How can youth workers deal with “controversial” issues related to Scripture, theology, church governance, etc.?

by Mark Ward

by Liz Edrington, is a 31-Day Devotional for Teenagers.

Generation Z Is Swapping Risky Behavior for Different Risky Behavior

The researchers found that children aged 12 to 17 years were more likely to have received any mental health treatment (including prescription medication and counseling or therapy) in the past 12 months compared with children aged 5 to 11 years

Protects young people from the deleterious effects of stressors like financial hardship or serious illness, according to a new study

A new, deeper look into the lives and minds of today’s young people.

New ‘Dead Name’ Documentary is warning about the harms of “transgender” ideology from a parents perspective

I believe summer camp should be one of the most important things we think about but not only the camp itself, but what happens after the camp.

Sleepaway summer camp can help promote essential socio-emotional abilities in kids, such as the ability to control oneself, cooperate, or help others

After a plane crash found alive in Colombia

Homosexual teacher explodes at kids: You’ll be ‘dealt with severely’ for rejecting LGBT ideology

…exposing female customers (especially minors) to male genitalia could subject Olympus Spa to criminal penalties

“Calling a male a male shouldn’t have cost Travis his job and gotten Blake kicked out of school,”

Road trips create bonds that can never be broken. They teach us things we’d never get the chance to discover during youth group.

Gen Z is a unique generation… it’s important that we understand the defining characteristics of Gen Z so that we can best communicate the love of Christ to them

We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from our latest book, Anxiety: Finding the Better Story, written by Liz Edrington

Target faces backlash for selling products from transgender designer promoting violence, drug use, Satanism

Education Secretary Cardona Claims Teachers Not You Know What Is Best For Your Kid?

Transgender influencer Rose Montoya has experienced a downtick in partnership opportunities after the boycott of Bud Light over its commemorative can sent to Dylan Mulvaney in April

Residents of South Shore are taking legal action against the city of Chicago over plans to turn a shuttered neighborhood high school into a migrant respite center

10-months in a Russian prison later, and what a difference facing down a 9-year prison sentence in Russia makes

…what is revealed when they transition into adulthood is that they’ve only ever been veneered in biblical Christianity.

We are called to pass on the simple good news of the gospel as of “first importance”

A fitting reminder that moms’ primary identity, calling, and security is Christ—not motherhood or anything else

How Philippians 4 Equips Teenagers to Deal with Stress and Anxiety

As an English teacher employed in the SMSD for 15 years, I can no longer stay silent about the state of our schools

The State of Generosity Series

The more teenage boys listened to sexually explicit music, the more likely they were to engage in sexting two years later

Here are a few reasons why finding your own community is so crucial

Remember that your ultimate goal is not just to keep your young people busy, but to help them grow in their faith and deepen their relationship with Jesus Christ

A weekly listing of hot cultural items from the Internet, music, television, and movies

Growing numbers of American kids and teens are cutting or burning themselves, banging their heads against walls, pulling out their hair, and even trying to die by suicide

The first years of the pandemic saw a huge decline in high school students having sex, according to a government survey. Teen sex was already becoming less and less common before COVID-19

Video: Kevin DeYoung

A brief biblical and pastoral introduction to understanding transgender in a changing culture

by Rebecca McLaughlin

We’ve got some thoughts and some helpful resources. . .

Resources, links, or other helpful tools mentioned in the podcast

10 teaching points for home and church

Whether you consider yourself a Christ follower or not, these questions can seem like deal breakers

While purity culture gets the truth right, the approach and gospel elements it espouses are often wrong

Lively stories and illustrations explains why we can trust the Gospels as real historical documents and walks through the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection

We cannot parent in the same way our parents did when we were children. But the job description of a parent that is found throughout the Bible has not changed

Find a local healthy local church, overlook its flaws, work against your own selfishness and resistance, and become a contributing member. The church needs you, and you need the church.

Three Nigerian men charged after star high school athlete, 17, killed himself hours after falling victim to online sextortion plot: One of the gang told the teen to commit suicide ‘fast,’ feds say

The most important thing a youth ministry can do is teach students how to read and study the Bible

By Mark Yarhouse. Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture

By: Mark Yarhouse and Olya Zaporozhets

Parent & Pastor resource guide on transgender issues

We are an organization fighting for parental rights and against schools radicalizing and sexualizing children

“A rational person needs to ask: why exactly are these people so insistent and eager to be indecent around young kids?

