Jonathan Bernis - Behind the Asbury Revival
Jonathan Bernis: Shalom, and welcome to Jewish Voice. We're so thankful that you're joining us today. I'm Jonathan Bernis, and I'm joined by a dear friend, and co-host today, he's a Messianic Jewish leader, great man of God, Scott Volk. In February of 2023, a pastor got done with his Wednesday morning chapel message, and texted his wife that he had laid a stinker of a sermon and would be home soon to take a nap. Little did he know that that message would stir students to stay in the chapel all day and night repenting and reaching out for more of God. For the next 16 days, God's incredible presence filled Hughes auditorium and an entire town of Wilmore. People came from all over the country and worldwide to experience the outpouring of God at Asbury university. I was blown away by what happened at Asbury. I remember the movie, "Around the world in eighty days". This revival made it around the world in 80 minutes literally. What happened on the internet? And then we'll go back.
Zack Meerkreebs: This day and age with social media, it just, it blew up. And I think we are so full of bad news or difficult news, so when there was good news to share, it just went viral. And it was actually Asbury revival, the hashtag #ASBURYREVIVAL was the quickest hashtag to one billion in the history of most of the social media platforms. So, there's a narrative right now that we're losing the next generation. They're just flocking out of the church and out of relationship with Jesus. I don't think that's the case. And these 16 days and some of the things we've seen ever since around the world, in the United States, on college campuses I think prove a point that God is moving.
Jonathan Bernis: Well, one thing is very, very clear, people are hungry, of all ages. Within days, people were getting on airplanes from Asia, right? From Africa, from Europe. I just started getting phone calls. People were canceling their schedules to fly to Asbury to be part of this. Unbelievable. Nothing like this in history has happened.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, it was, you know, to find myself in a seat that, you know, I had preached the week before at Asbury chapel. I was a guest speaker. I'm a volunteer soccer coach there. So, I'm not like a pastor, I'm not a professor, I was a volunteer soccer coach. But they had heard that I had been a pastor before and asked me to speak in the chapel. I'd spoken on the beginning of Romans 12 on the 1st, so on February 8, I preached on the rest of Romans 12:9-21 on authentic love. That our love would be without hypocrisy. And then it goes on with all these statements, "Cling to what's good, topple over one another and giving each other honor, show hospitality". Things like that. And I honestly ran out of time. I clicked through my slides.
Jonathan Bernis: And you thought it was a bad sermon.
Zack Meerkreebs: I really did step off stage, texted my wife, "Laid a stinker, I'll be home soon for a nap".
Jonathan Bernis: Wow.
Zack Meerkreebs: And then, like, 20 minutes later I text her, I'm like, "They're not leaving". And then an hour later I'm like, "I think I might stay".
Jonathan Bernis: Wow.
Zack Meerkreebs: And then four hours later, I'm weeping on a voice memo like, "I've never experienced this, Kristen". Jesus feels like he's sitting on stage with me. Get the girls as soon as possible and bring them to Asbury.
Scott Volk: I heard it said, "Revival is not something that man works up, it's something that God sends down".
Zack Meerkreebs: Amen.
Scott Volk: And it's a beautiful thing to me that it wasn't from, your perspective, your greatest sermon, but the Lord used the heart and all that he was doing inside of you and the whole area of crushing and bringing life. You preached the message, people aren't leaving, people start hearing about it. Who was leading the revival? Like, who was in charge of what was happening?
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah. My question already. So good, we're on the same wave line.
Zack Meerkreebs: So, Asbury has three mandatory chapels a week. And to be really clear, like, it wasn't immediate that we thought something was happening. So, almost the entire student body leaves besides me, the worship leader, and 19 students. And I remember noticing God was doing something when there was guys that I've been praying that would come to know the Lord, students at Asbury that weren't believers, and I saw their faces peeked through the door and they walked in. And then we started hearing, and by about 4 o' clock that afternoon, chapel was full.
Jonathan Bernis: Now, I looked at the videos right away. The videos started pouring out. And it just seemed so, it wasn't like a revival that I've ever experienced before, and I've been in revivals in other countries, I've lived in Russia. It was more dramatic. This seemed to be so lowkey, so laid back. There wasn't this dynamic planned music. It was very simple, it was very down to earth, but people were experiencing something. Can you just talk about that more? Like, this is a different revival scenario or atmosphere than I've ever seen.
