Event organizers are celebrating a big turnout for a worship event at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Stillwater. The event was put on by the UniteUS ministry, founded by Tonya Prewitt, who also spoke at the event, alongside Jeanine Ward, Jonathan Pokluda, and Jennie Allen at the Gallagher-Iba Arena. 5,500 students were in attendance, with hundreds coming up to the altar. Pastor Travis Johnson posted a video of students flooding the altar, writing, “Last night at Oklahoma State University hundreds of students flooded the altar & went all in on Jesus.”

Prewitt also shared about the event on social media. “5,500 students gathered at Oklahoma State University tonight to lift the name of Jesus,” she wrote. “Hundreds stood and made a decision to go all in with Jesus. And later came forward to worship and receive prayer. We are amazed by the number of students who experienced freedom and healing. God is moving on college campuses!” The event received support from other leaders within OSU, including football coach Eric Morris.

UniteUS was founded with the intention of capitalizing on the growing spiritual hunger amongst Gen Z. Gen Z has been reported to be more “spiritually open” than previous generations, though what that exactly means or looks like has been hard to explain through the data. On the one hand, is the controversial “Quiet Revival” report by the Bible Society, which showed that church attendance in the UK was on a huge rise. It particularly focused on the increase in church attendance amongst those aged 18-24, which had quadrupled from 4% to 16%. The report was pulled, however, after the Bible Society admitted that the data collected was not reliable.

However, a Barna Report found that two in five senior pastors is reporting more engagement from younger generations at their churches. The increase is especially prominent amongst young men aged 18 to 35. “The research paints a wide-ranging picture of churches, with many growing younger, some stagnant and about one in ten experiencing overall decline. These findings point to an uptick in younger congregants, but that is not a universal experience of pastors,” said David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna Group. And while not every church is reporting the same amount of growth amongst young people, there appears to be something going on in younger generations that is encouraging to see.