FINNEY REVIVAL
BOOKS AND TOUR BY PENN CLARK
In the early 1800's the State of New York was ablaze with one of the greatest revival that ever took place American soil.
What were the villages and churches like before the revival?
What happened during the revival?
Whatever happened to those churches after the revival?
Would you like to see what those places are like today, almost 200 years later?
FRESH REVIVAL BOOKS
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT THE TOUR
I had been waiting for revival to happen to my country, my State, my village, or my church, in order for me to say that the long-awaited revival was finally come, but I wrongfully concluded that if it was not happening on a national scale that it was not happening at all. This is thinking, only acted as inhibitor to revival, not something that was in expectation of it.
The first true revival anyone ever experiences is when they become born again. That is when we who were spiritually dead are made alive. Being made alive is the most basic definition of the word revival. After this initial experience, God’s desire is for us to walk in this newness of life, experiencing personal revival again and again.
If you stop and think about it, all the big revivals we have read about in church history have all been started because someone experienced personal revival. May this be your story, and may it be your experience.
MY BIO
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand in the ways and see,
And ask for the old paths,
where the good way is,
And walk in it;
Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16)
While serving as a pastor in Lowville, New York back in the 1980's, I discovered that had been living within an hour’s radius of where some the greatest revivals ever held on American soil took place, under the ministry of Charles G. Finney. I wanted to find out what the towns, villages, and churches were like before the revival came, what they were like after it passed through. I also wanted locate as many of the buildings and landmarks as possible, for posterity.
Using Finney’s own memoirs, and some of the oldest maps available, as well as local history books, I set out to find the homes and churches mentioned in the story, searching old deeds and records to confirm their authenticity.
Beginning in the summer of 1999, I spent about three years, off and on, studying about Finney and Nash and was able to locate most of the places that pertain to their lives and ministries between where they were born to where they were buried. In the process, I also got to know both men as much as possible, and came away with a better appreciation of what in involved with real revival.
As people began to ask me to show them around the area, I began to put together tours for groups of students of church history, like myself, but my higher goal has always been to pull whatever I found together in such a way that people could explore these places on their own.
It has been about twenty-years since I first stepped out to find Finney and Nash and it has been a wonderful adventure, filled with many moments of being led by the Lord, in order to preserve the memory of the righteous future generations.