Author and speaker Jennie Allen said she is witnessing signs of a spiritual awakening among Gen Z students, pointing to recent events at Southeastern University in Florida that she believes resemble the early stages of the 2023 Asbury revival.
Allen, founder of IF:Gathering and Gather25, said she had been visiting college campuses with the Unite ministry when she was invited to speak at Southeastern, where she did not anticipate the extended worship, repentance and spiritual response that followed.
“We have been blessed to be on the road on about 20 campuses,” she told The Christian Post. “And we have seen over and over again a huge response to repentance, to the Gospel, to baptism, and it’s just been beautiful and amazing.”
She recalled a pivotal moment during a time of confession after her message, when one student openly acknowledged a deeply personal struggle. “I got up, I spoke, the room did confession, which I’ve done in many rooms before,” she said. “But a girl yelled out ‘abortion’ as loud as she could.”
Allen said the moment shifted the atmosphere, prompting other students to confess burdens they had kept hidden. The gathering soon led to a strong response among students considering ministry and missions. “Two-thirds of the room came forward to go into vocational ministry or onto the mission field,” she said. “It was insane.”
According to Allen, the event extended late into the night and continued for days, with students remaining in prayer and worship for hours at a time.
Allen said the movement reflects a deeper spiritual hunger among young people, even as many struggle with mental health challenges and identity issues. “There’s a lot of suicide ideation happening, which is absolutely heartbreaking,” she said. “I’ll have the most precious girls looking in my eyes, saying, ‘I want to take my life.’ This happens almost every time I speak on a campus.”
She added that many students wrestle with hidden pain stemming from earlier life experiences. “Underneath addiction, whether it’s pornography, drugs, alcohol or sex, there’s usually a story of something that happened to them at a certain age that they can’t forget,” she said.
Despite these struggles, Allen believes that sense of desperation is opening many young people to faith. “The desperation is the reason this outpouring of the Lord is happening,” she said. “They’ve tried everything the world has to offer, and they’re sick of it. They want something different.”
Allen emphasized that many of the challenges facing Gen Z are tied to deeply rooted beliefs about identity and worth. “We are living in our heads, believing what the enemy has said about us to be true,” she said. “And when we believe those lies, we miss God’s purposes for our lives.”
She said healing often begins when those beliefs are spoken aloud and confronted. “Even asking the question, ‘Could this be a lie?’ is powerful,” she said. “As long as it stays in our head and isn’t named out loud to someone and to the Lord, it has all the power.”
Allen said many young people are more spiritually open than often assumed, noting that moments of confession can lead to transformative encounters with faith. “They want God,” she said. “This is not complicated for them. They feel hopeless and helpless, and when they hear that the God of the universe loves them and knows their name, they’re in.”
The full version of this article is available at The Christian Post.
