Latest / The OneCry Podcast / #247 Gen Z on the Church: Real Faith & Honest Mentorship (From Revival Roundtable 2026)

Transcript

#247 Gen Z on the Church: Real Faith & Honest Mentorship (From Revival Roundtable 2026) · The OneCry Podcast

• 0:00
  I think we've heard it a few times.
• 0:05
  It's just, we want to return to authentic, Christ-centered, scripture-based church.
• 0:12
  Welcome to the OneCry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening.
• 0:19
  The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and
• 0:27
  reports.
• 0:29
  Well, hello and welcome to the OneCry Podcast.
• 0:32
  My name is Ben Dishner.
• 0:33
  I'm the Global Ministries Director for OneCry, and I get the privilege of producing the OneCry
• 0:39
  Podcast.
• 0:41
  For the past few weeks, we've been sharing some highlights from our recent revival roundtable,
• 0:46
  which we do each year in conjunction with the Collegiate Day of Prayer.
• 0:50
  We invite leaders from all over the country to come together and discuss ways that we
• 0:56
  can steward a move of God, also how we can bridge generational gaps and divisions within
• 1:03
  the church.
• 1:04
  And so this week, we're going to share with you one of the wonderful sessions we had with
• 1:10
  a panel of Gen Z leaders from Liberty University.
• 1:14
  It was led by Wes Franklin, who's the Executive Director of LU Shepherd at Liberty.
• 1:19
  And then we had four students named Morgan McCorby, Bella Bosco, Sam Huber, and Ethan
• 1:27
  Erickson.
• 1:28
  And from their perspective, they're able to share some great insights of how the generations
• 1:34
  can work together toward the aim of seeing a move of God and directing their hearts toward
• 1:41
  the Lord.
• 1:42
  So let me encourage you to like, comment, subscribe, share this podcast with others.
• 1:49
  There is some valuable insight in it.
• 1:51
  We're so glad you're with us.
• 1:53
  Enjoy the podcast.
• 1:57
  When Byron asked me to do this, I was really excited.
• 2:02
  I'm going to introduce the students here in just a moment.
• 2:07
  This is one of those moments where I asked them to be extremely transparent with you.
• 2:16
  A Gen Z group that is speaking to a older generation.
• 2:21
  And the questions I'm going to ask them are maybe hard to hear in some regards.
• 2:27
  But as we've been hearing how Gen Z is approaching their faith as it pertains to the local church,
• 2:36
  we're seeing expressions of faith in different ways than we have in the past.
• 2:41
  What I want to say about these group is these students sitting right here with me are near
• 2:46
  and dear to my heart.
• 2:47
  And I'll tell you why.
• 2:51
  I don't know, what was it, Morgan, two years ago?
• 2:54
  Two years ago, I started to hear students express more related to prayer.
• 3:02
  They said, if you ever want to do anything new, anything that you're thinking about,
• 3:07
  like I'd love to be on the front end of that.
• 3:09
  And I slowly just started to recruit a little small group of students that would meet with
• 3:14
  me in my office and we would just dream together and pray together and think together.
• 3:18
  And so a lot of our prayer expressions here on Liberty are as a result of moments of just
• 3:24
  being in a room together, praying, asking God for great things.
• 3:28
  And these are architects of much of what we see of our expression of prayer at Liberty.
• 3:35
  So as we get started, I would love for you guys to introduce yourself, tell your name.
• 3:41
  Let's see what you're studying maybe, and where you go to church here in town.
• 3:45
  Great.
• 3:46
  Well, hi everyone.
• 3:47
  I'm Morgan McCorvey.
• 3:48
  I'm a junior here at Liberty studying artist development, so just the artistry side of
• 3:54
  being a musician.
• 3:56
  And right now I'm currently helping out and attending a local church here called The Gathering,
• 4:00
  which is a church plant.
• 4:01
  And if you guys would actually pray that we're soon moving into a building to help reach
• 4:05
  certain parts of Lynchburg.
• 4:07
  Hi everyone.
• 4:09
  My name's Bella Bosco.
• 4:10
  I'm a senior here at Liberty.
• 4:12
  I'm studying education, apologetics, and youth ministry.
• 4:15
  So it's a lot.
• 4:17
  And I go to Breakthrough Church in Lynchburg.
• 4:19
  What's up, y'all?
• 4:21
  My name is Sam Huber.
• 4:22
  I'm a junior here on campus.
• 4:24
  I'm studying pastoral leadership, and I go to Bedrock Forest.
• 4:28
  Hey, y'all.
• 4:29
  I'm Ethan Erickson.
• 4:30
  I am a senior here at Liberty.
• 4:32
  I'm studying business administration with a minor in youth men, and I attend and serve
• 4:37
  at Crosspoint Church.
• 4:38
  Fantastic.
• 4:40
  Fantastic.
