Axis Conversations

Axis
  • 5.0 (10)
  • CHRISTIANITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Each week on Axis Conversations, we survey cultural trends, host expert interviews, and answer listener questions to help parents and caring adults understand and disciple the next generation

  1. 19H AGO

    Roundtable: Chicken Banana, OpenClaw, and Bad Bunny

    Three Big Conversations: The hills are alive with the sound of kids saying "chicken, banana," - 14:38 A new AI tool called OpenClaw has an iron grasp on data - 20:20 Backlash took center stage after Bad Bunny's halftime show. - 49:04 Song of the Week: "The Great Divide" - Noah Kahan - 01:16 Click here to read the lyrics. In Other News.. - 1:04:02 James Van Der Beek passed away this week after battling colorectal cancer. Best known for his role as Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek, he helped define late 90s teen drama, and his legacy continues through streaming nostalgia and even one of the internet's earliest viral reaction GIFs.  At a congressional hearing last week, self-driving car company Waymo admitted that sometimes its cars are being remote-controlled by workers based in the Philippines. An emerging star of the 2026 Winter Olympics is American figure skater Alysa Liu, who won gold and then promptly broke her medal. Cool guys have bangs now, according to GQ. Fellas are trading the long-popular long-on the-top, short-on-the sides haircut for softer, more lived-in fringe. This weekend, the long-awaited, R-rated adaptation of the gothic romance novel Wuthering Heights will hit 3,600 screens and is projected to hit $50 million on its opening weekend.  Axis Resource → A Parent's Guide to Talking About Hell 🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    1h 7m

  2. 1D AGO

    CT: Chicken Banana, OpenClaw, and Bad Bunny

    The hills are alive with the sound of kids saying "chicken, banana," a new AI tool called OpenClaw has an iron grasp on data, and backlash took center stage after Bad Bunny's halftime show. Song of the Week: "The Great Divide" - Noah Kahan Click here to read the lyrics. In Other News.. James Van Der Beek passed away this week after battling colorectal cancer. Best known for his role as Dawson Leery on Dawson's Creek, he helped define late 90s teen drama, and his legacy continues through streaming nostalgia and even one of the internet's earliest viral reaction GIFs.  At a congressional hearing last week, self-driving car company Waymo admitted that sometimes its cars are being remote-controlled by workers based in the Philippines. An emerging star of the 2026 Winter Olympics is American figure skater Alysa Liu, who won gold and then promptly broke her medal. Cool guys have bangs now, according to GQ. Fellas are trading the long-popular long-on the-top, short-on-the sides haircut for softer, more lived-in fringe. This weekend, the long-awaited, R-rated adaptation of the gothic romance novel Wuthering Heights will hit 3,600 screens and is projected to hit $50 million on its opening weekend.  🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    11 min

  3. 3D AGO

    Ask Axis: "My 14-year-old is in the 'talking stage' with four girls. What should I do?"

    "Today's teens, especially those who are too young to drive, enter what they call "talking stages," which seem to be a substitute for dating. It's basically a stream of conciousness texting session with one another. I have a 14 year old son. Girls are coming out of the wood work trying to enter a "talking stage" with him. Right now he is talking to 4 girls. He has decided he really likes one of these girls. So the question is, should he continue talking to the other girls, or let them know that he really likes someone other than them? What he has done is ghost the other girls, he simply doesn't answer their texts; this doesn't feel right. What do you think the right way is to handle the situation? I have no idea where girls are getting his number but every week someone new  is texting him out of the blue. It usually starts with, "I thought you were cute so I asked for your number." To me this is also concerning. I think the type of girls he should be looking for are not the ones chasing boys." - Michelle  Axis Resource → A Parent's Guide to Teen Dating Axis Resource → A Conversation Kit on Dating 🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    13 min

  4. FEB 6

    Roundtable: The Super Bowl, The Grammys, and Etsy Witches

    Three Big Conversations: The Grammys offered a chaotic celebration of modern music. - 8:08 "Etsy witches" are getting kicked off of Etsy. - 21:12 Sports betting looms large over Super Bowl LX this Sunday. - 35:06 Song of the Week: "Aperture" by Harry Styles -1:25 Click here for the lyrics. In Other News: - 53:08 "She's free" is a TikTok trend where friends line up, clap and shine phone flashlights as someone walks a celebratory runway after a breakup.  The 2026 Winter Olympics in the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina begin today. If the 2024 Summer Olympics were any indication, teens will probably be fascinated by the athletes and their respective social media presences. A new platform called Moltbook is designed to be a Reddit-style social media forum for AI bots to publicly chat with each other. The Lunar New Year is coming up soon, which brings a new Chinese zodiac. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, and people on TikTok are freaking out about it. Iron Lung, a sci-fi horror film that stars YouTuber Markiplier (who also wrote, directed, and financed it), was a surprise box office success that almost beat Disney's Send Help in its opening weekend. 🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    56 min

