*Editorial Note: A few months ago, Daniel Yang wrote a powerful piece for us entitled “If Revival is Real, the Vulnerable Will Tell Us.” I knew a follow-up conversation would be warranted at some point in the near future. Once the news about the extended outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Southeastern University came out, it was time to reach out. Here is our (needed) conversation on revival in America. ~CK

Missio Alliance (MA): I (Chris Kamalski) knew immediately when you submitted this piece that it would be fruitful for us to dialogue further about its implications. Three months later, what, if anything, would you say differently about the state of revival in America, given all (‘waves hand at literally everything’) that has transpired in the past 90 days? 

Daniel Yang (DY): A lot of what I wrote in the original piece still feels spot on—maybe even more so now. Three months on, with everything from economic pressures to political tensions swirling, that litmus test holds. And without going into specifics, all that’s coming out around the Epstein files makes me wonder how blind people of faith—certainly me included—have been to the deep demons of systemic evil. 

With that said, I’m seeing glimmers of hope that make me cautiously optimistic. Take what’s unfolding at Southeastern University right now—social media is buzzing with stories of students in nonstop worship, prayer, and repentance that started as a conference and has now stretched into several weeks of outpouring. Classes canceled, lives changed. It echoes the hunger I mentioned, especially among younger folks yearning for something real amid the noise.  

I say this knowing the ties the school’s leadership has to the current administration.  

So I’m praying whatever is happening at SEU translates to changed lives and folks sent on mission not for the sake of an institution, but to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed.  

But here’s where the rubber meets the road: Events in Chicago and Minnesota over these past months have amplified the stakes. We’ve seen intense immigration enforcement—raids, protests, even tragic losses like Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota—prompting clergy from various traditions to stand in the gap, opening sanctuaries, marching, and advocating. Some Christians are showing up passionately, which feels like a sign of the Spirit stirring hearts toward the displaced. Yet, I haven’t heard a flood of immigrant voices saying the “evangelical” church is showing up in waves for them. That silence is telling. If revival is real, the vulnerable will tell us—not through our metrics, but through their stories of safety, welcome, and justice. We’re moving in the right direction in pockets, but the full fruit is still emerging.

MA: We published a piece from Eun Strawser recently entitled “Deconstructing Domineering Leadership in the Church.” In her piece, Eun highlights this reality about the recent increase in church attendance that has some claiming revival within the American Church, writing: “There is an overwhelming whiteness in the recent upsurge of church attendance, particularly among conservative white males.” What are the implications–both positive and negative–of this reality? 

DY: I appreciate Eun’s piece—it’s a sharp call to dismantle domineering leadership, and she’s right to flag the racial dynamics. The data from Ryan Burge bears that out: Recent church attendance upticks are often concentrated among conservative white males, and it’s not a massive national surge but organic growth in certain demographics. 

That said, my angst runs deeper than just the racial composition of the crowds. My angst is about the soul of the church: Are we truly becoming places of refuge, or just polishing the institution? Maybe some of this moment is exposing bad leadership tactics—top-down control, fear-based decisions, and homogeneity that stifles the Spirit. We’ve seen honest attempts to “clean house,” from purging “toxic” church leadership to rethinking attendance metrics that hid decline. And it’s not all human effort; much feels like God’s sovereign work, pruning what’s dead to make room for life. 

But the negative? If we stop at surface-level shifts—tweaking rolls or swapping leaders without deeper repentance—we risk a “revival” that’s more performative than transformative. Adelle Banks, Warren Bird, and I wrote a book in 2024 entitled Becoming a Future-Ready Church. In chapter 5, we argue the importance of church leaders to understand the prevalence of spiritual abuse and trauma, and the corresponding importance of hospitality. True hospitality isn’t coffee and handshakes—it’s creating spaces where the most unseen people discover visibility, voice, value, and volition. Without that, this upsurge of church attendance—which again, we are seeing in larger margins among conservative white males—could harden into echo chambers or reinforce biases that ignore the “Big Sort” that’s already fracturing us.

MA: Why is Gen Z finding faith and returning to the Church in this cultural moment, from your perspective? Simultaneously, how are we as the Church treating the marginalized and powerless in our midst?

DY: Someone reminded me recently that Gen Z is turning 30 this year! The oldest Gen Zers are entering their prime, starting families, and stepping into leadership. They’re objectively not ‘youth’ any longer; they’re reshaping the church from within. From my perspective, Gen Z is drawn back to the Church because they increasingly see faith not solely through the lens of “social justice” but rather of “biblical righteousness,” which extends to justice. They’ve grown up in a world of #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, border crises, and increasing climate urgency—issues that scream for a gospel that not only saves souls but also heals entire systems. 

Why now? Post-pandemic disillusionment with institutions left a void, but Gen Z craves social spaces that facilitate their healing. They want churches that don’t stay silent on whatever it is that’s inducing trauma. They yearn to practice “righteousness” as Isaiah 58 describes: loosing chains, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless. And so some return, especially where churches engage these realities without performative outrage.

As for treating the marginalized? We’re improving in spots but it’s uneven. Too often, the powerless (immigrants, the poor, the traumatized) feel like add-ons, not core to our mission. Going from silence to righteousness isn’t merely reacting to every headline, but instead involves defining transformation on private, corporate, systemic, and societal levels, in an increasingly holistic manner. Gen Z, more than any other generation, has lived in a world where you must be transparent at all these levels in order to maintain leadership integrity. 

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