George Whitefield & The Great Awakening Movie-Opens Friday;...and Whitefield's Thumb

We did a special interview with the talented writer, director, and producer of A Great Awakening, Joshua Enck. Joshua is the son-in-law of the founder of the two stunning 2,000 seat, Sight & Sound Theatres, located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and Branson, Missouri, Glenn Eshelman. (We interviewed him on WPN on November 5, 2025.
(You can WATCH IT HERE).

Joshua Enck was joined by lead actor Jonathan Blair, who portrays George Whitefield. Jonathan has been performing with Sight & Sound since 2017, appearing in productions such as Miracle of Christmas, Jesus, Queen Esther, and David. In 2022, he starred as Charlie Longfellow in I Heard the Bells, the first full-length feature film from Sight & Sound. Now, he returns to the screen as George Whitefield in A Great Awakening. 

Also joining our interview was Ted Baehr of Movie Guide magazine, one of the finest and most brilliant movie critics in America, along with Dr. Pastor Gary Cass, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the famous George Whitefield, who is featured in the movie.

I (Jim) wrote my doctoral dissertation on John Wesley, who was a friend of George Whitefield, although they did have some theological disagreements over Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Wesley led the Evangelical Awakening in the 1700s in England, while the First Great Awakening was occurring in the New World, the 13 Colonies.

George Whitefield was highly influenced by another prominent leader in The Awakening, the brilliant Jonathan Edwards. I had the tremendous privilege of lecturing on Jonathan Edwards and the First Great Awakening in Northampton, Massachusetts, the city in which the awakening began, and also where Edwards was pastor.

I also had the honor of seeing Edwards’ original handwritten sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” in the Beineke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University, after making a trek to the actual site where Edwards preached this famous First Great Awakening sermon on July 8, 1741, in what is now Enfield, Connecticut. (By the way, when Rosemary traced her ancestral lineage, she discovered that Jonathan Edwards was her sixth great grand uncle.)

One other very odd and bizarre note: When George Whitefield died, he was buried in a crypt under the pulpit – for real, I am not making this up! – of the Old South Presbyterian Church in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Some of the Revolutionary War soldiers tended to view his clothing and body superstitiously, like a good luck charm or sort of a relic. 

Consequently, some of them cut off pieces of his clothing, to carry it into battle, hoping it might help bring them victory. Some overzealous soldier – and I apologize for being a bit graphic here – cut off George Whitefield’s thumb – yes, you read that right! – as his rather odd “good luck charm.”

In a way I cannot explain, the detached thumb of the famous evangelist was somehow later either purchased by or given to the Drew University Library, in Madison, New Jersey, the institution from which I received my Ph.D. degree.

Many years later, in 2012, David Barton and I were co-leading “The Next Great Awakening Tour” – Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC – which included a detour to Drew University, located about 30 minutes or so from Manhattan, NYC. Although we were 200 years too late to hear the great Whitefield preach, we could, at least, gaze upon the severed and carefully preserved thumb. (Okay, I admit, that may be simply too much information about Mr. Whitefield.)

Edwards later became president of Princeton University. In the early 1970’s I was a student at an adjacent institution, Princeton Theological Seminary, thus I had the honor of appreciating the town’s remarkable history.

Princeton University was originally known as “Log College,” because it was a small log building, founded by a father-son team, William and Gilbert Tennent, for the purpose of preparing pastors as quickly as possible to try to shepherd the massive number of new converts that came about from the revival known as the First Great Awakening. In fact, on the PTS campus was a building known as Tennent Hall.

Tonight, we’ll explore the powerful story behind the film, which tells the true account of an unlikely friendship between Evangelist George Whitefield and a skeptical Deist (one who does not believe in miracles or in a providential, loving God involved in history), Ben Franklin, that helped shape a defining moment in American history. As the 13 Colonies stood on the brink of collapse, Reverend George Whitefield helped ignite the First Great Awakening, uniting a generation through his bold proclamation of liberty in Christ.

It is important to note that in all countries before “the grand American experiment” with unheard-of religious freedom, if you were born in a certain nation, or a certain colony in the new world, you were automatically a member of the official church of that region. You had to opt out of membership, otherwise you were considered a member of the official church in that region. There were a few exceptions such as Rhode Island and Pennsylvania most notably, and also New Jersey and Delaware. But for most of the other areas, nine of the 13 Colonies, if you were born in one of the them, you were automatically a member of the official state (or colony) supported church:

• Congregational – Massachusetts and most of New England;
• Anglican – the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia;
• Catholic – Maryland.

Careful historians know that Whitefield’s message of individual decisions for Christ dramatically changed thinking, People went from thinking “corporately” (in mass) to “individually,” that is, “I can make an individual decison for Christ,” as opposed to somehow being born into the faith. With the gospel message being preached, individuals could make their own decisions, part of the stimulus for the “rugged individualism” of Americans. That was an enormous change for the culture.

The revival also proved to unite the very divided colonies. As the Great Awakening spread up and down the 13 Colonies, the biblical truths of salvation united the people across denominational and geographical lines into the family of God in a way that made them much stronger and thus able to oppose England, which had the greatest and strongest fighting force in the world at that time.

In addition, with the gospel being proclaimed, society became less class conscious: the upper and the lower classes. The gospel proclamation challenged the assumed doctrine of “the divine right of kings.” The gospel message had an egalitarian, or equalizing, role. It meant that the common citizen was not inferior to the “upper crust” of society. No longer did they have to obey a king across the Atlantic.

Furthermore, the message of liberty in Christ translated beautifully to liberty for the colonies from the yoke of England. Had Whitefield’s message not been heard by tens of thousands, the Revolutionary War would not have occurred.

I have noted many times that freedom and liberty runs in “threes.” Political freedom, economic freedom and religious liberty run together as a triumvirate, sort of a triad. Where one rises, the other two are likely to follow. When one is crushed, the other two are likely to fall.

The American Revolution cannot be understood merely in economic terms, that is, the Boston Tea Party, or in merely political terms, that is, the breaking with the King.

It can only be fully understood when the cry for religious freedom is fully grasped. As the tagline of The Great Awakening movie says, “There was a Revelation before there was a Revolution.” That is profoundly true.

In a remarkable turn of events, one of the closest and unexpected allies and friends of George Whitefield was the Deist Benjamin Franklin. They are the ultimate “odd couple.” Franklin came to realize that true freedom cannot simply be written into law, but must be awakened in the hearts of the people.

Watch these interviews here for an explanation of the movie that you need to see, especially on the 250th anniversary of the birth of America. We watched it a couple days ago. You must see it. It opens this week, in some places on Friday. Go see it.

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