Impact Without Limits

S5 E23: George Whitefield and the Great Awakening

• Dale and Brian Karmie / Adkins Media Co.

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This week on Impact Without Limits, Brian and Dale continue their America 250 series by exploring the remarkable influence of George Whitefield, the British evangelist whose preaching helped spark the Great Awakening and shape the hearts of the American colonies. Through stories from the recent The Great Awakening film and historical accounts, they discuss Whitefield's powerful message of salvation, liberty, and equality—and how those biblical truths helped lay the spiritual foundation for the American Revolution.

The conversation also highlights Whitefield's fascinating relationship with Benjamin Franklin, the role of faith in America's founding, and the lasting impact Christian leaders had on the ideals woven into the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It's a thought-provoking episode that encourages listeners to look beyond the familiar names of history and discover the people and principles that helped shape a nation.


Episode Highlights: 

  • Who was George Whitefield?
  • The Great Awakening.
  • Faith that shaped a nation.
  • Whitefield and Franklin.
  • A legacy that endures.


Links Mentioned in Episode/Find More on ForeverLawn:

This show has been produced by Adkins Media Co.


SPEAKER_03

And so God is working through all this and and his hand is so over the the forming of this nation, even using British that wouldn't be a part of America, the Wesley Brothers Whitfield, to come here and preach these ideals that are then baked in the our formation. It's just it's just amazing. So why would two guys leave comfortable jobs, move across the country, and start a business in an industry they don't know, a place they don't know? And could it be successful? We're Dale and Brian Carney. Join us as we share our story and inspire you to become people of impact. Welcome to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Welcome back to the Impact Without Limits Podcast. Brian Carney here with my brother Dale. Hey everybody. And we are walking through uh just celebrating America, the semi-quincentennial. How many times can we say that? A bunch. At least 250.

SPEAKER_02

I think I'm way past that. I usually hit six to eight a day. And I'm wearing my semi-quincentennial socks. Wow. See that? Are they showing up on the on the camera? There we go.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe in a future episode, we'll have to talk about the eagle. That I think that's coming. I think that's coming. Um, but we are we're we're now in a part of this podcast season where we wanted to talk about some of the founding characters uh and people that were influential. And we're I mean, George Washington is a big one, right? That one is different. That's a big boy right there. After we got past that, we wanted to maybe hit some of the more obscure or people that maybe I don't know if obscure is the right word, just but people that aren't often not as celebrated. Yes. And so today we're actually talking about one that is not an American, it is a Brit. How about that? Yeah. So today we're gonna be talking about George Whitfield. Yes. Not Whitefield. No, although it is it is spelled Whitefield, it is pronounced Whitfield. And I'm gonna be honest, I knew the name and knew he was a preacher, but did not understand the connection that he had to the American Revolution. But I didn't understand the impact of George Whitfield on the American Revolution. Um I had heard of the Great Awakening. Yeah, I knew and I would have tied Whitfield to the Great Awakening, but I didn't tie that to the American Revolution until the movie that came out this year from Sight and Sound Productions, which you've never been to Sight and Sound in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, have you? It's kind of like Concord. Lancaster. Right? I would say Lancaster. They say Lincaster. But anyway. I might even get a lank in there, like Lancaster. Yeah. Not just Lan, but they they have a really neat place there. It's kind of like a Christian Broadway, I maybe I'd say, but they do plays. And we went and saw Joseph there. Great production, really well done. And they usually have a different one that they do. Um but anyway, neat place. But they have started uh a movie production as well, and so they produce this movie, The Great Awakening. Um, I think in a previous episode I talked about um the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow movie. They produced that one as well, so they've done a few, but really good. But this movie was about George Whitfield and it was biographical, but it really centered on his impact on the American Revolution and specifically his relationship with the people.

SPEAKER_02

I'd say the connection to Ben Franklin was was very neat.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, it's actually told kind of through the perspective of Ben Franklin.

