A week after a chapel service at Asbury University sparked what’s been called an ongoing revival, thousands of people from across the region have flocked to the Kentucky school to participate in the “prayer, praise, and preaching” experience. 

“The line of cars to get into the small town of Wilmore has been crazy,” said Fiona Morgan, an Asbury alum and local journalist in the region. Worship and prayer have continued non-stop for nearly a week, with crowds growing as images of students weeping and sharing testimonies spread through social media channels.

“We are just sitting with Him,” said Asbury student body president Alison Perfater. “It’s just deeply gentle and deeply loving; a glimpse of what I think heaven will look like.”

It began last Wednesday at Asbury’s historic Hughes Auditorium, which has a capacity of 1,489 seats. By Sunday night, it filled completely and two other nearby venues—Estes Chapel and McKenna Chapel, across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary—were opened for people to come and participate in services. 

The local fire marshal has helped campus leaders seeking to create a safe worship environment, said James Hampton, professor of youth ministry at the seminary. “It could have been really easy to come in and shut things down,” he told The Roys Report (TRR). “But instead they’ve (given) us advice on how to handle this.” 

Alexandra Presta, executive editor of student paper The Asbury Collegian, explained that people can still “worship freely.” As an example of fire marshal precautions, she said a group of people who were “jumping in the balcony” during worship were asked to move to the floor level.

“People are still able to come to the altar and are not restricted to their seats,” said Presta, who also authored an op-ed about safety in worship. “But when it becomes that crowded and congested, it’s just a fire safety hazard.”

Peak crowds—reportedly over 5,000 people—have overwhelmed even overflow spaces, according to multiple sources. “Once you make it on campus, there were like 250 people outside waiting to get into the services,” said Morgan. 

Hampton noted they had a contingency for those in long queues. “They began actually putting speakers outside of Hughes, so those out on the lawn could still listen, participate, pray, and join with the others.”

Stewards of the experience

Campus leaders have given brief words of exhortation and helped shepherd times of students leading prayer and sharing testimonies. 

They include campus pastor Greg Haseloff, itinerant minister Zach Meerkreebs—an Asbury graduate who delivered the sermon that preceded the revival—as well as Dr. Sarah Thomas Baldwin, dean of student life at Asbury, and Jeannie Banter, director of The Christian Life Project at Asbury. 

Fundamentalist critics have noted Asbury “promotes women in the pulpit.” Seminary professor Hampton responded that affirming the preaching ministry of both women and men is “part of our ethos.”

“Asbury historically has always affirmed that God calls both men and women to his leadership,” Hampton said. “We’re strong believers that Scripture makes it clear that women have every bit as much calling to roles of leadership, including pastoral ministry, as men do.” 

Students from more than 20 universities have participated in the on-campus services, according to a post from Baldwin.

Some online have pointed out the revival appears to be a white-majority worship experience. “As a minister of color, it’s hard not to miss the ethnic homogeneity of the videos and pictures we’re seeing,” tweeted Caleb Saenz, a pastor in San Antonio, Texas. 

The meetings reflect the rural region, as most of Kentucky is not ethnically diverse outside of a few urban centers. Still, Presta noted some meetings have represented a diversity of cultures.

“We’ve had people get up and pray and read scripture in different languages, and it has been absolutely beautiful,” she said. “I’ve seen those lines and divisions that we like to focus on in our culture be completely just reunited.” 

Hampton added that their student body has a “significant percentage from outside the U.S.” but he’s found in conversations that revival services are unfamiliar to them. “We’re finding (that) they’re genuinely interested and curious, but it’s outside their own realm of experience,” he said.

Safeguarding from outside agendas

On social media, a few outside groups have announced plans to participate in the revival. 

Firebrand Tennessee pastor Greg Locke reportedly had a busload of congregants headed to the services. Disgraced charismatic preacher Todd Bentley, who has faced allegations of predatory behavior, also announced plans to travel to Asbury. 

The university did not directly address specific inquiries about certain individuals. However, seminary professor Hampton related his account of an incident that he said occurred “Friday or Saturday night.” He prefaced it by saying he would not name the persons involved.

Hampton said: 

We had a group who came in that had a very specific agenda. They had announced it publicly through their social media feeds and others had promoted that for them. So we were aware that the group was coming. Our faculty, staff, and our security were all prepared to meet them. 

The amazing thing was: we never had to. Because a group of students took it upon themselves to meet these folk when they arrived and to remind them that this was God’s work. It was not the students’ agenda. It was not the faculty’s agenda or any outsider’s agenda. This was God’s work. And if these folk were willing to come in and sit and listen and worship God and grow in that experience, they were completely welcome. 

But if they were only there to push an agenda that did not match what God was doing in the midst of this, then they were going to be asked to kind of leave. And, to their credit, they left.

Sources contacted by TRR did not respond to inquiries seeking specifics about this incident. 

‘The beginning stages’

Several leaders who have participated noted the historic nature of what they’ve observed. 

Longtime Arkansas pastor and OneCry prayer leader Bill Elliff visited on Saturday and has written about the experience. He tweeted: “God is here. Very real. I very quickly turned from spectator to broken participant. How can you not in God’s manifest presence?”

At Asbury … God is here. Very real. I very quickly turned from spectator to broken participant. How can you not in Gods manifest presence? pic.twitter.com/RRnMAEbrjW

— bill elliff (@belliff) February 11, 2023

Author Shane Claiborne, known for his activism on immigration and other social issues, has highlighted the revival in several videos online. “I believe in social transformation,” he said in a recent interview. “I also believe in personal and spiritual transformation.”

H.B. Charles Jr., pastor of a multi-ethnic Southern Baptist congregation in Florida, stated he has been watching the meetings online and called it a “revival of prayer, praise, and preaching.” He stated he observed, “No high-profile leaders. No programmatic strategies. No multimedia props. Just students crying out to God with devotion, humility, and repentance.”

Some reports have also emerged of similar, smaller-scale revival services at Lee University, located 220 miles south in central Tennessee. 

More Lord!!
Revival at Lee University! https://t.co/83nWALVUoy

— Tony Suarez (@revtonysuarez) February 14, 2023

Addressing expectations, Hampton said they’re only in “the beginning stages” of this spiritual awakening.

“Revivals don’t fully transcend or automatically renew culture,” he said. “They don’t automatically end injustices. That’s the ongoing work of Christian discipleship that occurs as a result of revivals. Eugene Peterson described it as ‘a long obedience in the same direction.’”

Student editor Presta said this week has felt different among students, as spiritual disciplines of prayer and worship have become more common outside chapel. “We’re now unafraid to speak about our testimonies and then reconcile—not only with each other, but faculty and people whom we might have had a conflict with.” 

Recent Asbury graduate Morgan said she understands how some want to “wait and see” regarding the results of this revival. But she said there’s a reason the crowds are growing. 

“What’s happening now is really powerful,” she said. “Experiencing such a powerful presence is going to have fruit in many different ways—I hope and pray, including in my own personal life.” 

This article has been updated to accurately state Professor Hampton’s title.

Freelance journalist Josh Shepherd writes on faith, culture, and public policy for several media outlets. He and his wife live in the Washington, D.C. area with their two children.