William E. Winters, The Gentle Art of Restoration

The William E. Winters collection is a series of sermons and collected notes written and preached over a fifty year period. There are 18 boxes in the collection. The sermons were arranged numerically according to the volume number assigned to it by the author. After the initial volume numbers they were then arranged by subject. The author placed the sermons in binders, numbered and indexed them. There are 42 volumes that were given numbers and an accompanying index volume. There were seven binders labeled Revival. Some binders of special note are titled: Oasis, Faith, Church Dedication, Bible Studies, and Genesis 1 and 2. Others were arranged by series, holidays, funerals, and topics. There are also three book manuscripts by Winters. Folders with single titles are individual sermons. There were some binders containing newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, and other notes that were of significance to the author.

The author, himself, periodically liked to review his sermons and sometimes relocate them within his volumes. There are dates of those reviews and relocations handwritten on his sermons and in his indexes. Therefore, some of the sermons may no longer be in chronological order. He paid great attention to detail when creating and indexing his sermons.

This is an excellent source for anyone who wants to understand how a minister writes from Pentecostal theology. This can be used as a source to study an individual style of sermon writing and arrangement or for their own sermons. While some of the sermons are typed, most of them are handwritten and sometimes can be difficult to decipher the handwriting. There are some extensive writings on faith that may be helpful to someone researching the subject.