How it Began . . .
I was in Hughes Auditorium, the sanctuary of Asbury College (now University), where we were required to attend. Attendance counters were located in the balcony, making certain we were in our assigned seats, marking off 1/3 of an attendance point if we were doing homework or, worse still, falling asleep. The very uncomfortable wooden seats helped ensure that we would not nod off, but occasionally you would see a classmate do the ubiquitous "chapel nod," where one almost dozed off, but then suddenly woke up, appearing to nod in agreement at what the speaker was saying.
We were told of Revival Meetings, planned for the next 5 evenings. For this we were not required to attend, but we were definitely encouraged to attend. This was in 1991.
So, I went to one. I went to all of them. Each night there was an "altar call," an invitation to go forward to a wooden rail to kneel and pray. Sometimes people would pray with you. Sometimes not. I was searching for meaning and fulfillment in my life, so I went forward to pray. In all honesty, I was expecting something of a miracle to happen. I wanted to hear an actual voice from Heaven and God telling me what to do. Instead, a woman approached me. To this day I don't know her name. I actually think she might have been the wife of one of the professors. She asked if she could pray with me. I consented and waited for her to begin.
And that's when I became extremely uncomfortable. She started to speak in tongues. As far as I knew, it was not any known language. I grew up in a Christian tradition that did not speak in tongues. We were taught about them, but never ever encouraged to use them.
"The Lord is telling me that you have the gift of tongues," she said.
. . . I was silent. I didn't know what to say. God never told me that.
"Have you ever prayed in tongues?"
"No . . . "
"Well, you should just let it out, just let it come naturally."
There was nothing natural about that to me. I was an introverted, closeted bisexual young college boy, who still didn't know what he was doing. I began asking God what I should do. This woman became very insistent with me, almost badgering me to pray in tongues.
Perhaps God did give me a solution and a way out. I wanted her to stop pestering me and it seemed that the only way for her to stop was if I began to pray in tongues.
So I prayed in tongues.
Well, one tongue: German. I prayed in German.
That was perhaps like throwing gasoline on a flame. She became very ecstatic about this. I wasn't fluent in German yet and praying in German was not something I was taught in high school. I began to run out of things to say and I was "rescued" by a seminary professor, Dr. Stephen Seamands, who was the preacher for that evening. He calmly led her aside and told her that perhaps she should leave me alone.
I then had a wonderful prayer time with this man. He believed I had the gift of prophecy. Whether or not this or is true, I don't know.
Jumpstart
And so it happened. Every year in the Autumn Asbury would host a series of Revival Meetings, which tried to jumpstart the Revival of 1970. Many books and articles have already been written about this Revival, which happened before my birth, but whose aftereffects lasted a long time. Young people left the campus in 1970 and spread the news of what happened and what they experienced.
These scheduled Fall Revival meetings seemed to want to coerce something to happen. Of course, that could totally be my own impression.
My impression, then, was that people remembered the Revival of 1970. They loved it. They loved the feeling of what happened to them during that time. They wanted it to come back again.
And, just like a drug addict looking for that initial high, they tried to recreate the circumstances of that first Revival, hoping to get the spiritual high they so desperately thought they needed.
Cynic
I feel very much like a cynic right now. It's not a good feeling, I'll admit to that. I have become disillusioned by much of what Evangelical Christianity has had to offer.
Even during my time at Asbury, they also had another Revival, this time in 1994. I was a student then. What started out as a chapel meeting didn't stop. One of the professors took over and led a prayer meeting that refused to quit. People came to pray for several days. It wasn't as big as the one in 1970. According to people who had been to the one in 1970, it seemed to be quieter. I, myself, went to several of the prayer times. I gave testimony (which means I spoke about what God was doing in my life). Looking back at it, I'm actually quite ashamed at what I said. It held little spiritual import.
The next year, 1995, saw the Toronto Blessing come to Wilmore United Methodist Church. Wilmore is where Asbury University and Asbury Seminary are located.
That was just plain weird.
The Toronto Blessing was a charismatic "revival," which was epitomized by intense laughter. I attended one of their meetings. It was like hearing everyone laugh at a joke I didn't get. I even heard people howling like wolves and barking like dogs. I didn't get it. I didn't laugh. In the crowd, also not laughing, was the seminary professor who had prayed with me earlier in 1991, who had "rescued" me from the woman who wanted me to pray in tongues. I asked him what he thought about it. He said, quite logically, that we are not surprised when people cry when they pray. Why should we be surprised when they laugh? At the same time he told me that we would know if this is from God when people stopped focusing on the gifts and focused on the Giver.
What he said seemed like very sound advice and I have used it to judge if something is of God or not.
2023
Revival has come to Asbury University . . . again. Friends of mine on social media began to share that another chapel meeting did not stop and people were still there, praying. Most friends of mine who went to Asbury were ecstatic. A few have expressed skepticism.
I don't know what to think of it. After the "Revival" in the 90's, I still had to be in the closet. My counselor at the college thought I was a sex addict for being attracted to both men and women. (I never had had sex before then, either.) Asbury has increased its restrictions on the LGBTQ+ community and its demographics still tend to be overwhelmingly white (81%, with only 55 black students out of a population of 1400).
So what do I expect out of a revival? In historical contexts, a revival brought people back to God and spread God's love, no matter who they were.
I am skeptical because of what has happened to me in the past. I was rejected, ostracized, and kicked out of the Evangelical Community. Asbury is part of that community. And, like someone who has gone through domestic battery, I am very cautious to see that this abusive partner has really changed.
If Revival actually happens here, great. I will rejoice for them and be among those who are glad that they have renewed their relationship with God.
Otherwise, this is just one really long chapel meeting.
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