Evangelism

Is Revival Beginning in America, With Younger Men Leading the Way?

Ainsley Earhardt interviewed Christian and country singer Anne Wilson on Fox and Friends Sunday to “discuss the resurgence of Christianity among younger generations and her third studio album Stars.”

Earhardt led the segment by saying, “Young Americans are leading a Christian revival across the country.” She pointed to three cultural indicators to in support.

  • Annual U.S. Bible sales shot up 41.6% since 2022.
  • Downloads of “Religion and Spirituality Apps” were up 79.5% since 2019.
  • Spotify streams for Christian music increased 50% since 2019.

The 23-year-old Grammy and Dove Award winning artist with popular singles like “My Jesus” and “Living Water,” said it was encouraging to see those in her generation turning toward Jesus. 

Eric Daugherty, assistant news director for Florida’s Voice, posted a clip of the segment on X, garnering more than five million views.

Bibles, Prayer Apps and Worship Music

Earhardt’s statistics reflect trends building for several years toward faith. In December 2024, World Magazine and other outlets reported, “Americans bought more than 14 million Bibles in 2023 and more than 13 million in the first 10 months of this year.”  

While “religion and spirituality apps” include non-Christian meditation and “mindfulness” apps, it also includes prayer apps like Hallow and Pray, as well as Bible reading and study apps like YouVersion, Bible Gateway and Blue Letter Bible.

Those apps have seen significant increases in downloads and usage.

Denison Forum reported on the surge in Christian music in September 2024,

Contemporary Christian/gospel music (CCM/gospel) has been the fourth-fastest growing genre in the industry across the first half of this year. Its popularity has risen by more than double the industry standard and does not look to be slowing anytime soon.

And the most encouraging part is that the growth has been fueled largely by the younger generations, with Millennials and younger accounting for roughly 45 percent of its listeners. On average, fans are spending 56.8 hours a month listening to CCM/gospel, which is an increase of 19 percent in the last year alone. 

All of these statistics indicate a growing interest in spiritual growth and renewal through Bible reading, prayer and worship. But there are several other signs of God is moving in a new way – especially among young men – to build His kingdom.

Commitment to Christ  

The Christian research organization Barna reported, “Sixty-six percent of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus that is still important in their life today.”

The research group explained the significance, saying, “That marks a 12-percentage-point increase since 2021, when commitment levels reached their lowest in more than three decades of Barna tracking.”

This shift is not only statistically significant – it may be the clearest indication of meaningful spiritual renewal in the United States. Commitment to Jesus was lowest in 2021 and 2022, when it bottomed out at 54 percent. Since then, the research shows a steady, year-over-year increase in the key indicator.

The report notes the surge is driven by younger adults, born after 1984, with men showing the greatest increases in claiming a commitment to Christ:

Since the pandemic, however, Millennials and Gen Z have shown significant increases in commitment to Jesus.

Men – especially younger men – are more likely to be Jesus followers than are younger women. For example, among Gen Z men, commitment to Jesus jumped 15 percentage points between 2019 and 2025. Millennial men saw a similar spike of 19 percentage points.

Mass Baptisms and Conversions

On college campuses across the country, there are reports of large-scale worship and evangelism services followed by mass baptisms.

UniteUs is a ministry dedicated to the “movement of college students united to lift the name of Jesus.” The group has hosted outreach events at colleges since 2023. This fall semester they reported,

  • University of South Florida: “Almost 7,000 college students filled the USF arena and God moved powerfully! Close to 2,000 salvations, over 300 baptisms, a generation marked by Jesus!”
  • “Last night at The University of Tennessee!! Over 8,000 gathered. Over 500 salvations. Hundreds baptized. Countless lives changed forever.”
  • “Thousands of young people gathered at the University of Oklahoma last week to worship Jesus. Hundreds were saved, and many were baptized in the early morning hours. GOD IS MOVING IN THE NEXT GENERATION.”

Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship and founder of Harvest Ministries, began hosting evangelism and baptism events in 2023 at Pirate’s Cove in Newport Beach, California. Laurie chose the site because it “was used for baptisms during the Jesus Movement in the 1960s and ’70s and was depicted in the 2023 Lionsgate film, Jesus Revolution.”

Laurie reports that his ministry has seen more than 10,000 people baptized since then.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, evangelist and musician Shean Feucht began hosting “Let Us Worship” events in cities across the country. Two years ago, Feucht reported on the number of people attending those events: “Over 1 million gathered in person. Millions more online. Hundreds of thousands of decisions for Jesus. Tens of thousands of baptisms.”

