AUBURN — Auburn University's Neville Arena hosted a massive crowd across the age spectrum on Tuesday night for the "Unite Auburn" event featuring several speakers and a worship band performance.
After the event concluded, students posted videos of many people baptized in Auburn's Red Barn.
Auburn basketball head coach Bruce Pearl, football head coach Hugh Freeze and baseball head coach Butch Thompson all promoted the event in the leadup.
SEE ALSO: Auburn's Freeze, Pearl, Thompson come together to tout 'big night of worship' at Neville Arena
The music was led by Passion Music, the popular Christian band that grew from the widely attended Passion Conference in Atlanta, Ga.
The first speaker was Jonathan "JP" Pokluda, lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas.
Pokluda's message focused heavily on sexual abstinence and purity outside the confines of marriage. He also spoke at length about the dangers of sexual promiscuity and pornography use from a biblical perspective. Pokulda also remarked that he had never seen "such a clear and obvious movement of God" in his "entire life."
"I mean, the way that this was assembled. To see a university want to leverage their arena in this way. To see people, faculty, a vision, a dream, say, 'Hey. Let's watch this happen,'" Pokulda said.
He continued, "You thought you were just coming in to sing some songs and hear some worship, but a baton is going to be passed to you. That's what's going to happen in a minute. It's going to be passed to you, and you're going to have to carry it out of this place for God to do something in and through this place."
The second and last speaker was Jennie Allen, a popular author and podcaster. Allen spoke about her time at the once-viral Asbury revival in Wilmore, Ky., from which Allen derived a global spirit of revival grasping the younger generation.
"We are here to call you to take your place in the story of God in 2023 because he's doing something, and we need you," Allen said. "I don't believe that every generation has been called at such a young age to step up to the plate and to obey God in unique ways such as this, but you have."
After prayer and singing, the arena emptied, with hundreds of students attending baptisms at the Red Barn late into the evening.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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