Reflections On The Asbury Outpouring
These posts were made in February of 2023 after my brief almost 24 hours in Wilmore before the crowds came pouring in. I hope they can bless you.
February 8, 2023 a scheduled 10 AM chapel turned into a spontaneous revival. As I understand it 30 students stayed after, and that has turned into continuous prayer and worship ever since. 84 hours and counting.
As of yesterday, revival had sparked in five different colleges. Buses from two other schools arrived at midnight last night and more representatives from many different schools have been present. Those who knew Asbury and those who haven’t have traveled across town, across state lines, or across the country.
Yesterday in the middle of our work day, my sister and I felt the Spirit prompting us to go.
I came to see, not to be filled. I didn’t chase an experience with the Holy Spirit, with that palpable presence. I can be all too guilty of placing the weight of my salvation in that good gift and feeling like more even keeled devotion/worship isn’t as valuable.
That being said, I expected that emotion. Seeing what God is doing at Asbury and beyond has sent my heart rejoicing and given me moments of deep emotion and concentration of the Spirit in my heart from miles away. My sister and I left with an urgency, and I fully expected to be overcome.
And I wasn’t.
And from the moment I entered the door, I knew that was good. I knew that was God’s gift to me in this moment of revival.
I didn’t come to be moved but to see movement. To see the Body together. To see the collective voice raised with a desperation for more and a peace in the gift. To participate in that. And because I wasn’t overwhelmed by my own emotion (I felt it, but I largely wasn’t fueled by it), I got to bear witness in such a special way. A witness is not an outside observer but an active participant, and I got to see the beauty of people being overcome by the Spirit as a fellow worshipper.
My lack of emotionality also taught me that I can easily tie feeling the Holy Spirit to an emotional state because it often can be, but it’s so much more.
The last 24 hours I felt the Spirit. He was all around. But my experience was more subtle than I expected. A beautiful default for the space that we were in.
The Holy Spirit surrounded us. He was in everything. The prayer, the conversation, the worship, the greetings across a room. He molded each movement and each response. He was in the upturn of my cheeks that I only became aware of when they started to hurt, in the voice that sung out praises almost of its own accord while I journaled prayers, and the body that didn’t feel tired at 3 AM.
I stayed in Hughes last night not because of a powerful compulsion or an overwhelming longing but because I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I couldn’t bring myself to miss a second of how the night ebbed and flowed. How many opportunities do we have in our lives to experience an open place of worship like that? How many times are we in a space where everyone present desperately wants to be there? How many times do we see a room empty steadily overnight only for a new crowd to walk in at 2 AM to worship? The Spirit was in that just as He was in the peace to know when to leave for the night.
Someone told me that when they entered Hughes, fear fled. It had no place because of the freedom of God. But part of that freedom is the response of His people. As the Spirit moved, our hearts tuned to God’s response. There was no need to fear because there was no place for judgement in the people of God. We were safe in the presence of our brothers and sisters and the presence of our God.
I am so grateful that I got to run to Hughes even for a brief time. I continue to feel the Spirit prompt greater emotion and conviction in me for revival back home than I did in Hughes, but no matter what your emotional experience, you want to be in a place of revival. Because the Spirit supersedes emotion. Whether you are overwhelmed by it or not, the Spirit’s movements are greater. God is doing a good work. I have never been in a room that felt like my beloved Hughes Auditorium has this week. A place where the presence of God fills the entire room in a way that changes everything and everyone. This is the picture of the Church. This is who we are meant to be.
The revival persists, and the spark is catching. GenZ is leading the charge, and the generations are blessed.
A friend told me that she knew the Revival at Asbury was a movement of the Holy Spirit because emotions had been up and down. Emotional manipulation lasts as long as the experience does, but the Spirit ebbs and flows. And this was the work of the Spirit.
If you can go, go. If you can’t, bring it here. Bring it into your hearts and your homes and let revival fill your breath.
The good Jeannie Banter asked us this morning what our audacious ask was? And mine was the very thing I was experiencing. Not the revival (though I have prayed for that) but the image of God’s church. I want a Church that looks like Hughes does right now.
For years God has broken and burdened me for the state of the Church. For the barriers we create. For the representation we are not. For the disunity among us. And this weekend my prayers were answered. God showed me what it looks like to have a unified Church; He gave me a renewed vision to pursue and a blessing to behold.
The first words I heard when I entered the chapel were on unity. Dr. Kevin Brown spoke from John 17. He called us to put aside any lesser identities and to embrace the oneness we have in Christ. And that was one of the many things this weekend was about.
The room was (and is increasingly) full with so many different walks of life. College students, families, individuals, groups, infants, elderly—a diverse representations of the human experience from different states, countries, languages, races, backgrounds, etc. The cacophony surrounded us. Sometimes we sang as one, but other times prayers, conversations, and worship filled the room at once. However, the sound was never disjointed. We were many people lifting up one voice. A family whose hearts cried out to their Father together. A people who belong to each other and to God.
The last 24 hours have been a place of brokenness and grace and rejoicing and undeniable oneness. We are joined. We are one. We are family. We are a single Body removed from any pretense of fear or striving or anything else.
We know that we are broken, and we long to see our individual brokenness joined together in Christ’s wholeness. There is no place for critical hearts but only those which are open and inclined towards the Spirit and others.
And it makes a difference when that is the surpassing presence of a room. I have never seen such humility and openness. I have never felt such unity. I have never experienced such fellowship.
We sang, “Show me who You are,” and my heart answered: “You are revealed in the Body of believers.” God has made us all different, and He brings unity from diversity. And when we see believers who are called in different ways, created in different ways, reaching out to God, we see a greater picture of who He is.
This is what we’re called to be. This is what every Sunday should be.
We still have work to do, but my heart is so encouraged, blessed, and full. Even when we fail, we are still family. And when we pursue God, we pursue each other.
God is using GenZ, y’all. He is doing a powerful work. This revival is for us all, but they are the ones leading us. Their hearts are open, and their response to the Holy Spirit is pouring out over the Church. I don’t know how far this revival will spread, but I know the impact of what God is doing right now will be felt for generations to come. He is transforming hearts. He is steeling them for His Kingdom. He is bringing healing and answering prayers, and He is moving. It is those who know most intimately what it is to battle the lies of our current culture that I believe God will use to win those in it to His love.
He wants us all to be a part of this story. One Body. One People. One Church.
God is still moving. He's moving in this generation. He's moving in this Church. When times seem hard, He's awakening us to His power, His pursuit, His authority, His presence.
Documentary videos on the Outpouring:
https://awakeninglibrary.com/documentary/
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