Latest / Equipped for Impact / Music and the Heart- Timeless Truth in a Shifting Culture (Part 1)

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Music and the Heart- Timeless Truth in a Shifting Culture (Part 1) · Equipped for Impact

• 0:00
  Nate: All right, Lewis.
• 0:01
  Nate: Quick question.
• 0:02
  Nate: When you were a kid, what song did you have on repeat that your parents probably hated?
• 0:08
  Luis: Nate, the fact that you started there tells me that you're trying to expose me.
• 0:13
  Nate: I'm not trying.
• 0:14
  Nate: I'm succeeding.
• 0:15
  Nate: Go ahead.
• 0:16
  Nate: Give us what we want.
• 0:17
  Nate: What was the song?
• 0:18
  Luis: All right.
• 0:19
  Luis: There was a season where all I listened to was MM.
• 0:24
  Luis: Eminem.
• 0:25
  Luis: Isn't that a candy?
• 0:26
  Luis: Sort of.
• 0:27
  Luis: Is okay and I'm so confused.
• 0:30
  Luis: And and here's the part that proves what we're going to be talking about today.
• 0:34
  Luis: I still remember a lot of words from his songs.
• 0:38
  Luis: It's a person.
• 0:39
  Luis: Eminem's a person.
• 0:40
  Luis: Eminem's a person.
• 0:41
  Luis: That's right.
• 0:41
  Luis: In fact, uh my palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy, there's vomit on my sweater already, and my wife's spaghetti.
• 0:51
  Nate: Wait, hold on.
• 0:52
  Nate: Is that uh lyrics from an MM song?
• 0:57
  Luis: That's it.
• 0:58
  Nate: I don't I don't even know.
• 0:59
  Nate: That's the episode.
• 1:00
  Nate: That's the whole episode.
• 1:00
  Nate: That's the whole episode.
• 1:01
  Nate: Okay, done.
• 1:02
  Nate: Roll the credits.
• 1:03
  Nate: We're done.
• 1:04
  Nate: Oh man.
• 1:04
  Nate: And that's exactly what music does, right?
• 1:06
  Nate: It it's not just uh a background to your life, right?
• 1:11
  Nate: It moves in, it sets up in your living room, and most importantly, in your heart.
• 1:16
  Nate: And so that's what we're talking about today on this episode.
• 1:21
  Nate: Welcome to Equipped for Impact, the podcast designed to assist Christian parents, leaders, and educators to raise up the next generation, to stand firm in their faith, and influence the world for Christ.
• 1:33
  Nate: We're your hosts.
• 1:34
  Nate: I'm Nate.
• 1:35
  Nate: And I'm Lewis.
• 1:36
  Nate: And we are glad you're here with us today as we're starting a series called Timeless Truths in a Shifting Culture.
• 1:46
  Nate: So, Lewis, I'm excited about this series because it really gets to the heart of really what we're all about here on Equipped for Impact, right?
• 1:56
  Nate: Because the culture is constantly changing, but we want to equip our parents so that they can address these cultural issues from a solid foundation that's that's never gonna change.
• 2:11
  Luis: Yeah.
• 2:11
  Luis: So we're talking about unchanging principles, but we're giving you some real world 2026 applications.
• 2:19
  Nate: And if you're listening to this in 2027, or even 2050.
• 2:23
  Nate: That's right.
• 2:24
  Nate: Hopefully these principles, and I'm sure these principles will stay the same, even if you're dealing with different uh real world application of the principles.
• 2:34
  Luis: Aaron Powell Do you think podcasts will still be around in 2050?
• 2:37
  Nate: Absolutely.
• 2:37
  Nate: Like in a different format, right?
• 2:39
  Nate: I mean, I think the audio is still gonna be a thing.
• 2:42
  Nate: Okay.
• 2:42
  Nate: Like AirPods maybe that are even smaller that you don't even see.
• 2:45
  Nate: Yeah.
• 2:46
  Nate: Or like AI glasses that are playing the music as you walk down the street.
• 2:50
  Nate: Like I think podcasts are here to stay.
• 2:51
  Nate: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 2:51
  Luis: Did have you seen maybe not because I know you're not on social media, but there's a guy on like X or TikTok or something.
• 2:57
  Luis: I'm not on TikTok, but he's posting pictures that he claims are from the year 2055.
• 3:04
  Luis: Well uh Yeah.
• 3:04
  Luis: Weird stuff.
• 3:05
  Nate: We'll get to that one day.
• 3:06
  Nate: AI.
• 3:06
  Nate: It's just AI generated pictures, I bet.
• 3:08
  Luis: Uh who knows?
• 3:09
  Luis: I don't know.
• 3:10
  Nate: Okay.
• 3:10
  Nate: Or there's time travel.
• 3:11
  Nate: Maybe.
• 3:11
  Nate: Um do an episode on time travel.
