A Report from the Asbury Revival
Reposted from Anglican Compass website. Original interview article written by Winfield Bevins and posted on February 22nd, 2023.
How did the revival start?
There have been people praying for revival in Wilmore for months, maybe years. Groups of students and seminarians gathering to pray. Historically, when you look at revivals, prayer precedes revival.
It was a normal Wednesday chapel service, in Hughes Auditorium. But a dozen students stayed afterword for prayer, and students kept coming back to the chapel. Then the group of students grew, and never left, staying for prayer, repentance, worship, reading of scripture, and exhortation.
What was your experience when you went to Hughes?
I was told that a revival had started. I came into the chapel, and had a sense of God’s presence in the place. It felt like God was pouring himself out upon his people and the place.
It was like heaven come to earth. Like God tabernacling with his people.
How would you describe revival theologically?
When we look at definitions of revival, there is a sense of the nearness of God that comes after prayer and repentance. In Acts 3, Peter tells the people to:
“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.”
— Acts 3:19-20
Building on this idea, JI Packer says “revival is God’s quickening visitation of his people, touching their hearts and deepening his work of grace in their lives.”
Tell me about the growth of the revival.
At first, the revival drew in students, faculty, staff, and locals. As word got out about the revival, thousands of people from Kentucky and all around the country began to arrive. One sign that this has not been about personalities, is that we actually had to cancel a previously scheduled concert with Andrew Peterson, because of the growth of the revival!
The size of the revival has been a bit overwhelming. Wilmore is a town with one gas station, one coffee shop, and two traffic lights. And here it’s like we’re having a Christian Woodstock!
But God has been in this as well. The experience has changed for local people, from experiencing their own awakening, to providing prayer and hospitality to all the people coming in. We are living into God’s call to be a blessing to others.
How has the Anglican Church gotten involved?
Asbury is a historically Methodist school, but on the ground it is ecumenical, and that has been the case in this revival. Folks from many churches have pitched in to support it in various ways.
Early on, it was less organized. As more people showed up, we had to develop plans for prayer teams and prayer shifts, with multiple locations, and shifts for leaders.
My parish, Wilmore Anglican Church, has taken the lead in organizing the prayer teams that minister to both students and the many visitors from out of town.
What has the revival meant for you?
Revival challenges us not only to receive the grace and mercy of God, but also to accept his call on our lives.
I am an artist – a visual artists and iconographer. And over this past year I felt a growing calling, to bring beauty, goodness, and truth to the arts. I felt a call to form a non-profit art ministry, called CREO, which helps to found local art guilds, and mobilize Christians artists to live out their vocation.
I feel that the revival has thrown fuel on that fire. It has given me a clearer sense, not only of God’s mission for the world, but also of my place in it. One of the keys of reaching the next generation is a revival of the arts. We need the arts to play a role in worship, as well as evangelism and discipleship.
My friend Rob, an Australian, told me: “Mate, God wants to launch CREO out of this revival!”
What would you say to those who cannot come to Asbury?
I encourage people to set aside cynicism, and pray for the revival of the church. Is it a bad thing, to see young people coming to faith and claiming to experience God? I’m encouraged to see hundreds of young people respond to the Lord.
But don’t come here. God wants this to happen everywhere. Gather with people in your church and your community, and pray for revival. Our world needs it. Our world and our nation need revival and an awakening to the presence of God. We see the rise of the religious nones, and wouldn’t it be in the heart of God to revive this generation?
Is there a Bible passage that you would give us in closing?
Look at Jesus in Matthew 9, both leading his disciples, but also asking them to pray for more laborers for the harvest of souls:
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
— Matthew 9:36-38
Winfield Bevins is the author of Simply Anglican and the Director of the Center for Church Multiplication at Asbury Theological Seminary. As an author, one of his passions is to help others connect to the roots of the Christian faith for spiritual formation and mission. He and his wife Kay have three beautiful girls Elizabeth, Anna Belle, and Caroline and live in the Bluegrass state of Kentucky. You can find out more about him at his website, www.winfieldbevins.com.