#148: Was Asbury Revival Authentic & What's Next? A Free Methodist Bishop Breaks It Down

Run The Race

A revival broke out from a regular Wednesday chapel service at Asbury University in the small town of Wilmore, Kentucky. It led to approximately 16 straight days of nonstop worship, prayer, preaching at their church, drawing thousands of people from around America, even the world. Our guest on this week's "Run The Race" podcast, a major Christian leader who's planted 5 churches, went to Asbury and we ask him about what it was really like there. (4:50) Free Methodist Church (FMC) Bishop Keith Cowart - who's based in Columbus GA - overseas 1/3 of the U.S. and Free Methodist world Missions in Europe and the Middle East. Was the revival that made headlines out of Kentucky authentic? He says one of the reasons it was real and of God was because the worship team and sermons were "unremarkable." And even with people praying for months or years for revival, this event was not planned. College students continued leading this, not big time Christian artists and preachers that showed up too. (14:55) Dr. Cowart describes what a "move of the Spirit" is - how it involves hearts being softened and obedience. He also talks about the profound response of people flooding to the altar, many dealing with broken relationships and immediately going to ask for forgiveness, How exactly did it start on that Wednesday night in February? There's also been criticism about (22:39) how the revival ended, but Bishop Cowart says the intention is to GO and multiply, for us to build OUT not up (like they did and were punished for at the Tower of Bible, as told in the Bible). (29:15) One of the potential results of revival is breaking down denominational walls, bringing unity to churches, being Kingdom oriented not political. Dr. Cowart also calls this a "thin moment" that we shouldn't miss, so what's next?? He says it's changing our mindset about Heaven - that it's not a far away place to go when we die, but God wants to transform our world and bring it here, a restoration that started with Jesus. As a FMC Bishop, (37:14) he believes it would help for more of us to have a global perspective, after seeing the miraculous ways people are coming to Christ in the Middle East. A key factor to see that in America is...desperation or wanting Jesus more than anything else! Dr. Cowart saw that in the Generation Z kids at Asbury and says we could all die more to our comforts. (42:46) Aren't there enough churches? He explains why planting churches bring a freshness that brings more people to faith and explains the life cycles of churches. (46:32) And what can we as individuals do to help keep this revival going? Bishop Cowart says it's about surrendering to the Lord and being available to be used and impact those that are part of our everyday life. Part of that is churches agreeing on certain basic principles he lists off, then being authentic and loving each other as Christians. He closes us out in prayer. Thanks for listening to the #RunTheRace podcast, which I hope you'll subscribe to! Share it with your friends. Also, write a quick review about it, on Apple podcasts. For more info and listen to any previous episodes, go to www.wtvm.com/podcast/.