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On The Rise: A new gap between pastors and christians + Gen Z doesn’t trust anyone
Published 4 days ago • 3 min read
Welcome to the On The Rise newsletter, where I feature fascinating, helpful, and sometimes curious content that caught my attention this week.
Today, a new discipleship trend when it comes to the views pastors have about AI versus congregations.
Also, Gen Z apparently trusts nobody, the challenge with celebrity Christians, and how being improbable is a great strategy.
The Gap Between Pastors and Their Congregation
Church leaders are much more cautious about AI.
New Barna Research shows that pastors have a very different view of AI than our congregations do. To make a long story short, pastors are (in my view) appropriately cautious about using AI, while most people in the church don't see a problem with it.
If you're concerned about the gap in discipleship you see in your church right now, get a little more concerned when you realize most Christians think AI is harmless and it wouldn't mislead them.
Have a look at the new Barna research. Maybe it's time to start talking more about AI with your church this fall.
The Hidden Way AI Is About to Test Every Pastor's Soul
More knowledge without more wisdom is a vulnerability for all of us.
AI isn't just changing how we work, it's about to test who we are.
The real danger isn't out there in the deepfakes and headlines, it's the shortcut that's one click away, the lie that's one prompt away, the compromise no one would ever see.
In this new post, I unpack why more knowledge without more wisdom is a curse, how moral compromise actually happens (hint: it's never one giant leap), and four ways to fortify your character before the incentives get stranger and stronger.
It’s a cynical world, but just how cynical are people?
Ryan Burge has some new datashowing that Gen Z is the least trusting of all generations alive right now, and it's pretty bleak.
Only 13% of Gen Z believe that they can trust people. On the positive front, across all demographics, attending church seems to grow trust in people.
What this means is it's time to get some more of every generation into church and into a trusting relationship with God and people.
Help Free Pakistani Christians from Modern-Day Slavery
Your gift provides real help where faith costs the most.
Christians make up less than 2% of Pakistan, yet they account for a large share of the workers trapped in its 20,000+ brick kilns. At least 1.5 million are caught there, and a third of them are children. Families take a small loan for medical care or food, then get caught in a debt that compounds and passes from parents to children, with no way to earn their way out. Your support helps:
Clear a family's debt and set them free from bonded labor.
Fund a new income and job training so they don't slide back into debt.
Keep walking with families after they're free, with mobile healthcare and support for women and youth in the kilns.
For about $809, less than a month's rent, you can free an entire family.
Give$1,882 and you fund their full Blueprint for Freedom: debt cleared, a new income, and training to help them stay free. Stand with your persecuted Church family in Pakistan today. Help free them from a debt they never chose.
Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church by Kately Beatty
This isn’t an easy read, and I don’t agree with all of Beatty’s analysis or conclusions, but it is a solid look in the mirror all of us in the public spotlight need to take.
When the pursuit of platform, personas, or profit overtake the mission, your soul is in danger.
“The less predictable you are, the less likely you are to be replaced by AIs. Machines are efficient, and they are powered by the predictable. Current LLMs are trained to generate the most predictable solution. So far they are not very good at duplicating what a creative, one-of-a-kind improbable human can produce. To distance yourself from the machines, aim to be as improbable as you can be.”
Seven Signs AI Wrote Your Sermon, Finding and Developing Your Preaching Voice, and New Study on AI's Impact on the Brain That Should Scare Every Pastor
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Don’t settle for an impact smaller than you’re called to make. It's time to unlock your potential and lead confidently into a future filled with growth — for yourself, your church, and your mission. Get access to some of my best leadership content, only published in my newsletters.