SPEAKER_02

Um Yeah, and likewise I I had I knew the name George Whitfield, I understood it was associated with the Great Awakening, but it was probably um you know, just maybe some different podcasts or things I listened to, some different sermons. I started to hear his name over the past year and realized that he was more closely tied to um the revolution, uh, you know, to the freedoms of of America, to the founding of this country, uh, but still uh just had a cursory knowledge. And you know, as we talk about this, the movies the biggest basis of my information. Yeah. We're gonna talk about this through the eyes of the movie. And we've read some other articles and we've looked some things up. Um again, this is another one of those things. We're not coming on here trying to be George Whitfield experts. Right. Um we we haven't scratched the surface, but we want to encourage you to learn about some of these people to uh in this case I would go watch the movie The Great Awakening. It's great. Great, great movie. But look up some articles, read some books, find out, because these are foundational principles in the formation of our country.

unknown

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_02

And again, the more you understand the the people, the characters, the beliefs, the ideals that created this idea of liberty and freedom that led to the founding of this country, the more you understand what a privilege we have to live in this. And and and again, those foundational principles that formed where we live. And I I just most people miss it. Most people completely miss it.

SPEAKER_03

And unfortunately, these are things that typically aren't taught in a lot of our schools today. Uh this is not the American history that I learned. Um at least not that I remember learning. I maybe they talked about George Woodfield.

SPEAKER_02

I'm pretty confident you didn't learn about George Whitfield.

SPEAKER_03

All right. So I I don't want to I want this isn't meant to be a movie spoiler. Go watch the movie, but this is history. So we're gonna talk through some of the content, not all of the content of the movie. Yeah, I would. Yeah, we're probably gonna spoil it. It's it's worth watching even if you've listened to this episode.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely watching watch the movie. I I again there's not often you get to see a movie that isn't laced with cursing, um, just indecent things. Uh just this is a movie you can watch and enjoy. Yeah, and it is still dramatic. There there is still conflict. It is uh it's very well done. Yeah. But um but it's a good it's a good movie.

SPEAKER_03

So some things about George Whitfield. He's born in England, 1714, he's British, and he ends up going to Oxford as a servitor, which is a really interesting thing. And so the way this works is you go ahead.

SPEAKER_02

It's kind of like Seinfeld when you you you wreck the car and you don't have insurance and you become the servant for somebody else to pay it off.

SPEAKER_03

Similar. I was going with a different show. There's a there's a newer show out called Young Sherlock, which is a pretty decent show. Haven't seen that one yet. You wouldn't like it. I I think you would enjoy that one. Um and uh in that he goes to Oxford, but he's not there as a paying student. He's there as a servant. So they would like to take care of things, take care of the other students that had more money.

SPEAKER_02

Is this like Sherlock Holmes? Mm-hmm. Oh. You would enjoy it. It's funny. I just thought it was I must be thinking of something else. I thought it was a kid growing up in America.

SPEAKER_03

No, you're thinking of young Sheldon. That's what I'm just thinking of. Very different than young Sherlock. That's what I was wondering. Why did you think I would like young Sheldon? No, young Sherlock. Uh actually I I think you would really enjoy it. It's a fun one. It's coming together. It's it's pretty clean. I see where you're going. Um But anyway, he goes to Oxford as like the servant of the other students and takes care of stuff like a janet or whatever. But that's in doing that, he gets the education without having to pay for it. Yep. And so that's apparently a real thing. I didn't know that, but that's how George Whitfield went to uh Oxford. Um and and he he goes there and while he's there, he studies alongside John and Charles Wesley.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, how amazing is that when you talk about uh what I'm I don't even know if there's a right word, a confluence uh of characters, of people, of ideals coming together, you've got George Whitfield, John and Charles Wesley all at audience at the same time. William Seward. That's incredible. Incredible. And then they come over to America and I'm I'm getting ahead of myself, but we can come back to it. But then they they get connected with Benjamin Franklin and get involved in the creation of this country. It's just it's amazing. Divine providence, guys. How how do you how how do you not see it? So so go back. So he goes.