  5. FEB 5

    CT: The Super Bowl, The Grammys, and Etsy Witches

    The Grammys offered a chaotic celebration of modern music, "Etsy witches" are getting kicked off of Etsy, and sports betting looms large over Super Bowl LX this Sunday. Song of the Week: "Aperture" by Harry Styles Click here for the lyrics. In Other News: "She's free" is a TikTok trend where friends line up, clap and shine phone flashlights as someone walks a celebratory runway after a breakup.  The 2026 Winter Olympics in the Italian cities of Milano and Cortina begin today. If the 2024 Summer Olympics were any indication, teens will probably be fascinated by the athletes and their respective social media presences. A new platform called Moltbook is designed to be a Reddit-style social media forum for AI bots to publicly chat with each other. The Lunar New Year is coming up soon, which brings a new Chinese zodiac. 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse, and people on TikTok are freaking out about it. Iron Lung, a sci-fi horror film that stars YouTuber Markiplier (who also wrote, directed, and financed it), was a surprise box office success that almost beat Disney's Send Help in its opening weekend. 🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    10 min

  6. FEB 3

    Pure Desire's Nick Stumbo on Healing Your Sexual Story

    Nick Stumbo is the Executive Director of Pure Desire, an organization that exists to provide hope, freedom, and healing from compulsive sexual behavior and betrayal trauma through Jesus Christ. Their work at Pure Desire is clinically informed and biblically based. As a third-generation pastor, Nick Stumbo started his ministry career at the East Hills Alliance Church in Kelso, Washington, where he observed the fallout of sexual brokenness and devastation in the lives of men and women in the church. Confronted with his own addiction to pornography, Nick and his wife, Michelle, found hope and healing through the counseling and group ministries of Pure Desire, which, again, he is now the Executive Director of.  --> Check out Pure Desire Ministries → Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. 🎧 Listen / Follow / Connect → Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! → Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. → For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    50 min

  7. JAN 30

    Roundtable: TikTok Censorship, The Rise of Sad Music, and Antisocial Media

    Three Big Conversations: TikTok has a new US owner, which users worry is muddying the platform's approach to censorship. - 10:16 Data shows that sad and angsty songs are ruling the streaming charts. - 29:28 It's official: our algorithms are making us lonelier. - 40:12 Emoji of the Week: 🙂 - 01:19 Axis Resource--> Check out A Parent's Guide to Emoji In Other News: -  52:04 Last week, Alex Honnold free-soloed Taipei 101 live on Netflix, with roughly 6.2 million people watching him climb a 1,667-foot skyscraper without a rope. The 2026 Oscar nominations dropped last week, with director Ryan Coogler's horror-thriller Sinners receiving a record-breaking 16 nominations. Speaking of awards season, after a long hiatus, Justin Bieber is slated to return to the Grammys stage this Sunday night. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Monday to apologize for his antisemitic comments and psychotic behavior. Athleisure is out for 2026. Some Gen Z creators are leaning into vintage (meaning 90s and early 2000s) sportswear and putting their matching workout sets out to pasture. --> Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. --> Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! --> Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. --> For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    55 min

  8. JAN 29

    CT: TikTok Censorship, Popular Sad Music, and Antisocial Media

    TikTok has a new US owner, which users worry is muddying the platform's approach to censorship; data shows that sad and angsty songs are ruling the streaming charts, and it's official: our algorithms are making us lonelier. Emoji of the Week: 🙂 Axis Resource--> Check out A Parent's Guide to Emoji In Other News: Last week, Alex Honnold free-soloed Taipei 101 live on Netflix, with roughly 6.2 million people watching him climb a 1,667-foot skyscraper without a rope. The 2026 Oscar nominations dropped last week, with director Ryan Coogler's horror-thriller Sinners receiving a record-breaking 16 nominations. Speaking of awards season, after a long hiatus, Justin Bieber is slated to return to the Grammys stage this Sunday night. Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Monday to apologize for his antisemitic comments and psychotic behavior. Athleisure is out for 2026. Some Gen Z creators are leaning into vintage (meaning 90s and early 2000s) sportswear and putting their matching workout sets out to pasture. --> Become a monthly donor today, join the Table. --> Check out the podcast now on our YouTube Channel! --> Get your question on Ask Axis! Send in your questions to ask@axis.org. --> For more Axis resources, go to axis.org.

    9 min
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5
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Each week on Axis Conversations, we survey cultural trends, host expert interviews, and answer listener questions to help parents and caring adults understand and disciple the next generation

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