The student body that day gathered for its regular chapel service, and at the end, in response to the regular altar call, hundreds of students streamed to the front and spontaneously began to worship, confess sins, kneel on the floor and call on God. Hundreds of students gave their lives to Christ that day.

The chapel service did not end.

It lasted, instead, 24/7, for more than a week, with a powerful sense of divine presence. Students were compelled to make things right that they had done wrong to such an extent that the story spread and news outlets began to cover it (you can watch some of these on Youtube and in documentaries covering what happened). Classes were canceled, and students from other universities came to watch and experience what was going on.

Over the next few months, Asbury would send out more than 2,000 teams across the country testifying to what had happened, and by the summer of 1970, more than 130 schools had been impacted as the revival spread from city to city. It was nothing short of incredible and miraculous.

What most people don’t know is the single life which laid the groundwork for the miraculous:

One student, Jeannine Brabon, in the fall of 1969, asked for and received permission to lead an all-night prayer meeting. This spilled into gathering and praying for 30 minutes before each chapel service each week, which set into motion the chain of events culminating in something that swept the country.

Out of these prayer meetings, a handful of students committed themselves to something called “The Great Experiment” for 30 days. Each day, they would spend a half hour in prayer and Bible study, then they would find at least one person with whom they could share what they had received or learned. This grew into 200 students committing to the same by February 1, 1970… which was the spark that started a revival touching more than 130 campuses.

What am I saying?

In short…one student’s process created space for the miracle.

Brabon’s commitment to a specific lifestyle of discipline, instead of limiting her, actually freed her life in Christ more than she ever imagined.

That is abundant life, and that’s what we are talking about over the next few weeks: how embracing the lifestyle of Christ–to the degree we are able with the resources we have–unlocks the zoe life that He longs for us to have.

Disciplines don’t discourage freedom, they create it.

Oh, and one more incredible, almost too-good-to-be-true thing.

Last week, on Feb 8, 2023, almost 53 years to the day, the same thing happened again at Asbury College. Today, right now, this is fairly breaking news!

It’s been more than a week now since eight students remained after a chapel service and started texting their friends to join them–and they did. Since then, Hughes Auditorium on the campus has been packed with round-the-clock worship, repentance, the miraculous and confession of sin. It has spilled out across the street into the Seminary, and Estes Chapel (where I have been privileged to worship a number of times, most recently last summer) is now full, and seats are being set out on the lawn. Classes have been canceled, and the Super Bowl did not put even a dent in attendance. I have friends and faculty there on campus right now, sending me updates, photos, and videos.

Students from more than 20 universities are coming in to witness and participate, and news stories are once again being published as local and national news media pick up on it.

What will happen next? Only God knows.

And I’ll bet, somewhere at the center of those 8 students’ lives, you will find a group of people committed to a process which believed for, and laid the groundwork for, the miraculous.

Christian history belongs, in the end, not to the uncommitted masses, but to the humble, loving, faithful few.

May we be that–and may it spread across our land–until every life has felt and responded to the loving, holy, weighty touch of the Risen King of Glory, Jesus. Amen!

Morgan