Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. - James 4:10
Video from CBN News
"The nation is captivated by the revival breaking out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, as students, faculty, and people from outside the Christian campus flock to the chapel to take part in a multi-day revival. From singing to sermons and overt praise for Jesus, the praise and worship service, which started February 8, hasn't stopped. Day and night, students and professors are worshipping Jesus. It's a scene that has left Alexandra Presta, a senior at Asbury University, in awe. Presta, editor of the student-run website The Asbury Collegian, has been writing about what she experienced after attending what she thought was a typical chapel service last Wednesday. But that service was like none other. She and others stayed all day and through the night — and have continued returning. “Peers, professors, local church leaders and seminary students surround me — all of them praying, worshipping and praising God together,” Presta wrote about the experience. “Voices are ringing out. People are bowing at the altar, arms stretched wide. A pair of friends cling to each other in a hug, one with tears in her eyes. A diverse group of individuals crowd the piano and flawlessly switch from song to song." She added something else worth pondering: "No one wants to leave.” Presta joined CBN's Faithwire to discuss how the Christian revival at Asbury is transforming not only the campus community as a whole, but individual hearts and minds — including her own. She said the campus will continue the revival so long as the Holy Spirit urges them to do so. Presta also said she believes the Kentucky revival will make a massive impact for the Lord. Watch Presta explain the revival, look back at the famed 1970s event that happened on the same campus, and share her first-hand experience of this incredible moment." from video introduction
Asbury University
"With a commitment to academic excellence and spiritual vitality, Asbury University encourages its students to study, worship and serve together on a campus located 20 minutes southwest of Lexington in Wilmore, Kentucky. Primarily a four-year, multi-denominational institution, the University has been at the heart of spiritual movements throughout its history. Asbury University’s 1,639 students come from 40 states and 31 foreign nations, and more than 80 percent of the University’s students live on campus. Classes are taught by experienced scholars, 75 percent of whom hold terminal degrees in their field of study. Asbury University’s 14 academic departments offer over 150 areas of study, along with Online Programs. The University offers several master’s degrees in business administration, communication, media communication and education, including alternative certification programs. The University provides many opportunities for student involvement both on and off campus. Internships, exchange programs, missions and community service opportunities are also available and are part of the curriculum in nearly every major. More than 22,000 living alumni of the University surround the globe, leading and serving in all 50 states and at least 80 nations." from the website: asbury.edu
Revival at Asbury University: Don’t Miss the Spirit
Rumors of revival at Asbury University in Kentucky began to flood the social media timelines of my Christian friends this past week. Word of a continuing chapel service was making waves in Christian circles. At first, I dismissed this news (probably like many others); I assumed some college kids were simply skipping class or perhaps were caught up in emotionalism. I don’t know whether it was overuse of the word revival or my arrogance, but the skeptic in me was dismissive of this “revival” until we had more “proof.”
But as I was dismissing the moment, more and more people I knew were sharing their stories. Well-reasoned, mature, faithful Christians began to testify to their experience and what they had witnessed at Asbury. More and more pictures and videos were flooding my social media. What I had imagined were 50 or so college kids pulling an all-nighter was in fact a multigenerational and multiethnic picture of the beauty that is Christ’s universal church.
At that point, I had to see it for myself. A coworker’s text summed up my reasoning: “We can’t have revival happening an hour away and I don’t take part because ‘I have meetings.’”
My curiosity piqued, my wife and I made the hourlong drive to Wilmore, Ky., not knowing what to expect. I was still an anxious skeptic as we entered the chapel service; I hoped we hadn’t wasted our time. I was standing there looking around, ready to critique what I saw and heard, when I felt a sudden sense of conviction. I watched as my wife worshipped beside me, and then I began to allow myself to be in the moment. It became clear, the biggest obstacle to my participation in this worshipful revival was my own cynical heart.
Upon accepting that truth, I immediately sensed a spirit of unity and noticed people from all walks of life. People from different denominational backgrounds sang together beautifully despite their desired preferences. Whether it was bluegrass, contemporary praise, or all-out worship, people were openhanded to the moment. We pleaded the case for the poor and the outcast. We pleaded for the nations (including our own). We lifted up to God our personal and communal confessions as we were called back to our first love in this worshipful moment.
People praised and prayed in African dialects and with accents placing them from the “hollers” of Kentucky. From the boomer generation to preteens, hands were lifted as voices sang praises to the Lord of the occasion. As Asbury students led us through worship, I was among the many who sensed that God’s Spirit was present and his heart was pleased..." from the article: Revival at Asbury University: Don’t Miss the Spirit
American Christianity is Due for a Revival
"Upon joining the Presbyterian ministry, in the mid-1970s, I served in a town outside Richmond, Virginia. New church buildings were going up constantly. When I arrived in Manhattan in the late ’80s, however, I saw a startling sight. There on the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 20th Street was a beautiful Gothic Revival brownstone built in 1844 that had once been the Episcopal Church of the Holy Communion. Now it was the Limelight, an epicenter of the downtown club scene. Thousands of people a night showed up for drugs and sex and the possibility of close encounters with the famous of the cultural avant garde. It was a vivid symbol of a culture that had rejected Christianity..." from the Timothy Keller article: AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY IS DUE FOR A REVIVAL
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