Chapel at Asbury University packed with people since service last Wednesday
Samaritan’s Purse President Rev. Franklin Graham weighs in on a new study that suggests Americans are rapidly losing religious faith on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend.’
Around-the-clock prayer services that have lingered for a week at a Christian university in Kentucky have drawn national attention as participants have flocked nationwide to experience what some are calling a spiritual revival.
Students at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, have engaged in continual worship services in the school's chapel since Feb. 8, which have reportedly been marked by prayers, worship music, testimonies, altar calls and religious conversions.
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 worshippers from all over the country, according to Christianity Today.
"It's praise and worship, honestly. Nobody's snake-handling. It's just praise and worship that's going around 24/7," Jim Shores, an associate professor at the school, told Fox News Digital.
Shores noted that members of the local community have poured in for the services he described as "very sweet-spirited" and that some have driven hours from out of state to participate.
"It's really been student-led, but now the world's coming in to be like, ‘I want to experience this.’ People are just hungry to have an experience." He said some are coming simply because they are curious, but many have come searching for hope and connection.
As of Tuesday, groups of students from 22 other higher-education institutions have traveled to the school to partake in the revival, according to Kentucky Today.
Students participate in a chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, which has seen worshippers pouring in nationwide. (Asbury University)
"We would say there is just a spirit of the Lord in this place, really [burrowed] its way into the hearts and minds of our students, staff, faculty and our community," Asbury president Kevin Brown told local WKYT.
"It just gives me so much hope that this next generation, this Gen Z generation, does not have to be defined by anxiety, but they can be defined by hope."
Asbury University, which was founded in 1890, is not formally affiliated with any Christian denomination but has its roots in the Wesleyan-Holiness movement that emerged from Methodism in the 19th century.
Revival famously swept its campus for weeks in February 1970, during which time classes were canceled and services extended into the night and spread to other schools.
Abby Laub, who serves as director of communications for Asbury University, echoed Shores.
"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 told Fox News Digital, adding that Gen Z has suffered much during the past few years.
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)
Laub, who noted that the school has been receiving messages "from literally all over the world," said some of the students who emerged from the services were moved after having offered testimony regarding spiritual darkness in their lives they had never spoken of before.
CHRISTIAN ‘PRAYER WARRIORS’ RAISE ALARM OVER BOSTON'S SATANCON 2023: ‘USING THE SUPERNATURAL’
Mia Lush, a student who spoke to local NBC affiliate LEX 18, said, "People are coming from all over, and they don't want to be anywhere else but here. Like, I'm a big Eagles fan, and I didn't even watch the Super Bowl. I've been able to surrender things that I didn't even know I would be able to surrender."
Shores noted that one speaker who spoke during the service was also present during the 1970 Asbury Revival.
"She said, 'I never thought I'd live to see this happen again in my lifetime, but here it is. And it just gives me so much hope that this next generation, this Gen Z generation, does not have to be defined by anxiety, but they can be defined by hope.'"
A packed chapel at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, shows worshippers participating in what some are calling a spiritual revival. (Asbury University)
Sarah Baldwin, vice president of student life at Asbury, described the revival to Fox News Digital as "an outpouring of the love of God, starting with Generation Z and overflowing on the rest of us to bring healing, joy and unity."
"At the center of it all, it’s been a return to a whole-hearted commitment to Jesus and turning away from anything that distracts us from Christ. We are deeply grateful for what God is doing," Baldwin added.
Tim Beougher, who serves as pastor of West Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville and evangelism professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written extensively about the 1970 Asbury Revival and similar movements, according to Kentucky Today.
"What every believer should be doing right now, regardless of what you think about the early reports out of Asbury, is praying," Beougher wrote in a recent social media post that cited Jonathan Edwards, a major figure during the First Great Awakening in the American colonies during the 18th century.
Worshippers lift their hands during a service in the chapel of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. (Asbury University)
"Who would deny that we need revival in our churches and spiritual awakening in our land?" he added. "God has visited this nation with powerful awakenings before — we study those great movements of revival in church history classes. Is Asbury the spark of another awakening? I don’t know, but I’m praying, and you should be, too."
Charges against Pastor Phil Hutchings were tossed out last week by a federal judge
A Canadian pastor who allegedly spent a week in solitary confinement after keeping his church open during the pandemic said he believes Canadians are poised to experience a spiritual revival.