Zack Meerkreebs: It was like all the fruits of the spirit were ripe and just, you could smell 'em in the room. And I remember coming up to the altar, one of the first couple hours in, putting my hand on the altar, its, you know, carpet, and it was wet with tears of just repentance. And people wouldn't come and just sit in a seat, they would come and go directly to the altar and then figure out if there was a seat. And we saw unbelievable things. Healings, you know, thousands of dollars spontaneously given to students who needed to go home or pay for school. Salvation, salvation, salvation, call to the nations, calls to ministry, repentance. And in his presence, it felt like anything could happen.
Scott Volk: You were talking over dinner last night about the consecration room. And a young teenager maybe or young 20s. Can you just talk about that? That was really gripping to me as we were sharing a meal last night.
Jonathan Bernis: It was the green room first.
Scott Volk: The green room to the consecration room.
Zack Meerkreebs: You know, there's nothing evil about a green room. But an 18 year old, west Elliott, godly young man, worship leader, had started leading worship during the outpouring, and they had to start prophetically pointing out musicians 'cause we were doing worship 24/7 and we ran out of musicians pretty quick. So they would pray, "Holy Spirit, reveal who might play drums 'cause we need a drummer". And they would say, they would hear, like, "Yellow sweater". And they would go to someone and they'd be like, "Actually yeah, I play the drums at my home church". And we didn't know if they, like, if they're a good person. So, we created this thing, west created this thing called a consecration room, that the green room was transitioned into a room where we would first worship, then confess, then prophetically call out anything else, then confess some more, and then consecrate our giftings, and then a prayer of commissioning, and they would walk on stage. And you couldn't touch the stage until you spent 45 minutes...
Jonathan Bernis: It's like the dry cleaners.
Scott Volk: It's amazing.
Jonathan Bernis: Cleaning you up before you go out to lead the group, lead the congregation. That's a great idea. I love it. The quick rinse. You know, you just get before the Lord, you get your sins cleaned off and you go and minister. That's fantastic. Hey, we need to take a short break. We don't want to, we have to though. But Zach is gonna return to talk to us more about the Asbury outpouring and the next consecration that's ahead because there is another revival coming and the Lord wants you to be part of it. We'll be right back.
Jonathan Bernis: We're gonna jump back into our interview with Zach, but before we do that, I wanna say thank you. I wanna say thank you for those that support this ministry. Your partnership means the world. Not just to us at Jewish Voice, but to the Jewish people and their neighbors in remote parts of the world that you are helping, and they're hearing the gospel and they're coming to faith. They're being immersed and they're being discipled. You're making that possible. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Well Zach, you have a heart for Gen Z'ers. There are Gen Z'ers that change the world in scripture. Talk about that.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah. I've been captivated most recently around the season of king David in these hidden valleys. Like, these hidden valleys where he was just a teenager learning about God, writing songs to God, having to do the hidden work that no one was given. He couldn't have posted anything. You know, Gen Z wants to do things now that they could post and get likes. David was fighting lions and bears and no one knew about it, but he was deepening his relationship as a teenager in a hidden valley, and then would then become king. You see it throughout the story. And if we can be spiritual fathers, spiritual big brothers, spiritual mothers, big sisters to be shade to their growth, that we can create space for Gen Z to step forward in risk. And if they drop the ball, we're not insecure enough to be worried about it. We'll just pick it up and take care of it for them, and then give the ball to 'em again. And we see that throughout scripture. And if there is gonna be a generational handoff, which I believe is happening in the world right now, I believe there is fathers turning to sons, sons to their fathers and partnership, multigenerational partnership, then we'll need to reposture ourselves.
Jonathan Bernis: We sure do. I wonder if your granddaughter, if you're grandson is an Esther, Hezekiah, a Joshua.
Scott Volk: You know, you talked about stepping into a cross shaped door.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah.
Scott Volk: I think that's from Philippians 2. And I think that, where Gen Z is concerned, this is very, very relevant. Can you just talk into that for a minute, Zach?
Jonathan Bernis: Yeah, that's interesting. That's good.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah, Gen Z just thrives on authenticity. They just wanna be real, which is so funny 'cause most of what they stare at on their phone is quite manufactured, right? So then, it's like cup of cold water authenticity, and rawness, and vulnerability. And you know, in Philippians 2 we see these, Philippians 2:5-11 was a song that the early church would sing about Jesus' humility. It was called the kenotic hymn. And the kenotic, that word kenotic is this Greek word "Kenosis," empty. So, the early church would sing of Yeshua emptying himself in Jesus' incarnation, but then all the way to the cross going down the staircase, cross then exalted. He didn't do the exalting, the father did the exalting. And that is captivating to Gen Z. And for that, they're willing to walk through a cross shaped door. And the cross shaped door is just will you bury your cross? Galatians 2:20, "I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live but he lives in me". And that's a cross shaped door. And I think when we present that to Gen Z, they're like, "We're all in". But if we're offering something that's cute and fluffy, they can find that somewhere else.
