GU stories from the Asbury University revival

Published: March 16, 2023

One month ago, a group of GU students and staff joined the revival at Asbury University that began a week earlier during a usual chapel service. The following stories come from students and staff who returned to campus impacted by their time at the revival.

McGwire ’25

“I wanted to experience the revival firsthand, but after being there, I realized you don’t have to go to Asbury to feel revived by the Holy Spirit.

It was just so peaceful, there was just something about worship not being on a big screen with words on it—it was a piano, a guitar, and a singer, and you couldn’t even hear them because you just heard everyone’s voices in the sanctuary.”

Talahiva ’24

“Immediately when I walked in… I felt peace and contentment. Outside of this, my heart is always going fast and always anxious, always worried about something—what’s next, God? [Here] it was just like, relax, just be in His presence.”

Kara ’25

“At Asbury, one of the speakers said, this is not a revival, a revival is what happens after the fact. This is more so an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in all of our lives. He is so right too. The Holy Spirit is present here in Greenville and was present in Wilmore (Kentucky). He is present everywhere, I believe we just need to take the time to pray and seek him out.

He is seeking us out daily, but we also have to put in the work. A relationship is not one-sided. It is up to us to put in the work to strengthen our relationship with Christ. I wish it didn’t take me this long to realize that, but God's timing is always so good and perfect. I’ve been searching for peace and joy for so long in all the wrong places recently. I’ve been trying to find my sense of self-worth in other people and in worldly sinful desires at times.”

Gavin ’24

"I’ve never seen so many people gathered. It was heavenly. Personally, for me, I’m new to faith, [and] I didn’t grow up with a Christian background but I gained faith at GU. Now it’s alive and it’s like Jesus is alive and I’ve never really felt that. I believed it, but I feel it here."

Charity Stafford, GU Student Success and Culture & Diversity Specialist

“Every student who went to Asbury went for a different reason and they were all in different places spiritually. Even those who were skeptical encountered God because when you’re in His presence, you never leave the same way that you come in. We as staff also left refreshed, encouraged, and knowing God orchestrated this time for our group to go to Asbury. I personally saw a glimpse of what the body of Christ is as we prayed for each other, worshipped in one voice, knelt at the altar in surrender, and had fellowship together.

Something that was encouraging as a takeaway is that we serve a very personal God. Even though we were a large group with different needs who each went for different reasons—God is so sovereign and so good, He’s able to meet us where we are. Whether it was a student seeking salvation or one who had questions about God or another who had been holding onto unforgiveness and needed freedom and peace—I love that we serve a very personal God who meets those needs.

This is just the beginning of what God wants to do for our students, our campus as a community, and the city of Greenville. As we come to Him in confession and repentance, as we spend time in prayer, as we lament, as we heal together as a community, as we have honest and sometimes hard conversations, as we make room for God, as we get rid of our own agenda—then God comes into those spaces where He’s needed most. As we do those things, we invite the Lord to move sovereignly and transform lives.”

Sophie Yaunches, Resident Director

"It was so beautiful hearing everyone sing, speak in tongues, cry, laugh—all in the name of God. I've been to plenty of intense nights of worship, but this was an altogether different experience I can't quite explain. I think the best way is to imagine the heaven described in Revelation, where people from everywhere, of all skin tones and languages, are shouting to the glory of God. Not because they want something from him or because they feel obligated to, but because they love him so deeply and they know he is worthy of every single word and song they can shout.I think perhaps my favorite part though was witnessing all the students experiencing the same sensation. I knew a few of them before leaving, and to watch them open their hearts so freely was so inspiring. It's one of those situations in life where you make such a deep connection with the people you're with that no one else can ever really understand what you went through. Even the people I didn't know so well before the trip I consider my holy family now."