University Campuses to be focus of Spiritual Awakening in '90s
By Editorial Staff
Published August 1992
From The Coming Great Awakening
By David McKenna
Recalling that all of America’s historic Great Awakenings began on college campuses, David L. McKenna (President, Asbury Theological Seminary) boldly suggests how today’s youth can be in the vanguard of another, crucial reform of church and culture.
The Coming Great Awakening (InterVarsity Press) chronicles the cycles of historical revivals and cites current trends in an offering of hope. It is a fast-moving, hard-hitting field manual for college students who wait on edge for a spiritual awakening in our generation. “I am a realistic optimist,” says McKenna. “I do not believe that God has given up on our world.”
Throughout history, the pattern of revival and spiritual awakening is seen among small cell groups of young people praying for God to pour out His Spirit in an atmosphere of spiritual darkness.
- In 1734, a revival commenced under 31-year-old preacher Jonathan Edwards who led many of the teenagers of Northampton, Massachusetts out of moral degradation. Youth who were converted in 18th century America became known as the “New Lights.”
- The Great Awakening in the American colonies spread during the 1740s under the influence of a 23-year old itinerant preacher from England – George Whitefield – who, together with John and Charles Wesley, had formed a small prayer band at Oxford University ten years earlier. This group was derided at Oxford, being called the “Holy Club” and the “Methodists” by the other students in scorn.
- By the 1790s, American colleges had backslid into an atmosphere of blasphemy, drunkenness and attacks on the Christian faith. Small bands of Christians were forced to meet secretly to pray. Into this climate, Yale President Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards, began a series of lectures as an open forum on the Christian faith. Under his influence one half of the student body of Yale was converted.
- In 1806, a group of five students at Williams College gathered under a haystack to pray for revival and world evangelization. This small western Massachusetts college had become a seedbed of blasphemy, ridicule and heresy. But in a short while the Holy Spirit was poured out and many students were saved. This revival spread from college to college throughout America and gave rise to the American world missions movement.
- In the 1890s, the culture of America had sunk into materialism, hedonism and conflict. In England, American revivalist, D.L. Moody was ridiculed by students at an evangelistic meeting at Cambridge University. However, seven students gave their lives to Christ and became known as the “Cambridge Seven.” They networked with American students at twenty state universities and spawned the “Student Volunteer Movement.” Out of this revival came groups such as InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Student Mission Association. As a result, thousands of young people were released onto the mission field for the goal total world evangelization.
The decade of the 1990s, not unlike the 1790s and 1890s, may well be the decade of destiny for our century. If the pattern of history holds, a Great Awakening in the 20th century would be confirmed by an outpouring of God’s Spirit on Christian students on the college campuses who see a redemptive vision for our moral pigsty.
A Revival Account: Asbury 1970 (DVD)
What is true Revival and Spiritual Awakening?
Discover the answer in this eyewitness account by Dennis Kinlaw, President of Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, who recounts the story of a visitation of the Holy Spirit in 1970. This is the presentation that has continued to spark the flames of Revival in the hearts of people around the world. Contains eyewitness footage from the Revival at Asbury College in 1970 in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Certain to challenge you to greater holiness and a deeper commitment to full-scale revival. Original news and private footage has been included. If you are a student who longs to see a spiritual awakening at your school, you must see this video!
“This simple video does a wonderful job of conveying something of God’s heart and power, Everyone we have ever shown this to has received an immediate impartation of faith for revival and the power of prayer.”
— Bob and Rose Weiner, Weiner Ministries Int’l
Running Time: 40 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
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Dr. Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live? (DVD)
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A Revival Account: Asbury 1970 (DVD)
What is true Revival and Spiritual Awakening?
Discover the answer in this eyewitness account by Dennis Kinlaw, President of Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky, who recounts the story of a visitation of the Holy Spirit in 1970. This is the presentation that has continued to spark the flames of Revival in the hearts of people around the world. Contains eyewitness footage from the Revival at Asbury College in 1970 in Wilmore, Kentucky.
Certain to challenge you to greater holiness and a deeper commitment to full-scale revival. Original news and private footage has been included. If you are a student who longs to see a spiritual awakening at your school, you must see this video!
“This simple video does a wonderful job of conveying something of God’s heart and power, Everyone we have ever shown this to has received an immediate impartation of faith for revival and the power of prayer.”
— Bob and Rose Weiner, Weiner Ministries Int’l
Running Time: 40 minutes
$19.95 — ORDER NOW!
(We accept all major credit cards and PayPal.)Click here for more information
God's Law and Society (DVD)
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Schaeffer lists two reasons for evangelical indifference: a false concept of spirituality and fear. He calls on believers to stand against the tyranny and moral chaos that come when humanism reigns-and warns that believers may, at some point, be forced to make the hard choice between obeying God or Caesar. A Christian Manifesto is a thought-provoking and bracing Christian analysis of American culture and the obligation Christians have to engage the culture with the claims of Christ.
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Reversing Roe: The Norma McCorvey Story (DVD)
In 1969, a pregnant 21 year old Norma McCorvey felt abortion was her only answer. He case was used to challenge the Texas abortion law and she eventually became the Jane Roe of the 1973 US Supreme Court decision, Roe v Wade. She never had an abortion, but instead became an icon in the national abortion debate. For 22 years, Norma McCorvey’s life was a battlefield. She worked inside abortion clinics. She promoted legalized abortion. But she was tormented by what she saw and felt. In the summer of 1995, her life changed forever.
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