• 3:14
  Nate: If he did time travel, he should go back in time and tell himself how to do time travel sooner.
• 3:19
  Nate: Like, why don't we anyway?
• 3:20
  Nate: That's beside the point.
• 3:21
  Nate: We are all off track because today we're talking about music specifically.
• 3:26
  Nate: But let's set up this series, okay?
• 3:28
  Nate: Let's be clear up front.
• 3:29
  Nate: This is not a panic series.
• 3:30
  Nate: This is not what we're trying to go out and and deal with, like put out a lot of cultural fires.
• 3:36
  Nate: We want to equip you all.
• 3:39
  Luis: Yeah.
• 3:39
  Luis: So parents, we're we're not here to scare you, right?
• 3:42
  Luis: Uh like Nate pointed out, we're here to equip you.
• 3:46
  Luis: And that's that's our goal, right?
• 3:48
  Luis: Like we know.
• 3:50
  Nate: Everything we do, right?
• 3:51
  Nate: It we're here to not just go through issues, although we do that occasionally.
• 3:56
  Nate: We're here to um, you know, help think through um a a framework, a uh a good foundation so that you all as parents have a good um place to work from as your kids grow and as the issues and and cultural things change moving on, right?
• 4:15
  Nate: So we're building this framework and then we're going to apply it uh to certain issues.
• 4:22
  Nate: So this week it's music, next week it'll be, you know, film and movies and streaming.
• 4:26
  Nate: Um and we'll we'll do a couple of these.
• 4:28
  Nate: But that's this idea of we want to build the framework and then we want to apply it to our cultural moment today.
• 4:33
  Luis: Aaron Powell Yeah, because we're not just gonna talk about one issue and act like that's the end of the world, right?
• 4:38
  Luis: We because we know that our culture is always going to produce a new headline, right?
• 4:44
  Luis: And and if you only disciple your kids to react to these headlines, then you're gonna be pretty tired, right?
• 4:51
  Luis: And your kids are gonna are gonna be pretty tired.
• 4:53
  Nate: Yep, yep.
• 4:54
  Nate: So every every issue that we're gonna address, music, you know, movies, gaming, relationships, whatever, we're gonna be coming back to this framework.
• 5:04
  Nate: And so actually, you know, if you're in a place, you're not like not driving your car or anything, and you can actually write this down, um, these are gonna be principles that will keep showing up all series long, right?
• 5:15
  Nate: And so we've got five different principles, right, Lewis?
• 5:18
  Luis: Yep.
• 5:18
  Luis: Five, and let's start with the first one, right?
• 5:21
  Luis: Because these are gonna apply to all the topics we're gonna cover over the next several weeks.
• 5:26
  Luis: And apparently, you can use them in other topics as well.
• 5:29
  Luis: So so here's so here's the first principle.
• 5:31
  Luis: We are always being formed.
• 5:35
  Luis: Nothing, nothing, nobody is neutral, right?
• 5:38
  Luis: Nobody is neutral, nobody is unshaped.
• 5:42
  Luis: Every day, something is discipling you, something is shaping you, something is discipling your child, something is shaping your child.
• 5:53
  Nate: Yep, that's exactly right.
• 5:54
  Nate: And so, parents, it it applies to you just as much as it applies to your kids.
• 5:59
  Nate: And your home, even it itself, the environment that you and your family create in your home, it is shaping your kids, right?
• 6:07
  Nate: Um but I the c quote I've heard and who knows how many times and where the original source was, but it's the idea that nobody drifts to a place they want to go.
• 6:17
  Luis: Yeah.
• 6:17
  Nate: Um and so that's the idea.
• 6:18
  Nate: If you are not being intentional about whatever situation, your home, your culture that you're you're creating, you're not gonna end up a place you want to go.
• 6:27
  Nate: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 6:28
  Luis: And so whether you have a plan or not, that drift is gonna happen and the drift is forming you too, right?
• 6:34
  Luis: Yep.
• 6:34
  Luis: That's exactly right.
• 6:35
  Luis: And that leads us to the second point, right?
• 6:37
  Luis: Is is the heart is the control center.
• 6:40
  Luis: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 6:41
  Nate: Yep, that's exactly right.
• 6:42
  Nate: So when we say music and the heart as, you know, kind of this topic we're gonna apply it to today, what we mean is that the heart, um, you know, the way scripture means it, it's like central to who you are.
• 6:56
  Nate: It's the things you love, the things you worship, it's what motivates you.
• 7:00
  Nate: It's really like the center of your whole being.
• 7:04
  Nate: Um use whatever word you wanna use, heart, soul, it it's who you are deep down inside.
• 7:10
  Luis: Yeah, and I love the word love there, right?
• 7:13
  Luis: Because what you love is going to drive what you chase, what you excuse, what you defend, and ultimately what you become.
• 7:23
  Nate: Right.
