As Cultures Clash. . . . Lessons From Sandy, Part 1. . .
While we’ve fared fairly well here in Central Pennsylvania, the fury that history will remember as “Hurricane Sandy” did a real number on the East Coast. . . particularly along the shoreline. Our beloved “Jersey Shore” got hammered. The photos…
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The Evil In Me. . . .
The other day I saw a Facebook post that told me I need to “be true to yourself.” To be honest, that scares me to death. I’m stumped by our culture’s bent on believing that people are, at the core,…
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Cracked Takes On The Church. . . And We Should Like It. . .
“Laugh or Cry?” That’s what CPYU’s Derek Melleby put in the subject line of his email to me this morning. The email contained a link. As I clicked on that link, I knew I was about to see something interesting.…
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The Fantasy Slut League. . . Will Boys be Boys? . . .
I’m not sure if I should feel happiness or dismay that my youth pastor friend, Dave Showalter, passed on this breaking news story to me this morning. It was a simple link to this headline from the WJLA website: ‘Fantasy…
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Dear Senior Pastor. . .
Yesterday I was snooping around on our website and came across something I had written five years ago that I thought might be interesting to revisit today. It’s a letter I wrote. . . not to any one person in…
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Snowblowing, Age-Compression, and The Future of Teen Sexuality. . . .
Forty years ago, youth culture trends tended to travel geographically. As an east-coaster, all a guy like me would have to do is look at what was happening on the left side of our country. That “crystal-ball” glimpse would offer…
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Texas Football, Cheerleaders, and Bible Verses. . .
They say that everything’s bigger in Texas. That’s certainly the case with high school football. Last month I spoke in Allen, a suburb of Dallas. On my way to the church we took a detour to the community’s brand new…
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Youth Workers, Aloneness, and a Grand Experiment. . . .
Last weekend, a perfect storm converged in my life that was quite telling. It all began with an ending. . . . the ending of my slow and deliberate journey through Sherry Turkle’s fascinating, timely, and thought-provoking book Alone Together:…
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Macklemore’s “Same Love” Same-Sex Marriage Song. . . Talking Points. . .
As promised yesterday, we’ve posted our 3(D) free download on Macklemore’s “Same Love,” a powerful song and video off of today’s album release, The Heist. Homosexuality and same-sex marriage are hot-button cultural issues that we must be processing and discussing with our…
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Homosexuality and Same-Sex Marriage. . . Our Response. . .
Tomorrow is the day when Macklemore and Ryan Lewis drop their debut full-length album, The Heist, onto the pop culture landscape. Of course, their video single “Same Love,” has been living on that landscape for about three months already. The…
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Same-Sex Marriage and Popular Music. . .
“Music is a map and a mirror.” That’s been a mantra we’ve repeated over and over here at CPYU ever since we started doing what we do. As a map, it shapes the values, attitudes, and resulting behaviors of listeners.…
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Way To Go Jennifer! . . .
I spotted this little video yesterday afternoon and was thrilled to hear this young woman’s bold response to the man who emailed her to challenge her on her weight. His email is more evidence of our obsession with body image,…
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