#39: Ministering to Gen Z

Kris Buckman:
I’m Kris Buckman, the children’s and youth ministry consultant here at the Baptist Convention of Maryland, Delaware. Today, I’m so excited to be talking to Shane Pruitt. He is the National Next Gen Evangelism Director with the North American Mission Board (NAMB). That’s a mouthful! Thank you for being with us today. We’re excited to have you here, and we are especially excited to have you in person in October at our youth summit that’s coming up.

Shane Pruitt:
Kris, thanks so much for having me on, and so excited to be with you all in person as well. That is a mouthful, that title, for sure. I always say it’s like a business billboard, not a business card. So yeah, it’s just so long. Thanks for having me on.

Kris Buckman:
Sure! First, I just wanted to see if you could tell us a little bit about your amazing family that you have.

Shane Pruitt:
Yes! I always say my family, which is true, is my primary ministry. Everything else I do is from the overflow of that. I have a wonderful wife named Kasi. I married way, way, way over my head. We’ve been married for 16 years, and she is amazing. Literally, she is my hero. She is a wonderful godly woman. We met in college. She serves on staff at our home church. We go to a church called Lakepointe Church, which is outside of Dallas, Texas. She serves in a role that’s called the director of foster care and adoption ministry.

Shane Pruitt:
That’s a big heartbeat of our family. That’s a big heartbeat of our church. She’s in a central position, which means she works with all six of our campuses. And then, we have six kids that are 14 and under. I always say, yes, that is a prayer request. Five of those kids are in our house. And so, I’ll explain that in just a moment. We have a 14-year-old and a nine-year-old. They’re both daughters. They’re both biological daughters, which just means they just carry my wife and I’s DNA.

Shane Pruitt:
Then we have an eight-year-old son adopted from Uganda who is very much our son. He just doesn’t have our DNA, but very much just equal. Our children are all equal in that. And so, our eight-year-old son is adopted from Uganda. Our five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter are both adopted from Texas. And then, the reason I say we have five in the house is we’re actually going through the process of adopting a seven-year-old little boy from Liberia. We’ve been matched with him a long time.

Shane Pruitt:
In a normal season, he would already be home with us. But of course, COVID slowed all that down. And so, we FaceTime with him every other week and we’re really hoping we’ll be able to finalize the process towards the end of the summer or early fall to be able to go and get him and bring him home. He’s ready to be home and we are ready to have him home.

Kris Buckman:
That’s so exciting! I remember when I was doing some digging around on you at first and saw some videos. I guess you guys were on… was it the Today Show that you guys were a part of?

Shane Pruitt:
All of them, yeah. Today Show, ABC Nightly News, Good Morning America, literally… I think we did like 60 something interviews over about a two-month span. It was crazy. It was from a viral video of bringing our youngest home. Her name’s Glory. Our kids knew we were going through the adoption process again. So they were aware of that. But they were not aware we got the call because it was a very quick situation where we literally got a call one night and went to go pick her up really early the next morning.

Shane Pruitt:
And so, when we brought her home, I was just videoing their reaction and capturing the moment. It was just a wonderful, beautiful moment of the two older sisters meeting their younger sister for the first time. And then, about 48 hours later, we posted that video on social media, almost as a birth announcement because those that were our immediate family and our best friends knew. But a lot of extended friends and followers on social media did not know because it happened so quickly.

Shane Pruitt:
So we put it out there as a birth announcement. A lot of people started sharing it, and probably three or four days later, I was preaching at a church and I started getting all these text messages, “Hey, Tim Tebow just shared your video.” “Kirk Cameron just shared your video.” All these people, we were like, “What in the world?” What’s really funny is somebody is like, “Lil’ Wayne shared your video,” which is a rapper. We were like, “What in the world?”

Shane Pruitt:
And so, the next day I went to the offices. I was serving at a state convention at the time in Texas. The next morning went to the office and my administrative assistant, by the time I got there, there was just a huge stack of just notes on my desk, said, “Hey, all these reporters and people are wanting to talk to you and ask you all questions and interview you all.” And so, it was crazy. But it was a great platform and opportunity for us to be able to talk about Jesus, talk about how we were adopted, and really put a focus on adoption and foster care.

Shane Pruitt:
It was a crazy ride. I did probably 60 something interviews. My wife did about 10 and she is like, “Forget that. I’m done with all this. I just want to focus on my baby.” It was crazy.

Kris Buckman:
No, that’s amazing. I love when God does things like that. Sometimes we think, “Oh, we’re just going to take this little video, just to show our family and friends.” And it turns out to be a big ministry teachable moment. That’s amazing. I just love too that your kids are seeing the way that you and your wife are welcoming orphaned children, foster children into your home. That’s what we’re called to do, to take care of the widows and the orphans.

Kris Buckman:
And so, that’s just amazing for them to see that growing up and just to make that a natural part of their everyday living. That’s a huge, huge job. In addition to that, you’ve been the national next-gen evangelism director for, is it two years now?

