To get below the surface of why teens are struggling, Chap Clark spent a year in a high school interviewing dozens of students about their families, social lives, loneliness and insecurities. Turns out adults have abandoned kids to navigate the increasingly long and arduous transition to adulthood on their own to devastating effect. Unable to cope, teenagers retreat to their own world of youth culture with which few adults care enough to engage.
Chap Clark (PhD, University of Denver) is the Vice Provost and professor of Youth, Family, and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary, the senior editor of YouthWorker Journal, a Sojourner contributing writer and "Red Letter Communicator," and president of ParenTeen™ and HURT Seminars. He is a speaker, trainer, consultant, as well as the author of 18 books, including When Kids Hurt: Helping adults navigate the adolescent maze (Baker, 2009), Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers (Baker Academic, 2004, CBA Silver Medalist for Book of the Year), Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World, Deep Ministry in a Shallow World and the recent Deep Justice in a Broken World. Chap has served in many diverse settings over his career, in the church, parachurch, and industry. He was on the Young Life staff for 15 years as an Area and Regional Director, and for the past 18 while a seminary professor, Chap has served as an executive pastor, a senior pastor, and a consulting producer for a New Line television reality show. He is a highly acclaimed resource for community, adult, youth, and family conferences, as well as media, board, corporate and educational consulting and training.
Dee and Chap have been married for over twenty-nine years, and have partnered together in ministry, as well as speaking and writing throughout their married life. They have three grown children: Chap, Jr. (28), Rob (25) and Katie (22). They make their home in Burbank, CA.
