Looking Back on the Asbury "Revival"

Summary

The SkyePod — “Looking Back on the Asbury ‘Revival’”

Host: Skye Jethani
Guest: Dr. Kevin Brown, President of Asbury University
Date: March 6, 2026
Episode Theme:
A thoughtful conversation reflecting on the 2023 Asbury “Revival,” exploring the nature of revival, generational hunger for spirituality, and the limits of data when interpreting contemporary religious dynamics among young adults.

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Main Topics and Episode Flow

1. Context: Revisiting Asbury in Light of National Revival Discourse

• (00:00 - 03:05)
  • Skye discusses widespread belief that churches must relentlessly pursue cultural relevance, contrasted with young people's growing sense of cultural exhaustion.
  • Introduces Dr. Kevin Brown, noting his unique start as President of Asbury just before COVID-19 disrupted campus life.
  • Dr. Brown references Skye’s 2020 “Hinge of History” sermon during his inauguration and the rapid onset of the pandemic.

2. Revivals, Data, and "Vibes"

• (03:05 - 06:12)
  • The conversation references Dr. Brown’s Deseret News editorial, which examined media debates about whether there is a religious revival among young Americans.
  • Discusses sociologist Ryan Burge's data-driven skepticism: no measurable uptick in church attendance or religious identification among young people.
  • Dr. Brown’s position: agrees with the data but argues important dynamics may be missed, stating:

    “There absolutely is something to see here. There's other data that there's something going on, particularly with young adults, college students.” (03:45)

  • Highlights tension between statistical analysis and the less-quantifiable “vibes” of spiritual stirring.

3. The Asbury 2023 “Outpouring”: What Happened?

• (06:12 - 11:58)
  • Dr. Brown recounts the start: a routine chapel service that led to 20 students lingering, then 16 days of round-the-clock prayer and worship, organically drawing 50,000-70,000 people to campus.
  • The Asbury team deliberately used “outpouring” rather than “revival” or “awakening,” to avoid theological baggage and let history assign the correct term:

    “We've used the expression outpouring to describe that...it could be an outpouring of God's spirit, hunger received, hunger met...without assigning...theologically freighted language.” (06:59)

  • The event remained low-key at first—primarily Asbury students. Faculty and staff refrained from self-promotion, fund-raising, or marketing:

    “Our marketing team quickly decided, do not post anything...never had a discussion about that. They just knew that was the right thing to do.” (08:36)

  • Notably, nearly 300 colleges/universities were represented during those two weeks. International visitors arrived, too.

4. Leadership & Stewardship During the Outpouring

• (11:58 - 16:22)
  • Skye praises Asbury’s culture: the coordinated restraint exercised by faculty and administrators.
  • Dr. Brown describes his leadership approach as “imaginative interdependence”—leaning on colleagues’ instincts when he couldn’t personally see the next step:

    “...my role was to have this kind of imaginative interdependence. Like I can't see what's happening, but I can see it through your imagination.” (13:09)

  • Leadership’s consensus: be hospitable, but recognize this was a “fruit of our mission, but it's not our mission.”
  • The group sensed, spiritually and practically, a need to bring the gathering to a close, to avoid making the event about Asbury rather than allowing it to spread outward.

5. Navigating Return to "Normal" and the Social Ripples

• (16:22 - 20:41)
  • Skye asks how (and when) the university knew to resume regular functioning.
  • Dr. Brown cites intuitive discernment amid logistical pressures:

    “It was the Lord...some of our students were understandably freaked out...thousands of people coming to campus.” (16:56)

  • Local infrastructure was overwhelmed (e.g., 15,000 people in one day), prompting city-wide advisories.
  • Brown introduces an evocative metaphor:

    “A fire is brightest when it is largest...but a fire is hottest when...moving into burning hot embers...even though it might look like something is dying down, could actually a kind of heat be increasing?” (18:13)

  • The university recognized the need to send this “heat” out rather than keep it centered on Asbury.

