Generations of Men

In this episode of the Forge Truth Podcast, we dive into the unique characteristics, challenges, and blessings of the different generations of men—from Baby Boomers to Generation Alpha. We discuss how generational dynamics shape fatherhood, discipleship, and faith. Learn how men of all ages can better connect, lead, and mentor across the generational divide while staying rooted in Christ. Don’t miss this thoughtful conversation about leadership, legacy, and the role of technology in shaping today's youth.

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Email us at forge@forgetruth.com to join the conversation.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;24;10
Speaker 1
Welcome to the Forge Truth podcast, where we are building great men as God defines greatness, which is the movement of men with a mission to help all men realize that the deeply beloved, redeemed sons of the Most High God. I'm your producer, Zach, and I'm here to discuss the issues that affect men the most with our two hosts.

00;00;24;16 - 00;00;32;03
Speaker 1
Doctor Pete Alwinson, lifelong pastor and leader of Forge and Jayson Quiñones, Bishop of Core Faith Church in Oviedo, Florida. Man, welcome to the show.

00;00;32;06 - 00;00;35;16
Speaker 2
Hey, good to be here. And we go. We go.

00;00;35;19 - 00;00;38;24
Speaker 3
So yes, we're excited. We're excited to be back in action.

00;00;38;25 - 00;00;41;08
Speaker 2
Yeah. And we got different generations around this table.

00;00;41;12 - 00;00;57;15
Speaker 3
We do. We do. And I noticed something I noticed as we were preparing for this, you asked our our last guest to stay. Yeah, he's a boomer. So I'm wondering, is that characteristic of the boomer generation? You want to, like, gang up on other generation?

00;00;57;18 - 00;00;59;02
Speaker 2
Exactly. Absolutely.

00;00;59;04 - 00;01;01;08
Speaker 1
They want to. They've always wanted to have numbers.

00;01;01;08 - 00;01;01;18
Speaker 2
Right?

00;01;01;20 - 00;01;04;01
Speaker 3
Yeah. That's right, that's right, that's right. Yeah.

00;01;05;08 - 00;01;11;08
Speaker 1
Yeah. So we Bob, we, welcome you back, to help fight for the boomer team. Yeah.

00;01;11;10 - 00;01;14;03
Speaker 4
Well, thanks. I came prepared.

00;01;15;06 - 00;01;43;26
Speaker 1
but he's right. We're talking about generations today. The generations of men, and what we can glean from that, what that means as far as, reaching them for the gospel. Discipling them. in the family of God. all of those kind of things we're going to talk about. And, but before we do, I want to remind everyone, help get the word out about this show by sharing with a friend, by liking, commenting, and subscribing to the podcast where you listen.

00;01;43;26 - 00;01;52;29
Speaker 1
Okay. And if you don't know about it, we're on YouTube too, so you can watch us. You can. You can see us and not just listen to us if you want. Just look. The Four Tree podcast up on YouTube.

00;01;53;01 - 00;02;16;20
Speaker 2
Yeah, great. Great. Thanks. Well, you know, this whole generation thing is, is, is a unique thing. It's really important we talk about at forge. We talk about the different seasons of a man's life. We talk about emerging young men, pioneering men, and then full throttle men. You know, guys with kids. And both you to Zach and and Bishop.

00;02;16;20 - 00;02;40;23
Speaker 2
You guys are full throttle. And then we talk about seasoned men 55 and above, where a lot of life has already gone by. And we're still in the game, but but there are different generations of men also in the church. And, I think it's important for us to understand something of the generational differences, unique illnesses and blessings.

00;02;40;23 - 00;03;05;03
Speaker 2
And, you know, one other proverb that we tend to talk about at forge a lot is the glory of an old man is his gray hair. If he still has any, and the glory of a young man is his strength. And how we need each other generation. We need the different generations within the church. And, so, I don't know, maybe I ought to lay out just real quick some of the generations that we talk about.

00;03;05;07 - 00;03;36;19
Speaker 2
Real. Yeah, I'll do that real quick. But, you know, when we think of the, it always used to be they call them the Greatest generation. That was the World War II to 25 to born in 1925 to 45. And then the baby boomers, Bob's and my generation, 1946 to 1964. The generation X born 1965 to 1980, roughly millennials 1981 to 1986 1996.

