What are we to make of the event that began on Feb. 8 at Asbury University? Call it what you will — a “revival,” an “awakening” or “a renewal” (Asbury calls it “an outpouring”) — the explosion of spiritual fervor at the small Christian college in Wilmore, Kentucky was downright remarkable.
It all began with a typical chapel service on a Wednesday morning that included some singing and a message by the campus pastor on “loving others.” But when the service ended, it didn’t end. A small group of students remained in Hughes Auditorium, worshiping and praying after one student’s confession of sin created a spirit of authenticity. Throngs of other students then returned to the venue — some spurred mysteriously by an inner calling, others by text messages from friends.
And it didn’t end for roughly two weeks. Students from Asbury were joined by other college students and visitors for 24-hours per day, nonstop worship, confession and repentance. Finally, after participation from more than 50,000 individuals from across America and other nations, the revival-in-the making was scaled back by university leaders early this week. It seems students needed to study and the 6,000 overwhelmed residents of Wilmore needed space for their lives.
But Asbury University president Kevin Brown offered a positive response to concerns that the school was ending a mighty work of God. Said Brown a few days ago, “I have been asked if Asbury is ‘stopping’ this outpouring of God’s Spirit and the stirring of human hearts. I have responded by pointing out that we cannot stop something we did not start.”
Indeed, large gatherings with similar characteristics have recently been seen at Cedarville University (a Baptist school in Ohio), Samford University (a private Christian school in Alabama), Baylor University and even Texas A&M, a huge secular campus in College Station, Texas. (And closer to us, something special is happening at University of Valley Forge, an Assembly of God school near Philly.)
Curious about all of this and wondering if the movement might soon come to a campus near us, I talked with Pastor Dan Nold, leader of central Pennsylvania’s multisite Calvary Church. In the past, I have often mined Nold’s wisdom on topics like the COVID pandemic, local racial relations and economic struggles, so I knew I should talk to him when I saw his Facebook post last weekend from Asbury University.
How did you end up in Asbury, Kentucky last weekend?
Nold: I already had a trip to Dallas scheduled for a Christian leadership event. When I sensed the need to observe things at Asbury, I rerouted my trip home to fly to Louisville and drive a rental car to Wilmore. So I left Dallas as early as possible on Friday and got to the Asbury campus around 9:45 p.m. I was there until a little after 2 a.m., slept in a nearby hotel that night and came home on Saturday. I was on the Asbury campus for a little more than four hours.
What did you see after you arrived?
Nold: There were a lot of people coming in when I arrived — and cars parked all over the place. Wilmore is a town of something like 6,000 people with one Dollar General, one Subway and one gas station. When I got there just before 10 p.m., it was 30 or 31 degrees with a biting wind, but the line to get into Hughes Auditorium stretched for blocks and blocks. I realized if I went to the end of the line, I would be out of the flow of what was happening. So I stayed there on the lawn in front of the auditorium with maybe 200 other people who were watching the service on a big screen. There we were, worshiping and praying while kneeling on the lawn on February 17.
Finally, around 11:30, I went to the back of the line to check things out, and it was as long as when I had arrived. And believe it or not, they had four overflow auditoriums on campus or nearby with good crowds in each. But inside Hughes Auditorium, they made several announcements (to suggest that some folks might want to leave to make space for others), and I ended up getting inside a little after midnight. I left a little after 2 a.m. when they closed the chapel except people 25 or younger who wanted to continue through the night in prayer and worship.
What did you see in the auditorium?
Nold: As for the worship, there was no song list and no words showing on a screen. The people around me were younger, the next generation — whether they were college students or in their 20s, and their exuberant worship was pretty cool. And there were also families coming in at midnight with a husband and wife and maybe a couple of young kids. That sticks in my mind.
And I can tell you what was being talked about. A guy got up and kind of preached for 15 or 20 minutes, and there was a really strong theme of confession and repentance from pornography. There was also a really strong theme of relational repentance and forgiveness, creating reconciliation with others. No specific calls for commitment were given, but people were standing along the front of the chapel and they were there to pray with you if you wanted prayer.
Did you feel like the entire thing was legit? Or did it seem like it was somehow orchestrated or exaggerated?
Nold: There was a lot of passion in worship, but not a lot of hype. And that was intentional. They (leaders at Asbury University) made a decision, which I think was good. Nobody who got up and sang or spoke would even mention their names. It was very much of a no-name thing. The only name being lifted up was the name of Jesus.
And for the process of being chosen and prepared to lead music, a musician or a group would just spend an hour in a little room with a group of people praying over you, consecrating you to lead the worship. Technically, the quality of the music may have been a B-minus or a C-plus, but the worship quality was off the charts. This was about radical humility.
Obviously there’s skepticism in some quarters concerning the events in Asbury and across the country. You know, “This was just a bunch of snake handlers in rural Kentucky.” Or “This must have had some kind of hidden motive.” What would you say?
Nold: Well, the first thing that I’d say — and this might not satisfy all the critics — is that I really did experience the presence of God there. Even now if I sit and think about it, I can barely fight back the tears. Just from seeing the spiritual hunger of the people who came there. And the fact that it clearly was led by the students and that the worship and prayer went nonstop for so many days. There wasn’t any kind of marketing ploy to come to these special meetings. But if you’re a kid, if you’re on TikTok, you know about it because there’s been millions of views of the revival on TikTok and social media.
