The room went silent except for the faint whispers of students crying out to God. The chairs creaked as students slowly bowed to their knees. The piano started to play. The guitar strummed in. Slowly, students stood to worship the Lord.
Welcome Week kicked off the 2024 school year with the theme of “Jubilee.” Vespers, Bethel University’s Sunday night worship service, is filled with students from the University of Northwestern, the University of Minnesota and Bethel. The new chapel series “Come and See” has taken off and brings in students at 10:20 a.m. every Monday and Wednesday. “Accountability groups” are meeting every Friday. So the question arises: is there a revival on campus?
“We are trying to make our campus look more like heaven so that we have life and freedom and peace and joy, and we’re able to experience the fruits of the Spirit,” campus pastor Nick Cocalis said. “And so do I think that’s happening? Absolutely.”
Revival is a Christian term referring to the reawakening of the body of Christ. During these times, believers experience spiritual highs where they desire to deepen their faith and encounter the Lord.
In February 2023, a revival swept through Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. For 16 days a continuous service brought in college students from across the nation. Students led worship, prayer and testimonies. The event spread as other universities began their own worship services. People called the phenomenon a revival.
Revival moments come every once in a while, but how can the student body have a posture of worship that lasts? Senior Bethel United Worship leader, Aaron Smallman says he’s been finding ways to worship in everything he does. He wants worship to look the same whether he’s playing bass on stage or listening to his worship playlists while driving in the car.
“Worship is more so a heart posture because you can integrate physical forms of worship, whether that’s playing an instrument on stage, off stage, serving one another, or even having conversations about Jesus, there’s some form of worship,” Smallman said.
Esther Adeniyi joined Bethel’s student-led worship team, United Worship, in the spring semester of her junior year. Before that, she had auditioned and been denied a spot both her freshman and sophomore year. Now, as a grad student in her third year as a member of United, she is taking on the role of team leader. In the past two years, Adeniyi has observed more of an intentional focus on selecting people for United whose hearts are in it – people who want to make the Lord known, rather than just perform well.
“That authenticity and that vulnerability of leading from a very real place on stage is helping people to see themselves in the worship leaders,” Adeniyi said. “I think it’s opening up the student body to want to worship in a transparent way with the Lord.”
For Adeniyi, vulnerability is a key aspect of leading well. A month before her assigned night, she plans out the theme for the set. She bases the theme on what’s going on in her life and tries to be transparent about what she’s experiencing.
“I think one of the easiest ways to connect with people is to show your own humanity and be honest about your flaws and your faults but also your joys and triumphs,” Adeniyi said.
She emphasized that United leaders – and leaders around campus – are real people. They come to the altar with struggles and flaws. Adeniyi wants to be God’s vessel and to carry out God’s work in everyday moments.
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At the beginning of the school year, Nick Cocalis began his position as the new campus pastor for Bethel. He started at Bethel in 2019 when he became the head men’s golf coach. Stepping into a ministry role was never part of his plan, but he said he’s learning that the Lord will use you anywhere. As the new campus pastor, Cocalis has two main goals for Bethel.
The first is to make campus look more like heaven and less like the world. The second goal is to empower students to lead and support their peers to make Bethel look more like heaven.
“If we woke up every morning and just said, ‘Lord, Your kingdom come, Your will be done at Bethel as it is in heaven,’ like, that’s that,” Cocalis said.
It started with the fall semester theme of “Come and See.” Chapel sermons, the freshman bible study, Shift curriculum, accountability groups and faculty meetings will all focus on this theme this semester. The entire community of Bethel is studying the Gospel of John and seeking out the same messages.
Freedom has also become a recurring theme across the campus this year. The 2024 Welcome Week theme was “Jubilee” — living in the freedom and favor of the Lord, inspired by Luke 4:16-21. On Wednesday, Sept. 25, accountability groups were announced as a new way for students to embrace community and take the first step towards living in freedom and talking about things they struggle with. The campus ministry team prays that these groups will help Bethel’s campus continue to look like heaven.
“Let’s not be afraid of chasing revival at Bethel,” Cocalis said. “There’s a movement of God here, and we are just grateful to be a part of it, come alongside it. And we’re going to try to wake up and do that every day until we can’t do it anymore.”
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Dan Magu serves as another senior team leader for United. As a leader on campus, he’s witnessed a hunger and desire for the Lord in his communities.
But Magu believes revival won’t just happen in the big moments around campus, on Sundays at 9 p.m. or Mondays and Wednesdays at 10:20 a.m in Benson Great Hall. Leaders on campus pray that those are times when students can come together in community. But their prayer is that students will chase the Lord every day, encountering Christ in their kitchens in North Village, at their table of friends in the dining center or on the soccer fields at Ona Orth.
“If we rely on the spiritual highs, like with going to different events, that’s not going to last,” Magu said. “A prayer that’s been on my heart is for moments like Vespers and chapel to be the most boring parts of the week because of how much the Lord does outside of that time.”
Magu believes that in this season, the Lord is waking up students, calling them to come and see.
