KANSAS CITY, Mo. (MBTS) – Evangelicals from across the globe, including faculty and students from Midwestern Seminary, partnered together on May 8-9 with Spurgeon’s College in London via a digital age event called “24 Hours with Charles Spurgeon.”
During the event, participants from the U.K., the United States, New Zealand, and Australia took turns reading selections from the venerable Victorian preacher’s sermons, letters, and other works via Zoom and then provided insight into those works to benefit today’s listeners. In sum, each had 30 minutes’ time to contribute.
Spurgeon College’s Principal, Philip McCormack, shared that “While Spurgeon’s writings were the initial focus, we wanted each reader to focus upon the biblical principles that Spurgeon had been speaking on and offer a contemporary application, especially in the context of a global pandemic.”
A group of six faculty members and students from Midwestern Seminary took part in the event, reading messages from The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon series—which features 400 of Spurgeon’s earliest sermons, written from 1851-1854 during his first pastorate at Waterbeach, near Cambridge, in England.
Midwestern Seminary Provost and General Editor of the Lost Sermons Jason Duesing noted that “These sermons are more than the early ‘trial-runs’ of a young preacher. Yes, Spurgeon was 16-19 years old at the time, but even then, his God-given gifts of genius and zeal were on display.”
B&H Academic began releasing the multi-volume series in 2017 and currently has three volumes in print. Work is underway and progressing on volumes four-through-seven, with volume four due out in November.
McCormack noted that millions of Christians around the world today continue to read Spurgeon’s sermons and books and added that Spurgeon “has left the whole Christian church a rich legacy and treasure-store of material that continues to bless God’s people because the spiritual principles contained in the Bible are timeless.
“This God-gifted preacher never ceased to have his Lord, Jesus Christ, as his primary focus; Christ was the creed upon which he built his life and ministry.”
Of Midwestern Seminary’s participation in the event, Duesing—who read sermon 198, “Going Out of the Camp”—said that a day reading Spurgeon’s sermons is day well spent. “Reading Spurgeon’s sermons always turns into a doxological event for me as he, even as a young preacher, always pointed to Jesus Christ and directs one’s heart and mind upward to him. Thus, I am grateful for Spurgeon’s College, London, for their hosting this event and for our partnership with them and B&H Academic that gave us the opportunity to participate.”
Newly appointed Curator of The Spurgeon Library and volume editor of the Lost Sermons, Geoff Chang, said that it was an honor to join in the event with so many others who have contributed toward Spurgeon scholarship and to provide hope from Spurgeon’s messages in light of Covid-19.
He read from a message in Lost Sermons, vol. 6, entitled “Christ is Precious” from 1 Peter 2:7, saying, “Amidst a global pandemic, I wanted to give Spurgeon a chance to remind us of how Christ is more precious than anything else we might hold dear or any worldly treasure we might lose.”
In all, Chang said, he was thankful that the “24 Hours with Charles Spurgeon” event highlighted the solid scholarship that is taking place at Midwestern Seminary as well as the important contribution of The Spurgeon Library through The Lost Sermons.
Another participant, Ed Romine—who is a Midwestern Seminary Ph.D. student and research assistant in The Spurgeon Library and read sermon 147, “The Joy of Heaven” from The Lost Sermons Volume 3—shared his hope for the event is that it showed viewers around the world that MBTS is among the premiere institutions to study the life and legacy of C.H. Spurgeon.
Romine noted, “It gave me great joy to participate in a far-reaching event where Spurgeon’s sermons could encourage believers and evangelize the lost. Any chance I can get to preach Christ, through Spurgeon, I will take it!”
Summing up the event, McCormack shared, “I am grateful to God for his grace and mercy in turning the initial, slightly crazy idea into an amazing, global event in the space of only three weeks. This would not have been possible without the gracious and generous support of friends like Midwestern and the other Christian universities, seminaries, colleges, pastors, ministers and missionaries that were willing to support the idea of ‘24 Hours with Charles Spurgeon.’”
Those who missed “24 Hours with Charles Spurgeon,” can view the event by visiting https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqJkxquIQYErJAJwI5a6RVA
To learn more about The Lost Sermons of C.H. Spurgeon, visit https://mbts.cc/lostsermons-4, and to learn more about The Spurgeon Library, visit https://spurgeon.org.
