Advertise on podcast: Youth Culture Matters - A CPYU Podcast

If you track at all with what’s happening in today’s youth culture, you’re hearing a lot about loneliness, distraction, social media addiction, and mental health issues. What we yearn for more than anything else here at CPYU is to see our kids flourish by coming to faith in Jesus Christ and being nurtured into a lifetime of biblically-faithful, whole-life Christian Discipleship. And we know, that teaching our kids to live in God’s Word is absolutely vital. That’s why, we’re talking about the need for bible study and a helpful new devotional resource to put in the hands of the kids you and love, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul writes these words: "And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with all knowledge and discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ." One of the greatest needs in the church, home, and youth ministries today is the need to teach our kids to become wise and discerning. On this episode of Youth Culture Matters, we're talking about a helpful tool that can be used over and over again as we endeavor to train our kids to discern truth from error as they grow up in a media saturated world.

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I share about how to prioritize nurturing your kids' faith as we launch into another busy and distraction-filled school year.

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I share about our need to be willing to release our kids in to service of the Lord.

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I share about raising discerning kids.

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I share about helping your kids develop what's called "habitus."

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I talk about our need to raise "weak" kids.

It's summertime and here on Youth Culture Matters were devoting our time to shorter episodes where we're talking about purposeful parenting, addressing timely topics to encourage and equip you as parents to help your kids navigate their world in ways that bring honor and glory to God. Take a few minutes to listen in today as I talk about rewiring the rewiring.

The U.S. Surgeon General just dropped a massive warning on what’s trending with our kids regarding screen time, and the message it sends on how screen-time is impacting our children and teens is a wake-up call for all of us. Today, on this episode of youth culture matters, I chat with three youthworkers to break down the reports data and recommendations, and to strategize about how we can best respond for the good of our kids, and God’s glory.

What does it mean to thrive as a youth worker in today’s rapidly changing youth culture? And what are the best practices we can employ to insure that we are faithfully serving the Lord in this high calling of ministering to students? We’re tackling those questions and more as I chat with a trio of seasoned youth workers from the National Network of Youth Ministries – Wayne Morgan, Travis Deans, and Tony Villafane, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

One survey found that one third of 11 year-old boys had gambled in the last year. Smartphones and gambling apps are now driving the numbers up among children and teens. As Christians we need to embrace a biblically-faithful theological perspective that not only informs our personal behaviors and choices, but which we can pass on to our kids as they grow up in a world that is doing everything it can to nurture them into a lifetime of gambling. That's what we talk about in this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

The number of parents expressing concerns and confusion regarding smartphones and screentime is on the rise. And as we learn more about what kids are seeing during screentime and what they are opting out of in order to spend time on screens, the worries are rising. What our parents need is a robust theological and practical response to these issues. Youth pastor Jake Bier decided to dive in to provide information, theological insights, and response strategies not just for parents, but for the entire adult population in his church. You can hear how Jake addressed the technology issue with integrity and depth, as I chat with him on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

If we aren’t careful, social media can become a place where we can very easily indulge our sinful nature in ways that cause us to turn ourselves into little idols. We can become consumed with building our brand, bowing to the desires of our followers, and sharing versions of ourselves that really aren’t who we are at all. In a day and age where we experience ramped up identity pressure, we need to go to the right source to discover who we’ve been made to be. Today, I’m chatting with author and pastor Justin Poythress about overcoming these temptations, and finding stability and purpose in Jesus, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Several years ago, a concerned father approached me during one of our CPYU seminars to pose this question: “How can I expect my 13-year-old son to hear the still small voice of Jesus with all those other voices out there calling him to come and follow, come and follow?” Like this man, our greatest desire should be to see our children and teens launch into adulthood as faithful followers of Jesus. How can we trumpet the life-giving message of the Gospel in a world filled with competing voices? We’ll look for answers to that question as we chat with Katie Polski as she gives us three helpful reminders regarding the effective spiritual nurture of our kids, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

One of the great questions we face as Christians in today’s world is this: how do we lead young people to embrace biblical truth when the world they live in is obsessed with the "sovereignty of self"? They’re swimming in a culture of self-made truth, governed by the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. Recently, I read a book for teens and young adults that pushes back against these false narratives—and does it with incredible kindness and grace. It’s called God-Breathed: Connecting Through Scripture to God, Others, the Natural World, and Yourself. Today, I’m chatting with the author, Rut Etheridge, to talk all about it on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.