In this special interim episode, co-host Peterson Toscano revisits two powerful stories that explore revival and reevaluation on both personal and communal levels.

First, we hear from Karla Jay, Global Ministries Coordinator for Friends United Meeting and part of the pastoral team at Iglesia Amigos de Indianapolis. Karla shares her eyewitness account of the 2023 Asbury University revival, a spiritual awakening that drew national attention and over 50,000 visitors.

Next, we meet Hayden Hobby, a youth worker and worship leader in Richmond, Virginia. Hayden reflects on his journey out of a fear-based evangelical theology and into a more authentic, evolving faith. He reads from his essay, Surviving Religious Trauma: How I Left an Abusive God, published in the February 2023 issue of Friends Journal.

Finally, Peterson takes listeners to Millville, Pennsylvania, where Millville Friends Meeting has taken bold steps to affirm LGBTQ+ people and all spiritual seekers. Inspired by a call from Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting, the small rural meetinghouse—situated across from the local high school and next to a hilltop cemetery—crafted explicit welcome statements and is preparing to participate in PrideAPalooza 2025.

The general welcome statement reads:

Millville Friends Meeting welcomes and embraces all peace-loving spiritual seekers.

We are committed to creating a community where people of all races, ethnicities, ages, genders, gender identities and expressions, sexual, romantic, or affectional orientations, immigration or refugee statuses, marital or family structures, economic situations, educational backgrounds, and physical, mental, or neurodiverse abilities are affirmed and valued.

Each person’s spiritual journey is sacred. You are welcome here.

The welcome statement for LGBTQ+ people reads: 

At Millville Friends Meeting, we publicly recognize that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender non-conforming, intersex, asexual, and queer (LGBTQIA+) people have faced systemic exclusion, judgment, and harm, especially in religious communities.

In light of this history, we affirm LGBTQIA+ people as full and valuable members of our spiritual community. Your presence, leadership, and gifts are cherished. You are welcome here.

The Millville Meeting commissioned graphic designer, Christine Bakke, to create posters for the website, to hang inside the meetinghouse, and to post outside. 

 

Monthly Question

What’s a favorite Quaker term or phrase that’s common among Friends but might sound strange to outsiders?
Leave a voicemail or text us at +1 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377) or email [email protected]. You can also post your answer on our social media sites. We’d love to hear from you!

 

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? Episode Transcript

Title: Quakers, Revivals, and Reevaluations
 

Peterson Toscano:
Hello, I’m Peterson Toscano, co-host of the Quakers Today podcast. We’re in between seasons right now, which gives us space to bring you some special content.

In this episode, we explore revival and reevaluation—from a national spiritual awakening in Kentucky to one young man’s break from an abusive faith tradition, to the bold steps a small rural Quaker meeting is taking to welcome the wider community. It’s a journey through curiosity, courage, and renewed commitment.

Last month, my co-host Sweet Miche created an immersive audio experience about the Quaker Walk to Washington. A dedicated group of Friends and fellow travelers walked 300 miles—from Flushing, Queens to Washington, D.C. It was more than a long walk. It was a journey grounded in spiritual conviction and public witness. The episode offers inspiration for anyone looking to take meaningful action while building community. And it brought Quakers national press attention.

In fact, Quakers have been showing up in the news more and more lately. As a result, people who are seeking a new spiritual home are beginning to find us.

In the June/July issue of Friends Journal, Martin Kelley writes:

“The most effective outreach tool in the last 30 years has been the Beliefnet ‘What Religion Are You?’ quiz. It must have told tens of thousands of seekers they are compatible with Friends. It’s a random quiz made without academic rigor, just to make a few bucks on an ad platform.  We Quakers can’t match that kind of free publicity, but we can be ready when visitors seek us out.
We can have good websites and social media. We can do the work to know our faith well enough to answer questions. We can practice hospitality and build meeting cultures that bring visitors back the next week—and the week after that.”

