How AI May Increase Baptisms

There is a Christian revival going on in the U.S., and AI driven social media is helping. But not in the way you might think.

Here are some example events that have happened in the past year.

• The Christian-themed movies The Sound of Freedom and The Jesus Revolution along with streaming of The Chosen are unexpected hits. The first two seasons of The Chosen have been watched 440 million times.
• The Sound of Freedom beat the most recent Indiana Jones movie at their common premier.
• A jaw dropping 4,166 people were recently baptized at Pirate’s Cove — the same southern California beach that The Jesus Revolution baptized in 50 years ago.
• A spontaneous revival sprouted at Asbury University attracted tens of thousands participants. One young man attendee confesses “It’s been a really hard couple of years. And not just for me but a lot of my friends.” He goes on to tell how his anger and bitterness were healed because of the message of the revival.
• Many revivals, including the one at Asbury, start with the young. At my church, First Woodway Baptist, 44 young men and women were recently baptized on a single Sunday between the two morning services. All were either in middle school or high school.

Youth is the same audience sought by AI steered platforms like TikTok and Facebook. These and other media portray a world where everybody is happy and having a good time.

Everybody, of course, except for you. There must therefore be something wrong with you. You are a loser. The message has resonated with Generation Z with negative consequences.

Media-drenched teenage boys without girlfriends feel like social freaks. One in three teenage girls who use social have body image issues.Young adults who use social media are three times as likely to suffer from depression. Depression can lead to suicide.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, female suicides aged 15-24 increased by 87 percent over the past 20 years and male suicides increased by 30 percent. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says suicide is now the second leading cause of death for “children, adolescents, and young adults age 15-to-24-years old.”

Contrast this to the fundamental Christian message as outlined in C.S. Lewis’ classic book Mere Christianity. You are not a loser. You are a child of God. Christianity teaches that, because of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, you can be in God’s family.

Like a father loves his imperfect children, God unconditionally loves you just the way you are. In his revival meetings, as audience members came to the altar, evangelist Billy Graham’s choir would sing the hymn Just As I Am that announces humanity is fallen but still loved by God.

Contrast this to the impact of addictive social media. Jessica Holzbauer, a licensed clinical social worker at Huntsman Mental Health Institute, says social media is addictive by design:

“We get a dopamine release in our brain when we pick up our phone or log into social media.” TikTok, for example, creates “a constantly updated and personalized flow of short and entertaining clips that create an intense emotional impact, an immediate flood of dopamine, and the feeling of missing out if you do not keep watching to see the latest viral video.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wisc., says “TikTok is digital fentanyl that’s addicting Americans.” With over a billion users, TikTok is now being banned for a number of other reasons in places like Vermont, Virginia and Texas.

The twelve-step plan for recovery from addiction to alcohol, drugs, porn and gambling can and should be applied to the recovery from the addiction to social media. Step 3 is to “Make a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.”

This is what helps heal troubled youth at Christian revivals.