in t er v iew
The Boldness of Gen Z on mission Eden Benton is a 17-year-old from South Carolina who loves Jesus and boldly shares the hope of the gospel with her friends via social media and one-on-one evangelism conversations. She hopes to reach, disciple and encourage her generation to remain obedient to God’s calling, despite the pressures of today’s society on youth. JOHNNY HUNT: Eden, let me tell you why
the gospel with, but didn’t, and I couldn’t get over
Stats
I’m so excited about us having this conver-
that thought.
Around one-third
basically every great move of God involved
JH: I’m so glad the sermon resonated with
of today’s college
teenagers; so, we at the North American
you — where did asking that hard question
students don’t
Mission Board are really excited to have
lead you?
identify with any
you! Tell us a little about yourself.
sation. In our research, we’ve found that
religious tradition,
EB: So many of us are believers, but we don’t
making the newest
EDEN BENTON: It’s a dream to be here! Well, I
really take our faith to the deeper levels that the
generation the one
surrendered my life to Christ at an early age during
Lord actually calls us to. That question of who I was
most likely to reject
a revival at my church, and I grew up in a Christian
bringing with me got me thinking about how God
any and all spiritual
household with a solid home church. But I knew
could take my ordinary life and do some extraor-
institutions.
those things weren’t enough for me.
dinary things with it. He meant for us to go and make disciples of all nations, so I just started to do
JH: Tell us about what happened at the
something about it.
Winter Xtreme event you attended in 6
Gatlinburg last December.
JH: That’s right, He absolutely can. So what did you feel the Spirit prompting you to do?
EB: Well, as you were preaching at Winter
OMM_6-7_Eden Benton interview_final.indd 6
Xtreme, you asked us specifically about who we
EB: That night, I had texted a friend of mine,
were going to bring to heaven with us, and I really
and she’d actually said to me, “Hey, I need some
thought about that. You used the illustration about
advice, and it’s too long to text.” As she was talk-
the casket and being at funerals where friends
ing, the Lord told me, “This is the one.” I felt the
have questioned where their loved ones would be
Holy Spirit tell me that what she was really missing
in eternity. I started thinking about how many times
in her life was something that wasn’t of this world.
I was with a person I had the opportunity to share
I could just sense that she was searching for peace
12/30/21 3:05 PM
