A Normal Chapel Service
February 8, 2023, started like any other Wednesday at Asbury University. We had our chapel service starting at 10:00 a.m. I was among those who stayed after the service ended—something about the worship just felt different that day.
After about an hour, I left to attend my next class on the ground floor of Hughes Auditorium.
Something Surreal
An hour later, I came out of class and heard singing. That's weird, I thought.
I went back up to the auditorium, and it was surreal. The peace that was in the room was unexplainable. People were still worshiping, still praying, still encountering God.
And worship has not stopped since then.
God Is Moving Among Us
Several of us students started running from class to class around campus excitedly declaring: "Revival is happening!"
It's been one of the most incredible things I've ever seen God do. He's in our midst. He's moving.
God is healing people. He is saving people. Students from the University of Kentucky and other schools started traveling to our campus to see what God was doing.
The Outpouring Spreads
Over the next 16 days, an estimated 50,000 visitors descended upon our two-stoplight town in central Kentucky. What started as a routine 50-minute chapel turned into something that captured attention around the world.
The hashtag #asburyrevival hit 63 million views on TikTok. But this wasn't about social media. People wanted to encounter Jesus without being recorded. They wanted something real, something unproduced.
My generation is hungry for God. We've seen what the world offers—the anxiety, the depression, the emptiness. And we're choosing something different. We're choosing Jesus.
Two students who were going to commit suicide radically encountered Jesus. A security worker came to Christ. Addicts have been delivered every night.
This is what happens when God shows up.