• 7:23
  Nate: Right.
• 7:23
  Nate: Yeah.
• 7:24
  Nate: So uh James Smith's book, You Are What You Love, is a great book on that concept if you're looking for a book to kind of get that foundation for this principle here that the heart is the control center.
• 7:35
  Luis: So the third principle is this every cultural product carries a vision of the good life, right?
• 7:41
  Luis: So today we're talking about music, right?
• 7:44
  Luis: So every song is saying, here's what matters, here's what you should want, here's what love is, and here's how you cope.
• 7:53
  Nate: Yeah, and uh that's really important, this idea of the good life, because so often we talk about um different things.
• 8:00
  Nate: We don't we use fuzzy words to to describe it.
• 8:03
  Nate: And so I can say something about, oh, you need to go out and get a good job, right?
• 8:08
  Nate: Well, we don't define what we mean by that, right?
• 8:11
  Nate: Um I could say that and be thinking like you've got a good job that's serving and helping people.
• 8:17
  Nate: A trash truck driver is a good job, right?
• 8:20
  Nate: But you might hear me and think, oh, a good job means a high-paying job.
• 8:26
  Nate: So you think, you know, doctor, lawyer, politician, whatever it is, right?
• 8:29
  Nate: And so but that what that is is it's the embedded vision of the good life of is how you interpret that, right?
• 8:36
  Nate: So music, it's just gonna come with shaping our idea of the good life, right?
• 8:42
  Nate: They're not just vibes, right?
• 8:44
  Nate: Um it's a it's a message that's baked in.
• 8:47
  Luis: That's right.
• 8:48
  Luis: And now principle four, discernment is a skill, not a personality trait.
• 8:55
  Nate: Yep, yep.
• 8:56
  Nate: So many people talk about like, are you a discerning person as if it's like innate who who they are, right?
• 9:02
  Nate: But you know, parents, it's there's not a special, you know, discernment that you you get that you need to, you know, are built with or you're not.
• 9:10
  Nate: No, it's a it's a skill that that you can develop over time and you can help your children develop this skill too.
• 9:18
  Luis: And so what we're saying here is that discernment is learned.
• 9:21
  Luis: Now now we know that that the Bible, you know, makes it clear that that discernment is a gift, right?
• 9:26
  Luis: Yeah, yeah.
• 9:27
  Luis: You're sensitive to the Holy Spirit's leading.
• 9:29
  Luis: But every Christian has the Holy Spirit.
• 9:32
  Luis: Yep.
• 9:32
  Luis: Right.
• 9:33
  Luis: And so discernment is learned, it's practiced, it's trained, and as parents, you can teach it to your children.
• 9:41
  Nate: Yep.
• 9:41
  Luis: And that's really good.
• 9:42
  Luis: That leads us really to principle number five, which is we disciple for mission, not isolation.
• 9:50
  Luis: And we've talked about this in other episodes early on, where we're not trying to raise kids who are sheltered and clueless and isolated.
• 10:00
  Nate: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:01
  Nate: We're not trying to raise kids who are sh completely shut off from the world.
• 10:06
  Nate: Um we want to raise kids who are steady and clear and courageous and they're able to um, you know, essentially be inoculated against the things that are coming at them in the world.
• 10:18
  Luis: Aaron Powell Because we know that they're going to be in the world.
• 10:21
  Luis: Right.
• 10:21
  Luis: We just need to make sure that they're not of the world.
• 10:24
  Nate: Right.
• 10:24
  Nate: Yep.
• 10:25
  Nate: That's right.
• 10:25
  Luis: Kids who live in the world, they they love their neighbor, they they interact with their neighbors, right.
• 10:32
  Luis: Um and but they don't get absorbed by it.
• 10:35
  Luis: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 10:35
  Nate: Yep.
• 10:36
  Nate: Yep.
• 10:36
  Nate: Um, because then otherwise they might grow up thinking that MM is just a candy.
• 10:40
  Nate: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 10:40
  Nate: Correct, they might, yeah.
• 10:41
  Nate: I just I just totally played my hand right there.
• 10:44
  Nate: Um But no.
• 10:46
  Nate: I like to play into the ignorant sometimes.
• 10:48
  Nate: But but so what we're gonna do is we're actually gonna give you five questions that we're gonna use every episode, and it's a tool you can come back to and really apply no matter the situation.
• 11:00
  Nate: Okay?
• 11:00
  Nate: And these five questions will really kind of they're they're based out of those principles that we just we just went through.
• 11:06
  Nate: Okay.
• 11:07
  Luis: They can work everywhere, right?
• 11:08
  Luis: They they work in the car, they work at the kitchen table, they work after youth group.
• 11:13
  Luis: Whatever's happening, these questions are easy, they're easy to follow.
• 11:17
  Luis: Um let's let's let's start with the first one, right?
• 11:20
  Luis: Okay.