• 4:41
  Thank you guys for agreeing to be here this morning.
• 4:44
  I'm going to start with a question here just to help the folks that are sitting in this
• 4:49
  room.
• 4:50
  Anybody who wants to jump in and go, and if anybody just wants to build off of an answer,
• 4:53
  please feel free to do so.
• 4:56
  If you could help an older generation understand one thing about what it's like to be Gen Z
• 5:01
  today, what would it be and why?
• 5:04
  Yeah.
• 5:06
  I think first and foremost, I want to say thank you to y'all because I think for a lot
• 5:13
  of what Gen Z has heard for a while, it is like, oh, this is...
• 5:18
  It's about to get rough, but you all have remained faithful to keep praying for our
• 5:22
  generation, and that means a lot.
• 5:24
  As I was sitting in the back of the room, I was like, this is a group of people who
• 5:26
  are dedicated to seeing God move in Gen Z, and that goes a long way for me, and it has
• 5:31
  proven to go a long way for Gen Z.
• 5:32
  So first, thank y'all.
• 5:36
  To be a part of Gen Z, I think in agreement with what my brother was saying up on the
• 5:39
  screen and the Baylor panel, we're tired of the fake.
• 5:44
  We're tired of the production, and we're ready for what's real.
• 5:47
  And the problem with that, though, that's a good thing.
• 5:49
  That's a bad thing.
• 5:50
  For the negatives, that means they're going to run to things like sexual morality, like
• 5:54
  different, maybe woke ideology kind of things, alcohol, vape, whatever it might be.
• 6:03
  But for the good end, they try those things, and they go, but it's still not hitting.
• 6:07
  It's still not real.
• 6:09
  And then they're open to Jesus.
• 6:12
  And so to be a part of Gen Z, it is, hey, we don't want the fluff.
• 6:15
  We don't want the random, like, could fill us.
• 6:18
  We want the real deal and what's actually going to satisfy our souls.
• 6:22
  What about you, Bella?
• 6:28
  I think the biggest thing is that people think that they need to baby Gen Z.
• 6:34
  I think that there's a lack of honesty from the older generations to our generation of
• 6:38
  you guys know the truth, but sometimes instead of speaking the truth in love, you're afraid
• 6:44
  of pushing away Gen Z, so you kind of give antidotes.
• 6:46
  And I think that something that I've learned of being in ministry here at Liberty is talking
• 6:51
  to people my age, and I was talking to a girl the other week, and she said, you're the first
• 6:55
  person that I feel like has been honest with me, and because I was honestly calling out
• 6:59
  her sin, and she said that feels so much more loving than everyone else who has just been
• 7:03
  like kind of encouraging me and not really calling me out on that.
• 7:08
  And so I think that's a big thing is that you don't have to feel afraid of offending
• 7:12
  Gen Z, but actually just living out the biblical principle of calling out people in love.
• 7:18
  Ethan, what do you think?
• 7:23
  I think a big thing is we are capable, and I mean that in two ways.
• 7:28
  One, we're capable to handle the truth like they were saying.
• 7:31
  I think for a long time there's been this notion that our generation is soft, and in
• 7:37
  many ways it does look that way, but I think more so we're just confused.
• 7:42
  We're overwhelmed because our world has so much and so much that claims to be true, and
• 7:48
  we don't know how to discern what is truth and what's not.
• 7:53
  And like Bella was saying, we want to know the truth.
• 7:57
  We're searching for that truth.
• 7:58
  We just don't know how to find it, and in many ways that's where your generation comes
• 8:03
  to play, where you've lived.
• 8:07
  I look around this room, and Sam was saying, we see faithful leaders in the faith.
• 8:14
  We see an older generation who has lived a long life of being faithful, and you've seen
• 8:20
  the truth that we're searching for.
• 8:22
  It's just there's so much noise, and we don't know how to find it.
• 8:26
  So you can call us out.
• 8:27
  You can exhort us.
• 8:28
  You can rebuke us in those ways where on our own it's hard to find it and discern it.
• 8:34
  So, yeah.
• 8:37
  I grew up way out in the country, and I grew up going to—God saved me when I was about
• 8:44
  10, so I'm a child of the 80s, and the 80s were awesome.
• 8:49
  But one thing that I learned about the local church is we only talked about Jesus when
• 8:55
  we were at church, and we would pray around our food, and that was kind of it.
• 9:01
  I had a neighbor by the name of Ralph, and I'd go to the field with Mr. Ralph and ride
• 9:06
  on the fender of his tractor to go bush hog or to go plow, and then we would stop and
• 9:11
  take a break under a shade tree, and I would give it anything if Mr. Ralph would have been
• 9:15
  talking to me about Christ while we were sitting under the tree, right, rather than hunting
• 9:19
  or something like that.
• 9:21
  When I think about that in myself, I try to be different.
