Thundering the Word: The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield (Kurt M. Smith)

Thundering the Word

The Awakening Ministry of George Whitefield 

In Thundering the Word, Kurt Smith labors to unpack a fresh biography of Whitefield.  Smith focuses on on the years 1736–1742, which S. M. Houghton described as “the most dramatic and remarkable period of Whitefield’s life.”

Here we see Whitefield as the preaching of gospel awakening par excellence, preaching Christ at the center of revivals on both sides of the Atlantic, while defending gospel truth in the face of error propagated by his closest friends. Assessing this season of Whitefield’s life in honest, pastoral candor, Smith helps us appreciate who George Whitefield was and why his faith should matter as worthy of imitation but only to that degree where it points us to Christ.

Endorsements

“In this, the 250th anniversary year of Whitefield’s death, Kurt Smith has produced a challenging, devotional, and balanced look at a man and preacher used mightily by God to call sinners to repentance.”   — Sam Waldron, Pastor, Heritage Reformed Baptist Church, Owensboro, Kentucky and author of A Modern Exposition of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith 

“The life of George Whitefield is a life worth celebrating. It is a life worth reading and knowing about. It is a life that was lived for the glory of God and accompanied by the power and authority of heaven. The clarity in which Kurt Smith speaks of the divine power behind the passionate and effectual preaching of this great evangelist is simply captivating.”  —  Jeffrey D. Johnson, Pastor, Grace Bible Church, Conway, Arkansas and author of The Absurdity of Unbelief and The Fatal Flaw

Contents

1. He Must Increase
2. Sleeping in Darkness
3. You Must be Born Again
4. Setting the Foundation
5. The Calvinistic Evangelist
6. The Great Awakening and the Grand Itinerant
7. When Doctrine Divides: Catholicity, Controversy, and Calvinism
8. Less Than the Least
9. Preach the Gospel!
10. The Already and the Not Yet

Appendices:

• George Whitefield Comes to Middleton
• Gospelling the Native American Indians
• Charging Satan’s Citadel
• Pursuing Peace
• Learning to Cease from Man
• John Wesley’s Sermon: “Free Grace”, Preached at Bristol in the Year 1740
• A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley in Answer to His Sermon Entitled “Free Grace”