Talbot Seminary – The Lowedown

What are the items on your bucket list?

If you don’t know what a bucket list is, it’s a list of things you hope to do or accomplish in your life-time.

The term “bucket list” was popularized by the 2007 movie “The Bucket List” which starred movie icons Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.

In the movie, Nicholson, who is the wealthy owner of a chain of hospitals, ends up sick, sharing a room with cancer patient Morgan Freeman. They develop a friendship as they both endure lengthy medical treatment protocols.

With death looming, Freeman scrawls out a list of things he hopes to experience before he dies, such as “laugh until I cry” and “drive a Shelby Mustang”.

He quickly dismisses his notion as foolish and tosses his crumpled up list in the room’s garbage can.

Nicholson notices the list and retrieves it from the circular file and proposes that he and Freeman take a road trip to accomplish the things on the “Bucket List.”

The movie is funny and heart-warming as it urges its audience to reflect on what is really important in life.

Dave & Jen at Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox. I crossed this venue off my bucket list on what turned out to be “Yacht Rock Night”. Hence, the unconventional looking Sox hats.

For me, one of my bucket list items is to visit the home ball park of every major league baseball team. Jen has accompanied me to many “friendly confines” on this life-long endeavor in which I now have crossed off 20 of the 30 venues on my list.

Recently, Jen was able to cross off one of her bucket list items by obtaining her Masters Degree.

Checking off this bucket list item has been years in the making for Jen.

Jen actually started a graduate program quite a few years ago when our boys were still in elementary school, but quickly realized that the program she was in was not right for her.

Jen (right) with Grace, a fellow student in the Spiritual Formation program

Later, life circumstances, mostly health-related, prevented her from continuing her pursuit of this bucket list item.

About 5 years ago, Jen started thinking again about developing herself theologically and spiritually through a graduate seminary program.

After much contemplation and research, she determined that Talbot’s Masters of Arts in Spiritual Formation and Soul Care was the program that best fit her personality, temperament and ministry interests.

So for the past 4 years, Jen has been taking classes part-time, slowly and steadily progressing toward her goal.

In early May, Jen finally crossed that bucket list item off her list as she walked across the stage to receive her diploma.

Jen walks across the stage to receive her diploma from Talbot School of Theology – May 2026

I could not be more proud of her. I saw Jen start the program cautiously, wondering if she could handle the rigors of graduate level academia.

With time and mustard-seed faith, Jen’s perseverance has paid off, opening up new avenues of growth spiritually as well as new ministry skills to become even more effective in her ministry to young adults.

Thank you for your prayers and your partnership, which has helped Jen check off a life-long bucket list item!

“Christianity has an image problem.”

These are the opening words from “UnChristian”, the 2007 book by David Kinnaman, President of Barna Research Group, and Gabe Lyons, founder and president of THINQ Media. The purpose of of the book was to highlight the perceptions of the church from those who are unchurched, in order to give meaning and understanding to the decades-long decline in the influence of the church on the culture at large.

In 2011, Kinnaman published “You Lost Me”, which sought to explain why so many Young Adults who had grown up in the church were leaving the church.

For those of us who are older and have been Christians a long time, it’s been obvious that the church’s influence has been waning for years, perhaps even decades. But recently, we’ve seen that lack of influence breach the barrier of the church, as hoards of young people have been leaving the church for one reason or another.

Recently, however, there have been signs of a spiritual renewal in the U.S. and beyond.

You may recall that in February 2023, a routine chapel service at Asbury College in Kentucky turned into a 16-day outpouring of spiritual renewal that impacted nearly 50,000 people, mostly young adults. (See article here)

Many Christians pointed to that event as a possible starting point for the greater spiritual awakening that we’ve spent decades praying for.

Since then, signs indicating a spiritual renewal here in the U.S. and beyond have amplified. We hear reports of new people attending church for the first time and people returning to church after a long absence.

Since the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk, renewed interest in church and Christianity has seemingly increased even more, in the U.S. and beyond.

You may know that Jen has been a part-time student at Talbot Seminary for the past several years, pursuing a degree in Spiritual Formation.

This semester she’s taking an online Theology course and one of the other participants is from the UK. The professor asked the UK student if the rumors he has heard about an increase in church attendance in the UK are true. The student confirmed that from what he’s seen, church attendance definitely seems to be on the rise.

Still, it’s sometimes hard to know the actual substance of what we’re hearing.

Are these reports merely anecdotal, or are they actually reflective of a larger trend of spiritual renewal?

It appears that these stories are not just isolated events but are actually mirroring a larger trend of renewal.

Earlier today, I saw a post on X.com with an image that showed that Bible sales in the U.S. have increased by over 40% in the last 3 years. Downloads of spiritual apps and Christian music are also way up.

Barna research confirms that there are signs of a spiritual awakening in the U.S. The surprising aspect of their research is that this awakening is being fueled by Young Adults!

According to a Barna report released in April 2025, there has been an increase in the number of Young Adults who claim to have made a commitment to Jesus. At the same time, many of those who say they’ve made a commitment might not identify themselves as “Christian”.

While this may seem contradictory, it actually reflects how the younger generation is attracted to the person of Jesus (at least their understanding of Him) but are often skeptical and wary of institutional religion.

A more recent report from Barna in September 2025 indicates that there has been a resurgence recently in church attendance and it has largely been led by Young Adults.

What’s surprising is that contrary to past experience, young adults are going to church more frequently than older generations.

Even more surprising is that young adult men are outpacing women in their spiritual interest.

While there are many reasons to rejoice and be hopeful, there are still challenges. Kinnaman notes that even though Young adults are attending church more frequently, they still are only attending less than 2 times per month and “churchgoing alone does not in itself create devoted disciples…there is still the challenge of shaping hearts and minds to live out their faith beyond church participation.”

This is why we are focused on Young Adults. We seek to fill in that gap – to provide coaching, mentoring and discipleship for Young Adults to help them thrive spiritually and live with purpose.

Thank you for your partnership in ministering to this vital community. Please pray for us and with us, that a spiritual renewal would continue across the U.S. and beyond and that young adults would continue to turn to Jesus as the only one who can fulfill their core needs and desires!