A federal judge dismissed the charges against Pastor Phil Hutchings of Higher Life Church in Saint John, New Brunswick, last week – following a legal saga that began when he was arrested in 2021 for holding church services in defiance of a provincial health order.
"We just drew a hard line because we found that the mandates just conflicted with our faith in what we stood for," Hutchings told Fox News Digital. "For us, it wasn't about bravado. It wasn't a fight-the-man attitude. It just conflicted with what we believe as a church. We believe in assembling together."
After a Canadian Thanksgiving service, the government "really started going crazy on us," Hutchings said. He claimed he was subjected to a week in solitary confinement after he and his associate pastor Cody Butler were arrested.
CANADIAN PASTOR REPEATEDLY JAILED OVER COVID PROTOCOLS TO FACE FINAL TRIAL: ‘CRAZY STUFF’
Mugshot of Pastor Phil Hutchings after he was arrested in 2021 for continuing to hold church services in defiance of a provincial health order.
The clergymen did not cooperate with authorities attempting to interrupt the church service, citing a section of the Canadian law that forbids disturbing religious services, said Hutchings.
"They surrounded our church," Hutchings remembered. "It looked like a Mexican drug cartel going down."
‘Something out of a movie’
"Our church folks just couldn't believe that this was actually taking place, like many other Canadians who were arrested," Hutchings said. "We now see how low the province will go to just prove a point, to push this ridiculous narrative."
The pastor said for a week he was "basically in a brick room on a brick slab with blankets and pillows," and that he was only allowed to shower once.
"When I'm telling you this, it still rocks me a bit," he said. "I don't know if my mind's caught up to the fact that this really happened to me."
CHARGES DROPPED AGAINST CANADIAN PASTORS WHO HELD SERVICES DURING PANDEMIC: ‘PLEASANTLY SURPRISED’
Worshipers gather at Higher Life Church in Saint John, New Brunswick, whose pastors were arrested for keeping the doors open during the pandemic.
After Hutchings was released, his church erected an outdoor commercial tent in response to being ticketed by authorities for holding indoor gatherings, according to the Feb. 2 ruling from Chief Justice Tracey DeWare of the Court of King's Bench. The court tossed out the contempt charges against Hutchings.
Hutchings said authorities began to hover around his church again after he put up the tent, taking pictures and trying to have him charged with contempt. Media also swooped in and portrayed him negatively, he claimed.
Hutchings said police began hovering around and taking pictures of the commercial tent his church erected in 2021 to get around the provincial health mandate prohibiting indoor gatherings.
Prosecutors argued that the tent, whose flaps were put down during cold weather, constituted a "public indoor space," and that the pastors did not sufficiently ensure that each churchgoer was vaccinated.
DeWare ultimately determined she could not rule beyond a reasonable doubt that the tent Hutchings' church was using for services "clearly and unequivocally" constituted an indoor gathering as defined by the provincial health order in place at the time.
‘A Goliath in front of you’
"It's like sink or swim at that moment," Hutchings said of his imprisonment and what his church experienced. "You learn a lot. You learn about the extent of God's grace, and the level of fight that he actually put into you. You don't know what you're made up of until you've got a Goliath in front of you.
"It's like something gets pulled out of you that you didn't realize you had, and I think that's what we realized as a church," he added. "There was a strength that God put in us to lean into this and draw a line because this wasn't just for us."
A Canadian worshiper lifts her hands at Higher Life Church in Saint John, New Brunswick.
Hutchings said his ministry has flourished despite the legal battle, and he believes many Canadians have been invigorated to stand up for their rights in recent years.
He bashed authorities and said his church determined early on that "whatever it takes, we're not bowing."
"Many sadly did," he said.
‘Something stirred’
Still Canada's best days are "right now," he said.
"Even though many bowed their knee to the crazy, many stood," Hutchings said. "And we're now seeing folks who are very appreciative now that everything's been coming out. People are seeing how significant that stand was. If anything, it's almost like it put a fire back in the people."
Police move a line of protesters from the intersection at Sussex and Rideau Streets in Ottawa on Feb. 18, 2022.
The pastor said he believes "a different attitude" has seized his nation and that "something stirred" amid the government clampdown during the pandemic, which he believes could lay the groundwork for a spiritual revival in the country.
"Unfortunately, some folks had to be the spearhead, but I feel like something broke, and we're only going to see positive changes from this point on," he said.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/pastor-put-week-long-solitary-confinement-church-service-predicts-canadian-revival-something-stirred
No comments:
Post a Comment