Jumpstarter 7 of 10

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Question 7

Leonard Bowens logged 10,200 baptisms by name and date, and Dean contrasts how Methodists celebrate circuit riders while Anabaptists forget Bowens; what might forgetting these stories reveal about what we honor, how we define “success,” and what kinds of leaders we’re tempted to platform today?

Another way to ask: If we forget leaders like Bowens but celebrate others, what does that say about what we honor and call “success”? What kinds of leaders are we most likely to promote today?

Direct Answer Dean suggests forgetting Bowens reveals a weakness in honoring our own mission-minded, evangelistic heritage, and perhaps a tendency to let other traditions define which stories count as “successful.” It may also show we platform what is visible or popular today instead of what is faithful, sacrificial, and historically grounded.

Support from Transcript:

Dean describes Leonard Bowens as “a powerful evangelist” who traveled “town to town on horseback, on carriage, by foot.”
Bowens “baptized himself over 10,200 converts” and kept “names and the dates…logged in his book.”
Dean calls this “impressive” and compares it to familiar narratives: “We read the stories about the circuit riders…We tell the stories of the early Methodists.”
He laments Anabaptist amnesia: “it’s a shame that we don’t know some of these stories…like Bowens.”
Earlier he says “no one’s telling the story” of Anabaptist revivals; evangelicals and Catholics “are not going to tell our story,” and even “amongst our own people…virtually unknown.”

Discussion Follow-ups Which leaders do we remember in our churches—those who build institutions, those who evangelize, those who entertain, or those who suffer? What would change if we intentionally recovered and told these stories?

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Jumpstarter 7 of 10