Pop Culture Faith

So there I was browsing the LifeTeen homepage when I was slapped in the face by corporate America. There they were, represented in actual size, two iPod Nanos on the homepage. Ok so iPods are hip and it is important for a youth group to be hip, so no big deal. As I browsed farther, I noticed that brand appearing on other pages as well. The adult leaders page sports the very elegant "cover flow" design of iTunes. Wait, I'm not done yet. The same brand appears once more on the FAQ section on the podcast page. No you don't need an iPod to play the podcast but it will "enhance your experience" for without one you cannot enjoy the podcast while "driving your car, working out, or mowing the lawn."

The point of this post is not to bash LifeTeen as I don't even know that they intended to promote Apple. I think it is very possible that they didn't even notice how many times the brand shows up on the site. I also respect the materials they provide to youth leaders and teens. My point is to illustrate an issue that has bothered me for a while now.

Where do we draw the line between being hip and relevant to the youth and endorsing pop culture? I believe we must be very careful about what statements we make both implicitly and explicitly especially when it involves teens and cool.

When I began to think about the effects of LifeTeen's implicit endorsement of the iPod and iTunes, I couldn't help but think about all of the underprivileged children I have worked with and how much they value being cool. The fact that the iPod is the most expensive mp3 player you can buy and mp3 players in general are a luxury, compound this problem in my mind.

When I saw the ad at the bottom of the homepage advertising the LifeTeen podcasts I could help but feel my heart sink in empathy for those teens that did not receive an mp3 player for Christmas or those that had another, less expensive, brand or a less cool iPod from years past.

I guess the bottom line is that I think kids feel enough pressure to be cool without their religion adding to it. Being aware of this pressure should moderate our use of pop culture to form the faith of our teens. Should we reject pop culture outright, or should we embrace it? I'm not sure I have the answer but I believe it will be some combination of both. We must focus on creating an environment of acceptance and work to make love and acceptance cool.