'Asbury revival' worshippers gather for continuous service
Worshippers at Asbury University's Hughes Auditorium gather Feb. 14, 2023, part of what participants are calling the "Asbury revival." (NickHallPulse/Instagram)
An evangelical service in Wilmore, Kentucky has been celebrating nonstop for 10 days in what many of its participants are calling a "revival."
The event is being held at Asbury University — a small Christian college — and has seen participants fly in from across the country to participate as it enters its tenth straight day of worship.
The movement began after students refused to leave following a chapel service last Wednesday, and the services have since grown to pack the school's chapel with worshipers from all over the country, according to Christianity Today.
Students raise their hands during a service in the chapel at Asbury University, which has seen participants flocking in nationwide to witness its revival. (Asbury University )
The "Asbury Revival," as it has been called, echoes a widely reported worship event that took place decades ago.
A revival erupted at the same university in 1970 in Hughes Auditorium. The service began inside the campus chapel before more and more students arrived to worship, pray and sing over the course of 144 consecutive hours.
In Protestant Evangelical Christianity, a "revival" is a sudden and enthusiastic restoration of religious vigor among a church, town or larger geographic region.
I'VE BEEN TO #ASBURYREVIVAL. IT'S REAL AND SPREADING. THIS IS WHAT I SAW
A packed chapel at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, shows worshipers participating in what some are calling a spiritual revival. (Asbury University)
Evangelical Christians view revivals as a reconnection with the divine after a period of spiritual drought.
The Asbury Revival is having cascading effects as congregations elsewhere in the United States join in the marathon worship.
Students at Samford University in Alabama are now entering their fourth day of continuous prayer.
Students participate in a chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, which has seen worshipers pouring in nationwide. (Asbury University)
Samford's service, held in Reid Chapel, began as usual before Thursday classes were canceled due to weather.
Church-goers stayed and continued the meeting until it began to be compared to the Asbury event.
"For over seven hours, students gathered in Reid [Wednesday] and well into the morning worshiping, praying, sharing testimonies and reading Scripture," Samford Ministry Training Institute executive director Kevin Blackwell told the Alabama Baptist.
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Worshipers lift their hands during a service in the chapel of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. (Asbury University)
He continued, "It was totally organic and student-led. At 2 a.m. there were 150–200 students in the chapel seeking God’s face and praying for revival on our campus. God is up to something!"
Similar meetings have been reported at Cedarville University in Ohio and Lee University in Tennessee.
