If you have any interest in connecting with youth today, I have two fantastic resources for you. One is a Four Minute video on YouTube, the other is a podcast. Both free. (and as you know, my motto is, "If it's free, it's for me!")

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the resources my friend Walt Mueller provides, or his ministry over at www.CPYU.org ... truly the hub of youth culture from a Christian perspective. Over a decade ago I read an article from Walt about the teenage mindset and I was hooked. Since then we've taught at conventions together and endorsed each other's books. I love what he does. Walt is THE youth culture guy.

I connected with Walt recently and we made sure to hit the "record" button so you could enjoy our interaction. So enjoy two glimpses of our conversation: a new Four Minutes video, where Walt takes us through a bookstore and recommends some good youth culture reading, and then we have an entire podcast where my good buddy Brandon and I sit with Walt and pick his brain about youth culture today (he shares the "Seven Deadly Sins of Engaging Youth Culture").

Enjoy both these free resources.

Here's the Four Minutes Video:

(CLICK HERE for that video if you receive this blog via email or RSS)

THE SOURCE PODCAST:

In our podcast with Walt, we talk about the many ways that youth workers can interact with kids by understanding youth culture.

Podcast Episode Highlights:
  - Learn how to develop a biblical theology of faith and culture
  - Learn why Brandon no longer wears his nose ring
  - Hear why Walt calls youth culture "the soup kids are swimming in today"
  - Take an in-depth look at problems with self-esteem and depression, and their dangerous side effects

Listen to it now for free on iTunes! (CLICK HERE) Or, if you don't have iTunes already... jump on Apple's web page for a free download, then click on our podcast page.

If you listen to secular radio, you probably are familiar with the popular new song from The Fray, You Found Me.

The Fray is an interesting band. Songs of their songs like How to Save a Life have not only been huge hits, but they ask big questions. The band's frontman Isaac Slade claims to be a Christian (I say "claims" because we've all heard Kanye West, Beyonce, Usher, etc. make the same claim. Sadly many celebs claim it in word, but not in action). The Fray's albums are not only intelligent and catchy, they are clean. Wow. The whole package! I just purchased their newest album on iTunes and have been listening to it on my iPod.

Their song You Found Me asks a question many have asked: Where can we find God in the midst of trials and tragedies?

I liked the song so much, I decided that we needed to write a MUSIC DISCUSSION STARTER with it on our web site. My buddy Lane Palmer wrote it up for us, using a passage from Job and including small group questions. It's a great write up. I encourage you to check it out.

I want to take a moment to give a little shout out to Camp Orchard Hill, a small little camp  in Dallas, PA (yeah, that's not a typo... there is a Dallas in Pennsylvania. It's about 30 minutes from Scranton).

As you can imagine, I have been to quite a few camps. I limit my speaking to twice a month away from my family, but with about half of my engagements being camps or retreats, that's still about 12 camps a year (that's a lot of camp food). Camp Orchard Hill (COH) stands out in the crowd for several reasons:

1. The leadership - these guys are legit. They care about the kids' spiritual transformation, and they also want the kids to have a good time. I've been at camps where "program" was too heavy. I've been at others where the spiritual impact is minimal. This camp provides fun and spiritual transformation.

2. The food- yes... most camp food stinks! But at COH, Lisa is in the kitchen making food that you've never tasted at a camp! I'm not kidding. The kids really notice.

3. Activities- these guys provide activity options nonstop. (this is especially great for middle school) Even during lunch they run little "Up Front Games" in the cafeteria. Kids loved it. This last weekend a game called OREO HEAD was a big hit. I've seen this game on my site before, but had never seen it done. It was hilarious.  A kid gets an open faced Oreo stuck to his head, and without using their hands, they have to contort their faces to maneuver the Oreo down to their face and mouth. Funny stuff.

I've bragged about camps before. You've heard me brag about Timberlee (East Troy, WI) in several podcasts, and I've also bragged about Redwood Alliance on the West Coast (also great food). I have to add Camp Orchard Hill to the list of my favorites. Funny... their facility is actually small (they are growing- building some new facilities right now) ... nothing fancy. They can only handle small groups- just a couple hundred kids. But I find that the "camp experience" is so much more than cabins and fancy dining halls. Leadership means everything.

