Description
This book of essays honors the remarkable career of Larry D. Smith. Known best in wider Wesleyan circles for his remarkable twenty-year career as editor of “God’s Revivalist,” Dr. Smith has always been first and foremost an educator. Beginning as a high school English and drama teacher with a freshly minted college degree from Kearney State Teachers College in Nebraska (B.A., 1963; M.A., 1965), at the age of 27, Larry became a cofounder of Fletcher Bible College, of which he was later president. After the College closed in 1979, he continued as headmaster of Fletcher Christian Academy until 1994. Dr. Smith’s classroom teaching career continued at God’s Bible School and College where in addition to editing the “Revivalist” he taught courses in the history of Christianity and Methodism from 1995 to 2015. In the classroom Dr. Smith was noted for a passion for excellence, love of his students, and deep reverence for the pioneering spirit of the saints of church history, for Methodism, and for his own roots in the Free Methodist Church on the Nebraska prairie. These essays focus primarily on the Radical Holiness Movement of which “God’s Revivalist” and God’s Bible School have been a key center for almost 125 years, and its impact on World Christianity is inestimable.
Dr. Bob Bedford –
I first met Larry Smith in 1954 when his father was the Conference Superintendent of the Free Methodist Church. Even as a pre-teen, Larry was engrossed in Methodism, and I captured some of his spirit. We have had many encounters through the years celebrating Methodism’s contribution to Christianity. One of the historical highlights that we shared (along with his parents and other leaders of the IHC) was to retrace the steps of Wesley, which culminated in our attendance at the re-opening of Wesley’s Chapel in London. The graciousness of Larry’s spirit, the hunger for holiness illustrated by early Free Methodism, his passion for God’s Word and history, and his stature as a statesman have forever challenged me to pursue the path of righteousness. I am blessed to call him my friend.
Dr. Keith Drury –
This tribute to Larry Smith is a welcomed contribution to the awakening field of research, spanning from the time of John Wesley and the Methodists to several figures in the come-out movement just fifty years ago. This festschrift is a delightful and fresh contribution to the expanding field of research!