The Long Echo

What makes a sermon powerful? Across the centuries a handful of sermons have escaped their hour: they sparked movements like the Great Awakening and the civil-rights struggle, pierced hearts until whole congregations cried aloud, made eternal doctrine unforgettable in a single sentence, and spoke into moments of crisis with words that outlived the crisis itself.

This collection gathers eleven such sermons — from Jonathan Edwards in 1741 to the arena preachers of the digital age, from London and Atlanta to the revival fields of China and Southeast Asia. Each is retold as a story: the scene, the message, the preacher’s own words, what happened that day, and the echo through history.