A chapel meeting at a Kentucky Christian college was supposed to end on the morning of February 8, but students were so inspired by the service that it never ended, turning into a 24/7 service that was still going strong nearly a week later while inspiring students from colleges in other states to travel there just to be a part of it.
On February 8, the service at Asbury University in Hughes Auditorium ended with a benediction and a song by the gospel choir, but the students wouldn’t leave, instead continuing to pray as they sang quietly.
“They were praising and praying earnestly for themselves and their neighbors and our world—expressing repentance and contrition for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice,” wrote Asbury theology professor Thomas H. McCall, who attended the service.
“There is no pressure or hype. There is no manipulation. There is no high-pitched emotional fervor. To the contrary, it has so far been mostly calm and serene,” he added. “I know that God moves in mysterious ways; Jesus tells us that the Spirit blows where it wills,” he added.
What I love about this Asbury revival in Kentucky is that it is nameless and faceless. It’s not about personalities. It’s just people getting desperate for God. It’s Day #7 and the worship continues. Lord let this hunger come to every church, and let it spill into the streets. pic.twitter.com/Dda73LfjMK
— Lee Grady (@LeeGrady) February 14, 2023
This is so incredibly beautiful.
These kids are about to enter their SEVENTH day of worship.
A FULL WEEK OF WORSHIPPING GOD!
A great revival is coming. pic.twitter.com/yn5HHD2kox
— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) February 15, 2023
Students reportedly came from Purdue University, Indiana Wesleyan University, Ohio Christian University, the University of Kentucky, the University of the Cumberlands, Transylvania University, Midway University, Lee University, Georgetown College, and Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, among others.
By February 14 the crowd had surged to 3,000 worshipers not only in the college chapel but also four other facilities at the college. University President Dr. Kevin Brown said at least two-thirds of the attendees came from other states.
“It has absolutely been social media that is the mechanism that people found out about this,” noted Mark Whitworth, Asbury University’s vice president of communications. Videos hashtagged “Asbury Revival” have proliferated on social media with hashtag #asburyrevival having at 24.4 million views on TikTok by February 15, NBC News reported.
“The university made an intentional decision not to publicize this because we wanted to place an abundance of respect towards the experience of our students,” Brown stated.
Revival-type events have occurred at Asbury University before; in 1970 a revival closed classes for a week; in 2006 four days of continuous worship took place.
The movement to hold a revival-type meeting has spread from Asbury; on February 13 Lee University in Tennessee started a nonstop prayer vigil while similar events were started at Anderson University in Indiana, Ohio Christian University, and others.