Well... it's just past midnight here in Cali, which means that it's 3-something in PA. Luckily, I don't think my body ever switched to East Coast time. I just got done with my 13 hour journey home (including layovers and drive time). My weekend speaking went well... a couple quick things to share, then I'm OFF TO BED!

First... by God's grace a dozen kids accepted Christ. I'm always jazzed when kids put their trust in Him. This was a much smaller camp that I was speaking at, but I'm excited when just one kid makes a decision for Christ.

It was cool hearing the different leaders tell me the stories of the kids that made decisions. One of the groups had four girls stand up and make a decision. Three of them were first time decisions. The other girl said that she had only been believing in "word," not in "action." (Hey... she listened! Cool!) She made a commitment to make some changes and get rid of some "junk" in her life.

So praise God for those kids.

Secondly, I want to brag on a band for a moment. This is my fourth time working with this band. They are an East Coast band. Not only are they talented musically, they are humble and team players. That's huge for me.

I spoke another camp recently where the band was VERY talented... great musicians... but they were loose cannons. They didn't listen to a word that the camp director or I said. (Funny, when a band leader asks me, "What can I do to make the transition to you smooth?" I assume that he really wants to know! :)  Funny... this guy asked me the question, pretended to listen, and then did exactly what the heck he wanted!)

The band I worked with this weekend was a joy to work with. They are called Saline and here's their web site: www.SalineMusic.com

I'm tired. I'm going to bed!

It’s time for me to go to the great state of Pennsylvania once again (yes, speaking in PA for the second time this month). Tomorrow I fly through Chicago to Scranton, PA, where I’ll grab a car and drive to a small town called Dallas, PA and speak at a camp for the weekend.

I’ll be speaking to a few hundred middle school kids Friday night, Saturday morning and evening… and closing off Sunday morning. For those of you who'd be willing to pray... If I can ask, please pray as I’ll be presenting the Gospel on Friday night, then spending time talking about living a “real faith” the rest of the weekend. I love middle schoolers.

The weather doesn’t look half bad for PA at this time… in the teens. Still cold for this California boy! But I always appreciate prayer for my travels. It basically will take me about 12 to 13 hours just to get from my front door to the camp’s front door... then another 12 to 13 back home Sunday.

Another example of "what the world thinks of us."

USA Today puts it like this:

Some Americans are more loyal to their toothpaste or toilet paper than to their religious denomination, making those consumers more choosy about Charmin or Colgate than they are about church, according to a new survey.

According to a Phoenix-based research firm, 16% of Protestants say they would consider only one denomination, while 22% of them would use only one brand of toothpaste and 19% would use just one brand of bathroom tissue.

Sigh. I don't think I'll even comment.

(ht to Jamie L.)

Eminem, Kanye West, T-Pain, Beyonce, Flo Rida, T.I., Lil Wayne... these artist all know what #1 tastes like, and they all continue to dominate the top of the charts.

In my youth culture section of my seminars some youth workers seem surprised when I report the fact that Hip Hop and R&B are the most popular music choice of today's generation over all. In my Getting Students to Show Up book, I revealed the results of a 2005 Kaiser study (among 7th to 12th graders who listen to recorded music in a typical day) where Hip Hop/Rap was not only the #1 music category (65 %), but it attracted more than twice the number of the second place category, Alternative rock (32 percent)(Kaiser report, page 29).

I was looking at the music charts today and we still see that trend, despite the speckles of rock and alternative that have maintained a strong second (with country hanging in there, thanks especially to youngins like Taylor Swift who often have a song in the top 10).

Today the #1 downloaded iTunes song is from Flo Rida, the rapper who had the number one dowloaded song of last year, also Billboard's Hot 100 #1 song of last year. His new #1 song is Right Round (with a chorus that many of us who grew up in the 80's will recognize).

Seven of the ten top 10 songs on iTunes right now would be in the Hip Hop/rap/R&B category.

Billboard's Top 100 tells a similar story, with Eminem, Dr. Dre & 50 Cent riding #1 with their explicit song Crack a Bottle (#2 on iTunes right now). Sadly, when kids go to download this one on iTunes they'll be downloading not only curse words, but the typical foul raunch that Eminem usually offers (along with some of the greatest beats ever made- thank you Dr. Dre. If we could only get this guy to lay down some beats for some clean music).

