Ready to Preach, Pray, or Die: Lessons from George Whitefield

Dannah Gresh: Want to make a difference in the world? According to Kim Miller, the key is letting God work on your heart. 

Kim Miller: When God can impact the soul, when He can impact the heart of a person, then we are positioned and postured to fulfill and carry out governmental work, ministry work, business work, family work.

This is the Revive Our Hearts podcast with Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth, author of Brokenness: The Heart God Revives for March 26, 2026. I'm Dannah Gresh.

If you're reading through the Bible with us this year, today we're reading 1 Samuel chapters 19 and 20, where it tells the story of two very unlikely friends, David and Jonathan. It describes their loyalty to one another and how Jonathan saved David from his angry father, King Saul.

I hope you're taking this journey through the Scripture with us. To sign up and dive right in, head to ReviveOurHearts.com/Bible2026.

Today we're going to talk about another unlikely friendship from the pages of history. It's one that's portrayed in a moving new film coming out next week. That unlikely friendship was between American founding father Benjamin Franklin and the revivalist and preacher George Whitefield.

From the A Great Awakening Film:

“Mr. Franklin.”

“Reverend Whitefield.”

“Please, call me George. It is an honor to finally meet you. Your reputation precedes you in England.”

“Oh, which one?” (laughter)

Dannah: As you know, Revive Our Hearts is passionate to see God move in the lives of individuals. We long to see Him awaken people to their desperate need of a Savior, and we plead with Him to purify and breathe new life into His Church.

That's something He does in the hearts of individuals all the time. It's something He's done in sweeping ways at various points in history, and it's something we're asking Him to do again.

The movie is called A Great Awakening. It's coming out Easter weekend, and it's produced by Sight & Sound.

If you've ever been in Branson, Missouri, or Lancaster, Pennsylvania, you've at least seen signs advertising their stage productions. Let me tell you, they're amazing.

I sat down with Kim Miller and her daughter, Katie. Kim's parents, Glenn and Shirley Eshelman, founded Living Waters Theatre in 1976, and out of that, Sight & Sound was born.

All right, I have so many questions about the movie. I just watched it last night. It is fantastic. But first, I have questions about your family, too.

Kim, you have carried on the legacy of your parents, and that is really a rare and beautiful thing. It used to be very common, but it's a rare and beautiful thing today. What in your heart led you to want to be a part of that?

Kim: Well, thank you for having us today. It's a real honor, and so thanks for that question.

Well, to tell you what, my sisters and I grew up on stage, so it was part of our DNA from just even being little kids. It was, in many ways, all we knew.

I think as I grew and became an adult and saw my own children starting to get involved, you start to have this moment in life of understanding the enormity of what we are called to do.

We started off very “mom and pop.” If we had five hours, Katie and I could tell you lots of stories. But I always say, “Never, ever, ever despise the day of small beginning, because you have no idea what the Lord may have planned and where He may want to take you.”

I think every day is a reminder. The movie that we're going to be discussing today is another reminder of what we are called to as a ministry. We're called to reach the world. Many come to us, and now through the movie, we're called to go out as missionaries to the world.

From the Film:

"'For God so loved the world.'” God so loved each of you. He loved. He gave His only Son, 'that whosoever should believe in him and call upon his name should not perish in their sins, but have eternal life'" (see John 3:16).

And so for our family . . . Actually, just as recent as yesterday, we say “2G,” so that means second generation. Second generation family members met, because we're constantly talking about family and how family intertwines with this ministry. We don't want to be mission drifters. We don't want to start off at one place and end at another. That's not good. We want to start off at a good place and end at a great place. But that takes tons of intentionality with our family, and we're always growing and learning how to do that better.

We put a lot of intentionality around who we are as a family first, before what we're called to do—who we are before the Lord, before what He asks us to fulfill. And so it is a really big deal for us, because family is so vitally important, even outside of this huge ministry that we're called to.