• 11:20
  Luis: What is this celebrating?
• 11:22
  Nate: That's a good one, right?
• 11:24
  Nate: Because, you know, it can be something that's just fun, you know?
• 11:28
  Nate: And it's just it's a fun song.
• 11:29
  Nate: There's fun songs out there that have nothing to do overtly with God or anything that are just fun and fun-loving.
• 11:37
  Nate: And it's okay.
• 11:37
  Nate: Um, you know, but then there's also songs that are gonna celebrate things that are not good.
• 11:42
  Nate: Um, and that's really where it gets deep into your heart, right?
• 11:46
  Nate: Second question.
• 11:47
  Nate: Okay.
• 11:48
  Nate: What does it call normal or desirable?
• 11:51
  Nate: That's that idea of the good life, right?
• 11:53
  Nate: Building towards the good life.
• 11:54
  Nate: So what does it call normal?
• 11:56
  Nate: What is it desirable?
• 11:57
  Nate: What's it pointing your heart towards?
• 11:59
  Nate: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:00
  Nate: Number three.
• 12:00
  Nate: Okay.
• 12:01
  Nate: What is it training the heart to love, crave, excuse, or mock?
• 12:07
  Nate: Ooh, that's good.
• 12:08
  Nate: That's so that takes the second question and it's really going deeper, right?
• 12:12
  Nate: It's not just what is it calling normal, but it's really pointing the heart towards these things, either in a good way or away from it in a bad way.
• 12:21
  Luis: And I love the word training there, right?
• 12:23
  Luis: Because because we don't think about it that way most of the time.
• 12:25
  Luis: Like when we're listening to to songs, right?
• 12:28
  Luis: You know, when when we talked about MM earlier, like there's songs I remember from my youth as to like what it was talking about, how we define certain things.
• 12:38
  Luis: And and it was training my mind.
• 12:40
  Luis: I still think about them sometimes today.
• 12:43
  Nate: Yep.
• 12:44
  Luis: Number is it four now?
• 12:45
  Luis: It's four, yep.
• 12:46
  Luis: So what fruit does it produce in attitudes and actions?
• 12:52
  Nate: That's a big one.
• 12:52
  Nate: We've talked about this before about like whether it's books or movies or TV shows, you know, you see a character that's celebrated and they are, you know, sarcastic or mean or rude to their parents or whatever.
• 13:06
  Nate: And so then that attitude, those actions can then be the fruit that's produced in your child's life or your own life.
• 13:14
  Nate: Um, you know, so that's that's good to ask that question overtly.
• 13:17
  Luis: Aaron Powell And what that's coming back to is the old phrase that we've used, you know, that we're all familiar with like what goes in is what's coming out, right?
• 13:27
  Luis: Yep.
• 13:27
  Luis: Garbage in, garbage out.
• 13:28
  Luis: Absolutely.
• 13:29
  Luis: That's the same thing.
• 13:29
  Luis: Number five, right?
• 13:30
  Luis: How should we respond as Christians with conviction and charity?
• 13:36
  Nate: Aaron Powell And that last one, that's really important, right?
• 13:38
  Nate: Because there's the conviction there, but it's also the charity, right?
• 13:43
  Nate: The love that goes along with it.
• 13:44
  Nate: You can go back to last week's episode, right, Lewis, and and how we kind of came at this idea of immigration.
• 13:50
  Nate: You know?
• 13:51
  Nate: There's there's a tension between upholding the laws and being hospitable to those and loving to every image bearer.
• 13:59
  Nate: And so that that's gonna run through this whole series as well.
• 14:02
  Luis: Because if we're not careful, right, you might get the idea that we're trying to raise kids who are harsh to these.
• 14:09
  Luis: And and I know that I personally experienced this like in high school, whenever Jesus changed my life, right, and and he called me to a deeper relationship with him.
• 14:18
  Luis: It was easy for me to be like, okay, I'm holy, I'm Christian, and with that came harshness.
• 14:24
  Luis: But but we're not raising our kids to be harsh.
• 14:27
  Luis: We want to raise them to be to be holy.
• 14:29
  Nate: Mm-hmm.
• 14:30
  Nate: Yep, that's exactly right.
• 14:31
  Nate: So let's let's take this and apply it specifically to music, okay?
• 14:36
  Nate: Um how do we uh come at asking these questions specifically as it comes to music?
• 14:43
  Nate: Like why is music different than than some other things we might be talking about in this series?
• 14:48
  Luis: Well, it's because music is formative, right?
• 14:50
  Luis: Music music doesn't just communicate ideas, it attaches ideas to emotions, right?
• 14:59
  Luis: And and certain songs just evoke that emotion and it connects you.
• 15:04
  Luis: And and if you think about it, there are certain songs that you listen to, maybe not you, Nate, but there were certain songs that you listened to when you were growing up that that when you hear them today, it calls you back to a moment in time, to maybe a past relationship, maybe to a past interaction, like phase of life.
