Every generation has something that opens the door for ridicule. The parents of the 50’s surely were shocked with the change in clothing, hair, music, and cars. The young adults from the 50’s took those family style 2 door Bel Airs and turned those cars into legends. The younger generation from the 60″s were inspired by the previous generation’s new rock and roll sound and began two decades of music that is arguably the standard for musical greatness. During the 60’s and 70’s parents could not grasp the music, new hair styles, or the clothing. I could go on, but you guys are smart and get the point here. We as a society look at the coming generations and worry, we scoff, we even ridicule their style and question the sustainability. In this day of social media and four hour news cycles, I wish we would push the pause button on the millennial doom, gloom, and attacks.
Sheila and I travel almost every weekend. This year we have been in 40 + cities just in the first half of the year. We have been as far East as Washington D.C. and we have been as far West as Las Vegas. I have been in meetings on how to reach the millennial generation and I have been in meetings led by millennials who are already great leaders. In the churches Sheila and I have been in the millennials have been anointed worship leaders, they are anointed and powerful preachers, they are missionaries, teachers, worshippers, and they are on the hospitality and serve teams. This year at the March for Life the overwhelming majority of participants were from the millennial and Gen-Z age groups. Sheila and I have been with millennials who are in government positions, and millennials who are staffers. The millennials I know are true patriots. Our two sons, and almost every one of their friends and the millennial aged adults who I personally know have amazing work ethics. This age group is overwhelmingly in favor of protecting the life of the unborn. Their passion for life issues are the future of our country.
As with any age group, there are some of the folks we simply will not agree with. My parents disagreed with almost all of my age related cultural preferences during my afro wearing, bell bottom wearing, loud music high school years. They were able to love me in my differences. Love keeps the connection when we disagree, love enables us to communicate with civility, and the inward love of Jesus flowing out of us draws people to Jesus. If we could hit the pause button and focus on the majority from this amazing age group instead of all the sarcastic memes about the minority representation of the group, we could encourage, build up, and mentor in the essentials. The millennials I know are willing to be mentored, they are willing to receive wisdom, but I also know that they are unwilling to be ridiculed for their dress, culture, or their passions. My encouragement is that we walk with the future of our country. If we are supposed to be disciple makers, and we are…. how about we reach out and lock arms with a generation full of greatness. My encouragement is that each of us sit and have a conversation with the future of our country. Find out what makes these folks tick, what are their interests, what turns them on about church, what turns them off, what turns them on about the life movement, and what turns them off, etc.
Let me hear back from you as you engage the future leaders of our nation and world, I would love to know about the strength and passions you find.
Jack