6. Protecting Students Amid National Attention

• (20:41 - 25:28)
  • Skye queries how Asbury shielded students from opportunists seeking to exploit the event.
  • Practical steps included: discouraging streaming/recording, providing security, and setting up controlled lines; overflow venues across campus were opened.
  • Dr. Brown recounts incidents where those with “mal intent” simply found their plans dissolving:

    “There were others who came, I think, that had mal intent and nothing ever came of it.” (23:49)

  • Cites “the Lord’s guiding hand of protection” as key, given the absence of any major mishaps (including potential measles outbreak).

7. The Deeper Question: Why Now? Gen Z and the Spiritual Moment

• (25:28 - END at 27:30)
  • Post-2023, Dr. Brown reflects on what’s animating today’s students.
  • Young people are emerging from a backdrop of social upheaval, political dysfunction, global unrest, pandemic trauma, and public moral failures among Christian leaders:

    “Look at this, like completely dysfunctional political environment. There's economic uncertainty...Look at the church...very public moral failures among leaders, which creates skepticism. So I ended all that by just saying I think they want something more.” (26:23)

  • A student challenges this:

    “We don't want something more, we want something less.” (27:18)
    —suggesting Gen Z desires simplicity, authenticity, and less institutional baggage, not more spectacle or programmatic “solutions.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Brown on measuring revival:

  “I'm not trying to say, oh, you're wrong, and my narratives or my anecdotes beat up your statistical data. So I agree with him there. I just think it's a little curious...There's more to the story than that.” (03:21)

• On Asbury’s internal culture:

  “There was never a discussion about not prioritizing Gen Z and our students. That always seemed to be on the forefront of people's minds.” (09:29)

• On leadership’s response:

  "I think later folks could see some things through my imagination as a fiduciary for the school, as someone who's supposed to steward our mission and our students." (13:47)

• On discerning when to end the event:

  “A fire is brightest when it is largest...but a fire is hottest when it is...simmering into these hot embers. So even though it might look like something is dying down, could actually a kind of heat be increasing?” (18:13)

• On Gen Z’s spiritual hunger:

  “We don't want something more, we want something less.” (27:18, citing a student)

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Key Timestamps

• 00:00–03:05: Setting the frame—data, revival, and the pursuit of cultural relevance in the church
• 06:12–11:58: The full account of the 2023 Asbury “outpouring”
• 13:09–16:22: Leadership, consensus, and spiritual discernment through “imaginative interdependence”
• 16:56–20:41: Practical and spiritual reasons for ending the event; “bonfire and embers” metaphor
• 21:47–25:28: Protecting the student body from opportunism and chaos
• 26:07–27:18: Gen Z’s reaction and the quest for less, not more, religious “stuff”

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Takeaway

This episode of the SkyePod offers a nuanced exploration of how the Asbury 2023 “revival” was experienced and stewarded by campus leadership, raising provocative questions about how we should (and shouldn’t) measure spiritual movements today. Dr. Brown and Skye Jethani present a picture of real-time discernment, humility, and institutional restraint, framing the Asbury event as both unique and representative of deeper generational yearnings—yearnings that might defy easy quantification but deserve serious reflection.

Transcript

[A]

So many churches have been relentlessly pursuing cultural relevance, and yet here's a generation that says, this culture is killing me. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Skypod, brought to you by Holy Post Media and Wayne Enterprises. I am joined today by Dr. Kevin Brown, President of Asbury University. Dr. Brown, welcome to the show.

[B]

I am thrilled to be on. Thanks so much for the invitation.

[A]

I'm happy to have you. You are the 18th president of Asbury. You started in 2019. Before that, you were professor and associate dean in the School of Business at Asbury. So you've got some history there.

[B]

Yeah, I started in 2013, and I believe you've said this before. Was very honored to have you speak at my inauguration on Friday, March 6, 2020, and Wednesday, March 11, we were having meetings about whether we would even stay open the rest of the semester. So your sermon was titled the Hinge of History, and we've had several members within our community go back and listen to it. Given that that just preceded Covid by a few days. Fascinating time.