But every single one . . . there's fifty or more of us in the family now. Not everyone is here day to day, but I believe I can say with all of my heart, every one, whether they're in the building or outside of the building, has a huge passion for this ministry and what the Lord is requiring and asking of us.

Dannah: I love that. So, Katie, are you 3G? Is that what they call the next generation?

Katie Miller: Yeah. So I would be the oldest of the third generation. My mom's the oldest of the second generation, and then I'm the oldest of the third generation.

Dannah: That is amazing. And your role at Sight & Sound, what is it?

Katie: I get the opportunity to serve as our Vice President of Brand Development, so leading our marketing and creative teams.

Dannah: So are you saying that fifty members of the family, Katie, are involved with Sight & Sound as a ministry?

Katie: There's fifty members of our family, so yeah. There's about twenty or so of us that are involved in the day to day.

Dannah: That is fantastic. I love how you're saying who we are matters more than what we're doing. That's a message that we could stop the podcast right now. That's a message for everybody, everywhere, wherever they are. Let us be right before God and know whose we are and who we are in Him before we set forth to do something.

Okay, let's talk about this movie. It's fantastic. It's your second movie, right? Is that right?

Katie: Yeah.

Dannah: So tell us why you chose this topic and this story and these characters.

Katie: Sure. We launched into films several years ago after having staged Bible stories for the last almost fifty years. We're in our fiftieth year this year. Part of it was because we really felt called to take our storytelling beyond the stage. But we also felt called to take our storytelling beyond Bible stories.

There are so many stories from the pages of history waiting to be told. And so, we became really passionate about beginning to tell the stories of events and figures from history who changed the world because Christ first changed them. That's where it starts.

Dannah: Amen.

Katie: When we started looking into the next story after I Heard the Bells—that was our first film—we realized that the 250th anniversary of our nation was coming up. And so our writer and director of the film, Josh Enck, started saying, “What if we would do something on the life of George Washington,” or something along those lines?

Nothing was really settling. So he took a weekend. He went away by himself, got an Airbnb, and just sought the Lord and started doing some research about George Washington's life. He actually stumbled upon the life of George Whitefield and felt like the Lord dropped in his heart: “You got the name George right, but it was not the right George.”

He had known loosely about the Great Awakening and George Whitefield, had heard the name, but really didn't know the depth of the impact he had on the founding of our nation and the spiritual impact that the First Great Awakening had, not just in our nation, but across the world.

When he started to dive into that story, it blew his mind. He came back from that weekend and he was like, “Guys, there was this whole revolution before the actual revolution, and I never knew about it. Why aren't we talking about this?”

It kind of bled into us saying, actually, there was a revelation before the revolution ever happened. And so that's where the heart of this story really started to emerge.

Dannah: Yeah, unpack that a little bit, because that's an important thing—there was a revelation before there was a revolution. What do you mean by that?

Katie: One of the things that we know—and it's one of my favorite parts in the film—is when George Whitefield is at Oxford College, and he's learning about faith and Christianity. He starts learning that all men are created equal, that true liberty is found in Christ.

And in the film it's going back in time, so you have to go watch it. But you're going back in time, and Ben Franklin's grandson is reading through some of George Whitefield's journals, and he says, 

From the Film:

“You were friends with a preacher? Liberty. All men created equal. Sounds like the cry of the revolution. Was he part of the revolution?”

“Benny, George Whitefield was the revolution.”

Katie: This whole concept that came to America—that true liberty is found in Jesus, not in a government, not in a nation, not in a revolution, not in a rebellion against the enemy, but it is found only in Christ; that was what George Whitefield preached.

It dropped this whole idea of liberty in the hearts of Americans that led to the founding principles that we all live in today, which is mind-blowing.

Dannah: Yeah.

So speaking of mind blowing, I don't want to have to do any spoiler alerts, but there are so many things I learned about Whitefield, about Franklin, about Washington in this movie that I never heard.

