The late Gary McGee, who died of cancer near the end of 2008, unofficially functioned as the dean of pentecostal mission historians. In this volume, the distinguished Assemblies of God scholar and professor focused primarily on how pentecostalism emerged in the twentieth century as a significant force in world Christianity. He rooted the rise of his own tradition in the ministries of “radical” evangelicals like A. T. Pierson, A. J. Gordon, and A. B. Simpson, all of whom sought to revive the modern missionary movement in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through a fresh appropriation of the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit. McGee then demonstrated how pentecostal mission pioneers combined an advocacy of glossolalia, healing, and eschatological urgency as they developed a network of agencies for the task of global evangelization.

The author effectively balanced a critical evaluation of pentecostal claims with an intriguing defense of the reality of supernatural phenomena in the history of missions. Hence, he argued that his fellow pentecostals recovered key elements of the apostolic missionary model, even as they experienced failure and frustration. The book also points to his thorough research and perhaps overly ambitious scope. At the same time, it provides an essential perspective for key themes in Philip Jenkins's The Next Christendom (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).