What Happened at Auburn

If you don’t know, not long ago I was speaking with my friend Jonathan Pokluda at an event in Auburn, and there were spontaneous baptisms. We were baptizing people for two and a half hours in the water. It was absolutely a movement of God. It has spread and it has been a powerful story, and it is encouraging to people - that this generation wants God, because they do.

I have been watching Gen Z do wild things since 2018; since they were on the scene at college. It was the first time that I ever spoke to them (in Texas A&M) and for an hour after an event they were confessing sin publicly. The same thing happened at Baylor, except even more amazing things were happening. Students were declaring over the microphone that suicidal thoughts were no longer going to have power over Baylor's campus. They lined up and they were all speaking that over themselves and over Baylor's campus. It has been amazing to watch them step into the part of the story that they're playing right now. 

They are zealous, and they're hungry for God. Yes, it is dark. Yes, they have been raised on technology. Yes, many of them have struggled with addiction and currently do- to pornography, to vaping, to drugs. Yes, all of that is true. 

Those stats aren't made up. It's the darkest generation, but I believe it is also so full of hope.

There is so much happening with them. They want God. I think they've tasted the hopelessness of what the world and the devil have to offer them and they're sick of it and they want out; and I keep seeing it. Auburn is not actually that special. I mean, yes, it was probably one of my favorite nights ever just because of the symbol of baptism and watching that many people go into the water and come back up and the joy on their face. 

And I'll tell you the whole story, but I just want to start by saying:

God is moving.

This is happening, and it's happening everywhere. It's happening through many ministries. As I have been sharing about this, other people have been sending me stories of spontaneous baptisms on their college campus and the things that God is doing on their college campuses; so something is happening with Gen Z right now. It’s so exciting. I believe it. It is real.

What happened at Auburn that night? 

We were asked to do this event by a dear friend of mine, Tonya Prewett, and it was her vision. She invited the entire campus along with all the coaches. She's married to an assistant coach there for the basketball team. It was a dream of hers to bring people together to unite Auburn's campus, and so that was what it was called - Unite Auburn. They'd never done this event before, and the coaches got behind it and helped, but they still had no idea it was a free event and they had no idea how many people would come. It's only a campus of about 25,000 students, and that night they say (I don't know because I didn't count the numbers) there were 6,000 people in the arena an hour before the event started. There was a line around the arena.

By the time they came in (almost an hour before) half of the stadium was full, and we can't explain that. I mean, that felt like a miracle already. 

They had no idea how many students to expect, and that blew us away because it was a free event and they just walked in. I think we all began to think, "Okay, this might be a really special night." Passion Worship was there, and they just bring in and usher in the Holy Spirit. I have been with them on occasion when they've led, and it was no accident that they were leading. It was so powerful; worship was amazing. JP took the stage, and he talked about pornography. I've been excited to tell this part of the story because I can't always tell it on media, but it was a bold sermon.

I mean, there wasn't a lot of laughter. The room was really quiet and still. It was a hard sermon, very hard and uncomfortable; but I think it was part of what happened that night because there was conviction, and everyone was feeling the gravity of their sin.  There was a story about a girl, Emma, who was at Passion when I spoke there. The story was about how she confessed her sin that night and was set free; and how her life has changed since that year. I got on stage after that, and I talked about the spiritual authority over darkness that we have and the spiritual authority we have to do good in the world.

I talked about what I see happening in their generation and I talked about God and how He's moving on earth, and how it is not an issue of you making that happen or you holding that back. It's happening, and it's a choice of whether you are going to be a part of it or not and whether you want in. 

We talked about the darkness and how much authority God has given us over the darkness - that we are not victims to our sin, we are not victims to our circumstances, and we are not victims to our emotions and our feelings and thoughts.

That’s what I preached on.  I talked about Matthew 28, and I said, “With the authority that Jesus was given from his father, he said, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples to the ends of the earth, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit.’” That's how I ended.

It was a call to what God has called us to, which is to love people and to make disciples. That is what it means to take a part in the story of God.

They confessed with each other. There were groups, pods of three or four people (the same gender), and they each shared what their struggle was; what their sin was. I shared Jesus, and I gave people a chance to respond to that; and someone wanted to be baptized. I walked off-stage thinking the night was over, and the pastor beside showed me a text from a girl that said, "I want to be baptized tonight."

