Social Media Basics: Instagram
IG, the gram, Insta… whatever you’ve heard it called, Instagram is no doubt part of your teens’ lives, whether they have their own account or not. If you have a teen who has access to social media it is...
A Manger and A Cross
I saw a picture several years ago during the Christmas season that remains with me still. It was a picture of the manger scene, but looming over it was the shadow of a cross. In the midst of all...
#Friendsgiving: How to Help Your Teen Build Authentic Community
Making friends and creating space for them to grow can be challenging. When we are little, it is easy to run up to someone on the playground for the first time and be best friends by the end of...
Hallows, Muertos, Saints, and Souls
The upcoming Holiday season is prime time for things teens love: communal, experience-based activities with strong aesthetic. This is why Halloween remains popular with teens, and why Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has a growing reputation...
Teens, Music, Drugs: What You Need to Know
“I been smokin’ since I was eleven/ I been poppin’ pills since I was seven/ Told my pastor I don’t do confessions/ ‘cause I pop a lot of molly for my breakfast” Fun fact, this is a factual lyric...
Christians (Should) Know that #BlackLivesMatter
Surely, your teen has heard about the Black Lives Matter movement. It began as a social media hashtag in 2012 following the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black male. He was walking through a Florida neighborhood when an...
An Inside Look at How Teens Use Social Media
As Life Teen’s coordinator of digital evangelization and outreach, a large part of what I do is manage our social media and aim to communicate truth to teens through social media. Some days, when I see some of the...
The #NeverAgain Movement and Why it Still Deserves our Attention
Every generation in America has championed its own charismatic leader of change. For my grandparents, it was Martin Luther King, Jr. — larger than life, pleading for equality, and poetically campaigning for unity. For my parents, it was the...