Page 78 - Pilgrims in Georgia

George Whitefield - Preacher of the “Great Awakening”
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George Whitefield a friend of the Wesley brothers and a
Parish Priest of Christ Church in Savannah has been
hailed as perhaps the most the most famous religious
figure of the eighteenth century. Newspapers called him

the "marvel of the age.“” Before his life was through
some have said, ”virtually every man, woman, and child
had heard the "Grand Itinerant" at least once. Indeed,
before Whitefield, it is doubtful any name, other than

royalty, was known equally from Boston to Charleston.”

Prior to his coming to Savannah in 1738 he had begun
successfully preaching to growing audiences around
London. Soon upon returning to England, for ordination

and to raise funds for his orphanage in Georgia, he
began to regularly preach outdoors.
Some churches were closed to him, some not large enough for his crowds, some hearers without a church at all. Soon,
with no walls, no pulpit, no written sermon, just he and throngs of listeners thought unimaginable at the time, the

stirrings of Christian revival were taking shape. His passionate animated theatrical oratory, and ability to reach the souls
of his spellbound audiences have not been attributed to His abilities alone but recognized as the work of God in one man
for a greater purpose. That greater purpose would be in the unfolding of what became known as the “Great Awakening’
in the American Colonies. Leaving England in 1739 he crossed the Atlantic Ocean to the Colonies six more times: 1739-

1741; 1744-1748; 1751-1752; 1754-1755; 1753-1765; 1769-1770 preaching up and down the American east coast in
every colony and in some many times, for a lifetime total estimate of at least 18,000 times to 10 million hearers. One
sermon in Boston drew 23,000 people, speculated to be largest gathering at that point of the history in the colonies.
The effect of his efforts were foundational to the nation we are today., “The spiritual revival he ignited, the Great
Awakening, became one of the most formative events in American history.” Though an international figure Whitefield

visited Savannah frequently, always tending to Bethesda, and wherever he preached, he collected support for the
orphanage he had founded in , though the orphanage left him deep in debt for most of his life.