(Lexington, Kentucky) - Unite Us founder and visionary Tonya Prewett is continuously amazed at what God is doing on college campuses.
Rather hear what God is doing?
K-LOVE's Monika Kelly sat down with UNITE US founder and visionary Tonya Prewett for a conversation about the amazing things that God is doing on college campuses.
Monika: "Of course, Tonya, this started a little over a year ago at Auburn University when you started a Bible study. Bring us back to the beginning of this movement that God has been doing."
Tonya: "I just reflected the other day on how this all started and what all has been a result of just that beginning moment in Auburn where we gathered not knowing if any students would come and had over 5,000 students show up at Auburn's basketball arena thinking we would end the night in praise and worship and ended the night with over 200 baptisms at a local lake. And that was the beginning and it certainly has taken off since then. We've had students from universities all over the nation reaching out, just saying, you know, we're desperate. We're desperate for God to move on our campus."
Monika: "You're just coming back from Ohio State University, and of course God has already been doing a lot on that campus. But what did you see?"
Tonya: "You know, it's one of those things where you can tell where God's already moving because it's when you when you get there you know, you can feel the prayers that have gone into it. But yes, God has been moving there. I think with their athletes a lot and then also just with students.
There's a group called Run with Christ led by a student named Will Garinger. He was actually the one who contacted me in the beginning back in September, and I remember the phone call from Will saying, 'Hey, Ms. Pruitt, we are going to win the national championship in football, and after we do, we want UNITE to be the first event that takes place on our campus.'
And they won the national championship in football, and then we had UNITE, and I would say probably more than 2,000 students gave their lives to Christ at that event."
Monika: "Yeah, that was such a big deal that they won the national championship because they were against Notre Dame. Both God-fearing campuses, athletes, both put Jesus first, and it was awesome to see."
Tonya: "Yes, and a little bonus, actually the girl who initially reached out to me through Instagram and said, 'Miss Tonya, please come to Ohio State.' She's a part of the dance team at Ohio State, and they won the national championship as well. So they ended up with two national championships before UNITE came."
Monika: "Tonya, what happened at Texas A&M?"
Tonya: "The cool thing about Texas A&M is the entire day preparing for the night, I had this overwhelming feeling of, call the students to their purpose. Call the students to their purpose. And so I took out my notepad. I started writing down notes of what I felt like God was telling me to do. Get to the event and everything goes as usual and at the end it was like God was saying, 'Go call the students to their purpose.'
I kind of fought it and didn't go forward. Talked myself out of it and Jennie Allen comes running down from her seat and grabs me and she said, 'Tonya, God is saying we got to call these students to their purpose.'
I just remember in that moment, I was like, 'Jennie, this is confirmation. God's been telling me this all day.'
I showed her my notepad.
And so we just kind of grabbed hands, walked on stage, and just talked to the students about what God was showing us and a call to purpose and ended the night with so many students just lined up after the event saying, 'God's been dealing with me in some areas and calling me to something and I've been just overlooking it and just you know just not listening and so God called me tonight and I know it and it confirmed it.'
We get to Kentucky and it's like it happens again and God is saying "call these students to their purpose." And I just remember thinking I'm supposed to get up and share this story of what God has done from the very beginning? And I get up at Kentucky, I become the first speaker and I share my story of what God has done from the very beginning, take them back to my childhood up to this moment and it's just a powerful thing. We have made that part of the last two events where it's a call to purpose, also the confession moment and then also the salvation and it's just all flowed so well and the feedback we're getting from students is just insane of how it's confirming.
We've had students tell us, like, 'God has called me to start this business, and I didn't feel qualified. I didn't feel like I could do it. But after hearing the story of how God has used you in uniting the nation, I know I can do it. I'm about to step into it and take the step of faith and obedience.' And so it's so cool to see God moving through students and them answering the call that they know they've had on their life for so long, but just fear kept them from doing the thing that God was calling them to.
Monika: "You mentioned unforgiveness and how that blocked you for a while. What was that like for you? What was the turning point?"
