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But for Madi Prewett Troutt, its simple.
Courtesy of Liberty University
All she needs is a Wi-Fi connection.
At first glance, Troutt, 27, looks very much like your typical social media character.
Since then, her star has risen.
Megan Kay Photography
Her nails are done; her skin is dewy.
To her 4.5 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined, shes positively influential.
She wants to sell them on Christianity as she believes it.
Megan Kay Photography
The saving yourself for marriage and The wages of sin is death key in.
Youd think this could be an uphill battle.
Now I feel like my heart is just burning for America, she says in a recent Zoom.
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How does one use social media to do this?
Typical videos, like montages with friends set to music, haveBible verses in the captions.
Shes Billy Graham with an iPhone and better hair.
Three years into her public persona, Troutts empire seems to be expanding.
She insists that the version she is selling is about female empowerment.
I don’t serve a god who shames people.
Suddenly her Instagram DMs were flooded with requests.
People just taking a chance on me and believing in me.
I wanted to stand for what I cared [about] and valued.
What are the values that I have, the passions that I have, the dreams that I have?
And just staying true to those.
But its withThe Love Everybody Wantsthat Troutt is leaning into her own, carefully curated persona.
The book is unapologetically Christian and a passionate defense of what Troutt refers to as purity.
Am I the problem and am I enough?
Real love is found only in relationship with God.
He is the love you want, she writes.
Halfway through writing the book, she met Troutt, and thus validated her own experiences.
On her wedding day she wore a veil embroidered with the phrase Worth the Wait.
This is true for any sexual acts, not just sex.
Anything done that arouses you.
Whatever that means for you.
The message is an uphill climb.
Wrote another, My church called women stumbling blocks.
So anyway that was obviously my villain origin story.
It quickly became a meme.
Another posted aresponse videoin front of a cardboard box.
I knew that there was going to be backlash, she says.
This has been a part of following Jesus for as long as he’s been here.
People have not understood it and people have persecuted and hated and all the things.
I’ve known that pretty much my whole life that it kind of comes with the territory.
I expect it in a way, and in no way does it discourage me.
In no way does it make me question what I believe.
Shes insistent that even if they arent Christian, everyone can get something out of her book.
All women deserve to be respected.
As Christians, we’re all ministers in some way, she says.
Almost even seeing it as [being] a missionary.
Three years after appearing on TV and launching her platform, Troutt has more followers than ever.
If attention is currency, shes rich.
Every viral reaction video only spreads her message more, which is ultimately, what she wants.
Looking at her feed, you have to wonder: Is this the future of Christianity?
Can the faith live on through a cadre of influencers for God, just like Troutt?
I would hope that it would start a movement, she says of spreading the message of Jesus online.
They’re hopping on whatever the news or the trends or the whatever everybody else is saying."
It may seem an unlikely reversal, but in Troutts mind, it is a necessary one.
Even if those shes talking to may not believe it.
Not yet, anyway.
That is definitely something that I hope and pray for the younger generation.
- Stephanie McNeal is a senior editor atGlamourand the author ofSwipe Up for More!
Inside the Unfiltered Lives of Influencers.
