A Burden for Souls

As this new year of 2026 rolled quietly but surely into our home on Thursday morning, I kept thinking about the lyrics of a song that our youth group used to sing 50 years ago. I literally could not get these words out of my spirit:

A burden for souls, dear Lord, a burden to share.
A love for the lost, dear Lord, a genuine care.
A need to see this world as people dying each day.
An urge to speak with them, to do more than just pray.

I finally searched online to find the rest of the words of this nagging melody and discovered that this song was written by Bill Butterworth as part of a youth musical called “Make It Clear.” As I did my internet research, I quickly recognized other songs from that musical that our hometown Baptist church youth choir performed one summer back in the mid-1970s.

I even recalled the solo that was assigned to me, a part of the lyrics from the title song of the musical, “Make It Clear.” But it was not this title song that impacted me, our choir, or our listeners the most. No, it was the final, altar call song, “A Burden for Souls,” that forced each of us to take account of whether our relationship with Christ was real and important enough to share with others in our daily lives.

Back then, as a teenager, that one song drew a line in the sand for me – a line that has never moved in the past five decades. To be honest, that line of demarcation between the only two eternal destinations has only grown more vibrant and unavoidable over time.

So, as I pondered the incoming new year Thursday morning, the line of eternity once again demanded of me one single question: “Do you care enough about other people to share Jesus with them?”

I dare say that, like most of you, I repeatedly answer yes to that question. So, the next thought to ponder always centers on how much I care and what I am willing to do to share the Gospel message.

Again, like most Christians, as the years progress and we experience more of life, the only answer we can legitimately offer to that question comes from Isaiah 6:8, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

So … in essence, I am still here, fifty years later, asking the Lord for a burden for souls. And my spirit proved that point as it kept bringing back to my remembrance those old lyrics from my youth: “A burden for souls dear Lord, a burden to share.”

To be honest, though, it sometimes feels like we are the only ones in our fast-paced, technology-driven, impersonal, and isolated world crying out to God for that burden.

But the truth is, the army of the Lord is growing exponentially right now in one specific sector of people, and ironically, that sector is comprised of the same age group that first sang those Bill Butterworth lyrics back in the 1970s.

Yes! College campuses across America are reporting dynamic, spiritual revivals among students, from Alabama to Illinois, North Carolina to Iowa, and many campuses in between.

The start of this national spiritual awakening was first noticed at Wilmore, Kentucky, on the campus of Asbury University in 2023; however, this unprecedented college revival has continued to spread. And this September, after the heinous murder of Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk, the Gospel Coalition (GC) and other Christian organizations reported that church attendance and Bible sales, especially among young people, soared all over the country.

The same research from GC shows that this current collegiate generation is so hungry to hear the Good News due to five totally understandable reasons:

Isolation caused by the pandemic.
Disillusionment with leadership.
Pervasive increases in anxiety.
Digital self-projection and self-perfection.
Lost places of belonging.

The thorough explanation of these five reasons by GC makes complete sense, and knowing our gracious, loving God, it is no wonder that what the enemy meant for evil toward this generation is turning them around and pushing them straight to the Lover of their souls.

But whatever the reasons for this spiritual hunger that is spreading across our college and university campuses, there is still one question from the Lord that remains: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?”

The answer to that question might be surprising to some of us.

According to observations from several campus pastors, including Derek Rishmawy and Kevin Twit from Reformed University Fellowship at the University of California, Irvine, even though glimpses of revival have been experienced in the past few years, the incoming freshman class of 2025 seems much more serious about answering that call (It’s Here: Gen-Z Revival Hits Campuses This Fall).

Campus Pastor Wes Smith from Summit College in Durham, North Carolina, concurs with Rishmawy and Twit: “There are definitely more freshmen involved across the board – in Bible studies, in larger gatherings, and in our leadership cohort.”

That is exciting news to this old grandmother with three college-age loved ones on various campuses throughout our state. I am sure this information excites you as well.

But this positive piece of news does not let us old folks off the hook. It is not enough to simply know that young people across our land are growing hungrier to know God and answer the call to serve Him. This news should spur us into action.

After all, we are no longer teenagers singing in our 1970s youth choirs. Time is running out in more ways than one. Seriously –it’s time to do more than hum a nice, familiar tune about salvation.

And I, for one, refuse to let this generation walk this road alone. For me – and I hope, for you – 2026 is high time to answer the call and continue to carry that burden for souls throughout this brand-new year.

As Romans 13:11 reminds us, “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.”

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