• 15:24
  Nate: Yes, yes, even down to like smells, you know?
• 15:27
  Nate: Like you're you could it puts you in a place and a time with certain smells, like and it it pulls it all out.
• 15:33
  Nate: What I love here is because that it attaches ideas to emotion, like when you get music and lyrics mixed together, yeah, it it almost like skips the brain and goes straight to the heart, right?
• 15:47
  Nate: It's it's skipping past your logical kind of guardians and just going straight in and embedding some of these um ideas directly in your heart, which again, that's your control center.
• 16:00
  Nate: Yeah.
• 16:00
  Nate: Um even even more so than than your mind.
• 16:03
  Luis: Yeah.
• 16:03
  Luis: And part of that is because repetition is is the kicker, right?
• 16:07
  Luis: So so so you might forget a sermon point, but you're gonna remember a chorus that you heard 60 times.
• 16:13
  Luis: Like, I'm thinking about this song, and they you may know it.
• 16:16
  Luis: I don't know.
• 16:17
  Luis: It's surprising if you did.
• 16:18
  Luis: Some of our audience will remember it, but it was a song by it was a one-hit wonder by a group called The New Radicals.
• 16:25
  Luis: And they had a song called You Get What You Give.
• 16:28
  Luis: All right.
• 16:28
  Luis: And in the music video of that song, they are running through a mall.
• 16:34
  Luis: And that song came out, I think, when I was like in sixth grade and or maybe seventh grade, and it was a very popular song at that time, and I remember listening to it around the same time that I went on a field trip with our school's beta club or Deco or like some sort of organization like that.
• 16:53
  Luis: And it was an overnight trip, and it was at it was at the Greensboro Convention Center, that big old hotel, like when you're on like like like in Greensboro, and there's a mall right beside it.
• 17:04
  Luis: And so, as part of our trip, we got to go to the mall.
• 17:06
  Luis: And so that song, when I hear it today, it reminds me of being in like seventh grade going on that trip.
• 17:15
  Luis: Like it's weird how those two things happen.
• 17:17
  Nate: They're just linked together.
• 17:19
  Nate: Yeah.
• 17:19
  Nate: And so And even thinking of this, you know, uh and when I was a youth pastor, um, I remember helping a family walk through a situation that I think you know can be traced actually back to a song.
• 17:32
  Nate: There were other things that kind of went with it, but the song I I feel like was the seed.
• 17:37
  Nate: There's a um and I had to look it up because I couldn't tell you who sang it at the same time.
• 17:41
  Nate: It's a Luke Bryan song, uh, Most People Are Good.
• 17:45
  Nate: Yeah.
• 17:45
  Nate: And I had to look it up.
• 17:47
  Nate: I just know the chorus because the chorus, um, it says in there, um, I believe you love who you love ain't nothing you should ever be ashamed of.
• 17:55
  Nate: I believe this world ain't half as bad as it looked.
• 17:58
  Nate: I believe most people are good, right?
• 18:00
  Nate: But the that line in there, right, of you love who you love, never be ashamed of it, right?
• 18:06
  Nate: And that sent uh a teenager down this path, then with all these other inputs, right?
• 18:11
  Nate: It wasn't just the that line of the song, right?
• 18:13
  Nate: But that that seed got into this person's heart and set the framework for some major like gender identity issues and things like that.
• 18:21
  Nate: And it and it like that was the seed.
• 18:23
  Nate: It went past the mind.
• 18:26
  Nate: Uh, you know, this person knew better, they knew the scriptures, they they heard it in church, their parents taught them, um, but it got in there and then that just, you know, allowed uh a lot of different things to kind of come out of that in this person's life.
• 18:41
  Nate: And there it was.
• 18:41
  Nate: It was a song, it's catchy, it's feel good, and it just skipped right past all of the things they knew in their mind and planted a seed in their heart.
• 18:51
  Luis: And that's really good, right?
• 18:52
  Luis: Because our kids aren't just listening to songs, they they're rehearsing them, and and what you rehearse ultimately shapes what you reflect and and music can form that appetite, right?
• 19:04
  Luis: It can form their identity, it can form what feels normal.
• 19:08
  Luis: So they know it's wrong.
• 19:11
  Luis: They're their whole life they believe for it to be wrong, and then these songs create this feeling, and it's like, oh, this is my identity.
• 19:19
  Luis: This feels normal.
• 19:20
  Nate: Yep, yep.
• 19:21
  Nate: So let's kind of jump into this as um as parents.
• 19:24
  Nate: How do you have the parent listening to this?
• 19:26
  Nate: How do they respond?
• 19:27
  Nate: And and maybe what are some usual mistakes?
• 19:31
  Nate: We might be stepping on on some toes here.
