As the video continued, it wasn’t quite what he had expected. Instead of one of these younger Gen Z preacher-influencers, the man speaking seemed to have something to say based on serious experience and considering. Something approaching wisdom, perhaps. James saved the video, concerned that he would be able to find it again if it proved useful. Then he continued, hoping to learn something that might last longer than his usual high from scrolling Instagram. The man on the screen continued, and James was struck by how well he was able to describe the mailise that he had been feeling those past few days, and increasingly over the last year.
The feeling of not being good enough, of failing to be who he wanted to be, no matter how hard he tried, of not really knowing who he was or what he was meant to do. This feeling, apparently, was not unique, and that was a comforting thought. The preacher, if that he was, continued, now starting to recommend a book (thankfully not an old religious one) which supposed described someone going through this exact experience, and eventually “surrendering” – that was the word he used, a strange one to James – to some kind of God and finding peace in that. Peace, James thought, that’s what I need. A break from whatever this is that’s tiring me out but feels unavoidable. He look closer at the video, no longer listening but trying to figuring out who this man was that captured his attention. If James imagined a church service, this is not someone he would picture at the front. He was an older gentlemen with a long beard. English was not his first language, clearly: maybe he was from somewhere in Europe. Behind him were images James recognised, gold frames with a wooden cross, and elsewhere, a man with a halo.
So this is a Christian preacher, James realised. Maybe it’s not so helpful after all. Yet, as he tuned back into the words, the man speaking seemed to comfortable, so sure of himself – but without that annoying holier than thou of Christians he’d met at school and seen online before. Scrolling back through the video, he thought to himself “maybe I’ll give the book a read. Something to occupy my thoughts at least.”
This story was submitted as part of the King’s Study Phase of the Gen Z Role Models Project. Added April 2026.
“it wasn’t quite what he had expected” (S148) © 2026 by The Gen Z Role Models Project is licensed under CC BY 4.0
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