37. George Whitefield

During the late colonial period of America history, it is likely that the best known, and best loved personality on the landscape was George Whitefield, the British evangelist and preacher who worked his way up and down the eastern seaboard with a gospel message that inspired the movement known as the Great Awakening. His tireless efforts, both in America and in Europe, were a wonder of the age. It is difficult to imagine how one man could maintain such a grueling schedule of non-stop preaching for over thirty years, but the universal and consistent testimony of history is that he did just that. Many have seen in Whitefield the moral force that would galvanize the American identity paving the way for the American Revolution, but he would certainly insist that his more important contribution was to bring the gospel to as many people as he could, across the social spectrum, and in that endeavor he was truly second to none.