 And guess what, he never stops moving. If he did a miracle before, he's going to do it again. What does this mean for you? This means today in this episode, I truly believe God is going to move in your life. So buckle up, get ready, take some notes, whatever you gotta do, God is about to do something. I'm joined here with Angela Angela. We've got an exciting show, tell us why. I am telling you, so this show today is gonna spur you on and encourage you in faith. Many of us long for an outpouring of the spirit of God like we saw in days gone by, but today's guests live through one and has come to share her experience. Reverend Dr. Sarah Baldwin is the vice president of student life at Asbury College where thousands of believers descended to experience what many have called a modern day revival. Today we will get an eyewitness account to America's most recent outpouring. We'll learn of the impact such moves make and gain an understanding as to why it ended. Matt, this is what we live for. These outpourings of the spirit. I cannot wait to hear her eyewitness account. I think it's one thing to hear about it or watch it on social media, but it's another thing to actually be able to hear someone who's been there in the trenches day to day experiencing what God has done. It's gonna be incredible. Listen, by watching today's program, you're gonna discover how God showed up at Asbury and how he continues to move. Even today, you'll also see how God is stirring up the next generation, which is powerful. And your faith will undoubtedly be strengthened after hearing how good and faithful our God is. So exciting. Plus, coming up later, we're gonna reveal the winner to yesterday's stumped the viewer question. You will see the correct answer or what the correct answer is and who the winner is of this awesome pack prize that's including his cornerstone television t-shirt. In this book of the month. So you won't, or you'll wanna stick around and find out who the winner is. Angela, so much happening. So much, right? Listen, and I love that we turn the tables on the viewer. Because Tom and I were there once, they were like, you know, we always look foolish here, not knowing the answer. Oh, okay, okay, okay. See, I know what the question is, and I was kind of like asking everybody I said, why can't I get these type of questions? And we said they get a multiple choice, it ain't fair. And then somebody had to make me feel good, they said, you know, the question just given to you based upon your capacity. I said, okay. I'm not sure how that makes me feel, you know. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Oh, well, Wells, Azusa, Toronto, Brownsville, and now, Asbury has found its name among the ranks of places that have experienced divine moves of God. Today's guest, Reverend Dr. Sarah Baldwin, Vice President of Student Life at Asbury College, lived the unique role of co-convening and facilitating the core ministry team for the revival. She led this in a rapidly scaling logistical management and served on the president's cabinet to help make institutional decisions, hard ones at that. Today, she joins us to share some of what she has captured in her upcoming book, Generation Awakened. Giving us the behind the revival scenes look, Reverend Dr. Sarah Baldwin joins us now Welcome to Hope Today, Sarah. I'm so glad to be here. Thanks, Matt and Angela. What a joy to get to share what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears. Yes, we are so excited to dive into this. And so without further delay, I wanna ask you, Sarah, prior to the revival, what were your thoughts on revival and how did this outpouring change them? Well, you know, Asbury has a history of revival over the last 100 years. The Holy Spirit has really stirred things that Asbury often in Hughes Auditorium, which is our main chapel on campus. And that's part of our family Asbury story that God moves and that revival happens. However, the last really big revival at Asbury was in 1970. And certainly we've had a few smaller ones since then, but really it was a part of our story. But I mean, I hoped that I would get to see something like this happen, but I didn't really expect like I should have because we know that what God has done before, God will do again. And so, yeah, it was an amazing opportunity to get to see this happen right when I was there. I mean, truly a dream come true. Now you were on the front lines facilitating logistical management and all of the inner workings with being the VP of student life. So tell us a little bit more of what the scale and logistics look like for those who ended up coming and those who were already there at Asbury when the outpouring began. Right, well, on February 8th, 2023, just right after a really an ordinary chapel service. Well, some people say they felt the Holy Spirit moving even before the message was given. But at some point in the service, an altar call was given, a few people came forward and then chapel dismissed like it does every Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 