A scheduled 10 a.m. chapel service on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at Asbury University has turned into an unscheduled worship gathering that’s been going day and night for a week now and has yet to stop. People are traveling to the Wilmore, Kentucky, university to experience this move of God for themselves. As of Wednesday afternoon, a week from the start, a YouTube search for “Asbury revival” brings up multiple live videos of the meeting from people in attendance. Kevin Brown, president of the university, told CBN News an estimated over 3,000 people have come in the past two evenings to worship.

It started simply. Zach Meerkreebs of Christian and Missionary Alliance taught on Romans 12:9-21 as part of a series titled “Love in Action.” The first two verses of the passage read: “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

The chapel recording on the university website shows students streaming out of the room after the meeting officially ended. But about 30 students stayed, Asbury senior Alexandra Presta told The Christian Post. “I had left for a few minutes but then felt called to return. Since then, it hasn’t stopped. It’s been a mix of worship, testimony, prayer, confession, silence,” she said.

Asbury Chapel continued yesterday in waves of prayer, worship, and gut-wrenching public confession. It was a significant and spontaneous move of the Spirit that lasted for hours. What a phenomena to witness. Come, Holy Spirit! pic.twitter.com/xRgz6IPels

— Austin Wofford (@AustinWofford_) February 9, 2023

Presta spoke to Billy Hallowell on CBN News and described how the meeting started and how it’s affected the student body outside the chapel. She said there’s more of a “gentle care” among the student body. Rather than superficial interactions, they’re checking in on each other, praying, worshipping and crying with each other. “It really brings this sense of unity.” She said personal conflicts and tension within her friendships have healed since the move of God started. “I can just see the difference in us, even though it’s only been a few days.”

Student Zeke Atha posted a video update for his home church on YouTube. He described people coming to Christ in other nations.

Nick Hall described people confessing and turning away from their sins and everyone saying, “the blood of Jesus forgives you.”

A student who said he drove 6.5 hours described his experience. He went to the altar and looked around him and saw people of different generations praying for each other and a room full of people with outstretched hands. He said God told him revival “isn’t hype. It’s ordinary people crying out for a move of God in our generation.”

Friday’s Chapel

48 hours after the chapel service that started it, the next regularly scheduled chapel service began. The chapel speaker on Friday, an Asbury Seminary alumna, founder and director of K-Homes, called herself Tammy Ma. She spoke about “contending prayer,” or “wrestling with God” for the things they’re asking for. She referenced Jacob wrestled with God for a blessing, saying “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

“I feel like it’s a continuation of what you guys are already doing,” Tammy said.

Tammy said she’s the mother of 46 kids — the youngest 14 — and she has been in South Asia for over 23 years. After she came to faith as a young person from atheism, she found that God answered her prayers, often quite quickly. She says he got through three years of seminary debt-free with never more than $100 to her name. Her stories continued into her time leading a home for children. She described many miracles that came from contending prayer.

One story was that of a young fatherless girl who was brought to the home by a social worker. Her mother was deathly ill. After being at the home for about 6 months, her mother came back for her because she had found a buyer for the girl, and she wanted sell the girl to leave her son with some money when she died. Tammy fought the mother in the courts because she did not want the girl to be sold, but the mother won.

As the mother was taking the girl away, Tammy asked God, “God, what are you doing?” God said, “Tammy, what are you doing? Fight for her.” She told God she had already fought and lost. God said, “Come on, Tammy.” She realized she needed to fight in prayer. The household prayed for 14 days and often fasted dinner. The mother returned the girl, saying that while she was seven hours away, still intending to sell the girl, a dark cloud had covered her and pushed her back to Tammy’s gate.

Tammy’s sermon points were to pray without ceasing, to pray without doubt, and to pray without offense (when we don’t get the answer we want). Watch the chapel service here.

‘The Church Wants God’

A man named Jon Baker drove to Asbury University with two friends and recorded their hopes, reflections on what God did at Asbury in 1970, and his reflections: “It’s reawakening hunger in the church. The church wants God. I tell you, if you learn anything from Asbury, it’s that, if you want God enough to disrupt your norm, he honors that hunger.”

Asbury lists nine revivals on their website, spanning from 1905 to 2006, the most well-known being that of 1970: “Classes were cancelled for a week during the 144 hours of unbroken revival, but even after classes resumed on February 10, Hughes Auditorium was left open for prayer and testimony.”

Aliya Kuykendall is a staff writer and proofreader for The Stream. You can follow Aliya on Twitter @AliyaKuykendall and follow The Stream @Streamdotorg.