Shane Pruitt:
About a year and a half. We’re coming up on a year and a half.

Kris Buckman:
So. a little bit similar to me. You probably took the position and then COVID hit?

Shane Pruitt:
Yes. Right behind it. I think I was in the role for about two months and then COVID hit.

Kris Buckman:
Tell us a little bit about your journey into that role, because I know it’s a new position at NAMB and a new direction they’re taking. If you could just tell us a little bit about that.

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah, absolutely. I was a youth pastor for about eight years, and then a teaching pastor of our church. Then, we launched out of that church to plant a church in Texas, through the state convention and local Baptist association. All credit to the Lord, that church really took off. Grew extremely, extremely fast. We started planting other churches. And so, I started getting asked by our state convention to coach church planters.

Shane Pruitt:
I always say that’s how I got involved in denominational life, is I started coaching church planters. And then, I was asked to come on full time. So then, at our church, we did an intentional transition for a year to where my executive pastor became the lead pastor of the church, and I went full in with the state convention in Texas. And so I was overseeing church planting for a little over a year. Then, I was asked to move into a director role where I oversaw all of our evangelism initiatives at the state convention.

Shane Pruitt:
The way we were set up structurally is that all the collegiate ministries, all the student ministries, evangelism, personal evangelism, language evangelism, apologetics, prayer conferences, events, camps, all fell under that department. And so, for a long time, even before being at the state convention, I was starting to do a lot of itinerant ministry; preaching camps and conferences and YECs, and DNOWs, and all those things, college events.

Shane Pruitt:
When I went on to the state convention, that really opened up my schedule where I didn’t have obligations at the same church week in and week out. So then, I almost started doing that exclusively, just itinerant ministry, and helping churches reach the next generation, and helping churches do evangelism across the state. Well, through that, I had preached at First Baptist Church Woodstock a couple of times for some different youth events, where Pastor Johnny Hunt was the pastor of that church, who’s now the senior vice president at NAMB, the North American Mission board.

Shane Pruitt:
I preached there, beach camps, all those things. When NAMB, almost three years ago, created a third department, which for a while, NAMB has been Send Network, church planting, Send Relief, which is compassion ministries. Then when Johnny Hunt joined, he started a third department, which was Evangelism and Leadership. He has a heart for the next generation. So does Kevin Ezell, our president. So very quickly, they started thinking, “All right, hey, who can we bring on our team to really focus on next-generation evangelism?”

Shane Pruitt:
They began to talk to me and we really felt the Lord leading in that area. And so, we said yes. We’ve been there over a year. Basically, what that means is my role is to oversee next-gen ministries, which is really young adults, college, high school, and junior high for now. We don’t know what that means if we get younger and junior high. Those are all conversations that we’re having. But what that means for us is really we’re focusing on three major areas for now, which is evangelism.

Shane Pruitt:
We know generation Z is the least religious generation, statistically speaking, we’ve ever seen. The gospel and the gospel being shared now are really important to reaching this generation. Also, calling out the called, we believe God has equipped young people to live on mission, to surrender to ministry and missions. Some people call it a cause-oriented generation, and the greatest cause there is, is the Great Commission. So, how do we mobilize a cause-oriented generation to be about the cause of Christ?

Shane Pruitt:
And then, also equipping leaders. I oversee our next-gen team. It’s ever-growing. We’re building and, really, my job is creating resources, me and some on our team, preaching, speaking, coaching, and really just working with our state partners, such as yourself, Kris. You are such a great partner in local churches to reach gen Z with the gospel and mobilize them to share the gospel with their peers.

Shane Pruitt:
Because I always believe this. The most effective person at reaching a young person with the gospel is another young person who has a heart that beats with passion for Jesus, and that same heart is broken over the lostness of their own generation. So, yeah. That’s big picture. That’s 30,000 foot view. There’s a lot of layers under that, for sure.

Kris Buckman:
There is, definitely. If we were to zoom down a little bit or focus in a little bit on that, what would you consider, at the end of this year, as you look back, what would you consider a successful year for you as far as reaching and working with youth ministers and youth leaders across the United States?

Shane Pruitt:
Great question. We look at it and go, “What are some measurables that we’re looking for?” When it comes to Southern Baptist life, really one of the biggest measurables we have is baptisms through our annual church profile. And so, really we need churches to fill out their annual church profile. Every year, fewer and fewer churches fill that out. So, it’s hard to really tell the right story and tell the right narrative. And so, we are like, “Hey, we really need those annual church profiles because that helps us really track things accurately.”

Shane Pruitt:
Baptisms; we want to see people get baptized because we believe if they got baptized, then obviously they were reached with the gospel. It’s really important. And so, baptism is a great measurable. We really want to see people reached with the gospel and get into those baptism waters to make that public profession of faith saying, “Hey, here’s what God’s already done on the inside of me. The dead were buried and alive in Christ.” And we want to celebrate that through baptism. So baptism is a big measurable.