I’m sure there were some problems and excesses at some point. You can’t get that many people together and not have that. But just to see the people at Asbury… the staff and professors serving, taking bottles of water and snacks to people waiting in line and ushering them to seats… Wow. No one was saying, ‘Hey, here’s my opportunity to be known.’
From a human perspective, what was it about?
Nold: I know it feels mysterious to a lot of people. But one of the things that hit me was the next generation’s incredible hunger to experience something spiritual, God-centered, supernatural. That’s why some people waited three or four or five hours, standing in line in the wintertime. Coming out of all the stuff that we’ve come out of—the uncertainty with economic things and racial things and COVID—there’s a spiritual hunger. I won’t forget seeing people praying with each other on their knees on the lawn in the winter.
It was also interesting to me, and a lot of people have made this comment, that there was exuberance in worship, but there was also a sense of God’s peace. And if you think about it for the Gen Z generation that struggles so much with anxiety, it was special that our God of peace was coming in peace.
I’ve heard it said that you’re somewhat of a scholar on the topic of spiritual movements and revivals. If that’s true, how would you describe recent events in the context of history-making movements like the Prayer Meeting Revival?
Nold: I don’t know if I’m a scholar on this topic, but it’s certainly a hobby for me to read about revivals. There are certain commonalities in every one — repentance and prayer — but there are always unique aspects. The Azusa Street Revival (1906 to 1915 in Los Angeles) had a unique aspect of speaking in tongues with an element of racial reconciliation. The revival in the Hebrides Islands (1949-1953) was strong on repentance and confession of sin, and there was a supernatural drawing of people to the Lord through travailing prayer. And then there was the Prayer Meeting Revival (1857-1859, beginning in New York City) that started with lunchtime prayer meetings for businessmen and grew into a major revival in America, England and Ireland.
As for what started at Asbury this month, it’s still so early that it’s hard to know what will result. But as best I can tell from reading, listening and being there, it is real and it’s bearing fruit. People’s lives are being changed, and people are experiencing the presence of God. I think that what happened at Asbury is what this next generation needs.
Though the Asbury movement is only two weeks, do you have a sense about what will happen around the country in the future?
Nold: I feel like the people in Asbury did a good job of stewarding what God has given them. And part of that stewarding is deciding who this thing is for. Not only did they have to think about the school and the town. But I think they prayed about it and they felt like they’re supposed to be like a candle that people can get light from and then take that light elsewhere. Asbury University isn’t trying to stop it. They’re just trying to send it.
Would you be shocked to see an expression of this happen right here in Happy Valley?
Nold: I’d be thrilled. I’m not positive that it has to look the same, but yeah, I’d be thrilled.
If I know anything about revivals, they are totally unpredictable. But is there anything that could be done here to prepare the way?
Nold: I think it could be as simple as people beginning to pay extravagant amounts of attention to God. When people pay attention to God in more than just typical ways like “I had my devotions this morning,” or “I went to church this week,” or “I’m doing my best to lead a good moral life,” I think he’s attracted to that. And then the Spirit begins to do what the Spirit always wants to do. I just think we live such distracted lives that we quench the work of the Spirit.
So I think the jury is still out on what will happen here or anywhere else, because the jury is still out regarding whether we’ll start paying more attention to God.
It would be unlikely that long-lasting Asbury-style meetings could be held on the Penn State campus. So my mind wonders if a local church could sponsor such gatherings. How about Calvary?
Nold: Calvary would be thrilled if we could do a week of 24/7 prayer and worship. But we haven’t made any plans. I’m a strategic thinker and I love to plan, yet there’s something very organic about such things. But as I think back on it, I sort of feel like God has led us in preparation for this. The last message I preached before I went to Dallas and to Asbury was on fasting and being hungry for God. It was based on the revival at Nineveh that is described in the Book of Jonah. And that message ended with a call to 1,000 days of fasting by Calvary folks over the course of Lent, from February 22 through April 8.
So this 1,000 days of fasting could come from 100 people who would each fast for 10 days or maybe 200 people for five days? Any combination that totals 1,000?
Nold: Exactly. And we’ll give them a series of prayer requests — praying for their neighbors, praying for revival, praying for the presence of God. In the last few days, the number of people committing to this season of fasting and prayer has far eclipsed my hopes. So far, we have over 190 people committed to fasting and prayer for close to 6,000 total days. So that says there’s at least a little bit of spiritual hunger. And honestly, although this is very subjective, I would say the last three or four weeks at Calvary have shown a noticeable increase in the responsiveness of people. Last week, the worship was really amazing, and it left us with the feeling that “Hey, maybe we should hang out a little bit longer.”
One more thing, and it was planned months ago. We don’t meet in person on the fourth Sunday of each month at any of our Calvary locations because that’s when we go out to “love your neighbor” during our CWOW (Church Without Walls) Sunday. But our Harvest Fields congregation holds a special worship service on Sunday evenings during CWOW weekends, and it just so happens that this Sunday night we’ve planned to do it with Unity Church of Jesus Christ. So who knows what might come out of that?
