Two of my heroes from church history are George Whitefield and John Wesley. I would throw in Charles Wesley too.

I awakened early this morning due to insomnia not any great discipline on my part. I found a lengthy outline of Whitefield’s life history. For those who don’t know of Whitefield he was a partner with John Wesley who founded the Methodist Movement.

Whitefield once spoke to 35,000 people without amplification on a vacant piece of land. He regularly spoke outside to crowds of 10,000 to 25,000. He was considered a radical and his “new” way of speaking got him in trouble with key leaders in the Anglican Church. He was stoned, ridiculed and slandered and prevailed.

What caught my mind about his ministry was something worth musing on. It was rarely known when he would be preaching. And this was long before marketing. He would begin preaching and two hours latter there would be 10,000 or more people. It makes me wonder if our predilection with marketing couldn’t be better spent and I wonder if we shouldn’t ask the Holy Spirit to spread the word.

I know many of our post-modern observers find disdain in our imitation of marketing America. I am convinced that there are three generations who long for the informal, spontaneous, empowered work of God. May God grant us that grace.