Fire in the Soul: The Revivals That Shook Nations | The Church Through the Ages (Ep. 13)

n the 1740s, preachers stepped outside the walls of the churches and spoke in open fields, and crowds of thousands came. People wept. Hardened men fell to their knees. Lives changed by the multitude. They called it an awakening. Episode 13 tells the story of revival, the recurring fire that has renewed the church again and again. We follow the quiet New England pastor Jonathan Edwards, the thundering open-air preaching of George Whitefield, and the First Great Awakening that swept the thirteen colonies and helped forge a nation. At the heart of it stands John Wesley, whose heart was “strangely warmed” and who rode a quarter of a million miles to preach to the poor, sparking the movement that became the Methodists. Then we watch revival return in the Second Great Awakening, with its vast frontier camp meetings, and spill out into schools, charity, and the reform movements that would soon confront the great moral evil of the age. This is Episode 13 of The Church Through the Ages, an original series telling the 2,000-year story of the Christian Church with honesty and balance, drawn from the historical record. Chapters: 0:00 Revival breaks out in the open fields 0:40 What revival really is 0:50 Jonathan Edwards and the first spark 1:20 George Whitefield, the open-air preacher 1:40 The First Great Awakening unites the colonies 2:00 John Wesley’s searching heart 2:30 A heart strangely warmed 2:50 The tireless evangelist 3:10 The birth of the Methodists 3:40 The Second Great Awakening and the camp meetings 4:20 When revival spilled into reform 4:40 Next time: The Church and the Slave Watch Season 2 in order: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTLGMVP_myds Start from the beginning with Season 1: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFrstVgXTX4I Subscribe for a new episode in the series: https://www.youtube.com/@TheChurchThroughtheAges