-by Peggy Hahn (She/Her), Executive Director of LEAD

What is it about the revival on the Asbury University campus that has me so curious?

A campus worship service that began on February 8, 2023 and at the time of this writing is still going on, has sparked the Christian movement that is an answer to prayers as church leaders have looked at their emptying pews. Over 50,000 people have created traffic jams in the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky, not to mention started an unprecedented social media enhanced movement across the country.

Are you following this? If not, I recommend you do. If you are, do you feel yourself fighting the urge to join this pilgrimage, prefer to keep your distance, or discount this as a social media frenzy?

I want to admit my own curiosity about joining this Spirit-led awakening – even as it is somewhat outside of my traditional practice of prayer during the season of Lent. My soul has longed for something more alive than the experiences of church-as-I-know-it. I am grateful that there are people among us who can lead others to this meaningful movement of the Holy Spirit.

The questions in my head sound like this:

“Do we know what this means?”

“Of course not, but why am I even asking this question?”

“Did people ask the same question on Pentecost?”

“Do we think there is solid theology?”

“Really, how arrogant can we be? “

“What does this mean for the future?”

“Why does everything have to have a sustainable plan to have value?”

I could go on and on. These questions reveal my own excitement about the Christian movement I ache for and the heavy-heartedness of living through such an in-between time as this.

I am left to pray for the people who are leading this movement, even though they didn’t have a strategic plan with a grant to support costs. I am left giving thanks for their prayers. I yearn to sit at their feet to learn more about what it takes to grow a movement and to just enjoy a moment of grace.