Youth Culture Matters - A CPYU Podcast

Have you seen the comical T-Shirt based on the 1985 movie Back To The Future? It depicts the absent-minded Doc instructing young Marty McFly, “Whatever you do Marty, don’t go to 2020!” This has been a very strange year. All of us have had multiple challenges to navigate. In the midst of it all, youth culture marches on as does our responsibility to know what’s happening in the culture so that we might bring the light of God’s Word to offer needed correctives to the course of this world. What are the current youth culture trends we need to be aware of? Stick with us as I chat with four culture-watching youth workers about what they’ve seen trending in youth culture over this last summer, along with how to shape biblically-sound ministry responses, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters. 

Welcome to Youth Culture Matters, a podcast from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. We’re taking a short break from recording new episodes, so for the next few weeks of summer we’ll be highlighting episodes from our archive. Today's episode is a discussion about intergenerational prayer and the "Pray For Me" campaign. Listen in to a replay of Episode 50: "Intergenerational Ministry Through Prayer" with Tony Souder. The original episode has been edited to begin today's version at the onset of our interview with Tony. The full episode was originally released on December 22, 2017.

Welcome to Youth Culture Matters, a podcast from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. We’re taking a short break from recording new episodes, so for the next few weeks of summer we’ll be highlighting episodes from our archive. Today's episode is an encouraging conversation with Pastor Scotty Smith. Listen in to a replay of Episode 29: "Prayer, God's Story, and Preaching the Gospel to Yourself" with Scotty Smith. The original episode has been edited to begin today's version at the onset of our interview with Scotty. The full episode was originally released on February 1, 2017.

Welcome to Youth Culture Matters, a podcast from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. We’re taking a short break from recording new episodes, so for the next few weeks of summer we’ll be highlighting episodes from our archive. Today's episode is a look back at a discussion with Dr. Virginia Ward on the topic of racial inequality and youth ministry. Listen in to a replay of Episode 13: "Race, Youth Ministry, and The Church" with Dr. Virginia Ward. This episode was originally released on July 14, 2016.

Welcome to Youth Culture Matters, a podcast from the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding. We’re taking a short break from recording new episodes, so for the next few weeks of summer we’ll be highlighting episodes from our archive. Today’s episode begins with some fun banter about baseball, appropriate with the 2020 season about to get underway, and concludes with a very helpful conversation with James K. A. Smith and his book You Are What You Love. Listen in to a replay of Episode 24: “Liturgies, Our Loves and our Habits” with James K. A. Smith. This episode was originally released on November 21, 2016.

Earlier this week I read this short and gut-wrenching Facebook post from a friend: Today she would have turned 20. All that we wonder and all the ache that we feel melding into one vast teardrop. It’s saltiness stinging the souls and staining the pages of the lives of those she left behind. My friends teenage daughter took her own life a few years ago. I’ve been reminded as well that life in our tumultuous and uncertain times is contributing to a rise in the suicide rate. I want to invite you to listen in on a timely conversation with Dr. Karen Mason, author of the book Preventing Suicide: A Handbook For Pastors, Chaplain, and Pastoral Counselors, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

I wonder how history will remember the first half of 2020? We would all agree that so far, one of the biggest stories centers on the Coronavirus pandemic, and our culture’s efforts to reckon major changes to everyday life. One aspect of our retreat from physical presence has been a movement into engaging with others in digital space, for everything from church, to government meetings, to business appointments, to medical check-ups, to education. Today, we want to look at the impact of the coronavirus on education and learning. What is the good, the bad, and ugly when it comes to the shift from the classroom, to the screen? Stick with us as we chat with our friend, Professor Duffy Robbins and three of his college students about their pandemic educational experience, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

If all goes as planned, our nation should continue to open up over the coming weeks and months. We’ve been removed from being physically present at our jobs, our schools, our churches, and our familiar social settings. We all are longing to return to a more normal coronavirus-free life. One big question mark remains regarding schooling when the summer is over and the fall begins, particularly for incoming college freshman and other returning college students. In an effort to gain some sense of what we need to be prepared for regarding higher education, we chat with the president of Geneva College, Dr. Calvin Troup, and a team of Geneva College administrators, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

I’m guessing that for all of us, these last few weeks have been filled with the hopeful expectation that we will soon be coming out of our quarantines and getting back to life as normal. For those of us in youth ministry, we can’t wait to once again meet face to face with our kids. As we get ready to head back, we can’t forget the many lessons we’ve learned about ourselves and our ministries during the pandemic. When we return to ministry, perhaps there are old ministry elements we should jettison, and new ministry strategies we should enlist. Stick with us as we chat with Mike McGarry about how a biblical theology of youth ministry can help us get back at it with a new youth ministry normal that focuses on leading students to a deepened faith in Jesus Christ. 

We’re all looking forward to the day when the stay at home order is lifted and the country is opened again. The Coronavirus pandemic has changed everything in our lives, including the way that we do youth ministry. As the pandemic has unfolded, more and more youth workers are dialoguing on what youth ministry will look like when this is all over. What changes should we make? And what changes should we avoid? Hopefully, our adjustments will reflect an increased focus on teaching the Bible and deep discipleship, while getting rid of ministry add-ons that really don’t matter. Join us for a lively and challenging  roundtable conversation  about post-pandemic youth ministry, as I chat with my friends Doug Franklin, Cameron Cole, Tony Souder, and John Perritt, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.