‘They Don’t Care About the Fog Machine’: Ruslan KD on Gen Z’s Spiritual Hunger

I recently sat down with my friend Ruslan—a Christian YouTuber, author, apologist, and even rapper.

Ruslan has become a significant voice in our culture today, especially among younger people. And we talked about so many things, including his thoughts on online controversies, his testimony, and biblical masculinity.

But in this blog, we dive into an important portion of our interview where we discuss what our young generation is experiencing when it comes to faith—including the rise of young men in the church and Gen Z’s desire for deep theology, tradition, and reverence:

• Gen Z is Jesus-curious
• Older and younger generations need each other
• Gen Z is becoming Christian, especially men
• Older generations really need to start reaching out
• Greg Laurie’s personal experience with generosity 
• Spiritual awakening signs?
• Gen Z wants to go deeper
• Gen Z’s rejection of “fog machine” style Christianity

Gen Z Is the Most Jesus-Curious Generation In Some Time

[00:28:33] Greg Laurie: …You know [Gen Z has] been described by some as the hopeless generation.

…What do I need to know about Gen Z about what I can do to help them?

[00:29:26] Ruslan KD: Yeah, I think for starters, Gen Z is the most Jesus-curious generation as well. 

[00:29:31] Greg Laurie: Why do you say that?

[00:29:32] Ruslan KD: Uh, well, the data shows that almost half of Gen Z is Jesus-curious and Jesus-open.

That doesn’t mean they’re Christian… 

[00:29:38] Greg Laurie: Would you contrast that to Gen X…

[00:29:40] Ruslan KD: Yeah, it was more secular. Yeah, Gen X is way more secular.

Older and Younger Generations Need Each Other

[00:32:00] Ruslan KD: …Every Gen Z person needs a good Boomer in their life. They need someone in their life to remind them that you’re not that unique. You’re not that special. And let me tell you something. You think it’s hard to buy a house? How about when interest rates were 15% or whatever they were in the ’70s and the ’80s? You think it’s difficult now? How about when we had the gas shortage in the ’70s and all these things. Like, we don’t remember these things as Millennials ’cause we didn’t live through these things. But you guys have gone through some serious things—wars and crazy events.

And so I think they need someone that’s older, that’s a Boomer, that can sit there and like, “You’re not that unique.”

…And so I, I’m always encouraging a lot of the Gen Z, like get you a good Boomer in your life. Get someone that you can just sit with and talk to.

[00:32:55] Greg Laurie: I love that. 

…Older believers need new believers in their life to energize them. And new believers need older believers in their life to stabilize them.

[00:34:00] Ruslan KD: Yeah, that’s good.

Gen Z Is Becoming Christian, Especially Men

[00:35:34] Ruslan KD: …And we have, you know, an influx right now of Gen Z coming to faith, especially young Gen Z men that are coming to faith. Swarming back to churches.

[00:35:45] Greg Laurie: Is that still happening?

[00:35:46] Ruslan KD: I think so. I mean, at our churches, there’s a ton of men. I mean, there’s women too, but I see a lot of men.

[00:35:50] Greg Laurie: So still is it more young Gen Z men, young men than young women? 

[00:35:55] Ruslan KD: That’s what the data’s showing.

…I would say on a ground level, I’m seeing 55/45. 55% men, 45% women. 

[00:36:08] Greg Laurie: Cause in the past it was more, it seemed like women would always lead the way in all these things. That’s an unusual shift.

Older Generations Really Need to Start Reaching Out to Younger Ones Without Fear

[00:36:15] Ruslan KD: It’s a very unusual shift. Um, and so I think these folks just want relationship. They wanna be around. More is caught than taught. 

…Just invite them over when you’re doing yard work. Invite them over when you’re running errands. Invite them over, to take them on a walk. Like, they appreciate those simple things, and I think it’s the proximity that matters. 

And I would bet that in the same way, you know, Pastor Chuck wasn’t intimidated by a bunch of young hippies and all these folks around. I would say that we need some of that fearlessness from the boomers to say, “Well, I’m not afraid of you guys… Come over, come over.” 

… So opening up the home to just say, “Come on over. Come hang out”

[00:37:15] Greg Laurie: I love that. So that’s something anybody could do.  Any, like, Christian listening to this could open their home, and when they have dinner, they could invite some younger people over and just say, “Hey, let’s hang out.” 