And my husband—he's a fact checker. We call it “breaking it down.” After we see a movie based on a true story, we have to get online and be like, “Is that true? Is that true?”

He's over there in real time. “That can't be true.” . . . “That’s true.” “That can't be true.” . . . “That’s true.”

Like there’s so much—you need to see this movie just because you're going to be blown away at really, I guess, the revelation before the revolution. And that's what you guys found. That's the nugget of truth you found through prayer and research, and that's what you're bringing to us.

Okay, let's go a little bit deeper into this revelation before the revolution.

Kim: Well, the thought that comes to me is that I think God almost always works from the inside out. He wants to do a heart work before He can do a circumstantial work.

I'm actually reading a book right now about our souls, so this is really on my mind. I think that God always wants to do a soul work, a Spirit work in human hearts.

I think that is one of the most profound things that we see. Here we have these colonies that are struggling. The government system is struggling. No one really knows which end is up. And how could they? Everything's brand new.

I believe God inserts George Whitefield at this profound moment in history with soul answers, with soul challenges.

From the Film:

“For I see you to be as I was—acquainted with grief, with lack, with unrelenting sorrow in your soul, ever anxious and fearful of what may happen, longing to be pure but hopelessly defiled. Then fly, fly, my brothers, fly for your lives to Jesus Christ. Fly to the fleeting God. Fly to the throne of mercy and beg Him. Beg Him to break your heart. Beg Him to show you your sin. Beg Him to give you faith to close with Christ.”

Kim: I believe that when God can impact the soul and He can impact the heart of a person, then we are positioned and postured to fulfill and carry out—whether it's governmental work, ministry work, business work, family work.

Listen, we know that even today we have humongous issues in this nation—whether it's government, whether it's churches, ministries, families. We see it every day. None of this will be completely solved until we continue to look to the Lord to heal and restore our hearts and our souls and posture us rightly before Him.

And then we're prepared for the revolution, if you want to say it that way. Then we're prepared to do the legwork, so to speak. But I'm a firm believer that God always works from the inside out.

Dannah: I'm thinking of 2 Chronicles 7:14. It's one of my favorite verses. We prayed it one year for the National Day of Prayer when it was under the leadership of Shirley Dobson.

Anyway, it says, “If my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

I know that was a specific promise God made to King Solomon at the dedication of the temple. We need to be careful not to plug the United States of America directly into that promise that was made to ancient Israel. But we can certainly apply the principle to God's people and to God's Church.

To your point, policy making and how we vote is important, but that's not what ultimately changes things, is it? It's when God's people humble themselves. It's when God's people repent and pray.

And I feel like doing that after I watched this movie. You made me want to do that.

I want to ask so many questions without spoiling anything. How did you see in Whitefield the qualities that made him able to bring that awakening, that revelation, not only to the masses but also to the leadership in the American colonies that would become our country?

Katie: There's this moment where George Whitefield faced incredible amounts of persecution, as did his friends.

So this is . . . Listen, here's the thing. It's not a spoiler alert, because it's history, right? There's very little in it that is not accurate to history.

So he was friends with the Wesley brothers. He was friends with a gentleman named William Seward. And there's a point in time where John Wesley says to George Whitefield, “If you're going to step out into this kind of ministry . . .

From the Film:

". . . you must be willing to preach, pray, or die at any moment.”

Katie: And George Whitefield took that incredibly to heart, and he lived that way. In some ways, almost to a fault, every waking moment he was praying, he was preaching, he was ministering to people. His entire life revolved around that.

But he really, truly was a man of prayer. I mean, it's this beautiful moment in the film where he often would stay at Ben Franklin's house if he was in town preaching. And Ben Franklin walks down into his living room late at night to get something, and he stumbles upon Whitefield in the middle of the night, up and praying and seeking the Lord for what he was going to do next, where he was supposed to go next, what he was supposed to preach about next.

