Revival Continues at Asbury University
Holy Spirit Floods Auditorium
Monday, February 13
On the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 8, spontaneous worship broke out in Asbury University’s Hughes auditorium. This worship has continued for days.
Zach Meerkreebs, pastor at First Alliance Church in Lexington, KY, spoke in chapel about the powerful love of God as part of this semester’s Love in Action series. Meerkreebs talked of the earthly perversion of love and the healing, agape love that an intimate relationship with God brings. After an impactful moment of prayer, it appeared chapel ended just like any other day, but the Lord began convicting students to stay and worship in the love they felt so deeply during the last minutes of worship. God intimately took residence and began revival in Hughes.
Worship bands have been playing for hours on end, switching off team members for rest and sleep or food and water. It particularly amazes me that musically gifted individuals could, off the tops of their heads, play so many impromptu songs and have such confidence in the instrumental play of the music or beats on the drum box. Sound crews adapted to the spontaneous nature of the worship and testimony-sharing breakouts. God never forgets a single detail. As I sat in the balcony on the second day of revival, I watched a woman paint and wonderfully create a realistic depiction of the revival over the span of the two days. I thought of how beautiful and profound that act of worship is and how the different abilities God has given us can be utilized in their most important way-praising our one, true God. The easel now displays the painting on stage, reminding those present of how God-given talents of every variation are exhibited when God’s hands are present.
As revival continued, Asbury faculty, staff, students, and alumni gathered with people from surrounding communities and states to participate in worship and prayer. As God’s church gathered, healing and miracles were present. More than eight courageous students knelt before the altar and gave their lives to Christ: a life-giving occurrence of miracles testifying that when God’s timing is right, he will move.
I have become aware of the revival’s impact in others’ lives and am conscious of how each spiritual individual approaches a happening such as a revival. I found that the revival, in the first few days, awoke many speculations and questions I have pertaining to my relationship with God. Although I believe that how the revival touched me is more private than those who continue to worship in Hughes, I am elated to see and hear about people who have miraculously met with Jesus. Hundreds of individuals of all ages were ushered by God into the auditorium, praying for personal, campus, and national healing from loss, pain, illness, emotional distress, and church trauma. As children roamed the aisles, some kneeling at the altar, students gathered around mothers and fathers to pray for the families of the world. A girl, only 10 years old, stood up to praise God for leading her through her parents because she “felt God here” and “found clarity” that she needed. Other college campuses and churches are sparking worship sessions and revival services across the nation. In innately different yet still God-powered ways, people are becoming aware of the Good News, beginning something incredibly vital to the trajectory of Gospel-sharing. We do not know the end result, but God does.
The revival proceeded into the weekend and now, into this Monday afternoon. Hughes is flooded at all times of day with nationwide media teams and crowds of people. Estes Chapel across the street has been livestreaming the services for the crowd’s overflow. There is no end to the Asbury revival in close proximity, and God will continue moving as long as he pleases, changing lives subtly or with a powerful sweep of revival.
By Madison Anderson, Asbury Student and OMS Communications Intern, Summer 2022
Photos by Alexandra Presta, Asbury Student