[A]

I remember vividly I was very honored to be invited to speak at that event. And it was the last trip I went on in a long time because after that we were all locked down in March of 2020. That must have been a really tumultuous season to begin leadership of a university.

[B]

Yes. Yeah. There's no playbook to pull off the shelf for those things. So a lot of prayer and. Yeah. Kind of finding your way through.

[A]

Well, there's a lot beyond just Covid that you've had to navigate. That's what we're going to get into a little bit in this conversation. Part of the reason I wanted you to come on the show, other than to reconnect after all these years, was you did an editorial in Deseret News back in January talking about this ongoing conversation that's happening in certain pockets of the media about whether or not there's any evidence of a religious revival happening in our country, particularly among the young. I know you're familiar with Ryan Burge. He's a Holy Post pundit. We have him on the show fairly regularly, and he's all over the media. He's a very thoughtful guy, and he's come on here numerous times to say, listen, there's all these anecdotal stories of different things happening, but there's no evidence in the hard data to suggest that there's movement of the religious temperature in America. There's no increase in church attendance. We don't see more young people identifying as Christian in our surveys. And you wrote this piece essentially agreeing with him that there is no hard statistical data that shows any movement, but that doesn't mean there aren't vibes. So let's begin with just why did you want to write this piece? In response to these broader conversations about revival or no revival.

[B]

Yeah. To be clear, and you said it like, here's what I was not arguing. I'm not arguing that, no, he's wrong. There is a revival. That expression, that word has particular theological significance. I'm happy to let posterity judge the appropriate vocabulary for a moment. I'm not arguing that there hasn't been a surge in churches. And I'm not trying to say, oh, you're wrong, and my narratives or my anecdotes beat up your statistical data. So I agree with him there. I just think it's a little curious, is I understand his reasoning, and perhaps I'm wrong. The reasoning is we don't see a church or we don't see a surge in church attendance in the general social survey. Ergo, there is no revival. And there's a kind of nothing to see here tone that accompanies that. And I think, no, stop. There absolutely is something to see here. There's other data that there's something going on, particularly with young adults, college students. And the story of revival is not just a story of individual hearts that are changed or enlivened to religiosity. It's also a story about our institutions that can receive that spiritual fervor. And so I just thought to limit the conversation to no church growth in recent years among the young. No revival, move on. I think there's more to the story than that.

[A]

Yeah. In my last conversation with Ryan, we kind of went down that rabbit trail a little bit where I started asking him. Again, I can't disagree with his data. I'm not saying it's flawed or wrong. But is it possible that something might be happening in our country today that these surveys were not equipped to find?

[B]

Or does.

[A]

Does a resurgence of spirituality in 21st century America look different than maybe it would have in the middle of the 20th century or the late 19th century, where maybe the fruit of whatever's happening right now is not an increase in institutional church attendance, but doesn't mean that there isn't something happening. And he admitted that. Yeah, I only have the tools. I have. This is what it's showing me. But I think he's open to the possibility that his tools are not capturing everything that's going on. Part of the backdrop for this. And if anybody who's unfamiliar with Asbury in Wilmore, Kentucky, might recall that name popping up in their news feeds back in 2023. Because in February of 2023, there was, I'll just say, an event that occurred on your campus that got a lot of media attention. Some people were labeling it a revival. Others are more hesitant about putting that title onto what happened. But for those who may be forgotten or unfamiliar from your point of view, in the chair of the president of Asbury, what happened in February of 2023?

[B]

Yeah, here's the quick story. We had a chapel service that was as ordinary of a service as you could imagine it was in. You know, it's cold weather, it's overcast, it's bland. I actually watched it from my office and then immediately went to a meeting with someone else. And I was supposed to fly out of town that day, but about 20 students stuck around after chapel and they just continued to pray and worship. And just more students came back and more came back and it went from, that's curious to wow, something's really shifting here. And I started canceling meetings. By the end of that day, I canceled my trip. And that went on for 16 days. And within that 16 days, an estimated 50 to 70,000 people came to our to stoplight town in Wilmore. And I've never experienced anything like it in my entire life. We've used the expression outpouring to describe that because it could be an outpouring of God's spirit, hunger received, hunger met. But also, if you look at it descriptively, it's an outpouring of people, expression, et cetera. So we thought that was a descriptive way to talk about it without assigning awakening, a revival or any of this kind of theologically freighted language on it.

