I know a young woman, Gracie, a talented student who, by her admission, turned her back on God.
“Yeah, I know, I know,” was her typical response to any attempt to reintroduce her to Jesus.
Then, Feb. 8 happened, and as day turned into night and night turned back into day, Gracie sat in Hughes Auditorium and wept.
At that moment, she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ. Then, Sunday night, this quiet young woman who makes barely a peep in class stood up – weeping again – and gave a testimony before an auditorium filled mostly with strangers. A few days later, she was baptized. She subsequently shared her testimony on national television.
Did Gracie experience a revival, an awakening, or something else? The better question is who opens the eyes of the blind and raises the dead? Because that’s what happened to Gracie and to all of us who have been saved by grace. We’ve gone from darkness to light, from death to life. This is the work of God, a God who runs out to meet the Prodigal, a God who sent his son to save us.
In a culture obsessed with labeling events and people in order to place them into categories for rejection or acceptance, participants, pundits, and bystanders are working overtime to figure out what to call what is happening on Asbury’s campus. “Is this a revival?” the headlines ask. Some, including CNN, have called it “a nonstop worship service.” Social media is replete with debate about whether this should or shouldn’t be called a revival. Others settled on “revival” almost immediately.
Ultimately, future generations and history will apply the label, as President of Asbury Theological Seminary Timothy Tennent pointed out. “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say ‘yes, this has been a revival.’”
In the meantime, here’s what I know. The thousands who have come in anticipation and desperation to experience the hope found only in Jesus don’t really care what it’s called.
What we’re seeing is miraculous. Yes, Wilmore is bursting at the seams but let’s step back for a moment and see this for what it is – a divine act of an initiative-taking God to change the lives of men and women forever.
As I sit in Hughes balcony and watch lives being transformed or walk around campus, as I did Saturday, and see lines stretching for more than half a mile to get in the building, I try to appreciate what’s happening. It’s challenging to do this sometimes, which makes us not unlike Jesus’ disciples, who watched him perform miracle after miracle and still didn’t quite get the picture. This should encourage us.
Immediately after Jesus fed the four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish, they forgot to bring bread for their boat trip. In Mark 8:15, Jesus warns them, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” The disciples then got together to figure out what Jesus was talking about. Their conclusion in verse 16: “It is because we have no bread.” This is sort of akin to watching thousands give their lives to Christ and complaining there’s no place to park which, I confess, I have done.
Whatever this is or has become, let’s remember that it began with a small group of students who lingered after chapel. This is pure, unplanned, organic. No big-name speakers or musicians, no pyrotechnics, no outreach. This is not a performance. It is, however, a chorus of forgiven sinners crying out in thanksgiving to an almighty God. It is, as Asbury President Kevin Brown called it, “a beautiful, historic moment of spiritual renewal.”
I’m well aware that “Asbury Revival” is trending on social media. It even has its own Wikipedia page. But let’s leave the categorization where it belongs; with history.
In a week or two, campus will look more familiar. The crowds and the lines will be gone. But many of us will be forever impacted by what we experienced and witnessed. Don’t try to define it. I know that Gracie isn’t preoccupied trying to describe what happened to her. She knows only that she had an encounter with Jesus, and that’s all she needs to know. It’s all that really matters.
Rich Manieri is a journalism professor at Asbury University, a writer, and a faculty advisor to the Asbury Collegian.
Leave the labels to history and watch God work
I know a young woman, Gracie, a talented student who, by her admission, turned her back on God.
“Yeah, I know, I know,” was her typical response to any attempt to reintroduce her to Jesus.
Then, Feb. 8 happened, and as day turned into night and night turned back into day, Gracie sat in Hughes Auditorium and wept.
At that moment, she surrendered her life to Jesus Christ. Then, Sunday night, this quiet young woman who makes barely a peep in class stood up – weeping again – and gave a testimony before an auditorium filled mostly with strangers. A few days later, she was baptized. She subsequently shared her testimony on national television.
Did Gracie experience a revival, an awakening, or something else? The better question is who opens the eyes of the blind and raises the dead? Because that’s what happened to Gracie and to all of us who have been saved by grace. We’ve gone from darkness to light, from death to life. This is the work of God, a God who runs out to meet the Prodigal, a God who sent his son to save us.
In a culture obsessed with labeling events and people in order to place them into categories for rejection or acceptance, participants, pundits, and bystanders are working overtime to figure out what to call what is happening on Asbury’s campus. “Is this a revival?” the headlines ask. Some, including CNN, have called it “a nonstop worship service.” Social media is replete with debate about whether this should or shouldn’t be called a revival. Others settled on “revival” almost immediately.
Ultimately, future generations and history will apply the label, as President of Asbury Theological Seminary Timothy Tennent pointed out. “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say ‘yes, this has been a revival.’”
In the meantime, here’s what I know. The thousands who have come in anticipation and desperation to experience the hope found only in Jesus don’t really care what it’s called.
What we’re seeing is miraculous. Yes, Wilmore is bursting at the seams but let’s step back for a moment and see this for what it is – a divine act of an initiative-taking God to change the lives of men and women forever.
As I sit in Hughes balcony and watch lives being transformed or walk around campus, as I did Saturday, and see lines stretching for more than half a mile to get in the building, I try to appreciate what’s happening. It’s challenging to do this sometimes, which makes us not unlike Jesus’ disciples, who watched him perform miracle after miracle and still didn’t quite get the picture. This should encourage us.
Immediately after Jesus fed the four thousand with seven loaves and a few fish, they forgot to bring bread for their boat trip. In Mark 8:15, Jesus warns them, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.” The disciples then got together to figure out what Jesus was talking about. Their conclusion in verse 16: “It is because we have no bread.” This is sort of akin to watching thousands give their lives to Christ and complaining there’s no place to park which, I confess, I have done.
Whatever this is or has become, let’s remember that it began with a small group of students who lingered after chapel. This is pure, unplanned, organic. No big-name speakers or musicians, no pyrotechnics, no outreach. This is not a performance. It is, however, a chorus of forgiven sinners crying out in thanksgiving to an almighty God. It is, as Asbury President Kevin Brown called it, “a beautiful, historic moment of spiritual renewal.”
I’m well aware that “Asbury Revival” is trending on social media. It even has its own Wikipedia page. But let’s leave the categorization where it belongs; with history.
In a week or two, campus will look more familiar. The crowds and the lines will be gone. But many of us will be forever impacted by what we experienced and witnessed. Don’t try to define it. I know that Gracie isn’t preoccupied trying to describe what happened to her. She knows only that she had an encounter with Jesus, and that’s all she needs to know. It’s all that really matters.
Rich Manieri is a journalism professor at Asbury University, a writer, and a faculty advisor to the Asbury Collegian.