This past Sunday at my church, there was a moment after the service when Forrest Frank’s “Your Way’s Better” started playing. Every young person in the room—from age four to 24—started singing along, loudly. It underscored what I already knew: Frank is the biggest Christian music phenomenon we’ve seen in a long time. I quite like his music. My kids love his music—they request it in the car every morning as we drive to school.

Frank’s popularity dovetails with the metamodern “vibe shift” in contemporary culture toward a more earnest, hopeful, but still occasionally ironic/playful posture. For Gen X and Millennials, cynicism still runs strong. For Gen Z and younger, sincerity is gaining traction. Frank epitomizes this. His music and vibe are playful (in a “mullets are cool” sort of way) but mostly he is just joyful and earnest. Fans love this. Digitally exhausted Gen Z and Alpha are hungry for this.

Frank’s infectious sincerity is at odds with an internet culture teeming with toxic cynicism and constant mockery. This came to a fore recently when Frank posted a video reflecting on the mockery he receives online from fellow Christians. In a new TGC article, Cole Mizel offers helpful theological reflection on the problem Frank raises. Should mockery be a mark of Christians online? For anyone who spends much time on X or Facebook, the urgency of the question is painfully clear.

As older Christians gracelessly pummel one another online and don’t hold back in their in-house mockery, Gen Z is quietly rejecting these worldly ways and uniting around the truth Forrest Frank is making viral: Jesus, Your way’s better.