Asahel Nettleton

Asahel Nettleton



In 1812, a 29-year-old pastor traveling to New York stopped to speak to a small congregation in South Britain, Connecticut. He was shy and unimpressive looking.



A recent graduate from Yale and newly ordained, he dressed humbly like the farmer's son he was. Neither his appearance nor his deportment predicted the remarkable power that would overshadow his ministry over the next 20 years. At South Britain that potency first manifested itself. When he left the church one week later, it was profoundly changed by the many conversions that had taken place. Thus began the ministry of Asahel Nettleton (1783--1844), one of the great evangelists in American history.



Few have heard of Nettleton today, but he was the Billy Graham of the 1820s. His name was familiar in every New England household. It is estimated that more conversions occurred under his ministry than any other since Whitefield. He was responsible for at least 30,000 additions to the church, even though most of his work was confined to Connecticut, a small geographical area.



"In 1844, The New York Observer said that Nettleton was 'one of the most extraordinary preachers of the gospel with whom God has ever blessed this country.' The New York Evangelist agreed, 'Few men, since the apostolic days, have been honored with such a signal success in preaching the word, and in the conversion of sinners as he.'