SPEAKER_03

And for those of you that don't know, John and Charles Wesley are two brothers that end up starting the Methodist Church. Yes. Um and Wesleyan uh theology. And they are part of this group called the Holy Club. And so as a servitor, the way the movie portrays it, and I assume it was probably pretty accurate, at least kind of looked down on. Um, and and these guys come and and treat him as an equal. Right.

SPEAKER_02

So just just clarify that George Whitfield is a servitor, he's being looked down by the general body population, yes. And they're portrayed, you know, not treating him well, and then this holy club comes along with uh John and Charles Wesley and others who treat him as an equal. Correct. And uh actually serve him a little bit, and that is just such a different uh you know, they they portrayed George as kind of being in that uh oppressed role most of his life.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_02

As a young child, growing up, and and all of a sudden he has people who for no reason come and treat him as somebody of value, uh huh, somebody of importance.

SPEAKER_03

There was a reason, and the reason was Christ, right? Yes, it's it's their Right.

SPEAKER_02

In his in his eyes, correct, he sees no reason why this would be. And what he sees is the love of Christ, the value of Christ, in which all men are created equal. Yes. Right? And so that stirs him. He gets invited to join the holy club. And you know, I I don't, again, like we said, I'm not certainly not an expert on George Whitfield. I don't know if he was raised in a Christian or believing home. It seemed like his mom certainly had some, it appeared, some belief in God, but through this joining the holy club, he he becomes saved. He be and he gets baptized and you know, um dedicates his life to Christ, which changes him and the trajectory of his life.

SPEAKER_03

So he aft he starts preaching and and his style is very different. He is an orator. You know, the the movie portrays him kind of growing up in the theater, and there is truth to the there is an actor, I think I have the name right, John Garrick, who took an interest in him and and maybe even helped him get into Oxford.

SPEAKER_02

Is there any chance John Garrick was related to Lou Garrick?

SPEAKER_03

That would be preferring, but it is possible. But so he has this style that when he speaks, his voice is like dooming, it projects, and and he doesn't, you know, he starts preaching in the pulpits and and you you you kind of picture these old stodgy, uh dusty, sober uh churches in England.

SPEAKER_02

Liturgy, just repeating words, right? Not not really delivering a message.

SPEAKER_03

And and Whitfield gives up and he's like he bursts out. Yeah, and and the things I read, you know, he he's he's big with his hand gestures and he's he's very uh engaging and emotional in the way he talks. And and the Church of England, these pastors were were like, no, this is this is vulgar, this is not of God. This you know, get this out. And and so Whitfield goes out on the streets and starts preaching in the streets. And and his message was very personal.

SPEAKER_02

Salvation. Right? It was a personal salvation, personal belief in Christ gives you salvation, and that there aren't rules and there aren't works, and there isn't all of this. It is, you know, believe and be saved. And and that was you know, I I think juxtaposer in opposition to the basic Church of England as it was operating.

SPEAKER_03

And you compared him to the you know, modern day Billy Graham. Billy Graham, yeah, right? Or I don't know, I guess that's not modern day, but you know, uh recent times, um, very similar type of message. Just, you know, come find the freedom in Christ, find new life. And and so he's preaching that, and and it's just considered undignified by the church. And so he's kind of pushed out. So Brian, I I gotta pause you right now.

SPEAKER_02

I gotta say, okay, we've we've been talking about George Whitfield for 10 minutes. What's saying this had to do with America?

SPEAKER_03

Aaron Powell I was just getting to the fact that he comes to America. I was setting you up. That was a lob. And I swung and missed. Maybe it was a foul tip. But so he comes to America on a mission. And so John Wesley had come, he comes as well. Um, and his message is received much better in America, because America isn't really tied to the Church of England, right? You've got Puritans here, you've got Baptists here, you've got different Presbyterians, all just Protestant religions, right? And so they're here, and he starts preaching in the pulpits and then preaching in the streets, and and he starts to attract this huge following of people that he's able to influence. And so the the neat part of his story, and this is portrayed in the movie, but also it's it's written because of his style of speaking and and the way he could project his voice, he could speak to thousands of people at the same time. Tens of thousands of times. Tens of thousands, right? And in the movie, it portrays Ben Franklin doing a calculation and counting all the people, and he comes up with like 30,000. 30,000. And you know, that there's different sources that corroborate. Like he's preaching that the streets are being filled, and people are turning their hearts and changing uh the way. And this is actually a quote from uh Ben Franklin's autobiography that I found. And this is him talking about George Whitfield, and he says, It was wonderful to see the change soon made in the manners of our inhabitants from being thoughtless or indifferent about religion. It seemed as if all the world was growing religious so that one could not walk through the town in an evening without hearing psalms sung in different families of every street. How awesome is that. Right? And so Ben Franklin is just like this guy impacted and changed our culture with his message.