And honestly, as they were producing the film, it was one of the things for me that became almost convicting. I was like, “Lord, I have some work to do in my own prayer life.”

Dannah: That's the right word—convicting.

Katie: Yeah. And not in a condemning way, but it was almost like it felt like an invitation to recognize that the Lord wants to be with us every moment of every day.

And to my mom's point, whether we are at work or we're at home with our kids or going to the grocery store . . . George Whitefield lived like every moment was this impending miracle. He walked his days out that way, which was both convicting and inspiring to me.

Dannah: Yeah, me too.

You talk about the Wesleys. I mean, this is a powerhouse of a discipleship group. Am I right? These are legacy-leaving men.

Katie: Yeah, and so unexpected. I was homeschooled. I went to Christian school on and off. And the one thing I never really pieced together about George Whitefield and the Great Awakening was that you always think of it because we're a little self-focused, so we think, “Oh, America,” like he was in America.

But it never entered my mind that he was actually from England and would have been going to school with all of these people that we all know and cherish so much of their work and their music and just the impact they had on the church as a whole.

It kind of is this fun cast of characters, because they were buddies. I love that we get just a little glimpse of that camaraderie that they all had throughout those formative years of their lives.

From the Film:

“You're a bunch of radicals.”

“We're Christians, and if we're radicals, it's in our love for God and for people.”

“What's this?”

“The Lord whom we serve sees you and has prompted us to serve you. Please sit.”

(Singing)
Love divine all loves excelling,
Joy of heaven to earth, come down.
Fix in us thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown. 
("Love Divine, All Loves Excelling by Charles Wesley)

Dannah: Kim, what do you hope audiences take away from the life of Whitefield?

Kim: I think there's so much to take away. It's almost been a year now since I saw the film for the first time. It wasn't even completely done, but the essential pieces were in place.

Joshua Enck is my brother-in-law. He's the producer of the film. He was in the room when some of us were watching. At the end, my first words to him were, “I'm speechless.” And when I was able to talk, I said, “Josh, I believe this film is going to be as impactful to the believer as it is the nonbeliever.” And that is a huge nugget for all of us.

I believe for the unbeliever, I think a lot of people are going to relate to Ben Franklin, honestly—his questions, his doubts, his, “Is God involved in the affairs of men?” You know, all these questions that this very wise Ben Franklin had. He had a lot of questions about God. He had a lot of unanswered questions.

From the Film:

“You will have my prayers.”

“Prayers? Appeal to a distant God cannot resolve these issues. It's going to take a lot more than prayer, I'm afraid.”

“So that's it then? A distant God, uninvolved in the affairs of man.”

“I'm quite certain he was never involved in my affairs.”

Kim: And I believe for the unbeliever, they may relate with Ben. And prayerfully, they will hear this message that George was so passionate about—this message that only Jesus can be the one who gives hope; only Jesus can be the one who brings answers to this weary life that we are sometimes in.

And then I think for the believer, I just keep hearing the word “passion.” George had such a passion for kingdom business.

I think if we're all real and honest as believers, we can get so caught up in this life that we can lose our passion and lose our fire for kingdom business and eternal perspective. And so my prayer is that it lights a fire within each of us as believers, and it brings the unbeliever to just a place of decision.

We don't have a lot of proof really around where Ben Franklin actually landed with faith. We really don't know. He did say at one point that he now believes God is involved in the affairs of men, which I don't think he would have believed previous to George Whitefield and his influence. But I believe it will bring the unbeliever to a place of reconciling the God of the universe and where they are currently at.

So I think, to sum it up, that's where I'm at. I think it's just going to be a humongous impact on both the believer and the nonbeliever, and that is what really excites me.

Dannah: Me too. Katie, we know that we minister to millions of women across the globe who love Jesus, and their passion is there. But we also know that we all go through seasons of—let's call them—dry spells or doubts. Maybe you've had a really hard year, and the doubts and the questions are just surfacing. We do see that addressed in this film. What would you say to her right now to minister to her and encourage her?

