We couldn't scroll past it anymore.
It started with the news. Story after story. A teenager in Georgia. A middle schooler in Ohio. A college freshman who seemed fine until she wasn't. We kept seeing the headlines — youth mental health in crisis, loneliness at epidemic levels, an entire generation quietly drowning — and something in us refused to look away.
The numbers behind those headlines are staggering. According to the CDC, 1 in 5 high school students seriously considered suicide in 2023. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 34. Over a recent 14-year span, suicide deaths among 10- to 24-year-olds climbed by 62%. Even now, with recent encouraging declines, 2.6 million teens still had thoughts of suicide in 2024 — that's 1 in every 10 kids.
And the crisis runs deeper than suicide alone. More than 42% of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness lasting weeks at a time. Over a third of college students have been diagnosed with anxiety. Half of young adults who need mental health care can't access it. Our youth aren't struggling in silence because they're weak — they're struggling because they feel unseen, unknown, and utterly alone.
"What if a small, tangible object could remind a young person — at exactly the right moment — that they are not alone? That they are loved? That someone sees them?"
That question became Make Christ Cool. We're not a therapy program, a church service, or a crisis hotline — though we deeply respect and support all of those. We are something smaller, and maybe because of that, something that can go places those things can't. A pocket. A backpack. A nightstand. A desk at school.
We believe the Gospel — the real Gospel, not the watered-down, comfortable version — is the most powerful answer to the loneliness epidemic facing this generation. A God who knows your name. A Savior who wept. A Spirit who stays. These are not abstract doctrines. They are the exact truths a teenager at 2am needs to hold in their hands.
So we made something they can hold.
If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988, available 24/7. You are not alone.