Well, hello and welcome back to the Speak Life Podcast. My name is Thomas Thoroughgood, media producer at Speak Life. Now, just over a year ago, we released a video called Is Revival Happening in Asbury? And it's also available via the Speak Life Podcast That Conversation, episode 448, if you want to go back and check that out. And that was in the days following, well, what began as a routine chapel service at Asbury University in Kentucky became something much more. Students were staying behind to pray and really focused on the love of Jesus, and people were coming to faith, and suddenly people were travelling from all over. And so that conversation we did, which is actually our most viewed video on our YouTube channel, that was with Robert Cunningham, director of Christ for Kentucky, and he was reflecting on his trip to Hasbury University Chapel. He was cautious about, you know, we don't want to jump on bandwagons or label things unhelpfully. But he was like, yeah, something's going on. And people were calling it all sorts of things, revival, awakening, and some people were very sceptical or critical. But it was certainly an absolutely fascinating time and clearly a time in which lots of people were met by Jesus. So it's a great pleasure to say that in this episode, Glenn is joined by Zack Meerkrebs. And you might remember that he was the guy who preached during that service right at the beginning of this event in Nasbury University. In this interview, Glenn asks Zach about his preaching stuff. He asks him about what happened, how was it managed, and what are some reflections on it a year on? So I found this to be a very heartening discussion. Hopefully, it will help you in your thinking about this as well. You might well be someone who discovered the Speak Life podcast through our coverage of what was going on in Asbury a year ago, so it's great to be able to revisit this topic. Well, that's all from me. I will hand straight over to Glenn Scrivener and Zach Meerkreebs.
SPEAKER_02Hi, I'm Glenn from Speak Life. We like to see all things through the lens of Jesus. It's my great privilege to have Zach Meerkreebs on the line from Kentucky in the US survey. Hello, Zach.
SPEAKER_00Hey, how are you, brother?
SPEAKER_02I'm doing really well. Uh how would you like to be introduced to the people? Many people might know you as uh the guy who preached at the very outset of what's been known as the Asbury Outpouring. Um, but how would you like people to understand who Zach Meer Krebes is?
SPEAKER_00That's a kind question. I would say uh I think it sounds cheesy, but these days I'm just really grateful uh to be a dad to three little girls and married to my wife, and I just get to testify about Jesus uh in unique ways over the last year. But um I've been wrestling this this concept today, even as I'm preparing for traveling and speaking of just John 15, 15, that we're no longer slaves but friends of Jesus. So without being cheesy, those are the things on my heart today that you could identify me. That's very good. I like it. But I did preach. I did preach, I did preach a sermon at Asbury. Yeah, that's true.
SPEAKER_02I like that. That that makes you a friend of a friend. Here's Zach, he's a friend of a friend.
SPEAKER_00Um you can probably start everything with that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Well, I usually introduce myself as uh I'm I'm Glenn, I'm Emma's husband, I'm Ruby and JJ's dad. And and people often afterwards sort of say, Oh yeah, neat trick to kind of do that subversive way of introducing yourself. And I'm like, no, but genuinely that's the way I think of myself. Like we we belong to one another, don't we? We belong to Jesus, we belong to our families. It's like that, yeah. Okay, take me back to the 7th of February 2023. Uh, how did you think the year 2023 was going to go for you? Take me back to what your calendar looked like, what your plans were for the year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it was really interesting. Um kind of to answer that question, I could go back to like October, November of the year before. Um and really I was like convicted more recently of just kind of being this season of careerism. I had been working in a denomination, and this like what I thought was like a dream job, which was way over my head, was kind of was presented to me, and I thought like I had made it, you know what I mean? And I felt like, man, this meant that I that I'm worth something, and and these things, and my wife has an unbelievable call in her life. Uh the state we live in, Kentucky, at the time, was the worst state in the United States when it came to child uh mistreatment, abuse, uh neglect. And my wife, uh, all of her work has been towards uh children trauma. And uh they had started this clinic, and this dream job I thought I was gonna have would require us to move and for her to walk away from her calling. And we were praying through that and just didn't feel God's peace on it. So we said no to this job, staying in Kentucky, and I was just honestly pretty angry. Not as much as that my wife is just like, well, what am I gonna do? Like, like there's nowhere I could work. There's you know what is what's gonna happen, and and I felt like God had kind of spurred me on that something was gonna happen in central Kentucky and to fight to stay here, but that even seems kind of like fluff, you know, maybe and then um was really praying for God to come through and provide a way for me to be myself and express my giftings, and in kind of this not even a side hustle, but a volunteer role uh as a soccer coach or football coach uh for the university's team kept me at Asbury. And when they had found out that I had been a pastor for 10 or so years, they had asked me to speak in chapel. And February 7th, actually, I was in a different state doing