"Lower" by Zach Meerkreebs is an intriguing story of his experience with the 2023 Asbury Outpouring, a multiple days-long spontaneous revival that took place on the campus of Asbury University, as well as his personal history with humility, humiliation, insecurity, and spiritual pride.

I was immediately drawn to this book for a couple of reasons: 1) the subject matter, humility, is one that I've been studying and praying about; and 2) I'm a graduate of Asbury (30+ years ago).

I wanted to say, first of all, that this book is absolutely worth reading. Meerkreebs makes many, MANY great insights. I highlighted a lot in my copy. There is a lot of takeaway here. If you're on the fence about reading it, please, do it. It's definitely worth your time.

As a critique that I hope is viewed as constructive, I thought the book needed further editing. It was often too wordy with too much Christianese language, and lots of commas, ellipses, and run-on sentences. I know that sounds picky, and maybe it is. But flow matters, especially in a book that is so personal with a subject matter that is so touchy. That being said, I didn't put the book down much, once I got into it. The reader may need to work past some of the long, flowery sentences, but it's absolutely worth it.

Meerkreebs had a big challenge with this topic because he had his own experiences of humiliation and his own relationship with humility/pride/insecurity (which was very relatable). And then he has this really intriguing vantage point of being the speaker at that first morning's chapel that revival broke out. I think he handled the telling of his story beautifully.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

In February 2023, the author preached what he was sure was a “stinker” of a sermon at a college chapel. Little did he know, his words were about to spark the weeks-long revival known as the Asbury Outpouring. This is a book about the importance of humility, and the great amount of good that God can bring about as a result of our small acts of faith.

The author’s definition of humility aligns with C.S. Lewis’s idea that being humble is not thinking less of ourselves, but thinking of ourselves less. The “lowering” of ourselves that this book advocates isn’t self-hatred and condemnation, but rather humble service carried out from a place of quiet confidence and trust in our God.

This book combines examples from the Bible, the revival at Asbury and the author’s own life story to make its arguments. I was particularly moved by the author’s story of crying out to God in the wake of his infant daughter’s death. I also appreciated the beneficial spiritual exercises and the author’s prayers for us readers, which were interspersed throughout the book.

This book may be a comfort to some Christians and a challenge to others. It’s a call to let go of our egos and embrace a better way of life.

In this inspiring account, a pastor shares how radical humility ignited a sixteen-day revival on a small college campus—and why it is an essential tool for building a closer relationship with God. THis is about Gods incarnation and how we have the spirit of incarnate too.

Wow! Loved this book! Loved hearing more of the story behind the Asbury revival. Love his emphasis on humility and getting "lower" in terms of our relationship with God and ourselves. It would be easy to get puffed up playing the role he did in the revival but having him self-deprecate and share humiliating stories both through the revival and before really drove his point home and showed how much that period of revival was driven by the Holy Spirit. It has remained on my mind since finishing it and I will defintely be recommending it to others.

Writing a book about humility is always challenging, as the moment you begin to talk about it, there always seems to be a certain sense of pride that sneaks in. I think the biggest sense of pride that sneaks into this book is the assumption that the reader knows about what happened at Asbury. It is referred to as an event with the implication that if you picked up the book, you probably know what happened, but remember - mainstream media didn't cover this very much. There are a great many folks who are going to pick this up who are not going to know the fundamental narrative of the base experience the author is talking about. That creates a huge disconnect right from the start.

I enjoyed the read. There were many points where I saw things in a fresh new light and was provoked to continue thinking about some things in a new way. Old stories that I've heard before, but never quite in that way. Word pictures painted that formed a new scene in my own understanding of the narrative. I always love a book that can challenge me in this way and spur me toward greater growth.

Some of the chapters were extremely well done and drove home the idea of humility quite well. Other chapters seemed to focus more extensively on the author himself. In that sense, it almost felt like two books in here - the author's story and the author's sermon. Pastors are kind of notorious for this from the pulpit, but it's weird to me in book form. It's harder to follow. For what it's worth, I would have been interested in reading both - the story and the sermon - but to bounce back and forth was distracting at points.

This is a book I will recommend freely. I think it will do a lot of good in the world.

A must read, for anyone who has a heart to see revival, in this generation. A reminder of the continual call, we must decrease, and He must increase.