There’s a growing trend on YouTube where complicated topics are drawn in Microsoft Paint-style bubbles and explained in a few sentences. You can thank Richard Ackerman, the Gen Z YouTuber behind Redeemed Zoomer, for that trend.
The Presbyterian YouTuber’s most popular videos fall into that kind of format. In one, he summarizes every major Christian denomination in 12 minutes; in another, he breaks down the different arguments for the existence of God; in a third, he summarizes the core beliefs or major heresies the church has faced.
But continue clicking around on his channel, and you’ll find that Ackerman’s knowledge of these topics goes beyond a paragraph or two of explanation. He enjoys discussing church history and how denominations formed, and he even offers an overview of the overarching biblical story.
But let’s go even deeper, and to do that, Ackerman … plays Minecraft. That’s because, in his “KingdomCraft” series, Ackerman discusses his beliefs on a variety of theological topics, everything from why he’s not a certain denomination to presuppositionalism.
Ackerman offers easy-to-understand explanations of a variety of complex theological and historical terms without sacrificing their depth or truth. Anyone looking for an entry point into understanding these theological terms will be helped by his videos.
Part of his zeal in this endeavor is because he wants to encourage people—and particularly Protestants—to study church history and the early church fathers. He recognizes that while Protestants tend to love reading the Bible, we sometimes aren’t interested in learning from the Christians who have gone before us. Ackerman warns that neglecting our church family history can often lead people into believing old heresies, issues they could have avoided through reading about how the early church addressed similar problems.
Ackerman compliments each denomination’s theological strengths, according to his point of view. And while his other videos explain what he dislikes about some denominations, Ackerman is quite charitable in these more friendly videos.
Many of Ackerman’s videos target Gen Z and an overall younger audience, hoping to spur the rising generations into growing relationships with Christ. In a similar vein, Ackerman encourages Christians to not flee from the world or their denominations when lies begin to circulate. Instead, he encourages us to stick around and protect truth.
Ackerman reminds his audience that he doesn’t have a seminary degree and isn’t a pastor, and he often tells viewers that they should be under the authority of a church. And for those interested in joining a local congregation, Ackerman provides a worldwide map of historical Protestant churches filtered by denomination.
Ackerman is pretty blunt about his theological opinions compared to other Christian YouTubers. For instance, he is forward about his belief in God-driven evolution and his opinions about what the denominations do good or bad. Some may be put off by this frank nature. In another example, Ackerman isn’t shy about his distaste for nondenominational church structure, advocating instead that people rejoin “historic mainline Protestant churches.”
In his testimony, Ackerman attests that he grew up as a “progressive, anti-religious person.” But through the grace of God, Ackerman came to faith, and he’s since spent hundreds of hours reading all he can about Christianity. And on Redeemed Zoomer, he wants to share the beauty of the gospel with others.
We got to speak with Ackerman in an interview late last year about his channel and passion for reaching out to the lost with the gospel. And if his zeal for Christianity is indicative of the first fruits of the emerging Generation Z apologist, we are excited to see what works God has planned for this generation.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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