Francis Asbury (1745–1816) set foot on the North American continent on October 27, 1771. At that time there were only nine Methodist preachers on the whole continent and only 316 Methodist Christians. Asbury knew that the only hope to evangelize the New World with nine preachers was to keep them circulating. “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news” (Isa 52:7; Rom 10:15).
Many years later, Henry Clay Morrison (1857–1942) remembered when circuit rider James Phillips rode by their farm with a bowed head. This image became an icon for him of all that was moral and right. When Morrison saw the circuit rider passing, it brought upon him the conviction to weep “with sorrow for [his] sins and shame because of [his] profanity, and [he] resolve[d] to be better.” Morrison was saved in 1870 at the age of thirteen.
In 1966, in a sermon delivered in Berlin, Billy Graham (1918–2018) referred to Morrison’s memory of the circuit rider and the profound impact it made, and he quoted the thoughts that image brought to Morrison’s mind: “You know, when I was converted to Christ I was plowing in the field, and a Methodist circuit rider was coming by on his horse, and he never saw me. But I knew him to be such a holy man that I could feel the power of his presence way out there in the field, and I dropped on my knees and gave my life to God.” There can be little doubt that Graham desired such an image to characterize late-twentieth-century evangelists.
In 1935, the father of our founder, Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw (1922–2017), took a business trip that he did not want to take. On that trip, he heard Dr. Morrison preach at Indian Springs Holiness Camp Meeting. When he came home, he said to his wife, “Sally, we have to take the children to Indian Springs to hear Dr. Morrison preach.” Dennis Kinlaw recalled:
Those were the days of the old Modernism and there was not much talk in my local church of conversion or new birth. When my father took me to Indian Springs, I was confronted with whether I had ever really put my faith in Jesus Christ as my own savior. I did and found a profound, remarkable sense of forgiveness. That night I prayed with all the sincerity and ignorance of a thirteen-year-old, day-old Christian, “Lord, I will never sin against you again.” Five nights later Morrison preached a sermon on entire sanctification. You can imagine how little I knew about the subtleties of Wesleyan theology. Let me tell you though what came through to me. It was that Christ had loved me and given himself for me and that he wanted me to love him in return. In actuality, he wanted to be the first love of my life, the determining love of my life. I knew nothing about the Trinity at that time, but what came through to me was that if I would surrender myself wholly to him, the very love that is the life of God that is manifest in the Cross would flood me and clean my heart to the depths. I had no question about the need of that cleansing, so I surrendered and tasted.
Dr. Kinlaw concluded:
Henry Clay Morrison became the single greatest Christian influence in my home. As a result, I came to Asbury [University] and had the privilege of being under his leadership for the closing years of his life. I heard him preach some 50 to 80 times in those years. It was my high honor to be a part of his funeral as a guard of honor at his casket.
Francis Asbury was converted at the age of fourteen, H. C. Morrison was converted when he was thirteen, and Dennis F. Kinlaw was also thirteen when he got saved. “How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom 10:14). In the heat of July 2022, camp meetings across America are open, and evangelists are preaching the Good News. Perhaps there is a young teenager who will be transformed by what he or she hears this summer. May God have mercy on our nation and pour out his Spirit in revival power and give us great fruit in our summer ministries. As with the circuit riders of Francis Asbury’s day, our lives would be filled with hope.