The outpouring of God’s love and presence continues to be strong and enduring even though the campus auditorium at Asbury University, where prayer and worship has been led by students since Feb. 8, is closed to the general public.
Unaware that public access has been scaled back, thousands of revival seekers from around the world are still arriving, full of hope and expectation at the small Christian campus in Wilmore, Kentucky.
The pilgrims arriving from as far away as Sri Lanka have been inspired by countless social media videos. Well over 1,500 people, young and old, are shown exuberantly praising and passionately worshipping God in the historic Hughes Memorial Auditorium where numerous other revivals have launched since it was built in 1929. The travelers want to experience for themselves an outpouring of God’s presence where people feel loved by God and accepted by other people when they are authentic and vulnerable about their weaknesses.
Upon arrival, many people have been shocked and confused to see the yellow police line tape stretched across the front of the university’s campus. The barrier to the auditorium feels like a barrier to the outpouring of the love they seek.
There, in a moment of sadness, is where they begin to share in the outpouring—not inside the stately white building that appears so out of reach. Instead, they share in the outpouring right there on a small patch of grass between the yellow tape and the sidewalk.
Their focus shifts to fellow pilgrims empathetically greeting them with updated information, comfort, prayer, Kleenex and news of similar outpourings across that nation. Soon, in an atmosphere of love, peace rolls in like a gentle wave of the Holy Spirit.
Throughout the day, an acceptance and a trust that God will meet them right where they are replaces anxiety and despair. As travelers turn their focus away from the auditorium, their heightened awareness of God’s presence increases right there on the lawn, across the street and on their journey home.
Before long, the celebration begins. While the season of Asbury University opening its prayer closet to the world has changed, the hunger for revival has exploded and continues to build into faith and action around the world.
Online and word-of-mouth reports of people gathering for extended times of prayer and worship in homes, schools, churches and public spaces is both humbling and inspiring. Humbling because God, who was always right there, did not turn away from us in our time of desperation. He showed Himself faithful and loving. He opened our eyes to see ourselves and other people in a loving way.
In this new era of revival, it would be hard to be a revival chaser. It moves much too rapidly to keep up. Where is it now? Is it still here or there?
No one really knows from one day to the next.
Three weeks in, people are realizing that this revival cannot be chased. Realizing this, people are connecting with others in their own communities to make God their first priority and become expressions of His love right where they are. {eoa}
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Renee DeLoriea: During the Brownsville Revival, Renee was the managing editor of the Brownsville Revival Magazine, a columnist for the Remnant Newspaper and a freelance writer for Charisma magazine. Since then, she has edited books and written articles for numerous media outlets. She lives in Nashville, Tenn.
