Jesus takes great pleasure in upending the status quo. Extreme hate is overcome by humble love. Selfish sin is transformed by selfless sacrifice. The greatest persecutor of the early church became the greatest evangelist of the entire world. The new movie Paul, Apostle of Christ illustrates this in a way we haven’t seen before. …
How long would it take you to listen to 1.5 million songs on Spotify? Or post 350,000 tweets on Twitter? Or take 210,000 snaps on Snapchat? If you’re trying to run the numbers, just stop. All that – and much, much more – happened every 60 seconds in 2017.…
What Impact Is Porn Having on Young Viewers? These days, porn seems to dominate the headlines. Our president is alleged to have had an affair with a porn star. The adult entertainment industry was recently rocked by the deaths of 5 female porn stars in just 3 months.…
Good. Evil. Wonder. Hate. Love. Philosophy. But no Jesus. That would be “A Wrinkle in Time.” Based on author Madeleine L’Engle’s book, this movie adaptation is overwhelming in intent yet underwhelming in delivery. Audiences of all ages have been waiting to see how well the novel would translate to the screen only to end up sorely disappointed.…
Yesterday hundreds of thousands of teenagers decided to take a stand by participating in the National School Walkout, a coordinated protest conceived and implemented by student activists from Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. These young leaders, all of them survivors of one of the worst school shootings in American history, have been articulate, determined, and shrewd as they try to leverage an adult-controlled political apparatus into doing something to stop the carnage.…
The heart is the symbol for Valentine’s Day, which makes what happened Wednesday, in a southern Florida high school, all the more shattering—our hearts are broken and broken again by what feels like an endless parade of violence. I was with youth workers and survivors of the Columbine massacre hours after this cycle of copycat destruction was kicked off in our culture, and four years ago I was trying to help my own daughter recover from the trauma she experienced in her own school shooting.…
We live in a culture that’s working up a good sweat, always pushing us to excel. Goal-setting. Achieve more. Grow. And all of this is, of course, the American way… But what if where you are, right now, is where you need to be?…
You hope it’s good. You want it to be good. And…it is. It’s absolutely beautiful. Plus, [tweet_dis]the latest “Star Wars” movie has so much to teach us about youth ministry and parenting[/tweet_dis]. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an epic, jaw-dropping high-five that’s also soulful, comedic, inspiring, and introspective.…
You can’t save the world alone. But do you even feel like saving the world at this point in your life? Those deep concepts are at play in the new movie Justice League. Months after Superman’s death, the world has become a thoroughly dark, depressed place.…
Gun violence. Prescription pill abuse. Narcotic and alcohol dependence. Graphic sexual references about “hoes.” Is this a police report from a twisted crime scene? No, our culture just has a new #1 song. With “Rockstar,” Post Malone reached the coveted top position on Billboard’s Hot 100 Chart.…