10.50. Students went on to their classes, but a few students remained. We had an Asbury Gospel Choir that day leading worship and they continued to sing. Sometimes that happens. Every once in a while, students stay and linger, but this group of students kept staying and they kept lingering in the presence of Jesus and more and more students came and more and more and we couldn't really believe what was happening. At first we thought really, this was just about young adults and college students and they started to come from the region, but then over the course of the weekend, we began to see other people, community members and then people from other states and like you said, people from other countries. And eventually we think that at least 50,000 people arrived to our little town of 6,000 people over the course of the 16 days and there's probably a lot more than that. About 300 universities and colleges were represented over 30 states, over 13 countries. People came from literally the four corners of the earth. And so as they were coming during those early days, we kept looking at each other and saying, is this the crest? I mean, surely this is the crest. And I kept saying that to everyone who would listen. Surely this is the, surely they're gonna go home. But when we were about seven to 10 days in, we thought, oh wow, God is doing something. So all along the way, it was as though we were building the jet plane while we were flying it. We were figuring out how do we accommodate thousands of welcome but uninvited guests really just hour-to-hour decision-making. I mean, that is truly amazing. 50,000 in a town of 6,000. I went there, I saw it. I mean, it was just a beautiful demonstration and to see so many coming to experience the power and the presence of God. Let me ask you, Sarah, do you feel like it was the student's choice to linger that spurred this on? Or what was the true key that brought this outpouring? Yeah, I do. The Holy Spirit was stirring in our students. You know, Generation Z, I really believe is experiencing an awakening and a hunger for Jesus. And that is beyond what happened at Asbury. We still hear accounts almost every day of the way that God is working in the world, particularly through this young generation. But when they stayed and lingered, they were ready for more of God. They were ready and wanting to encounter the fullness of Jesus. And we saw them radically on their knees, radically surrendering all of who they are to Jesus. And we heard them with their confession, repentance, their stories of restoration, the way Jesus met them right there in the moment, freedom, hope. It was incredible, healing. So I really do believe that what God lit in them was really the bonfire that eventually went around the world. But it started with Gen Z. I don't think it was just for Gen Z. I mean, the rest of us were pulling up our chairs to this amazing feast of God and then trying to navigate, like how do we make these decisions about all the people that are arriving? But I do think God is doing something particular with this generation. Sarah, just thinking back on my college days, obviously college students, young adults, they could stay up for hours and hours throughout the night, making it seem somewhat easy. But now I'm thinking behind the scenes. So for those who are staff, employed, professors, teachers, whatever it might be. And then the questions that start to stir up and arise, like, is this a move of God? You know what I mean? What do we do? Do we allow this to happen? Were questions like that happening on the back end? And what did you guys do to make sure that, okay, let's not stifle what God is doing? Matt, that's a great question. And this truly, there was so many, I call them outpouring miracles. There were so many outpouring miracles that were really about the behind the scenes. But from that very first night, I remember a few of us gathered underneath Hughes Auditorium where the students were worshiping. And we made what we call perhaps like the very first yes, where we said, okay, we think God is doing something here. Let's leave the auditorium open all night. From a student affairs perspective, there's all kinds of things to think about, like safety, how should we handle this? And of course, we called in additional safety support and I immediately started texting our team, like who can be present all night. But one of the amazing outpouring miracles, and I still can't hardly even take this in, is that what was happening and how God was moving was so clear that we had consensus about it. Like I'm talking not just five people, not just 10 people, I'm talking like a hundred people, 200 people in those first 24 to 48 hours that came and they stepped into the space. And we shared this sense that God was present in a way, in an extraordinary way. There was like an atmospheric shift in that phase. We felt together the presence of God in a really extraordinary way. And that really brought a lot of unity together. We worked closely with our president, Dr. Kevin Brown, who