Dear Friends,

Every generation faces its unique challenges.

Young people today experience an unprecedented level of noise. First, they are bombarded by relentless and skillfully designed information, coming at them through videos, messages, pictures, and buzzing reminders from powerful ever-present computers disguised as smartphones.

Teenagers spend over 6 hours a day interacting with their mobile devices, and a total of 7.2 hours a day staring at some screen. These portals give them instant access to 160 trillion gigabytes of information, up from 60 trillion gigabytes in 2020. This unending flood of data assaulting the brain is unprecedented in all of human history.

Coupled with this outer noise is the rapid raise of inner noise - the rising epidemic of anxiety and mental health issues faced by this generation. Since 2014 the percentage of teenagers with a major depressive episode during the last year has gone from 8% - to 20%. Teens are struggling with the noise of their inner world with epidemic proportions.

The Apostle Paul gives us an antidote to this problem in his letter to the Romans. His challenge is to “… not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

This is not an easy verse to apply. Youth leaders need special skill in cutting through the outer and inner noise of this generation with the transforming Word of God, so that young people are formed by God’s truth rather than the flood of opinions around them.  

In September the JV team gathered our staff and key young leaders from 20 countries for our Fall Training Conference, centered on the theme of being “Word Formed”. Along with powerful worship and inspiring testimonies, we focused on the truths of Psalm 119 and the many benefits that the Word of God brings.  

The participants learned how to frame the “why” of God’s Word to this next generation, and how to get young people into the Word for themselves so they get in connection with the original source, not just the thoughts of the latest podcaster or popular teacher. We talked about how to build “atomic habits” that keep us in the Word every day, and how to teach the Bible in a way that is faithful to the author’s original intent, but also relevant and interesting to today’s generation.

The 400+ leaders in that room will share the good news of Jesus with over 30,000 young people in the next year, and train close to 5000 young leaders. 

Thank you for making it possible for us to respond to the new challenges of this generation with ancient truth.