Meeting The Spiritual Needs of Gen Z

Welcome to the Liquid Church podcast, a place where you can hear the timeless truth of God's

Word in a way that's culturally relevant and cutting edge. We hope you'll discover how God's

story relates to your own and that you will leave feeling encouraged. Thanks for joining us today

and enjoy the message. What's up church? Welcome to Next Gen Sunday. Let's hear it.

My name is Corey. I'm the young adults pastor, which means I run the porch here at Liquid for

anyone ages 18 to 20 something. I serve on our Next Gen ministry team with Pastor Debbie Fabrazzo,

who's our Next Gen pastor, and Pastor Gary Castelletto, our high school pastor. Yes,

they both sound very Italian, but we are the team that fights in the trenches. We fight the battles,

for the next generation, specifically Generation Z. In a case you have no idea what I'm talking

about, Gen Z are those born between 1996 and 2010. So only about 20% of the people in this

room actually qualify as Gen Z. And here's the thing, I love Next Gen. It's simultaneously one

of the most exciting seasons in a person's life and one of the most difficult seasons too. For

example, our high school students are still trying to figure out their God-given gifts

as they start making these major life-shaping decisions about college and the future. While

our young adults are trying to graduate college, they're breaking into their careers for the first

time. They're optimistic about the future, but they have so many uncertainties that they face.

But they all have one thing in common, regardless of whether they're in high school or college or

beyond, they are hungry for purpose and to know how they fit in this world. So Generation Z is not

the only generation here at Liquid though. In fact, everyone in this room belongs to one of four

generations. You're either a boomer, you're a Gen Xer, you're a millennial, or you are part of Gen Z.

And honestly, I geek out on this stuff, whether it's the the Barna Group, Fuller Youth Institute,

or Springtide Research Institute. These are the leading research authorities for churches to

better understand each generation's key characteristics. And today, really quick, I want to

introduce you to some research that we've done called the generational hunger.

These are basic general traits that define each generation. And then through the expanded

research, we get to see how patterns of behavior and discipleship have changed in our church for

better and for worse. So for example, there's Gen X. Where you at, Gen X? Yeah, all right. Those who

were born between 1965 and 1980. Your generation, y'all remember when MTV was actually cool.

Yeah, you lived through the Cold War. You probably remember the whole like,

first space shuttle flight in 1981. And Gen Xers, your generation is best represented by the show

Friends. Yeah, because you were the first latchkey kids. What your generation hungered for was

actually a surrogate family to spend time with. People, friends, families that you could belong

to because your parents, the boomers, were actually really busy working. I'm a millennial

where my millennial's at. We are the chosen people born between 1981.

And 1996, we're actually the first real digital generation with the boom of social media.

But we remember the world before cell phones were actually a thing. In fact, we still remember the

pain and agony of dial-up internet, which was groundbreaking technology at that time.

And our defining historical event for millennials is actually 9-11. Did you know that millennials

were just growing up when we started to see a rise in those divorce rates? So blended families,

single-parent families, reconstructed families, those all became normalized for us actually at a

young age. So the show that best describes our generation is modern family. It's no surprise

that our generational hunger is mentors. Specifically, we want people who would invest in us

professionally. So similar to Gen X, we long for family, but millennials actually believe that

family doesn't have to be the one that you're born into. Family can be the people that you choose.

And I speak for an entire next generation team when I say that to pass,

the next generation is one of the biggest privileges of my life, but it's also one of the

hardest. Gen Z is the first generation of kids who went through puberty and adolescence with a

smartphone super glued to their hands. They grew up watching everything play out on social media,

listening to the loudest, flashiest people tell them how they should think or feel about pretty

much everything. So think about just recently, we have the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

There's gun control.