Church Membership and Attendance

It’s not just evangelicals and charismatics who are experiencing signs of revival. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches have seen an influx of new members joining their churches. Again, young men are leading the way.

The Pillar, a Roman Catholic news outlet, reported earlier this year,

  • The Diocese of Cleveland expected “812 converts at Eastertime 2025, which is about 50% higher than in 2024 (542) and about 75% higher than in 2023 (465).”
  • The number of converts in the Diocese of San Angelo is 56% greater in 2025 (607) over 2024 (388). 
  • Converts in the Diocese of Worcester in central Massachusetts are up almost 25% this year (323) over last year (259), and this year’s figure is 152% higher than in 2022 (128).

The Orthodox Studies Institute surveyed Orthodox churches around the country and found a statistically significant increase in male converts in 2022. The survey found that new converts were primarily younger, with 62% under 40 years old.

Across all denominations, recent Barna research shows an increase among young adults attending church. “For decades, older adults – Boomers and Elders – were the most reliable churchgoers. Today, the pattern has shifted. Gen Z and Millennials, often labeled as disinterested in faith, show the highest levels of regular attendance.”

Historically, women attended church more frequently than men. But the organization’s studies show that script has flipped, with men attending church more than women.

“As of 2025, 43 percent of men and 36 percent of women report attending church regularly, based on reported weekly attendance. In five of the last six years, men have outpaced women in this key measure of religious engagement, and the 2025 gap is the largest measured.”

Growing numbers of young men attending church has become so noticeable that even The New York Times reported on it, “For the first time in modern American history, young men are now more religious than their female peers. They attend services more often and are more likely to identify as religious.”

Historic revivals included an outpouring of God’s presence with outward manifestations of the Holy Spirit, bringing deep repentance and grief over sin, transformed lives, social changes, and church growth.

Certainly we’re seeing signs of all these today – especially among young men. It’s too soon to declare that this is a full-blown national revival, but it really does seem like the beginnings of one. Let’s pray that these signs grow and bring lasting change to individuals, our churches and our world.

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Image credit: Fox and Friends

Why Political Conservatism is Good for Evangelism

Pastor Josh Howerton of Lakepointe Church, a multi-state congregation in Dallas, has a reputation for helping believers put their faith into action.

He’s also not afraid to share politically incorrect or even unpopular facts regarding concerning trends in American Christianity. Speaking recently on his podcast, Live Free with Josh Howerton, the 42-year-old mega pastor stated:

“If you want the advancement of the Gospel and the growth of the church to get significantly smothered in your state or your city, here’s all you gotta do. Let it go blue. That’s simply what data shows. I’ll say it like this. Show me a map of the most progressive areas in our nation. Then show me a map of the areas in our nation that have the fewest churches. It’s the same map.”

Pew Research data shows that states with the fewest churches include Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, Massachusetts and Hawaii.

Pastor Howerton, though, isn’t crunching the numbers for politically partisan reasons but rather for evangelistic outreach. Instead, he notes that political conservatism serves as a good prelude to reaching people for Christ.

“It is a significant and powerful force for pre-evangelism because it installs a plausibility structure in the populace that leads to intuitively understanding Christianity is true, right, and good.”

Pastor Howerton then goes on to say something that may make some people very uncomfortable:

“In order to accomplish the Great Commission, we need to advocate for it at the political level. When political conservatism spreads, more people become Christians. And when political progressivism spreads, less people become Christians.”

Why is this the case?

The New Testament talks about laws. The book of Galatians talks about laws. It talks about the law as a teacher. What people do not understand is that laws in a nation, they have what Christians have historically called a didactic function. Laws do not simply legislate right and wrong. They teach the populace what’s right and wrong.

Laws calibrate the consciences of a nation. If you start swimming in the streams of truth and liberty, you’re eventually going to find its source. Conservatism in general calibrates the conscience in such a way that it pushes people toward the God from whom the principles came.

As social conservatives, we’re drawn to and encouraged to preserve and protect God’s most fundamental and foundational institutions and values. These include the uniqueness and distinctiveness of male and female, the sacredness of human life from conception to death, the beauty of one-man, one-woman marriage, and our rights to worship and live out our faith in the public square.

Radical progressivism pushes to upend societal norms by redefining and reimagining and reengineering what God has established.

“Progressivism, particularly secular progressivism, calibrates the consciences of people away from what is true, right, and good,” observes Pastor Howerton. “It teaches people to call evil things good and good things evil. And you can do that with abortion, with gay marriage, with trans stuff, with redistribution of wealth, all the things, literally all the things.”

