Lakeland couple creates Culture Rock conference to help teens - WFLA-TV News Channel 8

Bill and Pam Mutz know a thing or two about parenting. The Lakeland couple has 12 kids ranging in age from 34 to 13.  "We've been married 35 years and then we have children basically every other year," Pam Mutz explained.  Over more than three decades of child rearing the Mutz's started to notice increasing challenges for themselves and their kids.  "We've parented for 34 years and seen a difference just in that parenting period dramatically between the pressures on our younger kids versus the pressures on our older kids," Bill Mutz said.

The pressures they're talking about include the constant barrage of sexual images, innuendos and invitations in everything from television and movies to music and social media.  "It's so easy for kids to access information and sometimes that's right information and sometimes that's wrong information," Pam Mutz said.

That's why Bill and Pam decided to start a teen summit they call Culture Rock.  It started as a small gathering of young people at their church in Lakeland. It has since grown to a day long event drawing more than 1,000 teens and parents.  "What culture rock does is give them great information on how to build healthy relationships," Pam Mutz said.

Culture Rock includes break out sessions on topics like eating disorders, depression and sexting.  "We have a college panel of kids that talk about ones that have compromised too early in their life and some who didn't and the value that came from that," Bill Mutz said.

The overall goal of Culture Rock is empower young people stand up against the variety of pressures they face in adolescence.  "We can make such an incredible difference in the lives of our kids, but they have to understand their purpose. They have to understand their design," Bill Mutz said.

This year's Culture Rock will take place Saturday at First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland. For more information you can go to www.culturerock.org.