An amazing spiritual movement is taking place on the University of Pittsburgh campus known colloquially as The Pitt.
It’s being driven by a group of student-athletes including players from the uni’s Pittsburgh Panthers football team — under the banner of Pitt Purpose.
Last week, it held its first evangelistic event called Pitt for Jesus.
Nearly 600 students attended. At least 65 gave their lives to Christ and around 80 were baptised, some for a second time.
“THE PRESENCE OF GOD WAS TANGIBLE”
The organisers claimed countless more students were freed from addictions and other strongholds on their lives.
They described the event as “nothing short of revival.”
The athletes behind Pitt Purpose said the “presence of God was tangible.”
The group posted on social media: “People met God at the altar, many were set free, addictions were broken, and an entire university was touched in just one night!”
“REVIVAL IS IN THE AIR”
“We declare that this will be the generation that turns back to God!”
“Revival is in the Air”
Pitt Purpose holds weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings on campus, seeking to transform Gen Z lives.
“If God can touch a football team, then He can touch a campus,’ the group’s founder and Panthers captain Jake Overman told CBN News.
“GOD CAN TOUCH A CAMPUS, A CITY, A STATE AND A COUNTRY”
“And if He could touch a campus, we think He could touch a city.”
“If He could touch a city we believe that He could touch a state.”
“If He could touch a state, He could touch a country.”
Overman explained the movement began with a God-given vision, expanding over several months to impact hundreds.
“THE HARVEST HERE IS GOOD SOIL”
He attributes the group’s momentum to students’ openness, saying: “The harvest here is good soil.”
“I think God’s been getting all of their hearts ready for it for many seasons, many years, and I think now is the time [of harvest],” he added.
During last week’s outreach, up to 16 ministries teamed up with Pitt Purpose and its footballers and other athletes to spread the Good News of Christ beyond the campus.
Jake Overman and two others on the football team shared their testimonies.
“WE DECLARE THAT PITT ATHLETICS BELONGS TO JESUS”
“Whether it’s on the court, whether it’s in the classroom, wherever it may be Lord, I just pray for a boldness to come over these athletes, Lord,” Overman declared.
“I thank You that You have positioned them in such a time as this, that You have given each and every single one of them a platform.”
“And Lord, I just pray that it would be a platform that wouldn’t build them up, but would build You up.”
“So Lord, we just pray and we declare right now that Pitt Athletics belongs to Jesus,” he continued.
STUDENTS SURRENDER THEIR LIVES TO JESUS
That message stirred many to put their faith in Jesus Christ at the outreach event.
“Altar filled with students surrendering their lives to JESUS,” shared Life Church Pittsburgh Pastor Adam Miller.
“Now they’re SAVED, SET FREE, HEALED, SET APART, BAPTIZED, and changing their world for HIM!”
STUDENTS SEARCH FOR TRUTH AND MORE
Jake Overman believes his generation is “searching for truth and searching for something more.”
“Right now, there are so many distractions going on in the world. There is so much happening.”
“There’s politics, social media, different beliefs.”
“In the midst of all of that, we know that there is one truth, and that truth is found in Jesus,” he told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
“PEOPLE WANT THE REAL DEAL”
Pitt alumna Sarah Sharar recently graduated and shared her testimony at the Pitt for Jesus event.
She told the outlet that people are hungry for a real relationship with God.
It’s one of the reasons why she shared how God rescued her.
“People want the real deal with things. They don’t want things that are fake,” Sarah Sharar observed.
“WE’RE SEEING THE VISIBLE POWER OF GOD”
“There’s a spiritual awakening. We’re seeing the visible power of God. “
“People’s lives are being transformed, and they can’t stop talking about it.”
Pastor Adam Miller agrees.
He says college students are facing enormous pressure and looking “to find out what’s real.”
TWO-FOLD HUNGER IN GEN-Z
“The hunger we’re seeing in this next generation is two-fold.”
“Number one, that God is after this next generation.”
“He loves them so much, and He just wants them to know what’s made available through Christ,” he said.
“And then two — there’s an increased desire to know spiritual things and to realise there’s more beyond this physical world.”
“IT WAS TIME TO STEP UP”
It’s one of the reasons why Jake Overman says he obeyed the call to bring Pitt Purpose to campus.
“It was time to step up in a new way on this team and lead this team not only on the field, but off the field.”
“I’ve always seen myself as a guy who’s done the right things and led my team on the field.”
“But stepping out of my comfort zone and leading these guys towards God has been something that hasn’t always been my calling until early this year,” he told Sports Spectrum’s “What’s Up” podcast.
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