Last year’s revival at Asbury University in Kentucky has never really ended, a professor who was at the event says.
Sarah Thomas Baldwin, author of the upcoming book, “Generation Awakened: An Eyewitness Account of the Powerful Outpouring of God at Asbury,” shares behind-the-scenes details of the revival, what she sees happening now and why she believes the impact is still being felt.
Students at Asbury kneel in prayer. Photo: Asbury U.
Despite the event ultimately coming to a structured close, Baldwin said hardly a day has gone by that she hasn’t heard something about how the outpouring reached people across the globe. “It’s really exciting,” she said. “And so it’s been many stories from people all over connecting to share their testimony.”
As for the students Baldwin works with, she said it’s been powerful to see the spirit of revival they continue carrying with them and what God is doing in their lives because of it.
“Immediately after the outpouring, the months of March and April, at the end of our semester last year, our campus really was exhausted,” she recently told CBN News. “I like to say that the flood of the outpouring came up, and when the waters receded, there was some debris on the beach. We were tired emotionally, physically, spiritually.”
Months later, though, she said students returned with a renewed energy and fervor.
“Our students came back with this spirit of revival,” Baldwin said. “And what I mean by that is, lingering after chapel to worship and pray. I mean, they’ve always done that a little bit, but now it’s just a part of our regular campus life.”
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Baldwin said spontaneous worship happens in the afternoons and evenings on campus, summarizing these activities as raising the “spiritual temperature of our students.” Young people also have been talking about Jesus more frequently and are “praying together in a more elevated way.” Thus, the “spirit of revival” so many saw in February 2023 returned in a powerful way. In the end, the Asbury outpouring was brought to a close as students and the campus returned to normal life, but the lessons have remained.
“When people hear the story of how students lingered, how students were moved to repentance, how they gave testimony, how they confessed sin, how people turned to the altar and turned to Jesus — it’s as though people step into that,” she said. “It’s like an invitation and people respond to it. People were really desperate for Jesus.”
Dwight Widaman | Metro Voice