an event and thought I would be home with enough time to sermon prep for the 8th, and God really moved in a really miraculous way at this event on the 7th, which was powerful, but also made me get home at like 3 or 4 in the morning with no time to sermon prep. So um I woke up February 8th still asking the Lord, what is what are you gonna do? How are you gonna provide for myself and my calling? And um went to a local coffee shop and studied Romans 12 in preparation for chapel. I had thought about it and had some ideas down, but put it together and showed up to chapel that day. And something that's really beautiful part of the story is the choir that was singing leading worship that day had had a very supernatural experience the day before, uh through this experience called a witness in circle, which has been happening around the states, specifically around racial reconciliation between uh black and white leaders, and that had happened on campus on the seventh, and those events are when a black man would read the deeds of a slave owner out loud, and then the white leader would uh apologize, and then there would be a prayer, and then the next deed would be read. And this happened the day before on Asbury's campus, and the choir that was gonna sing in chapel on the 8th had been a part of that the day before, so they were kind of lit up, felt like the Lord was preparing a space for him to move in a unique way, and I you know had had faith in that, but kind of also was like, okay, yeah, we'll see, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then um and then chapel happens and I think so often um look like w when I'm underprepared, I I bring too much to the table, which is like for for those who don't speak very often, um it might it might seem counterintuitive, but like if I'm if I'm well prepared, I'll say less. If I'm if I'm badly prepared, yeah, um, I I will bring like like 28 slides on a on a memory stick and and I I believe that's that's what you you you brought you brought more slides than you could possibly use.
SPEAKER_00Yes, exactly. We had like 20 minutes and I did not get through my slides. And I remember clicking through my slides and saying, you know, if if you would like to stick around and talk about this, uh, you know, I have coffee in a couple hours, but I'd be willing to stay. And and it was really about experiencing God's love so that we could authentically love others. That was really what the sermon was about, was Romans 12 and 1 John 4. And God was generous in you know in those moments, but uh yeah, I definitely wasn't as prepared as I needed to be. Got in my seat after preaching and texted my wife that I had laid a stinker and that I would be home soon. And uh I did not get home soon. And uh within a couple hours I was texting her to bring the girls because God was doing something. Wow. Wow.
SPEAKER_02And uh we've we've had a look at your your sermon on the on this channel um before, and there was something beautiful about you you bring Romans 12, and like first of all, your your unprepossessing style, you you know, you you open with, you know, I'm Zach and I'm back. And uh a number of times in the sermon you say, you know, I want you to forget me, but I want you to remember the Lord. And um I I I love the there was a I there was a kind of a moment where you I I don't think you planned to pray in the middle of your sermon as as you know you're asking the Lord to apply a specific point, and and like you go to this prayer, and then like you find a screw on the on the on the stage floor, and you sort of pick it up, and then you're sort of mid-prayer and you continue the prayer. There's something very laconic, something very laid back, um something you know, it wasn't polished delivery. It wasn't um yeah, it it it wasn't that kind of professionalized deal. It was it was Zack being Zack and bringing law and gospel, I think, in this this beautiful way. You say, you know, there's 30 commands here and 13 verses, how are you feeling? We cannot love like this unless the Lord loves us. Um it seems to me that there was kind of a law and gospel thing going on. Is it are those those sorts of terms that you you think through in terms of you know the law is God's demands and then the the gospel as Christ's offer? Was that something you you were trying to do in the sermon?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's something that's especially on my heart when I'm in a context like Asbury, like a it's a small Christian school, and you know, it makes me think of a lot of times when I preach in contexts like that, whether it's a church or youth conference or a university like that, I think about Galatians and this life of the spirit, you know, under the under the cross and life by the law and the flesh. And I think a lot of people struggle with that. And I think this generation not only needs to be reminded of the goodness of the gospel, but I think some people would say I might preach that style because I'm ill-prepared and I'm not professional. I think I can be professional. I just don't want I want them to know that I'm a normal person that's just opened up scriptures like they could tomorrow morning. Yeah, it's not a performance. Yeah. No. No, not at all. And it's been hard since in the last year to to not to still guard that, you know what I mean? That I'm still just Zach and where wherever I'm speaking. You know, our friend J. John, this story, like months later I go to this place and I'm like, I want to blow their hair back, and I've uh prepared this sermon, and halfway through the sermon in the back of my head, I'm like, it, this is not working. Like, and I think there's a lot of times that people are frustrated because they've tried so hard, they've polished so much, and that's not what people are looking for. Uh they just want to experience Jesus.