• 9:24
  I try to be the kind that is not Mr. Ralph.
• 9:26
  You know what I'm saying?
• 9:28
  Because I want to be talking with not only my own children, but those that God has given
• 9:32
  me in the spiritual faith as children, to be speaking to them about Christ.
• 9:37
  And so I wonder for you, like, do you feel like you have access to mentors?
• 9:40
  And how are we doing in the local churches for older men and women to be actually discipling
• 9:45
  you in the faith?
• 9:47
  Morgan, I'll go with you.
• 9:48
  Yeah, I'll say just one thing is that we do crave the mentorship and the shepherding.
• 9:55
  We want to be poured into by people who have lived life and lived life in the faith.
• 10:00
  I think it can get a little tricky within the local church.
• 10:03
  I think when we're looking generally at the breakdown of communication and life groups
• 10:09
  and small groups or whatever it's called, it's more centered around the same age group
• 10:14
  of people.
• 10:15
  So like most churches in the area, if you're wanting to join a life group as someone in
• 10:19
  your 20s, it's probably with other people in your 20s.
• 10:23
  And so trying to figure out how to branch the generations together and, you know, because
• 10:31
  everything that we've gone through and even the accessibility of things like social media
• 10:35
  that are different in our generation, scripture is the same.
• 10:38
  You know, our God is the same and He's been faithful through all generations.
• 10:43
  So figuring out how to branch the divide between the generations in something like a small
• 10:49
  group setting, like a mentoring, a one-on-one, because I mean, we're ready.
• 10:54
  Like if older people in the church were to come to us and be like, hey, can I just like
• 10:59
  mentor you?
• 11:00
  I promise it would be 100% yes, because we truly crave that.
• 11:04
  And I think it's just figuring out how to make that, how to palette that well and make
• 11:10
  that accessible within the church and become more a part of the ministry aspect.
• 11:17
  I think that going off of that, Paul says, for you have many teachers, but not many fathers.
• 11:22
  And I've heard a lot of times revival is family.
• 11:25
  And I think that we've gotten so far from that, especially in America with our individualized
• 11:30
  lives, especially even in the church.
• 11:32
  I grew up in Connecticut where there's not many Christians and I grew up in a really
• 11:35
  small church.
• 11:36
  But even there, it was like hard to connect with mothers and fathers.
• 11:40
  And so I would really encourage you guys, like if you feel timid or think that Gen Z
• 11:46
  doesn't want it, they do.
• 11:47
  Just like Mo was saying, like we really do want those spiritual mothers and fathers to
• 11:51
  come alongside of us.
• 11:53
  Yeah, I would say discipleship is huge.
• 11:57
  Our generation is, like I said, ready, seeking for truth, ready to go, but also a little
• 12:05
  scared because I think a lot of the lie that we've heard early on is like Gen Z is a wreck.
• 12:13
  It's going to be tough, but they are ready for older mentors to show up and be like,
• 12:20
  just come follow me.
• 12:22
  Come learn from me.
• 12:23
  If I had somebody in my church who just walked up to me and was like, follow me, let's meet
• 12:28
  every other week, I'd be like, oh my goodness, I don't know you, but I'll do it because
• 12:32
  you've taken the time to seek me out.
• 12:35
  Our generation is ready for that.
• 12:37
  And so yeah, I mean, to build off what Mo and Bella both said, I think a huge part would
• 12:43
  just be reaching out because our generation is ready for it, but they're scared.
• 12:46
  They have a hard time just taking initiative.
• 12:49
  So for an older mentor to step in and be like, okay, I actually want you to follow me, would
• 12:55
  be huge.
• 12:57
  Sam and I actually attend the same local church and we just so far have been in the same small
• 13:03
  group together.
• 13:06
  And one of the things that I hear him and a lot of others his age in our small group
• 13:12
  talk about is more than just how to follow Christ in reading the Bible and in prayer.
• 13:19
  I hear a lot of conversations about finances.
• 13:22
  How do I steward my finances to the glory of God?
• 13:27
  How do I think about, like when I'm starting a family, do I think that I need to have all
• 13:33
  my finances in order, in order to put a ring on it?
• 13:37
  Or am I going to trust the Lord with the resources that he's going to give me and I'm going to
• 13:41
  start a family when I'm young?
• 13:45
  You guys talk a little bit about that more than just like walking with you and how to
• 13:48
  read the Bible.
• 13:49
  Like, what are some other topics you would want people to open their hearts up with and
• 13:54
  help you understand how to steward that well?
• 13:56
  Yeah, I mean, just a second ago when we were talking about mentorship and shepherding,
• 14:02
  that's totally with the presupposition in mind that it's in every aspect of life.
• 14:06
  More than just maybe asking if we could go get coffee, if you're maybe a husband and
• 14:12
  wife that have young kids, I'd love to come watch you make dinner and sit down with dinner
• 14:17
  with your whole family and watch you in real life.