really came to our community saying, we think this is of God, can we together scaffold this? And I remember we were just, we don't know how to do it, but we think God is doing something. But it was an amazing season over those days to see many people set aside their day jobs and volunteer for 18 hour days, day after day after day and really live into their spiritual gifts. People that had other desk jobs now became all-term ministers, faculty members became custodians and changing the toilet paper. There was staff members who were helping people with wheelchairs in the back door to get to the right spot. I mean, we just became the hands and feet of Jesus for that season and hopefully we still are. That's right. I believe you are still the hands and feet of Jesus. If for those who haven't attended the Asbury Rival, they didn't get to experience it, what are some words you would use to describe his presence there and then share with us one of your favorite stories from that moment? Oh, thanks for asking. Yeah, you know, sometimes when I would stand in like the back lobby that near our volunteers hub, I mean, over those days, about 1800 different people volunteered, all of that just sprang up through connections and friendship and people who just showed up and said, can I help? It was amazing. But I remember going through those back doors and sometimes I would take a deep breath because when I stepped through the door, it was as though the presence of Jesus closed over my head. There was something in that space. It was awe-producing, the love, the joy that seemed to radiate, the way people entered in and worshiped together. It was truly as though, it's like we got a little taste of heaven, like every tribe, every nation, every tongue, every socioeconomic status, it was a colorful room. There was all different kinds of people and ethnicities and everyone felt drawn to worshiping Jesus in this incredible outpouring of love. It felt as though the weight of the love sat on us. It was really amazing. So one of my, I have so many favorite stories, but one of them, you know, I got to sit on the stage many, many hours and look out and pray for the crowd and seek to bless them and also be aware of all of the spiritual dynamics in the room. And one day at about 11.30 at night, I was watching some people come into the space and there was this Latino family, like maybe grandpa, mom, uncle, little kid, and they'd been waiting probably about nine hours outside in the cold. And they came in and they had all of their scarves and hats on and mittens. And as they walked in the door, I could just watch their faces light up. And as they walked down the aisle to take their seats, they just started taking off their jackets and coats and scarves and they just dropped them right where they were. And they didn't even go to their seats and went right to the altar. And the whole family, grandpa, mom, uncle, dad, kids all face down, reaching out to touch the altar. And I remember thinking, Jesus, would you make me that expectant for your Holy Spirit? Would you move in my heart that much so that I can't wait to be in worship with you? So I got to see that. I got to see that for 16 days. Hungry, expectant hearts. People just so desperate to experience Jesus. Wow. I love what you're sharing there. Cause you can't experience revival and come out the same, right? I mean, things change. You now have to think differently. You speak differently. Everything is just renewed almost in a sense, right? And so what does that look like for Asbury? I mean, coming out of this revival movement, did things have to change on the college campus with the way that you guys do things and the way things are said? What does that look like now? Yeah. We are still discerning, talking and praying. We have experience in ongoing a revival on our campus this year. Our students came back to us after the summer really prepared and desiring to worship, to be present to Jesus in a new way. We've seen record baptisms. We've seen just a contagious spirit of the presence of Jesus in a fresh way on our campus. As a community, I think one of the big things that we are learning through the outpouring and through what God did in our hearts is there, it really seemed as though it was about consecration over talent. And by that, I mean, do you remember when Jesus was in the temple and he pointed out the widow who put in all she had and he said, she's the one to watch everybody. She's the one to watch. And I feel as though we got that lesson because what we were doing was not, it wasn't the best preachers, the best communicators, the best musicians, the best organizational processes. I mean, it was hour to hour, Jesus, what should we do next? Jesus, what should we do next? That was the posture of our heart. And we learned that it was about a sack of a heart surrendered to Jesus. And so I think still as a community or asking ourselves, like, what does that mean? What does it mean to live in a way where our first priority is the consecrated heart? Our first priority