Jonathan Bernis: Would you speak for a minute to our audience because they have grandchildren. There's a lot of grandparents watching this program today. What can they do to cultivate their grandchildren to become an Esther, or a Joshua, or a Hezekiah?
Zack Meerkreebs: What does intercession look like for your kids and your grandkids? Like, really praying for them, travailing in prayer for them. And then I think we so downplay the gift that encouragement is. Like, I appreciate the concern we have, and there's things we can be concerned about. But this generation is so anxious and feels so defeated. And I think that's a power and principality that sits on them that as fathers and mother, grandmothers and grandfathers, can we pierce that with biblical truth and encouragement that might give them faith that they might be able to take deep breath and step fully into their destiny? And would you create space for them to do that?
Scott Volk: It's amazing. There's a movement worldwide right now, we chatted a little bit about it last night. College campuses being invaded by God. Can we just talk about that just for a minute. What you're seeing happening in state colleges, secular state colleges around this country.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah. It's so encouraging. Like, if I could encourage you, I feel sometimes like in numbers 12 and 13, there's like 12 spies. Ten spies come back with negative report. And most of us really, kinda, hear the ten spy's report, right? But I feel like I'm one of the two spies and I have a two-spy report. I get to be Joshua and Caleb. He moved at Asbury, he's moving at the largest state schools. The number one party school, Florida state university, had a spontaneous baptism of close to 500 students. That are then getting connected to local churches.
Scott Volk: That's amazing.
Zack Meerkreebs: In February, this ministry is coming to university of Kentucky and filling up a basketball arena that, like, idolizes uk basketball. And for those hours, we'll be pointing to Jesus. God's moving all over the campus. We just heard of 3,000 young adults meeting in kraków, Poland to plead for revival all over Europe.
Scott Volk: Look, if God can move at Asbury, God can move at Florida state, he's really desiring to move around the world, and he's looking for hungry and thirsty young people, and parents and grandparents who are willing to point their kids and their grandkids in the direction of the only place where they're gonna be satisfied and filled.
Jonathan Bernis: I think we have to change our mindset. We have to change our mindset as parents, as grandparents. "Oh, the world is falling apart. This is horrible". No, Gods watching and he's committed to revival. One great evangelist, Moody said, "If you're looking for revival, look for the worst cultural setting where there's such mortal decay that there's no hope. You're so low, all you can do is look up, look for revival".
Zack Meerkreebs: I love it, I love it.
Jonathan Bernis: Finney said that as well from my area that revival comes at the worst point in history. At the worst point in time. So, look up, expect.
Scott Volk: Sometimes when we look at what's happening in the church world today, there's such an emphasis on climbing the ladder. We talk about celebrity Christianity which it's kind of an oxymoron to me. When you look at the Bible, you see something about God, and he actually calls himself humble. A humble, compassionate God. If I blew the earth into existence, I'm not sure that humility would be more foremost characteristic, yet God is humble, and you've written about this. And I'd just like for you to share a little bit about the humility of God.
Zack Meerkreebs: Yeah. It's a through line all over the scripture, right? He was totally fine in all his glory before creation. And in the humility of it for him to create. And not just create, like, some beautiful piece of art, but a place where then we could dwell with him in friendship in the garden. That's humble. And then you see him meet with humans all throughout the Old Testament in profound ways. Descending and talking to Abraham and leading them. Descending and talking to Moses, that the humility of all that, right? Even when he was rejected, often he would give another chance. That is humble. So, it's a through line. And then you see the incarnation. It's one of the most profound movements of humility that sticks, that creates a profound, captivating picture of God that contradicts any other, really, Philosophy or world religion, is a humility of God and Jesus in Christ. And then you see Jesus' humility, then you see his teaching on humility, then you see Paul's humility and his teaching on humility in Philippians 2, 1 Corinthians 1, "The foolish will shame the wise, the weak will shame the strong". I love this passage in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. I forget everything, not the purity of speech, worldly wisdom, I forget everything besides crucified, Christ crucified. So, there would be a demonstration of his power. Humility, humility, humility, all the way to heaven where it will be the most humble place and we'll be sitting around a dinner table not comparing or competing.
Jonathan Bernis: At all.
Zack Meerkreebs: Flexing. Just enjoying him.
Jonathan Bernis: That'll be nice.
Zack Meerkreebs: Beautiful.
