Gen Z Counter-Culture Shocker: Another 'Jesus Revolution' Is Breaking Out on College Campuses
History may be repeating itself in more ways than one right now, with another Jesus revolution breaking out among Generation Z.
I previously wrote about the surprising similarities between the presidential elections of 1968 and 2024, including college campus war protests.
Well, on the cultural side, something is happening that also mirrors the late 1960s: Another Jesus People Movement appears to be underway.
The Jesus People Movement was the last great spiritual awakening in American history, taking place during the late 1960s and into the 1970s, when perhaps millions came to faith in Jesus Christ. It was the subject of last year’s highly successful film “Jesus Revolution.”
The movement happened among young people in the United State who had been living through the social turmoil of the era — marked by anti-Vietnam War protests, race riots, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and prolific illicit drug use and the so-called sexual revolution.
The Jesus Movement was a counter-culture movement to the counter-culture movement.
Michael Maiden, pastor of Church for the Nations in Phoenix, recalled “the ’60s and early ’70s were very turbulent, both nationally and globally.” His father led a Jesus People church in Phoenix, filled with hundreds of hippies, so he grew up around the movement.
The same type of turbulence seen in society then is present now, Maiden asserted in an interview with The Western Journal last fall.
“America’s in a tough place. We’re in a difficult place, but God’s not done with America, and the purpose of God for our country isn’t over,” he added. “God’s not finished with who we are as a people, and that’s why revival is so essential.”
“Revival’s not when the culture changes; revival’s when hearts are won to Jesus. And the consequence of that is a change in culture,” said Maiden, who authored a book about societal transformation called “Turn the World Upside Down.”
“Following Jesus is the best way to do life,” he contended.
Wherever the Gospel has gone, Maiden said, it has lifted people and brought a cultural revolution, establishing pillars of society based on “the importance of marriage, of morality, of honesty, of hard work, of caring for people.”
When the church shines as the light of the world, as Jesus exhorted his followers to do, “things get better.” the preacher said.
“Yes, the world is becoming intense in its darkness, but the kingdom of God is becoming glorious in its light. … Light always triumphs over darkness,” he stated.
And Generation Z, ages 12 to 27, is being drawn to that light.
Think of the things that have shaped their lives: the COVID pandemic and lockdowns, the George Floyd riots and racial strife, intense political division over issues like abortion and gender.
And now most recently, anti-Israel, anti-Semitic campus protests.
But amidst the chaos and darkness, mass gatherings have been happening on college campuses, both Christian and secular.
In February 2023, a spontaneous revival broke out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, during what was the school’s normal chapel service.
Reports of revival breaking out and pray it spreads into an awakening across our entire nation.
The presence of God is so strong at chapel service at Asbury University that people haven’t left and it has gone on for 70 hours so far. pic.twitter.com/t5vzv6KROV
— Matt Brown (@evangelistmatt) February 11, 2023
Tens of thousands of students and older adults traveled to the Methodist college to experience God during a chapel service that went 24 hours a day for nearly two straight weeks.
THE FIRE IS SPREADING. Reports say students from more than 21 colleges have now arrived at Asbury University in Kentucky for revival services. Just imagine what will happen if this spreads nationwide. pic.twitter.com/CNI81puhYT
— Lee Grady (@LeeGrady) February 12, 2023
In February 1970, during the Jesus Movement, classes at Asbury were cancelled for a week as worship sprung forth and went for 144 hours straight.
Scenes from Asbury revivals 1970 & 2023. Methodists know how to revive! pic.twitter.com/j6Jus8Z8me
— Leah Payne (@drleahpayne) February 11, 2023
Last year following the Asbury awakening, other colleges began experiencing the same type of movements for God in Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.
In September 2023, 6,000 students at Auburn University in Alabama came together at a Unite Auburn worship event, and afterwards about half of them went to a lake on campus where about 200 students were baptized, according to CBN News.
A revival is happening tonight in Auburn. People are getting baptized at Red Barn with hundreds of people cheering them on. The baptisms started following an event at Neville arena tonight called Unite. @TheAUPlainsman @AUFAMILY pic.twitter.com/PzEza1UWKz
— Kristen Carr (@kristencarrau) September 13, 2023
At the very location made famous for mass baptisms during the Jesus People Movement in the 1960s — Pirate’s Cove in Newport Beach, California — history repeated itself last summer, in what was billed as the largest baptism in U.S. history.
Over 4,100 were baptized in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, CBN News reported.
💀 🏴☠️ PIRATE’S COVE
The waters of baptism signify death to living for ourself, and raising to new life with Christ.
Here are some pictures from the largest baptism in US history which took place yesterday at Pirates Cove, the historic site of the Jesus Movement in Southern… pic.twitter.com/cWyW677SlW
— Matt Brown (@evangelistmatt) July 9, 2023
In January, the Passion 2024 conference in Atlanta drew more than 50,000 young people to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“I think we’re definitely in a season of awakening. The Holy Spirit is stirring right now,” organizer Pastor Louie Giglio said in a video posted ahead of the event.
“If 50,000 students are going to come so that they can worship God and offer their lives to him, there’s an awakening happening in our generation,” he said.
A glimpse of Heaven, when we will be singing around the throne of God!
Sound on! Watch till the end!
Clip from THAT moment during worship at Passion 2024 | Agnus Dei | “Worthy is the Lamb” – https://t.co/vH9CES0Jdd pic.twitter.com/yrznlmWg6Y
— Josh Engen (@Engen_Josh) January 9, 2024
Last week, 8,000 students gathered to worship Jesus Christ as the University of Tennessee, CBN News reported.
“God is moving,” Jennie Allen, one of the speakers at the event, posted on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
“Last night once again thousands gathered and hundreds responded to Christ and were baptized,” she added. “It’s just too good!”
Maiden likened what’s happening now spiritually in the country to popping popcorn.
“Whenever you start popcorn or start heating it, nothing happens. Then all of a sudden a kernel pops, then another one, then a bunch. It’s like a multiplying factor takes over, and before you know it, the whole bag is ready to be eaten,” he said.
“There are measurable signs in the culture, not of a broad, complete revival, but the beginning kernels popping or … the first waves of something good happening,” Maiden continued, pointing to student-led revivals on many campuses.
“So I have 1,000 percent confidence that the greatest spiritual awakening in our country’s history is in its beginning stage, and these next years we’re going to see it,” he said.
Hal Sacks — who leads the Arizona-based ministry BridgeBuilders International with his wife Cheryl Sacks and came to faith during the Jesus People Movement — agreed, saying he sees the first pockets of revival breaking out.
“I believe God has heard our prayers,” said Sacks, whose ministry is headquartered on the grounds of Arizona Christian University in Glendale. “I believe God has heard our cries for awakening and for revival and for reformation and our cries of desperation. And I believe He’s coming and responding to it.”
Cheryl Sacks added, “It is very refreshing to see what the Lord is doing. And, you know, it makes me think about the … revival that’s in Isaiah 44:3, where He says, ‘I will pour water upon him who is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground.’”
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“Revivals generally explode in times of darkness and trial, not in times of comfort and ease. And we are in desperate times, and that is causing people to wake up to see there’s a problem: ‘We’re going in the wrong direction. We’re not finding any answers. Let’s reach out to God,’” she said.
So amidst this present darkness, the light is shining through, and another Jesus revolution appears to be underway.
And just like in the late 1960s, young people are at the heart of it.
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