We’re coming up on the 50 year anniversary of the Asbury Revival of 1970. Some say this is the last major holiness revival we’ve had in our nation. And it follows a string of other revival seasons:
First Great Awakening (1730s)
Second Great Awakening (1820-1850)
Third Great Awakening (1875-1885)
Azusa Revival (1906-1915)
Twentieth Century Revival (1940-1970)
On the morning of February 3, the regular chapel service began at Asbury College in Wilmore, KY at 10 am. At the end students were given an opportunity to respond and this resulted in a time of prayer, repentance and holiness that didn’t end until the following week! God spirit moved in powerful ways and changed the lives of thousands of people. It was such non stop prayer, worship and witness that classes were cancelled, the chapel was filled day and night and hundreds came to witness it. The entire country was impacted as a thousand students from the college (about half of them at the time) left to witness to the revival in other churches and communities around the nation.
- Many on campus had been praying for spiritual renewal and were now in an expectant mood.
- A spirit of powerful revival came upon the congregation.
- Classes were cancelled for a week during the 144 hours of unbroken revival, but even after classes resumed on February 10, Hughes Auditorium was left open for prayer and testimony. These sessions were presided over by Reynolds, Clarence Hunter and other faculty.
- Some 2,000 witness teams went out from Wilmore to churches and at least 130 college campuses around the nation.
- Extended services of revival came about in other communities – in one Indiana church, services began in February and continued until April and had to be moved to the high school to accommodate the crowds.
- Here’s a great article about the 1970 Asbury Revival.
Revival begins with prayer, is powerful and humble, and we need it.
Here a few questions:
- How often do we pray for and anticipate revival? Do we expect it to happen in our lives? In our church?
- Do we ever consider that prayer, repentance and holiness could so overwhelm us that worship would continue, schedules would change, and our hearts would be so in line with God’s call and word for us that we would live drastically differently in the the culture?
- How much do we talk about revival? How much do we talk about God’s presence in our lives or our spiritual lives in general? How much to we talk about Jesus in our daily conversations?
- Are we seeking God for an awakening in our own lives and in those around us?
- We’re in need of revival. We’re praying that God would do it again.