SPEAKER_02So you preach the sermon, and you you make an offer, like if people want to know and experience the love of God in this way that you were speaking about, you know, hang back, and about 19 people do, is that right? Yep. Um and and things grow. So to like pick up pick up the story. How did how does it how does it snowball from from 19 people hanging back at the end of chapel?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I'll even send you some videos. Um, but those are early m early minutes or even first hour or so. There's a gentleman named George Dumain, who uh was a volunteer in the gospel choir that day, but uh continued to lead worship. Some of the students stayed back to continue to lead worship, and I would say they really did like I felt like I was able to invite, and then they were able to usher in, if that makes sense. And some of those early moments you just see George leading us in worship, or some of these students leading us in worship, and and I remember just sitting in the front row watching, and I've been at services that go long and people want to stick around. But I haven't it was something different. It was you know how I put it is like I'm I'm in rooms even since we've had chapel services that have lasted a day or two and they feel different because it feels like um it feels like the will of the people involved. Does that make sense? Like we want to continue to worship, so we're gonna stay in worship, or we see God moving, let's not shut it down. This was it didn't feel like the effort of people to stay, it just felt like God lingered in a unique way. And and students had permission to stay. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_02I I well I I want it to make more sense. I love that phrase. God God lingered. We didn't we didn't linger. God lingered.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would I would love to have it's hard to explain because I think we have to give permission, and I think what we did was gave permission for students to stay. Um with with the invit invitation. But it did not feel like 19 students gritting their teeth. Right. You know what I mean? Or a worship leader who's like, I'm gonna fight for this moment, you know what I mean? Or um it just was an encounter with God. And over the next hour or two we saw lots more students coming back. I remember just sitting in the front row and hearing people come through the back doors. Um where I was sitting, there was a entry kind of right in front of me, and I remember clear as day, there's a couple guys and on the soccer team that don't know Jesus. And uh I've been praying for and investing in, and they poked their heads in, and I got to wave them in just to sit by me and just experience it. And all three of them gave their lives to the Lord during those 16 days. And um but it kind of snowballed around four thirty that day, so about five hours after chapel was ended, around four thirty, the president came in and and some of the administrators kind of rallied and were like, something's happening. And Kevin Brown emailed the school and said, you know, classes are still on, but just to let you know something unique is happening in chapel. And right around then was the first time I got on camp uh got back on stage. And we facilitated some time of sharing testimonies, and I read Isaiah 55. It's not a whole lot of sparkles, you know. And then around seven o'clock that day, a good friend and mentor, his name's Dr. David Thomas, I had texted him that something was happening and invited him to drive down to Wilmore. He lived it was about thirty minutes away. And I remember in the basement of Hughes, the president, one of the vice two of the vice presidents, myself and David, were there. And it wasn't like some prayer meeting. Like my daughter was running around with Chick-fil-A sauce all over her. One of the vice president's daughters was playing tag with Eden, my daughter. But David, I w I'll never forget David, said, I think something is happening here. He was like the first person to narrate. Well, this is special.
SPEAKER_03Hmm.
SPEAKER_00You should think about keeping Chapel open through the night.