Billboard's Hot 100 only has five of their top 10 songs in the in the Hip Hop/rap/R&B category (granted, it's the #1, 2, 3, 5 and 9 slot), with the other five divided from different genres, from pop (Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Without You), Alternative (The All-American Rejects' song Gives You Hell), Country's Taylor Swift, as well as the very melodic sound of Jason Mraz and The Fray.

A click at Billboard's entire Hot 100 list reveals a majority of the top 11-50 in the in the Hip Hop/rap/R&B category.

The grammys gave us a glimpse of this, with Lil Wayne not only nominated for the most awards, but taking home four awards for his "art." (sigh)

A lot of us might be concerned about the explicit and highly sexualized content in most of Hip Hop/rap/R&B music (we've talked about this in past Youth Culture Window articles). I agree. But that doesn't mean denying the facts. I've literally had youth workers angry at me for reporting these facts. "My kids listen to rock! I don't care what those stats say!"

Sigh.

Yes, classic rock is definitely coming back thanks to the number one video game at the moment, Guitar Hero. But rock, alternative and country are still just riding the coat tails of the hip hop industry. Like it or not... the genre is still dominating.

I'm excited... this weekend is Valentines Day, and I'm actually home with my wife and family (don't even ask how many times I've been traveling speaking on this weekend! It's good to be home.)

Tonight i'm going out to the movies with my li'l lady and some good friends of ours. We're going to grab dinner and a quick movie (the Kevin James mall cop flick... looks funny. Plus, I need to preview it because my kids want to see it- I don't trust PG-13). Then tomorrow night we're just hanging at home. Probably hang with the kids for a while, then break out a box of Kleenex and watch Nights in Rodanthe (with Richard Gere and Diane Lane- it's based on the book by Nicholas Sparks- the guy who wrote The Notebook, A Walk to Remember and Message in a Bottle). I actually saw the film on the plane a couple weeks ago. I wasn't planning on watching the whole thing... but I got sucked in. I knew Lori would like it... so i just rented it for V-day.  :)  (Definitely a snuggle on the couch together movie)

That's my big plans for the weekend... nothing much... but it's always fun to have an excuse for even more romance. I hope the rest of you married folks have something special planned!

Just when you thought there couldn't be any more porn...

The problem of porn is only growing. Parents already have to put safeguards on their TVs and computers... but that doesn't cover what could be the largest provider of porn in the next couple of years. Take it from author, speaker, radio show host, Jim Burns:

"By the year 2011... the cell phone will be the greatest provider of internet pornography." -Jim Burns, HomeWord.com

Those of you who are  EZINE subscribers or on our web site regularly probably already saw our new Four Minutes Video this week. Jim Burns addresses the problem of cellular porn.

(if you receive this blog via email and can't see the video above, CLICK HERE to see Jim address this issue.)

In addition, CLICK HERE to Download Jim's FREE Curriculum THE PURITY CODE.

18 Foot Python + Child = lunch?

I'm not great at math... but I've read enough Far Side Tales to easily see this formula come to fruition. A family decided to take care of their friends' 18 foot reticulated python. The snake get's loose (well... yeah!), and it attacks the kid and his mother.

This is crazy... check out just a snippet from this article:

"It took all six of us to get that snake into custody.  It made just a little loop on my hand while we were wrestling with it, and it felt like a vice.  I've never felt anything like that," says Metro Sergeant, Steve Custer.

Custer and officer, Jerry Ybarra, have almost half a century of law enforcement experience between them, but even that could not prepare them for the snake attack they rushed to Tuesday.

"We go into bars after bad guys all the time, guns, never blink an eye, but we looked at that snake, and there was a lot of dancing and screaming going on," says Custer.

"Once animal control got there, we'd try to grasp him with her little tool that she has, and he would just hiss at us, and that was pretty terrifying," adds Ybarra.

The Reticulated Python was about eighteen feet long, far bigger than the three-year-old boy it had wrapped itself around.

Hmmmm. Keeping a snake near a toddler. I'll put this right next to "buy Lil Wayne album" in my parenting "to do" list.

The parents are now being charged- the video here.

Why are adults surprised that kids listen to raunchy music?

Kids are only following their example.

Last night the Grammys gave us a true glimpse of what adults value in this world. The Grammys has a long history of being THE music awards show. Unlike the Teen Choice Awards, or many of the MTV awards shows, The Grammys are chosen by adults. Then why was Lil Wayne nominated for more than anyone else, 8 Grammys?