Shane Pruitt:
Another one is we want to really encourage churches to start equipping people to share their faith. I always say another great measurable for the church is asking themselves, how many people have we intentionally trained to share the gospel? It doesn’t matter what evangelism tool you use. Just pick one and use it. People ask me all the time, “What’s the best one? Three circles, one-verse evangelism?” But I always say this, whichever one people can do and which one people will actually use, that’s the best one. Whichever one shares the gospel and whichever one people use.

Shane Pruitt:
So how many people are we training to actually share their faith? We can’t just assume people know how to share the gospel because they’re showing up. We have to be intentional to train people to share their faith. Ronnie Floyd says it like this, “People don’t drift towards evangelism. They always drift away from evangelism.” So we’ve got to constantly be intentional in our ministries to train people and focus people back on evangelism.

Shane Pruitt:
And then, I think another great measurable in really reaching a generation is asking and celebrating with our people how many gospel conversations are being had, because, at the end of the day, success and results is up to the Lord, meaning it’s up to the Lord to save. We can’t do that. But it is up to us to point people to the one who can save. So I always say this, I think success is not necessarily in the results, because that’s God’s work. Success, for us, is obedience.

Shane Pruitt:
And so, if we’re training people how to share their faith, equipping the saints for ministry, Ephesians 4:12, and we’re celebrating with people when they’re having gospel conversations, I think those are the right things to celebrate. So those are some measurables currently for us; baptisms, how many people are being trained to share their faith and, how many gospel conversations are being had?

Shane Pruitt:
I think in all those things, of even training people to share their faith, that’s discipleship. We are called to make disciples. I always say this. Some people are like, “Well, we just want to focus on discipleship.” But if we’re not training and equipping disciples how to share their faith, then we’re not really making disciples.

Kris Buckman:
Yeah, that’s so true. I grew up in a little Baptist church in Mount Airy, Maryland, and I was never trained to share my faith. And so, as a result, I didn’t. I think it’s especially important for middle school and high school. I have a 19-year-old son and a 14-year-old son, and getting them to talk about what they want for dinner is a challenge, much less getting them to talk about their faith, or to even start to share that with others.

Kris Buckman:
I think giving them some tools and breaking down those barriers that make it uncomfortable for them, for some reason, to share their faith in God, that’s huge. I think that’s big. The baptisms, too, are huge. I always joke up at Skycroft, our camp, like, does the dunk tank at youth camp count as a baptism? Can we count those?

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah, that’s right!

Kris Buckman:
If we could get those things going, that would be great. And so, we talked a little bit about those declines in baptisms that we’ve seen in the Baptist convention. Do you think that’s more of a lack of completing the annual church report, or do you think it’s something else that we might need to address?

Shane Pruitt:
Great question, Kris. I love that question. I think it’s a little of both. In 2019, only about 10,000 churches actually filled out the student baptism part of the annual church profile. And we have 48,000 Southern Baptist churches. That means less than a fourth of our churches took time to fill out that part. Now, I think the big question is, are people not filling out that part because they have nothing to report or they’re just not taking time to fill out that part?

Shane Pruitt:
A lot of people just report their baptisms holistically, “Hey, we had 50.” Well, 30 of those may have been teenagers and we just don’t know that because they just said we had 50 total. Some don’t even ask for that or report that or anything like that. We have less than half of the churches reporting student baptisms now than were reported in the ’80s and ’90s, because over 22,000, 23,000, sometimes were reporting student baptisms. Now it’s right around 10,000.

Shane Pruitt:
So I think that’s always the question. Are churches just not filling that out anymore, or do churches not have any to report, so, therefore they don’t fill that out? It can be a little bit of both. I always just say, “Hey, please take time to fill out that annual church profile. Celebrate what God’s done so we can celebrate with you. Let’s help tell the right narrative of what God’s doing in our churches, of reaching teenagers with the gospel.”

Shane Pruitt:
Now, on the other end, I think we must do a better job. We must put a focus back on evangelism. We must train people how to share their faith as you talked about. We can’t just assume people know how to share the gospel. We’ve got to equip them to share the gospel. I think a lot of times the reason people don’t share is they’re fearful and they’re fearful because they don’t know what to say. So, I think that’s a way to build some confidence; really equip people on knowing how to share the gospel, therefore, knowing what to say.

Shane Pruitt:
And then, also, I think it’s important too, when we’re preaching to teenagers, or college students, or young people, to share the gospel, share it clearly, and to give an invitation, give people a chance to respond to what they just heard. So, we must get effective with gospel invitations again. And then, most importantly, and through it all, let’s start asking the Lord. I think sometimes we have not because we ask not. We know that’s a Bible verse.

Shane Pruitt:
That also applies, I think, to seeing souls saved. The reason that many times we don’t see people saved is we don’t plead with the Lord to save people. And so, let’s pray and pray and pray some more that God would give us gospel opportunities, that God would intersect our past with the loss, and that God will soften hearts and open eyes because we can’t do that by our own power. But the Lord can. My mentor used to always say this, “We should never talk to people about God until we talk to God about people.”

