Christian History Institute

I have just finished watching C. H. Spurgeon, the People’s Preacher for the second time in less than a week. Yes, this docu-drama is that good.

To paraphrase the narrator, Spurgeon’s story is the tale of an unknown country boy who came to the big city to find fame and romance, struggled to overcome his weaknesses, and became the most famous preacher of the day. At the height of his fame, his convictions forced him to take an unpopular stand which left him isolated and ridiculed by the media.

However, the story opens with the fifteen-year-old son and grandson of preachers struggling to find salvation. Indeed the story of his discovery of Christ is one of the premier conversion stories of all time, well-told in this movie.

After his baptism, his timidity was washed away, and at sixteen, he began preaching despite shaky knees and a pounding heart, pulpit-terrors which would pursue him all his life. So great did he find the ordeal of preaching that all his life he often vomited on Sunday morning.

His influence stretches into our contemporary world although it has been over a hundred years since his death. To learn how and why this short, pudgy country boy had so much effect on his own era and our own, watch this video. C. H. Spurgeon is available from Vision Video.

—Dan Graves

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Some phrases are so packed with meaning, they stick in your mind like super velcro! You turn them over and over, regarding them from different angles with each turn. One such was William Carey’s admonition, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God.” Another was Katie Luther’s dying words, “I will stick to Christ as a burr to a coat.” These are quotations to be remembered.

Now, in a series called “In Context” Christian History Institute presents the stories behind seventy such stellar sayings. In Context spans twenty centuries, beginning with Mary’s Magnificat and ending with Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s “Bless you, prison, for having been in my life.” Every century is represented at least once.

You can read the first four stories right now at http://www.chitorch.org/index.php/in-context/ and you can receive e-mail notifications as we add others in the coming months if you sign up for email in the box at the left.

Stop by In Context today and see the complete list of coming quotes. Many “big names” of Christian history are there as well as some not-so-well-known individuals who said memorable things. Let our latest series introduce you to Christian history or extend your knowledge of this vital subject.