SPEAKER_02

And and so think about that though. We've we've talked about this, the the colonists, the people who were living here, were in large part people who kind of rejected the notion of the church of England, of the king being the head of the church, of the close tie between the church and the government, and and in this case a tyrannical government, and they were looking for freedoms. Yeah, they were looking for opportunity, yeah, they were looking to have the ability to own land and do things, um, but they were looking for the ability to worship, the ability to have uh uh a religion that wasn't tied to the government. And so when George Whitfield comes, he's preaching this message of not of a church that is tied to the government, not of the Church of England, not uh of again, like we said, the this works, this liturgy, he was preaching that message of freedom, being free in Christ, being set free um of that relationship. And also it was right, he's he's preaching to itching ears, right? Yeah, they they it was a message they wanted to hear.

SPEAKER_03

And he's also preaching the message of we are all created equal, equality and rights coming from God, and and the relationship you you think back, the church in England set up by the king, they didn't see people as equal there. There were classes of people separated, and he had experienced that when he went to Oxford and he was looked down on, and it was Wesley brothers coming to him in Christ saying, No, we're all equal. God has created all of us. And in Christ, there's no longer slave or free or Greek or Jew, we're all one, and that message is now being relayed to the colonists here in America of hey, like everyone is there, there aren't rulers and servants, there aren't you know people that are great and people are that are lesser than based on the way they were born or their station in life. Like we are all equal, and that message of equality, that message of freedom, message of liberty, that strikes a chord with the American people, and it starts to influence culture. And you know, anytime you see a growth of true people turning to Christ, right, it changes the culture for the good. Right? People are more caring, people are more loving, people are are are work harder, they're they're just it's better. And that's what Ben Franklin was talking about in his quote. He's like, this is great to see the change in our culture based on you know, and it goes on, you know, and he says other things about and you know, people and being drunkards and taverns, and now they're they're changing and and living a more righteous and virtuous life, and and all of that is influenced by George Whitfield. And so his relationship with Ben Franklin um is really interesting because Franklin wasn't necessarily a devout Christian all of his life. He he he was a virtuous man, believed in virtue, believed in good morals, uh, believed in God, but had a little different perspective for for at least a time. And but George Whitfield comes to him and says, Hey, you are running the biggest paper in the colonies. I need to get the word out. Why don't we form some type of business partnership? And Franklin looks at it and says, Let's go. Pure gold. Right? And so Franklin is printing up pamphlets for Whitfield. He's he's putting advertisements in his paper about where he's going to be. And there's the story where he preaches in Providence in the morning, Philadelphia. Yeah, Boston. Boston that night. Yeah, that would have been a good thing.

SPEAKER_02

He said they were what, 50 miles apart, and he's traveling by horse, guys.