[A]

What did those 16 days look like? I mean, you mentioned students hanging around after the chapel service to pray and sing. Is that what continued for all those days or were there other activities? What did you witness in your up close point of view?

[B]

Yeah, if you Google Asbury Revival, which is how it was described in the media, you'll see these really long lines around our campus and kind of packed with a lot of different people. The first few days was really just our community. And students went from worship to a period of testifying. And that was really, really powerful, but also it was very real because they were not self editing what they were testifying to, even though staff and faculty and professor or administrators are in the room. So there was this kind of confession. There was Repentance. And then in the midst of all of that worship, those were the first few days. That weekend, the world kind of started showing up. And I just want to say, when others started coming, I think it's important to mention that I've described this as an uncoordinated humility among people who work here, because our marketing team quickly decided, do not post anything that's calling attention to this or naming this or saying, look at us. Well, we never had a discussion about that. They just knew that was the right thing to do. And the Vice President for Advancement told his team, do not raise money. Don't even go out. Just go over and serve in our chapel, Hughes Auditorium. We never had a discussion about that. There was never a discussion about not prioritizing Gen Z and our students. That always seemed to be on the forefront of people's minds. So I just appreciated that was in the water. And nevertheless, through social media and other outlets, people just began to come. And there were people from all over the United States. We counted almost 300 different colleges or universities that were represented. We had this whiteboard where students from other schools could write their school, and someone kind of tallied that up. That was really amazing. And then we had people come from other countries, which was just incredible. In 2021, we had scheduled to have the college day of prayer on our campus for February 23, 2023. And I think that's important to mention because it seemed very coordinated with what was happening, and it absolutely wasn't. It just happened to be on the schedule. And what that is, you basically will simulcast a prayer event on your campus to all of these other colleges and universities throughout the United States and even the world. In fact, that's occurring at the end of February this month at Liberty University this year, the cdop. And so that was scheduled. And we thought that might be the best way to wind down what was happening on our campus and release that, to go out into wherever it goes, into all the world. But it was amazing to have that scheduled at that time. So it was a lot. There was a lot of stress on our community, our staff, our faculty, and our students. But it was the greatest act of collective godliness and hospitality I think that I've ever witnessed. And the overwhelming thing I hear over and over again from testimonies of people who come is just a strong sense of peace, God's presence, and a kind of John 17 unity in the room.

[A]

You mentioned how various faculty and administrators responded. And you didn't have to step in and say, don't raise money on this, don't publicize this media. That's really encouraging to hear. It says something about the culture of Asbury that was pre existent before all this happened, when this was unfolding. What did you think your job was in the midst of this as the president?

[B]