There's multiple contentious elections building on top of each other. There's women rights. There's

even recent scandals in the church, not our church, praise God. But it's no surprise that Gen Z has

developed high levels of mistrust when it comes to institutions. And the big four that we talk

about are your government, your politics, your education, and then religion. So when you add in

the fact that they are consistently, that they consistently listen to,

self-proclaimed experts on social media to get all of their information, it's actually not shocking

that we're facing challenges as a church in terms of discipling this next generation. And I'm going

to tell you the show in air quotes that best describes and represents this generation of

humans isn't in fact a single show. It's just all of TikTok. Think about it, right? In TikTok,

in the life of a Gen Zer, they have never known a world without information overload.

They're inundated with information. They go to TikTok for absolutely everything. TikTok has

become their news. It's become their church. It's their entertainment, right? For many,

it's their primary tool of social connection. It's where they can learn anything from

self-proclaimed experts. The generational hunger then that best describes Gen Z is they're looking

for spiritual fathers and mothers. Because TikTok and social media, that's where they're constantly

being spoken at.

Instead, they hunger for people to speak to them in a dignifying way. They want people who are mature

in their faith, but they're young at heart, who will come alongside them to show them what an

authentic faith could look like on their terms. They don't need more experts in their life. They

need relational investment. They don't need consultants. They really just want people who

actually care about them. But notice really quick that each generation is different.

In its own right. But our spiritual hungers point back to kind of the same thing. Belonging.

Because as Christians, we don't actually belong to this world. We belong to the kingdom that is

to come. So while we wait here, we actually long for belonging. It just looks a little bit

different for each generation, doesn't it? That's why you might notice our next gen sections here

at each campus. Believe it or not, we have five generations of people who are long for belonging.

We have five generations worshiping together here at Liquid. We have Boomers. We have Gen X. We have

Millennials. Gen Z. And we have Generation Alpha. And we are a church that prioritizes the next

generation. That's why you're seeing the next gen section. We're giving them a space to gather

together. We're giving you a visual to see how many students and young adults, how many next

genders we actually have here at our campuses.

And starting next year, if you can believe it, we're actually going to add another generation

for a total of six here at Liquid. Because the first birth year for Generation Beta starts

in 2025. That's crazy, right? I feel like, you know, this is like a live stream pregnancy

announcement on Instagram. This is exciting. We got Generation Beta babies coming your way.

And it's an exciting time to be in a thriving multi-generational church.

But it's a challenge. And recently I watched a video series titled What Every Church Must Know

About Generation Z. It was developed by a guy named Ryan Burge, who's a pastor. He's a researcher.

60 Minutes actually called him one of the leading data analysts on politics and religion. And here's

a few things that I actually learned from his research. First, Generation Z is the least

religious generation in American history. And by least religious, I mean that there are either

atheists, they're agnostic, or they consider themselves nothing in particular. In fact, just

two years ago, 48% of Gen Z identified as having no religious affiliation. Now, before you freak out,

Gen Z is also known as the open generation. So check out this quote from a young adult

in a Springtide Research Institute study. He said,

I view institutionalized religion as if you're a fish in a fishbowl. Because you can't really go

anywhere else but that fishbowl. But spirituality is like a fish in an ocean. You can go anywhere.

So see, Gen Z is open to all things spiritual, but research continues to show that they lack

trust in the formal institutionalized religion. The claim that being the least religious generation

is actually kind of up for grabs. It's not unique just to Gen Z. It's actually really a broad

American trend overall. People, regardless of gender, are not going to go anywhere else but that fishbowl.

Generation are declining their involvement in church. Boomers, Gen X, Millennials,

they're all going to church less and disconnecting from religion more. And here's something I think

that we really need to chew on. According to Ryan Burge, beliefs differ from involvement.

Do you guys want to guess which generation wins the award for least engaged in church? You would

think it's Gen Z, but it's not. That award goes to Gen Z.

That means that while Gen Z is the least religious, they are still more engaged at church

than Generation X. Guys, Generation Z is here for it, even if they don't know or believe whatever it

is. So to quote Burge one last time in his research, he says,

many of Gen X are reaching their peak in personal income and are being tapped to be leaders in all

aspects of society, but they're clearly not filling the gap.

