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.

The Jesus Revolution will hit theatres Feb. 24, telling the story of the Jesus People Movement, which roared to life in 1970. Other famous revivals include America’s First and Second Great Awakenings, the Brownsville revival and Azusa Street. There’s the 100-year prayer meeting of the Moravians. I’m aware of Christian leaders researching the significance of revivals including the Asbury College Revival, Cane Ridge, and the great Welsh Revival. But we don’t hear so much about the East African Revival, which ignited in 1929 and lasted for decades.

“An American Lent” is a journey through our country’s history of slavery, segregation, and racism with the hope of healing. The aim is that—through the prayers, reflections, and responses—to not only be grieved into repenting but that we would all leave this experience bearing fruit in keeping with repentance and be agents of healing across divisions and pain.