Asbury Revival

It was 1970 when it happened at Asbury College.   The details are etched as in stone.  Snow on the ground.  February 3.  Tuesday morning chapel in Hughes Auditorium at 10 AM.  A spontaneous service of witnessing started when one of the Deans invited students to come forward.   In a short time students started leaving their seats to go the altar.  One after another after another.  The eleven o'clock bell sounded signaling the end of chapel and the start of the next class.  No one paid it any attention.  The Holy Spirit was at work.  For a week there were no classes on the campus.  Around the clock day and night there was someone at the microphone sharing what God was doing in their lives.  Around the clock people were at the altar.  For seven days.  Revival.  Holy Spirit.

 

It was my last quarter at Asbury College.  I was one of those who knelt at that altar in Hughes Auditorium on that Tuesday afternoon seeking God in my life with an urgency never before experienced.  It was an altar moment unlike any I had ever experienced and one unlike any ever experienced since.  A divine work took root in my heart in those moments in such a way that my walk with God was forever changed.  More than being about a moment, it has been about a lifetime.

 

One of the truly amazing things remembered is the way God used the story of the Asbury Revival to bring revival to one campus after another.  At Olivette Nazarene College a few of us from Asbury told the story of what God was doing and then watched as He brought people to the altar to accomplish even more of His work.  But, what happened there happened not because of us, but because it was the way He was choosing to work across the world.  When others told the story, it was Pentecost again in that place.  I am so grateful for those days.  I am so thankful I did not miss them.  My life is different because of them.  Praise God from Whom all blessings do indeed come!   Praise the Lord, great things He has done!