The RLTK Podcast

Alex, Breanna, Chris, & Jordan look to our future in 2021. 2020 for so many of us was in general, a year to forget. Will 2021 be any different? What hope do we have for Gen Z in 2021? How can we as influencers connect with them well at the beginning of this new decade?  

This was one of the most difficult years in memorable history, one that has shaped all of us and perhaps no generation more than Gen Z. A pandemic, mental health crisis, loss of job, loss of life and political unrest. No one saw this coming. How has this affected our world? How will this affect Gen Z? How can we come alongside them as influencers? Join the crew in this conversations as we reflect...

Civil unrest, a global pandemic, an attempt to overthrow government and a generation of teens suffering in ways we still have yet to fully realize... Most of us are desperate to find peace in these troubling times. Our guest, Chris Townley shares his thoughts on how peace really works. Many of us think it's the absence or opposite of conflict and suffering. The reality is that peace does not come...

In this final installment, Jeff Skeens (MDiv, LMFT), give us some key insights and perspective on how to think about the topic of mental health and how to best engage the young people in our sphere of influence!

In this episode, we jump into dialogue with one of our long time friends, Cody Kiwaczyk, a youth pastor in Arizona. As he engages teens on a weekly, he shares with us what is working, what is not, and where the mental state of his students are.

We checked in with Sarah, a college student in the Phoenix area on what she is seeing with mental health in her world!

Ryan (Life Coach) & Jessica (LPC), give us some more insight into the importance of connecting during the holidays!

Mental Health during the holidays is something we should all be talking about. Life Coach Nicole Clifton joins us to discuss how we can care for ourselves and the young people in our lives during the holidays!

In this episode John, Jordan, and Alex explore what it means to be people of faith who believe in this thing called the Kingdom. Why is it a core value or RLTK? What bearing does it have on what we do? Why does it matter enough to be a core value? We explore these questions and more! Enjoy!

John and Jordan discuss core value 3 for RLTK, TRUTH. A hotly debated topic in our world today, but essential to how we understand life and everything it entails. What is truth? How do we know something is true? Why do we value truth? Why is truth important? Why is truth such a debated topic in culture? How does Gen Z See truth?  So many questions to ask and so much to say! Enjoy! 

At the core of us, we desire to be loved and love. But in our world today there are many things that get in the way of this. Our fear, shame, doubt, pain. This is why love is at the heart of our core values. Without it, what do we truly have?

As we kick off season two, we wanted to share with our listeners, the core values that drive us. We want to create a culture that allows anyone, anywhere to have REAL TALK. We believe this is part of the way to start this process. Also, this season we want get realer and rawer so we hope these values become a reference point as you continue to journey with us. So here is our thoughts on our first...

Everything that is happening in our world today has caused issues in our culture to rise to the surface.    We see this with the Black Lives Matter Movement and the calls for police reformation.    One thing we do know is that there are other people of color in America that have also experienced oppression and hardship.   In this episode, we talk with Jonathan Rivera. A cr...

This week, we discuss current trends regarding GenZ.   Get on any social media platform and look at what is trending.   It isn't just "the news", it is the news that people are paying attention to.   Comment threads are treasure troves of research concerning exactly what GenZ thinks and more importantly what they care about.   Social media also gives us an up close look at what...

Right now racial tensions in the USA seem to be boiling over. Many seem to think that racism died with the civil rights movement. While there was progress made, we have much further to go to reach the ideas found in our constitution. What is the reason for our current state of affairs and why does it seem we are headed in the wrong direction? There are elements in the USA that keep this tension al...

Police officers serve in one of the most criticized and privileged positions in all of society. It is one of the few occupations that permit a person to take a life. They are tasked to serve and protect. However many, especially in black and minority communities are feeling that they need protection from them. The social media age has brought a level of transparency and accountability to the occup...

The word trauma gets thrown around a lot these days but what does it truly mean; more importantly, how does it affect us?    This is such an important issue mainly because it touches all the big stuff like our relationships, our work, our plans for the future, pretty much everything that matters.    So, how is this affecting GenZ?   To have a meaningful relationship with s...

In America, education has always been touted as the way for someone to move themselves up into a higher echelon of society. It is assumed that everyone has the same opportunities because we are all apart of the same system. But is that really true? Braden Sparks, a high school teacher in the inner city, shares with us what he sees first hand watching GenZers in high school from different walks of...

Many issues in our culture often carry stigmas that prevent people from really talking about what is going on in their lives. Mental and behavioral health is no exception to this.  People are suffering every day from issues that are undiagnosed or ignored.    In this episode, Kyle Morris, a behavioral health professional, who has years of experience working in the foster care system...

At times like this, it is easy for us to get focused on self, protecting what we have and our own families. There is a big wide world out there and we have a tendency to forget about this, meaning we lose a proper perspective. All over the world people are struggling and suffering in unimaginable ways. Do we care about this the way we should? Does GenZ care about this? Chris Todd joins us to share...

In this generation, we are seeing something we may not have ever seen before, the ability to do what you truly love, and to earn an income in the process.   In years past we have been forced to settle with doing things as a means to an end and only a few of us ever achieved the goal of doing what we love and getting paid for it.   Social media has burst the mold on this, and Generation Z...

Mental health is a growing issue in our world. We have only begun to scratch the service and retroactively look at landmark moments in history to determine if it was a factor.   For GenZ this seems to be an ever-growing issue. Anxiety and depression are commonly understood and used terms in the life of a young person. What are we to do about this?    Are they over-exaggerating or ar...

The world has changed right before our eyes, and GenZ has been prepared for it this whole time. As we find ourselves sequestered to our houses, what keeps us connected to work, extended family, friends and beyond, is the very thing GenZ has grown up native to; technology and social media. One of the things we believe has helped grant us success with GenZ is our ability to listen to them. We want t...

This generation views this world in a completely different way than its predecessors. They no longer rely on the expert to tell them what is true, they go out and find it themselves. This means that our opinions and ideas don't mean a lot to them at all.   If we're going to be successful at guiding this generation, we are going to have to change the way we lead.    In this episode,...

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for college tuition and fees were 1,410.87% higher in 2020 versus 1977 (a $282,174.44 difference in value).   At some point, we have to recognize that GenZ is not just a bunch of complainers.   The cost of tuition has outpaced wage growth to the point that getting a college degree only makes sense if you do not have to acquire debt...