Kris Buckman:
Oh, that’s good.

Shane Pruitt:
Great evangelism movement always starts with a great prayer movement. That’s why I love Who’s Your One. At NAMB, we have some great resources with Who’s Your One and you can check those out at whosyourone.com. I even wrote a 30-day student devotional with Who’s Your One. We know there are not many evangelism devotionals out there, and there are even fewer student evangelism devotionals. So there’s a free devotional on there for your students.

Shane Pruitt:
But basically, Who’s Your One is like, we can be overwhelmed when you think of the lostness in our state and in our communities, or even nationally with gen Z. There’s roughly 50 million generation Z; people who are not connected with the local church. That can be overwhelming. So we just say, “Hey, forget about big numbers. Just focus on one.” Who is one spiritually lost person you know, that you can pray for by name every day, invest in them, and then ask God to open the doors of opportunity to share the gospel when He does, then, by faith and obedience, walk through that door and share the gospel with them.

Shane Pruitt:
That’s why Who’s Your One, because everybody can do that. We know the kingdom of God is expanded one relationship at a time. So that’s a great opportunity. That devotional is great to think about what they just read, a specific prayer that day for the lost, and a specific action point towards evangelism. The reason a devotional would be one of the most powerful tools for young people, is I know, even me personally, I’m much more effective at sharing the gospel when I do it from the overflow of my own worship of Jesus.

Shane Pruitt:
So, intimacy with the Lord through scripture and prayer will often lead us to be excited to tell people about the Jesus with whom we spend a lot of time.

Kris Buckman:
Yeah, that’s great because I think it’s even hard for us to get those spiritual disciplines, the importance of those daily spiritual disciplines, into our middle school and our teenagers and just to get them to practice those. That’s killing two birds with one stone where they can get that daily devotion and they can get some helpful hints and tips on sharing that gospel.

Kris Buckman:
Narrowing it down to one person is huge because I know that one-on-one is a much less intimidating atmosphere for teenagers. And so, narrowing it all the way down. We know in the Bible He says He left the 99 to find the one, and Heaven rejoices even if it is just for one. And so, it’s important. It’s one by one. I think that’s great. I’d love for our churches to get a hold of the devotional. Can you tell us where to find that again?

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah, thanks Kris. If you go to whosyourone.com, just W-H-O-S, leave out E,  Who’s your one without the apostrophe in the domain name, so whosyourone.com. And then, if you go to For You, For Church, those links, there’s all kinds of resources. If you scroll down, you’ll see the 30-day student devotional for Who’s Your One. There’s a free link for that. It’s a digital version, absolutely free link.

Shane Pruitt:
Also, what’s really exciting is that if you and your ministries use the Bible app on your phone, the YouVersion Bible app, picked it up, and so it’s also on there. You can just search Who’s Your One Student Devo, and it’ll pop up on there as well.

Kris Buckman:
Oh, that’s great. That’s one of the first things at my church, when youth come into the youth program in sixth grade, pretty much they all have a phone. That’s one of the first things we do, is put the Bible app on your phone, and put that on your first page, the first page that you see when you open that up. And so, just getting them familiar with that tool. The Bible’s pretty cool too. It’s got an app too. There’s an app for that. So yeah.

Kris Buckman:
I do want to talk a little bit more about the resources. But before we get to that, I just wanted to talk to you a little bit about many churches, especially all over the United States, but I know around here in Maryland and Delaware, we’re really starting to, like those cicadas, we’re coming out of hibernation from the last year and a half. So as churches come out of the pandemic, what is the best way that pastors can begin to regather youth and the middle schoolers and start to get that face-to-face person communication back?

Kris Buckman:
I know we’re having a tough time at our church a little bit with it. Some other youth pastors I’ve talked to were like, “I just can’t get them back after being away for so long, and they’re zoomed out.” What can you say is the most effective way to start to regather student ministry?

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah, great question. I love it. Right, zoomed out, digital burnout, all of those things are very real. I always say, social media is important with this generation, getting the message out, it’s so important. But no, there’s a lot of competition for that noise on social media. And so, I always say, I think the best way to move forward is to return back to the basics of what we know is true. So meaning, focus again, on the truth of the gospel.

Shane Pruitt:
An ever-changing world is desperate for never-changing truths. So the things that we know are true, the gospel, the Bible, the spiritual disciplines, hey, focus on those again. Let it be a time of reset to go, “Hey, here’s the things we know are eternally true. No matter what we go through, these things will be eternally true, that Jesus is on His throne, that our identity in Christ was not changed by 2020. And that the calling of God on our life was not changed by 2020 or 2021 or the pandemic. COVID-19 did not push pause on the great commission.”

Shane Pruitt:
And so, I think if we focus on equipping people to understand that walk and now to go, “Jesus is still the King of Kings. My identity in Christ is still intact. And then the calling of God in my life is still true, no matter what goes on.” Let’s focus on that. Let’s equip students to walk in that. Now, how do we get face-to-face interaction with our students again? Really, I love this. I think the new school is to go old school. What I mean by that is there’s so much focus on digital communication. Yes. Continue to do that.

