Originally published in CBN
Crowds at the University of Arkansas Bud Walton Arena are usually there to cheer on Razorback basketball. However, this night was much different.
With loud voices and raised hands, nearly 10 000 college students joined together.
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Abby Matthews, a college student, shared: “When we gather altogether – just that many people on a college campus – it’s just really encouraging that our God is greater than anything we’re going to face in this world.”
As CBN News has reported, this UniteUS event was one of a series bringing the Gospel message to college campuses across the country.
Tonya Prewitt, founder of UniteUS, explained: “We started at Auburn University. We had 5 000 students show up, and over 200 got baptised. We next went to FSU – Florida State, the second biggest party school in the nation. We had 4 500 students come, and I believe about 350 students got baptised at that event.”
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The movement then swept through the universities of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina, with numbers growing along the way. Tonya calls the mission a simple one: Bring hope to a generation.
College student Haden Smith shared his experience. “Just getting to be with your neighbors and friends as they pray with you for your struggles and being open with those you normally wouldn’t be open with – it was just overall powerful,” he said.
Tonya added: “We’ve had students come in and say: ‘Hey, I came in thinking I was going to take my life. I left with the most joy I have ever had. I came in not being part of any community, and now I am serving in a local church.'”
UniteUS events operate by connecting with Christian student leaders and feature speakers, testimonies, prayer, and baptisms.
Zac White, a Christian student leader at the University of Arkansas, expressed his expectations: “We’re just expecting to see people really get lit on fire for what they’ve said they’ve believed for so long, or people that have never believed in Christ, Christianity, or the Bible and what it says their whole life – and we are going to see their whole life turn around.”
Gen Z, as they are called, make up the majority of today’s college students. Barna Research shows only 17% of that generation call themselves Christians, but more than half of all Gen Zers have a positive view of Jesus. UniteUS is designed to turn that positive view into a personal commitment.
Pastor Jonathan Pokluda, a speaker for UniteUS, highlighted the struggles students face. “They’re coming in with guilt and shame – STDs, unwanted pregnancies, abortions. They’re carrying guilt from even last night, from pornography. And they come here, and we’re showing them the one – the only one – who can really deal with their sin, who’s Jesus Christ.”
Overhead, banners representing University of Arkansas college basketball championships hang. But tonight, a higher, unseen banner rose above the crowd – and it’s changing lives.
Student Cale Matlock said: “It was awesome, just having 10 000 people that all love Jesus and worship God.”
Tonya concluded: “I believe that America is set for the greatest revival our nation has ever seen. I believe it’s starting with college students, and the hunger and fire we’re seeing among college students and college campuses is just taking off. It’s a movement.”
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