Angulus Wilson is a pastor, professor and preacher for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is the 7th Chaplain of Wheaton College, in Wheaton, Illinois, and the president and founder of the Angelos Biblical Institute. He is a main session speaker for the upcoming 2025 Amplify Conference, October 21–22 at Wheaton College, for which Outreach magazine is a partner.
In the following interview, Wilson talks about the quiet revival sweeping through the next generation, how he is encouraging church leaders in evangelism and outreach, and what makes him hopeful in this season of ministry.
I just read an article in The Wheaton Record that there’s a quiet revival happening at Wheaton. And it’s not the only place that it’s happening. The Ohio State University football team [leading a spiritual revival on campus] springs to the top of mind, and, of course, the Asbury [Outpouring] that we had a couple years ago. So what are you seeing as a chaplain as you [witness] all these quiet revivals happening around the country?
What we’re encountering is a tremendous hunger from Gen Z for worship and for pressing in all things Christ. There is spontaneous worship breaking out on campus here all over the place—in the dorms, on the football field, in the classrooms, definitely in chapel, and in nighttime sessions—they are pressing in and hungry for the gospel. So it’s a good time to be having this conversation at [the] Amplify [conference]. I’m really excited about what we’re gonna talk about considering Gen Z and even people deconstructing and reconstructing their faith. The Lord’s definitely doing something.
So what do you think is driving that?
I think with all the problems and the brokenness and the crisis of the world, Gen Z in particular doesn’t see answers. So they’re pressing in now for a higher hope and they’re gaining peace with Christ as they’re discovering or rediscovering who Jesus is. You and I both know that God often shows up in the crises of our life, right?
It’s when life is at its worst that God shines his best. And I bless God for the tragedies and the problems and the storms and the earthquakes and all of the things that we don’t have answers for. God does. What a way to display his glory and his power to a generation who’s hungry for him.
Being a chaplain, you have lots of conversations with students. What are some of the questions that they’re asking and how are they different than the questions that you’ve heard in past classes?
Well, you know, there similar questions that rest on every generation. God, where were you when my mom died? Where were you when my grandfather got cancer? How come you didn’t do this? How come there’s still war in Gaza or war in Ukraine? God, why can’t these people get it together as our political leaders? They’ve got all the same questions that previous generations have had, and they are pressing in because they’re hungry and they want to see the God of the Bible come alive in their lives.
How are you helping to guide them through chapel services, through the conversations that you have with them, through what you’re sponsoring on campus?
Well, believe it or not, the theme for this year is “Living boldly for Christ in a broken world.” We’re preaching through portions of the gospel where Jesus has been faithfully doing miraculous things for people who were broken and hurting. Our president is preaching a series this year on the power of the Holy Spirit. We’re walking through deep layers of Scripture and our worship teams and bands are pressing in around worship moments, and worship has just been high throughout Wheaton College. We are having all-night prayer initiatives.
In fact, just a week from [this interview] it’s alumni homecoming weekend. We’re gonna kick off an Awake service where there’s 24 hours of prayer and hundreds of people already signing up to participate. These are alumni that are coming back. Believe it or not, Jonathan, we are in the scope of the 30-year revival at Wheaton. Thirty years ago is when we encountered revival here. That group of alumni are coming back home and they are tapping into some of the waters that are being stirred on campus right now. I’m excited to be a chaplain at Wheaton College in this season and to see what God is doing. And then Amplify comes on the back of that. So, watch out North America, who knows what the Lord wants to do.
Why do you feel like a conference like Amplify is important, particularly right now in this cultural moment that we’re in?
Well, I think Amplify definitely scratches an itch that most other conferences for pastors across the country don’t touch. We are a clear, distinct call for evangelism, mobilizing the church to reach the masses. And we know that evangelism is the heart of God, right? Jesus says, I didn’t come to call the righteous, but I came to call sinners to repentance. And when the church taps into the mission and the heart of God, she gets mobilized, she can get revived. We can see growth and new initiative. That’s really the heartbeat of God. So the Spirit of God breathes on Amplify, I think for that very reason, that we’re tapping into the mission of God and the heart of God for the nations.
You have a very pivotal session [during Amplify] encouraging people, encouraging pastors. What would you speak to church leaders who feel a burden for the next generation and also maybe at the same time are feeling overwhelmed or tired or just came out of the pandemic. We had to pivot so many things we got tired of the word pivot. How can we have a fresh vision for reaching the next generation, equipping the next generation?
My encouragement for the leaders this year that will be coming to Amplify is I want to talk with them about the battle within. What happens when we get war-torn and we’re facing all the battles of the culture, of the world, of the Evil One, right? How does the pastor guard their heart against leadership lapse and temptations?
So we’re gonna wrestle with that. We are facing some incredible barriers right now as pastors and as leaders in ministry. And we’ve got to be mindful that they’re there, they’re real, and have a strategy.
