We have begun the transition from an audio podcast to a live streaming show. The above clip is from episode 1 of the new show titled “Purpose Live” which took place in December 2010.

The topic we covered in this show was Self Esteem.

We apologize for the quality of the audio as we experienced some technical difficulty on the day of the broadcast.

Parents are an integral part of this story.  The infant stages of building a relationship with Christ should begin in the home.  Various circumstances exist at times that doesn’t allow for that but that fact just emphasizes the importance of the parent-child relationship.

In this segment we explore what role parents play in why young people decide to leave church.

Take a listen and feel free to comment below the post.

What better way to get into the minds of youth about why so many leave church than to hear it straight from their mouths!

We set up this episode to incorporate a few guests that represent what we found in our research on this topic.  QUICK RECAP: Three responsible parties for this issue – Parents, the Church and Youth.

Our final segment for this show was intriguing because we got to ask tough questions to a couple of teenagers [one in high schook, the other in college] and they were as honest as we thought they could be.

Take a listen and feel free to comment below the post.  The links below the podcast will lead you to Segment #1 (focusing on the church) and Segment #2 (focusing on Parents).  Enjoy

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Click Here to Listen to Segment #1

Click Here to Listen to Segment #2

Youth give many reasons including inauthenticity, hypocrisy, too many rules, etc.

So what role does the church play in this exodus?  What more should churches be doing to help keep young people engaged in church?

Let’s discuss

OPEN MIC is a new content offering from us hosted by our youth reporter Reggie Mattison, Jr.  With this show we will be “hitting the streets” (metaphorically) to get the pulse of the youth, both inside and outside of our churches, on various topics and events that relate to their Christianity.

Enjoy this sample offering as we work to bring you more content.

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An age-old issue the grows each year is the annual “running of the young”.  Similar to the running of the bulls event held in Pamplona, Spain each year, young people scurry away from churches like bulls are chasing them…out of the arms of the church into the claws of the world.

But why?  It is a question that needs to be seriously discussed; seriously researched; and more importantly ACTIVELY approached with solutions.

A recent study by The Barna Group (www.barna.org) has shown that 70-75% of teens become “disengaged” in Christianity once they leave their parent’s home.  This is an astronomical number.  The study further shows that 85% of that 75% come back…..eventually.  But by then what price has been paid?

Join us as we dive into the discussion and begin to look deeper into the issue.

An age-old issue the grows each year is the annual “running of the teens”.  Similar to the running of the bulls event held in Pamplona, Spain each year young people scurry away from Christianity like bulls are chasing them…out of the arms of the church into the claws of the world.

But why?  It is a question that needs to be seriously discussed among youth and adults.  A recent study has shown that 70-75% of teens become “disengaged” in Christianity once they leave their parent’s home.  This is an astronomical number.  The study further shows that 85% of that 75% come back…..eventually.  But by then what price has been paid?

Many adults, especially myself,  were apart of those statistics.

So we would like to pose a survey.  This question is for ALL (youth and adults). We will be discussing this in our next podcast.

What are some reasons that you feel young people leave church? Be real with us!

(submit your answer in the comment box below.  If you would like to be anonymous, type “Anonymous” in the name field.)

…And here is a completely anonymous poll for the youth.  Answer truthfully.

Check out part 3.