A spontaneous flood of young Christians arrived on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, KY. The event was unplanned but lasted for 16 days as young people from hundreds of miles around flooded the tiny chapel to hear stories of faith, share their experiences, and find strength in the power of a crowd.
The event, which went non-stop for about 400 hours, drew people from all over the country, caused the closure of some regional Christian colleges, and made news around the world.
Now, a new event not directly affiliated with Asbury University hopes to capitalize on the excitement nearby. Rupp Arena in Lexington will host a more planned revival. Attendance is free. The event will take place from 2 pm to 11 pm on Sunday.
The events at Asbury spread through social media and drew young Christians from all over the country and the world to the tiny college to share their experiences. It all started as a normal Sunday prayer service. Then everything changed after the prayer ended.
“At the end of service, students were dismissed; a few students lingered, and we had a really strong sense that we should worship, and the more that we worshiped, we can sense God’s
presence,” Wilmore resident George Dumaine told WKYT.
From there, the event blossomed for 16 days. The college normally only has 6,000 residents and hosted between 50 and 70 thousand people, most of whom had no plan for housing, food, or even knowing if they could get into the tiny chapel.
“On February 8, 2023, Asbury University’s regularly scheduled chapel service never ended. What we have experienced since that Wednesday morning has been a current of immeasurable goodness flooding our community and quickly moving into other regions of the world. Words fail any effort to communicate the abundance of experiences and stories that will leave us forever changed,” University President Dr. Kevin Brown said in a statement on the university’s website.
“Thursday, February 23, marked the end of this historic multi-week gathering at Asbury University and Asbury Theological Seminary with the National Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast hosted on our campus.”
Life is returning to normal at the university, and most of the travelers have gone home. The event on Sunday in Lexington will probably cause a few to stay in Kentucky a bit longer.
Billy Mosley, Lead Reporter for The Kentucky Daily