He continues:

“Anecdotally, it seems like many new visitors have been checking out Friends in the last few years. There’s a growing curiosity about what we’ve found.
Let’s greet these seekers, share our ways, and honor their observations and journeys. Let’s revive Quakerism yet again.”

?️ Story 1: A Revival in Kentucky

In today’s episode, we remix and revisit two past stories that speak to revival and reevaluation, both on a personal and communal level.

First, you’ll hear about a spiritual revival that made national headlines. It didn’t involve Quakers directly, but one Friend was so curious, she went to see it for herself. That Friend is Karla Jay, Global Ministries Coordinator for Friends United Meeting. She also serves on the pastoral team at Iglesia Amigos de Indianapolis, where her father, Carlos Morán, is pastor.

In February 2023, after a campus chapel service at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, students spontaneously stayed to sing and pray. That worship didn’t stop for two weeks. Over 50,000 visitors joined the students. It became known as the Asbury Revival.

Karla shares what she saw and reflects on how real revival requires not just emotional fervor but also repentance and a call for justice. She noticed the crowd was mostly white and wondered who was included—and who wasn’t. But despite her skepticism, she found a powerful sense of peace and presence in the space.

“It almost felt like an unprogrammed meeting for worship—with background music.”

She reflects on how revival can’t happen without also confronting racism, misogyny, and injustice—and how it was the young people, not the leaders, who sparked this movement.

?️ Story 2: Faith and Fracture

Next, we hear from Hayden Hobby, a youth worker and worship leader in Richmond, Virginia. Hayden is also working toward a Master’s in Spiritual and Social Transformation, studying at Bethany Theological Seminary and Earlham School of Religion.

Raised in a hyper-conservative evangelical church, Hayden experienced deep emotional and psychological trauma from the theology he was taught—that he deserved hell just for existing. His faith eventually broke “like a wishbone,” but in the breaking, something new emerged.

“My whole life is going to be this process of fitting pieces together and figuring out what it means to be a spiritual person in a physical and spiritual world.”

He reads from his essay, Surviving Religious Trauma: How I Left an Abusive God, originally published in the February 2023 issue of Friends Journal.

Hayden explores how our perceptions of God shape our actions—drawing from the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. When we see God as a harsh master, we act out of fear. But when we trust in a loving and generous God, we can live courageously and invest our gifts fully.

?️ Story 3: A Welcome on the Hill

Finally, I want to tell you what’s happening at my own Quaker meeting—Millville Friends Meeting, in rural central Pennsylvania. We’re nestled in a quiet town in the Susquehanna Valley. You’ll find farm stands on the roadsides, milk in glass bottles, and horses and buggies alongside pickup trucks. Our meetinghouse sits just up the hill from a large cemetery and across from the local high school—also called the Millville Quakers.

After a call from Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting to support LGBTQ+ people, we got to work. We wrote two welcome statements—one explicitly affirming LGBTQ+, nonbinary, and intersex people, and one welcoming all spiritual seekers, especially those who may feel out of place in a conservative, evangelical region.

We’ve updated our website, put up new signs, and are sending press releases to local newspapers, TV, and radio. We’ll also have a table at PrideAPalooza 2025, the biggest Pride event our region has ever seen. We’re even planning quarterly public events at the meetinghouse.

This process has helped us rediscover who we are—and who we are called to be.

To view the welcome statements and see the posters designed by Christine Bakke, visit QuakersToday.org and look for this episode’s show notes.

And if you have outreach ideas—real or imagined—that you’d like to share from your meeting, email us at [email protected].

? Question for Listeners

What is a favorite Quaker term or phrase that’s common among Friends—but strange to outsiders?

Peterson’s favorite? “I’ll let the silence speak for me.”
Depending on tone and context, it can be deeply thoughtful—or hilariously passive-aggressive.

We want to hear yours!

? Email: [email protected]
? Call or text: 317-QUAKERS (317-782-5377)

Thank you, Friend, for listening.
May you find the courage to question, the stillness to listen, and the clarity to act.
Whether you’re on a path of revival, release, or reimagining, know you are not alone.