A story of revival in the city of Azusa, California, where students are starting to take notice of God’s presence. 

Some might know about the famous “Azusa Street Revival” where the city of Los Angeles came alive in the name of the Holy Spirit.

But that was the early 1900s. It’s 2023, and several things have changed since then, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic shook the whole world just two years ago.

Since 2020, the city of Azusa, and Azusa Pacific University especially, haven’t been the same. The school has seen changes in leadership, a significant drop in enrollment and some have even taken notice of the low school spirit and morale across campus.

But, despite these changes, several students at APU have hope for the future.

One of those students is senior Molly Olson who shared a little bit about her prayers and dreams for the future of APU, especially after seeing the school persevere through a pandemic and the trials it brought.

“I think like in 2019, before COVID, like the school did look pretty different in a lot of ways and it’s hard …  I miss what it used to be. There were way more people, you know, and chapel was always full,” said Olson. 

“I like to pray for specific things, so that I can, like, see God answer them … not like trying to demand things of God but like tangible things where I can see him answer them.”

One of her prayers was for the hills in Azusa to turn green again. As a track and field athlete, she shared that every day at practice she couldn’t help but notice the foothills — beautiful yet lacking color as a result of the desperate need for rain in Southern California.

But, if you didn’t know already, over the past few months, this area of Southern California has seen an historical amount of rainfall: a 150% increase to be specific. As a result, those once-dead foothills were made alive again.

To Olson, this was exactly what “revival” means. 

In defining the idea of revival as both physical and spiritual, Olson said, “I think of like ‘something to something.’ So like death to life is an obvious one, but like in the Bible it’ll say God turns mourning to dancing or like ashes to beauty. Things like that where it’s like I was one thing, and then God like revived me, brought me back to life, and now I’m something totally different and better.”

Along with the revival of the foothills, another prayer of Olson’s was for APU’s new president, Adam J. Morris, who was inaugurated this past fall.

With vulnerability, yet also courage and acknowledgment that God would hear her prayers, she wrote in her journal about that specific day in September.

“Revival has become the word Anika, Hannah Grace [Cicciari], and I all took it upon ourselves to pray revival into this place. Until we saw it happen, we prayed hard and specifically for the next president of this place, knowing that God honors our desires and wants the best for us in this place,” the journal entry reads. “I know that he’s always been listening because the hills have been really green lately. And today, September 21st, 2022, the new president was inaugurated. And in his speech he talked specifically about his desire for revival. Ugly crying is an understatement. I can’t believe how good God is and how much he sees us.”

Photo courtesy of Molly Olson

Along with many others, Olson’s biggest hope and dream is for the school to “stay true to the mission on which it was founded.”

Olson ended our interview with the prayer, “Here in Azusa as it is in Heaven,” which I think perfectly encapsulates the initial foundation upon which APU was built.

Darcy Taylor, a senior nursing major, is another student who has felt the tug of revival on her heart lately. She shares what it means to her:

“I think when people hear the word revival, they are a little intimidated by what it could look like. To me, revival means alignment of our hearts with God. At the root, it is a deep hunger and desire for God, pursued together in community. This could look like many things, from dancing and praising in chapel to repenting in prayer with one another. Most importantly, I think revival means hearts and minds are being transformed to focus on Jesus, not us.”

Taylor then added how she’s seen this idea of revival come alive on APU’s campus through the example of a group of students who meet for prayer and worship in the prayer chapel each week. 

“There is no other intention than to eagerly meet with Jesus, and you can feel it in the room,” said Taylor. “I have seen revival in the testimonies of students dedicating and rededicating their life to Jesus.” 

She adds, “Even the Kaleo theme for this semester is revival! The hills are bursting with green grass and wildflowers. Something in the air feels different, and I am just so excited to see God move in people’s hearts and lives. I simply pray for ultimate healing and freedom over every student and faculty on campus.”

Another student who has shared her profound appreciation for the foothills’ recent beauty and the sense of hope it brings is sophomore Hannah Grace Cicciari. 

She shared what revival looks like and means to her, drawing on the example of the early church in Acts. “People were meeting in homes and doing life alongside of each other. And so, I think that’s what revival is, is like actually stepping fully into community with the people around you. And then because of that like obedience to that, then the Lord shows up and, like, adds to the numbers daily … it’s meshing and joining people from so many different walks of life.”

Where Olson’s prayer for APU is tangible, Cicciari shares how she envisions the idea of revival being played out within the hearts of people across the school’s campus.

“My prayer for revival is that people actually encounter the living God that we serve … that chapel isn’t just a like requirement thing, but it’s like, oh my gosh, we freely get to worship and want to do that with everybody on campus,” said Cicciari. “What would it look like to actually walk in the freedom that Jesus has given us and, like, express that joy?”

She adds, “I think revival starts in really small things — seeing numbers grow and like seeing this campus so full that we have to open Smith Hall again. Like that would be the coolest thing in the world. I think that’s gonna take time, but like if we start praying for that now, then who knows what five, ten years is gonna look like for APU.” 

To Cicciari, not only do the foothills provide her with a sense of hope but also rainbows which remind her of God’s promise to his people.

Photo courtesy of Molly Olson

She shares that the main reason she felt called to APU was because God showed up to her in high school through a rainbow, and she’s witnessed a rainbow every single week since she has stepped foot on campus. 

Many students feel the presence of the Lord on this campus. In the worship sessions during chapel or on a Tuesday night in the prayer chapel. In the relationships and sense of community with one another. And in the revival of the foothills which surround this “weird little city of Azusa,” as Olson likes to say.

“It’s like, okay, the Lord is here, and he wants to do something,” Cicciari shared. “There’s a psalm and then like a song off of that song that’s like, if we don’t cry out then like the stones and the rocks will cry out his name. And so that’s literally what the foothills are doing is like, if we’re not gonna worship God, the foothills are just gonna get greener to worship him and show his abundance … The Lord is hearing our prayers, and he’s answering in the most tangible way. And so if we can pray for grass and trees to get greener, and they do, how much more can we be asking for?”

These are just three stories of students at APU who seek out the presence of God with the hope that a revival is drawing near in the city of Azusa. But it starts with difference makers, which is what this school was founded on back in 1899. Amidst an ever-changing world around it, that mission statement is one thing that hasn’t and won’t change.