Recently, on March 27, 2024, over 250 students from the University of Alabama were baptized in a downtown fountain following a worship event hosted by UniteUS. To be honest, I had mixed emotions when I lay in bed and began to hear my phone blow up thanks to our campus ministry GroupMe. Four of those students who were going to be baptized were in our ministry. Were they making a rash decision? Would this stick? For those who had been thinking about baptism for months, I ashamedly admit that I wondered why they couldn’t have decided at 1:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 p.m.
I had not been at the worship event, but once we all showed up downtown, those negative, half-awake feelings began to change. Time will tell what type of soil exists in those 250 hearts, but I was encouraged as I knew that 3 of our 4 had been wrestling with baptism for a while, and the other (though thinking about baptism more recently) knew she was making a lifetime commitment to Christ. After midnight, when my wife and I got back home, I was reminded of God’s timing and his power. As we hear more stories of unusual outpourings of God’s grace, some connected with UniteUS, and others not, I’m reminded again of the same.
The next Wednesday, we decided to forego a typical sermon at our midweek college gathering, and instead I and our other campus minister shared thoughts about the event with our students. As we did so, I was reminded of a moment a year ago during some student evangelism training when we praised God for Asbury and prayed for revival on our campus. I was also reminded of another midweek gathering last fall when I showed a picture of the baptisms at Auburn and prayed that God would show our campus favor, too.
“I was reminded of God’s timing and his power.”
Speaking of revival or awakening can be a funny thing. For one, there’s no agreed-upon definition of either. I prefer Timothy Beougher’s delineation of revival as a spiritual renewal occurring among God’s people (e.g., King Josiah’s reign) and awakening as occurring among the lost (e.g., the city of Nineveh), often as a consequence of revival. Nonetheless, people consistently use the terms interchangeably. Semantics aside, when do we know when revival/awakening has come? Was the Jesus Movement the Third Great Awakening, or just a significant time spiritually? Will the recent events on college campuses later be seen as an incredible revival/awakening like those which have moved American campuses before? Will they be viewed as a Spirit-filled vessel for God’s blessing like the iconic Billy Graham crusades, or as a short-lived spark with little long-term fruit?
Personally, I have little interest in ending semantic debates or predicting the future. While I don’t know the long-term fruit of recent events, there are some things of which I am certain. I’m certain that widespread revival and awakening are possible and bring joy to the heart of God. I’m also well aware that, historically speaking, no revival or awakening occurs without its excesses or shortcomings. What else should be expected from anything involving imperfect people? I would also suggest that many of us reading this article likely come from a church tradition which has at times missed out on God’s blessings during times of revival or awakening because of our focus on the shortcomings, instead of on the Spirit.
“I’m also well aware that, historically speaking, no revival or awakening occurs without its excesses or shortcomings.”
I’m a campus minister in the Churches of Christ, and I’m thinking about how we tried to quench the Spirit in the late 1960s during the Campus Evangelism movement, a movement which I believe should be viewed as a revival among God’s people. I also know we grieved the Spirit through manipulation and spiritual abuse during a subsequent awakening among the lost within our campus ministries during the Crossroads Movement. History tells me of our propensity to hinder the work of God, either through unbelief on one end, or a desire to see growth to an unhealthy degree on the other end.
At the same time, though, I see the marvelous deeds of God in the midst of our sin and am certain that he can do even greater things today.
Most of all, I’m certain that nothing is hindering a revival of my own personal life other than my own personal quenching of the Spirit, a quenching which can be remedied by repentance, prayer, and fresh and continual consecration before the Lord. Certainly this can be said for us all.
In light of recent events and my interest in our history, I’m drawn to the words of Habakkuk 3:2:
“LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (NIV)
Whether God chooses to work in extraordinary ways in my lifetime or not, I want him to find me remembering his fame and standing in awe of his deeds. I want him to find me praying that he would repeat them in our day. I want him to find me full of faith that he is capable of doing even greater things than those of which I have only heard.
“I want him to find me full of faith that he is capable of doing even greater things than those of which I have only heard.”
When it does come, the revival will not be televised, so to speak. God’s extraordinary acts will not be scheduled with a release date, so that we can anticipate their coming and watch with passivity. And, for that matter, neither will the ordinary acts of God’s Spirit, which daily lead sinners to repent and saints to recommit. I want God to find me praying and believing for revival, but I also want him to find me working, under full assurance that his Spirit is at work, whether historians one day deem it “revival” or not.