The church is. Now I promise, like hear my heart. I didn't come here to do any generational bashing

or finger pointing or anything. In fact, like I really believe that God uniquely positioned me

as a millennial to stand in the gap, to bring the two different sides together. Boomers, Gen X,

and Gen Z together. I'm only trying to paint the picture of the challenges that we're facing as a

church. On one hand, we have an older generation of believers who seem to be less and less interested

in attending. And on the other hand, we have an older generation of believers who seem to be less

interested in attending. And on the other hand, we have a next generation that seems to trust

the church less, but they're here and they remain open to all things spiritual.

So I don't think you need an advanced degree in mathematics to actually know how to solve this

equation. With the stakes like this, the question that we have to ask is how do we transfer faith

from one generation to the next? And the answer is almost too simple. It's feed their spiritual

hunger.

And the good news for us today is that the Bible has a lot to say about transferring faith from one

generation to the next. And we're going to look at the lives of two prominent kings in Israel. We

have King Hezekiah and King Josiah. One had a lasting impact on future generations, while the

other fell short in securing a lasting legacy. So open up your Bible to second king. Scripture says

this, Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king.

And he reigned in Jerusalem 29 years. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his

father David had done. Now, let me set the scene for you really quick. After the death of King

Solomon, who was one of King David's sons, the nation of Israel split into two different kingdoms.

There was the southern king known as Judah, and there was the northern king known as Israel.

And Hezekiah became king of that southern nation known as Israel.

And at first, like scripture said, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father

David had done. Now, here's a slight detail you need to know. David was not Hezekiah's father.

So even though it says, look, just as his father David had done, David wasn't his biological father.

Instead, he was his spiritual father. This scripture is really saying this, David is the reason that

all of Israel belonged to God. And he was his spiritual father. And he was his spiritual father.

And so all through 1 and 2 Kings, you read a rich historical scripture and the detailing of how

each king either failed or succeeded at pleasing God. And each king was compared to whether or not

they ruled like David did. King David was an anointed man after God's own heart. King David

was the OG, GOAT, at feeding the spiritual hunger of the next generation. His ability to transfer

faith sets him apart. And so all through 1 and 2 Kings, you read a rich historical scripture and the

from all other kings. Seriously, it's the spiritual heritage of Jewish tribes that was credited

to King David. So if you follow God's laws and commands, you are seen as obedient to your

spiritual father. And in the Old Testament, that was King David. And this is exactly what we mean

when we say Gen Z has a hunger for spiritual mothers and spiritual fathers, transferring

that faith onto the next generation.

Now, listen to all the good things that Hezekiah did according to scripture. It says,

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following

him. He kept the commands the Lord had given to Moses. And the Lord was with him. He was successful

in whatever he undertook. In other words, King Hezekiah led the people of God in kingdom work.

He brought back worship night, right? He destroyed the idols. He restored Passover. And guess what?

As a result of all of that, God blessed Hezekiah. It seems great, right? That's the end of the story.

Let's go home. But here's where Hezekiah actually gets into trouble. Later in life, Hezekiah becomes

really sick. And his enemy, the king of Babylon, smells an opportunity. He sends a get well soon

card and a gift. And the Babylonian ambassadors who delivered it, they bring the gift and they

start sniffing around the palace.

Because they smell weakness in Judah. And Hezekiah, in his pride, he actually opens the doors to his

kingdom. And he shows them everything. But what's worse is King Hezekiah takes all the credit of all

the wealth and all the glory of his kingdom for himself. Instead of giving glory and honor to God.

And if we know anything about the God of the Bible, it's that he is a jealous God. So what happens

Hezekiah soon gets a word from one of the Lord's prophets. It says this in scripture.

In other words, your generational wealth, anything of historical value in Judah is going to be taken

from you by force. Nothing's going to be left, says the Lord, as scripture goes on.

In some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you will be taken away

and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. See, Babylon's going to come back

and they're going to take everything until nothing is left. But here's my question. What's worse

than losing all your wealth and treasures? Look at verse 18. It says some of your descendants,

your own flesh and blood, your future generations who are going to be born to you, they're going to

be taken away.

