The Billy Graham Center in Wheaton has an interesting section on certain aspects of evangelical history. One part that stood out to me when I was there was a series of pictures of a “frontier camp meeting” that took place around 1814. Most of my long-term readers will know that I am part of a reformed charismatic group called Newfrontiers. Hence it was somewhat amusing to me to see the name, and rather nice to see further evidence that raising hands in church is not a novel invention:
Since the Bible commands us to lift our hands in prayer and worship repeatedly, I suppose I should not think that charismatics somehow created the practice! God’s Word also commands us to clap, and even dance. I must say I have little understanding why those who love the Bible the most often seem to struggle with comprehending and obeying these plain commands from Scripture.
But just maybe Newfrontiers shouldn’t be called “new” after all! In fact, there is even an example here of something we perhaps see slightly less frequently in the average Newfrontiers church, at least at the moment: people “swooning” under the influence of the Holy Spirit.
I also rather liked the following picture of Billy Sunday preaching. Oh for preachers of like passion today! If only our pulpits were filled with more men like this Billy, I suspect we would see more salvation.
Speaking of Billys, there was another one, of course, Billy Graham. Here is my friend, Matt Sweatman, trying out that Billy’s pulpit:
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In