A little over a week ago, the rumors began to circulate that revival had once again struck the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Many in the church began to think back to the famous revival of 1970, when the Holy Spirit poured out upon the hearts and minds of the student body and sparked lasting change not only in the community, but in the lives and ministries of hundreds of Christians for decades to come.

The details of this new movement were slowly shared over social media.  A routine chapel service on Wednesday, February 8^th touched the hearts of several students who stayed behind to pray for repentance and to be filled with the Spirit.  After a while, more students joined them.  Worship broke out, and soon the chapel was filled once again with many who came seeking the Lord.

The prayer never stopped.  The worship continued night and day.  Soon, it became clear that the Spirit of the Lord was at work once again, touching the hearts and minds first of these students, then of those in the surrounding community, and finally of all who heard the news far and wide. 

It was not long until everyone in my own town began asking the same question: Are the rumors of revival true?  Has God really visited the campus at Asbury?

According to the reports coming out of Wilmore, lives were being transformed.  People were repenting of their sins and receiving the Holy Spirit.  The name of Jesus was lifted high, and many were finding peace and deliverance for the first time.  The love of God and neighbor was being kindled in the hearts of every worshiper, and the Gospel was being preached to everyone who would listen.

In the words of Dr. Timothy Tennent, the president of Asbury Theological Seminary, we are witnessing an “awakening” at Asbury.  He writes, “An awakening is where God begins to stir and awaken people up from their spiritual slumber.” 

Is this revival?  Many who are close to the movement have been reticent to use that term.  Dr. Tennent writes, “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say “yes, this has been a revival.””

J.D. Walt, the “Sower-in-Chief” for Seedbed, served for many years as the chaplain for Asbury University.  He took to social media to share his thoughts on this movement and wrote, “History can define it as it will.”  Whether we call it “revival” or “awakening” or something else, it is clear that it is a work of God revitalizing a new generation of Christians.  “It is the holy love of God rising like a tide and rolling like waves.”

As that first week drew to a close, I knew that I wanted to go and see for myself.  More than that, I knew that I wanted to go with my wife, Esther, so that we could worship there together.

For several weeks we have been hard at work praying over our new church and casting a vision for ministry in our area.  I knew that there could be no better start for a church plant than to catch the fires of revival, and so on Saturday we drove down ourselves.

The town was quiet when we arrived, although that is not unusual for the town of Wilmore.  As we walked to the chapel we could hear the soft murmur of worship humming through the walls.  Inside, hundreds of people were lifting up their voices in song and their hands in praise.

There were no projectors, no slides with lyrics, not even an open hymnal to guide worshipers in what to sing.  A small band of musicians and vocalists led the congregation, deftly moving between well-known hymns and more contemporary worship songs with the ease and grace of seasoned professionals.

But these were no professionals, so far as we could tell.  They were students.  They were young men and women who were lost in their love for the Lord and were using their gifts to lead the Church deeper into that love.

We knew right away that something special was taking place.  We were able to grab some seats next to some friends and jumped right into singing songs of praise. 

After a short while, some of the adult leaders (I do not know what positions they hold with the university) opened up the floor for a time of testimony.

We heard from people who came from all walks of life.  There were students who shared about their newfound faith in Christ.  They shared stories of healing, both physical, emotional, and spiritual.  Some had been hurt by the church in years past, and they had now found forgiveness and healing.  We all, as a gathered community, prayed for forgiveness and healing for the hurts experienced in the church.

There were stories of deliverance from past trauma.  One brave young woman shared how she had been sexually assaulted several years ago.  All this time she has carried that burden quietly, but that afternoon the Lord touched her heart, and she testified that she was experiencing healing and release from the evil that had gripped her for so long.  Immediately after sharing, a group of women, young and old, embraced her and began tearfully praying with and for her.

Not a few people testified that they had been praying for a new movement of the Holy Spirit ever since the outpouring which took place in 1970, over fifty years ago.  They gave glory to God that once again He was working so powerfully in the lives of the students of this campus.

One other story in particular has stuck with me since that day.

There was a gentlemen who looked to be in his sixties (he will forgive me if I’m off!) who stood to give his testimony.  He confessed that for many years he has resented younger generations.  From the millennials on down, he has written off young people as being rude, lazy, and completely uninterested in the things of the Kingdom. 