SPEAKER_02And what were people calling it at that at that point? Because in in one sense, people people want to pigeonhole this and they want to give it a label. Um what what were people saying about it on day one? And what would you call it looking back a year later?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's been interesting. That's been a question that lots of people have asked. Um, you know, there's stories of students that day running class to class, yelling that revival had broken out. And um lots of people would like to use that word. That word carries a lot of weight around the world, but specifically in Wilmore and Asbury, because there was a similar experience in the 70s. Actually, a similar experience in the 90s, similar experience in the 70s, and then a similar experience uh in, I think, 1905. But we really tried to just honor those moments and honor what God was doing by just saying, you know, we're not gonna name this. Um we leaned on John 9 when the blind beggar uh had been healed, and the Pharisees were trying to kind of be exacting and and uh and try to get it real focused on, okay, is he the Christ? The person who healed you, is he the Christ? They even went to talk to his parents, and ends up the blind beggar just saying, I don't know. All I know is I was blind and now I see. And that's kind of how we feel, and even a year later, I still feel the most confident and comfortable just saying, All I know is God fell in power and presence and peace, and his kindness led lots of people to salvation led lots of people to healing. Is it revival? I I I don't know. I think history will call it that point if it's supposed to. I do see God doing some really unique things in the church, and maybe Asbury gave them hope or gave them vision, you know. Um maybe we can describe what we experienced. Um and that might provoke some people to do the same.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I see a lot of I mean, it's it's whatever it is, revival awakening outpouring happening in a social media age. Um what effect do you think that had on the experience?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I think it was huge. You know, I think social media is just full of lots of temptation to compare and compete, and just as kind of an icky place. Like, I don't think there's a lot of people that are thriving because of social media in their lives, you know, and uh, you know, Asbury outpouring or Asbury revival at the time was the fastest hashtag to a billion during those 16 days. And I think that's just sees that just reveals the hunger of people have for hope and good news and uh authentic encounter with Jesus, you know. But I think that was huge. I think you know there was people all over that saw it on TikTok and drove, or saw it on Instagram and flew in, or things like that. So I know for me I had to get off social media for most of those days because it was just uh such. A temptation and in some ways toxic and for me, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I'll imagine that you like the temptation to see like what are people saying about me? Um because yeah, people aren't always the kindest, but then I mean I guess there's there's temptations both ways, aren't there? You know, some people can be very cruel, but but also large numbers can can puff us up as well. Like what what what's that like being at the at the center of that kind of trend?
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Well, to be really honest, I remember maybe the second or third night I got home at like three in the morning and I was exhausted, and I'm like trying to turn my head off to go to bed, and I get on social media, and I'm before I know it, the sun's rising, and I've just totally I've just totally drank the Kool-Aid, and that's that's when I gave my phone to my wife for the rest of the time. And uh I think it's just that we're creatures, we're humans, I want to be kind to myself and be compassionate. I've never been in this situation before, but uh it was hard, you know. We talked a lot about what was God telling us about celebrity culture, what was he telling us about nameless and faceless, just ordinary people who are encountering God. And even since carrying some of that, some of the messages around nameless and faceless and radical humility and things like that, then how do you how do you then still steward it by telling the story and be on podcasts and travel and speak, you know, and having to trust that the Lord in the Lord that that's not contradictory. Um and that's where I've had a rest. Yeah. Right. But it's hard.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. It's I mean it's it's hard at the best of times, but but when you are a trending head, I mentioned it's uh it's orders of magnitude more more difficult.
SPEAKER_01Hey folks, it's always arrogant, media producer that speak life. You might recognize my voice is the guy who does the filibusters or the poker. It's probably my job to think of how we can include you more in the work of speaker life and bring you in the scene, if you will. So we have a great life to think of speak like this cool speaker. Speak like speaking life, speak like speaking speak with creative theological discussion lots of life. So if you want to do a discussion speaker, you can slash okay to the podcast.
SPEAKER_02Some of the stories of coming out of Canterbury have have been like the area of repentance um that so many students kind of had was around social media and around their phones and and perhaps porn as well, but but kind of like handing over their phones and and that kind of thing. Can you can you talk to us about I mean, people will want to say, okay, if it's a proper outpouring, awakening, revival, whatever it is, we want to see salvations, we want to see repentance, we want to see healings, we want to see maybe like racial reconciliation or something, and and like I I I read all sorts of people saying, if this is a true move of God, we will see X, Y, and Z. Um But talk talk to us about like repentance, because I I've heard such heartening stories about how the kindness of God led people to repentance.
