A spontaneous revival of students that started at Samford University on Feb. 15 and continued into the weekend has been subsiding this week.

On Thursday afternoon, the doors to Reid Chapel were open and the audio-visual system was turned on, with changing screens offering Bible quotations and prayer advice, but the building was empty.

“As of right now, the revival has waned, but there is a small group of students who continue to meet and pray,” said a statement released by Samford officials on Thursday, in response to questions about whether the revival had ended.

While students had been gathering during the day for prayer and worship, that began to fade this week.

Some students are continuing to gather at night for worship.

Samford President Beck Taylor and other faculty and staff had stopped in last week and were impressed with the spontaneous worship led by students.

“It’s real, genuine, vulnerable, passionate, biblical and all about Jesus,” Taylor said last week.

Larger crowds came at night, but students had been coming into the chapel and praying all day long, said Jonathan Bass, a professor of history who had been visiting and observing the revival.

“It really was spontaneous,” Bass said. “It started building. It snowballed. There were times of prayer, students would get up and read scripture or give testimony, then another group would come in.”

The Samford revival started a week after one started Feb. 8 at Asbury College in Kentucky, which that school ended on campus on Thursday. Bass said the Samford revival was not an attempt to copy the Asbury phenomenon. “What was going on at Asbury wasn’t even discussed,” he said.

The projection screen playing Thursday at Reid Chapel advised students that they could engage in prayer at Harry’s Coffee House, do a prayer walk around the campus, or do individual prayer in Reid Chapel.

Samford officials say the chapel will remain open for prayer.

Area churches have sent campus pastors, youth worship leaders and musicians to the evening services, but outside evangelists making altar calls has not necessarily been well-received by some students who felt they had a student-led, organic movement going, Bass said.

Students will be leaving campus by the weekend of March 3, since spring break is approaching, from March 6-10.

“It’s a ghost town here during spring break,” Bass said. “Who knows what they’ll do when they get back.”

The spontaneous spiritual wave has been inspiring to many, he said. “It’s touched a lot of students.”

Samford University is a Baptist-affiliated school with more than 5,000 students enrolled.

Email Greg Garrison: [email protected]