00;03;36;22 - 00;04;08;07
Speaker 2
Gen Z 1997 to 2012 and then generation Alpha Gen Alpha. Are we starting over again? Gen Alpha yeah. 2010 to 2025. So really there I mean, Jimmy Carter just died in December, of 2024. he was 100 years old. So there's not many generation, greatest generation still with us. But the boomers are. We're still around. So what are some what are some uniqueness is about the boomers.

00;04;09;05 - 00;04;10;14
Speaker 2
what do you think, guys?

00;04;10;17 - 00;04;17;08
Speaker 3
Well, one thing I noticed is that you just skipped over the Silent generation. Like they didn't even exist in an invention.

00;04;17;10 - 00;04;21;01
Speaker 1
Well, yeah. No, I mean, that's part of the joke. That type of gene.

00;04;21;03 - 00;04;25;16
Speaker 2
That that's another. Another name. I think for the Greatest Generation.

00;04;25;17 - 00;04;26;26
Speaker 1
No, no, those were separate.

00;04;26;26 - 00;04;32;02
Speaker 3
So what is what? So let me ask you before we talk about the boomers. So why do they call that generation the Silent generation?

00;04;32;09 - 00;04;34;27
Speaker 2
I don't know I don't know why do they.

00;04;35;00 - 00;04;36;11
Speaker 3
Nobody knows. Because they're silent.

00;04;36;12 - 00;05;05;09
Speaker 2
Because they did. Maybe maybe because they didn't really speak up about themselves much and make a name for themselves in any unique and unique way. Yeah. No doubt that's true. That's right. I missed this generation is the greatest generation. And then the silent generation 25 to 45. The greatest generation 1900 to 1925. Yeah, yeah. And typically those were guys that that fought World War two I think.

00;05;05;09 - 00;05;21;21
Speaker 2
Right. And and you know, there's some interesting, distinctive about what was influential in all of those generations. yeah, I, I don't know, I'm probably the most ignorant on the silent general. Well.

00;05;21;23 - 00;05;42;20
Speaker 1
So, baby boomers, this is my take on I'm millennial, but baby boomers, they grew up in a time of kind of like the heyday of America. Right? We had, World War two was over, and, America is absolutely in its ascendancy as far as world power goes. Right? Economically, we're doing amazing. you know, we're a superpower at this point.

00;05;42;23 - 00;06;04;17
Speaker 1
And so they grew up in, you know, the 50s, which nowadays, if, you know, people are looking back, nostalgically, they're thinking about the 50s. And so, it was just a it was an exciting and fruitful time to be alive. And so that's the circumstances that they grew up in. And, as a consequence, there are a lot of baby boomers.

00;06;04;17 - 00;06;09;16
Speaker 1
I think for a long time it was this, like huge bulge in the generational numbers.

00;06;09;17 - 00;06;13;14
Speaker 2
Million or I've heard I've heard as high as 78 million, I don't.

00;06;13;14 - 00;06;25;24
Speaker 1
Know, but yeah, yeah, yeah. and so that's when I think of the baby boomers, I think of that, growing up post-World War Two and kind of like, you know, a society that is in its ascendancy.

00;06;26;14 - 00;06;55;20
Speaker 2
yeah. Yeah. Right. So it was kind of a unique time. I mean, you know, the the baby boomers were like, let's make it happen, type II people. And, you know, the really after World War Two, there was, the British Empire basically fell apart. The French were a mess. America was the, superpower. And then Soviet Union was on the rise because Soviet Union, we downplay a lot of Russia, and for various reasons.

00;06;55;20 - 00;07;09;12
Speaker 2
But it was the Soviet Union that really defeated the Germans in a big way. Now we helped them, and we did, too. But, they were the other superpower. And China was, not on the rise so much yet.

00;07;09;14 - 00;07;26;01
Speaker 3
So so I would I would say this, this is probably the the weakest area of my life, any kind of history. You know, you say you love history. I don't I don't know if that's a generation X thing that we just. But I just know me, I, I don't I don't I can't really tell you what defines generation X.

00;07;26;01 - 00;07;32;12
Speaker 3
You know what like, makes them, special other than I'm part of them. Yeah. So I'm not sure.