is full and total surrendered to Jesus. And then we work it out. So instead of looking to be the best and the brightest, the latest and the greatest, the most talented, I mean, but instead, how do we become people that are surrendered 100% to Jesus? I think that's what I'm trying to work out and praying about, and I believe that as a community, God's given us that work to do. I love that you're continually digesting and processing what you've experienced and your entire community is. Let me ask you, Sarah, how did you all make the decision to shut, okay, we're gonna shut the doors, we can't continue to have thousands of people coming onto campus? How did you make that decision? And then once you made that decision, was there's a sense of, oh man, I miss that heavy, thick presence? What a wonderful question. It takes me right back there. So our president's cabinet really had to wrestle and discern what is God doing something different with our university? And we really felt two things. One, we felt as though that this outpouring of God's love was not meant to be contained at Asbury. It was just the beginning. It was meant for the world, and we have seen that. So we never felt as though, we felt we were stewards only, stewards of scaffolding what God wanted to do and that God was going to do that around the world. And that is what we have seen. And so that first decision was like, this is not about Asbury. This is about what God wants to do. And we felt as though the whole spiritual water table has been raised in so many ways across our nation and across our world. And then secondly, we really had to wrestle with how do we, we are an educational and formational institution. Like we love Christian education. We want our students to experience full surrender in Jesus. That's our mission, but our priority as a university was to our students. And so those two things came together versus understanding that we couldn't end what we didn't start. We were only stewards of what God was doing. And secondly, that our mission, what God had given us to do with the care for the formation and the academic development of our students. And that mission hadn't changed. And so we felt as though we could give a benediction and share it with the world. And that's just what has happened. It is powerful. It truly did spur on such an outpouring within other universities and individuals, lives that I believe too will continue to spread. In our last few moments here, Sarah, would you just take a minute and pray for our nation, pray for our world, for divine outpouring of his presence? Yeah. Jesus, we come to you as your people desiring more of you. Jesus, we need hundreds upon hundreds of these outpourings around our world. We need to experience the power of your presence to come together and embodied worship to feel and sense your love upon us. Jesus, would you make us hungry and expectant? Would you make us like that family who was so expectant to come to you that they were just shrugging off their coats and their mittens against that they've been wearing? Jesus, would you give us that kind of posture of heart that we are so expectant and awaiting your presence? Lord, we desperately need you. Our nation needs you. Our world needs you. Would you continue to show up if you continue to pour yourself out upon us? In your name, amen. Amen. Amen. Sarah, where can people find your book? Well, right now they can. It's a pre-order until May 7. So they can find it at inviteresources.com and then it will be on Amazon on May 7. I'm so excited to get to share with you. Yes, we are so excited that you came and please check out her book, Generation Awaken. Sarah, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today and thank you for taking and stewarding what God has shown you and giving us an opportunity to read it in your upcoming book. Thanks for being with us. Such a joy. Thanks so much for the opportunity. Stay with us because when we return in 60 seconds, we will announce the winner of yesterday's Stump the Viewer. Plus, I will be sharing about my experience at Asbury and how I saw God move in incredible ways. We'll be right back. God is calling you to do something significant in the earth for Him regardless of your age, skill set, or perceived limitations. What's holding you back? When you give to support Cornerstone Television this month, let us bless you with Rick Renner's life-transforming book, Chosen by God. Every page will help you overcome your limited thinking and follow God's plan for your life. Rest assured, God has a plan and He will thoroughly prepare you to fulfill it if you'll say yes with all your heart. This book will thrill you with the possibilities that await because you are chosen by God. Request your copy when you give by calling 888-665-4483 or donate online at ctvn.org slash donate. Thank you for helping us spread the gospel through life-changing programming like Rick Renner, Hope Today, Heart Questions, and more. To keep your favorite programs coming and receive Chosen by God, donate today. Welcome