A recent movie about George Whitfield and Benjamin Franklin tells a powerful story
In 2024, I went with my family from Lynchburg, VA to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the experience of Sight and Sound musical and theatrical story of Daniel. It’s common in our secular society to draw a line that divides religious art into its own category. But it remains that the acting, real-time special effects, music, live animals and general artistry made Daniel one of the coolest things I’ve seen in my entire life. It being biblically-based on the book of Daniel made it even more special.
So when I went back to Lancaster in 2025 to enjoy another production of Sight and Sound Theatres, I left anticipating the release of their upcoming film: The Great Awakening. And even though rarely wasting time to watch movies, this historical drama was one I was happy to go and see.
In the beginning of April 2026, I was finally able to go to the local movie theater and watch Joshua Enck’s, The Great Awakening. As the title suggests, the film is about the Great Awakening, and the drama centers around George Whitfield and his life. For those familiar with the Awakening and the evangelical fervor that helped shape early America, a narrowing in on the extraordinary person of Whitfield is of no surprise. But instead, the story focuses on Whitfield and his friendship with Benjamin Franklin.
When Benjamin Franklin makes an appeal at the beginning of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to seek God for divine intervention, it is judged as rather odd by many today. His contemporaries could have seen it out of step with the man they thought they knew as well. Is God indeed involved in the affairs of men? Maybe old-man Benjamin is just in desperation or out of touch with reality.
Views about why Franklin made the appeal to prayer abound, and it is within this frame the historical drama of the film is told. He is left despondent from the lack of unity and a general feeling that the light that sparked the American Revolution was going out, and this is where Whitfield enters the picture.
Upon sifting through some things when he arrives at home for the night, Franklin uncovers the journals given to him by George Whitfield, and he remembers and recounts the friendship between them to his grandson. On a heart-felt journey back to a time of close friendship with the gospel preacher, the memory motivates him and brings the place of resolve to appeal to the guidance of God in the assembly of statesmen in the birth of our nation.
Through well-researched source material and creative storytelling, a compelling tale is weaved together. And the film fits into the larger narrative of the enduring influence of Christianity in the American story.
The story is compelling and challenging. As a follower of Christ, considering the way George Whitefield was compelled above everything else to serve as a microphone for the voice of God guides me forward. And understanding that every new generation has the responsibility of protecting and upholding the good and right and true in our American heritage for the next nudges me a little further along.
But there is God, and there is country, so how should the two interact? What does the right path look like? I don’t think it looks like a form of separation of church and state that demands privatization for Christians. And when a film prompts these kind of questions and dialogue in its viewers, it has been a success.
