A movement on U.S. college campuses is gathering tens of thousands of students and leading to hundreds of conversions, according to Unite US, the organization formed in response to what’s happening.
The latest event last week at Texas A & M University in College Station, Texas, drew more than 10,000 students and resulted in hundreds of students rushing to the altar “to give their lives to JESUS,” according to Travis Johnson, a pastor who attended the event.
Johnson, who leads Pathway Church in Mobile, Alabama, shared a video on X of students streaming down to the stage.
Unite US they said in a Facebook post they were “blown away by how God moved,”.
“People say there’s no hope for Gen Z,” Unite US said in the post. “But after tonight, we have more hope than ever that this generation will lead us in the greatest revival our nation has ever seen.”
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This movement reportedly began with the prayers of one mom, Tonya Prewett, the wife of Auburn University Assistant Basketball Coach Chad Prewett.
“In January of 2023 I was mentoring college students, just hearing one story after another of girls who were battling a lot of anxiety and depression,” Prewett told Christian radio network KLOVE.
“And probably after the sixth girl that I talked to, I literally . . . pushed my chair in and said, ‘No more.’ I will do something about this. I want to help college students and help spread revival around college campuses and see these students come out of this pain and anxiety and addiction, suicidal thoughts. And I knew the answer was prayer. So, all I knew to do was pray.”
Prewett then started a Bible study with five girls, and a month later, 200 were attending.
Then, in September 2023, 5,000 students gathered at Auburn’s Neville Arena in worship with the band Passion and speakers Jennie Allen and Jonathan Pokluda, lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
That first event led to 200 baptisms in a nearby lake, according to Unite US’ website.
“What began in Auburn, Alabama, has continued to grow into a movement reaching college campuses across the nation,” the website said. “Unite US exists to see college students gathered to lift the name of Jesus.”
This fall, Unite US hosted four events at large universities in Mississippi, Florida, and Texas, according to its Facebook page. Each gathering aims to bring salvation, freedom, and community.
Texas A&M’s gathering was Unite US’s last event of the semester.
“This may be our last Unite of the semester, but we believe it’s only the beginning of all God has in store,” Unite US wrote in the post. “We will never take for granted the way God has shown up– night after night, university after university.”
Tonya Prewett, visionary of Unite US, told CBN News that she could have never imagined the impact Unite US would have after its first event in Auburn.
“I remember standing at (the) baptisms after the Auburn event in the middle of thousands of students just praising God and thinking how can this stop?” she said. “And it hasn’t. He keeps doing it, again and again.”
At each event, Prewett said Unite US partners with local churches to help disciple the students who have dedicated their lives to Jesus.
“We connect with every pastor in the community, and every campus ministry leader in the community, and we bring them in and so they set up tables, these students can get connected that night,” Prewett said. “We’ve heard so many testimonies of students who have gotten so plugged into the church, and they’re now serving through their church or leading small groups or discipleship programs post-event, it’s really amazing.”
Prewett said in all, Unite US has seen more than 70,000 students gather on 11 campuses representing 400 universities.
“We’ve seen around 5,000 saved and close to 2,000 baptized,” Prewett added. “It’s truly indescribable.”
On Instagram, Prewett shared that the recent event at Texas A&M demonstrates how “Gen Z is leading us in the greatest revival we have ever seen!!”
Pastor Pokluda posted praise about the Texas A&M event after it occurred, explaining that all of the students get “connected to local churches and pastors for discipleship. It is beautiful!”
He asked his nearly 200,000 followers to continue praying for what God is doing on college campuses.
Prior to Texas A&M’s gathering, Allen posted on Instagram about the impact of Unite US’s events. She shared a video of her conversation with a student in Tennessee who became a Christian after attending a night of worship.
“I was in the biggest fraternity on campus and fully in the world,” he recalled. “I loved it. I was high up in it. I was about to be our pledge marshal, and I was going to run for president. I was selling drugs. I was doing a lot of drugs. I was living in the world doing what the world tells you to do.”
Kaden then shared how he heard a message from Allen that transformed his life.
“You preached your message, and it was on what it means to truly be a Christian. It was the same message you preached tonight,” he noted. “I remember like, Wow! Sin’s held me down for so long. I feel miserable. I have everything the world has to offer. Yet, I still feel awful. I still feel depressed and I’m anxious and I’m sad.”
Kaden said he then gave his life to Jesus.
“I said to my friend, ‘I’m done. I’m going all in. Like it’s me and Jesus,'” he recalled. “The next day, I dropped out of my fraternity, I dropped out of Tennessee, and I’ve been pursuing Jesus since. Now I’m a ministry major at Southeastern University and I want to go into missions and college ministry.”
Liz Lykins is a correspondent covering religion news for The Roys Report, WORLD Magazine, and other publications.
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“I said to my friend, ‘I’m done. I’m going all in. Like it’s me and Jesus,’” he recalled. “The next day, I dropped out of my fraternity, I dropped out of Tennessee, and I’ve been pursuing Jesus since. Now I’m a ministry major at Southeastern University and I want to go into missions and college ministry.”
Cool but…I hate to see the turn to Christ coresident with dropping out of all the great ministry opportunity right in front of you to go get into a Christian bubble. We’ve got to change that professional ministry industry mindset.
Sometimes it’s critically important to get out of an environment that pulls you back into a former way of living. I appreciate your sentiment, but the most important thing is the spiritual health of this young man.
May The Lord protect these kids from the deceitful evangelical industry&church business,which eventually shipwrecks their faith.
I would rather those willing to go into ministry first spend a few intimate years with the Word of God and in Prayer. Asking The Lord Jesus Christ to teach them.
Man made disciples will not do…
They might start off wanting to follow Jesus but after their course end up chasing money, popularity etc
Math 4:16
“Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.”
Remarkable! Not surprising, but remarkable. Now God will grow them through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, trials, blessings, knowlege, experience, and faith no matter which university they attend, or if they don’t attend one at all. We can plant the seed, but God says that it is He who beings forth the fruit in it’s time. . .(Psalm 1:3).