• 14:21
  Because it does affect every aspect of life and watching how real Christians are working
• 14:28
  in real-time, real-situation ordeals.
• 14:32
  And so, being invited into every aspect of life would be amazing for things like finances.
• 14:39
  If a woman was willing to shepherd me and looking at taxes, I'm not going to decline
• 14:44
  because I would love some mentoring there.
• 14:46
  But yeah, kind of opening it up to every aspect of life.
• 14:50
  Maybe we will watch you.
• 14:52
  It doesn't always have to be dialogue.
• 14:56
  Maybe just actually being a shadow in some areas of your life.
• 15:00
  I think also just like a lot of times we just want to know you.
• 15:05
  So, even like my first time meeting up with you, Wes, I remember we sat down and you were
• 15:09
  just telling me stories about your time on the mission field.
• 15:12
  And it was just those stories where I'm getting to know how you got to where you're at right
• 15:17
  now.
• 15:18
  And through that, I was encouraged to be more bold, to go out and just love people in a
• 15:25
  more unique way.
• 15:26
  And it wasn't that you were telling me that story and encouraging me for this discipline,
• 15:31
  this habit, this whatever.
• 15:32
  It's just you were showing me who you are.
• 15:35
  And from that, I was encouraged to be more like you.
• 15:39
  So, I think we just want to know you.
• 15:40
  Like a big thing for me, like I grew up in a church where the oldest people in our student
• 15:46
  ministry that were leading were like four years older than me.
• 15:51
  We're in a very similar stage of life still.
• 15:53
  But there's people like all of you in this room where you've lived and been through so
• 15:58
  much and telling us those stories, we're able to glean so much from that.
• 16:03
  Yeah, my wife is currently walking along with about three young ladies.
• 16:08
  And they're saying the same thing, right?
• 16:11
  Like they love being in our home.
• 16:13
  They love when she first started these relationships with these three young ladies about two years
• 16:18
  ago, she come home and she said they want to like hang out.
• 16:22
  They want to like hang out and do like what we've always done.
• 16:26
  But like, you think they can handle us?
• 16:27
  And I'm like, you just need to tell them like the good and the bad and the ugly.
• 16:32
  Because we spicy and we both stubborn and they might hear us yell at one another every
• 16:35
  once in a while, right?
• 16:37
  Why did you put this here?
• 16:38
  And why is that there?
• 16:38
  Like they want to see that too, because they don't know how to do conflict resolution well,
• 16:43
  right?
• 16:43
  They need to see a husband and wife who are doing their very best to follow hard after
• 16:50
  Christ and get it wrong sometimes, right?
• 16:52
  Is that right?
• 16:53
  Yeah, exactly.
• 16:55
  I'm going to ask you another question here related to the local church.
• 16:59
  I want to know how do you or how do you and your friends actually experience local church?
• 17:04
  What is what feels meaningful or maybe what feels disconnected?
• 17:11
  I think we've heard it a few times.
• 17:13
  It's just we want to return to authentic Christ centered scripture based church.
• 17:21
  Um, in so many ways, like there is an overproduction in the church, which I'm not necessarily against
• 17:27
  like the lights or the loud music, anything like that.
• 17:30
  I think there's beauty in that and beauty and people using their gifts in that way.
• 17:35
  But personally, I'm tired of singing about my emotions when I'm worshiping.
• 17:40
  I want to sing truth, sing scripture based music, authentic scripture based, I think
• 17:47
  is what we're seeing a lot.
• 17:49
  And even just talking to my friends, like we want truth.
• 17:52
  I was saying that earlier.
• 17:54
  That's what we want to return to.
• 17:56
  And that doesn't necessarily mean we have to cut out all the production and like go bare
• 18:00
  bones, nothing else.
• 18:02
  But it does mean everything we should do should be based in scripture.
• 18:09
  I think that students or Gen Z will stay at churches to where they can get connected and
• 18:15
  where they can actively serve.
• 18:17
  I think that's a huge part of belonging and fellowship.
• 18:20
  It's hard for especially non-Christian Gen Z people to go to church and kind of just feel
• 18:26
  like they're there and feel like an outsider.
• 18:28
  I invite a lot of my friends to church, but when I come back to school, back home, it's
• 18:32
  kind of hard because they don't feel connected enough to go by themselves.
• 18:36
  And so I think that's a huge thing is that when you see a new person, getting them immediately
• 18:41
  connected and into some kind of small group, something like that, and they will stay if
• 18:45
  they feel like they can belong.
• 18:52
  Let me ask sort of a different way.
• 18:58
  What do you think the front door of the church is now?
• 19:04
  How are Gen Z entering the church?
• 19:08
  In the 80s for me, it was at the front door of the actual church.
• 19:11
  We went through the front door, right?
• 19:15
  How are people connecting now to the local church?