Tonya: "I grew up with a situation where my father was not present, and how that affected me most of my life because I had a lot of bitterness towards him, a lot of unforgiveness. I let that create blockages in my heart, I would say, that probably kept me from walking fully in my purpose. And before Unite Auburn, it's like all of that came to the surface and almost like God was saying, deal with this, deal with this, because what I'm about to move you into is going to require you letting go of some things that you've held on to your whole life. And so I dealt with it and had a counselor that worked with me and helped me deal with some things that I've just kind of held on to for so long and I in that moment confessed a lot of things and there was so much freedom in it, so much freedom leading into Unite Auburn and then what's happened since then. And so I, in my message that I shared at Kentucky and Ohio State, I hit on that and forgiveness and letting go of things that, from people, you know, that you've held on to for so long because there's so much freedom in that. I've had students, moms and students call me and say how beautiful it was because their daughter had walked in unforgiveness towards her father for so many years. And after hearing the story of me forgiving my father, they made the decision to forgive theirs and how they've talked to their father every day since. And just such a story of redemption and reconciliation and beautiful.
Monika: "That's so good. I want to cry because just to think you were kind of hesitant to go up and share that these young people should find their purpose. And then God just opened up so much just from your sharing your story, your testimony.
Tonya: "And it's like I share with the students of I never felt qualified and the enemy often told me, 'you're not qualified and this assignment is too big for you, you can't do it.'
(There was recently a moment during a UNITE event when Tonya asked the 10,000 people in the arena to raise their cell phones up with the flashlight on if they ever felt anxious, depressed and alone and nearly everyone raised their light.)
And then God just reminded me that He qualifies and He goes before us and He does it, it's not even about us. I have one, one or several actually guys, young men come up to me after I shared at Kentucky and said, 'you know, I believe in God now and I never did before your story.'
And my story tells the story of Unite and how God and all of it is so miraculous that it can't be me. It has to be God. And I think these students are hearing this story and they're like, 'only God could do this. And so I have to believe he's real.'
So powerful. I had one one student after another tell me like 'I didn't even believe in God, but now I do.' What I will tell you is this I am NOT eloquent in speech I am NOT one that can sit down and put together just a beautiful message. But what I can do is share what God has done and there's no better story than God's story. You can't help but believe in God when he's done things that can't be explained except he did it."
Monika: "There are so many parts of your story and your testimony that's just that are incredible."
Tonya: "Yeah that's it's a powerful story and I it probably is the reason that I wake up just shouting 'thank you' to God every day because I'm alive and I'm getting to do this."
Monika: "You know, we obviously desperately need Jesus. It feels like more and more every single day and you are, God is making this huge impact all over the country. And I know we talked before about possibly going overseas. What is going on with that?
Tonya: "We've been contacted by several different countries. You know, I think London has, we've had people from London, we've had people from Australia, Canada, we've had people even from Pakistan reach out and ask about Unite coming there. And we've made a few connections. We haven't really moved forward with any of those yet.
We're working our way through the United States right now. And then we will see what happens after that. But yeah, we're uniting the nation and then we may move into the nations."
Monika: "Incredible, incredible. And I always want to kind of bring it back to your faithfulness as a woman of God, as a mom, as a prayer warrior, as somebody who is willing to step out in faith a year ago, a year and a half ago. What's this been like for you over the last however long it's been?
Tonya: "It's funny because I was on a call today with one of our speakers at our events and I was just telling him, I was like, you know, I'm getting home from Ohio State and I'm just reflecting back on the last two events, Kentucky and then Ohio State. And then just really overall from the beginning of September of 2023 when it all started at Auburn, there's just no way to properly thank God and, you know, adequately express just the thankfulness that I feel to be able to be a part of this. I'm reading the testimonies from students after Kentucky and then reading the testimonies after Ohio State of how students have gone most of their life with held unforgiveness towards a father. And after the event, they called their father and tell him, I forgive you and I want to have a relationship with you and then they've been on the phone with their father every day since. Special things like that students who say they've deleted apps on their phones, they've committed to let go of addictions that they've held on to for over 10 years and so it's just it's so inspiring and I tell you I just wake up everyday with just a heart of gratitude and thankfulness that I get to be part of this.
Monika: "How can we be praying for you?"
Tonya: "One of the things that we would ask prayer for is just that God would open the doors of where we're supposed to go next. We have already started lining up the fall. Our spring is completely booked out. We're week to week until May and then we'll take a summer break when colleges are off campus and then we'll come back in the fall. And I'm telling you, we're trying to decide how we can continue to keep up with the demand. And there's just so many schools that'll see this. We'll have students come from other college campuses that just get to witness it, and then they go back and they want it on their campus. And so I think just getting to all of them, managing it well, you know, praying. One of our prayers every time is our vision of salvation, freedom, and connection. And so we just want to make sure, too, that we're following up with these students.
Once they come to our events, they experience salvation and freedom, then they get connected in a local church and that's really important to us and they follow up with discipleship.
Tonya: "I think the biggest prayer is that, that these students would find the Lord."
