Church history books must choose either brevity or thoroughness. A History of the Church does an excellent job combining both. Although it has been used as a college textbook, it also has been used successfully in local churches and personal study of church history as well.

Contrary to popular belief, miracles did not pass away with the twelve apostles. If anything, the Pentecostal sparks that were lit by them continued to spread throughout the known world. In this first installment, the reader will learn how Jesus and the apostles established the concept of the Holy Spirit's abiding presence in the church laying the groundwork for a Christian initiation that included salvation and Spirit baptism. The reader will see how spiritual gifts operated through the twelve apostles as they spread Christianity into the known world. How bold witnesses, supernatural signs, and practical love resulted in massive expansion of the early church despite extreme persecution. How Montanism tried to revive the church from moral decay through strict living and prophetical gifts before it was rejected. How Emperor Constantine I reunited the Roman Empire under a new Christian-friendly regime. How the new state-run churches, overrun with sin, caused many to flee to the wilderness resulting in another intense spiritual revival. How the Middle Ages featured the mass conversion of much of northern Europe through miracle-working missionary monks, followed by a period of great jubilation, mystical faith, and charismatic revivals, and ending with the incredible healing ministry of Vincent Ferrer.

The emphasis of this book is on the Holy Spirit's role in evangelism and revival. It is not on the manifestation of the Spiritual Gifts.

Jesus once spoke of a time when men would sleep and an enemy would come and sow tares among the wheat. The Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Modern Age were just such a time. In this second installment, the reader will learn how signs and wonders played roles in the foundations of nearly every new state church, Free Church, and denomination. How Catholicism countered with its own reformation that included a revival of mysticism, a new army of spiritual soldiers, and the discovery of the New World. How restorationist movements countered the intellectual revolutions of their day with revivals of faith in the supernatural. How a decade-long prayer meeting shaped the future of revivalism affecting both England's Wesleyan Revival and America's First Great Awakening. How the French Revolution replaced Christianity with liberalism as the world's dominant ideology. How many Americans countered this new revolution with a Second Great Awakening. How Phoebe Palmer began the modern Holiness movement and Jeremiah Lanphier launched a worldwide Laymen's Prayer Revival. How many Americans reunited after the Civil War with a series of Holiness Camp Meetings, followed by a similar "Higher Life" movement in Britain, and later, a new stream of American healing ministries.

Examines the history, ideology and organization of the charismatic movement.

Without knowing the Holy Spirit's work in history, we cannot possibly understand what He is doing today, much less prepare for what He will do. In this third and final installment, the reader will learn how Charles Parham founded the modern Pentecostal baptism with speaking in tongues, how Evan Roberts gained worldwide attention through the 1904-05 Welsh revival, and how William Seymour spearheaded an international Pentecostal movement from Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906. The reader will learn how Pentecostalism spawned new denominations, national and international ministries, global renewal movements, and inspired innovators to take modern revivalism to a whole new level. Then when Pentecostalism penetrated American Middle-class Protestantism, many observers began speaking of a "third force" in Christianity. Meanwhile, revolutionary changes in the Catholic Church opened the door for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. Then, just as the charismatic movement was beginning to subside in America, it went global, as charismatic mega churches, Bible schools, and television networks took the message of renewal to the world. The twenty-first century has witnessed a dramatic shift in Christianity to the Southern Hemisphere fueled, in part, by the global rise of Pentecostalism, with many new movements on the horizon.