All this changed at Asbury.  He asked forgiveness for his hard heart.  He said that he could see now that the younger generation also has a place in God’s mission, and that the Holy Spirit of Jesus really is at work in their lives to do a mighty thing in the world.  His prayer was that together, young and old, we would partner together for the sake of the Gospel. 

It was truly an example of the reconciliation which comes through the Gospel, and it, along with the other testimonies which were shared that afternoon, set the tone for the rest of the evening.

We stayed for over four hours, basking in the love of God.  We prayed for two young ladies who had traveled with their families from out of state to experience this movement of God.  Both are pursing a call into ministry.  One of them had been praying for revival for several years.  When she heard what was happening in Wilmore, her mother told her, “We have to go.”

After some time, the leaders announced a break for dinner.  They invited students and faculty from other college campuses to join them for a meal in another part of campus.  Anyone wanting to have conversations with others were invited to step outside, and about half the congregation left.

But the music and prayers continued, and after a short while the chapel was full once again.  That was the story of the day.  People were traveling from all over to see what the Lord was doing.  There was a revolving door of worshipers and leaders, but never a moment when the chapel was not filled with people who were there to lift up the holy name of Jesus.

I spent some time this week considering what I might say about the experience at Asbury.  So many have already written about what is happening.  The news has been covering this event, and many seasoned pastors have weighed in with very uplifting insights into what this might mean for the future of the church in the coming months and years.

I won’t presume to have any special commentary on this “awakening”.  But I do want to share one aspect of the revival which has been commented on briefly but which I have not seen expounded on very much.

Yesterday a friend of mine who comes from the Baptist world asked me about what was happening at Asbury.  Like me, he is a young man trying to make his way in ministry (and he is doing a fine job of it).  He shared that his knee-jerk reaction to anything like this is usually to meet it with cynicism, a personal habit, he told me, he has been prayerfully working through.

He wanted to know my thoughts, whether I felt like this really was a movement of God or something else.  I shared with him many of the same things I have written about here.  I told him that yes, while there may be people now involved who are only coming to see the spectacle, or who are only caught up in the emotional side of this event without any real life-change, at the center of it all I believe the Spirit of Jesus Christ is at work.  This is His event; He is centerstage.

My friend said that he was relieved to hear this.  He also said that it was uplifting to hear about the man’s testimony I shared a moment ago. 

“So often it seems that older generations look down on us”, he said.  “I get so discouraged because I think, yes we may do things a little different, but we’re doing our best.” 

Every day, I feel it in my bones that I am moving further away from being a “young” man.  I have been in ministry for several years now, yet I still feel the pangs of frustration which come from the condescending remarks of older generations. 

This is not to point the finger at anyone.  I have also been so uplifted by many people of older generations.  I am not writing this to shame anyone.  Rather, I simply want to acknowledge the deep divide which has existed for so long between our age groups, even within the church.

There are many people who have nothing but contempt for teenagers and young adults trying to figure out their lives in our broken society.  There are just as many people my age and younger who dismiss such criticism with the caustic and disrespectful remark, “Ok, Boomer.”  The divide is real, and it hurts the body of Christ.

For older generations, this divide results in stagnant churches and dying ministries.  For younger generations, we are deprived of the wisdom and encouragement of our elders, and in our frustration many of us lose hope for the future.

But this division is not the end of the story.  What I witnessed firsthand at Asbury last week was the Holy Spirit of God working to heal the wounds of His Church.  The repentance, faith, and joy which abounded in that place resulted in people from all walks of life reaching out a hand to one another in the love of Christ.  The unity of believers which Paul spoke about in Philippians 2:1-2 was on full display. 

Christ is already melting the cold hearts of men and women from every generation and giving them “hearts of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26)” so that we may truly love one another with the love we have received.  Seeing this firsthand has given me nothing but hope for the future of the Church.

My friend was encouraged to hear that real unity was being achieved, and I have to echo that sentiment.  Whatever you might call it, however history might remember this event, it seems clear to me that the hearts of the saints are truly being revived. 

So yes, the rumors of revival are true.  God is at work in a powerful, unexpected way in Wilmore, Kentucky.

What God will do next, no one can say.  But I, for one, am excited to be a part of a fresh movement of the Spirit of Christ in the world

Come, Lord Jesus!