Welcome to the On The Rise newsletter, where I feature fascinating, helpful, and sometimes curious content that caught my attention this week.

Today, some recent data from Barna on whether Americans believe revival is coming, plus why colleges are turning back to oral exams (good insight for pastors too), plus is it a better financial decision to buy a house or rent? You might be surprised.

Is Spiritual Revival Coming?

Gen Z is most optimistic, Gen X not so much

Barna recently asked Americans if they expected a revival to come in the next 12 months. While the majority of respondents think there won’t be, optimism was highest among Gen Z. Gen X was most likely to say ‘nah’.
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What’s interesting to me is the reasoning behind the answer. Gen Z tends to think that if revival does come, it would be due to the anxiety and mental health challenges their generation is facing. Older adults list different reasons.

​The full results are here.

Nail the Next 90 Days in Leadership

Stop guessing. Start growing.

What if your next 90 days were your most focused, productive season of leadership yet?

Join my team and a small group of other leaders for an open, interactive session where we'll help you cut through the noise, figure out where to focus first, and build a simple plan to make the most of everything you have access to inside The Art of Leadership Academy.

Bring your questions. We'll bring the answers

By the end, you'll know exactly what to do next — so you can stop spinning your wheels and start seeing real growth in your leadership.

It’s time to dive in and make a plan together!

Get the Zoom Link Here

Colleges are Going to Oral Examinations to Thwart AI

Get ready to answer some questions.

One of the challenges with AI is that you might write a great paper on, say, thermodynamics, but understand nothing about it because, well, you didn’t write it.

So a number of colleges are now turning to the old school practice of oral exams. In other words, explain what you wrote.

Not a bad note for preachers and other content creators, too.

Published is different than comprehended, and the best leaders don’t just comprehend what they’re doing, they master it.

Get a Snapshot of Evangelism Health

Only 1% of churches say they are very effective at reaching new people.

That raises an honest question: How effective is our outreach, really?

The Church Reach Assessment helps you see the full picture of your church’s outreach by measuring your outreach efforts across 6 key areas and showing where to focus next to build a stronger outreach culture. Take the assessment and get a free 7-page report delivered to your inbox.

Take the Church Assessment

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​Want to know how your personal evangelism scores? You can also take the Personal Reach Assessment, which helps leaders spot strengths, gaps, and next steps for outreach. Take the Personal Assessment ​

To learn more about your results, schedule a free 15-minute VisitorReach call here.​

Which is Smarter? Rent or Buy

Sometimes it's wiser to rent.

​This simple tool does the quick math on one of the most important financial questions you'll face: Is it better to buy or rent?

As homeownership slips out of reach for more people, a long-ignored truth is surfacing — renting often wins financially. Homes come with hidden costs most people never calculate: maintenance, property taxes, inflation, and the interest buried inside every mortgage payment. Run those numbers and you might be surprised.

Here's what most people miss: if you're a disciplined saver and invest the difference between what owning and renting would cost you, you frequently come out ahead as a renter.

As 2x podcast guest Ramit Sethi likes to say — run the numbers. This is the simplest way I've seen to do it.

Cheering for you,

P.S. Weekend Watching

Todd Wilson

Church Growth, Seeker Sensitive, Attractional, Missional: How the Modern Church Was Shaped with Todd Wilson