Pathweavers

04/10/2026

5 DAYS OF A CIRCUIT RIDER'S CIRCUIT

April 8 - (Friday) Two days before recording the journal entry below, Christian Newcomer travelled 18 miles from his home in Beavercreek, MD and stayed for the night at his friend's, Yost Harbaugh, near Sabillasville, MD.

April 9 - (Saturday) The next morning, he rode 40 miles to arrive at John Spangler's in Thomasville, halfway between Abbottstown and York, PA.

April 10 - (Sunday) That morning, he rode less than 2 miles in order to preach at Roth's Church, a German Reformed congregation. As noted, in the afternoon, he rode 16 miles to Phillip Bishop's house in Littlestown, about 10 miles Southeast of Gettysburg, PA.

April 11 - (Monday) Newcomer likely stayed for a while at Phillip Bishop's before travelling to stay the evening at the home of a man named Kreb.

April 12 - (Tuesday) Newcomer's circuit ended after arriving back home in Beavercreek, 6 miles from downtown Hagerstown, MD.

Today in Thomasville, PA (halfway between Abbottstown and York), the high will be around 75 degrees — far from the temperatures alluded to by Christian Newcomer 218 years ago.

That day, Newcomer preached at Roth's in Thomasville, and Phillip Bishop's in Littlestown, PA.

01/21/2026

“Christian Newcomer, near Hagerstown in Maryland, has labored and traveled many years. His heart’s desire has always been to effect a union between his German brethren and the Methodists. Are there many that fear God who have passed by his house and have not heard of or witnessed the piety and hospitality of these Newcomers? Worthy people!”

~ Francis Asbury

UPDATED & EXPANDED REVIVAL JOURNAL (1795-1830) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

Christian Newcomer lived in MD, but traveled into 8 other states and even into Canada as a circuit rider. His journal spans 35 of his 53 years in ministry as a "German Methodist" preacher. He was a circuit rider, a founding member, and later a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, the nation's first home-grown denomination.

12/28/2025

Samuel Huber held the first camp meetings within his denomination, The United Brethren in Christ, near Chambersburg, PA - a mere 26 miles from our home.

The story recounted here is of an unusual nature for sure, but not wholly unique. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG Such encounters were reported throughout the 2nd Great Awakening and harken back to New Testament reports. They are best examined in conjunction with, and in context of times of revival, measuring the long-term, positive growth of the culture during that era.

12/03/2025

Forgotten Stories of the 2nd Great Awakening, Volumes 1 & 2, are works resurrected and revived from near obscurity. When Volume 2 was first published in 1834, it saw a limited release of 300 copies. While some reprints have been available over the years, no one has attempted to format and expand these 1st-hand accounts until now.

As the Church struggles to understand its identity today, we need only return to the times where God moved powerfully among us, transforming individuals, Churches, communities, and regions with a living gospel.

Download sample pages of Christian Newcomer's Journal: https://tinyurl.com/NewcomerSample

History glosses over the revivals which swept through our nation in its early years. Fortunately, a few people recorded what they experienced. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

Sample in Comments

11/30/2025

NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN

What God has done among us should never be forgotten to history. Rev. Samuel Huber understood that. Huber had been drawn into the revival movement taking place in his region during the early 1800s. Not long after, he began preaching for the United Brethren in Christ, the first U.S. denomination - a group sometimes referred to as the "German Methodists."

In 1858 he published his experiences and those collected from his close friends and associates so that the testimony of God's goodness and miraculous exploits would not be forgotten. After 165 years, they are again being republished for a modern generation that is barely are of the transformation God brought about during the 2nd Great Awakening.

This volume, as well as its companion book, a 35-year day-to-day account of times of revival, have been fully-edited and updated with maps, illustrations, contextual insets, and mini-biographies - adding much-needed context for today's audience.

What God has done before should not be forgotten so that we can prepare a way for him to come and do it again.

What if someone wrote down those things that God did in their life and ministry during the 2nd Great Awakening... Someone did! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

11/28/2025

CHRISTMAS SALE!

Today & Tomorrow Only! (Nov. 28-29, 2025) Volume 1 - $11.99 (instead of $13.99). Volume 2 - $22.99 (instead of $25.99) [U.S. PRICES]
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

11/27/2025

MAKING REVIVAL HISTORY ACCESSIBLE

For many of us, revival history feels inaccessible and trapped beneath difficult-to-access texts full of unrelatable facts and figures. Forgotten Stories of the 2nd Great Awakening, Volumes 1 & 2, have overcome many of these obstacles, revealing poignant and understandable entry points in the lives of real people enveloped by times of revival and great spiritual activity.