Do these adults even know what this guy is singing about? (you can take a little peek at his content in this article) Maybe Lil Wayne should take this opportunity to ask their daughter on a date?

Maybe the same could be said about Kid Rock, Robert Plant and others at the show last night. But I think most adults are probably a little more comfortable with the messages coming from the albums of U2 and Coldplay than the young Mr. Wayne. Or maybe, in today's world lyrical content just doesn't matter. Because last night we awarded Wayne with trophies for the explicit album Tha Carter III, and three other songs, including the song Lollipop, an explicit song about oral sex.

"You're a foul mouthed pervert. Here's your trophy."  (pause)  "But kids, you watch your mouths!"

David wrote about the blurring of the line between music for adults and teens last week in our Youth Culture Window article, The 2009 Grammys: Do Adults Like the Same Music as Teens?

It's always interesting to see what films draw teenagers. A year ago, Juno was the hottest thing. Last fall it was Twilight. So what film has their attention now?

Last Tuesday a film was released that I predict will be one of the next cult classics of this generation. The film is Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. Like Juno and Twilight, the film has a PG-13 rating. But this is one PG-13 film that has me wondering what the MPAA is smoking.

Let me be clear. I'm not a big fan of the MPAA rating system anyway. I've never been one to let a secular rating system tell me which movies are "good" and "bad" for my kids. I've seen plenty of R-rated films that I have no problem with (The Passion, Saving Private Ryan, The Last Samurai...). And I've seen plenty of PG films that are full of subtle lies. That's a sore spot for me. I don't like it when the media lies to us, especially to our kids. It's completely irresponsible to consistently show actions without consequences. That's just not the way life works.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is a clever movie with strong characters and creative dialogue... kids are loving it. But not only is it full of graphic sexual talk, hookups and crude humor, it's also a distortion of reality. There are drastic consequences emotionally and physically to most of the casual behaviors portrayed in Nick & Norah. Are these destructive behaviors true to life? Yes. But they are most often linked to consequences, consequences that the people behind the story of Nick and Norah chose to ignore.

Yes, Cinderella might also be a distortion of reality. Mice and birds don't make dresses. And maybe there is no Prince Charming for most girls. But I've never met a teenage girl who bought into the lie that a mouse named Gus-Gus would be her best friend and a guy on a horse would take her away into the sunset. On the contrary, I've worked with plenty of teenager girls that found out the hard way that the casual actions in Nick & Norah have devastating consequences.

Can't we be real with our kids? Nick & Norah is a nice fairy tale, based on realistic characters and authentic feelings. But we're fools if we don't understand how influential this kind of media is on our kids. The imitatable behaviors in this film aren't just entertainment, they are telling our kids how to live in the real world.

Don't let your kids construct their ethics from films like this.

This week I devoted our entire Youth Culture Window article to the content behind Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist. In that article I give you a glimpse of what our kids will be seeing in that film. I encourage you to take a peek at the article. Todd also posted a movie review on the film.

This hits home for me, this was just down the freeway from me in Sacramento... and all the way across the country.

An 18-year-old Sacramento kid jumped on MySpace looking for someone to talk to. A 21-year-old youth mentor from Jersey befriends him... a friendship that just might have saved his life.

MSNBC reports:

"I felt ... he reached out to me for guidance and help," New Jersey resident Jesse Coltrane said as he recalled the discussion he had via webcam with the Sacramento youth. "That's what he said. He said, 'I need someone to talk to. You're the only one I feel as though I can talk to.'"

But Monday evening, things got a little more intense. My local Sacramento Bee tells the story:

About a month ago, the California teen asked to become Coltrane's friend on the social-networking Web site MySpace. Such requests from strangers are not unusual for the 21-year-old Coltrane, who runs a modeling and entertainment agency and has more than 500 friends listed on the Web site.

The two got to know each other with a few phone calls and talked mostly about music, Coltrane said.

But the instant message Monday evening was unexpected. It read: "im thinkin abt commitn smtn dat wll hurt alota ppl."

Coltrane's response, according to his computer's archives: "What is that."

"I dnt really wana say but just know its not good."

Coltrane: "Suicide."

When the younger man answered yes, Coltrane dropped out of his online business meeting and communicated with him for about seven hours by telephone, instant message and webcam.