Hezekiah is faced with a generational shaping moment in history where your descendants,

your own flesh and blood, the future generations of Judah, the future of your kingdom is going to

be lost. Y'all, this is a worst case scenario for a thriving kingdom like Judah. But what's even

worse than that is actually Hezekiah's response. Look what he says. He says,

will there not be peace and security in my lifetime?

See, Hezekiah's real sin is the sin of passivity. He's got such a narrow perspective

on his legacy and on the significance of his actions. He accepts whatever happens with no

resistance or any care for the future consequences that are to come. He's like, hey,

at least everything is going to look good in my lifetime. He had a very temporary vision

of an eternal matter.

And for a king who did right in the eyes of the Lord, just like his spiritual father, King David,

Hezekiah had a chance to be a spiritual father to the next generation, to pass on that faith from

one generation to the next. And he failed. And y'all, we are all guilty of passivity in some way.

This isn't just a matter for Old Testament kings. I used to work as a sales associate at a music

store. And spoiler alert, I was actually a sales associate at a music store. And I was a sales associate at a music store.

And I was actually a terrible sales associate. That's why I'm a pastor now.

But I had a customer that would regularly come in to the store. And he bought a lot of stuff for me.

But one day particularly, he came in and he was looking for a guitar. And we got to talking like

casually about tattoos, right? He really liked one of my cross tattoos. And he was like admiring it.

And he's like, oh, like, are you a Christian? Or are you just like one of those people who put

trendy ink on your arm?

And I had this opportunity to talk to him. And he was like, oh, are you a Christian?

And I was like, yeah. I grew up in church. And I told him about how my parents, they made that a

priority in our family that we go to church. And church is where I learned the value of serving

others, of treating others with dignity, right? It was a great thing for me. And this guy looks at me

and straight in the eyes, and you could tell he was uncomfortable. And he's like, I don't think

church is my thing. And in that moment, I felt like the Holy Spirit was nudging me. Have you ever been

there? You know what I'm talking about, where you're like, you feel this conviction, this burden

on your heart, where I could ask some questions. I could really lean in. I could get to know his

story a little bit more. But we just kind of stood there. And I realized it was a really awkward pause

for a second. And that awkward pause for a second turned into an awkward pause

for a couple seconds. And then I was like, well, you want to buy this guitar?

Y'all understand what's at stake here? See, Hezekiah in his passivity, he had this failure to act,

a failure to feed the spiritual hunger of the next generation, a failure to speak up

and to pass on faith to others. Because of his pride, because of his passivity, an entire generation

was taken from him. Now let's contrast Hezekiah to Josiah. Everyone turn to your neighbor really

quick. Say, praise God for Josiah. When Hezekiah died, his son took over, and he was just a train

wreck. Then Hezekiah's God took over, and he was just a train wreck. And Hezekiah's God took over,

his grandson became king of Judah, and he was even worse. Just so you can understand how wicked

the kingdom was at this point, infant sacrifices to false gods was a regular thing. And that wasn't

even the worst thing considered in Judah at that time. So you can tell how far from God this nation

had actually become. But then along comes Josiah, and he took the throne at just eight years of age.

If you're keeping track of generations, Josiah,

was Hezekiah's great-grandson. So imagine this. If Hezekiah was a Gen Xer,

then his great-grandson, Josiah, was a young Gen Alpha. And King Josiah did what was right

in the eyes of the Lord. I know what you're thinking. We've seen this movie before. It does

not end well. But here's the good news. Josiah actually became known as the last righteous king

of Judah. In fact, early in his reign, Josiah came across these ancient manuscripts

that had been put to the side of the Bible. And he said, Josiah, you're the last righteous king of Judah.

They were just collecting dust since the time of his great-grandfather, Hezekiah. And check out

what Josiah does. And scripture says,

Now, what you need to understand is it was not common to read scripture. First of all, because

they had just, you know, found scripture. But second, it was not common to read scripture so

publicly that both, you know, they were just collecting dust since the time of his great-grandfather,

Hezekiah. And check out what Josiah does. And scripture says, Then the king called together,

highborn and lowborn alike would have been there to hear it read out loud.

