Reflections on the Asbury Revival

MAY 9, 2023 | 3 MINUTE READ
JAMES BALLARD, ASBURY STUDENT INVOLVEMENT DIRECTOR

Just Another Wednesday

At first, February 8 felt like just another Wednesday. Elle Crossman—the Asbury Student Involvement Coordinator—and I were shopping for a meeting with our Paraguay short-term team that evening. While buying tacos de guayaba from a local Hispanic bakery, we each received texts from different students saying that we needed to come to the chapel service in Hughes Auditorium as soon as possible. So we got our tacos, grabbed some coffee, and headed back to campus.

A New Spiritual Climate

Walking up the stairs to the front entrance of Hughes, I could immediately feel a shift in the atmosphere. The hair on my arms was standing straight up, and when I opened the door to the chapel, I could feel a peaceful presence resting in that space. Instead of ending after an hour like it normally did, the service that had begun that morning had continued. All I could do was sit down in the back of the auditorium and acclimate to the spiritual climate around me.

Across the chapel were about thirty students praying and worshipping in smaller groups.

They were confessing, repenting, and asking for prayer for their struggles.

They were filled with adoration and joy, and worship was simple and meditative.

The Outpouring Spreads

More students started trickling into chapel throughout that Wednesday afternoon. By the evening, most of the main section of Hughes was full of students, staff, faculty, and others from the seminary and surrounding community of Wilmore, Kentucky.

As I spent time praying with different students, the Father gave me an image of them resting in His loving arms. He was calling them to Himself and His love. We saw freedom, forgiveness, healing from depression and anxiety, and restoration of relationships. People who had been lifted up in prayer for such a long time said yes to Jesus for the first time, and we saw God answering prayers over and over again. Throughout all of it, we saw the loving kindness and faithfulness of God.

How God Met Me

The service continued throughout the night and into the next day—for two weeks. I had the privilege of being in Hughes for the first five days of the outpouring, ministering mostly to Asbury students. God met me in some very special ways during those days, as well.

A young man kneels with his head bowed, facing his his father in a crowded auditorium

My son, Josh, felt compelled to pray for me during the revival.

That first Friday night (February 10), my son, Josh, felt compelled to pray for me. When he asked how I could pray, I told him that I was sensing the Lord leading me to start thinking about how we could shepherd and pastor these Asbury students to abide with Jesus after this mountaintop experience came to an end.

Josh started to pray this beautiful prayer asking God to help me, and then he ended his prayer with these words: “God, thank you for my dad. He is a good pastor to these students.”

Then he continued, “Dad, God wants you to know that He is with you and that it’s going to be okay.”

Those words were like water to my soul. In that moment, I could feel the faithfulness of God, and I just rested in my Father’s arms.

Coming off the Mountain

Though the chapel service eventually came to an end, its effects are far from over. We continue to see God moving in special ways at our WGM Student Center’s Global Café as students respond to the way God speaks during worship and response.

A group of college students poses for a photo on a red dirt road in the country.

The Holy Spirit continues to move after the revival! A team from Asbury served in Paraguay on a short-term mission trip this May.

Elle and I have been able to hold conversations with individuals and groups throughout the week about abiding in communion with God. Our leadership team finished the book With by Sky Jethani (it wasn’t a coincidence that we would be reading it during the semester when we experienced God in such a special way). And students are exploring ways to share what has happened here and in their own lives.

We do not believe God is done speaking at Asbury. We are praying Isaiah 35 over this campus, that streams of living water would rise in its parched places.

We are expectant.

ACTION STEP: PRAY

That the fire lit in these students’ hearts would continue to be fanned, and that this outpouring will continue to spread like wildfire all over the world.
That these students will learn to abide in Jesus and hear His voice with daily rhythms.
That our WGM Student Center will continue to disciple students to abide and go wherever Jesus is calling them.
That we would continue to be expectant for God to speak.
That Asbury’s leadership will continue to discern how to shepherd this community after such a monumental event.

Author Bio: James Ballard is the Director of WGM Student Involvement Director at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is passionate about University of Kentucky basketball, barbecue, coffee, cultivating culture, and empowering leaders. James has one biological son, Josh, and several hundred adopted children at Asbury University.

James Ballard on May 9, 2023