Bible Reading Challenge 2023

Violent crime is off the charts in our nation. There's a spirit of division and anger, we're seeing severed relationships and family breakups, lawlessness abounds, and when you couple this with issues such as depression, suicide, and drug and alcohol abuse, it all seems so overwhelming.

Where or to what do we turn to in such times? As a Christian ministry we know that we are in a spiritual battle and that this battle requires a spiritual solution. So be honest. When was the last time you turned to the God of the universe and His Word for help and not some societal/secular/government solution? Even if you do look to God's Word, are you doing so on a daily basis?

To help you in this regard, Crosstalk welcomed back Randy Melchert. Randy is a school administrator, a researcher, and a consultant. He's a member of the VCY America Board of Directors and is administering the 2023 Bible reading challenge.

Randy began by noting that NBC News asked the following question 205 times from 1995 to 2022: Are things on the right track or the wrong track? 93% said that no, things are not on the right track.

Looking at this from a generational perspective, "Gen-Z" tends to be the most pessimistic group. Why is that? It has to do with stress as the challenges noted earlier are not simply external issues but issues that are having an effect internally.

Randy referenced an American Bible Society survey on stress. The elders (the "Greatest" or "Silent" Generation) had the lowest stress ranking in the survey. The younger the participants were ("Boomers," "Gen-X," "Millennials," & "Gen-Z") the more stress they communicated.