World Renewal International

One of the most exciting things about the Asbury Revival was how it spread to other places. It was beyond expectations to see witnessing become such a powerful way to see churches and individuals totally changed by just telling what happened. It seemed at times the least likely to be effective instrument was the most effective. Invitations from other colleges and churches poured into the offices and to the student after the seven days of no classes and all-out revival at Asbury.

My friend Hal Phillips stopped me in the hall of the dorm and said, “Don’t you live near Anderson, Indiana?” He was helping to form a witness team to South Meridian Church of God and invited me to go. As we left the campus heading to Anderson it seemed that a growing boldness became a part of us.

[Pictured is one of the witness teams that I traveled with on a regular basis. James Aycock holds the guitar. He lead our worship and now pastors in his home state of Georgia. Behind him is Edwin Cain who was such a gifted preacher and orator. He pastors in Tacoma, Washington. Harold "Hal" Phillips is on the right. Hal's story "From the doors of the Orphanage" is a wonderful book describing God's rescue of his family from brokenness. His testimony was always a powerful part of our witness in churches. He and his wife Kathy are both pastors in Michigan.]

Readers, you must understand the culture was different. You seldom heard an athlete or well know person come out and talk about the importance of Jesus in their life. Today it seems we have everything just out there to hear, look at and examine. I don’t think I would be overstating that we were part of busting out telling folks of the joy of Jesus that was generational and wide sweeping. It was a day when many were speaking out, mostly in protest of government and the war. It was “in” for college students to be speaking out, but not about Jesus Christ.

We were so excited about Jesus. When we passed cars on the interstate as we headed to Indiana we would hold up signs that said, “Smile God Loves You.” When we stopped at gas stations we talked to everyone we could about Jesus. That may seem trivial or immature now; it was bold and and somewhat unpredicated then. Upon arrival, we scattered across the Anderson College campus dorms inviting everyone we saw. As we went we were even bolder. Everywhere we went we invited all we came in contact with to South Meridian Church of God for Sunday morning service saying, “Jesus Christ is going to be there!” “In person?” some would ask. “Yes, He will be there in person!” In the end, Jesus Christ was there “In Person” for 50 straight days and between estimated 5000-7000 people came to faith in Jesus Christ.

When Sunday morning came, the South Meridian auditorium was packed. There were seven of us from Asbury on the witness team. We did not know each other really. Jim Usher was a seminarian and knew Pastor Charles Tarr of South Meridian. Jim was the leader of our team. One of us, Chris Sanchez Davis , was our only singer. We eventually all gave a testimony in the morning service to what we had experienced at the Asbury revival and how it had affected us. Chris sang “Without Him.” She sang the chorus in Spanish, “Christo, Oh Christo.” Her song melted hearts. I think we invited folks to the altar three different times and each time there were more than we could pray with. Many did not need counsel as they prayed around the altar; God was meeting the needs as they came, at their seats. It was orderly, but not scripted. It was spontaneous but “on earth as it is in heaven” comes to mind.

They asked us to stay for the evening service, then a Monday night service. It was more of the same except we had really said all we knew to say in the morning service. We just tried to say no more no less than what we had on our heart and invite folks to the alar for prayer. Chrisy sang her song a couple more times. The power of God was so strong, people who tried to resist getting right with God found it difficult. It seemed the strength of God’s power was increasing. After the Monday night service , Pastor Tarr said we could go to back to Asbury, they would continue on without us. As I said before, they did continue on, 50 days straight. At times the South Meridian auditorium became too small. People were already standing around the walls of the auditorium and setting in open spots of the platform and in the emptied baptismal. They moved the services to Civic Center.

Everywhere, people would hold up three fingers, Pastor Tarr started it. He said it was a finger sign that missionary E. Stanley Jones used meaning “Jesus is Lord.” Marques downtown Anderson read, “Jesus is Lord! Attend Asbury Revival of Love.” The whole town and region went up in fire, not physical fire, Holy Ghost fire. It was a moment in time for those of us there unlike any other. God reigned. The focus was always the same, people getting rid of sin and receiving forgiveness. The focus was on Jesus, not gifts, some teaching, it was Jesus. It was like riding a wave that overcame everything in its way, a spiritual tsunami. It was so much bigger than man or woman but I think it was just a tiny piece of God.