00;07;32;16 - 00;07;39;12
Speaker 2
That your generation and, What what can we learn about generation X?

00;07;39;14 - 00;08;04;05
Speaker 1
Well, you know, Gen X is at a time, you know, like when I think of music, like, that's that's where alternative rock and grunge and everything are coming from, right? So, punk music and all that kind of thing. So. So these are the people that wanted to distance themselves from the baby boomers. And, and so it was kind of more like this alternative generation, right, that they're not as interested in, like being business moguls or that kind of thing.

00;08;04;05 - 00;08;05;28
Speaker 1
Right? They kind of want to,

00;08;06;00 - 00;08;07;15
Speaker 3
Challenging the norms.

00;08;07;18 - 00;08;08;02
Speaker 1
Exactly.

00;08;08;09 - 00;08;10;16
Speaker 3
Rebels, you know, rebelling against.

00;08;10;18 - 00;08;19;15
Speaker 1
Yeah. Things the the Berlin Wall falling down. Right. That's that's Gen-X, you know, Nirvana and, all those kind of things. Yeah, yeah.

00;08;19;17 - 00;08;46;22
Speaker 2
There really was I and what, what I know is a lot of the Gen X guys who were on my staff, my Gen X pastors, assistant pastors, they struggled a lot with their dads. because their dads, as boomers were out busy and away and not really that involved. And so a lot of a lot of them had, had a struggle with the, with the male leadership above them.

00;08;46;29 - 00;09;13;08
Speaker 2
And they struggle to be submissive in leadership under my leadership. And, and yet I sort of had to carry a father role, with them, too, even though they tried not to look at me as a father, they still did. And so they struggle with me. anyway, so that's Gen X, Baby boomers, Gen X, and then the millennials come about 81 through 96.

00;09;13;11 - 00;09;15;05
Speaker 2
My kids are all millennials, right?

00;09;15;07 - 00;09;43;04
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I'm a millennial too I'm kind of an older millennial. So I'm I'm one of the oldest millennials which sometimes is even like separate out into its own little micro. generation. because really we are the ones that experienced, in our when we were children, the shift from, analog to digital. So like, so I grew up in school without an email address, without being on the internet.

00;09;43;04 - 00;10;03;11
Speaker 1
And then in, in high school is when you get an email address, you get the internet and that kind of thing. And so we are natives to both, a non-digital world and a digital world. so, so going through that transition as kids and then, then our defining, like moments are like 911, the 911 attack happened when I was in college.

00;10;03;25 - 00;10;23;17
Speaker 1
for other millennials in high school or middle school. So that's kind of like the defining moment in the Iraq war, things like that, social media, all of that. you know, for older generations, like Gen-X or boomers, social media happened when they're already adults, you know? Yeah. But for us, social media, we were the first generation where that was part of our childhood.

00;10;23;20 - 00;10;27;09
Speaker 2
When I was a kid, I had a transistor radio. Bob, did you have a transistor radio?

00;10;27;09 - 00;10;30;02
Speaker 3
Yes. Yeah. So I'm at five transistors.

00;10;30;04 - 00;10;52;26
Speaker 2
Man. Yeah. And I remember that was a big deal, you know, and, and sort of the kind of a defining moment for me growing up was my dad was a World War two vet, so that still played a big part in that. And then in my younger years, Vietnam War, the Korean War thing was sort of there, but that wasn't as influential for me because my dad was a Korean War veterans of World War Two.

00;10;52;26 - 00;11;09;01
Speaker 2
That. But Vietnam influenced a lot of growing up. And, and, the moon landing was a big deal as a kind of a defining moment and supposedly 69. But, you know, I'm still supposedly.

00;11;09;03 - 00;11;09;20
Speaker 1
What does that mean?

00;11;09;23 - 00;11;14;23
Speaker 2
Well, did it really happen? We had to do what we had to do.

00;11;16;03 - 00;11;19;11
Speaker 1
oh. Like what? What what's the over under on if it happened or not.

00;11;19;11 - 00;11;43;08
Speaker 2
Be okay. Okay. Well, the bottom line on that is we only have the ability right now to go one tenth the distance to the moon that we did, supposedly in 1969. And, it, it, it is there are a lot of people who talk about conspiracy theorists. and I talked to a guy who's who works. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm nuts.