SPEAKER_00The reality is is you know, I I was not like a revival geek. Like I did not read books on it, I did not um but even since just hearing about other you know kind of supernatural move movements of God and seeing God manifest in different ways, maybe in other times being in in a lot of power and signs and and um these epic moments. It really was there were so many people that came into Asbury or at Hughes Auditorium and were underwhelmed with their first like first exp their first impression was underwhelmed, but they were quickly overwhelmed by the humility and kindness of Jesus, and they found themselves just desiring to give things up. So we shouldn't be surprised because scripturally we are told his kindness leads us to repentance, but I think it it it convicts us, it confronts us that we might think you know preaching leads us to repentance or uh whatever, but his kindness does, and we saw that, and it it's it was unbelievable to see the hunger of students. Uh those first days, no joke, it the carpet at the altar was saturated in tears. Like it it felt like someone had just spilled water all over the altar. But it was those tears. And we had cell phones turned in, you know, e-cigarettes turned in, par other paraphernalia turned in because his kindness, the affections were being turned because what we were seeing had captivated their hearts, and you know, even their hunger for consecration and repentance around their relationship with the stage was really beautiful. Um knowing that the platform, especially as it got bigger and bigger, could be quite a temptation. And um these guys are you know 18-year-olds, and Grammy Award-winning artists are like sitting in second row, you know. And uh have you heard about the consecration room and that experience?
SPEAKER_02I have, but tell yeah, tell tell us the story.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, so we have a green room, uh, which most chapels and churches or events have, green rooms. Um, but uh the students early on, there's it was kind of twofold. One, we were running out of worship leaders because we had been leading worship for 24-7, and we just had run out. So they knew we needed to find more worship leaders, but we didn't know them, so we couldn't we couldn't vouch for their character, you know. So then they were like, well, we need to have some kind of practice that would prepare someone's heart, whether we know if they're, you know. Company-wise, it didn't really matter at that point. That wasn't the target, it was holiness, which I think we could spend a lot of time there, you know. It was consecration instead of competency. But at the same time, there was this green room concept of like, well, we don't they started getting catering to the specific place just for the worship artists, and the students started getting upset about that because they felt convicted. And they said, Well, we don't want catering anymore, and we actually don't want a green room anymore. And they found this place to be called the consecration room, and that would be a place of confession, prophetic ministry, worship themselves, worship just with themselves, and a time of silence before the Lord, they took all the clocks off the wall, they moved the furniture, there was not catering, so that everyone on stage had to spend at least 30 minutes in the consecration room before they got on stage. And there would be times that they would be in there for two to three hours because God was just doing the work and they just weren't ready yet. And um, there would be times that artists or you know, worship leaders would come out of the consecration room, start leading worship, and a student would come up to them and say, I actually think you're supposed to go back in the consecration room. Like literally, as they're leaning, whisper in their ears, and they would get off stage to go back to the consecration room. And it was just kind of this permission because it was a priority. And uh it was the same in our preaching. We had to we had to do the same.
SPEAKER_02Sounds like there was a lot of wise leadership going on at a at a time of kind of, in one sense, great blessing, but also high stress, um, just because of the pressures that are on people, and I guess sleep deprivation and all sorts of things. But but the the wisdom in the leadership is is a theme that I hear again and again.
SPEAKER_00Quickly the leadership team expanded from like me and the president to about seven of us, and we would meet in the storage closet of Hughes Auditorium, and that did sophisticate to kind of concentric circles. But I think something that I've actually been meditating a lot on is I think a dear friend of wisdom is sobriety. I think sobriety gives us brings us to wisdom, and I think in moments like what we experience, you could be so drunk by the experience, by the opportunity ahead of you, the amount of people that are here, you could just be so disoriented and tempted to get lost, which is like getting drunk on it, right? But if we pick sobriety, that this is really what we're stewarding is really important, these are the temptations and dangers. I think it led us to a place of wisdom. I think sobriety leads us to a place of wisdom, and when you're stewarding a moment with the Lord, and you you're you're you're experiencing an encounter, it's hard not to be sober-minded. So we tried really hard to be sober-minded and make decisions that were marked by wisdom and humility and a real submission to the Lord. We met every three hours, and there was many days that we were like, I wonder if we'll meet in three hours, I wonder if it'll be done. And it w and it was but that was something we had to hold our hearts appropriately towards, you know. Um and those meetings were really holy and really, really hard.
SPEAKER_02Why were they hard?