• 19:33
  Luis: There's two big ones, right?
• 19:34
  Nate: And and two big toes, like the left and the right toe.
• 19:37
  Nate: Good point.
• 19:38
  Nate: Yeah, there we go.
• 19:38
  Nate: There we go.
• 19:39
  Nate: We're gonna step on both the left and the right big toe.
• 19:42
  Nate: Okay.
• 19:42
  Luis: And and there's two traps that I know I've that I've been guilty of myself.
• 19:47
  Luis: The first one is is let's let's call it the checklist approach, right?
• 19:51
  Luis: You you reduce discernment to a profanity meter, right?
• 19:56
  Luis: So you look at the song and you're like, if the words are clean, then Then we're okay.
• 20:00
  Luis: As long as there's not cuss words, or as long as there's not certain curse words in that song, then my child can listen to it.
• 20:08
  Nate: Aaron Powell Yeah.
• 20:08
  Nate: And and we know, right?
• 20:10
  Nate: Some of the cleanest songs have the most destructive messages.
• 20:14
  Nate: I think that song you mentioned earlier had does it have any bad language in it.
• 20:17
  Nate: I don't think so.
• 20:18
  Nate: I of course I didn't read through all the lyrics when I looked it up just now.
• 20:20
  Nate: But it was not marked as explicit.
• 20:22
  Nate: Yes.
• 20:23
  Nate: Like some of our podcasts have accidentally been marked explicit.
• 20:26
  Nate: Aaron Powell Are you saying things you shouldn't say?
• 20:27
  Nate: Aaron Powell I have not.
• 20:29
  Nate: But I did go back and fix that.
• 20:30
  Nate: So they're no longer marked as explicit.
• 20:32
  Nate: So it's got to create a lot of people.
• 20:34
  Nate: If any of you failed to download an episode because we accidentally marked it as explicit, that's my fault.
• 20:40
  Nate: Parental advisor.
• 20:42
  Luis: And so you can have no bad words, but still celebrate lust, still still celebrate greed, still celebrate self-worship, revenge, despair.
• 20:51
  Luis: And then this leads us to the second trap, right?
• 20:53
  Luis: So the first trap is the checklist approach.
• 20:56
  Luis: The second trap is, let's call it the over-reaction.
• 21:00
  Nate: You can only listen to Christian music, which there's some Christian music that is damaging as far as worldview, right?
• 21:06
  Nate: It's got some some bad worldview baked in, and they sprinkle some Jesus over it and act like it's good Christian music.
• 21:14
  Luis: Or they take some some bad theology, right?
• 21:16
  Luis: Yeah.
• 21:17
  Luis: And then they like enunciate it because it's like it's it's it's it's it's not biblically accurate.
• 21:23
  Luis: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 21:23
  Nate: Yep.
• 21:23
  Nate: Yep.
• 21:23
  Nate: And so the overreaction is just everything's banned, we're not doing this, no, you can't listen to that.
• 21:29
  Nate: There's no conversation, there's no discipleship, there's no follow-up, uh, so that your child can learn that discernment, like we we've talked about.
• 21:36
  Nate: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 21:37
  Luis: And if all they ever hear is no, but they never learn the why or understand the why, then then the moment they have freedom, they they don't have a framework now.
• 21:47
  Luis: And so it's like, I have freedom and so I'll I'm gonna run wild.
• 21:51
  Luis: But the goal is is not control, the goal is to train.
• 21:57
  Nate: Yeah, that's exactly right.
• 22:00
  Nate: Um, we want to shepherd their heart, we want to train discernment, and we want to keep that relationship strong, right?
• 22:06
  Nate: Because if you're not having the conversation, then they just shut down and maybe they're doing stuff, listening to stuff that you don't even know about, right?
• 22:15
  Nate: And so you would rather be able to walk them through and shepherd them through these moments than just to shut down the conversation and then have no clue what's going on in their lives.
• 22:25
  Luis: So let's let's quickly talk about some music that's that's coming out.
• 22:30
  Luis: This is music that Nate and I don't necessarily know or listen to, but we're using In fact, you could just for me, you could generally just say Nate doesn't understand music.
• 22:40
  Nate: Like that's fair enough.
• 22:41
  Nate: I don't know.
• 22:41
  Nate: I do know who Forrest Frank is.
• 22:43
  Luis: Well, a lot of this I'm not gonna know either.
• 22:44
  Nate: Okay.
• 22:44
  Luis: Okay.
• 22:45
  Nate: I'm glad to do you like lemonade?
• 22:47
  Nate: Um The beverage.
• 22:48
  Nate: The beverage?
• 22:49
  Nate: Right.
• 22:50
  Nate: Well, life gives me some lemons, but my Jesus, he be making lemonade.
• 22:54
  Nate: He'd be making lemonade.
• 22:55
  Luis: So so this is a guide from Access.