Shane Pruitt:
But what cuts through the white noise is those home visits again. Get your small group leaders to go through their list, to go, “Hey, here are the students that used to be in my small group that are no longer here.” Phone calls, texts, visits, little gifts. Drop little gifts off on the porch, handwritten notes. I know this sounds so surface level, but I’m telling you, it cuts through the white noise right now. Our oldest just turned 15 last weekend and she started getting hand-handwritten letters from her small group leader.

Shane Pruitt:
She thought it was so cool that she got mail. If you think about it, we have a whole generation that’s never really gotten mail before.

Kris Buckman:
Oh, yeah.

Shane Pruitt:
They got an email. They’ve gotten DMs on social media, but they’ve never gotten mail. And so, for her, that cut right through the right noise. We were looking at that and going, “Oh, that’s old school.” But it was new school for her because she’s never gotten mail before. It grabbed her attention. So I would say, get with your leaders, get with your volunteers and go, “Hey, what are some direct ways to communicate with our students again?”

Shane Pruitt:
I think gen Z especially is a generation where they don’t have to really belong sometimes before they believe, where in previous generations, it was the opposite, like, once they believe what we believe, then they get in our community, then they belong. I think generation Z is so hungry for relationships. Whether they realize it or not, they are. There’s this deep desire for relationships inside of them. We know God made us that way. We’re made in His image.

Shane Pruitt:
And so, they are really looking for a sense of belonging, and often, they’ll start believing what they belong to. And so people will go, “Man, how are generation Z believing some of the things they’re believing, that are extremely unhealthy, that we know is not proper Bible teaching?” So they’re believing these cultural lies. It’s because they’ve started belonging to a community of people that believe those things, so therefore they started believing those things.

Shane Pruitt:
Let’s counteract that and go, “How do we really help generation Z belong right now, coming out of this pandemic?” Hopefully, we can say that, coming out, post-pandemic. I don’t know if we can say that, but I hope we can. But coming out of that and going, “How do we really help them feel like they belong to something?” And then, if they belong, they’ll really start believing what we believe.

Shane Pruitt:
So I’d say cut through some of the white noise of the digital, just all the things digital right now that’s crazy that they’ve been involved in for a long time and they’re burned out on, is, handwritten letters, those personal visits to their house. Go get out and get together. Maybe it’s outside the building for a little while, whether it’s at the park or whatever. Just find ways to start meeting together because if they belong, I really believe they’ll start believing.

Kris Buckman:
Yeah, definitely. It’s funny you say that about old school. My 14-year-old, during the pandemic, I went to put something in the mailbox for the mailman to pick up, and I put the flag up, and he was blown away that they go to every person’s house and pick up mail if you have to send something. He’s like, “Did they just start doing that? When did they start doing that?” I was like, “In the 1800s.” He was blown away by that. But that old school, the mail, I notice that a lot with a lot of children’s ministers too, that kids just love to get something that’s addressed to them, and the mail, and stopping by to visit.

Kris Buckman:
So I think the old school is definitely the way to go and sticking to those truths is huge. I mean, this whole year and a half has been, “What do you believe?” I mean, even for adults. You got it coming from… we had a crazy election, crazy health guidelines. It’s like, “Is this right? Is that right? Do we get the vaccine? Do we not? It’s good. It’s bad.” And so, with all of these things, what is the truth?

Kris Buckman:
To know that so many things for these kids have changed, the school has changed, everything looks different. Their sports were changed. To know that over and above all, God has never changed, and the Bible has never changed and it never will change, and having something solid like that for them to hang their hat on, I think is going to be big for them, to get that truth into them, and just to let them know that this is never going to change. No matter what happens, this will never, ever change. He will always be there.

Kris Buckman:
And so, I think if we can get them back together in person, and I think authenticity is huge because a lot of times like you were saying, where they’re finding community in other groups, that they’re being taught things that we know aren’t biblical, and to allow them to connect authentically with a leader in the church that stands for solid biblical truth, and let them see their authenticity, is going to bring about a connection for them. Once they’re connected and they have a relationship with them, then they’re going to be able to start to belong, as you said, and believe what we believe.

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah. I love it. One thing that we definitely know about generation Z, they’re really not scared to be challenged, but they’re mortified to be bored. I think some of our default mechanisms in the church is we constantly go, “Okay, to reach more students, we’ve got to lower the bar.” I would say it’s actually the opposite. If you raise the bar of expectation, if you raise the bar of what you believe they can handle, then they’re more apt to flock to that.

Shane Pruitt:
They are hungry for truth. They are so agenda-weary and truth-starving. In fact, I think that’s where some of the language has come from generation Z and even young millennials of my truth. When they don’t have truth, then they’ve got to make their own truth. And so, they go, “Well, that’s my truth. That’s my truth.” And you’re like, “Well, let’s talk about absolute truth.” And so, for so long, we got away from truth because we really wanted to focus on love, love, love, love. Yes, love is so important.