• 19:18
  What's the front door?
• 19:22
  I mean, yeah, I think the biggest thing is connection.
• 19:26
  But I think to each of the points, it's not the production media kind of stuff.
• 19:33
  Part of my degree program is that I have to read an unreal amount of books.
• 19:37
  And one of them talked through what gets people in the doors of the church is what you're
• 19:41
  going to have to do to keep them there.
• 19:44
  And I think what I've noticed a lot is a lot of people don't want the mega church.
• 19:49
  It's all put together.
• 19:52
  But I mean, based on what I'm seeing, I think Bedrock Forest, which meets in a middle school
• 19:57
  cafeteria is what it's called, is one of the fastest growing churches in the area.
• 20:02
  It was planted a year and a half ago, and it's running over 1000 people.
• 20:06
  Because our generation doesn't want just like fog machines and lights.
• 20:09
  They come in because they see real authentic worship.
• 20:12
  And it's just a bunch of red chairs that you sat in your whole elementary school in
• 20:17
  this cafeteria.
• 20:19
  But it's real.
• 20:19
  And they're hard.
• 20:21
  And they're hard.
• 20:21
  Yes, they're not comfortable.
• 20:23
  But yeah, it's the realness that gets people in the church and that connection and community.
• 20:29
  I mean, just in where we're at here, especially at Liberty, and I hate to say it, but I do
• 20:35
  think social media plays a really big part in this.
• 20:40
  You know, ways that people connect and get to know each other and unfortunately is through
• 20:45
  social media a lot.
• 20:47
  And so I think when churches are promoted or you see everyone, like maybe friends from
• 20:54
  your classes going to a particular church on Sunday, you'll probably be like, oh, I'll
• 20:58
  go try that one out because you've seen other people going there.
• 21:01
  You've seen it portrayed on social media.
• 21:04
  Not really sure what the fix is for that, except for just actually communicating and
• 21:09
  person.
• 21:09
  But I would say a doorway into ministries, often how it's advertised and how it's promoted,
• 21:16
  especially in our age group.
• 21:17
  And so, yeah, so things like social media, I'd say.
• 21:22
  Okay, never mind.
• 21:22
  I'll just talk loud.
• 21:25
  What in the local church feels like authentic?
• 21:29
  You're talking a lot about like lights.
• 21:31
  You're talking about like great expressions.
• 21:34
  What actually feels authentic and what feels more performative?
• 21:39
  I'm kind of going off what I was saying before.
• 21:42
  Jesus says, blessed are those who are not offended by my words.
• 21:46
  And I think that it's really evident as a Gen Z or a college student walking to a church
• 21:51
  when the pastor is really trying more than anything else to be relatable rather than
• 21:57
  doctrinally sound.
• 21:58
  And they're just really wanting to grab your attention or to relate to you or bring it
• 22:02
  back to you.
• 22:02
  But what we want, like they were saying, is we want it to be brought back to the word.
• 22:06
  And I think it's healthy for us to be a little bit convicted and offended when we leave church.
• 22:10
  Like when I leave a sermon and I'm like, wow, I have to go pray.
• 22:13
  That's how I know.
• 22:14
  I'm like, wow, that was a good sermon.
• 22:16
  Not if I feel like, oh, that relates to me like in whatever area.
• 22:19
  So that's what I would say is what feels authentic versus performative.
• 22:26
  I think also just like being powered by prayer is Charles Spurgeon, who would talk about
• 22:32
  the boiler room of his church was a small room down in the basement.
• 22:36
  It was gross, sweaty, hot, but it was just hundreds of people on their knees in prayer.
• 22:43
  Through his sermons for people coming in the doors, that church was powered by prayer.
• 22:48
  And I think from my experience in several different churches throughout my life,
• 22:53
  I don't think prayer is prioritized.
• 22:56
  We walk in and there's some scripted prayer at the beginning of the message.
• 23:00
  And to close out, but how often are we actually just on our knees,
• 23:05
  fully reliant on God through prayer?
• 23:09
  Well, I thought I'd take the last few minutes and just get some questions from you guys.
• 23:15
  Any questions that you might have that you would want to ask a Gen Zer while we're here?
• 23:22
  You got us here.
• 23:24
  I got the conversation started.
• 23:27
  Yes, sir.
• 23:28
  So let me preface the question.
• 23:31
  First of all, I've been a missionary for 30 years and it took me a long time to learn
• 23:38
  that discipleship should be fundamental in my life and not supplemental.
• 23:46
  And I just want to hear your thoughts on what you guys think about that.
• 23:52
  Does anyone ever explain the difference and you know when you are working towards
• 23:59
  making it more fundamental in your life or when it's just accidental or supplemental?
• 24:06
  That's a great question.
• 24:09
  I walked a group of guys on our residence hall through a book called Spiritual Multiplication,
• 24:13
  and it's incredible.
