Asbury Revival 2023: My Experience There, Day 1
The First Of A Four Part Series
I wanted to pen a summary of my 3 day experience at the Asbury Revival of 2023 that spontaneously kicked off at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky on February 8th, 2023 and still is going on as of today, February 21st, 2023.
I’m going to tell this story in 4 parts, and I’m going to embed my TikTok videos (yes, I’m a TikTok’r now) so from there you can get both a written and video feel of what it was like to be at the Asbury Revival of 2023 for 3 days.
I learned of the Asbury Revival on its 5th day, Sunday the 12th, and I immediately felt convicted that I had to attend. As I mentioned to a few friends at work that Sunday, I talk a good Jesus game, but if Jesus was making His presence known at Asbury University, and I had the means, mode, and time to be in His presence…
And I didn’t go…
Then what am I doing?
So I got off work on Sunday night, and drove thru the night to arrive at Asbury at 6:30am on Monday morning.
I’m going to be honest…my first thoughts upon arriving were a rebuke of the question that got me in the car.
I arrived to a sleepy little town with its residents filing into its solitary gas station getting ready to head out to work. And none of them had any idea of people gathering, let alone an event the world was starting to call the Asbury Revival of 2023.
“What did I just do?” is the thought I had.
But I quickly figured out that the locus of the Asbury Revival was an 1/8th of a mile down the road at the Hughes Auditorium on campus. As soon as I walked into the auditorium, I was struck by a feeling of reverence.
There were only a few scattered people on the floor of the auditorium, perhaps 15 or 20 people in a space that holds at least a 1,000 on its lower level. None of them were sleeping, nor were they talking or mindlessly gazing at their phones.
They were in deep contemplation.
The video I made about this got a fair amount of flak from the commenters because they thought I was being critical. My “Holy Spirit taking a nap” quip probably wasn’t the wisest idea for a new audience, but that aside, I was not being critical.
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I’m relatively new to this God thing (yes, I still feel like a newbie after 9 years), and I had never experienced a group of people in such a deep state of contemplation. Also, I had never been in a building that FELT as Holy as this building did.
I knew then that I had made the right decision to come.
Outside of the auditorium, I got to chatting with a local police officer, a kid named Zack who had just came in from Knoxville, Tennessee, and another guy from Pennsylvania. It was weird how the 3 of us from out of state had been drawn here, and equally weird that the local cop didn’t think it strange at all.
It was as if all 4 of us realized that something special was taking place and the usual rules and mores didn’t apply.
I found out that a chapel service typically starts each day at 9am so after catching a quick breakfast at that solitary Shell station, I made my way back into the auditorium around 9.
As you can see in the picture below, it was almost empty of people, but I promise you, it wasn’t empty of Spirit.
I will always remember the young man playing the red guitar. He sang chorus after chorus of “Nothing But The Blood of Jesus”. I picture him like a modern-day John the Baptist, alone at the Jordan River before the crowds knew to flock there, but singing with a quiet confidence because he knew they would come.
And come they did.
They started arriving in groups of 2’s and 3’s, and then the college students started filing in in single file lines from the front and back of the auditorium. And by 9:30 or so, the auditorium was at least half full of its 1500 seating capacity.
But I had just been outside a mere 30 minutes ago, and there was no sign of these people. Where do you stash 600 to 800 people until the service starts? Or did they all providentially appear like my new friends and I had done?
My only other memory of that morning (I was getting a little sleep deprived) was of the bluegrass band that sang Gospel music. Halfway thru their worship set, the banjo player in the band took to the mic to tell the assembled what type of music they sang.
He mentioned that these were traditional songs that were either created or adopted by the people in the “hills & holler” of Kentucky. These people lived hard lives with no expectation of any improvement in this lifetime so they sang about places far away where life was better. They believed that Christ would be delivering them to a better place after this life.
And then he said something that brought me to tears.
He said; indeed Christ would deliver on that promise, but Christ’s true promise was of bringing Heaven to here on Earth. To bring His peace to all the dark places of the world. For He had vanquished Satan in Hell, and He was coming to bring deliverance to all those who languish in this life.
So we should sing to the depths of our souls, because God was delivering Heaven on Earth in this moment.
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After a short respite at the hotel, I returned to the auditorium around 4pm to get ready for the evening session of worship and preaching. The crowd was still far below capacity, but you could feel the energy building in the room.
It was at this point that I noted for the first time what I call the “Christmas Tree” effect.
If you took a moment to scan the room carefully, you could see that random people were being overcome with emotion. The scene reminded me of a Christmas tree with lights that blinked on and off except this wasn’t a coordinated string of people.
No, it was like the Holy Spirit was dropping down onto individual believers and touching their hearts. One moment they would be singing, and then they would be overcome with the Spirit. Nothing showy or outlandish; just a pause in singing to sob tears of joy for a moment or a minute. And then they would resume worship while the same pattern would repeat itself across the room.
I’m going to close this first part of my story with a memory from the evening session.
As those who have been with me in church know, I am not a “worship” person. If I had my way, we’d get a 90 minute sermon every Sunday. Additionally, I’m not an “arms in the air” worshipper. The most you’ll get out of me is a little swaying back n’ forth.
But thru the morning and afternoon sessions, I could feel something building in me as I listened to the crowd in the auditorium worship.
I had run out to get a quick bite, and returned to find the auditorium at capacity, but as a “single” I was able to get in. As I was getting seated, one of the pastors was delivering a quick message on stage so I sat down quietly and anonymously as we are apt to do in strange locales with unknown people.
And then the worship music started back up and I became one of those Christmas tree lights.
I sat quietly but I started to sob in fits and starts like one who doesn’t want to embarrass themselves. But it was no use to fight and soon I was overcome with emotion.
Then they started playing a mash up of “Promises” and “Run To The Father”, songs I don’t know the words to, but nonetheless, I was up out of my chair singing and sobbing, holding my arms out in prayer and worship.
I came to Jesus 9 years ago, but I gave Him my whole heart in Asbury on that Monday night.
And no one will ever think of me as non-worship guy again.
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Thanks for going down memory lane with me, and I’ll share with you what my 2nd day at the Asbury Revival of 2023 was like in my next post.
God bless you and remember…
Jesus loves you.