• 22:57
  Luis: We've mentioned it, we've mentioned Access before.
• 22:59
  Luis: Yeah.
• 23:00
  Luis: Uh and I think it'll be a good one.
• 23:02
  Nate: If you have not signed up for their weekly newsletter or those things, you you have got to sign up for that.
• 23:07
  Nate: They are a great resource as it comes to the trends that come out.
• 23:11
  Luis: Yep.
• 23:11
  Luis: And so basically what they're saying is that these are songs, these are musics to to be aware of this year across different different genres.
• 23:21
  Luis: The first one is is is K-pop, right?
• 23:23
  Luis: I don't follow K-pop.
• 23:25
  Luis: Um I don't I couldn't tell you anything about it.
• 23:26
  Luis: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
• 23:26
  Nate: Which if you don't enunciate that well, I think you're talking about cake pops.
• 23:30
  Nate: Cake like from Starbucks.
• 23:31
  Nate: Like from Starbucks.
• 23:33
  Nate: Cake pops.
• 23:33
  Luis: I don't know about cake pop at Starbucks either.
• 23:35
  Nate: So they are decent.
• 23:37
  Nate: They are overpriced, but they are decent.
• 23:39
  Luis: Okay.
• 23:39
  Luis: Uh or even EDM or or any of that.
• 23:42
  Luis: And and parents, you might be listening to this and like, I don't I don't know that either, right?
• 23:45
  Luis: But here's the thing, your kids do, right?
• 23:47
  Luis: They they they have their own generations ecosystem.
• 23:51
  Luis: And so what K pop uh what what K-pop is doing um this year in music is there's some some big names returning, there's some new groups that are expanding into our culture and market, and and and the way pop is becoming global, collaborative, and shaped by by by a generation, like like it's it's different, like like it's different for us.
• 24:14
  Luis: And so what that means is that music is is no longer just songs, right?
• 24:18
  Luis: Now kids are connecting it to a community, to an identity, to fandom, to aesthetic, to influence, right?
• 24:27
  Nate: And you can see that, you know, again, I'm not familiar with K-pop other than I kind of generally understand the the style, right?
• 24:34
  Nate: Which it's it's hip, it's fun, it's you know, it's really poppy.
• 24:38
  Nate: Um but even some of these you can think of um, you know, artists who are big names uh that maybe didn't start too bad, but as they go on, they've gotten worse.
• 24:50
  Nate: Like specifically, I'm thinking of the Taylor Swift stuff.
• 24:53
  Nate: Like again, I have not listened to Taylor Swift music in uh ever, but I do know that the every new album she comes out with is more and more explicit and um you know, it has those things we talked about, like the baked-in worldview, the baked-in celebration of certain lifestyles.
• 25:13
  Nate: And so it's coming out more and more.
• 25:15
  Nate: And again, I I didn't listen to the most recent stuff that it came out, but I saw the news articles talking about how it's taken a lot of sin, let's just call it what it is, to the next level in what it's celebrating.
• 25:28
  Nate: So, parents, you just gotta be aware of those things that are coming out.
• 25:32
  Nate: And you if your kids aren't listening to them, probably their friends are, and so they're gonna hear about it even if they don't hear the music itself.
• 25:40
  Luis: Aaron Ross Powell And so the five questions that we've talked through this morning, you can you can apply that to the styles, to this music.
• 25:50
  Luis: That's right.
• 25:50
  Luis: And you can you can just ask them, right?
• 25:52
  Luis: What do you think about this song?
• 25:53
  Luis: What do you like about this song?
• 25:56
  Nate: Um don't don't come up to them and be like, hey, this is garbage.
• 25:59
  Nate: Why are you listening to this?
• 26:00
  Nate: Yes.
• 26:01
  Nate: Again, we've said that.
• 26:02
  Nate: Questions are gonna help, you know, start the conversation, keep the conversation going.
• 26:08
  Nate: Because if you come at it attacking, they're gonna shut down.
• 26:10
  Luis: Absolutely.
• 26:11
  Luis: So what is this celebrating?
• 26:12
  Luis: What does this say is normal?
• 26:14
  Luis: What does it make you want?
• 26:16
  Luis: What does it make you numb to?
• 26:18
  Luis: And then how do we how do we respond as as Christians, right?
• 26:23
  Luis: And and you could be thinking like, hey, you know, we can enjoy the talent, we can enjoy the style of music, but we have to reject the message, right?
• 26:32
  Luis: Right, right.
• 26:33
  Luis: Or even like this is catchy, but it is shaping you towards something that we don't want in your heart.
• 26:40
  Nate: And so you can't, you know, a a child at any age really is is because it is catchy, you know that it will sink a message deep into their heart.
• 26:52
  Nate: And so you need to protect them, but they need to know why uh you are protecting them, right?
• 26:58
  Nate: Uh you understand that it's feeding um the fear, the anger, the lust, the bitterness, whatever it is, that's the fruit that's gonna be coming out.
