George Whitefield (1714-1770) is arguably America’s first
media star. In Colonial America, when
Whitefield came to town, people came as far away as 100 miles to hear him! Why so? Well, first of all America was in a
period of spiritual revival which meant that the Holy Spirit was drawing many
and many more had a renewed hunger for the Word of God. But certainly not far behind this was the
extraordinary speaking powers of Whitefield himself. He spoke extemporaneously and had such a keen
sense of timing and presence that people were utterly spellbound by him. Our favorite founder Ben Franklin, a lapsed
Christian of sorts, was actually Whitefield’s literary agent and promoter. He once said that just to hear Whitefield say
the word “Mesopotamia” would bring tears to his eyes. Apart from his ministry of evangelism,
Whitefield changed forever in America the way parishioners related to their
pastors. Prior to this, the town pastor
was the spiritual authority and he corrected the wayward as a means of keeping
the spiritual temperature of the community where it should be. Whitefield proclaimed that the sorry state of
affairs in Christian living was not the people’s fault but because their
pastors were not in tune with the spirit and unfaithful to preach the
word. The solution to the problem is to
reform the pastors and make sure they are preaching and teaching
faithfully. This was to be done by congregations voting with their feet. In some cases this was a
true problem, in many others it wasn’t, but the idea gained traction and while it caused a lot
of controversy and hard feelings at the time, it did stick.
Although it would be inaccurate to suggest Whitefield alone set the
trend of America’s more egalitarian and independent churches, he was definitely
one of the strong trendsetters in that direction.
Dwight Lyman (D.L.) Moody (1837-1899) was the great crusade
evangelist of America’s “Gilded Age” preaching to the masses in the large cities of
America and Great Britain. Moody was not
a clergyman but a lay minister who came from a business background. He was converted as a teenager but as a young
man he had set his sights on making a fortune.
This brought him to Chicago, which at the time was a place of growing
opportunities for the young . In the midst of his pursuits,
he had a spiritual encounter with the Lord and shortly thereafter became a man
dedicated to Kingdom business. Moody
started with a Sunday School class that reached out to poor immigrant children
and their parents and this soon exploded into many other outreaches and
enterprises. Eventually Moody met a
musician named Ira Sankey and the two paired their ministries to great effect
to do mass evangelism. Moody, dressed
not as a preacher but as a business man and preached not with soaring rhetoric
but as a common man to the common man and Sankey, setting the mood of the
crusade with memorable and easy to sing melodies played on a portable
organ. Moody was a great success in this
enterprise and by his death he is said to have preached to more people than
anyone else in history prior to the invention of the microphone. But Moody also shaped the American church in
a very profound way. His example and his
energies were devoted to developing the Christian personal worker. This was not to denigrate in any way the
pastoral profession, but Moody and many others who were like minded, knew that
the reach and scope of an army of lay ministers and evangelists were what was
needed if the Kingdom of God is to expand.
Moody is known for starting the Moody Bible Institute (although it was
not so-called until after his death) which was not a seminary, but a lay training
center for men and women seeking greater effectiveness in service to the
Lord. This idea worked and inspired many
others throughout America and even around the world to do the same. Since this time, the values and efforts of
the lay minister have been prominent especially in the evangelical Bible
churches of our nation.
Little needs to be said about William Franklin “Billy”
Graham (b. 1918) as his story is well-known and is still in progress (Graham is
now in his mid-nineties). Graham is the
model of the modern evangelist using every means of mass communication to
amplify his message preached live before stadiums of people. Graham’s honesty, character, and frankly his
modesty have made many respect him and the Gospel of Christ even if they don’t
necessarily agree with it. The book, Preacher and the Presidents, highlights
his relationship with every American president since Harry Truman. I found it fascinating how Billy had access
to this power and sometimes used it and most of the time was used by it, but
really never was corrupted by it. Few
ministers can come into contact with the corrosive effect of that much power
unscathed which is a tribute to the greatness of God and the keeping power of
the Holy Spirit. When I think of the
Graham legacy on the American church, I think of the words cooperative effort. Few people realize that all along Billy
Graham never sought to be the star player, but to train others in any way he
could to be soul winners. Graham not
only taught evangelists, but sponsored retreats and camps for pastors to
encourage Biblical and gospel preaching in America’s pulpits. Not only this, but the Billy Graham
association has been at the forefront of world missions bringing together some
of the largest gatherings of evangelists from around the world to cooperate to
finish the Great Commission. And at a
time when most Bible-believing churches would hardly talk to one another much
less cooperate, Billy Graham, was at the forefront including all Christian
denominations in his crusades and encouraging them to come together for the
sake of reaching the lost. Several years
ago I had the privilege of visiting the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College
(Billy’s Alma Mater) and the marvelous museum dedicated to his work. What was telling about the museum was that
while it certainly did tell the story of his life and work, it featured in equal portions quite a bit of
information of all the great people that came before him in this task and then
ended with an admonition that the work of sharing Christ is all our work. As America is clearly moving in the direction
of being a post-Christian nation, the church in America must stand together
like never before. In that, Billy
Graham, has set the pace by encouraging us to set aside the things that don't need to divide us and come together to give testimony to the living Christ.
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