Chris Lange, FISM News
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More than 145 hours into a spontaneous, student-led revival at Asbury University that began on February 8, people continued flocking to the Wilmore, Kentucky campus by the busload on Tuesday to participate in the marathon worship service.
CBN News reported on Tuesday that another chapel had been opened on campus to accommodate swelling crowds that had already filled three auditoriums where students, professors, and church leaders have been singing praises, sharing testimonies, and offering prayers around the clock in what began as a one-hour chapel service.
Asbury professor Thane Hutcherson Ury wrote in a Facebook post on Feb. 11 that students from 24 other universities had traveled to Asbury to participate in what CBN described as an “outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”
“EVERY parking space within a few hundred yards of Hughes Auditorium is packed, and what you can’t see in the video is the standing room only in the back and into the foyer and stairwells,” Ury wrote.
Lee University, a private Christian university located in Cleveland, Tennessee, was one of the schools mentioned in Ury’s post. On Monday, Campus Pastor Rob Fultz announced that the revival had spread to the school.
“A mighty move of God started this morning at Lee and [it] has been building throughout the day. We are approaching the 10th hour, nothing but voices in prayer, worship, and repentance,” Fultz wrote in a Twitter post that included a video of a group of students worshiping in the campus’s Stone Chapel.
By Tuesday morning, the chapel was packed.
“1:30 am, salvation, deliverance, and healing are here! Isaiah 40 — a voice calling in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord!” Fultz wrote.
‘PASSIONATE, AUTHENTIC WORSHIP’
Christian evangelist Jon Burdette, who participated in the Asbury revival, told The Christian Post on Wednesday that he had witnessed “passionate, authentic worship, brokenness, people praying at the altar, people praying at their seats, and people praying with each other in groups around the room.” Burdette, who was accompanied by his daughter, Shailynn, described the experience as “Spirit-led worship that ranged from calm, quiet harmonies to eruptions of loud singing, clapping, and testifying.”
Social media has been abuzz with similar stories accompanied by the tag “#asburyrevival.”
“Can’t stop thinking about this past Saturday in Wilmore. A deep sense of love, humility, freedom, peace, and simplicity in the room. Unadulterated worship and prayer,” one user tweeted.
Another wrote: Just got home from the Spirit stuff happening at Asbury College. This deep pervasive healing Spirit peace throughout the room. No politics, no labels. Just Spirit driven Sabbath rest. I am so refreshed.
SKEPTICS, SUPPORTERS WEIGH IN
FISM reported previously that, amid all of the excitement surrounding the Asbury revival, skeptics have been urging caution and discernment, with some casting doubt on the authenticity of a movement they have suggested may be driven by emotion, rather than true repentance. Reports of controversial speakers and miraculous healing have done little to assuage these concerns. The criticism, however, has been largely dismissed by supporters and attendees of the revival.
“The skepticism over the current revival at @AsburyUniv is revealing. Advice: ignore the critics and keep fanning the flames. A great move of God is the only hope for change in our society,” one user tweeted.
Responding to the post, another user wrote “I hate to admit I am normally one of them but something seems to be going on. I teach in Houston’s inner city and three young ladies have confided in me [that] they have given their life to Christ over the past week.”
“My prayer with the revival happening at Asbury is that my skepticism and cynicism will be proven wrong; that genuine transformation like this is happening, not the spiritual/emotional manipulation we’ve seen all too often,” Nick Carpenter wrote on Twitter. Carpenter’s bio identifies him as a Nazarene pastor.
At the time of this reporting, the Asbury revival continued.