So Josiah is so humbled and he's so repentant and he's so passionate about this scripture. He's like,

everybody in the kingdom needs to hear this. And it says he read in their hearing all the words

of the book of the covenant. What's the book of the covenant? Actually, we think it was Deuteronomy,

which contains the 10 commandments and the promises

of God as passed on to Moses. So see, Josiah wasn't the beneficiary of a generational transfer

of faith, but God's word spoke to him, and he was so repentant, and he was so set on fire that the

nation of Judah was completely course-corrected generations of evil in just one single reading

of public scripture. Look what scripture says. It says, then all the people pledged themselves

to the covenant. In other words, Josiah intentionally aligned his kingdom back to the kingdom of God.

And in fact, for the rest of all of chapter 23 in 2 Kings, scripture lists all the ways that Josiah

passionately corrected the errors of Judah. His spiritual hunger for righteousness was on full

display for the entire kingdom to see. And if Hezekiah was going to be passive and prideful

generations

before, then Josiah now was humble, and he was repentant. And in his humility,

he led a generational revival, a spark that had a ripple effect for generations to come. The hunger

of the next generation was fed all because Josiah decided to act. And this is the challenge for

every single generation in this church. We have a choice now to respond with passivity like Hezekiah

or to the power of God. And we have a choice now to respond with passivity like Hezekiah or to the power of God.

Or passion like Josiah. And I will say this about the Gen Zers who are here. They are hungry, y'all.

I love Gen Z for their hunger. They're hungry for truth. They're hungry for hope. And so I thought

what better way to let you get to know Gen Z than by learning from four of our Gen Z leaders here

at Liquid. Can you help me welcome them out here? Let's welcome Sabrina, Pedro, Riley, and Nate.

All right, really quick. As you guys settle in, go ahead, listen. Just introduce yourselves. Give me

your name, age, stage of life, whatever. And then what is your involvement here at Liquid?

I go first. My name is Nate. I'm 26 years old. And I work here at Liquid as a worship coordinator for

this campus and for Next Gen Ministry. Hi, my name is Sabrina. I'm 23 years old. I actually work here

at Liquid, too, as a family team coordinator. And I'm a part of the worship and porch lead team.

Hi, I'm Riley. I'm a member of the worship and porch lead team. And I'm a member of the worship and porch lead team.

I'm 18, and I just started my freshman year at Caldwell University. And most recently, I've been

serving at the High School X hosting team. Hello, my name is Pedro. I'm 15, and I'm a drummer for

the worship team at Mercer County. Shout out, Mercer. And I also play drums for the high school ministry

here at Liquid. That's awesome. So I know I was talking to each of you before the service, and I

asked, like, what's your personal spiritual hunger? And each of you were like, worship, worship,

worship, worship, right? So...

Oh, here's actually some footage from our high school experience. You guys were all there.

Y'all, they were, like, face down, passionately worshiping God. Like, they were in tears one

moment, and then, like, you can see they were crowd surfing the next. It was, wow, that's how

we do it in Next Gen. And it's amazing to see their hunger for worship. But Nate, I gotta ask

you, like, I want to unpack this more. You're a leader. You lead us in worship Sunday after Sunday,

but you're pouring into the next generation. So I have to ask, like,

what inspired you to get you to this point?

Yeah, two people. My father. My father was actually a worship pastor growing up at my home church in

the Bronx. So, you know, so as a kid and as a teenager, just honestly always seeing him lead

people into worship and lead people into, you know, closer to God definitely instilled that in

me. But also Pastor Clint. I came here three years ago when I first came. He taught me how to be a

better communicator, how to just lead people better in worship and just be a better leader in general.

Yeah, that's awesome. So what I'm hearing you say is you had a biological father who is a Gen Xer,

right? And then you have a millennial in Pastor Clint, right? Who's kind of your elder now,

I guess, right? And they pass the faith on to you in two different ways, right? But check that out,

church. Don't miss that, right? A biological father and a spiritual father or elder made

the generational transfer of faith and leadership. And this is your result. This is your result.

