Asbury Awakening

similar spiritual movement started spontaneously at Asbury and spread across the country. The broader context of that movement came to be know as The Jesus Revolution of the late 1960s and 1970s.

Thousands of lives were changed as many who had sought fulfillment in drugs and the hippie culture found faith in Christ.

There have been others spiritual movements in our nation's history, most notably the Great Awakening of the 1700s that swept England and the American Colonies.

That movement included John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield and was witnessed by Benjamin Franklin who published Whitefield's sermons.

At noon on Sept. 23, 1857, a businessman named Jeremiah Lamphier waited for others to join him for prayer in a room on Fulton Street in New York. Six people showed up. The next week, 20 came.

Then 40.

They started meeting daily.

The crowd swelled to more than 3,000 following the financial panic of October 14.

In less than 6 months, 10,000 businessmen were attending daily prayer meetings in New York. More than 10,000 came to faith in Philadelphia, 5,000 in Boston.

At its peak, 50,000 people a week were professing faith in Christ. In Bethel, Conn., businesses closed for prayer.

Led by laity and crossing denominational lines, the movement swept more than one million people to faith in Christ leading up to the Civil War.

We don't know what the long-term results will come from the current experience at Asbury.

It is too early to tell.

What is undeniable is the evidence of deep and widespread spiritual hunger across our nation.

We can pray that God will do something in our day and in this generation that will redeem our nation and produce the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” (Galatians 5:22-23).

Bill Tinsley reflects on current events and life experience from a faith perspective. His books are available at www.tinsleycenter.com. Email bill@ tinsleycenter.com.