As Asbury University announced last week it would be moving its worship “off campus” after two weeks of nonstop worship due to “logistical issues,” students and religious leaders are sharing their thoughts on what they’ve experienced. Fox News shared the story of one student, Gracie Turner, who stated the revival had helped her to return to God after walking away. Turner, a senior at the college, shared her story during the school’s Collegiate Day of Prayer, revealing that she had not been a practicing Christian for years. Despite having grown up in the faith, the passing of her great-grandmother from cancer in 2019 one month before she began attending Asbury severely rocked her faith. “I had to witness my great grandma, who I love dearly, I witnessed just her being taken away from us,” she said. For the next three years after that, she wanted nothing to do with religion, feeling betrayed by God and filled with anxiety, depression, and loneliness.

Then, when she couldn’t handle the feelings anymore and broke down during a physical therapy session, she received a text from a friend to return to the chapel where students were continuing to pray after being dismissed. Sitting in the back on what would become the first day of the school’s revival, Turner was hit with the voice of God. “It felt like God was telling me this is what you’ve been missing,” she said. As she continued to attend the revival meetings, she decided to share her testimony. “For the longest time, I had resented God. I wasn’t a believer. And I just kept thinking all these people are going to hate me. Because they’re all here for God and I’m getting up here telling my story,” she said. After sharing, others thanked her. The Friday of that following week, after her cousin came to the revival as well, Turner answered Rev. Zachmeerkreebs’s altar call to repent. Turner was baptized during the revival as well. As a senior getting ready to go into the world and start her career, Turner wants to see the impact of the revival go beyond the school. “This isn’t about Asbury. This isn’t about Hughes [Auditorium]. This is about God working and transforming lives. I mean, He transformed mine,” she said.

Other Christians have shared their positive experiences at Asbury. Lou Giglio, author and leader of The Passion Movement, shared his experience on Instagram. “Simple. Sovereign. Student-led. Stirring,” he wrote. Pete Greig, co-founder of the 24-7 Prayer Movement, spoke to those who may have reservations about the revival’s authenticity. “Let me also say that I understand the cautious questions being asked in some quarters. These are natural and sensible,” he wrote. However, “when it comes to reports of revival I would far rather be gullible than cynical.” He then quoted Acts 5:38-39 when a Jewish leader tells the Sanhedrin to let the apostles preach about Jesus after His resurrection, saying, “if it should be from God, you cannot defeat them, and you might actually find yourselves to be fighting against God!” “What’s happening at Asbury is not everything but it is something and right now we need something to shock the system so that this generation can experience for themselves the life-changing power of God. We need repentance and holiness,” Greig added.

The Asbury revival hasn’t been without its detractors. Scott Aniol of G3 Ministries stated that the concept of revival is deeply misunderstood. Pointing out how Asbury’s president Timothy Tennent had refrained from calling the event a revival but instead an “outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” Aniol writes, “The important point to recognize about [Biblical “revival” events] is that they are unique. The Spirit was poured out as Jesus had promised, and he does not need to be poured out again and again. He is now active in the world, convicting the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment (Jn 16:8), regenerating dead hearts (Tit 3:5), and sanctifying believers into the image of Christ (Rom 15:16). On this basis, at minimum, we should not expect nor characterize any occurrence today as a ‘fresh outpouring of the Spirit.’ Such a thing is not promised in the New Testament, nor is it needed.” He also stated that the idea of mass returning to Christ before His Second Coming is “unbiblical,” given that the Bible has promised “dramatic increase of lawlessness before Christ comes again” (Matthew 24:9-14). He reminded his readers that their hope is not in mass revivals, but in the promised return on Christ. “Let us be content with the ‘ordinary’ way God has promised to work in this present age, and let us long for our blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, when true revival will come.