‘Definitely a Spiritual Awakening’: Thousands of GenZers Get Baptized, Make Professions of Faith at Summer Camps
Thousands of students have reportedly made professions of faith, got baptized or accepted calls to ministry at summer camps this year.
“Culture understands and calls them Gen Z, but we have been calling them the revival generation,” Shane Pruitt, national Next Gen director with the North American Mission Board, told CBN News.
Despite a recent Pew Research study that found Generation Z is losing their religion, there has been a spiritual awakening among that generation in recent years. Generation Z includes people born between 1997 and 2012.
“In probably the last three years of ministry to young adults, college students, and teenagers, I’ve seen more and more young people make professions of faith for Jesus in the last 3 years than in my previous almost 20 years of ministry,” Pruitt noted.
Pruitt highlighted the impressive turnout at the summer camps on social media.
“Amazed by w/ what God did again this week @fallscreekok!” Pruitt tweeted on July 8.
“790 decisions for the Lord, including 366 professions of faith for salvation, 116 surrendered to ministry, many saying they’re already saved but need to be baptized, & more!” he continued. “Always love preaching here! To God be the glory!”
Clayton King, pastor and founder of Crossroads, also pointed out that there have been more than 1,000 professions of faith so far this summer.
“We’ve had over 1,100 first-time salvations so far this summer. It’s a miracle,” King, who is best friends with Pruitt, told CBN News.
“It’s definitely a spiritual awakening,” Pruitt added.
Pruitt went on to note that there has been a move of the Spirit amongst the younger generation despite the increased reports of anxiety, depression and suicide.
“The pandemic didn’t create new problems for Gen Z, but I think it poured gas on some problems that were already there. You have a whole generation who has come to the end of themselves at a much earlier age,” Pruitt explained. “They are looking for hope, and they are looking for answers.”
“We get to slide in with the gospel and say, ‘The hope you are looking for, the truth your looking for actually has a name, and His name is Jesus’,” he added.
King noted that this group of student campers differs from those in the past, as more are receptive to the Gospel.
“This is a new generation of students,” he explained. “A lot of these kids that are coming to camp have either never heard the Gospel, or they’ve only heard it once or twice, or they’ve never been told how they can be saved, and so I think that we are dealing with students now that are very different.”
“Ten years ago, most of the students that came to our camps came from a church background. Most of them came out of Christian families,” he added. “We have a generation of students coming to camp now that have not been exposed to the Gospel or Church.”
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/People Images
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for Christian Headlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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