Katie: You know, one of my favorite things that we get to do—whether it is through this film or through the stage shows or anything else that we do at Sight & Sound—is that our heart is to show how God used imperfect people and people in imperfect seasons to accomplish His work in ways that sometimes we are so unaware of in any given moment.

In many ways George is the hero of the story. There is no doubt that he was used by God. He himself was not perfect. He had moments of discouragement. If you dig into his life, he made choices that I think all of us would agree were not the best choices, and yet his heart was always toward following the Lord. And to have that in the moments of, “I don’t know which way to go next, I’m not sure . . .” He had a hard start to his life, and yet, the Lord was able to work through Him.

From the Film:

“Father, tear down the name of Whitefield if it means Your name remains. Amen.”

Katie: It’s Christ in us, working through us. And so, I think that we just tend to go to this place of trying to do it in and of our own strength, letting the moment that we're in almost shape where we believe God can work. He’s so much bigger than all of that. He’s so much bigger than all of that.

You know, the fact that He even used Ben Franklin to basically be a co-preacher—whether he realized it or not—because he was reprinting all of George Whitefield’s sermons and where he was going to be preaching and his journals. He really became this messenger of the gospel while not believing it the whole time.

Even that was so inspiring to me—to be like, “My view of what God can do with the day-to-day, with two loaves of bread and five fish—or was it two fish and five loaves?—what God can do with whatever I have to offer. I cannot be limiting what He could be doing with this on any given day, no matter where I'm at or what my circumstances are.”

Dannah: Kim, this film releases—as was previously mentioned—close to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. That makes it significant, but there are so many other factors in our world right now. This really feels like God-orchestrated timing for this message to be released. Do you agree? And why?

Kim: I absolutely agree. I’m not even sure that . . . We even tried to figure that out. In the moments where we were making decisions to produce this film, it really, in so many ways, feels so divine.

I believe God is a numbers God, and I believe numbers matter a lot. I believe the significance of 250 years of this nation being a nation is very significant. And the message of this film, I don’t think it could come at a better time. You just need to turn the news on for two minutes, and we know how desperate we are once again as a nation.

If you saw the film—which I know you did—you will relate to the moment when Ben Franklin and George Washington are having the conversation in the kitchen around George Washington’s dark and deep concern for how they were going to format and orchestrate the government.

From the Film:

“This great experiment needs you, Ben. I need you. We cannot let the sun set on this nation.”

Kim: And in many ways, it can feel maybe just as dark now. This nation is divided.

Dannah: Yeah. The government was a mess right at that point.

Kim: It was a mess, a complete mess, in a different way. But there’s a lot of mess right now. There’s a lot of division.

I can only believe that it is God’s divine providence—if we want to use that word again—to bring this film to the nation on an anniversary year, in a moment where we need desperate answers. We need desperate hope. We need alignment as the people of this nation.

I think all of us are in desperate need for a soul revival of some sort. Even if we’re following Jesus, I think our cry always before the Lord is, “Lord, restore my soul. Help me to be everything inwardly You want me to be. Help me be pure before You.”

I just think it’s an amazing time for this movie to be released in our nation—not just on an incredible year and an anniversary, but a moment where we need so much alignment and discernment and wisdom in our government once again and among our people.

Katie: Yeah, and just to jump off of that for a second too, just add to it . . . We talk about how much the government is in need of where we’re at. There’s just so much in our nation, so much division. But George spent a lot of his time preaching to the Church and to the religious leaders of the time to say, “This is a time to be pulled together.”

From the Film:

“Let there be no divisions in the church, but rather be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.”

Katie: My mom and I drove to an event last week. We had five hours together in the car. One of the things we were talking about is just what feels like—from the outside looking in—the alignment that God is bringing to the Church as a whole right now. Not just any specific church or church leaders—not that—but the Church as a whole.

