From Hollywood to the halls of faculty campuses across the nation, actor Jen Lilley is transferring ahead with what she is asking a “imaginative and prescient” from the Holy Spirit.
“I had this religious imaginative and prescient of a shiny pink wave popping up throughout school campuses, accompanied by a hearth and revival of the Holy Spirit,” she mentioned on CBN’s “Religion in Tradition.” “And I used to be like, ‘Lord, what is that this?’ And He gave me the identify, ‘Wake Up Your Campus.’”
Lilley, a “Days of Our Lives” alumna and frequent Hallmark film staple, revealed to CBN Information she is formally launching a four-week school tour, starting March 29.
Whereas 33 school campus ministries have expressed curiosity in internet hosting the marketing campaign, Lilley is nonetheless elevating funds to increase the tour.
All this comes as faculties throughout the U.S. are seeing religious awakenings escape. For instance, this month, a religious phenomenon is underway on the College of Central Florida, the place some 1,600 college students have responded to the Gospel.
Lilley’s upcoming campus occasions middle on her lately launched e book, a 365-day devotional, “Wake Up Your Religion.” The celeb mentioned she is sending kits to the campus ministry coordinators forward of time. Every equipment contains dozens of copies of her e book in addition to 40 pink tickets to be hidden across the campuses, inscribed with messages asking finders in the event that they wish to be entered to win $1,000.
Because the scavenger hunt unfolds — and the ticket finders carry others into their challenges — every step immediately connects college students to on-campus ministry leaders. The “entire objective” of those challenges, Lilley mentioned, is “follow-up discipleship.”
“It actually is sort of a treasure hunt that leads straight to Jesus,” she mentioned.
Lilley’s imaginative and prescient, she defined, was born out of a generational fervor for religious which means.
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She in contrast members of Era Z to the youngsters and 20-somethings of the late Sixties and early Seventies, lots of whom have been captivated by the hippie and free-love tradition that dominated the age.
Disenchanted with the social norms of the Fifties and 60s, the youth of that period turned to illicit drug use and sexual exploration that countered biblical sexuality. Whereas there was no singular cause for the rise of the hippie technology, it was catalyzed — at the very least partly — by a starvation for one thing extra significant, extra substantive, one thing the previous technology, at the very least in notion, lacked.
These misguided choices finally paved the way in which for what got here to be often called the “Jesus Motion,” a religious awakening that swept largely throughout Southern California, offering the Gospel as a solution to the misplaced and questioning youth of that technology.
“I discover that there’s rather a lot in frequent with the ‘Jesus Folks’ and the hippies within the 70s with the modern-day Gen Zs, youngsters who’re in school proper now,” mentioned Lilley. “What the similarity is is that they’re in search of reality in a variety of the incorrect locations, however they’re carried out with gimmicks, they’re carried out with gross sales pitches. They simply — they don’t like division — they actually simply need reality.”
Lilley, it appears, is on to one thing. The information definitely bears out the assumption that youthful Individuals are looking for solutions to vital religious questions.
Within the aftermath of the assassination of Christian activist Charlie Kirk in September of final 12 months, there was an obvious surge in religious conversations and a noticeable swell in church attendance in addition to Bible gross sales, marked by a 22% spike from the 12 months earlier than.
The newest State of the Church research by Barna Group discovered Scripture studying is on the rise amongst Gen Zers and Millennials, with simply shy of half saying they interact with the Bible weekly. And for Individuals adults throughout the board, there was a 12-point uptick within the share who learn Scripture each week, from 30% in 2024 to 42% in 2025.
Nevertheless, there’s a disparity between the variety of Individuals studying Scripture and the proportion who affirm its veracity. David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group, mentioned of the findings: “Engagement is outpacing conviction,” noting the hole “is value being attentive to.”
That’s the reason, for Lilley, discipleship is a essential part of what she is hoping unfolds on school campuses throughout the nation. She referenced the parable of the farmer scattering seed in Matthew 13:19, when Jesus mentioned, “The seed that fell on the footpath represents those that hear the message concerning the Kingdom and don’t perceive it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted of their hearts” (NLT).
“The enemy will come and he’ll attempt to take that seed proper out of their hearts,” she mentioned, referring to sharing the Gospel with unbelievers. “So getting them plugged in [to a local church] is certainly a strategic key and that’s undoubtedly how God’s Kingdom works.”
To be taught extra about Lilley’s “Wake Up Your Campus” marketing campaign or to contribute to the ministry, click on right here. You may watch our full dialog with Lilley within the “Religion in Tradition” episode embedded above.