• 24:14
  And it talks through living missionally and things like that.
• 24:17
  And I sat down, it was seven dudes.
• 24:18
  I sat down at a table in the library and I go,
• 24:21
  how do y'all think God would use your calling to advance the gospel?
• 24:24
  And multiple dudes in the group looked at me and go, I just don't think it's possible.
• 24:29
  And I was like, oh, that's like, that's not good.
• 24:32
  Like, we've got to set some groundwork there.
• 24:35
  And so I think the point, though, to get back to your question is,
• 24:39
  I think discipleship has been missed.
• 24:43
  I should not sit down with people who've grown up in the church and ask them how
• 24:47
  their calling should be used to advance the gospel.
• 24:50
  And they look at me and go, I don't know.
• 24:51
  That should be a very quick like, oh, I'm doing...
• 24:54
  One of the dudes was sports broadcasting.
• 24:56
  Dude, you're locked in a booth with a dude for an entire day.
• 24:59
  There's got to be some kind of gospel conversation there.
• 25:02
  And so I think the biggest point is that a lot of times,
• 25:06
  our generation just hasn't been discipled, but they're ready for it.
• 25:09
  Because when I asked those dudes if they wanted to walk through the book,
• 25:11
  I've asked 15 dudes and one has said no.
• 25:14
  They're ready for discipleship, and they just don't know it.
• 25:19
  Sam, can I tell a little bit about Mog Mondays?
• 25:25
  So Sam is a resident shepherd here on campus and on his hall,
• 25:30
  the men on his hall do something called Mog Mondays.
• 25:33
  What are Mog Mondays, Sam?
• 25:36
  So it's Men of God Monday, Mog.
• 25:39
  And we get together and we're talking about we want real stuff.
• 25:46
  And I'm a big shoot for the stars kind of guy.
• 25:48
  So I email the top leaders here on campus.
• 25:53
  And I'm like, hey, could you come in and just preach the paint off the wall
• 25:56
  to a group of guys?
• 25:58
  So we gather 20 dudes every week into this room that is not meant to fit 20 people.
• 26:03
  And we just study scripture together.
• 26:05
  And it's a really good time.
• 26:06
  But I mean, it's 20 dudes out of 65, 68 people in the hall
• 26:13
  who want to come in and hear the truth about scripture.
• 26:16
  It's a hot room.
• 26:17
  It's a Monday night.
• 26:18
  It's 10 o'clock.
• 26:18
  It's late.
• 26:19
  These guys come because they want it.
• 26:22
  It's amazing.
• 26:23
  Imagine, I don't know how many dudes are in there the night when I was in there,
• 26:26
  like 25 or 30 guys.
• 26:28
  And you're like in a spam can, dude.
• 26:30
  Like you're just crammed in there.
• 26:32
  You can't.
• 26:32
  It's so hot.
• 26:33
  And I honestly, this is what happened.
• 26:35
  After our night with those fellas, I left and I walked out feeling just discouraged.
• 26:41
  I was like, they just weren't connecting with me at all.
• 26:44
  Like, I don't know if it was something that I ate and my breath was bad or what was going on.
• 26:49
  But Sam texted me and he's like, bro, that was so good.
• 26:52
  And just slowly after that, I started getting texts from guys on his hall.
• 26:56
  I think what it was, was like some of the things that we discussed,
• 26:59
  they'd never really been confronted with.
• 27:01
  And they were a little bit more slow processing.
• 27:03
  But in the days after they started to process it and like,
• 27:06
  they start then getting connected to people that the very thing that they needed,
• 27:11
  they go and find.
• 27:12
  Yeah.
• 27:13
  Any other questions?
• 27:14
  Yes, sir.
• 27:17
  You guys talked about being real and authentic and what have you.
• 27:20
  And it's interesting on a college campus with college students,
• 27:25
  the subject of sex that hasn't come up.
• 27:27
  And I wonder in watching adults and people disciple you, have those real conversations.
• 27:35
  I remember one young lady watched me and my wife.
• 27:37
  We had her over for Christmas.
• 27:39
  My wife like kissed me or slapped me on the butt or something like that.
• 27:43
  And she got red as a beet.
• 27:45
  She's like, what are you doing?
• 27:47
  And I'm like, how do you think our children got here?
• 27:51
  And I knew she knew and I knew she was active.
• 27:54
  And so how how important has that been?
• 27:59
  Not just watching people cook and clean and do their taxes,
• 28:03
  but have very real conversations with you about sex.
• 28:08
  And how is that informed your discipleship as well?
• 28:16
  It got spicy quick.
• 28:18
  I mean, honestly, I think it's an area of discipleship, as you said, is severely lacking.
• 28:24
  I think just from personal experience, being raised in church in a Christian home,
• 28:29
  it's like this is absolutely no until you get married and then like you can figure it out,
• 28:34
  you know, and then go get counseling when you get married.
