By Selah Hurd, Staff Writer
From 9:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., students, alumni, faculty and local church members gathered in Armerding Hall for “Awake,” an overnight prayer vigil organized by the Chaplain’s Office. The event, which included hours of worship, confession and intercession, was described by Chaplain Angulus Wilson as “a sacred marker in the spiritual life of Wheaton College.”
Participants were welcome to come and go throughout the night. Sophomore English major Ava Pardue chose to stay for the full duration. Though she had planned to leave early to make pancake batter for her friends the next morning, she decided to remain after connecting and praying with another attendee.
“I came in feeling a little bit skeptical,” she said, “but I’m really grateful I stayed. It shaped how I think about prayer and community.”
Some participants in “Awake,” like Pardue, reflected on the tension surrounding Wheaton’s revival history. Senior classical languages major Sam Fleischer noted that some students felt pressure to compare present-day prayer movements to other recent revivals, such as the 2023 Asbury Revival.
Fleischer helps lead a student group called Rekindled, which organizes prayer nights each day of the week. The group emphasizes shared leadership rather than a single central figure. Rekindled’s mission statement defines revival as “an ongoing communal movement of repenting, receiving and reforming, in order to rekindle our first love.”
Fleischer pointed to Rekindled and the student-led worship nights in Smith-Traber as examples of ongoing spiritual renewal on campus. “It’s a quiet revival,” he said, “but it’s definitely happening.”
Multiple generations of student chaplains led and planned the initial all-night vigil. The seven current student chaplains led the first two hours, followed by previous chaplain teams from the past four years, each team leading two-hour segments.
J.T. Reeves, a 2023 alumnus who preached at the vigil, said before the event that the night offered “an opportunity for a generation to enter into a deeper, physically costly way of worshiping Jesus.” He added that many college students today experience “weight and weariness,” and that prayer gatherings like “Awake” can be spaces to “seek freedom from things we didn’t even know we could have freedom for.”
In addition to students and alumni, local churches, faculty and staff ambassadors joined in prayer throughout the night. They took shifts to pray with students and respond to individual needs as they arose.
Wilson said this intergenerational format was one of his favorite elements of the night, noting that “students took ownership of their walk with Christ, not only confessing but committing themselves afresh to holiness, accountability and mission.”
While Wheaton has held overnight prayer vigils in the past, the practice was paused in recent years due to COVID-19. The all-night format was inspired by the biblical example of Christ praying through the night in Luke 6:12–13.
The event took place during the same weekend that the Class of 1995 — whose senior year saw the last major campus revival at Wheaton — returned for its 30-year reunion. Their documentation of the revival has been a frequent point of reflection in campus conversations about spiritual renewal.
Reeves ‘23, who preached at “Awake,” noted on social media prior to the event, “This year marks three decades since the 1995 revival, which is the longest revival drought Wheaton has seen for a century.”
Stephen Kellough, chaplain during the 1995 revival, wrote in his 2019 book “Walking with Jesus on Campus” about the revival. He recalled that the 1995 revival began with a spiritual shift.
“What sparked the Revival of 1995 is what sparks any revival — the human desire of longing for God,” he said.
For many who participated, including Wilson, the vigil was more than a reminder of the past renewal — it was the sign of a present one. “Never before have I seen our campus so drawn to honor the Lord, honor one another and honor their calling at Wheaton College,” Wilson said. “It was a living demonstration that revival begins with repentance.”