This is one of those stories where each article offers an additional insights. MSNBC reports that Coltrane contacted the police and told them that the boy was starting to cut his wrists. It's a fascinating little article. Another snippet:

Officers went to the teen's home at about 3:20 a.m., found the injured youth and took him to a county mental health clinic for a 72-hour evaluation.

Leong said the youth is expected to live.

Coltrane said he's glad the teen is getting medical help.

Coltrane added he may have helped save the teen's life, but said that he had little choice. He recalled how the teen told him that the suicide attempt was nobody's else's business.

"I said, 'Well, it's my business now, because you brung me into it,'" Coltrane added.

An expert on suicide prevention praised Coltrane for calling police.

I guess something good has come from MySpace.

Hmmmmm.

Today I fly out to Pittsburgh (to wade through the confetti in the streets, I presume) to speak at a winter camp with 500 students and leaders in Western PA. Do you think I should wear an Arizona Cardinals shirt?  :)

On the flight over I plan on watching the new DVD release of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playslist. This little PG-13 film is already creating a buzz. I missed it in the theatres but have read some of the film's dialogue. Todd, my movie guy, is posting a review today or tomorrow on it... he was really disturbed by the film's lack of morals... probably a pretty good reflection of our culture. Expect a full synopsis from me soon.

The Super Bowl is the one time a year that I actually watch commercials. When people are paying multi-millions for an ad… they’re usually pretty good.

Well… define good.

This year a few of them definitely drew a laugh from me: the poor executive who suggested that they stop buying Bud Light for their meetings (only to get thrown out of a window), the horse telling the story of his great grandfather first coming to the country (with his good and bad jobs), the Monster.com ad with the moose head on the wall, and yes, I even laughed at the slapstick humor of the Doritos ad with the Crystal ball- an ad that created some of the most Super Bowl commercial buzz (ironically, this ad was the first non-agency spot ever to do this- read more here).

But this year also revealed a trend toward the irresponsible and raunchy. Despites the claim of some that this year was mild and overly conservative, several ads made me look at my wife and say, “Oh no they didn’t!”

One of the most irresponsible ads was also from Doritos, showing a man crunching Doritos, and the crunch gave the man apparent superpowers, like a woman’s clothes being ripped off (revealing her in just lingerie). An ATM starts spitting out 20’s. Then he turns a police officer into a monkey.

It wasn’t the most raunchy ad, but it was definitely the ad that irked me the most. I can’t stand when the media lies to young people. Great message we’re communicating to our kids: sex and money is “where it’s at!” And cops are bad.

Nice.

Even though that particular Doritos “Crunch” ad ranked high, surprisingly, audiences seemed to agree overall that the raunchy ads weren’t the best ones. GoDaddy’s sexually charged ads (or as this article calls it, “breast focused raunchy Super Bowl ads”) received some of the lowest scores from postgame ad polls. USA Today's Ad-meter (where you can see the top Super Bowl ads ranked and actually view them) ranks these GoDaddy ads way down in 41st and 45th place. But here's the ironic part. Even though they weren't rated as "the best" ... they were among the most watched. According to this article, even though people didn't give them high scores in the polls, they liked the ads enought for a second viewing.

Sex sells. It always has.

I think I've heard more whining, complaining and disagreements about worship than any other subject in the church. Sad, but today's "American Idol" mentality has been known to spill over into the worship service. As a congregation, instead of lifting our praise to God, we often listen with a critical ear, "voting off" those we don't like.

Those of you who have used our youth ministry resources for any time are probably familiar with our THE SOURCE PODCAST. In this podcast, we almost always share the "Seven Sins of..." a certain topic. This is just a fun way to share how "NOT" to do something.

In our brand new episode of THE SOURCE PODCAST, Episode #22, I join up with the worship band Dutton as they share The Seven Sins of Worship Leading. Some of you might recognize Dutton from their recent tour at the Planet Wisdom events- they are the worship band for that conference. Others might know them as the band that played at UBC, back in the day when Crowder was out of town. These guys do a great job.

I really enjoyed this podcast. We had a lot of fun... and tackled some big issues at the same time. Anyone who leads worship or is involved in planning worship services should take a listen to this podcast.

One of the reasons I personally enjoyed this podcast is because my daughter Alyssa joined us for the recording. Great fun.