SPEAKER_00You have seven humans that that are doing their best, you know. You have sleepy humans, you have you now, you know, pretty early on we had Asbury leadership, my leadership, and then this other organization came and joined um in partnership and brought strength called New Room. And so you have those three personalities of organizations along with seven personalities of human beings, plus we would disagree, you know, we would disagree on what's the priority, what what do we do, uh different things like that. Um, but it was hard, and I think the Holy Spirit moving is already is always gonna just create this kind of crucible moment for our flesh. You know what I mean? And that's the beauty, is in leadership it's as much about who we're becoming than what we're doing, you know.
SPEAKER_02That's fascinating to hear because I I think if I if I imagine an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, I might think it's just a warm bubble bath, right? Or it's just I I can just go on autopilot now because spirit take over. Um, but you're saying it's a crucible. That sounds very different.
SPEAKER_00You know, it really was like a warm bubble bath at times, and also spiritual warfare and the most intense game of like football, just that you had to be locked in and like focused, and yeah, it was it was it was hard, but I think it's the joy of what I said is he was not gonna have me lead at Asbury without forming me into what he wanted. Um, I think that is the the unique thing about spiritual leadership is he's as concerned about who Glenn and Zach are becoming as what we're doing for an organization or as we're preaching. Right. And actually I think that's more captivating to those who are watching and who we're leading.
SPEAKER_02Right. Right. So give us give us some some kind of highlights of what the 16 days were like, but what we really want to get to is like what do you think the Lord was up to in you? And we want to get to like, has Asbury changed? Have these other places that that that uh have had kind of outpourings of their own? Have they changed? What what has changed because of those 16 days? But just give it just give us a really brief sense of um like how many people came and what was what was the sort of the the scale of things? Because one of the criticisms that you see online is it was just a flash in the pan, and and so what? You know, some some students had a lovely fortnight. Um well that's that's nice for them, but what what what do you see as the ongoing fruit? But but first of all, just yeah, give us give us some highlights of of what was happening in in that time.
SPEAKER_00Well, I think first I love that we serve a god that would be totally okay uh with it being a lovely 16 days for 60,000 people. You know, if we we read in scripture that he would leave the 99 for the one. So if you do the math, then I think he would actually be totally delighted in that. So I'm not trying to be provocative, I like that's good. Uh I think that's actually quite a captivating thing about God that he would he would do such a thing for one person to come to Christ. Um I think when we want revival really bad, we lose sight of that. But when I want Jesus, I don't lose sight of that. So but what we did see was we had conservatively around between 50 and 60,000 people there over the 16 days. Uh that last weekend was most likely the most crowded, and I believe we had about 23,000 people on campus that day. You have to remember this campus is built for about 1,500 students. And this univer and this town had has two stoplights, a subway sandwich shop, a monpa kind of coffee deli spot, and another coffee shop. Um has a seminary on one side of the main street and a university on the other. So 60,000. At one point, the line to get inside was between eight or ten hours. We had, I believe, seven or eight different locations that were simulcasting worship because at one point we really did want to prioritize the Gen Z, Gen Z 25 and younger. So by the end of our time, their hues was prioritized for Gen Z. And um, what was really beautiful was everyone outside of that age range, we didn't really experience a whole lot of um heartbreak or frustration. Um but during those days, how it would kind of look is it was 24-7 with kind of organized programming starting in the morning, then kind of a lunch break, then afternoon, then a dinner break, and then evening, and that would include more in the morning, and afternoon would include kind of elements of scripture reading, compassion uh sorry, confession, um, testimony. In the afternoon, David Thomas would preach on revival and kind of help narrate what we're seeing and what we've seen through the through history, and and then in the evening we would usually do a a uh a talk on consecration and then an evangelistic message, which my friend Jeannie would normally do the consecration message, and I would do the evangelistic message. And then I tried to pull in some students to help me with the evangelistic messages so they were preaching alongside me. So there's multiple times a student would preach the gospel and then I would kind of catch the moment, lead prayer, and things like that. So that was really beautiful. Um over time we moved away from 24-7, uh, but we still stayed in that kind of program rhythm. And uh and then yeah, around the around as we went into that final week, it was pretty clear that something needed to change for the students, the staff, the city. City is a generous word, the town. Um, the police had asked, the government had asked, staff were amazing, but were very sober-minded of, hey, we're here and we're here to serve. This is costly. And I think Kevin Brown and his staff, the president of the university and his staff, made a really courageous decision um to kind of catalyze it. And what was