Youth Culture Today with Walt Mueller

All this week we’re looking at some four-hundred year old guidance and advice from the Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks. Specifically, Brooks has listed five remedies to the enemy of the soul’s  strategy to get us to see following Jesus as a dangerous, losing, and suffering-filled way of life. Brooks offers great insights for us to share with our kids as they face opposition in this world. Today, Bro...

All this week we’re looking at some four-hundred year old guidance and advice from the Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks. Specifically, Brooks has listed five remedies to the enemy of the soul’s  strategy to get us to see following Jesus as a dangerous, losing, and suffering-filled way of life. Brooks offers great insights for us to share with our kids as they face opposition in this world. Today, Bro...

All this week we’re looking at some four-hundred year old guidance and advice from the Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks. Specifically, Brooks has listed five remedies to the enemy of the soul’s  strategy to get us to see following Jesus as a dangerous, losing, and suffering-filled way of life. Brooks offers great insights for us to share with our kids as they face opposition in this world. Today, Bro...

All this week we’re looking at some four-hundred year old guidance and advice from the Puritan writer, Thomas Brooks. Specifically, Brooks has listed five remedies to the enemy of the soul’s  strategy to get us to see following Jesus as a dangerous, losing, and suffering-filled way of life. Brooks offers great insights for us to share with our kids as they face opposition in this world. Today, Bro...

Almost four hundred years ago, the Puritan writer Thomas Brooks wrote a book about the strategies Satan uses to derail us from Christian growth. I’ve found his words to be very timely for life in today’s world. One devilish strategy that I consistently see in my own life and in the lives of kids is the tendency to be convinced that following Jesus is way too dangerous, risky, and filled with the p...

Do you ever look at your kids and get scared? Be assured, you’re not alone. We’ve been there. It is sometimes paralyzing to think about parenting kids who are growing through unbelievable amounts of change, at the same time that they’re engaging with a rapidly changing and frightening world. In some ways this is nothing new. Did you ever hear what Mark Twain said about teenagers? "When a child tur...

Late last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of almost fourteen hundred teens, ages thirteen to seventeen, to come to an understanding of our teenagers’ experiences and attitudes around social media and their mental health. One of the most interesting findings is one that really isn’t that surprising, especially if you’ve been tracking with the data on how digital devices are interru...

“Teenism” is a term I first encountered in Ellen Galinsky’s book, “the Breakthrough Years: A New Scientific Approach to Raising Thriving Teens.” Galinsky says that teenism occurs when we as adults stereotype the teenage years and those going through them in negative ways. She says that teenism can not only harm our kids, but can harm us as well, by putting us in an interactive posture with our kid...

Now that I’m older, I’ve got enough of a history to know that life is a journey that can be pretty intimidating and confusing. Having kids brings that reality home. As one parent once half-seriously said to me, “There are the parenting years that go real well. And then, there are the years of parenting teens.” To be honest, it’s the gift of difficulty and confusion that we need to redirect our eye...

Late last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of almost fourteen hundred teens, ages thirteen to seventeen, to come to an understanding of our teenagers’ experiences and attitudes around social media and their mental health. One of the most interesting findings is that after all these years of adults noticing the drop in kids’ productivity due to so much time spent on social media, th...

Today we complete our week long look at childhood sexual abuse and how our churches should respond. Today I will issue a warning – don’t ever let down your guard. Over the course of the last few months our internet feeds and news sites have been filled with a steady streams of abuses revealed. Our temptation is to always point the finger and to shake our heads in pious disapproval, all the while d...

All this week we’re looking at how our churches should respond to the epidemic of childhood sexual abuse. Today’s advice? Don’t fall into the trap of believing that you have the knowledge and ability to intervene and do what needs to be done from start to finish. Trained and competent counselors must be employed to work with the victims and the perpetrator. Law enforcement officials must be inform...

