Chapel on February 8 at Asbury University went long…and as I write it’s still going! In 1970, a chapel service in the same Hughes Auditorium went 185 hours. Ever since I heard about it circa 1987, I’ve been praying — as many of you have — for another revival to break out! I believe revival is breaking out.
The First Asbury Revival
Jeannine Brabon was a freshman at Asbury College in 1967 when the Lord put it on her heart to pray for revival. In an interview you can watch below, she said, “I never missed [chapel]. I was always there waiting for Jesus to come.” She got permission to use a room half an hour before chapels, and she said, “I put up a sign: ‘Come apart and pray.’” Her junior year she got a list of the more than 1,000 students and prayed for them by name. An overnight prayer meeting they announced to a group of 70 drew 120.
Among other things, they prayed 2 Chronicles 7:14: …if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. At about 3:00 a.m. she said, “I just felt the Shekinah Glory fall on that place.” The next morning Brabon said, “Chapel came and went, and there was no great move of God, and one of the students said to me, ‘Jeannine, nothing happened.’ I said, ‘You know Acts 1:7?’” It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you… She said, “He’s coming. When — I don’t know, but he’s going to come.”
Then Brabon invited 30 student leaders to enter into a version of John Wesley’s Great Experiment she adapted for college life. They would spend time in the Word, fasting, praying, and witnessing each week. They would meet in three groups of ten once a week to be accountable to each other. On January 31, 1970, they talked about the Experiment in chapel; 300 students signed up to take part! Brabon said, “God put in place a follow-up for the revival before it ever hit.” Four days later it did.
In 1975 Brabon was a missionary in Spain when she had a dream:
I was in the hospital, and they came to me with this newborn baby and put it in my arms. And…I’m thinking, “Why me? This baby doesn’t belong to me….” I wake up. So the Lord speaks to me….“Jeannine, you’ve seen the birth of a revival. Now believe for full maturity.” He spoke into my heart, and He said, “Jeannine, who sees the growth and development of a baby? When they’re first born everybody’s all excited, but who sees the growth and development? It’s the parents.” And the Lord said, “That’s the role intercessors have. They’re the ones that are going to see the move of my Spirit and my coming and believe for full maturity. Believe for…a major move of the Spirit of God.”
Wednesday, February 8, 2023
While working on an IFA article about Jesus Revolution, a friend sent me a text from Sylvia Cummings. She took her granddaughter Elisa, a high schooler, to visit Asbury to see if she’d like to attend. She had a very good impression! Cummings explained:
There is a revival breaking out at Asbury University! The 10 a.m. chapel service has not ended! Students and faculty are worshipping and many have not left at all while some have gone to classes and returned. There is no sign of this service ending! It’s growing! They are now being joined by students and faculty from Asbury Seminary across the street and from students across Lexington who are hearing what is happening and want to join them. GOD IS MOVING IN WILMORE, KY! Pray for this revival to spread and for lives to be changed!
Kevin Combs graduated from Asbury in December, but he’s been driving an hour each night to experience revival. As he approached Wilmore, in the interview you can see below, he said, “I was taken aback by this cloud that was over Wilmore….I get into chapel, and unprompted — they haven’t been outside — they started talking about…how the presence of God is felt in a cloud.”
Olivia Rogowski, an Asbury student, jumped on a podcast with her uncle, Andy Miller III. She told how, leading up to this, there have been many times that students have stayed after chapel is released to worship, but it usually ends after ten or 15 minutes. She was in class Wednesday afternoon when students burst in, letting everyone know what was going on. She described the chapel:
It’s like no other feeling you’ve ever felt. It’s just so much deeper than that kind of mountaintop feeling you get when you go to camp. Like you get that one night of worship where everybody’s like, “The Holy Spirit’s there,” but no, it’s deeper than that.
Miller invited Joshua Hallilan, Director of Discipleship at The Francis Asbury Society, onto the podcast. Hallilan said, “There there is no human controlling this. There’s no emotional games being played here. The Spirit is just having His way in people, and it is exciting to see!”
Alexandra Presta, a senior at Asbury, has been posting daily articles about it for The Asbury Collegian. On Wednesday she wrote:
I have been in Hughes Auditorium for almost twelve hours now without an intent to leave anytime soon. Peers, professors, local church leaders and seminary students surround me— all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together….No one wants to leave. No one even expected this to happen. Not on a random Wednesday for sure. Yet, we sit and sing about God’s love pouring out and His goodness.
Carol McClain Bassett commented on Presta’s article:
I was a senior and in chapel that glorious day in Feb. 1970 when the palpable and “heavy” weight of the presence of the Holy Spirit fell on all of us….I had chills, recognizing The Presence in an unusual way. And when Dean Reynolds opened the chapel to testimonies, the deluge began!!! Who of us who were there that week even remembers when we left to grab a quick bite to eat (no food was provided in Hughes), or to sleep a couple of hours? We were compelled – totally captivated – to be in His Presence more and more. I was standing in the foyer the morning the news crew arrived….I asked the newsman, “What are you feeling right now?” He wasn’t able to answer. I told them, “Well, if you’ve never been in God’s Presence the way He is manifesting Himself in there (pointing to the doors into the auditorium) be ready to hold onto your equipment because your knees could buckle.” They stayed for several hours. And it was true – we had to hold onto the pews often as we walked. The weight of Glory!!!!
For Thursday’s update Presta wrote:
“We want more of you and less of us.” At the 32-hour mark, those words ring out across Hughes Auditorium as revival involving Asbury University and the Wilmore, Kentucky, community continues…. This revival isn’t about us. It’s not about trying to recreate history. It has been and will continue to be all about Jesus Christ. Because, in the words of Asbury junior Dakota Poole, “He is enough.”
Presta pointed out, “Testimonies and prayer have continued in between Spirit-led worship sessions.” About revival Brabon said,
There’s a conviction of sin and confession of sin…realizing where you are spiritually…the breaking down of pride and thinking, “Well, I can do it on my own.” That’s the key to revival — being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and opening up to…the fire of the Holy Spirit working in your life.
On Friday Presta wrote, “People are still wanting more. It’s like we’ve tasted His goodness and grace, and we don’t want it to stop.” She went on:
This experience is a true testament to show God’s timing. He knew when we as a student body and as a community needed a day like today. To confess, reconcile, heal and allow prayers to be spoken over us — He knew what we needed to do and helped us do it.
On Thursday Presta wrote, “As long as the Spirit calls for it, His children will remain here, allowing God’s overwhelming and holy love to fill hearts and touch souls.”
Brabon said in 1970, 500 students went forth to share what had happened, and indeed, in many locations revivals broke out there, too! Brabon prayed “that this will just be the beginning of a deep, deep work of You all over the world.” And she pointed out these students have something she and her classmates didn’t: the internet.
Please post your prayers for lasting impact from this fresh revival. Author Rich Swingle and his wife Joyce will appear on Headline Prayer Live from Asbury University.
Headline Prayer Live Webcast
Tuesday, February 14 at 12:15pm ET
Watch: IFApray.org
Dial in: (667) 771-7909
Rich Swingle has taught and performed in 39 nations on six continents, mostly with his own one-man plays. He’s performed in more than 45 film projects, and he and his bride Joyce Swingle, another contributing writer for IFA, have 39 screen children. The Swingles live in New York City. www.RichDrama.com