What is Happening at Asbury University?

I had never heard of Asbury University until last week. And now it's all I can think about. On February 8 Asbury University had its regular chapel service. I was educated in evangelical Christian institutions and am familiar with what these chapels consist of:

a worship team made up of fellow students lead some contemporary worship songs

a speaker - usually a professor or local pastor

an administrator makes some announcements

And that's it. Reflecting back on bible school and seminary I can't remember many chapels. I remember the one on Tuesday, September 11 for obvious reasons. I remember a few I spoke at or was involved with - but nothing too spectacular stands out in my memory.

I watched the sermon and prayer at Asbury on February 8. Rev. Zach Meerkrebs - a young local Alliance pastor preached a rather straightforward sermon on God's love. It was good - but not revival-shaking good. (Or so we all thought!)

But his sermon and prayer sparked an awakening on that campus that now has a global reach. It is now day 11 of continuous worship and repentance. People have been flying in from as far away as Brazil to attend. There are long lineups to get into the chapel. I've watched videos and heard testimonies and it is nothing short of stunning. There is a tangible and felt presence of God in that building. People are being transformed deeply. 

And what I love love love about this - these are ordinary young people!!! They are not celebrity preachers wearing $1000 sneakers. They are not a grammy winning worship band from a mega church. There was no slick media campaign. They are just ordinary young people crying out to experience the presence of God. God used a Gen Z preacher and a student worship team to awaken that campus, and perhaps the nation.

One Twitter user who attended: "Nobody was in charge. There was no consistent worship team - they rotated every 2 hours. There was no fancy lighting. They were wooden pews. The altar was filled nonstop with people weeping. No offering was taken."

A Facebook post from a young man said he walked in and sat down and started weeping because he felt the weight of his sin and the glory and presence of God. An older man put his arm around him and said the same thing happened to him a few hours earlier when he walked in.

The university has turned down all requests from the media who want to come in and televise it. Very well-known Christian speakers and artists have flown in to attend. None of them have been invited or requested to be on the stage.

Starting tomorrow the University administrators are going to make some changes in order to fulfill the University's mission which is to educate students! Services will be cut to twice a day. Only the afternoon services will be public - evening services will be limited to people aged 25 and under.

So what is happening at Asbury University?

From my perspective, this is nothing less that a historic and fresh spiritual awakening. God's Holy Spirit has descended on that campus in great power and has stayed for over a week. It has not been planned or coordinated in any way - it just happened.

I also think that this is a special gift from the Father to a traumatized generation. After 3 years of lockdown, political polarization, and racial tensions Gen Z is tired and sick. Mental illness spiked both during and after covid among adolescents.

This is a generation that NEEDS to know God loves them. More than that, they need to feel God loves them. And that's what God did. He poured out his Spirit on a group of unsuspecting college students in a small town in Kentucky.

He bypassed the megachurches, the $100 million dollar ad campaign to prove "He Gets Us", the entire evangelical military complex and he chose a small unsuspecting college. Because he's that kind of God. 

The kind of God who uses:

an insecure man with a speech impediment (Moses)

a Jewish teenage girl (Mary)

a political and religious terrorist (Paul)

A God who chooses the weak to shame the strong.

We will need to wait and see the fruit that will be borne out of all this. 

But I am sure there will be an abundance of testimonies for generations to come from these special days.