The Gen Z Revival

By Ron Boehme | August 12, 2025 |

Summer time for the Church (Northern Hemisphere) highlights camps & Vacation Bible Schools where millions of young people come to faith and missions teams go forth to share the Good News.

Our church commissioned an outreach team yesterday of excited Gen Zers (those born 1997 to 2012). I was privileged to participate in summer missions in 40 out of 46 years between 1970 and 2016. In 2025, maybe two million are sharing their faith globally this summer.

In the past three weeks, major outreaches by two U.S. evangelists brought thousands of youth to Christ.

The Gen Z Revival is underway.

The Gen Z Revival

Greg Lauie, whose story was featured in the “Jesus Revolution” movie, hosted a crusade in Anaheim, California July 19 that drew 45,000 young people. Over 6,500 Gen Zers made commitments to Jesus.

Here is his report and exhortation in the Christian Post: .

“There’s a lot of encouraging things happening right now,” he said. “There’s been a dramatic shift in the culture toward the Gospel and toward Jesus Christ. In the past, elders and baby boomers tended to be the more committed Christians, but in the last two years that has changed, especially among young people and specifically among young men.”

“Gen Z men are making a commitment to Christ,” he said, presumably referencing a study that was part of Barna’s State of the Church 2025 initiative, which found that commitment to Jesus has risen sharply among young men.

Conversions jumped 15 percentage points between 2019 and 2025 among Gen Z men, and 19 percentage points among millennial men, according to the study.

“This is interesting,” Laurie said. “Usually, girls, come on, you’re the ones that are always ahead of us in this. But for once, they’re not leading the way; men are leading the way. We need this to happen.”

Laurie also noted the rising number of Bible sales, which he said indicates spiritual hunger.

“Guess what? Grandma is not buying the Bibles,” he said. “It’s young people buying the Bible for the first time.” He went on to say Gen Z and Generation Alpha are hungry for the truth, but “don’t want thoughts; they don’t want a watered-down Gospel.”

“They want the tough truth; they want the unfiltered Gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the Resurrection.”

The book tracker Circana BookScan showed Bible sales rose 22% in the U.S. through the end of October last year compared to the same time in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. Experts who spoke to the outlet attributed the sales to people seeking meaning in their lives amid growing uncertainty.

Laurie exhorted the pastors listening to him to focus on evangelism and shepherding new believers.

“We have a choice before us: we can evangelize or fossilize,” he said.

Three weeks later, Nick Hall of Pulse Evangelism mobilized Gen Z in Benton, Arkansas. Here is his vision.

Gen Z (born 1997-2012) isn’t quietly walking away from faith. They’re running toward Jesus — and they’re louder than ever. Across the country, young people are gathering in unexpected places, driven by a hunger for truth, purpose, and the power of Jesus to change everything.

On August 8-9, thousands [gathered] in Benton, Arkansas, for America’s largest free evangelistic training and outreach event called Amplify under an open summer sky with hands lifted, voices roaring, and tears falling as people encounter hope that can’t be manufactured on demand. This isn’t just a concert or a camp. It’s a lifeline for a generation drowning in anxiety, searching for belonging, and desperate for hope that can’t be streamed or swiped.

And I’m telling you — this generation isn’t just curious about Jesus. They’re desperate for something real. They’re desperate for Him.

We’ve got over 15 Gen Z communicators, some as young as 18, who [stepped]onto stage and to share their stories. Some in front of thousands. Some for the first time. But each with courage and clarity that’s hard to ignore. These are not polished sermons. They’re raw, honest, and deeply human stories of addiction broken, families restored, identity reclaimed, all because of the grace of God.

Every year at Amplify, we see it: young people boldly living out their faith. Like a local teenager who’s impacting his high school with the Gospel and now leading standing-room-only trainings for other teens at Amplify. Or the group of teens last year who traveled five hours — half of them non-believers — only to encounter Jesus. They all now follow Jesus and are bringing an extra van to fit all their friends this year.

What’s happening isn’t limited to a single location. It’s part of a larger moment. Despite all the headlines about the decline of church attendance, research is telling a different story. Gen Z isn’t running from faith — they’re running toward it, just not always in traditional ways.

Barna reports that over half of teens are motivated to learn about Jesus. A significant majority of Gen Z — 80% of women and 77% of men — describe themselves as “spiritual.” And yet, fewer than one in four are regularly in church. That gap isn’t apathy. It’s a search. They’re not interested in performance — they want presence. They want something that makes sense in the middle of anxiety, injustice, loneliness, and pressure.

I saw it last year at the University of Arkansas, where 10,000 students came out for a night of worship and Gospel proclamation. Thousands gave their lives to Jesus. Baptisms happened. No production tricks. Just presence, prayer, and truth.

I recently met a 20-year-old man who’s all-in for reaching his generation with the Gospel. He and a friend were so stirred by the urgency of this message that they sold everything, moved cross-country, and are now traveling the West Coast in a van, praying for every chance to reach the lost. These two are just one powerful example of the real revival breaking out among Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

Young people are waking up and realizing Jesus is the true answer to the world’s needs — not money, power, or status, but Jesus, the one our hearts were made for.

That’s why Amplify matters so much. It’s more than a festival. It’s a proving ground for the next generation of evangelists. They’re not waiting to be told what to say, they’re speaking from their own scars and stories from their lives. They’re not waiting to go viral, they’re already sharing the Gospel on social media. Evangelism looks different today, but the heart hasn’t changed. It’s still about people encountering Jesus and inviting others into that same hope.

This generation wants authenticity. They want a faith that feels. That breathes. That matters in the middle of anxiety, injustice, loneliness, and pressure. And when they meet Jesus? They talk about Him. Loudly.

And if you need a sign that revival is alive? Here it is: It looks like teenagers praying at lunch, students gathering in parks to study the Bible, viral TikTok trends to Christian music, college students sharing their faith on social media, and a crowd in Arkansas singing the name of Jesus under the summer sky.

So, if you’re longing for hope, or ready to be part of something bigger, lean in.

Don’t just watch from a distance. Step into the story. Be part of a move of God that this generation refuses to keep quiet about.

Because God is moving. And this generation isn’t staying quiet.