back to Hope Today. In case you missed it, yesterday we asked our stumped the viewer question to you, the audience. So let's check out what the question was. Who led the Israelites into the Promised Land? Was it A. Moses, B. Joshua, C. Aaron, D. Abraham? Angela, before we reveal this amazing question, do you know the answer to it? Yes! Joshua, B, let's go! Okay, okay, okay, okay. So, statistics say that 82% of you got it right way to go. So let's find out who the winner is and drum roll, Anna, or Ann Hall. Congratulations and you are the winner of this awesome Cornerstone television t-shirt and this book Chosen by God. We'll be emailing you and letting you know how you can receive your prize. Congratulations once again. Angela, okay, I'm thinking about, I mean, there was obviously all, not even just the rumors, but everything going around about this Asbury revival and love hearing what Sarah had to share about it, but you also experienced it yourself. So tell us a little bit about that. Honestly, getting to talk to her was such a joy and I cannot imagine being in her position with the logistics of all of that. Like, you guys, you cannot understand the scale of this. She had shared, there were folks who waited in line for up to nine hours. I waited in line for like two and a half hours with my family and a friend of mine and just the bathrooms that are there, the staff, the volunteers checking to make sure people had water, tents are up. Like it took thousands of volunteers every day. And mind you, Matt, they are a college. You know, they're trying to educate students. So just thinking through all of the like juggling that had to take place, I just thank God for Sarah. I thank God for how they stewarded the move. I love that they had a very global approach that they wanted to see the Lord's spirit break out in all these ways. But for me personally, it was the sweetest. It was the sweetest presence of the Lord. It was just this gentle move of God. I was talking with one of my friends, Matt, about what I experienced. And I loved what she said. She said, isn't it cool how God would come in such a divine peace for such an anxiety-riddled generation? And I was like, pfft, that's it right there. That's what I felt. That's what I experienced, just the peace and consecration. Wow. You know, I'm just, okay, so I'm thinking of even personally, you know, you watch a revival happen. I think a lot of times we can just only see revival as this big move of God to happen on a college campus or in a church building, you know, somewhere great. And yes, that's true. But also revival was personal, right? And so Angel, I mean, what would you think? What would you say to somebody of how would we begin to open up ourselves for a personal revival to happen? That's a great question, Matt. And I think really what it boils down to is doing what the students did, linger in his presence. Don't be in such a hurry to get through your four songs and get on to the benediction, you know. Don't be in such a hurry to brush past these moments where you feel the Lord's still small voice whispering to your heart, lingering in his presence and longing and expecting more, like that Latino family that came in. Expect that the creator of heaven and earth is gonna supply everything that you need and more. Right, right. I mean, I love what she even said. It's a heart posture. Right, like what position is your heart in? I think, let's be honest, a lot of things just compete in our understanding, in our mind, and I'm being honest to myself, that's how we can view a move of God sometimes is through the lens of our understanding. So the Bible tells us lean on our own understanding. But it's about this heart posture, Angela, you know. I mean, what should we do with our heart to get our heart in this place of receiving, yes. Okay, God, quieting the noise. Shutting up the voice of the questions and getting my heart ready to receive. Yes, Psalms 46-10, be still and know that I am God. In the chaos, in the confusion, in the noisiness of the world and the busyness of our schedules, we've got to learn to be still in his presence and know his character. When we are still, when we get to know his character and that he is faithful to the end of the ages, we will realize everything we desire he is. Every answer we need, he's that. And in that space, our heart posture really is positioned to receive the full measure of who he is in an outpouring of our own. Yeah, yeah, that's good. You know, today's show is all about a move of God. If God moved before, if he can move on a college campus like Asbury, well, this means he'll move again. And right now, even under the sound of my voice, I believe that God is moving greatly in your life. You might not know what it looks like, but he knows what you need. Like Angela said, just be still. Rest in knowing that God is a man of his word and he's good to keeping his promises. He works everything. Hear me clearly. Everything out for your good. Get your heart ready to receive. God is on the move greatly in your life.