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Why Gen Z Is Turning to Christian Influencers

Bryce Crawford, a tattooed Evangelical influencer, built a devoted young following out of algorithms, TikTok despair, and generational loneliness.

In March, Bryce Crawford, an evangelical Christian influencer, came to the heart of Times Square to spread the gospel. The show, which took place in The Town Hall, was part of his “I Love Jesus Tour.” Crawford had packed the 1,500-seat venue with Gen Z fans who were hungry to hear him preach.

The “I Love Jesus Tour” was part pop gospel concert (with worship music from Liberty Collective, a band hailing from the ultraconservative Liberty University), part evangelical church service led by Crawford, and part fan meetup, all bundled in the aesthetics and entrepreneurial spirit of influencer marketing.

When I first arrived at The Town Hall, I was met by a long line of people snaking up the spiral staircase toward the balconies. I thought the crowd was bottlenecking for their seats before realizing that they were waiting to buy something at the merchandise table. I passed somewhere between 50 and 100 fans, many of whom were already wearing Bryce’s merch and had come back for more. The merch style is tailor-made for Gen Z—it’s kitschy, referential, tongue-in-cheek, with the wholesomeness of nondenominational Christianity. “I Love Jesus” in the style of a Waffle House logo. The D.A.R.E.-like messaging of “Crack This! Not Drugs!” with an illustration of a Bible. Just before the event officially started, someone started a cheer, shouting “Je-sus! Je-sus! Je-sus!” like Beatlemaniacs calling Paul out for an encore.

The question of whether a Gen Z–led return to Christianity is taking place in the United States has been hotly contested. This “revival” has been flaunted as a cultural victory for the religious right and debunked as a propaganda myth by the secular left. There is a discrepancy between the statistics and a diffuse, vibes-based sentiment that young people are, indeed, demonstrating an increased interest in the Christian faith. I began to wonder if statistics measuring religious participation, like church attendance, could be used as a litmus test for the Gen Z revival. It seemed to me that the popularity of faith-based content creators revealed something that traditional metrics were missing. If Crawford could get thousands of twentysomethings across the US out of their houses and off of their phones to hear the gospel in person, surely something was going on.

Crawford is an evangelist, a podcaster, an influencer with an audience of over 3 million, most of them Gen Z. He has a goofy, distinctly TikTok Hype House look to him: silver hoop earrings, tattooed thighs, baggy camouflage pants. Picture Joel Osteen with boy-band looks and a ring flash. Allie Beth Powell, 19, a college student who attended the “I Love Jesus Tour” in Atlanta, told me Crawford came out onstage wearing red Lightning McQueen–themed Crocs, which she said made him more “relatable” to her and her peers. Crawford is also the founder of an energy drink brand called “Praise Energy,” which comes in flavors like “Rainbow Candy” and has a friendly, children’s cereal-style mascot named “Zion the Lion.” While he has managed to make himself immediately legible as cool and Gen Z–friendly, his content is gravely serious.........

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