Yeah, well, I. You know, I was just interviewed by someone related to this, and he asked what I may have brought to the table. And I think I gave an odd answer, but it's a true one. I was saying how unimaginative I am. And what I mean by that is when things were unfolding that first day, the pastor who spoke in chapel that morning came up to me and he's like, I think you should email the community and invite them to come and pray. Don't call it anything. And I was like, really? You think so? I mean, I didn't see it. And then that evening, another person who was helping us kind of in a leadership team said, hey, I really think you should consider leaving Hughes Auditorium open the entire evening. And again, I didn't see it. I was like, really? You think so? And we went down in the basement. There was kind of a leadership team. And I was like, hey, you guys, you think we should leave this open all evening? And just immediately they're like, yeah, absolutely, and I'll take 10 till midnight. And everyone just filled up these slots to kind of superintend over the space. And I say that because originally I think my role was to have this kind of imaginative interdependence. Like I can't see what's happening, but I can see it through your imagination. And I think later folks could see some things through my imagination as a fiduciary for the school, as someone who's supposed to steward our mission and our students. And I just share all that. I think that was something really beautiful happening throughout those two weeks as we all were kind of like foraying inside and out one another's imaginative landscape to discern the most spiritually responsible and faithful thing to do at a given time. Later, about a week into it, I was feeling more the weight of my role, and so were my colleagues. I said at the very beginning of that, something like that is a fruit of our mission, but it's not our mission. Like, we wake up and we think about intellectually rigorous, spiritually edifying, informative education for our students. That's our mission. And so there was a point where I called all the leaders together and was clumsily trying to speak to them. And I said something along the lines of, I think this is bigger than us and I think something special is happening that will narrate and the future is something bigger than us. And someone finally cut me off and they said, what are you asking? And I said, you know, are you with me? I'm asking, are you with me? And I think this is really significant, sky, because if you go to any college or university or church or whatever and say, hey, I'm going to change the carpet color, you're going to have a massive fight. And especially in universities, I mean, there are opinions, but every single person in the room was like, we're with you, we're with you. Like we agree. And I, I just remember having this sense of like I could run through a wall at that point. Like, I, I was so encouraged. And we knew there needed to be a horizon to all of that. But there, there was in a moment, agreement between key leaders in the school that we think we have a responsibility to foster and to be hospitable to what's unfolding before us. And then about a week after that, we felt the weight and responsibility to not perpetually localize what was happening and to return to university continuity for the sake of our students and the day to day work that we do.

[A]

That was a question I had you mentioned earlier when you stepped into this role. There's no handbook for how to lead a university during a global pandemic. There's also no handbook to how to lead a university when there's an outpouring of this sort among your students. Did the normal functioning of the university just get put on hold during those weeks and how did you know when to return to some kind of normalcy

[B]

I wish I could outline? I mean, it's such a Sunday school answer. It was the Lord. I mean, there was just an intuition and again, really borrowing one another's imaginative landscape for thinking about what to do next. But there was just a clear. It's really time to, yeah, this is not something where we want to keep bringing people to our campus. Now some of that was practical. Our town was severely stressed. So it was estimated the second Saturday, 15,000 people came in one day. And so we had local authorities and they were like putting up signs outside of Wilmore saying revival is packed. That's what they were calling it, like there's no room in town. And that was wild. There was a lot. Some of our students were understandably freaked out. They live here and they have thousands of people coming to campus. And a mentor of mine said, a bright light will Attract all manner of bugs. And so, yeah, there were some amazing people who came and some might come and like blow a shofar outside of a student's window or something. So that's unsettling. And we just felt the weight of our responsibility to our students and their families and kind of the promise that we make to them. But there was also, I think, a spiritual sense. And this metaphor kind of emerged from our group that was really helpful to me, that a fire is brightest when it is largest. And in that sense, I think we had this kind of multi week, massive spiritual bonfire. But a fire is hottest when it is, you might say, moving into burning hot embers, kind of simmering into these hot embers. So even though it might look like something is dying down, could actually a kind of heat be increasing? And we have some responsibility to send that heat out and to again, not try to make that about us. And I think that's the final thing I would say in that intuition. Again, this is a fruit of our mission, but it's not our mission. Things like this have happened at Asbury. There was a very famous revival in 1970 that is credited with sparking the Jesus movement. But I have never had a strong sense that this was by us and for us. And so when I. The number one question I've been asked in the last three years is, what is Asbury like now? And I've joked, I want to give this, like, sarcastic answer. You know, students are in monastic robes, floating around, singing hymns and holding candles. And no, I'm like, our campus is amazing. Our students are amazing. The atmosphere is great, the spiritual temperature is high. But when I'm asked that question, I'm always like, I think it's important to broaden your gaze. I just think there's something stirring in this younger generation that is not just about what's going on at Asbury, what's going on with young adults, and why is there this desire to raise some of these ultimate questions in a new and fresh way among younger generations? And that, to me, is a far more interesting story than the spiritual environment on our campus in a post outpouring context?

