You are the jury. Help solve the greatest mystery in modern-day Christianity

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, thank you for your service.

That’s not a metaphor. I mean you. I’m writing this wearing my full-on researcher cap, and

I’m asking you to do what juries have done for centuries: listen carefully, weigh the evidence on both sides, and decide where the truth most likely lies. Your judgment matters to me personally, because it’s shaping the book I’m writing—What’s Become of the Harvest?

The case before us is simple to state, but very hard to answer:

Is Christianity in America experiencing a genuine revival—or is it in serious decline?

Let me present the evidence.  You can watch a video summary: https://bttb.org/harvestupdate

Exhibit A: The Case for Revival

If you listen to Christian voices across the country, the verdict seems obvious: something good is happening.

At the 2025 Dove Awards, Jelly Roll—hardly a predictable spokesperson—said this from the stage:

“The world is hearing about Jesus like they haven’t in decades. There is a revival happening in the United States of America.”

Evangelist Greg Laurie has publicly asked whether we may be on the brink of another Jesus Movement, pointing to mass baptisms, packed worship gatherings, and renewed openness to faith.

Ministry data appears to support that optimism.

Barna reported what it called a resurgence in core faith indicators. Weekly Bible engagement jumped significantly, and roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults now say they are “committed to Jesus”—up sharply from just a few years ago. Much of that growth, Barna says, is driven by younger adults, especially young men.

The American Bible Society echoed that message. In its State of the Bible 2025 report, ABS found Bible usage rebounding after years of decline, with an estimated 10 million new Bible users in a single year.

Then there’s YouVersion. Bible app engagement hit record highs in North America, including nearly 19 million users engaging on Easter Sunday alone. The Verse of the Year—Isaiah 41:10—was shared more than any previous year, reflecting a hunger for hope and reassurance.

Add to that The Chosen, now viewed hundreds of millions of times worldwide, and churches reporting that the series is drawing people into Scripture and church communities.

Finally, consider Baptize America. On Pentecost Sunday 2025, more than 26,000 people were baptized in a single day across all 50 states—the largest synchronized baptism event in U.S. history.

If this were the only testimony presented, many jurors would already be leaning toward a verdict: revival is real.

But a responsible jury listens to all the evidence.

Exhibit B: The Case for Decline

Now we call a very different witness: Pew Research Center. While it's tempting for believers to dismiss data from secular sources like Pew Research Center as biased against faith, consider this: Pew is a rigorously independent, nonpartisan fact tank with no advocacy agenda, funded primarily by The Pew Charitable Trusts and committed to transparent, data-driven analysis that even Christian leaders and organizations frequently cite for its accuracy on topics from demographics to social trends. Their 2025 global study on religious switching draws from massive, nationally representative surveys of over 41,000 adults across 36 countries, using consistent, unbiased questions about childhood and current beliefs—methodology that's peer-reviewed, publicly detailed, and designed to reveal hard truths without favoritism, much like the biblical call to "test everything; hold fast what is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21). 

Ignoring such evidence isn't faithfulness; it's avoidance that could blind the Church to real challenges, preventing us from stewarding the Great Commission effectively in a changing world.

In the United States the Pew study completed in 2025 found, 

•    Nearly 3 in 10 adults no longer identify with the religion they were raised in.

•    The vast majority of those leaving religion are leaving Christianity.

•    For every one person who joins Christianity in the U.S., roughly six leave.

This pattern isn’t limited to America. Pew documents similar net losses across Canada, Europe, Australia, and other historically Christian nations.

Younger generations are driving this shift, fueling the rapid rise of the religiously unaffiliated—the “nones.”

In plain language: far more people are exiting Christianity than entering it. And this isn’t a short-term dip. It’s a long-term trend measured consistently across countries.

The Conflict

So here’s the problem the jury must wrestle with.

•    On one side, Christian ministries report renewed engagement, growth, and signs of revival

.•    On the other, Pew reports sustained, large-scale Christian decline in the US & worldwide

Both cannot be fully true in the same way at the same time. But juries are trained to examine something carefully when stories conflict: motive.

Christian organizations in the U.S. collectively receive an estimated $146 billion a year in religious giving. Confidence, momentum, and visible success matter deeply to that ecosystem. Pew’s researchers? They gain nothing financially from reporting decline or growth. No fundraising appeals. No brand upside either way.

I’m not telling you what to think. I’m asking you to do what juries do. When evidence conflicts, the question isn’t what do we hope is true? The question is: Who has the stronger incentive to misrepresent reality?

Christian ministries reporting outputs? 

Or independent researchers measuring population-level outcomes?

The Question Before the Jury

So here’s the first question before you:

Who do you believe is misrepresenting the truth?

The stakes are enormous. If Pew is right, then many of us—including myself—may have relied too heavily on professionals and institutions to carry the Great Commission, while overlooking what’s actually happening at the population level.

That question—more than any statistic—is shaping the next chapter of the Church in America. And it’s why I’m writing What’s Become of the Harvest?

Now it’s time for you, the jury, to begin your deliberations. Here again is a video summary: https://bttb.org/harvestupdate  

I have already reached my own conclusion, receiving help not only from the Holy Spirit but from a very different and surprising witness (which I’ll discuss next week).

P.S. If you have a comment or prayer request, contact me here: or call me and leave a message at 1-800-811-2387. And be sure to join me tomorrow through Friday on our new podcast Spiritually Fit Today.