00;11;43;08 - 00;11;44;04
Speaker 2
I know I don't.

00;11;44;05 - 00;11;52;14
Speaker 3
I don't think you're nuts. I'm just I'm. But I'm assuming it all. There were a lot taking notes. I can call you a heretic. I'm just. I'm just,

00;11;52;17 - 00;12;08;17
Speaker 2
But that was a big deal when I was in 1969, the national jamboree. And, you know, Frank Borman was broadcast to all of us Boy Scouts. And so that was that was a big deal. But it I mean, it's possible. Yeah. We had to talk about conspiracies in another part.

00;12;08;17 - 00;12;09;23
Speaker 1
Oh, that'd be fun. Yeah.

00;12;09;26 - 00;12;30;22
Speaker 3
That's weird. Yeah. Well, I know for for me, growing up, I think one of the, one of the biggest memories I have in elementary school was when the challenger exploded. Yeah, right. Because we were all watching that. Yeah. And it was. And it was like everybody was like, what just happened? I know, you know. So that was a I think that that was one of the biggest things.

00;12;30;22 - 00;12;50;19
Speaker 3
And you talked about like the transition, when I was probably 13, 14 is, you know, obviously we didn't we weren't a fluent. So I don't know, I could have been a little bit behind the ball on this, but we got to Nintendo and I was like, whatever, you know. So it was not I wasn't super excited about any of that.

00;12;50;25 - 00;13;16;01
Speaker 3
when we started, when I started ministry, I remember checking emails like once a week. It was. Yeah. And like, I sent you an email and I'm like, okay, so. But now, I mean, I'm checking emails once, once every ten minutes, you know, or something like that. I mean, I get notifications. So definitely those transitions. But I think one of the, one of the major markers was that the challenger, that's probably one of the biggest things that I do that I do recall.

00;13;16;02 - 00;13;16;12
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00;13;16;19 - 00;13;27;21
Speaker 1
And Gen Z is what came after millennials. and they're the current youth of today. When people think of, millennials that they are they're always thinking of like high schoolers and college students. I mean.

00;13;27;21 - 00;13;31;01
Speaker 2
They're 30, they're 30, 30 and 40 now. 34, 34.

00;13;31;02 - 00;13;51;02
Speaker 1
It's really Gen Z who are the young people today? Right? And, they are the ones that fully grew up in the digital world. Right? So they have cell phones, from a very young age. And the way they interact with each other is, is mediated through digital culture. So they're on social media and cell phones and the internet.

00;13;51;02 - 00;14;15;21
Speaker 1
And that's a huge part of what it's like to grow up as Gen Z. And then the things that they'll be experiencing in their life, like with AI and stuff like that, they're going to be the ones that are the digital natives to to those kind of things and to the older generations. It's going to get crazy how little they understand, really, the the technological possibilities of the future.

00;14;15;23 - 00;14;19;16
Speaker 1
And Gen Z is going to be a lot more, native to that.

00;14;19;18 - 00;14;25;19
Speaker 2
I like it, I like it. And then what about generation Alpha Gen Alpha. Yeah. Those are my grandkids.

00;14;25;19 - 00;14;26;19
Speaker 1
Yeah. Those are my kids. Yeah.

00;14;26;20 - 00;14;29;02
Speaker 4
Those are my Sunday school students okay.

00;14;29;02 - 00;14;30;14
Speaker 2
You're Sunday school students.

00;14;30;14 - 00;14;47;25
Speaker 3
Josiah's generation off I was actually it's funny I was looking this up the other day before you sent this out. And I was like, what generation are you? And I was I was excited about Generation Alpha because I'm like, yeah, that's pretty great. Get to start over now. We just need to pray. This generation starts right, you know, makes things the right way.

00;14;47;26 - 00;14;57;20
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Anything else that we should know about Generation Alpha? They're, you know, they're babies. they're kids.

00;14;57;22 - 00;15;03;10
Speaker 3
Well, you know, I mean, they're like Zach was saying. I mean, they're definitely raised with all of the technology.

00;15;03;10 - 00;15;13;10
Speaker 2
Yours is not a baby, but my up to 20. So 2010 to 2025, right? Yeah. So, I have two that are babies still. Yeah.