• 28:36
  But until then, it's like you don't talk about it.
• 28:38
  You know, we're not going to discuss that.
• 28:41
  So if there's like an avenue where it's like actual great
• 28:44
  counseling under the mentorship and discipleship of, you know, a married couple,
• 28:49
  I think that's amazing and something else that our generation craves,
• 28:53
  because there's just saying that it's wrong until this certain point isn't educational.
• 28:59
  And it causes us to be incredibly fearful in that area and carry guilt and shame,
• 29:06
  probably even after marriage, because we literally have no idea, you know, in that realm.
• 29:12
  And we just know that it's sinful.
• 29:14
  And then when it's not, you figure it out.
• 29:16
  So that would really be great.
• 29:18
  And I think it would be amazing if mentorship and discipleship from
• 29:22
  older people in the church would move into those areas.
• 29:26
  I think everyone would be appreciative, especially people who are chasing after
• 29:30
  the Lord's heart and want to do that in every area of life and know how to do it well
• 29:34
  and what to avoid and what to do well.
• 29:36
  So, yeah.
• 29:37
  Thank you for bringing that up.
• 29:38
  Yeah, everyone's discipled by something.
• 29:39
  And I think, well, statistically, like a ridiculous amount of people
• 29:44
  are discipled by the porn industry.
• 29:47
  And so it's not only like, oh, yeah, discipleship on that would be helpful.
• 29:50
  It's like, no, like most of our generation has a skewed view of what sex is.
• 29:55
  And we need the most discipleship because we've got to do, you know, collateral damage from porn,
• 30:02
  from the porn industry and also walk in the door.
• 30:05
  From the porn industry and also walk in what biblical sex and sexuality looks like.
• 30:16
  Yes, ma'am, right here.
• 30:17
  I'm wondering if you could tell us how what you've been talking about that Gen Z
• 30:25
  looks for is searching for how it do you see that as different among non-believing Gen Z?
• 30:34
  So I'm thinking about a woman in my life in her 20s who looks up to me and is very open to me.
• 30:42
  And I'm looking for more ways to draw her to Christ.
• 30:52
  I think the biggest thing with her would just be consistent.
• 30:54
  I mean, it's all throughout the Bible consistency,
• 30:56
  consistently showing her that you love her, that you care about her.
• 31:00
  I think that there's such a, like I said, was earlier with lack of
• 31:03
  love from mothers and fathers.
• 31:05
  And if they feel that they'll be drawn to the love of Christ.
• 31:13
  The power of a testimony like the passage in Revelation talks about,
• 31:17
  like conquers through the blood of the lamb and the power of the testimony.
• 31:22
  People in our generation want to glean the lessons that you had to learn the hard way.
• 31:27
  And so like Jonathan McClude was talking about yesterday.
• 31:29
  He's like, look, I went and I experienced it all and it wasn't worth it.
• 31:32
  And I think a lot of unbelievers want to hear that.
• 31:34
  And they want to know because otherwise they're going to go try it for themselves
• 31:37
  and figure out the hard way.
• 31:41
  Maybe just one more question.
• 31:42
  Yes, sir.
• 31:43
  I'm encouraged that y'all are saying your generation wants to be discipled.
• 31:49
  I think most of us in the room, we're trained that we make ourselves
• 31:53
  known that we're available.
• 31:55
  If you guys want that, we've never been told to go and pursue someone.
• 32:00
  And usually the model that we were trained in is Jesus didn't pick the 12 that he
• 32:04
  picked, but he picked the 12 that he wanted to pick.
• 32:07
  And so we've never been told to go and pursue someone.
• 32:11
  Jesus didn't pick the 12 that he discipled.
• 32:14
  The Lord sent them to him.
• 32:15
  So we're supposed to look and discern, but we've never been told to come up to you and
• 32:20
  say, hey, I want to disciple you.
• 32:21
  I want to walk with you.
• 32:23
  So can you help us in that?
• 32:24
  Because this is just our training.
• 32:26
  This is how we're sort of conditioned that that would be weird if we did that.
• 32:30
  So can you help us discern?
• 32:32
  Help us to learn how to discern from your perspective who's looking for discipleship
• 32:40
  and who's looking for mentorship?
• 32:41
  Because our generation is ready.
• 32:43
  You know, we're equipped to be spiritual parents because our kids are grown.
• 32:49
  And some of us did a good job.
• 32:50
  Some of us didn't.
• 32:52
  But how would you kind of counsel us in that?
• 32:55
  That's a really good question.
• 33:01
  Yeah.
• 33:04
  Yeah, I appreciate that question so much because it is true that it can be awkward.
• 33:09
  It can be uncomfortable.
• 33:11
  A big thing for our generation, we don't like initiating conversations.
• 33:19
  I think a big factor is the fact that we grew up behind a screen.
