“The truth is, Generation Z has never known a time on planet Earth when things are just normal.” The generation, a person born between roughly 1995 and 2015, “has been born into a world of terror, formed by life-changing events like 9/11, school shootings, and danger around them all the time. They went through an economic downtown in 2008. They’re of course young adults, and emerging young adults as teenagers, in a global pandemic.” That’s why Dr. Billy Wilson’s guidance book is called “Generation Z: Born for the Storm.” (Full podcast interview)
“I say it this way, that this generation is the most blessed generation in the history of humanity. They have more at their fingertips than any generation has ever had. They’re technologically proficient. They’ve got blessings, they’ve got great potential…and yet, they’re probably the most broken generation, as well, in the history of the world, just because of all they’ve had to endure. And so that blessing, I think, may create this optimism, while at the same time, their own personal brokenness makes them wonder if they can get to the future that God has for them,” explains Dr. Wilson, president of Oral Roberts University in Tulsa. He adds that Generation Z is very passionate about their purpose. They desire a life that matters.
Wilson marvels that “I’m sort of in a living laboratory” filled with Gen Z-ers. “We find among this generation, especially here at Oral Roberts University…that our students are very passionate about finding, living out, and being what God has called them to be, living out their purpose.”
Storms behind, but storms ahead, too?
“As we look at the horizon, the storms continue.” Wilson sites obstacles like “political, social upheaval, physical storms, the condition of our planet – and the spiritual warfare that they’re in everyday, so I don’t see calm waters ahead for this generation. The good news is, I think God is using the storms to form leadership principles in them that will allow them to soar in spite of the difficulty.” He explains in Born for the Storm how various birds behave in flight, pointing out how some birds, like eagles, are able to soar using “turbulent air currents that take them higher.” Wilson believes Christian Gen Z-ers are “learning how to soar in spite of the storm, in fact, using the storm to make them stronger and allowing them to soar,” focusing on their purpose.
In our full podcast interview below, Dr. Wilson unwraps the comparison about the flight skills of birds and people developing resilience and soaring. This may remind you of the bible verse from Isaiah 40:31, “But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles.”
Also in our podcast, Dr. Wilson explains why he doesn’t see America so much as a post-Christian nation as he does us being in a ‘New Testament-type world.’
