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He was born in England. on December 6, 1714. He was the son of a widow, and at an early age, he found that he had a passion and talent for acting in the theatre, a passion that he would carry on through the very theatrical re-enactments of Bible stories that he told during his sermons.
George Whitefield
Whitefield's first sermon brought crowds of about 20,000 people.
Education
He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford., and because Whitefield came from a poor background, he did not have the means to pay for his tuition. He therefore entered Oxford as a servitor, the lowest rank of students at Oxford. In return for free tuition, he was assigned as a servant to a number of higher ranked students. His duties would include waking them in the morning, polishing their shoes, carrying their books and even doing their work for class He was a part of the 'Holy Club' at Oxford University with the Wesley brothers, John and Charles. After reading Henry Scougal's The Life of God in the Soul of Man he became very religious. Following a religious conversion, he became very passionate for preaching his newfound faith. The Bishop of Gloucester ordained him before he came of age.
Beginning of the Journey
Effect on the Enlightenment
Whitefield traveled up and down the eastern seaboard carrying the Awakening with him, and he believed that the key test of one's election was whether one had had an emotional experience of conversion. Unlike most prechors who believed that conversion was a practice of the mind, not the heart.
Overall the reason Whitefield was so popular during the Great Enlightenment was because he reduced to Christianity to it's lowest common denominator--those sinners who love Jesus will go to heaven.
He had a loud voice, and it is said one conversion occurred 3 miles from where he was preaching.