unbelievable was we had already pl had an event planned two years ahead of time that I was really unaware of called the Collegiate Day of Prayer, and that was on the February 23rd. This year it's on the 29th on a different campus um in Texas. But um, and it was interesting was that event had two huge um speakers that were supposed to fly in and speak, Rick Warren and Francis Chan, and had a worship band, and and but because of the moment, they they willingly stepped out and did not speak. We had students speak, we had students lead. And what was really interesting was God had it kind of felt like God was filling this bucket with his presence, and and Hughes was the bucket, Asbury was the bucket, and then this event, because of their ability to broadcast it, it felt like that event just poured out that bucket, and we had close to five million people see that service because they had been prepared to broadcast it. So, mixed with their preparation to broadcast and the buzz around what was happening, that combined was picked up by you know stations around the world, and there's a prediction of just under five million people who saw that that event. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Amazing, amazing. And you you're an evangelist at heart, Zach. Um, so seeing people come to the Lord must have been a real thrill for you. Uh, tell us tell us about some of those stories.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the two two of my favorite stories. The first time we gave the gospel uh an opportunity to receive the gospel, um, there was a gentleman who had just got out of prison the week before and had heard about what had happened at Asbury and found his way. And it was one of those mess, it was the first time we gave a gospel presentation, it was like day two or three. And you know, you give the opportunity for people to respond, and no one responds. And then this gentleman in the back row stands up and he runs to the stage. And I had done this before, but not it it had it became kind of practice at Adsbury, but I'd done this before of just you know, talking about Luke 15 that heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents more than 99 who don't need it. So I said, okay, this guy's gonna pray, we're gonna lead this guy in prayer, and when we say amen, I want you to go nuts, like you're at a sporting event, or and we say amen, and this gentleman gives his life to Christ, and the the it exploded. It was so loud, and I have a video of it, and I can't watch the video without crying because it you just imagine that in multitudes in heaven when one person gives their life to Christ. There it is. Um it kind of grabbed everyone by the ears and said, Now this is what it's about. Like a revival is reviving the church for his mission, his purpose. You know, like it's not we're just reviving our prayer meetings. Reviving the mission of God in our churches that might require prayer meetings, it might require lingering, and it might require a new way to preach, and it might require giving Gen Z the microphone once in a while. But what the purpose of the church is his mission, and sometimes we get sleepy and dead in mission. And it was just this opportunity. Another time when I shared the gospel, it was it was unbelievable. I remember it was later in the 16 days, and you know, I did the classic repeat after me, and I remember I said Jesus, and I heard so many people say Jesus that I recorrected them and said, no, no, no, I like literally get out of the moment. I'm like, no, no, no, guys, whoever wants to give their lives to Christ are praying with me. It's okay. If you want to give your life to Christ, pray with me. I say Jesus, and it gets louder. Wow. And uh they said multiple thousands of people came to Christ that night. And in all the locations, and in the in the lawn where we had two big screens, there's just hundreds and thousands of people who gave the lives to Christ. And I could hear them from the outside yelling, Jesus, repeating after me. And I thought they got it wrong. So those are really, really powerful. And then, you know, there was the moments of a junior in college preach the gospel the last night of you know, the 23rd, which uh ultimately 4.8 million people saw a junior preach the gospel. Like, what does that mean for the next generation? Yeah, like what does that mean for Zeke Aetha, the young man who preached, or Christian Alexander who preached the message on consecration? You know, those are moments that I'll never forget. So since then, it's just been really exciting to then teach people how to lead people to Christ, like lead people to a decision, and in preaching and in relationship, and that's been exciting. I'm I'm doing that this week, going to a conference and presenting multiple times on it, and in April going to another event, and and it really is this marriage of encounter and evangelism, both at the same time. And when encounter works hand in hand with evangelism, the actual evangelism is like cutting butter, you know. It's once they see Jesus face to face, it's you don't really need apologetics. You just they're convinced, you know. No offense to apologetics, but it you don't have to be a good preacher. You just you just narrate what they're experiencing, and it was really powerful.
SPEAKER_02So that would change everything about evangelism and apologetics if we if we actually reminded ourselves it's about meeting God, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yes. And then just be really good narrators. Just be really good narrators of hey, this is what you're experiencing. That's called conviction. And you know, there's there's a there's a way to deal with that conviction that leads to life everlasting. Or just being miserable. You know, you're just narrating what's happening, you know.