[A]

Okay, I want to get to that in a second. The post outpouring context and the broader dynamics that you're seeing among this generation around the country. But before we leave the 2023 event, one last question on that front. Your mentor's metaphor of a bright light draws all kinds of insects is a good way to think about it. You've spoken really powerfully about what you did internally to try to protect the students and make sure that you were following the imagination of the whole leadership team around this thing and sensing what is God calling us to do? How did you protect your campus and your students from, let's just say, those less benevolent insects that were drawn to this light? What guards did you put up? I know I heard stories of people who heard through the media what was happening on your campus and wanted to leverage it or use it or bask in the glow of this event for their own influence or fame or whatever it might be. How did you protect it from that kind of misuse?

[B]

Well, there were some practical things we asked people not to stream or record. Some did anyway. But if it was visible that they were doing that, we asked them not to. We set up security. One of our VPs has a really strong background in media communication with large scale media outlets and he knew what to do. And so kind of controlling different groups that were coming in and just explaining to them, especially groups that may not be familiar, like this all looks really weird to them. And so there were some practical things as mentioned, like how you facilitate a line who's allowed in the building and who is not. There were other campuses, I say campuses. There were other sites like churches and Asbury Seminaries across the street so folks could go there as well. And what was happening in Hughes Auditorium was simulcast there. There was also just some amazing stories of stories I heard where people came with mal intent or perhaps selfish intention and it just dissolved. It just nothing came of it. There was a guy who had made a comment about he was invited to preach at the Asbury revival and he put this on social media and I mean, it's just not true. No one invited him and that wasn't how we were organizing that anyway. But he came and he actually, and this is a well known figure, he actually just sat in the auditorium and he left and he actually wrote a nice post about it. There were others who came, I think, that had mal intent and nothing ever came of it. I mean, it certainly would have been an opportunity for some kind of event. There was a shooting during that time, I think at Michigan State. And so, I mean that was kind of in the imaginations of people. And even someone came, I don't know if you know this story. Someone came who had measles, we discovered. And so the day after this all ended, we had a huge group of our staff on a zoom call with like the CDC and all. And they're like, you're going to be ground zero for one of the largest measles outbreaks in America. And we were all exhausted and kind of freaking out. Nothing came of that. So I yeah, there was a sensibility to bring orchestration and protection, but I really have a hard time not describing just the Lord's guiding hand of protection upon us as well. And again, that might be a simplistic way of talking about it, but I don't know any other way to talk about it was not our ingenuity, it was not pulling the playbook off the shelf, the manual on how you handle outpourings. So I'm just so thankful for how that was stewarded by the people around me. But also God's hand of protection during that time.

[A]

Well, let's pivot to the years since then and maybe back to what you wrote about in this article, because no doubt it was informed by your experience in 2023. What do you see going on, particularly in the generation of students that you're leading right now, apart from the data? Why did so many tens of thousands of people come to your campus when they heard what was happening? What do you think is driving young people that you're seeing in a way that maybe prior generations didn't experience in the same way? What's in the atmosphere right now that is awakening them to these questions and hunger?

[B]

I think a couple of things that I've seen. I had a really interesting experience where a news publication call is a very well known outlet, but their question was a little different and similar to what you're saying. Why Gen Z? Why are they responding this way? And I made the comment like, look at what they've experienced just in recent years, like the social upheaval. Look at this, like completely dysfunctional political environment. There's economic uncertainty. They're familiar with global wars. We have this pandemic that's accelerating all of these challenges. Look at the church. If you look at very popular ministries and institutions, there have just been very public moral failures among leaders, which creates skepticism. So I ended all that by just saying I think they want something more. And I was with a group of students the next day and I said, hey you guys, I was asked this question and this is the answer I gave. What do you think of my answer? And there was a really intelligent student who considered this and he was like, yeah, I think that's right. But I wouldn't put it the way you did. He said, we don't want something more, we want something less. And I thought that was a fascinating. I was like, well, talk about that. What do you mean? And in his answer, he's basically saying,

[C]

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