Our faith informs our politics – but our politics will also help shape faith and provide us with opportunities talk about the life saving and transformational power of Jesus Christ.

Image credit: Josh Howerton

Trump Admin: ‘The Days of Anti-Christian Bias in the Federal Government are Over’

Apple founder Steve Jobs famously said you can’t connect the dots looking forward – you can only connect them looking backward – a truism of life that’s especially relevant as the federal government looks to root out anti-Christian bigotry.

Created by President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14202, “The Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias” has released its initial findings of examples of religious bigotry during the previous four years.

They concluded, “A review of federal departments and agencies revealed a consistent and systematic pattern of discrimination against Christians during the Biden Administration. Where there should have been “equal justice under law” there was unequal treatment–policies and practices that singled out Christian people, Christian houses of worship, and Christian convictions for disfavored treatment.”

The dots they connect won’t come as a surprise to faithful readers of Daily Citizen or those who have been paying attention, but they’re still sobering to see listed all in one place.

Here are a few examples:

  • The Department of Labor eliminated the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and replaced it with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office.
  • Social media posts acknowledging such sacred celebrations as Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter were taken down while posts noting “Pride Month,” Ramadan and Diwali were left up.
  • Employees were forced to use preferred pronouns and include rainbow flags in communication regardless of faith objections.
  • The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission expanded the “Pregnant Workers Fairness Act” to include abortion and even suggested that denying males access to female restrooms constituted harassing conduct.
  • The Department of State likened homeschooling to child abuse.
  • The Department of Justice arrested individuals for praying and protesting outside abortion clinics – yet ignored protestors outside churches and pregnancy resource centers.
  • Requests for COVID-19 vaccine religious wavers were regularly ignored and denied.
  • Under the Biden administration, the FBI unfairly targeted “radical-traditionalist” Catholics, even labeling them as “domestic terrorism threats” given their opposition to abortion.

The reports also concluded that the Biden administration harassed Christian universities like Grand Canyon and Liberty, slapping extraordinary fines on them over unfounded or trumped-up charges. This past May, the Department of Education reversed course and removed a $37.7 million fine on GCU. The school had been previously accused of misleading graduate students.

During the last four years, anti-Christian bias has also been evident in what might be considered passive aggressive declarations. For example, back on Easter Sunday in 2023, the Biden administration declared it to be “Transgender Day of Visibility.” There were 364 other days they could have chosen – but they chose the day Christians celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

Over the years, we’ve seen religious bias on display in the foster care system where prospective parents have been told they have to play along with a child’s sexual confusion if they want to be permitted to serve. On college campuses, Christian groups have been told they can’t discriminate and have been told atheists should be permitted to be in leadership roles. Then there are the Little Sisters of the Poor being constantly harassed and told as an organization that they need to pay for abortifacients.

Thankfully, President Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are saying, “No more!”

The report concludes:

“The Task Force makes this commitment: the federal government will never again be permitted to turn its power against people of faith. Under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi’s leadership, in partnership with all members of this Task Force, the rule of law will be enforced with vigor, and every religion will be treated with equality in both policy and action. The days of anti-Christian bias in the federal government are over. Faith is not a liability in America–it is a liberty.”

Amen.

Image from Getty.

President Trump: No More Student Indoctrination and Antireligious Propaganda

With members of his Religious Liberty Commission sitting to his right and left, President Donald Trump announced on Monday that new guidelines would be forthcoming to protect a student’s right to pray in school.

“Our nation was founded on the recognition that moral virtue and a steadfast faith in God are necessary preconditions of freedom,” said President Trump. He then lamented previous administration’s efforts to both belittle and weaponize government towards people of faith.

“That era has ended,” he declared.

To illustrate the hostility our nation’s schoolchildren have been navigating the last few years, Trump highlighted the plights of two students who were joining them at the Museum of the Bible gathering.

Hannah Allen from Honey Grove, Texas, had pulled together a group of students to pray for a former fellow classmate during their lunch break. The individual had been injured in an accident.

“Y’all don’t do that again,” warned the principal, Lee Frost. After Hannah and her friends pushed back, they were told they could only pray where nobody could see them. Our friends at First Liberty stepped in and were able to protect the students’ right to pray out in the open.

President Trump invited 12-year-old Shea Encinas to the podium to share how his school forced him to read “transgender” propaganda to a kindergartener in his school.

“The book said you can choose your gender based on feelings, instead of how God made us,” the now 6th grader explained. “I knew this was not right, but I was afraid of getting in trouble.”

When the Encinas family pushed back, other students and administrators began bullying Shea and his parents.