I think we’re in a moment of Him calling us up to walk in what we are truly called to walk in. I believe that He’s walking us toward something. Let’s pray for it to be the next spiritual awakening that just goes across not just our nation but the world.

I think that the Church knowing who they are, their identity in Jesus, and the liberty that is found there . . . The answers are not found in our government. The answers are not found in the ways of the world. They’re found in the Lord.

I think that there is a calling up and an aligning that the Lord is bringing to the Church as a whole right now that we are just astounded is happening. When we started making this movie four years ago, we didn’t know that’s what the Lord was going to be doing in this moment. And so it just feels a little bit surreal to be walking alongside what we believe He’s already doing.

Dannah: You know, let’s pray now. We need to pray. That is what the movie’s about, right?

Katie: Absolutely.

Dannah: So let’s pray now. Kim, would you pray for awakening in souls, revival in souls? And I think it’s significant what Katie mentioned—for the church to understand that while we must be discerning, we must be like the Bereans and discern what is true and what is accurate. There’s got to be a unification in terms of how we get on our knees, repent, and turn from the things that are worldly and turn to the things that are of the Word.

Kim: Yes, I would love to pray. Thank you.

Lord, we humbly come before You today. We need You so desperately. This nation, the world, needs You so desperately. Father, we are in a moment where we just want to cry out to You and say, “Father, we need You.” We need You as individuals. We need You in our government, in our colleges, our schools, our families, and our churches.

Father, I pray—as David asked—search our hearts, Lord, and see if there be any wicked way in us. Father, we want to be clean vessels and a clean Bride, a prepared Bride for kingdom purposes, so that we will be ready to proclaim the good news wherever, whenever, and however You call us as the Church to do that.

Father, I do believe it is a moment where You are doing a deep cleansing work in the Church, in the body of Christ. And Father, we know that it’s painful, and we know, Lord, that at times we don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. But Lord, we know You are at work, and we know You are doing Your work.

We pray, Lord, it’s something that is just so on my heart. Because, Father, we can get so caught up in the things of this world, and we can lose sight that our treasure is in eternal matters. So Lord, I pray that this nation would turn back to You, that there would be a revival, that there would be an awakening, that there would be a profound understanding that there is a King, a Lord of lords, a King of kings, that desires to be intimately acquainted and involved in the affairs of man, in the affairs of each one of us. 

So Father, we pray that You not only use this film, A Great Awakening, but You use every single one of us and what we are called to do to make impact as George Whitfield made impact; to be willing to go to the heights and the depths and the dark places and the light places. 

Father, he was willing to go. Help us to be willing, help us to move out of our comfort zones, to do what You ask us to do in this hour and in this time. Because, Lord, we know, and we believe that You have a great plan for this nation. We desire to walk in the fullness of that plan. In Jesus, mighty name. Amen.

Dannah: Isn't it encouraging to hear the heart behind a film that will be on the big screen next week. And what a needed topic for our day! 

We've been listening to a conversation I had with Kim Miller and her daughter, Katie, from Sight & Sound films. The topic of prayer plays an important role in the movie—even in the life of the skeptical deist Benjamin Franklin. What about you? Are you willing to ask God to move in your own life? What about your church, your community, your country? 

Again, the movie coming out at the end of next week is called A Great Awakening. I hope you'll make plans to see it. I loved it. We've provided a link to more information about this film within the transcript of this program. You'll be able to watch the trailer and find a theater near you again, look for the link in the transcript of this program at Revive Our Hearts. 

Tomorrow Nancy helps us look carefully at one of the names of Jesus. He is our Ruler, our Sovereign, our King. But when He rode into Jerusalem on the donkey, He knew He wasn't the kind of king that people were expecting. We'll talk about that tomorrow. Be back for Revive Our Hearts. 

This program is a listener supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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