Teens and Substance Abuse. . . Pop Culture Attitudes. . .
Kids and substance abuse. . . I’ve been thinking about this dangerous and deadly mix quite a bit over the last few weeks. At the beginning of December the folks at the Institute for Social Research released the latest data…
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What Was I Thinking Here? . . . A Visit From A Creepy Santa. . .
I was rooting through a box of old stuff a couple of weeks ago and had to pause and giggle a little when I found this little black and white snapshot from when I was about four-and-a-half years old. Inscribed…
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Christmas Communication. . . Insights As Your Family Gathers. . .
We’re only a week away! If your family is like mine, the Christmas holiday season affords you more time than usual to spend together. Your kids are home for a few extra days of vacation, you spend more time around…
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Latest Teen Drug-Use Stats Released Today. . . Helpful Infographics. . .
For those of us who track trends in youth culture, the most helpful go-to research on teens and drugs is without a doubt the annual Monitoring the Future Survey from the University of Michigan. The first results were released way back…
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The Freeform Network. . . Culture-Watchers Take Note. . .
Back in 1967, the Marvelettes released the hit Smokey Robinson penned tune, “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game.” Last night, I heard the song for the first time in a long time. It was almost 8:30pm and we were…
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Kids and Sports. . . Lessons Learned From the Land of Losing. . .
I learned some amazing lessons about life when I was a starting forward on the worst basketball team in the history of the world. We were a sloppy group of pre-pubescent sixth and seventh graders who took to the gym…
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Youth Workers. . . A Letter From Me To Your Senior/Lead Pastor. . .
To all my youth worker friends. . . I know just how important it is for the senior/lead pastor at your church to connect with kids. I’ve penned this letter out of my deep belief that senior/lead pastors can and…
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Marketing Tricks. . . An Infographic That Might Make You A Savvy Christmas Shopper. . .
There was an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer back in the late 1980s that sparked my interest in marketing technique. The piece described how a typical shopping mall was a combination of design elements resulting from marketing studies on how to…
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Revisiting A Letter To My Teenage Daughter. . .
Thirty-two years ago today I became a father. The oldest of our four children, Caitlin, was born on December 1st, 1983. It was an absolutely amazing day. Almost eighteen years later, I wrote the following words and letter to Caitlin…
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Teens and Cyberbullying. . . A Helpful Infographic. . .
Here at CPYU, we want to equip parents and youth workers to respond Christianly to the emerging issues related to raising and ministering to kids who are “digital natives.” Our Digital Kids Initiative is a place where you can go…
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Kids, Christmas, And Materialism. . . Thoughts And An Infographic. . .
Because we live in the most affluent nation on earth, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that accumulation of stuff is the pathway to fulfillment and redemption. Sadly, what most people never discover is that what we…
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Thanksgiving Social Media Shutdown. . . Give It A Try You Turkey! . . .
While watching a scene from the iconic teen film The Breakfast Club a few weeks ago, I suddenly realized just how much our world has changed. It dawned on me that not one of the movie’s five main teenage characters ever…
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