SPEAKER_03

That's a long way back then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. So I I pulled up my computer here and I'm going to read from this article that I was going through. It says the effect of this new thinking on religious liberty in Christ loosened the columnists from dependence on Great Britain in ecclesiastical manners, in a period when there were no not sharp distinctions between the sacred and the secular. So in England, the secular government king was blurred with the sacred. Says ecclesiastical independence laid a foundation for economic and political independence. That's what we're talking about here. Colonists who had no confidence in the Church of England naturally had no confidence in the head of the Church of England, which was King George. Independence from the mother country in religious affairs quickly transferred to ideas of political independence as tensions between the colonies and Britain intensified. Whitfield's preaching and theology influenced many military chaplains in the American Revolution, and then it goes down through and lists several of these chaplains. But again, so you have all these things are coming together. You have at a time the colonists are starting to feel this sense of freedom. Right? Whitfield didn't initiate it, but he came at the beginning of it. He's stirring up this idea that, hey, all men are created equal, that we can be uh free and not ruled by the uh uh you know a tyrannical government. Um not that that was his message, but people people are getting this. And then while this is happening, what happens to Great Britain? You go through the French uh Indian War, and Great Britain gets into debt, tremendously into debt as a result of the war into Fun the war, they start levying taxes on the colonies, further oppressing them, putting restrictions. You can't go west of the Appalachian, doing all these things. So you have this sense of oppression, sense of tyranny coming down heavy on the one hand, while the other hand is raising up this idea of liberty and freedom that we are given basic rights as humans created by God. And this is all right, and and the Wesley brothers and Whitfield and Seward, Washington and Franklin, all of this stuff. This is amazing. Yeah, it's it's all coming together in this period. His first uh trip, I think we saw was 1939. And so in this period of like 30 years, 35 years, all this stuff is happening coming together, laying that foundation, that framework that becomes America. Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_03

It's it's incredible. And you know, we we talked a little bit about um the Josh Howerton uh podcast where you interviewed Tim Barton, and I don't think we're gonna go deep into it, but there's there's just the influence, not just of Whitfield, but of other pastors is hit on in that, and it talks about this. Was a quote from uh a lady who, and I I don't have her name in front of me, but she did some research, wrote a book talking about the New England clergy, and it says there is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1963. She actually, in her conclusion, said that the pastors were the ones that came up with all of the rights identified in the Declaration, and her book goes out to point that the Founding Fathers didn't have a single unique idea. It was things they'd been hearing from the pastors for decades. And then she goes on to say if you quote like the sources, or if you look at the source the quotes that the founding fathers use, like 34% were actual biblical quotes. And if you take quoting pastors and other religious writers, it gets up to over 50% of all the founding fathers' quotes in their writings. It was clearly the Christian faith and their pastors that had influenced them, right? And so God is working through all this, and and his hand is so uh over the the forming of this nation and even using British that wouldn't be a part of America, the Wesley Brothers Whitfield, to come here and preach these ideals that are then baked in the R formation. It's just it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so so you have this period called the Great Awakening, which was this amazing revival uh where he traveled up and down the 13 colonies that uh also created this unity among the colonies. So now uh although they were separate territories, separate colonies, they were bound by some of these beliefs and ideals, and and obviously leads to um you know where we wind up with the revolution in the 17 um seventies. But in the movie, you know, uh and we're dancing around it, we're trying not to give spoilers, but I just love the interaction between Whitfield and Franklin. I love the challenge of Whitfield seeing Franklin like maybe missing the message, the heart of the message that everybody else was getting. And then you can ask JP about how it ends. He was JP was all over the end.

SPEAKER_03

So I was gonna quote a little bit of that. Should I leave it out? Is that is that too much of a spoiler if I quote some of what Franklin says again?

SPEAKER_02

Okay, so here's the deal. He's gonna give a spoiler. If you don't want to hear it, you can't. Yes, we're near the end of the episode. If you don't just if you don't know, JP Fuller works with us. He is great. We were talking about the movie, and he I think he missed a key part, and uh I kind of called him out on it. He said, Oh yeah, I might have dozed off during that part. So that was great. We love you, JP.

SPEAKER_03

All right, so spoiler alert right here, go watch the movie. But in the end, it it's it closes with Ben Franklin at the Constitutional Convention.

SPEAKER_02

And so this what year? 1787. Yep. That's when it started. The Constitution gets ratified in 89, but they're having the convention to draw it up in 1787.

