Personal Reflections on the Asbury Awakening: Two Weeks In

I have been watching the recent events at Asbury University that is being referred to as the "Asbury Awakening."  The historian in me would love to show up and observe.  The christian believer in me is avoiding that, and instead, watching and praying for a distance.  CLICK HERE to see references and resources that I have been collecting to a central location.

Here is my sense of things at the moment:

You Will Know Them By Their Fruit

Good word straight from Jesus!  That means we will have a better sense of the source and impact of the Asbury Awakening in about five years.  For the moment, I would counsel all God's people to be patient and prayerful, and to:

• Expect (And Avoid) "Mixture" - Events like the Asbury Awakening - and there are MANY in history - are at best the Sprit of God moving in and through the lives of people.  They are by nature a "mixture" of the Spirit and of humnaity.  One would hope for more Spirit and less humanity - say a 90% to Spirit 10% humanity mixture - but if things go awry, things can head down hill pretty fast - to say 10% Spirit eand 90% human.  No move of the Spirit among humans will ever be completely pure and perfect.  Pray for leaders, participants and grace to keep the best "ratio" possible.  And have some grace for the expressions of "humanity" that will ineveitably be part of things.
• Resist "Hijacking" & "Franchising" - If the Asbury Awakening is a work of God, there will be people who will look to cash in.  I mean that exactly as written.  Some will hope to "capture it in a bottle" and begin to market what is happening at Asbury: "You too can see revival in your church/life/community/university."  Better to seek the Giver of Revival Himself for our time and place and heart, than to simply try and capture something authentic to a different setting.  I am thankful, judging by an article in The Atlantic today - CLICK HERE - that Asbury leadership is resisting such inapproprite intrusions.  At best, such borrowing results in human imitations, but there can also be more sinister connections .  .  .  
• Expect "Counterfeits" - Not to go "full Twilight Zone," but there is always active resistance to the Kingdom of God from a spiritual or transcendent reality.  Go where you want with that, but Scripture and history warns us to be discerning and expect spiritual counterfeits and resistance when the Spirit moves in a fresh way like this.

A Fascinating Series of Events

Honestly, I have no idea what to make of this, but I have at least noticed some things over the past two weeks that I would guess are at least "providentially connected."

• Feb 5 - Tim Keller pulishes an article on the Atlantic Monthly website entitled "American Christinaity Is Due For A Revival.  CLICK HERE for article
• Feb 8 - The "Asbury Awakening" begins in Asbury, KY
• Feb 22 - The movie "Jesus Revolution" is released.  CLICK HERE for the official trailer.

I have not yet seen the movie "Jesus Revolution," but the trailer is promising.  This would be a "historical drama" recounting the events around the beginnings of the so-called "Jesus Revolution" in the late '60's.  It is done by the same team that created the 2015 film "Woodland" from the same era in a different location.  CLICK HERE for the trailer.  I was not in California, but have studied the subjects of Jesus Revolution.  Woodland felt like a documentary of my high school experience.  I'd love to talk to you about it!

So, we should have a good perspective on what is going on in about 5 years.  For now, about two weeks in, I am personally hopeful, prayerful, and staying more focused on the Great Giver Of Revival than I am on any particular local gift from His hand.