Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!    –Ezekiel 37:4

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Some Classic Texts on Revival Ministry

You’ll find that many of the books in the 1980s published by Banner of Truth leaned in the Calvinist-Puritan direction of revival principles, but books by Bethany House Publishers leaned towards Wesleyan-Arminian holiness theology.

1. Jonathan Edwards on Revival (Banner of Truth, 1984) – Calvinist slant; sometimes anti-Arminian watch out.

2. Charles Finney’s Lectures on Revivals of Religion – says Pelagianism is okay, watch out.

3. The Nature of Revival by John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George Whitefield. Bethany House Publishers, 1987. Might have supportive things to say about entire sanctification: watch out for that teaching.

4. Leonard Ravenhill’s Why Revival Tarries and Revival God’s Way – Has a tendency to overemphasize the role of intercessory prayer in revival (E. M. Bounds influence). They’re good! But just need to be balanced out by the soteriology and evangelistic sermon emphasis of the other preachers. Probably the best books I’ve run across (with the help of angel sparkles confirming the books as I read them,) for building evangelistic sermons, would be Steve Harper’s The Way to Heaven (has audiobook), Kenneth Collins’ Wesley on Salvation, and Martin Luther’s Commentary on Romans (esp. the Preface).

5. Wesley Duewel’s Revival Fire (has audiobook).