00;15;13;12 - 00;15;36;17
Speaker 3
Yeah. Just size 11. Yeah. So yeah it's it's a, it's different, you know, I mean you look at the way the kids, they don't they don't play like we used to. They don't, they don't engage like we used to. I mean even you look at them in conversation, I mean, his friends come over the other day, they all like a bunch of people came over for New Year's Eve, and the kids sat down on the couch and they all grabbed their devices and they were going to play together.

00;15;36;17 - 00;15;52;22
Speaker 3
And I'm like, okay, first of all, are you guys playing together? That's the question, you know, because sometimes they're like on their devices, they're in the room and they're not playing together. and then, you know, they're having conversations on these devices, sitting next to each other instead of going outside and grabbing a football or something like that.

00;15;52;22 - 00;16;25;20
Speaker 2
So definitely different is okay. So let's talk about that. So within this idea of, fatherhood and grandfather hood, what are some things that we need to consider in dealing with different generations as fathers and grandfathers? that that one is to make sure, as you said, I'm, that there's more relational interaction, you know, what other thing I know is that teenage girls are very, very influenced by social media.

00;16;25;20 - 00;16;44;12
Speaker 2
Well, all all kids are, all youth are, but teenage girls are particularly vulnerable to influencers. And, so at what age do you think that, should, should dads and and moms allow their kids to use social media?

00;16;44;14 - 00;17;09;20
Speaker 1
Well, I just for 2040, I just read a book called The Anxious Generation. And his recommendation in that was, kids should not get a cell phone until, ninth grade and they shouldn't be on social media until 16. Wow. Yeah. He says it's that, there's so much potential for social media to be damaging, to, individuals before that age that it's just too dangerous.

00;17;09;24 - 00;17;25;25
Speaker 2
The Anxious Generation is the book, and it's a it's a good book. I have it too. And we need to bring that up because there's so much anxiety that, that Gen Z, our experience and our millennials experiencing that same level of anxiety, or is it mostly Gen Z?

00;17;26;02 - 00;17;47;15
Speaker 1
So no, millennials aren't. And, you know, they're all addicted to their cell phones for sure. Yeah. but it's because, you know, by and large, they, they grew up with the during the transition time into, into this stuff. And so it wasn't there when they're like forming these friendships. So like I played with my friends like in real life we actually played together.

00;17;47;29 - 00;18;08;01
Speaker 1
and then and then we started to get technology and social media into our lives. Gen Z grew up with this. And so they didn't have that period where, like, there wasn't a magical device in your hand at all times, you know? And so the the allure of that is just it's a dopamine machine. And it's really hard for, a young developing mind to overcome.

00;18;08;24 - 00;18;32;01
Speaker 1
Yeah. So part of the challenge I think is you know, the world has changed and it's not going back as far as like these things. And so what is the balance between trying to, give the next generation some of the things from our own childhoods? Right. There were great, but like, no longer really describe the world.

00;18;32;01 - 00;18;49;14
Speaker 1
You know, like, people don't go and throw the football out, you know, and come home only when the dinner bell is rang at home, you know, like, that doesn't happen by and large anymore. Should our push be like, well, let's just make that happen for them. Or how do we bring some of our own values into this, like new world?

00;18;49;16 - 00;18;50;25
Speaker 1
That's that's my question for you guys.

00;18;50;25 - 00;18;55;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. What do you think? What do you think?

00;18;55;08 - 00;19;10;05
Speaker 1
Like you can you can tell your kid like, no, you're not gonna have a cell phone and you're not going to have social media until 16 or 18 or whatever, but every single one of their friends will. And so now you've just, forced them to be a social pariah in some ways, you know? So what do you do about that?

00;19;10;05 - 00;19;10;12
Speaker 1
It's.

00;19;10;12 - 00;19;29;07
Speaker 3
I mean, it's tough, you know? I mean, with Josiah, you know, we have he has his phones. We can communicate with his friends and communicate with us. It's not, you know, it's only on Wi-Fi, you know, type scenario. I have every single block on planet Earth, so he can't do anything except text. Certain people and he. There's certain games that he can play and stuff like that.

