‘Race to Nowhere’: Performance Pressure on Today’s Teens

Repost from 2010. Something has changed since I went to school.  Like all cultural changes it came slowly, subtly, under the radar and is now boiling many teens like frogs trapped in kettle of pressure and busyness. Today’s teens are experiencing an enormous amount of pressure to “produce, produce, produce” and out-perform their peers to … More ‘Race to Nowhere’: Performance Pressure on Today’s Teens

Welcome to The Alley!

MainStreet is preparing to launch a new youth ministry in Mound to reach Westonka youth for Christ. MainStreet Church is about bringing the light and love of Christ beyond the church walls and into the marketplace — i.e., Main St. Our foundational verse is Acts 17:17 where Paul conducted his ministry “in the marketplace daily … More Welcome to The Alley!

Masks & Belonging: Deeper than Nude Beaches & Palm Branches

This is a repost from a few years back. -JB Chap Clark has written a must-read book for all youth workers and those who want to understand the current world of today’s teenagers.  Listen to these honest words of a (typical) high school student in Hurt: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers: “I’ve always been … More Masks & Belonging: Deeper than Nude Beaches & Palm Branches

MainStreet Revolution Kick-Off – Oct. 25 @ Threshold

In 2005, I was part of spearheading a teen ministry in Mound called the Revolution.  This ministry used music outreach events to draw teens to hear about the revolutionary message of Jesus.  Out of these “attractional” events, we invite students to join the revolution by attending The Way of the Revolutionary Bible Study that began … More MainStreet Revolution Kick-Off – Oct. 25 @ Threshold

Teens & Sexting – Why?

Associated Press featured an article this week entitled, ‘Sexting’ Is More Common Than You Think.  The article begins: WASHINGTON (AP) — Think your kid is not ”sexting”? Think again. Sexting — sharing sexually explicit photos, videos and chat by cell phone or online — is fairly commonplace among young people, despite sometimes grim consequences for … More Teens & Sexting – Why?

Teens and Stress

USA TODAY.com News featured a story entitled How Stressed Are Kids?  More Than We Think. I care deeply about the world today’s teens inhabit and the unique challenges they are facing.  To the best of my knowledge and from my own personal observation, the world of teenagers has been changing over the last couple decades … More Teens and Stress

TWITTER BUG – A Disturbing Trend?

  Brian McCracken from Relevant Magazine article called “The Problem of Pride in the Age of Twitter” tackles the quiet, subtle, unseen trend related to a culture of micro-communication: “We’ve become addicted to a strange sort of connectivity – a connectivity that maintains a comfortable balance between distance and proximity, anonymity and overexposure. We’ve become … More TWITTER BUG – A Disturbing Trend?