God sent Emily Emanuel to Asbury last year, six months before revival broke out. At the time she was disappointed but with hindsight she sees how he was working.
When I first heard about revival breaking out at Asbury University my jaw dropped. Admittedly, not because of the presence of God was breaking out but because it was happening at Asbury University, in the small little town of Wilmore, Kentucky where I had begrudgingly spent my summer working only six months prior.
So you understand my dilemma a little better, here is a some background about me; I grew up in the busy city of London and moved to Los Angeles in 2020 to pursue working in the film industry and also to be involved with reaching the Jewish and Israeli community in California with the gospel. I had been single for a very long time and faithfully prayed for a husband and was convinced I would meet him in California. So when I got a call to see if I wanted to be a production coordinator for nearly two months on a faith based TV show filming in Wilmore, Kentucky, I definitely had a pity-party with the Lord about it. But God’s ways are not our ways and he is always weaving together the perfect story for our lives!
Revival history has always fascinated me as my family live in the same area that the welsh revival took place and I have been to Azusa Street in Los Angeles to pray for revival many times. I was baptized in Corona Del Mar where they would do mass baptisms in the Jesus Movement. I know that the Holy Spirit is famous for pouring out in the most unlikely places on the most unlikely of people. However Asbury was not a place I would have ever thought God would have chosen to not only start a renewal of God’s love but also romantic love in my personal life.
I know that the Holy Spirit is famous for pouring out in the most unlikely places on the most unlikely of people.
My now, very serious, boyfriend and I met on the flight on the way to Kentucky. We ironically had been living in the small town of Redding, California and connected to the same school at the same time but had not met each other. We both stayed in accommodations on campus and bonded quickly by making fun of the incredibly limited food options. We would rotate eating between the three places Wilmore had to offer, subway, a Chinese restaurant and a Christian café. Since there really wasn’t much to do on our time off we hung out together and became friends very quickly. I felt very safe and respected by him but never thought it would lead to anything more than friends. Just like I would have never thought Asbury would have been the place for God’s Spirit to move in such an impactful way.
Every night after we wrapped, I would get into my golf cart and drive the “long” two minute commute back to my accommodation. I would pass a statue of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and Asbury University. Next to his stature was a plaque that read: “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”
I believe God chose Asbury so all the glory goes to God and not man.
My heart would break as I contemplated Wesley’s words that his greatest fear was that this campus would exist but would be without the power of God. I would spend time praying that this campus would hold fast to the doctrine, spirit and discipline that they were first founded upon. Although everyone I met that was connected to the Campus was incredibly humble and kind, I did not think that the spirit was alive in this place and if someone told me God was going to start a revival amongst young people here I would have not believed them!
This is why I truly believe this is a revival. It is not a place that is Charismatic or about Christian hype, it isn’t a place of influential Christian culture or has any big Christian names connected to it. I believe God chose Asbury so all the glory goes to God and not man. The Lord told me last year he was going to send me a man that loves me like God loves me. After going through a lot of painful disappointments with potential partners, it was here in Asbury, in the most unlikely of places, I started to fall in love with that man God has spoken to me about. Ironically, I thought that meeting my future husband in such a tiny insignificant town wasn’t the “best story” God could have written for my life; however now of course I think it’s the perfect story! This revival is about love, humility and truth and I believe that finding love at Asbury was significant not only because we are called to bring the Gospel to the nations together through the Arts but also because God is breaking the curse of singleness over the church.
It’s funny how I was so quick to judge Asbury before the revival and now that God is moving there I can’t wait to go back.
It’s funny how I was so quick to judge Asbury before the revival and now that God is moving there I can’t wait to go back. I believe that is a sign of what God is doing amongst single men and women, he is calling us to see each other as God sees and not how our worldly eye’s see. My prayer is that marriages will come forth from this revival that are formed in love, truth and humility, looking beyond physical appearances and instead to character and our purpose in the kingdom. I believe that this is the start of revival in America and beyond. I am already feeling the shift in the city of Los Angeles and I believe that we are going to see a generation radically impacted by the love of God.
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