During my college years, I thanked God often for my Christian upbringing. Secular pressures pulled at me from what felt like every angle, and without Christ, I’m almost certain I’d have crumbled under the push to chase worldly trends and worldviews.

Uncertainty is an inescapable part of being human. We convince ourselves we have everything figured out — until life throws an unexpected challenge our way, sending us reeling. It’s a humbling reminder of how little we truly know as finite beings. This sense of uncertainty, that nagging “I don’t know what I want or what to do” feeling, which hits especially hard when you’re young.

Today’s younger generations might be facing more uncertainty than ever. In a technologically advanced world where nearly everything seems within reach, finding purpose and meaning feels no less daunting. In fact, this robust access to people, resources, and news all across the globe might only be deepening life’s confusion. Every person longs to live a meaningful life, and youth is the prime time to discover what that looks like, right? Yet, any path we take apart from God and His truth ultimately leads to emptiness.

That’s why it’s so encouraging to see a shift in recent years: young people — especially students — are responding to the gospel in vast ways and numbers. It’s a reminder that we all need Christ, and perhaps now more than ever, He’s drawing a new generation to Himself.

On Monday’s “Washington Watch,” Carter Conlon, general overseer of Times Square Church, shared how he’s witnessed this firsthand. From state schools to Ivy Leagues, he’s spent years ministering to students. “We started in 2023 at Yale,” he told host Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, describing how small prayer meetings exploded into campus-wide gatherings. Hundreds have surrendered to Christ, with “an absolute outbreak of joy” at every stop. Now, at least six Ivy League schools are inviting the same kind of ministry to their campuses.

As Perkins noted, there’s all sorts of “polling data [in which] we see that these younger generations [are] much less inclined toward Christianity than older generations.” Yet, he observed, “there is a hunger.” For many students, though, this hunger meets unfamiliar ground: “They’ve never been to a church before. They’ve never heard the gospel before. And so, they’re not even quite sure how to respond.”

Conlon agreed. He explained how, while there is a desire, “we’re seeing a lot of [political] radicalism in our colleges across the country. … [B]ut a lot of people forget that maybe 80 [to] 90% of the students are just normal kids who just want to have a career. They want to have a family. … They want to have a marriage. They want to have a good living. And they’re not given to radicalism. And they’re tired of this stuff, and they just want to really look at all the alternatives.” So, while the gospel is “a truth that many of them have never heard before,” it’s also likely that many of them have “never been at a place where they’re actually [able to consider] surrendering their lives to Christ.”

Conlon went beyond the gatherings and gospel presentations to highlight the vital role of prayer. “There’s no revival without it,” he declared. “I mean, it’s almost ludicrous to think that we can experience revival without the presence of God or without a dependence on God.” For Conlon, prayer is an urgent plea that says, “God, just come down and defend Your own name. You claim to be the father to the fatherless and the husband to the widow, the defender of the impoverished and the imprisoned.” It’s laying our needs at His feet. In this case, he explained, it’s a cry for God to move powerfully among college students aching for truth, meaning, and purpose.

The impact is undeniable. “When the opportunity comes to come forward, to surrender to Christ,” Conlon said, “they literally explode with joy. … It’s almost like [they think] this is too good to be true.” He finds it breathtaking to watch students, especially those who “live with this constant sense of failure,” encounter true freedom in Christ. “[W]hen they hear about the grace of God, when they hear about the completeness of the cross, when they hear about the love of God for them … the response is almost overwhelming.”

Perkins posed a deeper question: “Do you believe we’re at a … pivotal moment spiritually? When you see this happening on college campuses, is this something … [you believe] could be a turning point for the nation?” Conlon didn’t hesitate. “Yes, I do,” he replied.

“I call it a mercy moment,” he elaborated, “where the collective consciousness of the nation [stops and] says, ‘Why?’” He described it as a wake-up call — a chance for people to ask, “What was wrong with Jesus Christ that we have abandoned him? What was wrong with the blessings that He gave us over 400 years that we have somehow seen fit to walk away from? … [W]here did we start thinking that we could be independent from God without suffering the consequence of it?”

Conlon sees this “mercy moment” as an opportunity, especially under a new faith-friendly administration, that every Christian should seize. When it comes to reaching college students with the gospel, Perkins stressed the power of authenticity. “They know when it’s real,” Conlon affirmed, noting how keenly this generation craves genuine faith from those who profess it.

As Conlon put it, “[T]hey would say, ‘Don’t try to sell me a car that you’ve never driven yourself.’ … [T]he question that they have is, ‘If you claim to have this [faith], how has it worked for you?’ … And they’re just saying, ‘Don’t try to sell me it if it’s not working for you. … And if it is true, and if He is real, how will it impact my life?’” For Conlon, this is the heart of what students seek, and Christians have a chance to answer from a place of authenticity.

As believers, we don’t need to be perfect or have all the answers, we simply need to proclaim Christ, His gospel, and His saving power. In this mercy moment, as Conlon put it, we have a chance to meet students where they’re at. By sharing what Christ has done in and for us, we ultimately point them to the One who holds it all.