As a career youth pastor, I have a mantra: if a kid is going to reject Christianity, make sure they are rejecting a true portrayal of the religion. Teach the Bible with precision such that kids have the…
Ragnarök. Leave it up to Marvel’s Thor to put an esoteric concept from ancient Norse mythology on the tongue of every 13-year old within 100 miles of me. In actual Norse legend, Ragnarök is an apocalypse the heroes…
Dear Teenager, Among celebrities and politicians, you have inherited mostly horrible role models for how to engage in civil discourse. Screaming, shaming, hostility, and violence have become normal examples of how one talks to others with whom they…
In the previous article, I proposed that the most destructive lie our kids routinely hear from the world involves the encouragement to live under their own authority, to be their own god. At the core of so many…
Underneath the message of so many songs, the moral of so many movies, the principles of so many causes, and the promises of so many political campaigns stands an unequivocal appeal to individualism.
I am not much of a country music fan, but I do love Lady Antebellum’s song “Compass.” Good beat, easy to dance to – I’d give it a 10 if it weren’t for the first lines of the…
Oh, Ed Sheeran and your catchy pop songs; why must your lyrics be so devastatingly off the mark? Last week, as I stood in the kitchen bantering with some of the high school girls in my small group,…
Sia’s newest song, “Free Me,” is gripping and absolutely discussion-worthy with the teens in our lives. In the music video, actress Zoe Saldana portrays a woman who discovers her pregnancy is threatened by a diagnosis of HIV. Saldana…
I recently read a Cultural Translator Report from Axis ministry and came across a story about Katy Perry’s award reception speech at the March 2017 Human Rights Campaign. The event honored the efforts of those fighting for the…
