I love chats, graphics, statistics, and data. Good data gives us facts about the way things really are, and I’ve often emphasized that facts are our friends. Whether the facts point toward something we like or don’t like, we should recognize them and act based on the facts. That said, I enjoy the facts pointing in our favor and the data showing positive things for the church and the gospel. We’re at such a moment right now.

For Easter, I published an article about the rising interest in Christian faith for USA Today. In that piece I point out an encouraging number of markers, such as the rising interest in faith among Gen Z men and the surprising resurgence of faith in the U.K. I explain that we’re too early on “to call this a revival.” Nevertheless, “something is stirring in the data — in the culture. Christians would do well to pay attention, live out their faith and step into the opportunity to share with others.”

While this encouragement applies to Christians broadly, I think it has a special significance for us at Talbot. Christians have an opportunity in our cultural moment, but we at Talbot have a specific opportunity. A number of them, in fact.

First, our position as one of the largest multi-denominational seminaries in the world, along with our strategic regional, national, and global partnerships, opens wide doors of opportunity for the mission. From Kyiv to southeast Asia, from California to New York City, and beyond and between, Talbot has footholds of theological training. And we’re establishing more.

As people seek information about Christianity, as they are shown the love of Jesus and hear the gospel, they will need training. We must be ready to meet those God brings to himself in our generation, both where they are and where we are.

If this religious moment becomes a gospel movement, it will require biblically faithful, missiologically oriented, and kingdom-minded institutions like Talbot to be at our best. It will require creativity and flexibility, all while holding clearly and unwaveringly to the faith once and for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). It will require partnerships, like we’ve formed for our Lead the Way Tour, working with Barna and Gloo to share the best and newest data about the State of the Church. It will require prayer, in humble dependence on the Spirit.

And maybe God will allow Talbot to be a part of a genuine revival in our generation.