Revival has reportedly broken out at two secular college universities—Texas A&M Corpus Christi and Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.  

In a recent interview with CBN News, Tarik Whitmore, the young adult pastor at New Life Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, noted that a spiritual movement is underway among the students, with hundreds making professions of faith and getting baptized almost daily. 

The movement began in the spring of 2022, when the church started to see people preaching in their small groups, and small group members inviting their friends who don’t know the Lord to attend their meetings, Whitmore said. 

“Instead of the small group being a Bible study, they would have someone get up and preach, and every time it would happen, one or two kids would give their lives to the Lord,” he told CBN.

Whitmore added that during the entire spring semester, he would open the church late at night to baptize students.

“I didn’t do anything or minister in any way,” he said. “I’m just the guy with the keys at that point.”

Whitmore noted that the movement goes beyond conversion and baptism. 

“We are seeing these people repent from compromise and make a decision to make a public declaration of, ‘No, I want to give my whole life to Jesus starting today.’ And then we see them radically transformed before our eyes, where their lifestyle is radically different [and] [they have] boldness to preach the Gospel to their friends like never before,” he said. 

“The culture of holiness has really been remarkable among these young people. They are living in purity and righteousness even at this secular university.”

In August, New Life Church held its annual outreach. A thousand students attended, and 124 made professions of faith and were baptized.

“Literally, we preached the message, and then for the next hour and a half, we just had the worship team play because we spent the whole time baptizing people,” Whitmore said.

Students have also been going to college dorms, apartments, and homes to share the Gospel. About 400 students have attended small group meetings since Labor Day, with 21 being baptized, including five last Thursday.  

Whitmore says he’s hesitant to use the word revival, but at this point he doesn’t know what else to call it—“especially in light of what is happening around our nation at multiple other college campuses. It really does seem like a nationwide move of God is taking place, and we just get to be part of it.”

Meanwhile, CBN News  reported that 5,000 students attended a “Night of Worship” event on the campus of Auburn University on Sept. 12, and hundreds have been converted and baptized over the past week.

The “Night of Worship” event was organized by the campus ministry outreach Unite Auburn, and featured guest speakers and worship music. The event was meant to bring the school’s Christian ministries together.

Guest speaker Jennie Allen posted on Instagram the following day: “Last night I finished a message at Auburn and was off stage and a student texted the pastor beside me [that] they wanted to be baptized tonight. So I went back on stage and asked if anyone else wanted to trust Christ and be baptized.”

“Dozens raised their hands,” she added.

Since there was no tub to get baptized in, the students went to a lake at Auburn’s Red Barn.

“They circled the lake and 6-10 of us were in the water baptizing hundreds,” Allen said, adding that people surrounded the lake until almost midnight, hearing the stories of life change and shouting and cheering and praying together. 

“I’ve been a part of just planning this event and, man, the Lord just took it from there and we ended up at the Red Barn,” Jeremy Napier, the Auburn men’s basketball team chaplain, told The Gazette.

Kristen Carr, an Auburn student and journalist, told WFSA12 that she had never witnessed anything like what happened Sept. 12. 

“Never in my life,” she said. “I was even talking to adults who were there, and they said they had never witnessed anything like that.”

On X, formerly Twitter, Carr shared video footage of a large crowd standing by the lake and loud cheers erupting every time someone was baptized.

“A revival is happening tonight in Auburn,” she wrote. “People are getting baptized at Red Barn with hundreds of people cheering them on. The baptisms started following an event at Neville arena tonight called Unite.”

Unite Auburn posted photos from the event the next day, stressing that God is at work.

“We are still speechless and in awe of what God did last night. Hundreds of students were baptized at Red Barn. Thousands cheered as they were raised from death to life. God is moving on Auburn’s campus and it doesn’t stop here,” the group wrote on Facebook.

Photo: Damion Hamilton/Lightstock