‘I don’t think that’s fair’

Forget the limo … teen takes a tank to the prom

If YOU want to reach athletes, here are some ideas to connect with that community

YPulse

The current evidence base shows that around 80% of pre-pubertal children will outgrow their gender dysphoria during adolescence

Pass the Youth Protection Act immediately

Your graduates are where they are, predominately, because of their parents so why not shine some light on them during this season

If you would like the Launching Well graduate resource

A youth ministry that fails to balance the proclamation of proper belief with a call to pursue and live out the resulting God-honoring behaviors is a youth ministry that is failing

Black children ages 5 to 12 are twice as likely to die by suicide as their White peers, and Black teen suicides are growing at shocking rates

This work lays the foundation for understanding how the environment shapes neurodevelopmental trajectories even through the teenage years

For you busy parents, caregivers and educators out there, we’ve distilled it down to 10 useful takeaways

…with nearly 80% of body burned

Trans teen died from vaginoplasty complications during landmark Dutch study used to justify child sex changes

“If you look at the prevalence of cross-sex identification in young people and the arrival of the mass adoption of smartphones … it’s not a coincidence that they both happened at the same time,”

Parents have a right to guide their child’s education and to know what’s being taught in the classroom

These students are more likely to attempt suicide and be victims of abuse

Pew Research Center asking teens – and their parents – about their experiences with and views toward social media

A weekly listing of hot cultural items from the Internet, music, television, and movies

learn to practice redemptive parenting where their children grow to see the world through a gospel lens based on biblical truth.

Years ago I developed my own camp planning check list

The heart of youth ministry is to help students grow in their relationship with Christ. We do activities and events to help students grow closer to Christ

Insights from a Youth Pastor and His Wife

They are watching to see if we really believe what we say. They are looking to see . . What it means to trust God when life gets challenging

3 civil challenges against the district and administrators: that the defendants took away the Willeys’ parental and due process rights, familial privacy rights, and religious rights

Educating and equipping parents on how to respond

Knowing Parental Rights & Against Schools Sexualizing Kids

A Biblical Resource For Pastors On Gender, Sexuality And LGBT

Resources For Navigating LGBTQ Issues With Teenagers

Time-tested norms on everything you need to know for a healthy ministry.

Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Emerging Adults

Youth Pastors Ditch Gross-Out Games and Help Student Ministry Grow Up

Today’s blog is an excerpt from the upcoming book, “Ready for Real Life.”

Unpacking the Five Essential Soft Skills Great Leaders Instill in Their Students

YPulse’s Media Consumption report shows 65% of Gen Z and Millennials say they’ve watched a TV series in the last week—making it their second top form of video content (just behind movies)

Two Ways to Help High School Seniors Transition to Young Adulthood

Their education has been stolen from them. Activists have spent the last forty to fifty years taking over education and transforming it into something different

“So, how big is your youth group?”

We can’t warn our children against every scam and trap in the world. So how can we teach them to be wise enough to spot trouble on their own?

Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper on this night to signify that this new exodus was about to begin. This act indicated that the time of redemption had come

A new movie about a sex trafficking rescue operation that is based on the true story of a former federal agent

The number of minors in America receiving a diagnosis of gender dysphoria tripled from 2017 to 2021, with more than forty-two thousand receiving the diagnosis in 2021. On the popular social media platform TikTok, #trans has logged 50.2 billion views as of this writing, having nearly doubled within the last year.

One Man’s Devastating Struggle with Woke Ideology and His Battle to Protect Children

Outpatient help for kids with mental health issues is hard to come by in much of the U.S. As a result, hospitalizations are rising sharply and many owe to suicide attempts or self-harm, a new study finds. A researcher calls these hospital stays a sign of the growing prevalence and severity of mental health conditions in kids

Allow me to offer three tips to hit your Easter visitor follow-up out of the park.

PHOENIX – One mother used an unorthodox method to get her son out of bed for Easter services.

This bill “would allow children as young as 12 years old to consent to being placed into state funded group homes without parental permission or knowledge.

A weekly listing of hot cultural items from the Internet, music, television, and movies.

Book: Raising Unselfish Children in a Self-Absorbed World by Jill Rigby.

The Most Important Week in History