Greg Laurie’s Personal Experience with Receiving Someone’s Generosity

Greg Laurie: Someone did that for me after I became a Christian. A guy named Mark, uh, said, “Hey, um, come over to my house for dinner.”

[00:37:35] And I’d never been with a Christian family before. I’d never said grace before a meal. And so we had the meal, and then afterwards we had a little Bible study. We’d talk about the Bible. And it was just, like, revelatory to me. This is what I’d been looking for. This is what I’d been wanting. 

And so I came to Christ during a spiritual awakening… Do you think, are you seeing, signs of what could be another revival among Gen Z right now?

Are There Signs of a Spiritual Awakening?

[00:38:07] Ruslan KD: I am on the ground, in terms of our church has doubled. You’ve met my pastor, Pastor Jeff Morris. So within the last 18 months our church has doubled in size. I just spoke at College Ave. Church. Uh, they’ve doubled.

[00:38:19] Greg Laurie: Wow.

[00:38:19] Ruslan KD: And so I’m hearing a lot of churches doubling, tripling, really quickly.

So I do think there seems to be a shift happening. And I think that that is a beautiful thing.

Gen Z’s Desire for Deep Theology, Tradition, and Reverence: Why Some Churches Are Succeeding More Than Others

[00:38:29] Greg Laurie: Can you identify… ‘Cause you travel around and you speak in different churches.

[00:38:33] Like, I’ve noticed this type of church is doubling, then tripling, and this other type of church isn’t.

[00:38:39] Ruslan KD: Oh, that’s a great question. Okay, so I would say the chur- the, this is what makes Gen Z unique, is they want substance. They wanna go deep.

[00:38:48] Greg Laurie: So define that.

[00:38:49] Ruslan KD: They wanna know what the Greek says.

[00:38:51] Greg Laurie: Wow.

[00:38:51] Ruslan KD: They wanna know about the manuscripts. They wanna know, uh, about church history. They want to know and be informed, and so they wanna go deep. 

So the churches that are exploding right now–again, Pastor Chris …he’s preaching an hour hard.

[00:39:08] Greg Laurie: Wow.

[00:39:09] Ruslan KD: There’s not always an opening illustration. There’s not a story. There’s not a funny story. I mean, he’s just, “All right, guys, we’re in Colossians chapter 4. Turn in your Bibles. Boom.” 

I just went to see Pastor Joby Martin out in 1122, one of the, I wanna say top 20 churches in America right now… taking them through the Gospel of Matthew verse by verse: “Hey, guys, Matthew. Boom.” And then he’s taking them through Matthew. 

At Rhythm Church we just finished Joshua. Before that, we spent the year in Acts. So I would say they’re preaching the scriptures. They’re preaching the text. These churches are going long. They’re like 45 minutes minimal…  They’re going deep and there is some sort of applicable step.

…So those are some of the identity markers that I’m noticing.

Gen Z’s Rejection of “Fog Machine” Style Christianity

[00:40:04] Greg Laurie: Anything else? Like, would the styles of worship vary? Would they tend to be more contemporary? ‘Cause sometimes you hear, “Oh, young people are attracted now more to tradition, or to a liturgy, or, or to something else.”

[00:40:18] And to me, a lot of times it’s action, reaction. So, like, you know, the generation before us, very formal, traditional church. So boomers were all… We had the hippie thing. And we invented, effectively, contemporary Christian music. You know, electric guitars, drums.

[00:40:36] But then when you’re a kid and you’re raised in that, now that’s the norm.

 So, you know, we think it’s cutting edge. So “look how cutting edge we are.” 

We have electric guitars, and maybe they think, “Well, we don’t think that’s cool.” 

 And then they react. Then they get older and then their kids, they react. So it’s all these actions, reactions. 

[00:41:02] Ruslan KD:  Yeah. Old, old things become new, don’t they? So absolutely. So that’s great for AV budgets at churches. They don’t care about the fog machine. They don’t need a fancy light show. This is the most marketed-to generation ever. 

… they don’t wanna feel like you’re trying to sell them something. They don’t need an over-the-top production. They’ve seen it all. 

… just give us good, wholesome, reverent worship. That’s what we want. 

And I don’t think they’re angry at the fog machines, but that’s not drawing them in. That’s not cool to them. They just, they want simplicity. And I think that… I mean, you’re seeing that. So with the liturgy and the order and the structure, I think there’s a hunger for that as well.

Get the full interview here.