We write mainly for Christian parents who want to apply the gospel to every part of their parenting, including the swarm of popular culture works that literally whiz about us using invisible signals every day. But we aim to provide tools not for only parents but also grandparents, child and youth workers, teachers, friends, older brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, coaches, or anyone who invests in the lives of the kids around them.

We prayerfully hope this book will equip you to engage popular culture with your kids. And we pray that with this book you will gain a deeper appreciation for the awesomeness of the gospel of grace, and our awesome Creator and Savior who provides grace for us, by enjoying the awesomeness of popular culture. We were made for delight, and we would love for you to be able to share that with your children!

By now, we hope you’re eager. You’re ready to watch Frozen with your kids, enjoy that story of Anna’s seeking and sacrificial love for Elsa, and connect it to our longing and  need for the seeking and sacrificial love of Jesus—all while you also expose the idol of authentic self in the song “Let It Go.” Well, we love that you’re eager. And we’re going to get to all of that and much more. But the process of doing it really well, so that you become a highly skilled pop culture parent who can do it for yourself with any movie or song or game, takes longer than just jumping to the answers. There is groundwork to build: We must understand culture. We must rejoice in the gospel. We must embrace our role as parents and know our children. We must respect the movie itself enough to describe it well before leaping to conclusions. And yes, in the end, we will then understand Frozen like never before.

All of that wonderful journey lies ahead. To start down this path of helping our kids engage their world for Christ, in the next chapter we will learn why on earth God made people to make all these popular-culture works in the first place.