2.19.23 – Fox News

“Asbury Revival Sparks Movements at Other Christian Colleges – ‘Holy Spirit is at work’”

Samford University president said services at his school were 'spontaneous, organic, student-led'

By Jon Brown 

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Excerpts from this article:

The Asbury Revival in Kentucky has inspired similar movements at other Christian college campuses after the around-the-clock prayer service went viral on social media.

Similar revivals have emerged at schools like Cedarville University in Ohio; Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama; Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee; and Belmont University in Nashville, according to The Washington Post.

The movements come after thousands from around the world converged on Asbury in Wilmore to participate in services that have continued in the school's chapel almost non-stop since students first refused to leave a worship service on Feb. 8. TikTok videos under the hashtag #AsburyRevival have racked up nearly 70 million views as of Sunday.

Cedarville University, a school founded in 1887 in southwest Ohio and affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, has seen continuous prayer and worship services emerge spontaneously among its students, according to The Christian Post. 

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Cedarville University President Thomas White told the outlet that "a special outpouring and sensing of the presence of the Lord" began last Monday as students were studying Psalm 86.

"So, we took a moment to pray and to sing a song," White said. "And during the song, without an altar call or invitation of any kind, we had some students who began to come forward and pray.

…"And, before the chapel was over, there was an altar full of students just praying and some were weeping, others were hugging one another."

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Students kept returning to the chapel and staying long into the night, White recounted, and some students decided to go to other schools in the area to share their faith. 

In an email sent to students Friday, Samford University President Beck A. Taylor noted that "spontaneous, organic, student-led worship" had continued for 48 hours in the chapel of the Birmingham-area school that was founded by Baptists in 1841.

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"Having spent some time yesterday with those [worshiping] in Reid Chapel, I can testify that the Holy Spirit is at work in and among our student body," Taylor wrote. "What’s happening isn’t contrived, programmed, or scripted. Nor is it performative or disingenuous."

"I can testify that the Holy Spirit is at work…"

— Samford University president Beck A. Taylor

Cautioning against "the temptation to label what’s happening, or to put it into some kind of a neat box," Taylor added that he is "convinced that God is doing a new thing here, and all we’re asked to do is to remain faithful to God’s calling."

"Our theme this year is HOPE. Our hope can be found in the person and work of Jesus Christ. As we worship Jesus today, let’s allow hope to abound in us so that we can spread God’s hope throughout this campus and the world," Taylor said."

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What's happening at Asbury is not and will not remain confined," tweeted Rob Fultz, who serves as campus pastor of Lee University, a private university founded in 1918 and affiliated with the Church of God.

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"It will, and already is awakening the deep wells of revival on campuses across the nation. They have been churning, pressing against the seals that have kept them hidden, and they are about to burst with new life."

Fultz tweeted photos of his school's services that he noted, like Asbury, have also lingered for days. A video he posted shows students shouting "in prayer, worship, and repentance." 

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Abby Laub, director of communications at Asbury University, recently told Fox News Digital that she believes Gen Z is spiritually hungry. 

"If you look at the world, and you look at what is going on and what Gen Z is facing, I just think they are absolutely desperate for something other than what the world is giving them right now," Laub said, adding that Gen Z has suffered much during the past few years.