Asbury blog

I’ll admit, I came home from overseas with a bit of a chip on my shoulder against the lack of spiritual growth I saw in America.

I have an amazing church, and am surrounded by believers that actively walk in their gifts, but not everyone I saw did. When you have seen the extremes people will go to in order to get God, the apathy of a lot of the American church feels like a slap in the face. America has every opportunity for a thriving Christian life that many other places are striving for, but not many make the choice to take that opportunity.

Or so it felt. I had some talks with the Lord and with some spiritual leaders that corrected my view. Because it wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t complete. There is an apathy rampant in a society that has access to most everything, but there is also a hunger alive here.

I love revival history. I think it’s so interesting and encouraging to hear about how those in our near past experienced supernatural outpourings of God drawing people to Himself. When I heard there was a revival happening in Asbury, I wanted to go see it and be a part.

What I saw, was a picture. A picture of what a blessed society that puts their blessings at the feet of Jesus and says “we’re only here for you” can look like. It wasn’t utopia, it wasn’t perfect, but it certainly looked like what the picture of the early church in Acts was.

Driving into town, you already feel a camaraderie. It’s like an extreme version of going to a sports event where everyone is rooting for the same team.

I’d like to share a few things that I saw that really encouraged me that America isn’t the spiritual graveyard I, in judgement, felt it was. I hope that you get to see a bit of the picture that I saw painted that day of what the early church can look like in a modern day context, and that you also feel the way America is awakening and responding to the Spirit of God.

• I mentioned it in the podcast, but I was most impacted by a gas station that was on the corner. It can be easy to say the right things, do the right things, in a church context, but when you can keep that character always, that’s when people can see the light of Christ through you. Nothing extraordinary happened in this gas station, except that everyone was so kind and caring. They were waiting in line patiently, sharing the last of items with total strangers(the gas station had been overwhelmed by the crowds and was short stocked on most things), and being so kind to the cashiers. Confession: I do judge people’s characters more by how they treat customer service workers than anything else. A little gas station on the corner got to experience community and kindness, and the Spirit of God being present.

• People waited in lines for hours. I’ve been in lines for sports events, I’ve been in lines for rollercoasters, once I even waited 15hrs just to be in the mosh pit for a concert. I’ve never waited in multiple hour long lines for church. 1000s of people had given up a Saturday, to spend a good majority of it waiting because they wanted to experience an outpouring of God.

• People helped and trusted each other. I was talking with a young mom who’s young children were playing in the yard nearby us. Her little four year old boy would occasionally lose sight of her and be a little panicked, every person in line pointed him to his mom and helped him find her. Multiple times hahahahah. At one point I heard a woman screaming at the top of her lungs. She had lost her 8yr old daughter in the crowd. Once again every person stopped what they were doing, and we were able to reunite mom and daughter.

• There were musicians playing worship on street corners. As we walked by people would stop and take a moment to worship with them.

• There were volunteers, handing out hand warmers, socks, sandwiches, if someone had a need it was met by those around them.

• People praying, for each other, for healings, anywhere and everywhere. They were broadcasting what was happening in the chapel onto the lawn and down the line. At one point they called for several minutes of silence, kneeling and reverence. All over, outside, in the grass, on the sidewalk, people kneeled and sought God together.

• I went down the line with my friend Alexa and asked people their definition of revival for the podcast. Most people were incredibly open, we got to talk about many different aspects of faith and how they came to faith, and made some instant friends.

• I saw the “anti-famous” mentality in action. I think God can use both those with and without a platform to impact people, but to see the “anti-famous” mentality in a generation that has been largely defined by the desire to be influencers was incredible. They were there for nothing other than the glory of God.

I have other thoughts I could write, but those  are my main takeaways. More than anything I hope you personally experience the revival that comes from encountering the living God no matter where you are. That is the starting place, where lives are changed, that then impacts and heals communities, that then can awaken a nation to a Loving God.