Asbury University, which has been the site of continual worship and prayer on campus for weeks and drawing tens of thousands of people to experience what God is doing, will move its non-stop prayer services off-campus due to concerns about overcrowding in the small town.
What began as part of a scheduled chapel service on the morning of Feb. 8 at Hughes Auditorium at the Christian institution in Wilmore, Kentucky, has since transformed into a constant impromptu gathering.
The revival has generated worldwide interest, resulting in lengthy queues to gain entry.
The university says on its website that the “concluding public worship service of this recent outpouring” will be held on Monday afternoon.
It added that “the university in consultation with local law enforcement and city administration notified incoming visitors that parking and seating had exceeded capacity.” Beginning Tuesday, services available to the public will be held at another location in the central Kentucky area. Separately, starting on Friday, students’ evening services will be hosted at other locations off campus.
“We just had some people arrive from Finland, from the Netherlands, they have been coming from all over the country,” Asbury’s Communications Director Abby Laub told WKYT.
The institution needs to balance the needs of students with the overwhelming turnout at the event, Asbury University President Kevin J. Brown said Sunday, according to WDRB.
“We recognize life for the students had to return to normal, they have to go to school, they have midterms next week,” Laub was quoted as saying. “They know this is a gift, they have received it as a gift, so we are going to change them with now you take this to your job, your family, your church.”
Bobby Singh, who owns a Shell gas station across the street from the Asbury, was pleasantly surprised by an unexpected surge in his business. “I’ve never met such nice people, people are inside donating to us,” Singh told WKYT. “[It’s a] blessing in disguise, man, it came out of nowhere.”
Canaan Yan, a sophomore at Asbury, told WDRB, “I feel as though maybe we were the candle and now we are just passing that flame on to other churches and other schools.”
