IgniteAmerica and its founder and president Barry Meguiar are spreading the word for students to be bold and share their faith with others as they settle into this new school year.
Meguiar said his organization strives to ignite Christians across the country through spiritual revival. When believers share their faith, Meguiar said it also ignites something in their own lives. This includes Gen Z.
“They’re enthralled with this idea that they can actually have purpose in their life,” he said. “They can have truth living in them, and they can have, literally, self-worth every day by representing that truth to those around them.”
Closer look at Gen Z
According to a recent LifeWay study, two-thirds of Gen Zers build relationships with nonbelievers to share their faith. Gen Zers attend church services around 6.2 times per month which is higher than millennials who only attend about 4.8 times per month, as well as Gen Xers who attend 5.2 times per month. Gen Z also attends regular small group meetings, memorizes Scripture, participates in community service and invites friends to church.
The annual See You at the Pole event, to be held this year on Sept. 23, is another opportunity for students to demonstrate their faith. Students gather to pray around school flagpoles on their campuses before class during this long standing day of prayer.
“Wherever you are, you’re almost always surrounded by people who are lost and that’s an opportunity,” Meguiar said. He consistently encourages them to embrace being bold by sharing their testimonies and the gospel in classrooms. It’s about “moving everybody, everyday, closer to Jesus.”
Seizing gospel opportunities
Meguiar encourages believers to have gospel-filled conversations with everyone they come across, including waiters and store clerks.
“God’s put them there; it’s not by accident,” he said. “When you walk by that opportunity, it breaks God’s heart.”
It might mean sitting with someone who alone at lunch or putting away cell phones long enough to engage others in conversation.
“When you’re sharing your faith with somebody, the Holy Spirit is giving [you] the words to say,” Meguiar said. “At that moment, you’re right where God wants you.”
The Holy Spirit guides conversations and opens opportunities for God to change people’s hearts, he noted.
When students began focusing on following God’s will, Meguiar said God will make other things that students often worry about fall into place, including schoolwork, careers and future spouses.
“He’ll bless anything in your hand when you’re using it to honor Him,” Meguiar said. “And move people closer to Him.”
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