Today we continue our look at how to respond when childhood sexual abuse visits our church or someone we know. Never forget to focus on the victim. Believe it or not, they are oftentimes forgotten and blamed. What’s wrong with us? We must go out of our way to affirm young victims who come forward. Not only does this promote the process of healing for the victim, but it fosters a climate where othe...

This week we’re looking at how to respond to the epidemic of childhood sexual abuse. Sadly, one of the complaints heard most often about Christians and the church is that we ignore the problem of sexual abuse, or sometimes even deny its existence. The consequences of our ignorance and irresponsibility are great. We wind up ignoring the need to develop effective and responsible preventive and redem...

All this week we will look at what the church can do in response to sexual abuse. First, talk about sexual abuse - over and over again. Make sure that everyone in your church understands the reality and pervasiveness of childhood sexual abuse. Not only does this paint sexual abuse as a very real social and spiritual problem, but it fuels a mentality that leads to the development of healthy prevent...

Life for teenagers is difficult. When their hands hit the doorknob at your house, do they feel like they are stepping out of a difficult world into a place of even greater heartache, brokenness, and difficulty? Or are they able to breathe a sigh of relief as they step over the threshold into the loving, safe, and comforting place they call home? Be sure your home is the latter. And once it is, why...

Late last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of almost fourteen hundred teens, ages thirteen to seventeen, to come to an understanding of our teenagers’ experiences and attitudes around social media and their mental health. One of the most interesting findings is related to how social media affects one’s friendships. Teens say that there are positive effects on friendships, including...

“How much should I tell my kids about my life as a teenager?” Ever wonder about that one? You have if you’re conscious about the mistakes you made during your teenage years and you’re dreading the day one of your kids starts asking those probing questions. Answering with age appropriate honesty is the best policy when kids are considering their own actions and wondering about what you did when you...

The hallway of my junior high school seemed less like a passageway from class to class, and more like a gauntlet. Walking that hallway was painful business as my self-conscious self wondered where – if anywhere – I fit in to that mass of same-aged students known as my “peers.” As children move into the early stages of adolescence, peers become increasingly important. Kids feel more secure when the...

Late last year, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey of almost fourteen hundred teens, ages thirteen to seventeen, to come to an understanding of our teenagers’ experiences and attitudes around social media and their mental health. One of the most interesting findings points to the fact that our kids themselves are starting to see the downside of all this time spent on social media. Back in...

All this week we’ve been looking at what we need to embrace for ourselves and in turn teach to our kids about what it means to walk with God. The guidance comes from the writings of the seventeenth century Puritan writer, Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs tell us that when we walk with God, we will experience his approval and blessing, and we won’t be looking for encouragement from the world. In today...

All this week we’re looking at what we need to embrace for ourselves and in turn teach to our kids about what it means to walk with God. The guidance comes from the writings of the seventeenth century Puritan writer, Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs tell us that if we are walking with God, our lives will be marked by taking on the tasks we face not in our own power, but with the assistance of God. Pa...

All this week we’re looking at what we need to embrace for ourselves and in turn teach to our kids about what it means to walk with God. The guidance comes from the writings of the seventeenth century Puritan writer, Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs tell us that when we set ourselves to walk with God, we depend on God for protection as He takes care to watch over us in whatever we do. Our kids need t...

All this week we’re looking at what we need to embrace for ourselves and in turn teach to our kids about what it means to walk with God. The guidance comes from the writings of the seventeenth century Puritan writer, Jeremiah Burroughs. Burroughs tell us that when we are walking with God, we will depend on God for direction. In today’s world, so many cultural voices are calling out to our kids, in...

If you are familiar with your Bible characters you know that there are two individuals mentioned in the early chapters of Genesis who, we read, “walked with God.” Both Enoch and Noah are described in this way, indicating that they had a close and intimate relationship with almighty God. What is indicated by this descriptor is that they both lived obediently as they worshipped, prayed, and sought G...