“It hurt a lot, but I kept trusting God,” confided the youngster. “I believe kids like me should be able to live our faith at school without being forced to go against what we believe. I hope no other family has to go through what we did.”

President Trump and millions of Americans agree.

In addition to protecting prayer in schools, since January, President Trump has signed a series of executive orders designed to reinstate sanity and common sense. This includes cutting federal funding for any school that shills sexual confusion nonsense. He’s also banned the sexual mutilation of children, affirmed the existence of only two genders, and banned boys from competing in girls’ sports.

“All of the different things we talk about, it’s insane,” reflected the president. “If you were here 15, 20 years ago, and if somebody had made a speech about ‘transgender’ for everyone … People would look at the person and say, ‘What’s he talking about? Is he crazy?’”

Attorney General Pam Bondi also joined the meeting and affirmed the government’s commitment to the First Amendment.

“Our founders believed every individual has the right to worship freely without fear of their own government,” she told those gathered. “No one knows this better than President Trump. Under his leadership, we dropped cases against pro-life Christians, stopped the FBI from spying on Catholics, launched multiple investigations into ant-Semitism in schools, and we are aggressively prosecuting vicious crimes against Jewish Americans.”

President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission is being led by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Vice Chair Dr. Ben Carson. Other members include Franklin Graham, First Liberty’s Kelly Shackelford, Gary Bauer, Ryan Anderson, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron.

These individuals and others are ensuring a student’s right to pray in school. We should return the generous gesture and pray for them and President Trump.

Image from Getty,

Young Attend Church More Than Old — But Is It Enough?

Responding to news that he was either dying or dead, Mark Twain famously said, “The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.”

According to a new report from Barna Research, the same might be said regarding the previous decline of young people’s faith and church attendance.

Released Tuesday as part of the group’s ongoing “State of the Church” initiative, “Gen Z” and “Millennials” attend church more regularly than their older counterparts.

Digging into the data, Gen Zers, those born between the mid to late 1990s and early 2010s, attend church 1.9 times per month. Millennials, those born between 1981 and 1996, average 1.8 times per month.

In contrast, Boomers (1946-1964) and Elders (those born before 1946) attend 1.4 times per month.

David Copeland, who serves as Barna’s vice president of research, acknowledged the surprise that accompanied the findings.

“It’s typically older adults who are the most loyal churchgoers,” he said. “This data represents good news for church leaders and adds to the picture that spiritual renewal is shaping Gen Z and Millennials today.”

But is it really good news that the typical Christian is attending church only two out of every five weekends?

Scripture makes clear the importance of regular corporate worship. The writer of Hebrews urged believers to “not [give] up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

The Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8) may not specifically dictate weekly church attendance, but it does demand our attention and our obedience. As Christians, if we’re not a member of a church and regularly attending weekly services, how are we setting apart the day? How are we not neglecting the call to meet together with fellow followers of Christ?

While it’s a good thing that young people’s faith doesn’t appear as anemic as suspected, if the standard we’re comparing it to is already dangerously low, a sober-minded awareness seems in order.

We’d also be wise to ask some difficult and even uncomfortable questions.

Why are Christians going to church so infrequently? Are we allowing ourselves to be pulled away by very worldly priorities like youth sports, vacation travel, creature comforts like sleeping in and having a leisurely Sunday morning instead?

This has no bearing on a committed believer’s responsibility to participate in corporate worship, but churches themselves should be examining elements of their service and outreach. Are they doing everything they can to retain interest, especially from those who may dip in and out, who are on the fringes of Christianity? Are they challenging people enough? Are pastors prepared and interesting, addressing issues relevant to real lives in real time?

It’s always curious why sports stadiums can sell out week after week, yet rare is the church that suffers from not having enough seats for those wanting to join the worship service.

“Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man,” warned D.L. Moody.

Some Christians dismiss or diminish the importance of physical church attendance. Instead, they may talk of communing with God in nature, praying alone, or spending their quiet time with the Lord in personal reading of Scripture. Those disciplines are important and supplemental, but they cannot and must not replace corporate worship. The same goes for those able to attend in person but who instead opt out for church culture.

The famed evangelist Billy Sunday once said, “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile.” He was right. Inner transformation, repentance, and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life is what makes you a Christian.  But going to church provides us with community, connection, opportunities for service, and ideally, offers solid spiritual teaching that will help us grow in our faith and strengthen us in numerous ways that will then equip us to share the Good News with others.

Given all those personal and Kingdom benefits available at church, wouldn’t you want to attend more than 21 weeks out of a 52-week year?

Image from Getty.