Well, first I looked at Patrick and said, "Is this possible? Could we baptize them somewhere?" And I think he said, "We could do it at a pool. One of our friends has a pool." And I said, "I think we need to think bigger." So, he said, "Okay, we could do it down the street. It's pretty far. It's a lake." I said, "Do you think they would walk?" He said, "I don't know. We can see. I think so." I got back up on stage and said: "Would anyone else want to trust Christ tonight and be baptized? This girl wants to be baptized tonight." And dozens of people raise their hands across the stadium. I said, "Okay guys, do not miss this. We're going down to the lake." And poor Passion Band, I mean, they were supposed to lead probably three more songs, and they were so supportive and wonderful and celebrated with us; but we all just literally walked out of the arena.

I got into a car and, when we got to the lake, it was a dark lake. There were no lights, and it was dirty. I was thinking, "What have I just done? Are they even going to come? It's so far." We drove, it felt like 3, 4, 5 minutes. It felt like a mile away, and nobody was there. We were the first ones there because we had a car, so I texted everybody to tell them to turn their headlights on the lake. That sweet pastor was organizing. He said: "We're going to have lines and we want to get people's information. We want to follow up with them,".

I’m so grateful for the local church’s presence. Without them, it wouldn't have happened. I don't think I would've had the confidence to do that without all the pastors that were there helping.

We had 5 to 10 people in the water baptizing for a solid two-plus hours. It was just unlike anything I've seen.

We got to share with each person, hear their story, and learn where they were in their faith. We took that seriously. We didn't just dunk a bunch of people. We really had a conversation with them about where they were in their faith and asked them questions about their relationship with God and why they were making this decision. I got to hear a lot of stories, and the stories were so sincere.

I heard statements like, "I want to be clean. I want to dedicate and give my life to Jesus. I started following him a few weeks ago and I want all of the student body to know I follow Jesus."

They were doing this in front of their peers. They were doing this in front of their friends. JP was baptizing next to me, and he said he had a group of five fraternity brothers that were all baptized together. It was so moving. There's a video of it out there somewhere. I think it's on his Instagram, and it's so precious. He said, "Now, look at all these guys, everybody." Again, there's thousands of people surrounding the lake. I would turn around and there were lights and people on all the sides. There were people watching from all over the lake. It was so powerful at times during the night. He said, "Now these guys, if you see them partying, you remind them they're following Jesus now." There was accountability because they were baptized in front of their peers, and there were so many of them. I've heard stories since of life change, of how real this was for them, that they truly are making hard decisions with their lives; and it was special.

Everybody asks, "How does this happen? And can this keep happening?" I think it will. It’s happening at other campuses. God is already moving in Gen Z. It is already happening.

I know all of us are saying, "We want it too," and I believe it's in conjunction with us. I think that’s how God moves. I told them that night:

"God moves when we want him to move. When we ask him to move, he waits for us. He's searching the earth for hearts that are fully his. He wants to go crazy through people that want God. So we don't need to crave a movement of God as much as we crave God,”

and they were craving God that night. They couldn't have imagined what was about to happen, but they were willing to name their sin and they were willing to step forward and say, "I want to follow Jesus."

There's a desire for this and we're watching that desire grow in all of us. I want a hundred nights like that night. I want a thousand nights like that night in my own life; but that is unique (when God moves that way). I don't think it is extra, extra special. I think there have been stories throughout history of mass baptisms and revival and people coming to Jesus and to faith. So, I believe it can happen anytime, anywhere. I think we all are craving it. 

But what predicated that movement specifically were two things:

It was local churches surrounding that event and praying in advance of it, and it was individuals who were praying by the lake on Fridays before. They didn't know we would end up at the lake; they were just praying for their campus, praying for themselves, and worshiping God together.

But they were there asking God to move; and I saw a video of that little gathering. I saw the video of what it was, and it was so simple. There were about 10 of them, and I imagine whoever led that was maybe disappointed at how many people came that night; and yet they knew, when this happened, that it was no mistake that they had been on THAT ground praying for THAT to happen. So, we've got to pray. We have to pray. 

If you want to see God move, ask him to move, because he wants to move; he does. He's not unable. He can do it tomorrow in your church, in your life, in your small group. He can do it; but I think we've got to open our hands to what it might look like.

The event leaders of that conference had to say, "You know what? It's not going to close how we thought. We're not going to get to make our announcements. It's not going to go how we thought." They were on the sidelines beside me making these decisions with me and saying:

"Yes, let's do it."

So, there's a Spirit-filled prayer of asking, "God, what do you want?" And then there's the obedience of just going for it. Y’all, candidly, I announced that, and I thought, "Are 10 people going to come? Is anyone going to come?" I didn't know! But it was a risk worth taking; and I think we've got to not be afraid to just say, "Let's risk this and see what happens.”