Adam McLane

Tag: adolescence

  • 4 Ways We Hold High School Students Back

    In reading Robert Epstein’s book, Teen 2.0, the one thing that fundamentally shifted my thinking is that adults lament about childish behavior while simultaneously funding and celebrating it. Politely, Epstein says we have infantalized our youth. Maybe we need to take it a step further? We treat our young like pets. 4 Quick Examples to…

  • The role of adolescent consent in parenting

    Kristen and I now officially see the precipise on our horizon. Megan, our oldest child, turned 10 yesterday. Within a few years we will be in the thick of adolescence. (And all of the parents I’ve worked with over the years will simple laugh. Not a polite giggle. An evil laugh because now I will…

  • Infantilization and deinfantilization of adolescence, part 1

    In the last year I read and was deeply disturbed by the book, Teen 2.0. If you are going to read a book in 2011, make it that one. It shook me. One of the primary things that Epstein brought up in the book and has dramatically impacted my view of youth ministry is the…

  • Savior: The Adult Desire to Save Teenagers From Themselves

    Am I the only one who notices that adults seem to obsessed about teenage lives? More to the point, we seem obsessed with pointing out how we need to intervene before they destroy themselves and the human race. Our culture takes a very negative view of people between the ages of 13-18. If you work…

  • Youth Ministry as Life Ministry

    A few years ago I was talking to a senior pastor about youth ministry. In a moment of honesty he said something like this. “I don’t get it. Tell me why you want to work with high school students your whole life. You’re qualified to be a senior pastor. You have all the qualities people…

  • Hey youth workers… do you believe?

    Here’s the deal. Dirty little secret time. I think a lot of youth pastors, youth ministers, youth directors don’t believe in the power of adolescents to flip their world on its head. Adults think they can do it all. And they backfill that belief with anecdotal information to make themselves feel better. They think kids…

  • 3 Reasons Gen Y Doesn’t Get Twitter

    Great little read here from Millenial Marketing about Twitter adoption of middle adolescents. (The core group for explosive growth of Myspace and Facebook.) To summarize here points, Notre Dame marketing professor Carol Phillips suggests these 3 reasons Twitter hasn’t popped in that megamarket. 1. Twitter adds no meaningful functionality that Facebook doesn’t. (Calendar, messaging, photos,…

  • Longsuffering in the church

    A key component to the personal preference sin so prevalent in the United States evangelical church is a lack of respect for the word, longsuffering. Now, there are plenty of proponents of the idea of short-suffering. In other words, if a church or ministry or job or anything in your life doesn’t meet your exacting…