• 33:24
  And a lot of our relationships have been built on that.
• 33:26
  So the face-to-face isn't comfortable for us.
• 33:30
  And even personally in my own story, I went through, I was in the church my whole life,
• 33:36
  went through high school, was saved in high school.
• 33:39
  I never had someone who was individually meeting with me and just pouring into me, discipling me.
• 33:47
  But as soon as I came to Liberty, I had professors where they're going,
• 33:51
  putting their phone number up on the whiteboard.
• 33:53
  And they're like, please call me if it's two in the morning and you're going through something,
• 33:57
  call me.
• 33:58
  And they made it so clear that they truly just cared about me.
• 34:02
  And we're in a room of 250 students who there's going to be a lot of issues,
• 34:07
  a lot of problems, a lot of just difficult trials.
• 34:11
  But I knew for a fact that that professor cared deeply about me personally and wanted to know me.
• 34:17
  And as soon as I reached out, he was like, when are you free this week?
• 34:21
  And we met, sat down, talked through everything, told stories.
• 34:25
  And again, it's just getting to know each other.
• 34:28
  I think a big thing is we want to know you.
• 34:30
  We don't want you to just tell us what to do.
• 34:34
  That's great.
• 34:35
  We want you to encourage these habits, but we just want to know your story.
• 34:38
  Maybe it's just like, do you want to go out to coffee?
• 34:41
  I want to tell you my story and tell us your testimony.
• 34:44
  Like he was saying, testimonies are powerful.
• 34:49
  Yeah.
• 34:50
  Do you mind if I add to that real quick?
• 34:52
  Go for it.
• 34:53
  I don't know who has that mic.
• 34:54
  Oh, that's you, Sam.
• 34:58
  I was like, oh, he's not going to look over here.
• 34:59
  Yes, Lord, yes.
• 35:00
  He's not like Sam.
• 35:01
  Lord, what are you doing?
• 35:02
  Yeah.
• 35:03
  From what I've studied, rabbinic tradition is very big on...
• 35:07
  They would wait for the people to show up.
• 35:10
  And then Jesus shows up on the scene and totally flips it.
• 35:13
  And he walks up to each of the 12 dudes and he goes,
• 35:14
  No, I want you to follow me.
• 35:18
  And so I do think there's a level of like,
• 35:21
  yes, God put those people in front of Jesus,
• 35:24
  but Jesus walked up to him and changed the script and said,
• 35:26
  No, I want you.
• 35:28
  And I think the biggest way that you find that...
• 35:29
  Because that was a good question,
• 35:31
  as well as you were talking through,
• 35:32
  well, how do we know these people are interested?
• 35:34
  When they're your church every week, they want it.
• 35:38
  And they might not know that they want it,
• 35:41
  but they're there every week for a reason.
• 35:43
  And they want to go deeper and they don't know how to
• 35:46
  because they haven't been trained.
• 35:50
  Thank you guys so much.
• 35:50
  Can you guys give them a hand?
• 35:51
  Once again, it is so exciting to hear the hearts of Gen Z leaders
• 35:57
  and how God is using them on campuses across the country.
• 36:01
  And when their hearts are so on fire for the Lord
• 36:04
  that they just share from an overflow,
• 36:06
  they're leading their classmates to Christ.
• 36:08
  They're watching God move in just glorious ways.
• 36:12
  And so we love that.
• 36:14
  OneCry loves that.
• 36:16
  We love to see God moving on campuses.
• 36:18
  Just recently, with the Collegiate Day of Prayer,
• 36:20
  we saw that marvelous gathering at Liberty University.
• 36:24
  And then shortly after that,
• 36:26
  there were other gatherings all across the country,
• 36:28
  Unite Us Again, starting back up on campuses.
• 36:32
  FM 72 at Baylor University.
• 36:35
  There was a 72-hour event at University of Florida
• 36:39
  and other events which are coming together
• 36:42
  and students are seeking God's face
• 36:45
  and seeing God move in mighty ways.
• 36:47
  They're repenting, turning from their sin
• 36:49
  and coming to Christ in unprecedented numbers.
• 36:53
  So let's pray into that together.
• 36:56
  Let's continue to encourage next-gen leaders,
• 37:01
  young adults to take up a mantle and carry it
• 37:04
  and carry the gospel forth.
• 37:06
  We're so glad that you joined us this week.
• 37:08
  Make sure and share this message
• 37:12
  Make sure and share this podcast with others.
• 37:16
  Subscribe if you haven't.
• 37:18
  Check out our website, www.onecry.com.
• 37:22
  And there are many resources, prayer resources.
• 37:25
  There are studies, online studies,
• 37:28
  all kinds of things to help you grow in your faith.
• 37:31
  Check that out.
• 37:32
  And hopefully we'll see you next week.
• 37:35
  God bless you.
• 37:36
  Have a wonderful week.