The SBJT Forum -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 18:2 (Summer 2014)
Article: The SBJT Forum
Author: Anonymous


The SBJT Forum

SBJT: Why Is It Important To Remember George Whitefield As A Preacher?

Robert Vogel is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching and Associate Vice President for Institutional Advancement at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Prior to this role he served as Professor of Homiletics for twenty years at Western Seminary, where he also served as an Associate Dean and Director of the Doctor of Ministry Program.

Robert Vogel: Agree with what he said or not, one could not ignore the preaching of George Whitefield. Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s prominent Deists, was fascinated by Whitefield and his preaching, and though Franklin was never converted, he and Whitefield were fast friends. Crowds thronged by the thousands to hear him in the fields or in the streets, filled with anticipation and enthusiasm, while knowing that he would confront their sin and warn them of the judgment of God. E. C. Dargan asserted that Whitefield’s preaching, “for earnestness, eloquence, and immediate effect, was the admiration of his own age, and is one of the most sacred traditions of the Christian pulpit for all time” (Dargan, A History of Preaching, Vol. 2, 308). Accordingly, Whitefield is instructive to generations of preachers long after his time, and we would forget him at our peril. Here are three reasons why it is important to remember him.

First, Whitefield had a profound influence on evangelical Christianity in his day and beyond. Over the course of thirty-four years, Whitefield preached approximately 18,000 sermons. And through his preaching, he had a profound effect on both British and American Christianity as it developed in the 18th century, an era before modern media and travel made wide-ranging influence readily attainable. A newly-ordained Anglican, Whitefield began preaching outdoors to coal miners at Kingswood Common, near Bristol. He also preached in the evangelical awakening at Cambuslang, an extended outdoor meeting that continued for several months in 1743. Though Britain was his homeland, he made seven tours in the American colonies over a 30-year period, preaching from Georgia to Massachusetts. These seven tours,

ranging in length from several months to as many as four years, accounted for approximately one-third of Whitefield’s ministry.

While the number of conversions directly and indirectly attributable to his preaching cannot be known, the immediate impact of his ministry was considerable; souls were converted and converts, particularly the young, were drawn into churches where they formed societies for continued growth in the faith.

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