This is the humility and the incredible passion that Nate has. That's amazing. Riley, tell me about

your experience. So just like Nate, I'm a pastor's kid. And even though I grew up in a church, I kind

of was just the shy kid who was to the side and just did my own thing. And it wasn't until people

like Pastor Gary, Nate, and Kimberly and other high school leaders and next gen really invested in me.

And that's when I started to learn who I actually was and how loved I am. And I finally felt safe

enough to actually be myself.

But before I could encounter God, I needed to encounter my belonging here. But the only problem

was, is I went from being the super shy pastor's kid to the super crazy pastor's kid who you can't

shut up. Typical pastor's kid. And I wouldn't have it any other way. I love, I love crazy Riley for

the record. So Pedro, now you're the youngest. Tell me who has invested in you spiritually.

So I'd probably say that my mom, like Nate, was my biological parent. She's also my spiritual parent.

My mom, she has gone through a lot in her lifetime. And her family wasn't really able to pass on the

faith to her properly. And I have two other siblings. And they're both younger than me.

And my mom, even though she wasn't properly spiritually fed growing up, she's making it a

priority to invest in us. So personally, I've been judged by my peers for being a Christian. But my

mom, who grew up in Brazil, and her faith and consistency has always just encouraged me so much.

I love you.

Yeah, I would say mine is a little differently. So personally, I didn't really have anyone investing

in me like that until I got to Liquid when I was, I want to say about 19 years old. I felt like there

was an emptiness for a while that I had until I had those leaders like Nate, who actually pour

into me spiritually. And I feel like it's honestly a lack we've been having here at Liquid. I think

there's such a sense of security that comes with it. And I feel like it's a lack we've been having here at Liquid.

I think there's such a sense of security that comes with it. And I feel like it's a lack we've been having here at Liquid.

I think there's such a sense of security that comes from having the wisdom of millennials and Gen Xers

in the room when discipling high schoolers and young adults. But when you look at the core group of

leaders supporting like high school experiences, yeah, there are some adults, but it's mostly young

adults. So right now, the next gen is feeding the next gen. And Gen Z is feeding ourselves and we're

missing the support from the other generations.

Yeah, that's so true. And honestly, for the record, we love that next gen is feeding next gen, Gen Z

feeding Gen Z.

And even Gen Alpha, we saw that this summer. In fact, all of you served at Camp Rock, right? That

was an amazing experience. Riley, I'm going to put you on the spot, though, because you were part of

a historic moment. You were one of our original Camp Rock campers who now came back and you were

a Camp Rock counselor. Can you tell me a little bit about your experience?

Yeah, so attending Camp Rock as a kid was like a really big part of my faith journey. And I was

really excited to be a part of that, to create that for kids attending this year. And it was so much

fun.

That's awesome.

So we do love seeing the next gen feeding the next gen, using their gifts to serve each other.

But it has become clear, right? Like we do want to see and we do need millennials and Gen X

to step up and to mentor, to be part of what God is doing here at Liquid. Just hear my heart on

this, right? I love spending time with these guys. I love spending time with next gen because

they're incredibly passionate. They're incredibly fun. But when generations who have gone back and

before us, they share their stories, right? Of God's faithfulness and the hope. It strengthens

generations from one to the next. So from a Gen Z perspective, speaking now to millennials and Gen X,

what is it that you need from us as the church to continue to feed you spiritually?

So I think, or I don't just think, I know that our generation is hungry for truth.

Yeah.

Like just the motto of Liquid Church, but you know, like truth is relevant.

There's a lot of truth out there. You know, there's a lot of different truths these days.

And what we need is we need more and more people to walk alongside us and be able to dig into God's

word. And you start to figure out that the more you dive into his word, the more you experience

him and the more you know him deeper. And the more you seek his word, the more you seek him,

you start to realize that he is life, he is love, and he is the truth. Amen?

Amen. All right, don't preach. That's my job. Riley, what about you?

What we really want to see is authentically living out your faith.