• 27:06
  Nate: So, Louis, let's land the plane here.
• 27:09
  Nate: Um, what can parents do this week?
• 27:12
  Nate: So here's some easy things, right?
• 27:13
  Luis: We've we've talked about a lot.
• 27:15
  Luis: We've given you a lot of information, but go back and and learn those five questions, right?
• 27:22
  Luis: Ask those five questions, right?
• 27:24
  Luis: Um and then and then maybe ask them like what are your top favorite five songs right now?
• 27:30
  Luis: And then connect those those questions.
• 27:33
  Luis: Listen, listen first, right?
• 27:35
  Luis: Make it normal to talk about music, right?
• 27:38
  Luis: Don't don't don't only talk about music when when you're mad, but but make it a normal part of the conversation.
• 27:46
  Nate: Big thing there, right?
• 27:47
  Nate: If you can't name a single artist that your kid listens to, then you're parenting in the dark, right?
• 27:54
  Nate: So just come at it, like ask those questions and make that conversation normal.
• 27:58
  Nate: That's that's so important.
• 27:59
  Luis: And and listen to music together, right?
• 28:01
  Luis: Like maybe there's some songs that they like.
• 28:03
  Luis: Um Nate, are you familiar with Benson Boone?
• 28:06
  Luis: No.
• 28:06
  Luis: Okay, I didn't think you would be.
• 28:08
  Luis: But he's really big with one of my daughters right now.
• 28:11
  Luis: So like my wife and I, we've we've like we've listened to some of the songs.
• 28:15
  Luis: Some of the songs are catchy, right?
• 28:16
  Luis: And so we listen to it in the truck.
• 28:18
  Luis: Like Forrest Frank.
• 28:18
  Luis: Yeah, kind of like Forrest Frank.
• 28:20
  Luis: He's not a Christian artist, though.
• 28:21
  Luis: Benson Boone is not making lemonade.
• 28:23
  Luis: Okay, he's not making lemonade or celebrate.
• 28:25
  Luis: Um, you know, he is um, you know, I uh you actually know one of one of one of his songs because it because it's we're consulting Google right now.
• 28:35
  Luis: It's everywhere.
• 28:35
  Luis: But the song Beautiful Things, uh, it's the one that says, Um, here, let me pull up the lyrics real quick.
• 28:42
  Luis: Um the chorus says, please stay, I want you, I need you, oh God.
• 28:47
  Luis: Don't take these beautiful things that I've got.
• 28:49
  Luis: But he does it like in a really high-pitched screamy voice.
• 28:52
  Nate: No, don't.
• 28:53
  Nate: All right.
• 28:53
  Luis: So, anyway, so so we've so we've kind of learned to listen to some of the songs with her.
• 28:58
  Luis: And and sometimes it's like, you know, like the dad in me specifically, like the Christian dad, is like, we're not gonna listen to that garbage, right?
• 29:04
  Luis: Uh but but but I know that it's there.
• 29:06
  Luis: I know that she's that it's she's being exposed to it.
• 29:08
  Luis: And so just this idea of coming alongside of her, making it normal to enjoy some of the music that she likes, but talking about it, and then just teach that repeat principle, right?
• 29:18
  Luis: What you repeat, you rehearse, and what you rehearse, you start to believe, and what you believe is what you start to live.
• 29:27
  Nate: That's good.
• 29:28
  Nate: Right there, that's the clip we're gonna share on social media.
• 29:31
  Nate: Like, cut that out, put that out there.
• 29:33
  Nate: What you repeat, you rehearse.
• 29:35
  Nate: What you rehearse, you start to believe, and what you believe, you start to live.
• 29:41
  Nate: So, Lewis, with that, the mic drop moment, please don't drop your mic.
• 29:45
  Nate: Um, but mic drop moment there, like how, you know, what's a final encouragement you would give to parents as we wrap up this first episode in our series?
• 29:55
  Luis: Parents, you can you can lead here, right?
• 29:58
  Luis: You you don't need to become an expert in every music genre.
• 30:04
  Luis: You just need a framework, you need a relationship, and you need the courage to be the parent, to shepherd your child's heart with clarity and love.
• 30:14
  Luis: Start with the top five songs.
• 30:16
  Luis: Ask good questions, build discernment, and stay steady.
• 30:21
  Nate: That's good.
• 30:22
  Nate: So thank you all for listening today to Equipped for Impact.
• 30:26
  Nate: If this episode encouraged you, share it with another parent who could use this resource and the episodes that are following, right?
• 30:33
  Nate: Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss those.
• 30:35
  Nate: Our next one is going to be Stories and the Heart, talking about film, movies, streaming, TV shows, all of that.
• 30:42
  Nate: But until then, keep leading the next generation to stand firm in their faith and influence the world for Christ.