Stories of Asbury University’s two-week prayer and worship gathering have dominated Instagram, TikTok, and blog feeds over the past week, eliciting responses from faithful Christians ranging from elation to skepticism. We asked Rooted writers to share how they’re engaging this topic with teenagers in their homes and ministries through the lens of the gospel.
David Brashler, father of four; Associate Pastor of Saving Grace Church in Milwaukie, OR; Rooted Parent Steering Committee member
Let Asbury remind our children, Jesus is worthy – The Asbury moment has captured the awe and reflection of many, myself included. Especially when I’m bombarded daily by cultural “bad news,” these reports are captivating! Jesus promised to build his Church (Mt 16:18), and I want to hear these stories! As parents, let us take this opportunity to affirm again to our children that Jesus is King, and God made us to worship him. Can we affirm with those at Asbury that Jesus is worthy of our praise and delight? Let’s join those at Asbury, indeed the saints in heaven, to sing that he is worthy (Rev 5:9-10)!
Let Asbury remind our children, gather with your local church – At Asbury, saints gathered and worshiped. Wherever we find ourselves, we can likewise worship the Father through the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. It happens on Sunday mornings in the local church. As parents then, let’s lead our children to see that Jesus died for the local church (Eph 5:25). Let’s gather our children together this coming Lord’s day, pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to worship God, for satisfaction in the process, and go to our local church. There we will sing the praises we will sing into eternity.
Katie Polski, mom of three; Music Director at Trinity Church in Kirkwood, MO; Rooted Parent Steering Committee
It’s not uncommon in our current climate to see skepticism win over optimism. Unfortunately, skepticism has been the presiding view for many Christians toward the gathering at Asbury. But there are good reasons to first be optimistic toward what we are seeing and hearing. If we believe that the work of the Spirit is real—and it’s written all over the pages of Scripture—then it’s okay to be excited about what God may be doing in the lives of these college students.
Sometimes we’re skeptical because we have not yet cultivated a relationship with the Holy Spirit. Have you considered this before? We talk much of God the Father, we pray often to God the Son, but do you dwell on God the Spirit? Have you spent time digging into what the Bible has to say about the work of the Holy Spirit in your own life? Do you know that the Spirit’s power that is at work within you is the same Spirit power that raised Jesus from the dead? Reformation of any kind begins with revival and revival happens because of the Holy Spirit’s powerful work. Some of these transformations may not be genuine, but many probably are. Let’s be optimistic about the person who met Jesus this week and whose life is eternally changed because of it.
Parker Hudson, Director of Student Discipleship at Redemption Church in Madison, MS
As much as we seek to hope and believe the best (1 Cor. 13), the reality is that we are steeped in a skeptical world and this will inevitably shape the way that we approach and think through various issues. Specifically, the events at Asbury have introduced an opportunity for the hopers to hope and the skeptics to doubt. I have found myself oscillating between the two over the past two weeks. However, what I find myself most fascinated by is the introduction of social media into the equation, and with this, the various pop-up gatherings across different Christian Universities in the country.
Social media has developed into an almost inherently comparative tool and so my biggest concern as we begin to speak to students is that we would warn them against viewing the work of the Spirit as a social media trend. This is not a necessarily a critique of Asbury or any of the other worship meetings, but in the wake of these events, we do have an opportunity to speak to students about the requisite move inward that is necessary to discern the work of the Spirit in their own hearts before they act on the impulse to post outward. Else we may inadvertently become the Pharisees who pray loudly on the street corners instead of those who seek the Father earnestly in secret.
Dawson Cooper, mom of three; freelance writer and floral designer; Rooted Parent Steering Committee member
To say I am uninformed is incredibly true, but my first impression in my effort to “catch up” or my response to what I think is: I don’t know. I don’t know about the theology. I don’t know the motives. I don’t know if it’s a true revival. But God does. And God has worked in more miraculous ways and more mundane ways than gathering college students across American universities in his ongoing purpose of drawing people to himself. My response? Prayer. Prayer that God would indeed use Asbury and the spin-off gatherings for his glory and that the Holy Spirit would be on the move; that my own children and other students might find themselves so moved by the Spirit that they, too, would worship not just continually at a gathering but continually throughout his daily life. Lord, let this not go to waste. Let the goodness and grace of Jesus Christ bring peace to the campuses across America.
Mark Rector, father of three; Associate Minister Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL.
As I think about what has taken place at Asbury University (and several others following suit) in the last several days, I admit I have mixed emotions. “Revival” is a polarizing concept even in evangelical Christian circles, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there are a variety of perspectives and much discussion about the significance of what is happening. Asbury Seminary President Dr. Timothy Tennent sums it up well: “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back, in hindsight and say ‘yes, this has been a revival.”
Like other evangelical Christians around the world, I long to see hearts, souls, minds, and lives transformed by the overwhelming goodness that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And personally, I have no doubt that the Spirit has brought dead people to life through revivals throughout Christian history. I have mixed emotions because I long for others to see that goodness and rejoice that the time of salvation has come near (2 Cor. 6:2). But I also know true, lasting faith is more than feelings and experiences captured in specific moments in time (like revivals). Abiding faith is a life directed toward Jesus Christ and in step with the Spirit. But I keep coming back to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8 when he asks, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of me being baptized?” (v. 36). The answer, of course, is nothing, which is why I have been moved to ask of myself, “who am I to judge what God through his Spirit is doing at Asbury?” Thanks be to God.