So you have to be really willing to wrestle with your own faith because a faith without doubt

or tension looks really fake to us. And all we want is you to be real with us.

Yeah. So actually a friend of mine once called this out and she said that next gen isn't an

aesthetic, it's an action. And what I mean by that is that we as a church deeply care about

reaching the next generation and we need your wisdom to do that. Like from the bottom of my

heart, we want you to pour into us. We want to hear from you. We want to grow.

We want to be with you and we're open to learning, but learning and comparison can't be the same

thing. We want you to walk alongside with us. I mean, the times are clearly different,

but God remains the same. Yeah. And honestly, I would say to take Gen Z seriously.

You know, God is shifting things in this generation. He's shifting things in this church

and in this state and in this country. And honestly, when everything is all said and done

and when the adults are, you know, moving on to,

to other things, Gen Z, we're going to be the forefront leading people into worship,

leading people closer to God. And honestly, don't give up on praying for your kids. Keep on praying

because I'm a living testimony of my parents' prayer because I honestly, I never thought that

I would be leading Gen Z and leading next gen in worship at 15 years old. So I'm a living testimony

of my parents' prayer. So don't give up on praying. That's it. That's it. And you're not

just leading the next generation. You're leading the whole church. You're leading the next generation.

You guys aren't just leading the next generation right now. Like you are leading the whole church.

We're learning from your heart and we're learning from what God's done in your life. That is

amazing. Can we hear it for these guys? That's amazing. Thank you guys so much.

So do you guys want to know how the story actually ends? Years after the national revival

that happens in Judah, the King of Babylon actually does come. He comes calling to town

and he absolutely,

he demolishes Judah. He removes all their treasure, right? Their royal families are taken

as slaves or they're killed. The entire nation of Judah is stolen from their homeland. They're

forced into exile, just like God said it was going to happen. And what's interesting is this isn't

just biblical history. World historians study this. We call this the Babylonian exile. It's an example

of a nation that should have been like wiped off the face of the earth, completely ceased to exist.

And then the historians said, you know, by all sociological accounts, that God's chosen people

should have been eliminated from history because of this one event. But God is always working

things out for good. Amen? So during that national revival in Judah, under King Josiah, one guy

was born. He was taken to Babylon as a slave. And yet even in exile, he remembered from his

childhood, from when King Josiah read that scripture out loud, he remembered the law and

covenant. His generational hunger was fed by the promises of God. And that guy's name was Daniel.

That's right. Like Daniel in the lion's den with his buddies, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They

defied the authority of multiple Babylonian kings because their true king was always God. They

learned that as kings that was passed on to them as children. And here's the fun part. When Daniel

was taken away, his captors had a very strict diet. Food that was common in

Babylon, but would have defiled them as Jews. It was considered unclean, like Arby's or whatever

they serve at White Castle, right? So Daniel defied them the whole way. He's like, I'm not

going to be force-fed your customs. I'm not going to eat the junk that you give me. I hunger and I

thirst only for righteousness and purity according to God's laws. His spiritual hunger was fed

because Josiah passed on the faith to him. So hear me, hear my heart. If you're a boomer,

in this room, like Nate said, you have a responsibility to pray. He had a spiritual

father who set the stage for him. And boomers, I want you to pray. You are the grandparents. You

are the ones with wisdom. You're the ones with the real faith experience. We need your prayers.

So my call to you is, would you pray? Pray for NextGen. Pray for the faces. Pray for our leaders.

Pray that God would raise up new leaders to come alongside the next generation to feed their

spiritual hungers. And if you're a Gen Xer in this room, I want to address you really, really quickly

for a second, because I know, I hope you don't feel called out. I love you guys. You have so much

value. But what I want you to do is I want to challenge you to get involved. It doesn't have

to be in NextGen. Just get involved.

Join a dream team somewhere, anywhere. Like you could, I know Liquid Family always has needs for

volunteers. You could serve Gen Alpha. You could join the parking team. Be one of the first people

that somebody sees when they show up on a Sunday. When you serve, here's what's going to happen.