SPEAKER_02Oh, Zach, I have so much to ask you, but um I want to uh respect your time. Can I can I just ask you one more question about um Gen Z, Gen Z. Um it's it's often um popular to kind of just wail on Gen Z, Gen Z. Um, and here's here's the the iPhone generation um that are self-absorbed, but but I think I think Asbury gives a kind of counter-narrative to that. Tell tell me why you're hopeful for Gen Z.
SPEAKER_00I'm hopeful because Gen Z is not gonna pretend. They're not gonna they're not gonna fake it. Um I think in later or earlier generations there it was a level of politeness to um you know, to to at least nod your head and smile. In Gen Z just is like with their attendance, with their opinions, with their posts, with their words, they've made it very clear that they're not they're not gonna fake it. And that actually is really ripe ground for a move of God. And I think if leaders like you and me are sensitive enough to meet them in that. You know, if you're a superstar, then they have to be a superstar in their heads. You know what I mean? If if the only way to be intimate with Jesus is to be sparkly, um they have to be sparkly, and they're very aware that they can't be. And we're actually very aware we can't be, but we don't like saying that, you know. But when we're just authentic and raw and not faking it, but really this beautiful picture of like follow me as I follow Christ, I think there's just a lot of hope because it just costs more to follow Jesus now, it it means more. So if they're saying it, they want it and they want they they really want it. And you know, when it comes to Gen Z and even outpouring a revival, something I've been preaching a lot about as I travel is this concept of like the ten and two spies in Numbers 13. They all saw the same thing, and it was really good. It was milk, milk and honey. They all saw the same things that were gonna be hard, fortified cities and giants, but two spies came home with hope because Jesus, because God said we were gonna get the land. Ten people came home with frustration and disappointment because it was just gonna be too hard. So I just feel kind of like one of the two spies when it comes to Gen Z, and just like, yeah, the walls are big, like what they have built around them, they have fortified themselves, but we can break down those walls through our authenticity and through our friendship and vulnerability, and yeah, there's giants, and really the giant that we're gonna have to kill is ourselves, our ego, like our expectations. That's always the hardest giant to kill, right? Is our ego. But if we tear down those fortified walls between Gen Z and us, and we kill the giant of ego, like the fertile, the ground is fertile, and the fruit is good, and it's milk and honey. Now it'll be hard and it will take new things, but it's not impossible. So that's my heart, is to be one of the two spies. Right.
SPEAKER_02Be like Caleb, give me this mountain. Yeah. Give me this generation.
SPEAKER_00Caleb and Joshua.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Love it, love it, Zach. I could talk to you all day. Um, this is rich stuff. Um for those who might want to keep up with you online, like or or have you kind of cast your your cell phone into the sea, never never to be seen again. Um there are ways that people can keep up with you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would that's one way they can pray for me, is in that. But I do now have a website, which I feel like even awkward about that, but um it's just been helpful to keep connected. So that's just zacmurecreebs.com. And uh we'll have um coming out with a book um that's ultimately about a lot of these things we're talking about. It's not just about Osbury, it's about preparing humble broken vessels to experience God. And uh we do that out of love for Jesus and out love for revival. So a book is coming out. Um, I have an ebook on evangelism coming out to help just resource the church. Um they can also follow me on Instagram, and that's just at zakmeercreebs.com or at Zach Mere Krebs, yep. And uh we just love your prayers. We love your prayers for Asgra's campus, for our travels, um, for the team who led uh Asray together. We we meet quarterly and are continually asking the Lord what might we do. We're actually all going to be together this week to lean into that. So yeah, we would love to stay connected and we just really appreciate for your your friendliness and your kindness and uh your questions about something that's so dear to me.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's it's been so refreshing for the global church to look in and and to see the ways in which you not only experienced the presence of God but but kind of stewarded that moment with humility and with wisdom. And you taught us so much. I've I've met a a couple of students from from Asbury who just they've got their heads screwed on so well, and they uh they have been so clear that what we need to seek is not revival but Jesus. Um and if lots of people seek Jesus together, you might want to label that revival, but what we're seeking is not not some kind of idol, and we can make idols of the best of things. But the the thing to seek is is Christ Himself, and and I think you guys have modeled that so well, and and what you've said here just resonates so well. Man, thank you so much. Bless you, bless you, Zach, and I'll let you get back to your daughter. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Thanks, Rob.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.