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Three things converged in the last few weeks. Is God whispering something to me?

1. The prayer letter from our good friends and Navigator colleagues.
2. The student revival at Asbury University.
3. Bill and I went to see the movie, Jesus Revolution. Yes, we highly recommend it.

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Our good friends were students in our ministry at the University of Illinois. We were surprised when their friendship turned into a dating relationship. They seemed so different. We were very skeptical.

And we were clueless!

Yet, over their 40 years of marriage and ministry, God has used them in significant ways on the college campus and beyond, including in my life. I so respect their walks with God. They are great communicators. They know how to relate to college students. They have deep friendships. They are wonderful affirmers. What a joy to see God’s work in their lives. I am honored to walk with them as Navigators and pray for them.

We were clueless!

On February 8th at Asbury University, a revival broke out among the students after their normal morning chapel service.

It’s interesting to note that the speaker at that service was discouraged at the end even calling his wife with these words, “That was a stinker. I’ll be home soon.”***

But he was clueless!

That service continued non-stop for about two weeks. The prevailing belief was it didn’t end; it was only the beginning of God moving among the college students around our nation.

God initiated this story for me personally over 50 years ago. Bill and I were not yet married. He was attending Asbury Seminary across the street from Asbury (then) College. And a very similar revival broke out among the students at the college.

Bill and some of the other seminarians crossed the street and stood in the back of Hughes Auditorium at Asbury College, observing, being drawn in, amazed. Something Bill never before experienced was happening. In his own words, the entire atmosphere was different. The air seemed thicker. The Holy Spirit was evident as they listened to the students pray, sing, and minister among themselves. There was a sense of expectancy. They left praying that the revival would cross the street to the seminary.

They were not clueless.

Watching the Jesus Revolution surfaced many memories for us. The true story is set in the early 1970s in the Hippie movement that broke out in California. The phrase Jesus Revolution was coined by a front page article in Time Magazine.*****

https://jesusrevolution.movie/

Bill and I were married in 1972 and leading the ministry at the University of Illinois, right in the midst of the Jesus movement referring to what started with the Hippies and was moving across the nation.

We were in our twenties. Evangelism was easy. Students were eagerly responding to the gospel. The churches were packed. The Holy Spirit was moving mightily across the campus. We were living in the midst of something that was far bigger than us. Was this a revival?

I was clueless.

Sitting in the theater was very emotional for us. The memories surfaced. The dots connected. We were humbled.

Revivals have been going on for years. In the early to mid 1700s, a revival known as The Great Awakening was happening in the American colonies. The Jesus movement, the Asbury revivals, what we experienced at the University of Illinois (not officially remembered as revival), are all illustrations of God moving mightily in the hearts of people.

Will you do it again, Lord?

That is our prayer.

At one point in Jesus Revolution, Chuck Smith, the founder of the Calvary Chapels and one of the main characters in the story, is talking with Lonnie Frisbee, a Hippee, an evangelist, and the one who initially brought his friends to Chuck’s church.

Chuck asks something like, how can we bring revival to the church? Lonnie’s response, You have to be desperate. Are you desperate enough?

Am I desperate enough?

Or am I still clueless?

In the book of Acts, recounting revival in the early church thousands (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4) were coming to know the Lord. “… the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47)

Peter’s response and admonition to the people, repent! (Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19,20).

I don’t want to be clueless!

Repentance requires humility. Humility is fueled by desperation. God is whispering.

“Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?”
Psalm 85:6

*** “How an ‘itchy sweater’ sparked a new Christian revival at a Kentucky university”, New York Post, February 20, 2023.

*****Time Magazine cover article, June 21, 1971.

 

 

 

Copyright: Sue Tell, March 2023