My heart and my prayer is that when we descend down the mountain from Amplify, we will not only be equipped, we will be encouraged, and we will be empowered to evangelize for the kingdom of God.
Getting back to the next generation topic as it relates to evangelism, I feel like we live in a culture where everyone is proselytizing. Everyone is promoting either their political candidate or their quick fix or the perfect exercise that you can do or, you know, how to be a better parent. [The next generation is] being pitched to all day on social media and on TV and everywhere they go they’re receiving pitches. I feel like this generation is really allergic to being sold a bill of goods. So how do you encourage this generation to reembrace that vision of evangelism, to see it as a good thing, to see it as something beautiful, a gift that they can give to their friends and their family?
Yeah, I think it’s simple for me, Jonathan. It’s the good news. You’re right. People are proselytizing. They’re selling everything, but they don’t have what we have. We have the good news, and it’s the news that this world needs to hear, especially because they’re being saturated in the marketplace with sound bites and “Be angry about this” and “Try this” and “Try that.” But we have the message that changes lives. It’s the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen It’s been working for over 2,000 years. It’s not a new message. It’s an old message, but it’s the best message for the world today. And I believe it trumps all those other messages because it’s the heart of God.
So let’s speak to the people who totally agree with you. They’re like, Man, really want to do this, and maybe feel a little bit afraid or a little bit backwards and just need that push, that encouragement: You can do this. This is something that you can accomplish.
I would encourage my brothers and sisters who are like me in this place to know that you have been called and built for such a time as this. This is the day. This is the hour that the Lord has given to you. In fact, if you’re in North America, he’s brought the nations to you that you might be a good news ambassador. You can do this in the marketplace, from your [cubicle], on your job, or from your beat [in] downtown Chicago, or you can do it online. You are God’s good news messenger for this. And all it is is a call for you and I to unleash the gospel, tell the people just how much God loves them, how much he cares for them. And yes, he still has a wonderful plan for their life. It’s great news, and it’s great timing to be in the kingdom.
As you interact with students and church leaders, how do help church leaders build that bridge to the next generation? How do you help them think through what’s the best way that I can help these young Christians who are maybe young in their faith or young in their passion for their faith, getting ready to go to Wheaton or other institutions? And how can church leaders best help equip them, disciple them, raise them up?
I think the first thing, I go back to what I said about being discouraged in times like this. No. 1, they need encouraging. They need to be encouraged. They need to be cheered on and be reminded of the mission, and be reminded that they have everything they need in Christ to be the effective witnesses that God will call them to be wherever they may be serving in the harvest.
No. 2, after we encourage them, remind them that this conference is going to uniquely equip them so that they can serve all the generations you just talked about and all the folks that sit under them Sunday after Sunday. Everything they will need for their assignment this season, they can find at Amplify.
And then [No. 3], empower them. You are not alone. By them coming together, being in cohorts, studying in breakout sessions, coming together as an Amplify family, they now can look around the room and know that that’s my brother, that’s my sister, we’re in this together. And together again, encouraging, equipping and empowering them to be about the work of the kingdom is I think what we do best at Amplify.
How can you encourage pastors to apply what they’re gonna be experiencing at Amplify and build that community that you’re talking about?
I think one way I would like to encourage them is to know Amplify is more than a conference. It’s also more than an experience. It’s a family. When we gather every year, we are not only renewing relationships and ministry strategies, but we’re all coming in to check in with one another. And that’s a big thing that happens, especially [during] our Tuesday night gathering, where the pastors press in to pray for one another, hear one another’s struggles, hear the word of the Lord, be encouraged, and then they stay in contact with each other. That too, I think, is much different than they would receive at other conferences, where unfortunately you may just be a paid attendant, but you don’t walk away with relationships, resources or the opportunities to talk to one another throughout the year.
Here at Amplify, we do that. And we resource them through the various institutes that we have at the Billy Graham Center. They can be checking in all year round with not just this one experience with Amplify, but the other seminars and conferences and chapel opportunities that we offer here through the college. So that’s definitely one way I like to push and encourage that as being a host for Amplify so many different seasons.
As you look forward to the next season of ministry, what encourages you? What fills your sails with that wind of the Spirit?
I think reflecting on the book of Acts. God did his greatest work in the church when there was persecution, when there [were] problems, when the culture was pressing in on the church. That’s when she spread. That’s when she went out. That’s when she began to grow. So we are now in that season where we are experiencing so many different obstacles. I mean, you mentioned COVID, right? A global pandemic, right? And then now you have the culture wars. And a new generation that’s hungry, rising up. So we are in a great place to experience God, to encounter him, and to be empowered for the work of the ministry. That encourages me about Amplify and where she is at this journey in the church’s walk with the Lord.
The 2025 Amplify Conference in partnership with Outreach magazine is just a week away on October 21st & 22nd at Wheaton College. It’s not too late to register your team to hear more from leaders like Angulus Wilson who are helping churches mobilize everyday Christians to reach their communities with the gospel. Join us in advancing the kingdom of God.