Volume 1, Christian Newcomer's Autobiography & Revival Journal encapsulates the life and ministry of a "German Methodist" named Christian Newcomer from Lancaster, PA. In 1775, at the dawn of the American Revolution, he relocated to Western Maryland. Two years later, he joined the growing revival movement among the German-speaking population as a circuit rider, but it was not until 1795 that he began to record his daily activities.

Before his death in 1830, he and a friend began to compile his many years of notations, even adding a short autobiography. Published in 1834, four years after his death at age 81, it has remained in relative obscurity. Since that time, only those willing and able to painstakingly navigate its small, cramped, and sometimes obscure text, have been able to glean from its pages. Now, all that has changed!

Every entry of Newcomer's 35-year journal has been updated, indexed, and expanded, making it easy to read from front to back. It is now a simple task to identify many local stopping points along his 150,000 mile journey as a circuit rider and bishop of our nation's 1st denomination. This group, The United Brethren in Christ, founded in 1800 in Frederick, MD, worked both independently and alongside their English-speaking Methodist brothers.

Of Christian Newcomer, friend and colleague, Bishop Francis Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church had this to say: "Christian Newcomer, near Hagerstown in Maryland, has labored and traveled many years. His heart’s desire has always been to effect a union between his German brethren and the Methodists. Are there many that fear God who have passed by his house and have not heard of or witnessed the piety and hospitality of these Newcomers? Worthy people!”

Illustrations, maps, mini-biographies, indexes, contextual insets, and helpful icons mark and make each facet of his life, journey, and ministry easy to identify, navigate, and understand. And to make this and its fellow volume, Samuel Huber's Autobiography & Revival Stories even more accessible, they will be on sale November 28-29, 2025 at 11% off.

In 1834, 300 copies of Circuit rider Christian Newcomer's daily journal were published. 190 years later, it has now been fully revived and expanded. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

11/24/2025

If there's someone on your list who would appreciate these resources, they will be on sale Nov. 28-29.

For the revivalist who has everything. Fri - Sat only! Vol. 1 - $11.99 (instead of $13.99), and Vol. 2 - $22.99 (instead of $25.99) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

11/17/2025

Life as a circuit rider was not an easy one. For little or no pay, these ordinary, and often untrained men, travelled many miles and overcame many obstacles in order to fulfill the mission before them. By these means, they connected communities, towns, and regions together with the gospel as the brought a message in keeping with times of revival and awakening.

Where they went, there were not always roads and bridges. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG

MARCH 24, 1798
Today we had a meeting at Bovey’s. Owing to a heavy rain which fell last night, the water courses were very high. This prevented many from attending the meeting. I rode in company with Brother Kessler to John Cronise’s. We had to cross Fishing Creek which we found very high and rapid. In the name of God, we ventured into the stream. I reached the opposite bank in safety but Brother Kessler was not so successful. The force of the water took his horse a considerable distance down the stream. I saw my beloved brother in imminent danger of his life and could afford him no assistance. After swimming some distance, the horse gained the shore and for this preservation, we were truly thankful.

11/15/2025

The backstory to this simply journal entry tells a bigger story.

Was Christian Newcomer a workaholic? Perhaps he was. There is rarely a journal entry in which he is not on his way somewhere far off, or on his way back home. One thing is for sure, however, he was not a phony. His 35-year journal shows him in the saddle only weeks before his death at age 81 after 53 years on the road.

For some of those reasons, his life is does not stand as a model for everyone, but his faith, determination, and effectiveness can serve as a source of inspiration for every and all untrained "nobodies" who believe themselves disqualified from co-laboring with God. If he can do it...

This carpenter/farmer moved from Lancaster, PA to Beaver Creek, MD in 1775 in an attempt to escape what he felt to be a call of God on his life to preach. It wasn't long, however, that he found himself drawn into the growing revival movement among the German-speaking population. Within 2 years, he was one of their primary circuit riders, those who would fill meeting and visitation appointments in stretches of many miles at a time.

In 1800, in a house in Frederick, MD, he sat as a founding member of our nation's 1st homegrown denomination, The United Brethren in Christ. In 1813, he became its primary bishop, a role that he held until his death in 1830.

His journal-years (1795-1830) track him riding 150,000 miles. That makes the journal entry below all the more telling. What did he do when he returned home on November 15, 1802? He visited his neighborhood house to house. He had a faith that over time, permeated all that he did. This neighborhood is a mere 7 miles from where I grew up and about the same from the home where I live today. May all of us find such an enduring faith to fulfill the calling each of us have been given.

11/14/2025

11/01/2025

Christian Newcomer was in the saddle nearly every day of his 53 years as a circuit rider and revivalist. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FD3S1LXG Yet, he still wished that he could have done more.

His journal, which covers the final 35 years of that time maps him traveling an estimated 150,000 miles. May we be as productive during our days of revival now as he and his colleagues were during the 2nd Great Awakening.