be a slight overstatement, but I did stump three different platforms in what I consider to be the easiest trivia category on planet Earth. Let me illustrate how it went…

I remember an old movie that has a main character who is a girl from Kansas. There is a tornado, a witch, and a yellow brick road. I recall a man behind a curtain, a hot air balloon—and believe it or not, I think there was a flying monkey. Hey, AI, what is the name of that movie?

Yes, I know it is The Wizard of Oz. But pretend that AI couldn't come up with the answer. That would be weird, right, since it has access to the entire Internet plus its learning training dataset and who knows what other data sources? But that's precisely what happened to me. My son and I watched an action movie some time ago and I couldn't remember the title, so I naturally hopped onto an AI platform to nail it down.

I described the protagonist, his previous occupation, and his current occupation. I described the other main characters. I identified the nefarious circumstances that initiated the broad plot line. I described the unique car the protagonist drove, some specifics about his storyline, and I even broke spoiler alert rules and told the AI platform exactly how the movie ended. And I was correct about all those details.

The initial volley of details resulted in failure, and I abandoned the first AI platform after it made half a dozen incorrect guesses. My thinking was that maybe one of the high-powered AI newcomers might perform better, but that didn't work either even after giving that system way more information and time. At that point, I checked down to the old standby—Google and its Gemini AI platform. The result? More disappointment. That was a truly shocking turn of events.

Hold that thought for just a moment and fast forward to recent conversation I had with White Oak's Formation Pastor.

As we were discussing several specific spiritual targets that every Christian should continually be pursuing, my AI experience came rushing back into my mind. The target itself is drawn from two well-known passages of Scripture:

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you" (John 15:19).

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2).

The common theme is that Christians are called to be holy—to be set apart—to be in the world, but not of the world. It's a very important aspect of a believer's spiritual formation efforts. Every one of us should make intentional efforts to be different from the world we live in.

Okay, let's circle back to the AI debacle…

Remember that I gave better details about the random movie I watched than I could probably come up with about some actual major historical events, yet three AI platforms failed to identify the title, and one literally said, "That's really frustrating! Unfortunately, I've hit the limits of what I can find through searching—this one is just too obscure to surface reliably."

But that confession didn't accurately describe the problem. The movie was not too obscure—it had been available on a major streaming service for almost four years. The actual problem was that it was too generic. The reason AI couldn't nail the title is that the movie was identical to dozens of other movies down to the smallest structure, plot, and character details.

The underlying cause is that movies being churned out today for streaming services follow a very specific formula, which makes them indistinguishable from dozens of others. That makes for pretty meh movies. There is just nothing about them to make them stand out among the crowd. The result is that they get missed, fail to produce the desired response among their audiences, and ultimately fall short of their potential. Even when they feature big-name actors, they tend to be predictable, unmemorable, and non-impactful.

The same thing happens to people. If you talk and behave and interact just like everyone else, you will fit in nicely, but you will ultimately be predictable, unmemorable, and…non-impactful. But that is not how Christians are called to live! Consider Peter's words:

"Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation" (1 Peter 2:12).

Being in the world but not of the world certainly means that we strive to live a life that is free of sin, but it also means that we should intentionally try to be different from the people around us for the specific purpose of prompting others to ask why we are different—to open the door for a conversation about Jesus.

So, what about you?

If AI could evaluate the way you think, behave, and interact at your home, workplace, school, or sports field, would it be able to pick you out as a believer from every other person around you? What details could you point to that would differentiate your life and worldview from people who are far from God?

Your Christian witness is one of your most valuable evangelism tools, but only if you approach it with intentionality, consistency, and sincerity. Find ways to be different, curious, or even weird from the perspective of others. Then be ready to offer a gospel-oriented explanation. As is often the case, Jesus says it best—"Let your  light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).

Jeff Derico

Executive Pastor

How Can We Pray For You?