SPEAKER_03

And there's a lot of division, and there's a lot of back and forth. And and um, I mean, this is you you can look this up. This is a printed uh speech that he gave. He had it written out as well. But he goes into the assembly, George Washington is is presiding over it, and in the movie it kind of portrays Georgia asking Franklin to maybe speak up. I don't know whether that's real or not, but Franklin stands up and says, Listen, we've been fighting over this for a while, and it seems like we're missing something. And what we're missing, when we were, you know, under the oppression and we were you know signing the Declaration of Independence, every day we would seek God. Twelve years, 12 years previous. And he said, now we're in here and we're quoting all these, you know, uh other religions and looking at government, but we're we're not going back to the source, and the source being God. And so this is just a little quote. He says, Um In the beginning of the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayer in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard and graciously answered. All of us who were engaged in the struggle must have observed the frequent instances of superintending providence in our favor. And to that kind providence we owe this happy opportunity, and he calls for prayer to start these sessions. Right? And and that is a turning point in the Constitutional Convention. And um it's just amazing to think that this w this Ben Franklin, who's labeled as a deist, is clearly in this case saying no, he is actively involved in our lives, and we need to seek him and we need to ask for his blessing. He showed himself uh in the war with Great Britain. He will show himself again as we set up this Constitution.

SPEAKER_02

And and interesting, I think George Whitfield died in was it 1770?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think that's right.

SPEAKER_02

And obviously, the Declaration of Independence 1776, 1787, as we're writing the Constitution, that influence of Whitfield uh was strong over Benjamin Franklin and led to uh in large part this speech and uh the the right the division was the Federalists versus the people who wanted the colonies to stay separate, they didn't want to be over federal rule, and how do you make that work? And I th they were at risk of losing everything. Everything they fought fought for. All the blood that had been spilled uh was was at risk of of being for naught.

SPEAKER_03

Is the sun rising or is the sun setting? That's a little tip of the hat to the movie that I'm not gonna go any further. You're gonna have to watch the movie to figure it out. Watch the movie. Uh great stuff. But so really interesting to see the impact of a lot of the clergy, but specifically George Whitfield on the American Revolution and so thankful that God used him in that way.

SPEAKER_02

Right. And the impact of Whitfield is the impact of God, is the impact of Christ is the impact of the Christian faith. And uh yes, America is a nation that was founded on Christ and our liberties and freedoms that are granted to all people. Um so celebrate that, uh, understand it, celebrate it, remember it, share it. And again, we're challenging you to go out and learn. So is as we get uh as we're wrapping up here, uh I do want to ask a question. We've done a good job. Yeah, three things? Three things, yep. So um we we were talking the this episode is about George Whitfield, the Great Awakening, but we also talked a lot about Benjamin Franklin. So as we're looking at the founding of our country, Benjamin Franklin um wasn't just uh the founding father, he was um a liaison to Great Britain, uh what what what do we call that? Ambassador to Britain, I believe, uh made several trips across, but he was also an inventor. Yeah. Um so do can you tell us, audience, or can you tell yourself three things that Benjamin Franklin uh would be known for or is famous for uh either doing or inventing or finding, discovering.

SPEAKER_03

All right. For those people that answer that, oh do the on the show notes, the send us a text link. If you answer that, we will pick someone out of that group and we will send uh either a Foreverlone America hat or a Foreverless America shirt.

SPEAKER_02

So here's the deal. This has to be on our system, then, because you can't Google it. You you can't look it up. You know what? I don't even care.

SPEAKER_03

This is like an open book test. Just go find stuff out. If you're doing the research, I appreciate it. Oh all right.

SPEAKER_02

There you go. Did we show it? This is the hat. Do we have more of these? There'll be something similar to this. 1776, forever long, stars and stripes. Um, but yeah, again, uh amazing stuff. Um, thanks for joining us. Hopefully, this was um beneficial and uh you know, continue to celebrate the semi-quincentennial. And uh again, what we we talk about what do we want? We we want to be people of impact and we want to create people of impact. And I think we're people that know and understand embrace this and share with others, they're becoming people of impact.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

God bless. We'll see you next week. Have a great week.

SPEAKER_00

This is a threat economy reminding you that faith looks up, hope looks ahead, and love looks all around to see whom it can help. Good day.