A few weeks ago, CPYU’s Chris Wagner gave me a heads-up about a new artist he thought was positioned to land very, very soon on the landscape of today’s youth culture in a big, loud way. He emailed ...

Walking through the mall with my wife can be dangerous. This time, Lisa's elbow in my side, accompanied by the admonition to “Keep walking and look straight ahead,” was justified. We were strolling ...

“Culture” isn’t the dirty word it used to be—at least not in youth ministry circles. I know that’s the case because I’m not getting beat up as much as I used to. When I f...

If you watched last fall’s “Video Music Awards” broadcast, you may have caught more than the fact that Britney’s a mess, that Justin’s doing all he can to “bring sexy (and se...

I think my neighbor got a little freaked out last July when he saw me reading Helter Skelter as part of a project to revisit some of the events of the turbulent 1960s. Apparently, my decision to read about Char...

A law enforcement friend with 21 years of experience got rattled last week. He was on a call to confiscate a straight-razor, cocaine, and a note threat­ening extreme violence from a 12-year­old girl a...

I spent the first 16 years of my adult life working with teenagers in a variety of youth ministry positions. I’ve spent the last 17 years studying teenagers, their lives and their culture. In the midst of...

Nothing in my youth ministry experience had prepared me for this tension-filled moment. I was set to give the Saturday night sex talk to 200 high school students. Unfortunately, Seth's girlfriend spoke right be...

Last fall I ran into a ministry peer I hadn’t seen for quite some time, although we communicate by phone or e-mail often. “The T.H. thing scared the heck out of me!” he said. I was perplexed. ...

 Last fall Terrell Owens—or at least his publicist—revealed a lot about today's youth culture. In case you missed the frenzy, the controversial Dallas Cowboys receiver looked as if he tried to ...