Shane Pruitt:
But I think at a certain point, we only talked about love and we stopped talking about truth because we thought truth wasn’t loving. It really is more loving to share accurate, real truth because when we don’t, people create their own truth. You see them now, go, “Well, that’s my truth. That’s my truth.” And so, if we will stick to the Bible, that cuts through the white noise too as well. I say this a lot, especially to communicators, I always say, “Please hear my heart in this. I’m not trying to be snarky. But if students come into our ministries, and basically, in our small groups or on the main stage, and they just hear a self-help pep talk with Bible verses sprinkled out of context. Then for lack of a better term, that sounds like white noise to them too, because that’s what they hear everywhere.

Shane Pruitt:
Self-help is what they hear up and down the hallways at their school, or see when they see all the posters of follow your heart and believe in yourself. Self-help is what’s all over social media. That’s the books. If their family’s not believers, that’s basically what they’re being taught by their family. And so, if they come into a church and they hear the Bible taught, Genesis through Revelation, and they hear the world is broken, we’re broken, our only hope is Jesus, then that cuts through the white noise.

Shane Pruitt:
Whether they agree with it or not, whether they even like it at not, at first, it does cut through the white noise because that’s literally something they will hear at your church that they will not hear anywhere else. They will not hear that anywhere else. And then we’ve got to help them navigate these rough cultural waters because I always say this too, anytime the church is silent on an issue, the culture is screaming. And so, therefore, they only hear one worldview.

Kris Buckman:
Yeah. That’s true. That’s really true. I know it’s true for my kids too. They have a lot of questions. Growing up, I was never taught any kind of apologetics or why we believe what we believe. It was my family’s faith, and so I tagged along. And so, it took a long time after that, of not being in the church for quite a while, my college years, to figure it out for myself and come back. And so, it’s definitely a journey. It’s a process. It’s not something that I think that kids are going to overnight wholeheartedly jump into.

Kris Buckman:
And so, I think that differentiating between the culture and the church is going to be huge coming up. They’re so vocal, the teenagers, about certain topics and how to get them to be vocal and voiceful for the gospel when that’s not the popular thing right now. And so, that’s huge too, I think, for kids, as we start to come out of the pandemic too, to give them some… I always felt a little bit intimidated to talk to people about faith because I was afraid someone was going to ask me a question that I didn’t know the answer to.

Kris Buckman:
Or somebody was going to say, “Well, why do you believe that? Show me that, show me that in the Bible.” And I was like, “Oh. If it’s not John 3:16, I’m not really sure where I could show it to you.” Right? Yeah, I think giving kids just some basic things like that, where they can be able to have a conversation with that one person and feel confident in having that and knowing that they could have the answers. I even tell little kids sometimes in children’s ministry, if they ask a question, and goodness gracious, they can come up with a question that I don’t have an answer to. I’ll just say like, “You know what? I don’t know the answer to that question, but I can find out from somebody and I can get back to you and let you know.”

Kris Buckman:
I think letting kids know that it’s okay to say you don’t know because faith is a lot more of heart instead of head knowledge. And so, I think that’s important for them to share that too.

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah. Absolutely. I love it. Really, my prayer for generation Z is I’ve started calling them the revival generation. That’s not a reality yet. That’s more of a prayer. But I really believe it can be a revival generation because one thing that I’ve seen is because they’re so non-religious that when someone understands the gospel in generation Z, they go all in because they know it’s probably going to cost them something at school or with their circle of friends. So they go all in.

Shane Pruitt:
And so, I feel like with gen Z, especially, cultural Christianity on a large scale doesn’t really exist for them. They either know they’re all the way in or they’re all the way out. That’s especially true with high school students and college students. And so, I’m really praying that this would be a revival generation. Then it sounds weird, but I’ve been telling people I’d almost pray that it would be a rebellious generation.

Shane Pruitt:
Here’s what I mean by that, every generation has some kind of rebellion, especially when you’re young because that’s just what you’re… like, “I want to rebel against cultural norms. I want to rebel against institutional thought.” And so, if you think about it, the greatest rebellion for generation Z right now could be believing Jesus is the only way, believing the Bible is literally true, and actually living that out, because you want to talk about counter-cultural. There’ll be nothing more counter-cultural right now, moving forward, than actually living for Jesus. I know it sounds weird, but what if gen Z’s rebellion is actually believing Jesus and living the truths of the Bible?

Kris Buckman:
Yeah. That’s great. That would definitely be exciting. It would even be something that will be eye-opening for adults too because I think even adults are growing weary sometimes. If we can have these kids come up in revival and revive the generation ahead of them, and the generation underneath them, will be huge.

Kris Buckman:
Well, we are thankful that you’re coming here to Maryland and Delaware in October for the youth summit. We’re going to be having that at South Columbia Baptist Church on the 26th, I believe. One of the things that we wanted to talk about there is… Or the purpose of that is to gather youth leaders within Maryland and Delaware. The one thing that I’ve been talking to with some youth leaders that they’re most looking for and they’re most hungry for is networking and connection with other youth leaders.