00;19;29;07 - 00;19;47;29
Speaker 3
So, I think that's something that we've done. We've also put limitations on like the time. Okay. So he's he can play for two hours or whatever it is. Like that's it. during the week, just like, hey, man, you got schoolwork? No. Can't get on any of that on the weekends. You can do that. So just, you know, try to do that.

00;19;47;29 - 00;20;15;27
Speaker 3
But realizing also, you know, there's the challenges teachers will we'll do assignments where these kids are required to use a phone to take pictures or, you know, to communicate with each other. So then you're stuck in a situation, which is the reason why we decided to use one of my older phones for that. So I think one of the things is realizing, like you said, the technology is what it is, and we have to grow with that, with the with the boundaries and the protections.

00;20;16;00 - 00;20;35;22
Speaker 3
But I do think that there also has to be something where there needs to be that ability to engage with each other, whether it's throwing a football, you know, and what I realize is that the moment you say, hey, we're not doing that, he'll be like, hey, let's go throw the football. So it's just you just take that away and they want to throw the football.

00;20;35;22 - 00;20;58;21
Speaker 3
It's not like they don't want to do those things. But you, you said it. It's this dopamine that is is happening. So it's this feeling that they're experiencing. So why get up from playing, you know, a PlayStation or get off my phone. Well if you have to then you'll get out there and do those other things. So I think it's creating that balance where you as a dad or as a parent are intentionally or a grandparent.

00;20;58;27 - 00;21;16;21
Speaker 3
You're intentionally engaging them and making sure they know how to engage because that's the other thing. You know, a lot of kids don't even know how to engage, you know, my wife in a recruiting environment, you know, millennials, will come in and they don't, you know, our Gen Z, they'll come in and they don't even know how to interview.

00;21;16;26 - 00;21;38;16
Speaker 3
They don't know how to engage in conversation. Right. So they're used to texting one of the one of the guys that he was a pastor locally, and he was with his young adults, and he used to he recognized that, or he was mentioning to me his young adults would come into their young adult meetings and they would literally sit on their phone and text each other across the room instead of talking.

00;21;38;19 - 00;21;54;07
Speaker 3
So, I mean, I think that it's us creating that space where I know you got to talk to each other, you know, we've got to we've got to engage and dialog. And so and even helping them with their friends where it's not always, hey, we're going to come over and play a video game. So we're going to come we're going to actually play.

00;21;54;07 - 00;22;17;15
Speaker 2
So fathers need to exercise leadership within the family and get get ownership with their wives. about that. I mean, you know, this when we talk about the purposes of a man, we're leaders, worker providers, warrior ambassadors. This is an area of leadership that a man has to work out. And my my wife and I didn't have to raise our kids with that struggle.

00;22;17;15 - 00;22;44;19
Speaker 2
But we did with video games because those were big. And we just we downplayed them. We limited the time and focused more on outside stuff. And, you can do that. You can say no to your kids. Yeah. In fact, we must say no at times. You know, technology is a great servant, but a horrible master. Yeah. and we need to keep it in the servant role.

00;22;45;04 - 00;22;46;23
Speaker 2
Good boy. All right. What else?

00;22;46;23 - 00;22;48;16
Speaker 1
What do you think about?

00;22;48;18 - 00;23;16;14
Speaker 4
Well, I remember, that transistor radio that I had. Yeah. My dad made the mistake of, buying me a reel to reel tape recorder. It wasn't a seven inch. It was a five inch. It was portable. And, I became hooked on the thing not to do anything productive with, but to record songs off the radio and put them on reel to reel tapes and play them back to myself in my room.

00;23;16;16 - 00;23;41;10
Speaker 4
And if it hadn't been for swimming, I think I would have grown up just listening to music in my room. The same way that kids today can spend all their time on video games. I think it's interesting. Each each generation has their own distractions. and I think that, you know, the what does it say in, a music man, I don't mind is the devil's playground, Jim.

00;23;41;13 - 00;24;14;26
Speaker 4
And I think that, you know, you need to keep your kids engaged in, in fruitful endeavors, whether it be sports, whether it be, Bible studies, even at a young age. You know, I know that I challenge the kids in my Sunday school class to memorize verses, and I challenge them on it. And all I know is that that's some time that they're spending at home where they're not playing a video game or they're not recording something and and playing it back on their MP3 player or whatever it is that the technology is allowing them to do today.

