Graduation Speech, 2015 . . . .
Welcome to the inside of my head. There’s something that happens in there every year about this time. It began happening some twenty years ago when I found myself listening to a variety of college commencement speeches. I found myself…
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Character. . . What Is It? . . . And How Do We Get There? . . .
Back in the early days of CPYU, I was doing a lot of reading in the area of what was being called “Character Education.” At the time, a growing number of educators and cultural analysts were decrying the decline of…
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Human Purpose, Sexuality, and Identity. . .
Parents and youth workers. . . here’s another voice worth listening to in the midst of all the chatter around issues of sexuality and gender in youth culture today. Take 10 minutes and listen to Dale Kuehne in this short…
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Family Ministry. . . What A Blessing! . . . What A Need! . . .
Thirty years ago this week God led me into a conversation that changed the trajectory of my life and ministry. I was finishing up my time on campus at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. I was sitting quietly outside a faculty office…
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What Rules My Life? . . . A Homosexual Ponders Desire. . .
The battle rages every day for me. I am a broken person. Consequently, my desires, wishes, and wants are marred. Quite often they move in the wrong direction and they need to be reigned in. I cannot deny it. I…
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Should We Be Surprised? . . . We’ve Set The Table For Spring Break Gang Rape. . .
If you track with the news, you’ve probably been seeing some of the many reports coming out of Panama City Beach, Florida about Spring Breakers gone wild. The latest is that a third young man has been arrested in the…
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Death by iPhone. . . . Sort Of. . .
OK. . . that was a dirty little trick, wasn’t it? But now that I have your attention, let’s talk about technology and what it does to us. Better yet, let’s ponder Gillian Share-Raab’s out-of-the-box thoughts on what her smartphone…
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Kids, Marijuana, and Reasoning Through the Dangers. . . .
I’m guessing we’ve all had these conversations with at least one young somebody. And reasoning with a teenager through the dangers associated with. . . well, it can be a host of things in today’s world. . . is only…
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Stuff That’s Good To Hear. . . Or, Busting Ministry Stereotypes. . .
Last Saturday, I got to spend a day doing what I love with a beloved friend. Marv Penner and I were able to indulge our life-long ministry passions at CPYU’s first-ever day-long “Tackling the Tough Stuff” seminar, an event that…
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Pitbull, Ne-Yo, and a Youth Worker Who Really Wants His Kids to Have the Time of Their Lives. . . .
So I received a Facebook message from Aaron Mamuyac, a youth worker living in Florida. Aaron has plugged in to our seminars on teaching kids to think critically and Christianly about music and media. . . about ALL of life…
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Pushing Back on Zeitgeist. . . .
The Germans have a word that each of us needs to not only know, but grapple with. I first heard the word when I was a sociology student at Geneva College. The word is Zeitgeist. It is translated “Spirit of the Age.”…
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Fatherlessness. . . It’s Costly. . .
I’ve been working for the last couple of days on some presentations where people have asked me to provides statistical updates on the current state of the family in America. Twenty-four years ago, I was introduced to the amazing work…
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