Kris Buckman:
And so, I started this role at BCM/D as a children’s ministry consultant and realized quickly that after fifth grade, we had a little bit of a gap here. We had a collegiate ministry, but nothing for middle and high school. No one’s serving those youth leaders. And a lot of times, those youth leaders are bi-vocational. They have young families at home. They’re busy. And so, I don’t see my role as the professional youth leader that has all the answers. It’s not my forte. Children’s ministry is my forte.

Kris Buckman:
However, I want to be the person that can come to them and say, “Hey, I know you don’t have time, but here are some great resources I want to throw your way,” or, “Tell me what you need. If you need resources, names, numbers for counselors, and things like that, I have those for you.” Just someone to do the legwork for them so that they can have resources at their fingertips so that they don’t have to do all that research and finding resources and things like that.

Kris Buckman:
On that end, when we get together in October, you’ll be with us, some of the things I’d like to do is really just hear from youth leaders and find out, how can BCM/D, how can the Baptist convention, the Southern Baptist convention, how can we support them day in and day out, on Sundays, or Wednesdays, whenever they meet, and to find out from them exactly what it is we can do. We can hold trainings and conferences all we want, but if that’s not what they need at the moment, then it’s a waste of our time and their time.

Kris Buckman:
That’s some things when we gather youth leaders together, that we’re going to want to hear from them. I would love to be able to set some goals, some baptism goals, for the Baptist Convention of Maryland, Delaware for 2022. The dunk tank doesn’t count, unfortunately, but I’d love to be able to do that. And then the following October, in 2022, gather together again and celebrate these youth leaders and hear some testimonies possibly from the kids in their ministry.

Kris Buckman:
And so, that’s really what I want to focus on in October when you’re here, and just introducing them to you. I know that last time we talked, we talked about some of the resources you’re creating with NAMB. If you just want to take a minute to share with us some of those resources. I’ve looked at some of those videos on YouTube that are just awesome. And so, just tell us a little bit about those resources that are out there already and what’s coming.

Shane Pruitt:
Thank you, Kris. I’m so excited that you’re in that role. I love your state convention. I love your executive director, and I’m so excited you’re in that role. You’ve been such a blessing to our community already, of student leaders across the nation. So thank you so much for what you do. I love your vision for those student pastors because it can be lonely. I think that’s one of the great things that a state convention can do, is you can bring those networking opportunities together.

Shane Pruitt:
Really, it’s a time of equipping, empowering all those kinds of things. But one of the most valuable things, is for leaders to go, “Oh, there are other leaders in this race with me. I’m not running alone. The Lord is with me, but I have brothers and sisters in Christ that are running this race with me doing the same thing.” Oh gosh, that’s so valuable, to build those relationships.

Shane Pruitt:
Some of the great resources that we have is a podcast that I’m really excited about called NextGen On Mission. It’s myself, and my co-host is our national collegiate director, Paul Worcester, that serves on my team. It’s basically 20 to 25-minute conversations through this podcast platform where we’re having a conversation with another leader. It’s all about reaching, discipling, mobilizing the next generation to be the church of today.

Shane Pruitt:
That’s our vision of that podcast is that, hey, young people, when they are bought with the blood of Jesus, have the Holy Spirit of God, they are not the future of the church. They are the church right now. So how do we help equip them, mobilize them to be the church right now? That’s called NextGen On Mission. That’s available on all podcast platforms. I think there are currently about 27 episodes on there, and we’re releasing new ones all the time.

Shane Pruitt:
In fact, we’re just launching a new third season that will have all brand new episodes on there. We’re really excited about that. And then, another great resource is a YouTube channel called GenSend Conversations. In fact, if you text the word conversations to 888123, you’ll get a response back and there’s a link there where you can connect directly to it. These are 15-minute or less videos, and usually a short teaching series by either myself or invited guests.

Shane Pruitt:
We’ve partnered with Initiative Worship, which is a great collective, and there’s worship songs on each of these. Then in the description section, underneath the video, if you open that up, there’s a link there where you can click and a talk sheet that has notes from the message, questions. So it’s almost like a free video curriculum for the leader.

Kris Buckman:
It is. I was going to say, you all, this is a free curriculum for the summer.

Shane Pruitt:
Yeah, it is. A lot of student ministries use it on Wednesday nights, or in small groups. Private schools use it for chapel services, fellowship of Christian athlete groups, because those are often led by leaders. Student leaders, they’ve been using it. It’s just a great resource. They’re series, built like series. I also say so it’s a great resource for the leaders, but it’s really a channel geared towards the next generation themselves.

Shane Pruitt:
So it’s something they can engage with. Also something they can share with their friends. It’s just a healthy channel. Every video gives an opportunity where the gospel is shared and even a chance to respond, and instructions on how to respond to the gospel in that. We’re so excited about that because if someone responds, we’re able to track where that comes from, and then we can connect with a local Southern Baptist church in that area and go, “Hey, a 15-year-old just prayed to receive Christ. They’re three miles from your church. Here’s the information.” And then that local church can follow up on that.