00;24;14;28 - 00;24;26;05
Speaker 4
But I know that, parents have that same opportunity as do teachers at school to take and steer and direct children into doing things that are more fruitful with their time.

00;24;26;07 - 00;24;42;24
Speaker 2
That's good. And that's just good parenting isn't it? I mean, I think that a lot of parents don't understand how addicted they are to social media and the dopamine hits they're getting. and so, so and they're happy with quiet kids.

00;24;42;26 - 00;25;01;10
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean that's, that was we as you're saying that and that's another thing to as parents, it's so easy because you want to do other things. Yeah. And it's so easy to say, hey, just play on this. And they play on that and they're not bothering you and you're able to focus on whatever it is you want to do, whether it's productive or whether it's just a waste of your time as well.

00;25;01;13 - 00;25;29;09
Speaker 3
So, you know, being active in that, I think, is imperative for parents, you know, to just know, like, hey, I can't just give this to my kids. So they're just quiet, right? Because that that is inevitably hurting them. It's not helping them. and it teaches them I, you know, I was I looked up Proverbs 18 one one, one of my favorite verses, but a man who isolates himself, seeks his own desire, rages against all wise judgment, you know, and as Bob was talking, I think that's every generation, right?

00;25;29;09 - 00;25;47;05
Speaker 3
Like, we look, I remember somebody said, you know, we get down on, on millennials or whatever, but the millennials are just like Gen Z, you know, they every generation is sinful. Every generation has the same thing. We all want to isolate ourselves and just be to ourselves and just do our own thing and not have to, you know, we don't have to deal with folks on stuff.

00;25;47;05 - 00;25;56;28
Speaker 3
I think that that's in us, you know, too. So to want to do that, and so we as parents in this, in this fight, we got to make sure that we don't let our kids isolate themselves. And, you.

00;25;56;28 - 00;25;57;07
Speaker 2
Know.

00;25;57;10 - 00;26;18;03
Speaker 1
Totally, totally. now let's talk about the baby boomers for a second, because I think they have their own unique spiritual challenges. Yeah. As well. from my perspective as a millennial, one of that is, you know, baby boomers are kind of this age that is retiring and, living in retirement. And half of the wealth of the world is owned by the boomers.

00;26;18;03 - 00;26;52;20
Speaker 1
Yeah. So they are, they're, wealthy, and they look at all the other generations who who, have less power, because boomers are in positions of power, have less power, less wealth, less opportunity. And, the challenge for them is how to transfer that power and wealth. Well, because as the baby boomers, you know, start to retire and start to, pass away like these things that they built, like these businesses in these companies, these are going to be transferred to the next generation.

00;26;53;02 - 00;27;03;00
Speaker 1
but there's political power. Yeah, political power, all of these things. So how do they pass those reins? Well. Right. Yeah. Instead of just kind of trying to hold on to those things for as long as possible.

00;27;03;03 - 00;27;23;04
Speaker 2
That's a great point. And we say it forwards don't retire rewire. You know. So we're kind of saying the baby boomers stay in the game in some respects. Whereas I have some millennial friends who say, what are the baby boomers going to get out of the way and give us your roles? Well, I you know, that's an interesting dialog and debate, but you're you're right.

00;27;23;04 - 00;27;35;10
Speaker 2
We do need to, to, to to train leaders to follow us, but not just wholesale give up our roles. we need to let them in and do that with us.

00;27;35;24 - 00;27;47;02
Speaker 1
like, look at our politics. Right. So the the last two candidates from the election, right. Both of them are in their late 70s or 80, right? Nancy Pelosi is who knows how old, you know, like older dirt.

00;27;47;02 - 00;27;49;19
Speaker 2
And she's older than me, you know for sure.

00;27;49;19 - 00;27;57;13
Speaker 1
So if they don't make this transfer, well, it's gonna happen all at once. And not, well, you know, and that's that's gonna be an issue.

00;27;57;15 - 00;28;20;07
Speaker 2
You know, a couple other thoughts, and we're not we're coming to the end of our time. But, you know, we need two thoughts I have particularly. One is that we should not be just attacking the other generations in the body of Christ. You know, I mean, millennials do have a different work, focus than we do. And they they work differently than boomers do.

