Mount Freedom Baptist Church members had a bird’s-eye view of the Asbury University worship services and excitement over reports of revival that received a flood of coverage in February.
The church is located in Wilmore, Kentucky, near the Asbury campus. Many of the college students in the church were part of the services from the beginning, said Mount Freedom pastor Nathan Elliott, who has served 15 years at the church.
“In terms of experiencing it personally, seeing how it was led, all of us just sensed the Lord did something here,” he said.
Elliott described it as simple but effective.
“The extraordinary thing was it wasn’t extraordinary,” he noted. “There wasn’t any dimming of the lights, no smoke on the screen. It was all very simple. The level of engagement was incredible. Everybody was very much awake and leaning in and just alert. Where else do you have people there for like eight hours and be that engaged?”
Mount Freedom seizing the moment
Word that something special was happening at Asbury began to spread on Feb. 8. On the following Sunday morning, Elliott texted Mark Troyer, the vice president of Asbury, to tell him the church was praying for them.
“I also told them our people and our facility are available as you need us and I passed that on to Sarah Baldwin, the dean of students,” Elliott said. “I contacted Sarah again and she said that coming weekend they were expecting a lot of people and asked if we could simulcast.”
Elliott committed the church from 5 p.m. to midnight for the following Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The pastor sent out a text to members and quickly rounded up 15 volunteers for each of the three nights.
“We were packed. Every single seat was filled, and people were in the aisles and sitting on the stage,” he said. “I was there with 15 volunteers from church each night. We had badges on and prayed with people. It was really neat. People were pulling me aside to pray with them.”
Desperate for prayer
A couple from northern Indiana attended the Saturday service and came in looking “defeated,” Elliott recalled. “The husband had this addiction to heroin and could not break it. He had walked away from recovery programs. They wanted prayer.”
Elliott gathered some others, took the couple to another room in the church and laid hands and prayed for them.
“It was earnest prayer,” he said. “They talked to me and said, ‘We don’t want to go back home. We even have heroin in the car.’”
A couple in the church who were former missionaries, Maria and Mark Walker, had already invited them to spend the night at their home. “I said, ‘Let’s pray again’ and we prayed for God to show us what to do and then we talked a little more,” the pastor said.
Elliott had made a recent visit to Isaiah House, an addiction treatment center in Harrodsburg, where he met a man named Troy, one of the representatives. It was 10 at night but the pastor texted Troy and he immediately texted back. Elliott asked if the couple could call and Troy agreed.
“I put him on speaker (phone) and he explained it to them and they said, ‘We don’t have the money for this.’ Troy said, ‘Don’t worry about that, we will find the financing.’ They came back to church the next morning and said they were ready to go (to Isaiah House).”
The man completed the four-week program and came back to Mount Freedom. Elliott said he and his wife were “beaming from ear-to-ear. They’re going through the eight-week program together in the fall. That’s just one of the stories from the simulcast.”
“They formed a good relationship with [the Walkers], the retired missionary couple who gave them a place to stay on the Saturday night, and are keeping contact with them.”
Ready to do their part
February was an incredible month for Mount Freedom, the pastor said. A 10-person group from the church returned from a mission trip to Colombia where they met with International Mission Board missionaries with church ties. The church baptized six people on Feb. 5, and the Asbury revival began on Feb. 8.
The pastor said the church was “ready for the moment, to step in place and do their part.”
It was no surprise to the pastor that they responded so quickly when asked about serving during the Asbury revival.
“The Lord has been good to us,” he said. “I can’t say enough in praise of my people. They love the Lord and are eager to serve him and are such a peaceful and devoted church.”
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was edited for brevity and length and written by Mark Maynard. It was originally published by Kentucky Today.
