“Outpouring” at Asbury University chapel runs over a week

The Hughes Auditorium chapel at Wilmore, Kentucky's Asbury University on Thursday continued to draw people from across the nation to participate in services that have been ongoing since last Wednesday. After a regular chapel service Feb. 8, a group of 20 students at the Christian university remained in the chapel to sing and pray. More people joined in—and the chapel has been open for worship around the clock since then, with few breaks. The chapel was closed between 1 a.m. and noon Thursday, but has reopened and singing, prayer, and testimonies have resumed.

Who decided to call this a revival? Social and regular media have been calling this event “the Asbury Revival” but campus leaders are hesitant to use that term. Asbury Theological Seminary President Timothy Tennent in a blog post on Tuesday called the event an “outpouring” but is hesitant to call the event a revival just yet. He said that it’s wise to wait to call this a true revival until we see “lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church.” 

Dig deeper: Read Travis Kircher’s on-the-ground report on the people he’s met at Asbury and how they’re experiencing the spiritual awakening.