MEET THE TEAM

  • Jessica Avery

    DIRECTOR

  • David Thomas

    STEERING TEAM

  • Austin Wofford

    STEERING TEAM

  • Maddie Wofford

    STEERING TEAM

Awakening Project values shared leadership. The Lexington Team provides localized oversight for the ministry. However, young adults and ministry practitioners across the country speak into the direction of Awakening Project. Awakening Project is seeking connect, enourage, and strengthen kingdom workers who are sowing for an awakening in churches and on campuses.

Our Story So Far

  • In 2018, several pastors and leaders of young adults began to find one another around the Lexington, Kentucky area. They met for prayer and began to seek God about organizing for a united pursuit of awakening.

  • In the Spring of 2019, an Awakening Tour was formed in partnership with The Woodlands Methodist Church. The tour visited 5 states and 25 churches and campus ministries. The nights of worship and prayer for awakening developed a foundation for what would be come The Awakening Project.

  • The first Awakening Project Conference was help in Lexington, Kentucky in 2021. Around 60 college students and leaders gathered from around the country. The conference included visits to historic sites of awakening at Asbury University and Cane Ridge. God moved through times of healing and testimonies. In October 2021, a regional gathering of leaders was held at Riverstone Church in Kennesaw, Georgia.

  • The second Awakening Project conference was held in Lexington, Kentucky in May 2022. The conference was attended by 130 young adults and leaders from 14 states, representing 28 campuses and 11 churches.

PARTNERSHIPS

  • Arise Church

    Arise Church hosts the Awakening Project conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Arise is a network of house churches that embodies the values of Awakening Project. In many ways, Arise is a living laboratory where emerging leaders can grow in discipleship to Jesus and in leadership within the church. The decentralized leadership model of Arise gives emerging leaders the opportunity to discover and develop spiritual gifts within the context of shared leadership. Many Arise members provide host homes for young adults who attend Awakening Project.

    Arise Church

  • New Room Conference

    The New Room Conference in many ways inspired the launch of Awakening Project. More than a conference, New Room is an expanding network of people who share desperation for awakening and conviction to make room for God to move. New Room has provided many of the spiritual parents who give leadership and generational investment in emerging adults through Awakening Project.

    New Room

  • Fusion

    Fusion USA is a ministry that believes that every college student should have an opportunity to find hope in Jesus and home in the local church. This strategic partnership exposes local churches in the Awakening Project network to Fusion’s time-tested resources and coaching opportunities. Fusion USA exists to strengthen your church with the tools and confidence to love, welcome and disciple college students.

    Fusion USA

AWAKENING

Awakening Project has discerned an understanding of awakening in community through the study of scripture, Christian history, and the shared experiences of many ministry practitioners. Rooted in love, awakening comes through encounter, formation, community, and expansion.

  • In an encounter, people make contact with the triune God of love. While we can not drum up a move of God, we can position ourselves to receive an outpouring of his power and love by taking up certain postures and practices. Humble postures of desperation for God and dependance on God can open us up to receive all that longs to give. Spiritual practices such as prayer, Scripture study, fasting, and worship create spiritual rhythms that position us to regularly encounter God. Encounter enables us to receive the love of God.

  • Christian formation is the ongoing process of becoming like Jesus for the sake of the world. By nature, we are created in the image of God. Through formation, we take on the values and lifestyle of Jesus, reflecting his holiness through our words and actions. We are formed and deformed constantly by our environments and relationships. Spiritually rhythms of Scripture, prayer, fasting, solitude, and Sabbath help us to become holy and whole in our bodies, emotions, and personal identities. Formation enables us to become the love of God.

  • When living in community, we live like Jesus together. Lives join up to create a shared culture that looks like a bit of heaven expressed on earth. True Christian community is marked by vulnerability, practicing forgiveness, and unlikely friendships that exist with people who are different or difficult. Abiding in Christian community requires lifelong engagement with the local church. Through community, we are connected by the love of God.

  • In expansion, the accelerated love of Jesus goes ‘viral’, spreading and infecting hearts across a region. When ordinary people live on mission, they share the gospel and seek justice. This results in the kingdom of heaven expanding into earth, connecting and transforming cities. Expansion is possible when leaders give away authority - humbly empowering emerging leaders and resourcing new faith communities. Through expansion, we are connected by the love of God.

  • Love is the primary value of awakening. Love of God and neighbor is both the motivation toward awakening and the outcome of awakening. Love is the honest marker of awakening, and the metric by which we can judge ourselves. We can score our spiritual vitality by how we embody love toward God and neighbor. Awakening looks like the love of God filling people and flowing over, saturating relationships and creating kingdom culture.