Shane Pruitt:
So it’s just a great resource all the way around. We’ve really just launched that heavily in January. We posted some videos in the fall. But back in January, we launched it. Just in a few short months, I think there are already over 4,000 people who have subscribed through the text app. And then, the channel itself has well over a thousand subscribers already. So it’s been really cool. We’re really excited about that.

Shane Pruitt:
And then, also, we’re doing a coaching network. I’m partnering with a good friend of mine by the name of Clayton King. We just did a trial run where we coached 62 youth pastors. We did four online sessions and then one in-person two-day meeting, back in the spring. It was awesome. In the fall, we’re upping it to 250. So it’s the youth leader coaching network. This is for all youth leaders, whether it’s a youth pastor, a volunteer, youth leader, men, or women.

Shane Pruitt:
We’re so excited about that, and to have 250 that we’re coaching at one time. Once again, it’d be four online sessions, and then one, two-day in-person session at NAMB, and that’s free. What I mean by free, meaning it doesn’t cost you anything, but it’s through the faithful partnerships of our churches who give through the cooperative program, and NAMB is helping provide this. The reason the coaching aspect, I’m so excited about, is Kris, you know this, is that healthy evangelistic leaders are more effective to lead healthy evangelistic ministries.

Shane Pruitt:
So we know really the way to move the needle is to invest in the leaders themselves. And so, we’re providing coaching through that. We discuss all kinds of things, like how to lead with a healthy soul, how to cultivate a culture of evangelism in your ministry, how to give an effective gospel invitation, how to manage finances, how to navigate conflict. So all those kinds of things. It’s been so exciting because so many of those leaders just go, “Hey, I learned great things in Bible college and seminary, but there are so many of these practical things that I didn’t learn.”

Shane Pruitt:
And so, it’s been really, really fun. That was a fun cohort that we did back in the spring. We’re just going to keep it going. We’re going to keep doing it, and we’re going to provide that for 250, the first 250 leaders that sign up in the fall. And so, hey, we want to welcome anyone in that would like to be a part of that. Those are really three big things that we’re doing right now that we’re really excited about.

Kris Buckman:
That’s great. I’m glad you mentioned that four-letter word, the free word because I know a lot of the youth pastors, a lot of them are volunteers and their budgets aren’t very big. And so, I think that’s huge for them. How would they go about looking into the cohort for the fall, the coaching cohort?

Shane Pruitt:
You can just personally email me. We already have a waiting list of over 90. But we’ll get you on that list and we’ll get you all the information because we’re going to send that to people first before it goes public. So just email me, just S Pruitt, my last name, P-R-U-I-T-T. So [email protected], and we’ll get you added to the list, get you all the information you need.

Kris Buckman:
Great. I don’t know if we have podcast notes, but if we do, I’ll try to put all these links in the podcast notes for our people. But if not, then if our youth leaders show up in October for the youth summit, the BCM/D youth summit, all of this information we’re going to talk about again and reiterate and give them some tools and resources as they network and fellowship with each other and get to meet you. I know, take a deep breath and gear up, again, for an exciting fall and winter, a new year of ministry for our youth leaders.

Kris Buckman:
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m working right now on getting a good, solid list of youth leaders within our two-state convention. And so, I’m really praying for that summit in October, that that’s going to be really meaningful and something that’s going to be a huge value for our youth leaders.

Shane Pruitt:
Awesome, Kris. I am so excited to be with them. I think it’s going to be a wonderful two days. And so, we’ll be able to talk about all things and share some great resources and some great practical next steps and answer questions. And then, more than anything, really get to know each other and to lock arms as we serve Jesus and His bride together. So definitely looking forward to that.

Kris Buckman:
Great! Well, before we head off here, I just want to pray for us, pray for you and your ministry, if that’s all right with you, and send you off with a little bit of a blessing. God, I thank you so much for the opportunity to spend some time talking with Shane, and the things that he’s doing both on a local level and on a national level. I just am so thankful for his amazing family that supports him as he does this ministry, his amazing wife, as he said.

Kris Buckman:
It just makes my heart so happy to see a family that is so supportive of children that don’t have a family, and that’s just such an example to his other kids. I am just so grateful that he is blessing so many youth leaders around the nation. I just ask that those blessings fall upon the youth leaders of the Maryland and Delaware convention, Lord.

Kris Buckman:
I pray for him as he moves forward with a busy, busy summer. We look forward to seeing him here, to being with us in October here at BCM/D. I pray, Lord, for his safety, his health, and for his family’s health and safety. We ask all these things in your name, of course, Lord. Amen.

Shane Pruitt:
Amen. Thank you so much, Kris, and deeply enjoyed being on here with you.

Kris Buckman:
Thank you. Have a great day.

Shane Pruitt:
You as well.

Kris Buckman:
Thank you.