You're going to start to see Gen Xers are literally everywhere. They're here for it.

They're already involved. And when you get to know them, when you serve alongside them,

you get to hear their story. And you have an opportunity in that moment to look them in the

eye and you can tell them they have value and they have purpose. You can feed them as you serve

alongside them. And you're going to find out really quickly that they will warm up to you

and they will share the deep parts of their lives. They will share their story with you.

And actually, here's a great example from the porch. I have two friends named Jamie

and Stacy. And you know what they do? They literally feed the hunger of the next generation.

They serve on our porch hospitality team. So whenever we have a porch,

they show up out of nowhere. They set up the food. They serve the food with a smile. They set,

like they cast the vision for hospitality at our porch events. People come up and they get food

and they immediately feel welcomed by Jamie and Stacy. They are literally feeding the next

generation's actual hunger. But by their posture and by their humility, they're showing spiritual

hunger as well. And now millennials, we're the chosen ones. We're the chosen ones. We're the

chosen generation. My brothers and sisters, I get it. I'm living it. I have young kids. Both my wife

and I, we have full-time jobs. You and I both know we have a ton of responsibilities. We have a ton

of expectations on us. And frankly, I think our generation has been conditioned to believe that

we are a burden to everybody else. You know what my wife and I do? We actually, we divide and we

conquer. So when I'm with the porch, she takes care of the kids, but then she's got a heart to

serve too. And so she serves as a market.

And so she's a marketplace mentor. And that's when it's my responsibility to watch the kids. I know

it's not always going to work, but let me tell you why I am so passionate about Gen Z and why I want

to challenge you to join me in that passion. It's personal. When my kids grow up, they're going to

be fed by Gen Z. I'm going to be their biological parent and I have a responsibility to feed their

spiritual hunger. But at the end of the day, I know that they're going to need somebody who's

way cooler than me. And I know that they're going to need somebody who's way cooler than me.

Who's going to come alongside them. Somebody who's, who's, who's older than them, but younger

at heart, who can reach them and who can speak life into them, who can speak hope into them,

who can speak truth in a time where honestly the world is getting darker and darker and more and

more confusing. Millennials, the time to do real kingdom work is now. And I want to invite you all,

would you just pray with me? Let's rise at all of our campuses. Let's open our hands. Let's

surrender in posture to God as we pray. We say, Father God,

thank you so much that you have spoken life into our church, that we have five generations

who worship alongside each other. But Lord, right now, I pray that you would, you would ignite a

fire in our church to see that there are gaps in our generations, that we have hungers within our

generations that need to be fed. Lord, would you set a fire in our hearts? So those of us who have

that in us to actually meet the need to feed the spiritual hunger of the next generation, God,

it's going to take humility and it's going to take an act of faith. It's going to take a bold

conviction to step out and to get to know Gen Zers, to invest in the next generation on their

turf, at their level, to understand them for who they are. But God, we know that with you, we can

do all things, God. So Lord, we ask you now to just speak into our hearts. And really quickly,

I just want to call that challenge out. With every eye closed, if you're feeling that call and that

passion now, would you just raise your hand boldly and proudly? God, you see these hands, you see

speak your fire into them. I'm going to claim it right now that they're going to see

an opportunity before them to reach the next generation, whether they're serving alongside

them, whether they're signing up for a next-gen dream team to serve with our porch, or to serve

at high school experience, or whatever it is. God, I pray that you wouldn't let that fire go out.

Lord, would you just fan that flame that they would not say no, that they would walk out those

doors and they would see the next opportunity that comes with them. God, I pray that they would be

faithful to what you put in front of them right now. God, we thank you that we are a

church of multi-generations. And we thank you, God, that we can trust you in all things. Lord,

would you just set a fire in us? And we pray all things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thank you for joining us today. If you want to check out Liquid Church for a weekend service,

small group outreach, or clean water trip, you can find out more about us online at

liquidchurch.com. And if you enjoyed the podcast, go ahead and subscribe or share it with your

friends. Thanks again for listening.

We'll see you next time.