Jonathan Bernis: You know, you look intentionally for humility scriptures beginning in Genesis, and you'll just find them constantly, constantly, constantly. Zach, how can we form humility in our lives? Certainly not by saying, "I'm humble, I'm humble, I'm humble". What. What can people do?
Zack Meerkreebs: I think a humble person is a submitted person. When I am not being in submission to God, it's usually out of pride. So, when I can submit myself to the Lord so, if I can't find my keys, he can meet me in that and reveal yucky things in me. Or if I lose a daughter like part of my story. I lost my daughter. He can confront me there. If I lose a job, if I get a job. Like, I wanna put myself before the Lord for him to confront and then conform me into his likeness. There's a book called "Invitation to a journey" written by Robert mulHolland, and he says, "The point of formation always begins at the most difficult point of confrontation in our own likeness to Jesus". So, in humility would be submit ourselves to Jesus for him to confront us. For Hanukkah, when I was a little kid, I got one of those rock tumblers that you throw, like, some you know, run of the mill rock in it, and it just is confronted for hours, days. And then it pops out smooth and beautiful like a gift shop rock. That's sometimes the picture of humility that we need to be okay with is are we willing to sit in it, be confronted rhythmically, saying yes that we might look a little bit more like Jesus? And if we look a little more Jesus, I believe it's gonna be humble.
Jonathan Bernis: That's a great image. Zach, thank you. Get that picture. You know, you're going through suffering right now maybe, let God use that in your life. Really, you have to make that decision, "God, I'm not gonna run away from you, I'm gonna run towards you and I'm gonna embrace this". Our calling at Jewish Voice is to help people to find a relationship with God, to begin this process of transformation. And we need your help to get involved. We're making a difference to the Jew first and also to the gentile, and we need you to get involved. Jewish people are searching. They're searching for the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Again, this is happening now. And they're turning to him in a time of crisis. We wanna ask you to partner with us today and we'll send you Zach's new book that will challenge you to become more like Jesus, Yeshua, in humility to share God's love. We'll be right back in a moment to pray over you for your needs, for your family's needs. So, don't go away.
Jonathan Bernis: We never forget to pray in this program, and that's what we're gonna do now. We're gonna pray for you, for your family members, for your loved ones. Lots of prayer requests come to us and we pray for every single prayer request by name in this ministry. So, I want you to know that and just trust God. We're gonna take a few moments to pray for your needs, and I know there's lots of 'em because we're seeing them. And Zach, would you do the honors of this? This is the man that God is using in such a powerful way. And if you'll agree with his prayer, just know God is listening. And not only is he listening, he will answer prayer. He will answer your prayer. So, trust him. Without faith, it's impossible to please him. Let's agree together in faith. Zach, take it away.
Zack Meerkreebs: Jesus, thank you so much. In Romans 8:14-17, it says, "Those who walk by the spirit are children of God". So, I ask that everyone who's listening or watching would be reminded of their adoption. And it says that we have not received the spirit of slavery, but that of adoption so we can cry abba father. I pray for endurance, perseverance, resilience, and every person watching, and for every need that they have to cry out abba father. And then, that the Spirit of God within them would testify of their adoption. Would you remind those who feel lonely or overseen or forgotten that they are beloved children of God? And Jesus, in you gospels it says that when we ask for bread, you don't give us a rock, when we ask for fish, you don't give us a serpent. So, we ask for bread and fish, and we ask, seek, and knock as beloved children of God. I pray a blessing over each person here. I pray that anything from Zach will it be forgotten, but anything from you, Holy Spirit, will it find fertile soil in their hearts to produce formation and advancement for the kingdom. Jesus, we love you and we can't believe we get to be a part of your mission. This is your name, amen.
Scott Volk: Amen.
Jonathan Bernis: Amen. And if you've never entered into a relationship with Jesus, with Yeshua, he's knocking at your heart. All you have to do is to ask him with sincerity, with honesty. Lord, I wanna live for you. Don't let this day pass. Today is the day of your salvation. He will answer. So, don't wait and this is your chance. If you'd like more information about our ministry, you can log on to our website. It's one word, jewishvoice.tv. You'll find many helpful resources there, you can send your prayer requests to us right on the website. I want you to know that we care about you, more importantly, God cares about you, and we will pray for your needs, as I said, by name. As we close our program, I wanna remind you to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. This is in Psalm 122:6, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper who love thee". So, if you wanna prosper, pray for Jerusalem, the Jewish people, the Arab people, Israelis and Palestinians alike. I wanna thank Scott Volk, I wanna thank Zach for joining me today, and until next time, this is Jonathan Bernis saying shalom and God bless.