A personal note on the planned Spurgeon Documentary

I wanted to share a bit more about the Spurgeon documentary we are currently seeking crowd-sourced funding for. Our goal is simple: we want to introduce Spurgeon to a new generation and encourage people to find out more about him. If we cover our costs, then the documentary will be made, and will at some stage be made available to stream free online.  Making it will involve a group of us taking annual leave and filming at some of the key sites in Spurgeon’s life what we hope will be a stimulating discussion of what we can learn from him. The budget is a lot smaller than many similar projects. You can watch a trailer about the documentary at the bottom of this post.

We predict that if this documentary is released online it will get significant viewership. There is a complementary Spurgeon documentary already available which has had 223,000 views.  Ours would differ from this by not using dramaticisation, and so we would more time to discuss Spurgeon’s impact and the lessons we can learn from his life.

This could be a useful project for a Christian organization to sponsor, or perhaps someone might want to make a donation in memory of a family member who loved Spurgeon.  The way that crowd-sourced funding works is that you can make your contribution safe in the knowledge that if our goal is not reached, you will be fully and automatically refunded.

As I write this, we have less than three weeks to go, and the funding is not even close to having been reached. But I am not alarmed. I learnt a long time ago that God’s work never lacks his supply. I remember running a mission week at my school when I was a pupil there. We raised finances by a simple request letter, and exactly how much we needed came in.  As it happens, I do know that several are currently considering making substantial donations. If God has indeed led this group of us to make this documentary, I am convinced he will provide the resources we need.

All I ask is that you pray for us, and consider whether God may lead you to support financially what could potentially be a legacy for years to come.  If we have all been mistaken to attempt this project, I would still rather have tried this and failed than never tried at all. In fact, preparing for this has driven me personally back to reading more about and by Spurgeon, so it has had a good affect on me at least!

Some of the issues we would aim to cover include:

1. The strange prophecy by a visiting preacher about the young Spurgeon.
2.  Spurgeon’s conversion emphasizing the faithfulless of an unknown preacher and the increased boldness he felt at his baptism.
3. His Sunday school preaching More on the “trick” that got him his first preaching engagement
4. The bizarre way he didn’t meet the bible college guy, and then felt God spoke to him from “seek not great things” and his conclusion that he should just serve where was.
5. How despite that conviction in 4. He felt able to take on the church in London
6. The leaflets and other means that we’re used to promote the crowds. I.e. how it wasn’t simply a spontaneous movement.
7. His bouts of depression, and physical illness
8. His wife’s sickness
9. How he handled the money and fame.
10. The team of people around him. He may be the figure head but 60 organizations required a strong team.
11. The impact he had.
12. His approach to theology esp this notion of stressing BOTH human responsibility and divine sovereignty.
13. His remarkable experiences of impressions while preaching in the pulpit eg the gloves.
14. His stress on the power of the Spirit and yet to he fair and honest we will stress that like pretty much everyone of his day he was theologically cessationist. The notion that perusing God is something all can and should do.
15. His unique approach to training students.
16. His humor eg should you smoke a cigar on sabbath
17. His expectation of salvation and how he challenged a student about that
18. His charity work.
19. His leadership wisdom.
20.  The downgrade controversy.
21. His love of books and the fact that as a result reading him is reading puritans condensed.
22. His books and which ones to start reading.
23. His family.
24. The way so many greats of his time and since see him.
25. What we can learn from him eg that God alots each of us a task and that by giving ourselves to a team we can all achieve much more today
26. An explanation of how God works time and time again. That when he wants to bless a nation (or in this case the entire Christian world) he often goes to an unexpected place gets ahold of a single individual and uses them to bless multitudes. Like Abraham.
27. A sense of being caught up on God’s purpose for your life. Let him determine the boundaries of your sphere of influence but work within it for his glory with all your heart
28. How he prepared his sermons
29. His prayer life
30. His “secret” what is it about him that made him special and can it be replicated.
31. His leadership style and how he informally lead to 200 churches being planted.

You can read more about the documentary here, or you can make a contribution towards the cost here.