Coach Joe Mazzulla shows us how it’s done. His Boston Celtics are NBA champions, so he knows something about basketball. But his press conferences prove he’s not ashamed to use reporters’ annoying questions to talk about what really matters.
Most of Mazzulla’s players are Gen Z (born after 1996). Think avid gamers, social media, emotional distress. This generation is taunted by the cult of autonomy along with other pleasant captivities of the modern mind. They need something else. Author and speaker Jennie Allen feels for them. “They need to know how to navigate a very complicated world… in a way that is biblical, but also really helpful.”
Allen has seen firsthand evidence that Gen Z is starting to look Godward for answers. She helped lead recent Unite events on various university campuses where hundreds of students professed faith in Christ and received spontaneous baptism. This movement began with the 2023 Asbury revival. This anecdotal evidence correlates with the 2023 General Social Survey showing that Gen Z is becoming more religious. Doug Serra of Vessel Ministry suggests why. “After years of lies from modern culture that materialism and pleasure would lead to a worthwhile identity and a purposeful life, Gen Z is starting to cast off these shackles for a truer look into religion.”
So how do we encourage young adults in this cultural moment? “Every age has had its darkness and its dangers,” Carl Truman writes. “The task of the Christian is not to whine about the moment in which he or she lives but to understand its problems and respond appropriately to them.” That’s what Coach Mazzulla does. A reporter asked him to comment on black coaches in the NBA. “I wonder how many of those have been Christian coaches,” he quipped. You could hear a pin drop. He relished the ensuing silence. In another post-game press conference, the question was if he met with the royal family attending the game. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph?” he asked, smiling. Look closely. Without whining, Mazzulla was responding with better answers about identity and significance. He reminded us of what really matters.
It takes a certain boldness to raise awareness of the presence of God when an easy layup would suffice. The Bible recognizes and anticipates that. “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” Paul writes. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith” (Rom. 1:16-17). To seek answers that stand on truth, cleanse the heart and soul, and empower you to live boldly, then look to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Take it from the growing number of Gen Z believers. They are coming to faith in Christ and for that they are not ashamed.