00;28;20;09 - 00;28;45;01
Speaker 2
And so let's stop the criticizing of, of of each other and let's love each other generationally. Yes. Let's understand each other and disciple each other and find out by listening to each other how we can properly motivate and disciple. And I guess the second major point flows right out of that. And that is the older generations really are responsible for going after the younger generations.

00;28;45;01 - 00;29;12;02
Speaker 2
Yes, in discipleship and and when I was growing up as a boomer, our way of mentorship was go after those guys who who are ahead of us and ask for help. What I've found is that is that X and millennials, and particularly millennials, won't necessarily come to us and say, hey, could you mentor me? But if I go to them and I say, hey, I'd like to get to know you good.

00;29;12;02 - 00;29;35;14
Speaker 2
I spent some time with you and they go, yeah, okay. And so so we older guys are responsible, I think, for going after those younger men and, and becoming their friends and learning to listen to them, and learn from them. And you younger guys and older guys are motivating to me. And we need to keep that in the body of Christ.

00;29;35;14 - 00;29;36;29
Speaker 2
I think that's so important.

00;29;37;02 - 00;29;54;04
Speaker 3
Yeah. And I would I would just say it to the to the younger guys as well. Like like you said, it's it's a lot of times they won't come and ask for help, but I think it's because they don't really realize the value that there is in those older guys that they really need them, you know, to seek out wise counsel.

00;29;54;04 - 00;30;18;12
Speaker 3
These guys that are older, they've been around the block a few times. And so I encourage younger guys to to seek out the older generation and, and, you know, really sit down and pursue wisdom, in them. as far as from a church perspective, I think the church does a disservice by just just becoming completely contemporary and forgetting our roots and where we where we have come from.

00;30;18;12 - 00;30;47;17
Speaker 3
We don't want to do that. I heard you praying today when you were wrapping up and you were talking about Augustine and Luther and and Calvin and how all of these men mind these truths that are found in the gospel, and that's generation to generation to generation. And so I would just encourage the younger man not to forget that you need these older guys that may seem stubborn and may seem harsh, may seem rude, may seem like they don't care, but, you know, go ahead and and ask, you know, knock on the door and.

00;30;47;19 - 00;31;17;05
Speaker 4
Well, you know, I'm a baby boomer and I just spent, the last four years of living with my father in law, who was part of the silent generation, and, he served in Korea, in the Navy. He was, who, cleared the beaches at Inchon for, the, the invasion there. he became a pastor and, he served a church for many years and including teaching in Christian education.

00;31;17;08 - 00;31;39;08
Speaker 4
And, the four years that he spent with me were, invaluable. I mean, up until the time he came to live with me, he was a decent man who I really had very little interaction with. But when he moved in, you know, I spent time with him every day, and, it, it really was an enriching experience for me.

00;31;39;18 - 00;32;05;12
Speaker 4
it, helped me put an awful lot of things in place regarding, his service, his, knowledge of the Bible and, his, knowledge of my wife even helped, you know, picking his brain on, you know, how best to serve her. And, so my my encouragement to the, to the Gen-X and the millennials and Gen Zs would be to start picking the baby.

00;32;05;17 - 00;32;18;05
Speaker 4
The brains of the baby boomers is, as we get older and, and start to, start leaving this, this mortal coil.

00;32;18;08 - 00;32;36;25
Speaker 1
That's great. Great. Well, I want to thank everyone for listening to this episode of the Forge Truth podcast. If you want to join the conversation you can email us at forge. At Forge truth.com. We would love it if you would, leave a comment like subscribe and share this show with a friend. Help get the word out about the Forward Truth podcast.

00;32;36;28 - 00;32;38;23
Speaker 1
People you leave, challenge for a man today.

00;32;38;25 - 00;33;02;05
Speaker 2
Yeah. Thank you, men, for being around this table. And, gosh, I think the challenge is, is straightforward. We need each other, and, and we need the different generations in the church, and, and so let's love each other. Let's get to know each other. Let's iron sharpens iron each other. as the men of the church goes, so goes the church.

00;33;02;05 - 00;33;17;11
Speaker 2
A church never gets beyond the quality level of its men. And we and we need each other of all generations.

00;33;17;13 - 00;33;28;06
Speaker 2
To.