Youth Culture Matters - A CPYU Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Episode 101: "Turning to Christ with our Anxiety" with Ed Welch Mar 24, 2020

Show notes

All of us find ourselves navigating some difficult and trying times. The current global health crisis has led to lots of soul-searching as we think about an uncertain future. No doubt, our anxiety levels are high. For the Christian, understanding and handling anxiety has to happen from the perspective of the biblical narrative as opposed to the cultural narrative. Youth worker and parents have been given unprecedented opportunity to address anxiety with our children and teens. After all, they’re worried. Dr. Ed Welch is a valuable resource to us all as we think about and address anxiety from a biblical perspective. Stick with us for this very practical, helpful, and timely discussion with Ed Welch, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 100: “What Should I Do Now? Youth Ministry in A Coronavirus World” Mar 19, 2020

Show notes

We would agree that the past few weeks have been like none we’ve ever experienced before. The Coronavirus pandemic is changing everything about how we live. And while the coronavirus is a problem, it has also created huge youth ministry opportunities that we can’t miss. The fact that our kids are living in fear, anxiety, and uncertainty means that we have an unprecedented opportunity to point them to the grace, mercy, and peace of our burden-bearing Savior, Jesus Christ. Stick with us as I engage in a timely and practical discussion with a group of very thoughtful youth workers, as we strategize on how to best navigate this landscape filled with spiritual hunger, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 99: "Responsible Teaching of The Bible" with Matt Kim Mar 05, 2020

Show notes

As youth workers, it is our high calling and high privilege to teach, speak, and preach God’s word to our students. With the Psalmist, we know that God’s Word is a lamp for the feet of our students and a light on their path as they navigate a difficult and confusing world. As teachers, speakers, and preachers who share God’s word from up front, in small groups, and in our one on one conversations with kids, we need to be responsible in the way we handle and communicate the bible. What practices are necessary to good preparation to teach God’s Word? And what do we need to know about our students and their cultures in order to lead them well? Join us as we talk to Matthew Kim, about teaching, speaking, and preaching best practices, on this very practical episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 98: "No Phones For A Week" with Donna Freitas Feb 18, 2020

Show notes

Whether you find yourself out in public, or in the privacy of your own home, chances are that when you are in the presence of others, many of them have their eyes focused on their smartphone screens. Our lives are so focused on our phones that we are seeing the breakdown of relationships, attention spans, and critical thinking. What would happen if we locked our phones away for an entire week? College professor Donna Freitas recently conducted an experiment where she had her students untether for seven days. Join us for a lively and eye-opening conversation with Donna about what she and her students learned about our dependence on smartphones and what happens when we shut down, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Find full notes here: https://cpyu.org/resource/episode-98-no-phones-for-a-week-with-donna-freitas/

Episode 97: "Stop Letting Your Kids Make The Call" with Dr. Leonard Sax Jan 28, 2020

Show notes

These days, I’m hearing fewer and fewer pastors, school-teachers, and youth workers praising parents for doing a great job with their kids. And more and more I’m reading research that laments the loss of absolutes, the lack of discipline, and increase in entitlement, and the decline in mental health among our children and teens. One of the clear causal factors feeding these trends is a decline in effective parenting. But there is hope. Christian parents can break out of the cultural flow and reassert their authority in ways that will lead kids to healthy spiritual, physical, and emotional growth. Join as we chat with one of the most insightful voices guiding us into an understanding of what it means to parent well, Dr. Leonard Sax, as we chat with him about his best-selling book, The Collapse of Parenting, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 96: "Seizing the Day, Generationalism and More" with Os Guinness Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

Kids and adults alike have been hammered with the idea that we are to seize the day. Sadly, how we understand and live out carpe diem is that we live in the moment, with little regard for the past and not much thought at all about the future. Our homes and youth ministries should be places where this notion is challenged, as we endeavor to become and to raise people who live in the now in light of our future eternal hope, while treasuring the rich spiritual history of the past. One of the greatest Christian thinkers and cultural analysts of our time, Dr. Os Guinness, joins us to talk about how to live rightly, discern the times, and redeem the day, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 95: "Your Sexuality Is Not Who You Are" with Christopher Yuan Dec 24, 2019

Show notes

Because all of us have been created by God and given the good gift of our gender and sexuality, we all live out what can be called our personal sex story. How we choose to live out our gender and sexuality hinges on what larger narrative we choose for our lives. In today’s world, the culture tells us that we should live within a narrative focused on self-fulfillment and individual choice. But the creator of sex invites us to find true freedom in the story He has written for us. Christopher Yuan calls this Holy Sexuality. Join us as we chat with Christopher Yuan about finding our identity in Christ and not our sexuality, as we talk about his book Holy Sexuality and the Gospel, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 94: "Building Resilient Disciples" with Mark Matlock Dec 11, 2019

Show notes

If there’s been a rising chorus of lament over young people in the church, it’s been the rate at which young people are graduating from high school and leaving the church. For several years now, research projects have identified this post high school exodus as a growing concern. But in their recently released book, David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock share research that helps us understand why those who stay, decide to stay. What are the youth ministry practices that build resilient disciples of Jesus Christ? What can we do to turn tide on this discouraging trend? We’ll talk to our friend Mark Matlock about the new book, Faith for Exiles, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 93: "Christian Teens and Sexual Practices" with David Ayers Nov 21, 2019

Show notes

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Christian parents and youth workers over the years, it’s that they want the best for their kids. One area where many of us have struggled to teach God’s best is in the area of God’s grand and glorious gift of sex and sexuality. That struggle has played out in the church in a variety of ways, including the fact that for our evangelical teens and young adults, sex outside of marriage has become increasingly morally acceptable. What is the extent of premarital sexual activity among our unmarried young people in the church? And, how can we respond to these current trends in ways that effectively teach kids to both glorify God and experience sexual flourishing? We’ll tackle these and other matters as we chat with sociologist and researcher Dr. David Ayers, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

Episode 92: "Recovering a Proper Understanding of Work" with Luke Bobo Nov 07, 2019

Show notes

Do you remember the old 1981 song from the band Loverboy? "Everybody’s working for the weekend" is how the familiar chorus goes. If you think about it, that chorus really captures how we’ve come to think about and engage in work. In today’s world, work is functionally seen as drudgery, or even as an unpleasant activity that’s necessary for no other purpose than to fund our leisure activities. But that is not what work is intended to be. In the larger Grand Story of the bible, our work matters. And if we fail to understand and teach a rich theology of calling, vocation, and work, we shortchange our kids. How can we recover a proper understanding of work? And who must youth workers become if we hope to disciple kids into doing all things to the glory of God? Stick with us as we talk about this largely neglected area of discipleship, along with a helpful new youth ministry resource we can use to prepare kids for vocational flourishing, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.

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