A routine chapel service at Asbury University in Kentucky has grown into a multi-day prayer session that is attracting people from miles away and garnering national media attention.
According to NBC News, on Feb. 14, six days after the initial meeting, 3,000 people filled the college chapel and four overflow facilities throughout the college town.
Jake Taylor, with NBC News, wrote: “In the TikTok videos of the event, some people are seen crying to worship music, with hands extended high, while others group up and place hands on those seeking prayer.”
University President Dr. Kevin Brown said the first day was “a very ordinary service,” but eventually it turned into something “special.”
David Prince, writing for BaptistPress.com, expressed lamentation that “Christians took to social media to question the validity of what was happening at Asbury being described as revival.”
Prince listed several comments he has seen on social media, including “No one will know whether this is a revival or not until the fruit of it is examined years from now in the lives of people who are not there on campus.”
But then Prince went on to list several marks of genuine revival laid out by the 18th century pastor and theologian Jonathan Edwards. The exaltation of Jesus and the Bible; the Spirit of truth opposing the spirit of falsehood; and love to God and man being promoted were among the marks.
“The list Edwards provides lines up well with the reports I have heard from the college students at our church who attend Asbury and what I have seen from others about what has been and is going on at Asbury,” Prince said. “Time will indeed tell, but I am confident our appropriate disposition from the outside looking in at the present should be hopefulness and not cynicism.”
In a Feb. 16 article on TheCripplegate.com, entitled “Why It’s Good to be Skeptical of the Asbury Revival,” Jordan Standridge referred to another 18th century Christian preacher: George Whitefield.
“Each time [Whitefield] preached thousands came to hear him. And many seemed to show conviction and repentance of sin,” Standridge wrote. “At times those present would communicate to him the numbers of those who seemed to respond, and each time it is recorded that George Whitfield would say this word. Allegedly.”
Stanbridge believes church history “has proven that it is right to be skeptical and cautious about calling something a revival before you have years of faithful fruit to look back on to call it such.”
Stanbridge also expressed concern with the message preached at the initial chapel service.
“I listened to it. I like the preacher,” Stanbridge said. “He seemed like a guy I would get along with. We clearly come from different theological backgrounds. Regardless, I hope he would agree with me that the gospel was not preached in the message. Historically speaking it was not the type of sermon that has produced revivals in the past. It was incredibly silly at times, and it wasn’t an exposition of the text he preached.”
Stanbridge also expressed concern with some of the men the revival is attracting.
“It is also good to be skeptical of the type of people it has attracted,” he said. “Todd Bentley is one of the people excited about what’s going on. He hates the God of the Bible. He has shown up and is loving it.”
Chris Hume is the host of The Lancaster Patriot Podcast and the author of several books, including Seven Statist Sins. He can be reached at info@thelancasterpatriot.com.
