DUCK DYNASTY’s Sadie Robertson Huff: It’s Time for Gen Z to Make a Choice
By Cooper Dowd, Staff Writer
Former DUCK DYNASTY star and Christian speaker Sadie Robertson Huff highlighted the younger generation’s desire for absolute truth amid the chaos and polarization on social media today.
Huff participated in the “Gen Z” session of the 2020 Q&A: A Virtual Town Hall event, hosted by Gabe Lyons. The segment focused on relevant issues for people ages 18 to 23, including discipleship, mental health, and social media.
The 23-year-old author said she believes church leaders are not holding young adults accountable.
“I’ve sat in a room with church leaders who I love and adore. … But there are times where I’ve even heard them say things like, ‘Maybe we shouldn’t do a conference at night because that is the night that college kids like to party.’ And I’m like, ‘That’s why we should do a conference that night, because people are going to party if we expect too little,'” Huff said.
“Let them [decide] if they’re going to go with the world or if they’re going to go with God, because you’ve got to make that decision,” Huff insisted.
However, Huff pointed out a distinction in today’s youth. Huff believes today’s young Christians aren’t “lukewarm.”
“It’s pretty hot or cold because it’s actually really cool to stand for something these days,” Huff explained. “It’s cool to 100% follow God, and it’s cool to 100% stay in the world. It’s really not cool to be in the middle anymore. And it used to be different.”
Huff continued: “The world is kind of polarizing; it’s either black or white, and so you do have to choose. I think we do need to say to this generation, ‘choose,’ and let the people who are going to be on fire, be on fire. I think, in that way, we can reach more of the lost than being confused by who’s actually lost.”
Huff, who is pregnant with her first daughter, joined Gabrielle Odom and author Grant Skeldon, who moderated the discussion, onstage.
“I don’t think the next generation is being asked a lot of clear questions,” Odom, a 19-year-old evangelist, offered. “I’ve seen a lot of soft doctrines that have broken my heart as it pertains to teaching the next generation. I’m begging for clarity. I think that my generation is spiraling and going out of control because there are too many tensions to fight through and no one’s giving clear absolute truth. And I think the next generation is craving clarity because I think there are churches that are starving us of it.”
Both Huff and Odom brought up social media’s effect on mental health.
Huff, who is candid about her struggles with anxiety, said that mental health issues are so common today that it’s “almost weird if you don’t struggle with mental illness in some capacity on a college campus these days. It’s sad.”
While Huff said she’s “seen God do incredible things through social media,” Huff did not deny the significant adverse effects it has on people’s mental health.
“There have been many studies that have shown that the like button is directly impacting people’s mental health because what it’s saying is, ‘This is how liked you are. This is how approved you are,'” Huff said.
“It’s created this thing for us where we’re always performing; we’re always filtering, we’re always trying to be the best version of ourselves—and not in a good way. And that is mentally exhausting,” Huff added.
Huff encouraged her peers to find their identity in Christ and stressed: “[social media] can’t give you what only God can give you.”
Huff noted that older Christians, too, have a role to play in the conversation.
“Sometimes, our generation is fearful to ask for a mentor or fearful to ask to be discipled, but we crave it,” Huff said. “And so if you are in the older generation … if you came up to us and said, ‘Can I disciple you?’ I know my answer would be yes every time. And I know a whole lot of people who would agree with me who are my age.”
Odom said the older generation should ask: “Will we fight for Gen Z? Will the church also fight for us? Does the church care enough to bring us into the legacy they are creating? There’s a legacy to be built, and the younger generation is going to take up that baton, and so it matters to equip them.”
Huff urged her peers to “cultivate a relationship with Jesus,” through prayer and reading God’s word.
“There are a lot of people watching Christianity and a lot of people listening to Christianity, but not a lot of people actually dropping their net and following Jesus,” Huff said. “If that does happen, and that can happen in an instant, then we’re actually going to see an amazing thing happen.”
Huff added: “In the next year, will we see our young people continue on that path of depression and loneliness and hopelessness? Or are they going to say, ‘What am I going to do with my loneliness? What am I going to do with my hopelessness? And maybe find Jesus in that.”
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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