The Quiet, Heavy Presence

By Joe Culumber

“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” (2 Corinthians 4:17 KJV)

It was February 2023.

The headlines read: When a Christian Revival Goes Viral.

At Asbury University (formerly Asbury College) south of Lexington, Kentucky, a chapel service turned into a revival that captivated TikTok and the rest of the social media world. Those present on that day and the days following reported experiencing the quiet, heavy presence of God.

I was at once taken back to my own Asbury Revival experience decades earlier in 1970, and a Presence that I have not experienced since. I was in my third and final year at Asbury Theological Seminary, across the street from the university. Methodists named both schools after Francis Asbury, the itinerant evangelist who had led Methodism to become America’s largest Protestant denomination.

Come back with me now to those memorable weeks in 1970, where I experienced the Asbury Revival and the outpouring of God’s Spirit during my senior year at Asbury Seminary.

It was February 1970.

The book title reads: One Divine Moment: The Asbury Revival.

It is a cold and wintry morning in Wilmore, and students are hurrying through the halls of the admin building to classrooms across the campus of Asbury Seminary. Many, like me, are expecting exams. I head to Dr. George Turner’s class on the Historical Geography of the Holy Land. I am praying he will not ask us to name every obscure village or historical site in the Old Testament — something he seems to enjoy doing!

There is a buzz among students about what has happened in the last 24 hours at the school across the street. A revival has broken out, and the administration canceled classes as students packed the chapel. Faculty, administrators, and staff persons joined them. Estes Chapel on our seminary campus is always open as a place of prayer and meditation. Now students are gathering here too.

_

“We do not find the words to speak; we do not need to speak. We sense the weight of God’s Spirit filling this sacred place of worship.”

_

The feared test is over. I am thankful Dr. Turner asked only two essay questions, which he scribbled on the blackboard. I write my answers in the little blue book from the seminary bookstore and hurry out the door to Estes Chapel. The sanctuary itself is beautiful: stunning white walls, and white pews accented with dark mahogany trim. Above and behind the platform is the Christos window, showing three views of Jesus: looking heavenward in prayer, hanging on the Cross, and standing in the clouds in His resurrected glory.

A chapel experience like no other…

Entering the chapel, a rich blue runner directs my eyes to the front, where on either side of the Communion table students are already kneeling at the altar rail and praying. Others are reverently pouring in, and the chapel is quickly filling. The scene is striking. No one seems to be in charge. Here, where students take preaching classes, there is no one speaking from the pulpit. The organ is silent. Groups of two or three huddle around the room, some embracing one another and quietly weeping.

There is a heaviness that I find difficult to define or explain. I could only describe it as the quiet, heavy presence of God.

Here in Estes Chapel, I find myself overwhelmed by God’s presence. It seems that others too, like me, are experiencing a spiritual reality and depth we have never known before. I sense I am on holy ground; maybe I should take off my shoes. Everyone is speaking quietly in hushed tones. So used to filtering everything through my brain, I am keenly aware that God is doing something in my heart and the hearts of those around me. Yes, a religious experience that affects my heart!

I soon find myself joining those kneeling in prayer at the altar rail. I hardly know how to pray. I am confessing my sins and asking for cleansing and the filling of the Holy Spirit. I glance around through the blur of my own tears and see my friend Frank bowed next to me; he is also wiping away tears. We do not find the words to speak; we do not need to speak. We sense the weight of God’s Spirit filling this sacred place of worship.

The prophet Elijah, disheartened by the spiritual lethargy of his day, experienced God’s presence not in the wind, earthquake, or fire — but in “a gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12b).

I have much more to say about the revival that lasted for weeks locally and spread globally. I will save it for another time. Dennis Kinlaw, president of Asbury College in 1970, summed up the revival with these word from the book mentioned earlier:

Give me one divine moment when God acts, and I say that moment is far superior to all the human efforts of man throughout the centuries.

Amen.

+