The Asbury Outpouring Two Years Later: A Conversation with Suzanne Nicholson

Photo by Cullan Smith on Unsplash

In February of 2023, a move of God broke out at Asbury University. What began as a regularly scheduled chapel service turned into a 16-day outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Pilgrims of all stripes—including celebrities, reporters, musicians, and well-known pastors and ministry leaders—descended upon Wilmore, Kentucky, as news of this revival attracted worldwide attention. Dr. Suzanne Nicholson, Professor of New Testament at Asbury University, has edited the book Cooperating with the Holy Spirit: Theological and Practical Reflections on the Asbury Outpouring to describe some of these experiences and consider the theological foundations for revivals. In the following interview, Dr. Nicholson discusses the theological and historical basis for revivals, her experience with the Asbury Outpouring, some of the ways to steward a move of God, and the new collaboratively written volume she has edited.

Evan: What was the Asbury Outpouring?

Suzanne: We are at the two-year anniversary of the Outpouring. On Feb. 8, 2023, we had a normal chapel service, which we have three days a week during the semester. After this service, students lingered and felt the power of the Holy Spirit pour over them. They felt an immense sense of God’s presence and love and a call to repentance; there were also numerous testimonies of God’s goodness. Worship continued and was student-led, and it snowballed so that by that evening, there were a couple of hundred students in Hughes Auditorium. People from the Wilmore community and Asbury Theological Seminary (across the street) began to pour in, and soon we had students and people from all over the United States and the world. It was twenty-four hours of worship for the first few days; later the auditorium was closed at night for cleaning, but worship didn’t stop. There was always someone playing guitar or piano and continuing in worship. The Outpouring continued for sixteen days. The feeling that was reported again and again by those experiencing the Outpouring was one of the deep, abiding love of God and the gentleness of the Spirit. 

Evan: What was your role in the Outpouring? How did you participate? 

Suzanne: I was not one of the leaders up front in the chapel or an administrator. I volunteered on the prayer team and did some other kinds of volunteer work. My office is right below the auditorium; I would direct people to the bathrooms, check the supplies, give directions to locations, or bring food for the participants. We still had classes during the Outpouring, so I continued to teach. After the first few days, I would record classes and post them for students who wanted to continue in the revival. I was also teaching a class on Acts; the day before the Outpouring we were in Acts chapter 3, where the Holy Spirit is described as bringing a time of refreshing, which is exactly what they were experiencing!

Evan: Where does this Outpouring fit in with revival history? 

Suzanne: I will start on the micro-level with Asbury itself; we have a history of revivals at Asbury. There have been eight or nine in the past century. The last major revival was in 1970, which continued for nearly a week. People raise the question: why Asbury? God clearly can move anywhere, but there seems to be something sacred about this space. This has always been a community that has prayed for revival; people make space for God to show up. We can’t do anything to make God pour out his Spirit, but we can prepare for when he does. And God regularly shows up in powerful ways. 

Within the history of evangelical revivals, there were several commonalities to these moves of God, which also were present at Asbury. One of the chapters in the book explores these connections. We also discuss whether we should call this a “revival” or an “outpouring.” There are several theological terms for movements of the Spirit. The leadership decided to call it an outpouring, since we had the Asbury Revival in 1970, and we did not want to confuse the two events. 

Evan: What prompted you to write this book?

Suzanne: One of the beautiful things about the Outpouring was that the whole community stewarded the Outpouring. Scientists and education specialists with PhDs were grabbing mops and cleaning the floors. There was a wonderful attitude of service to the community; everyone pitched in and helped where necessary. There was a spirit of generosity present, which is a fruit empowered by the Spirit. Within a couple of months of the Outpouring ending—or rather, after it had empowered people and sent them out—I had a real sense that because we had stewarded the Outpouring as a community, we needed to tell the story as a community. I sent out an invitation to faculty, staff, and administrators to participate in developing this book, contributing their stories of the Outpouring. We ended up with eighteen chapters written by twenty-three authors, each discussing a different aspect of what happened at the Outpouring. I edited the book, but twenty-three people wrote chapters.

The first section discusses what happened at the Outpouring and gives background. The middle section is a bit more theological: it contains theological, biblical, and historical foundations for revivals—making sense of what happened. The final section focuses on practical takeaways: what are the things that you must consider when God shows up? Parking, managing media, and more. And while there are other books written on the Asbury Outpouring, there are no books written cooperatively by twenty-three Asbury authors discussing the move of God from the community’s perspective. 

Evan: What are some theological takeaways from the Asbury Outpouring? 

Suzanne: This is the middle section of the book, which focuses on constructing a theological basis for this move of God. Authors explore the witness of Scripture, testifying that God wants to be present with his people, empower them, and send them out as witnesses into the world. Other authors explore the history of Evangelical revivals, a theology of sacred space, and a theology of prayer. I wrote a chapter on viewing the Outpouring through a Wesleyan lens. In other words, how does our Wesleyan theology help us to make sense of these kinds of movements of the Holy Spirit? One of the theological takeaways from the book is that God is still on the move today, causing people to feel His deep, profound love, which leads to repentance. We found that the powerful presence of God was leading people to confess sins and seek greater intimacy with God. This leads to transformation and empowerment. 

The title of the book is Cooperating with the Holy Spirit. This is a very intentionally Wesleyan title; we are trying to communicate that we alone cannot make revival happen. God initiates; we respond to what God is doing. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit means that God showed up in powerful ways, and we chose to respond in particular ways to cooperate with that. University President Kevin Brown talks about having a “holy imagination,” or being willing to do things differently. When you have students who are worshiping and pouring out their hearts to God, are you going to close the door or allow them to continue? You need a holy imagination to engage in that cooperation in creative ways.  

Evan: How can people steward a move of God in their context?

Suzanne: The first is prayer. The move needs to be covered in listening prayer that tunes into the leading of the Holy Spirit. For example, there were celebrity musicians who offered to come lead worship, but we continued to have the students lead worship. That was vital for stewarding this well—God started with the students, and Asbury wanted to honor what God was doing. Also, it is important to have flexibility and openness to empower people to step up and assume duties that might have been new for them. A holy “no” is another piece of stewardship. The chapter on managing the media, for example, notes that some reporters who attended were from fringe organizations or came with their own agendas. The institution turned down these interview requests. Who ever heard of a marketing department saying no to media coverage?! But Asbury worked to keep the worship space for worship, not for media or other entities. This takes listening to the Spirit and a willingness to go in unexpected directions.

Evan W. Dodge is senior pastor of St. Paul’s UMC in Brick, NJ, adjunct instructor at United Theological Seminary, and a member of the Firebrand lead editorial team.

Suzanne Nicholson is Professor of New Testament at Asbury University and a member of the Firebrand lead editorial team. Cooperating with the Holy Spirit is available from acupressbooks.com and amazon.com.

Church LifeEvan Rohrs-DodgeComment