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George Whitefield (1714-1770), pronounced Whit-field, was one of the most celebrated figures of the 18th century. Although little known today, George Whitefield is a worthy model of emulation for Christian students. When George was two, his father died, leaving the seven Whitefield children and their mother in relative poverty. Whitefield eventually worked his way through Oxford University as a servitor (i.e., an errand boy for wealthy students). At Oxford, his soon-to-be friend, Charles Wesley, introduced him to his brother John and a group known as the Holy Club. Shortly after graduating, Whitefield was ordained in the Church of England. Whitefield found traditional parish ministry confining, and he eventually began preaching outdoors, a bold and controversial gesture for the day. Whitefield’s talent for dramatic interpretation of the Good News attracted hordes of listeners, and the great orator soon embarked on an itinerant preaching schedule all over Britain and the Colonies.

Upon the urging of the Wesley brothers, who were then serving as missionaries to Native Americans, Whitefield embarked upon his first American tour. He was twenty-five. In Savannah, Georgia, in 1739, Whitefield quickly made the acquaintance of James Oglethorpe, the founder of Georgia. In an effort to aid Oglethorpe’s benevolent project in that colony, Whitefield raised £1300 (the equivalent of $6 million today) to build an orphanage known as Bethesda. Whitefield’s benevolence to the poor and indebted became well-known, and Benjamin Franklin, an ardent admirer of Whitefield, remarked on these characteristics in his own autobiography (1771).

By the end of his life in 1770, Whitefield had spoken to approximately eighty percent of the American colonists face-to-face. Although not an American by birth, Whitefield made seven journeys to America and did much to unite the colonists in the years preceding the War of Independence.

In his preaching, Whitefield stressed the fundamental teachings of the Christian faith, but was tolerant of the non-essentials that divided denominations, issues such as the proper method of baptism, communion, etc. Whitefield’s ministry truly crossed all denominational, racial, and socioeconomic boundaries. Crowds of ten thousand — men, women, children, blacks, whites, Native Americans, coal miners, aristocrats, educated, uneducated — all gathered together outdoors to hear Whitefield preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Phillis Wheatley, the first famous black poet in America, launched her career at the age of seventeen with a memorial written upon Whitefield’s death.

A popular speaker at Harvard and Yale, Whitefield played a major role in sparking the spread of higher education throughout America. He had a hand in helping found Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. In 1754, Whitefield received an honorary Master of Arts from Princeton, demonstrating the appreciation and respect of the college for his work.

Although far from perfect, George Whitefield demonstrates for parents, students, and teachers that one educated young person can have an enormous influence upon and make a significant contribution to contemporary culture in the name of Jesus Christ.