The Anatomy of a Crowd

Sometimes the gospel's movement is propelled by the social phenomenon of a leader's extraordinary talent. We try to spiritualize everything in ministry, but sometimes they were just born with the right vocal chord formation, nurtured with greater self-confidence or gifted with a superior intellect. I write about how crowds come together in Church in the Making...

The legendary preacher George Whitefield was famous for his ability to address thousands of people in outdoor preaching venues. His speaking ability was a social phenomenon. In fact, it prompted Benjamin Franklin to write this about him:

“He had a loud and clear voice, and articulated his words and sentences so perfectly, that he might be heard and understood at a great distance…. I had the curiosity to learn how far he could be heard, by [walking] backwards down the street towards the river; and I found his voice distinct till I came near Front-street, when some noise in that street obscured it. Imagining then a semi-circle, of which my distance should be the radius, and that it were filled with [listeners], to each of whom I allowed two square feet, I computed that he might well be heard by more than thirty thousand.”

Think about that. Whitefield’s voice was so powerful that Benjamin Franklin spent the entire message, not introspecting, not listening intently, not searching his own heart... but trying to calculate its reach.

The good news is that you can be the best in the world at your one thing.