Revival Underway at Asbury University in Kentucky: 'The Holy Spirit Was Tangible in the Room'

A revival is taking place on the campus of Asbury University in Kentucky.

The Asbury Collegian reports that during a call to confession last Wednesday, Feb. 8, at least 100 people fell to their knees and bowed at the altar. Since then it has turned into a Holy Spirit outpouring that shows no signs of stopping. 

For days, people have been giving testimonies, reading scripture, worshipping God, and praying in the ongoing revival. Students, professors, and local church leaders have taken part.

Alexandra Presta, the editor of the student-run website The Asbury Collegian, wrote in an article published on Feb. 8, "As a senior, I have never witnessed anything like this." 

Presta described the scene for her readers inside the university's Hughes Auditorium. 

"Peers, professors, local church leaders, and seminary students surround me— all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together. Voices are ringing out. People are bowing at the altar, arms stretched wide," she wrote.  "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. Some even sit like me, with laptops open. No one wants to leave."

"The Holy Spirit was tangible in the room," Anneli White a student at the University of Kentucky and a member at Immanuel Baptist Church told Kentucky Today. "Chains were broken, confession happened, and God was praised as holy, holy, holy."

On Sunday, Presta explained to her readers it was love that brought people together for more than 100 hours inside the university's auditorium. The audience for the revival has also expanded into the Estes Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary.

"There's something so beautiful about Love," she wrote. 

"It's more than a fleeting emotion or a mere feeling. It's what brings people together. We've been here in Hughes Auditorium for over a hundred hours— praying, crying, worshipping, and uniting— because of Love. We've even expanded into Estes Chapel across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary and beyond. I can proclaim that Love boldly because God is Love."

Students from multiple colleges have now been drawn to the Asbury campus, according to multiple reports. 

"Time brings all this to light but certainly it is an encouragement," Tim Beougher, the pastor of West Broadway Baptist Church and a professor at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary told the outlet. "We need to pray for the Lord's protection on them."

Students and other people are watching the revival through social media, something that hasn't happened in other campus revivals, Kentucky Today noted. It has drawn a broader audience to witness what is happening through witness accounts, photographs, and videos. 

The outlet reported that parents of students said driving to the campus to visit and to worship with their sons and daughters felt like something out of a movie.

"Driving into Wilmore was like driving into the 'Field of Dreams.' If you build it, they will come … an unending line of cars," Mori Crawford, whose daughter Eliza attends the university said, describing the traffic coming onto the campus. "After talking to Eliza and seeing all the posts, we just had to come."

Asbury student Zeke Atha posted a video testimony to YouTube about the Asbury revival for his home church, Garber Church, located in New Bern, North Carolina. 

"We had our chapel service starting at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning," Atha explained. "And worship has not stopped since then. It's been one of the most incredible things I've ever seen God do. He's in our midst. He's moving."

"Yesterday, it was super windy outside," he noted. "And there was a cloud over the horizon that sat over our town. People have come in from the University of Kentucky, from Northern Kentucky, all around the world. The world knows what God's doing here. They could see the cloud over our town.  And that's just one of the examples about how God is moving among us."

"This weekend has shown a glimpse of what it looks like when we put aside our differences and come together to be in the presence of God," junior Kyla Rowell wrote on Facebook. "What can happen when the Body of Christ is united in Love and not divided by irrelevant things is beautiful."

Some are saying it's reminiscent of the famous revival that took place at Asbury in 1970, partly because both events are tied to turbulent times in American history. That move of the Holy Spirit began on Feb. 3 of that year and lasted 24 hours a day for seven days, according to reports at the time. 

Asbury University is a private Christian university in Wilmore, Kentucky with roots in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement.

The revival fires at Asbury University come even before the Luke 18 Project holds its annual Collegiate Day of Prayer (CDOP) on Feb. 23. 

The CDOP is intended for a united, multi-generational day of prayer for revival and awakening on college campuses in America.

The ministry reports so far, 1,521 campuses have been adopted, 2,674 campuses remain unadopted with 707 campus ministries, churches, and individuals being signed up to pray.

The Luke 18 Project has announced it will also be sharing updates on the CDOP during a national prayer simulcast from the Asbury campus.