Preachers, Patriots, & Providence is a journey—a journey of America’s identity, a journey of discovery, and a journey of truth.

While this is not a comprehensive history encompassing the entirety of Christianity’s influence in America, it is a factual series of events emphasizing Christianity’s role in the founding of this great country.

Many would have you believe that this country was founded on a wing and a prayer by nothing more than a fumbling group of deists with no more faith than a bale of hay. But, in Preachers, Patriots, & Providence, we aim to challenge all of that.

How did the United States of America really come to be? How much of a role did God play in its founding? Who really were the Founding Fathers? Is America a Christian nation?

Men and women from all walks of life dreamed of establishing a nation—a free nation, a nation solely guided by God’s will, and a nation ever standing under His protection.

Most of these men and women never even understood what they were about to accomplish or the legacy they would leave behind.

For them, there was no certainty in what they were aiming to achieve; it wasn’t a story unfolding before them from the pages of a history book.

For them, it was a calling; it was an unfinished symphony; it was the planting of seeds in a garden that they never got to see grow.

And now, we get to tell their story.

But, as important as understanding the men and women who embarked on this great American experiment, they were nothing without the providence of God and the power unleashed by the Word of God.

Preachers, Patriots, & Providence will prove, once and for all, that the United States of America was founded on biblical principles, and that the United States was not so much a grand experiment, but the ultimate testament to a nation founded on the Word of God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

SEASON ONE OVERVIEW

In order to adequately tell the story of how Christianity came to be as we know it in Western culture, you have to trace its roots all the way back to 16th century Europe, at the dawning of a new era in Christendom—the Protestant Reformation. The development of a new Christian discourse of faith would produce a new religious theology and philosophy within Christianity and open an expanding discussion concerning spiritual understanding and authority, forever changing the course of history.

From the Reformation, we will be introduced to the Pilgrims and the Puritans. These men and women came to America to plant the banner of freedom in the name of Jesus Christ. God prepared those of humble beginnings to be a light of liberty to the world—torchbearers on the edge of a vast continent. Through their sacrifices, God had planted the seeds of a nation that would become the new Promised Land.

The spiritual light of the Pilgrims and Puritans would begin to fade over the course of the 17th century. Many call this period of time, “America’s Middle Ages.” But, as night is darkest before dawn, God would begin planting the seeds of light in America by preparing men who would awaken the hearts and minds of the colonists. A group of dedicated and godly preachers—without whom a strong church could not stand—were being groomed by God to address the slumber of the colonial masses, sparking a spiritual resurrection in America’s First Great Awakening.

By the mid 18th century, American colonists were beginning to see themselves as merely “Americans.” But the colonies were in disarray: brother pitted against brother, and American liberty versus British loyalty. Since the First Great Awakening generated a spirit of faith, confidence, and liberty within the colonists, they knew that they were inherently free and could no longer bow to the despotism of the British crown. But in order for independence to be realized, they would have to fight for it.

Following the signing of the Declaration of Independence, no entity held the leash of liberty any longer. With their newfound independence, Americans were on their own. They had gone from being disgruntled subjects of the most powerful Empire on earth to citizens of a rogue nation. Yet, while it was one thing for them to declare independence from British authority on paper, it was quite another for them to earn that independence on the battlefield.

The Founding Fathers felt that the struggle for their God-given, unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness were so important that they were willing to sacrifice themselves fighting for it.

Now, the newly crowned citizens of America faced a new and unprecedented challenge: a nation founded in faith that now needed a functioning government—a constitution. The young American nation was faced with the task of crafting a capable government for its citizens—a framework that would not only champion the principles of freedom and liberty but also uphold the standard of biblical conviction.

With America’s Constitution now in place, its new government was up and running. But how would the nation develop? What would be its destiny? The nation began to expand westward, and with it, evangelists and missionaries embarked into the new American Frontier, bringing with them their conviction to carry Christianity onward into the ever-expanding Western horizon and sparking the Second Great Awakening.

To conclude season one of Preachers, Patriots, & Providence, we take an in-depth look at “the forgotten war”—the War of 1812. Many will tell you that this war had little to no significant impact on the story of America, but make no mistake, the soul of the United States was at stake. The War of 1812 would declare to the world that America was here to stay.