Shubal Stearns

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Shubal Stearns (sometimes spelt Shubael) (born in Boston 28 January 1706, died November 20, 1771 at Sandy Creek near Liberty, present Randolph County, NC) was an evangelist and preacher who, though his name is little remembered or taught today, was to have a profound impact in planting the seeds for the spiritual direction of much of the population of the United States. Stearns' remarkably successful ministry is inextricably intertwined with the rise and expansion of the Separate Baptists — especially in much the American South, where the Baptist faith today remains that of the overwhelming majority of people.

Stearns' family were members of the Congregational church in Tolland, Connecticut, when in 1745 he heard evangelist George Whitefield. Whitefield preached that instead of trying to reform the Congregational church over doctrinal issues, it was necessary to separate from it; hence his followers were called the "New-Lights". Stearns was converted, became a preacher, and adopted the Great Awakening's view of revival and conversion. The "New Lights" also came to be called the "Separates", in part because they pointed to 2 Cor. 6:17 "be ye separate", ie, from the mainstream "Old Light" Congregational church.

Stearns' church became involved in the controversy over the proper subjects of baptism in 1751. Soon, Stearns rejected infant baptism and sought baptism at the hands of Wait Palmer, Baptist minister of Stonington, Connecticut. By March, Shubal Stearns was ordained into the Baptist ministry by Palmer and Joshua Morse, the pastor of New London, Connecticut. His church of "Separates", by becoming Baptists, were from then on to be known as the Separate Baptists.

In 1754, Stearns and some of his followers moved south to Opequon, Virginia, at that time on the western frontier. Here he joined Daniel Marshall and wife Martha (Stearns' sister), who were already active in a Baptist church there. During his brief time in Virginia, Stearns and Marshal preached the Gospel with great zeal and were even accused of being "disorderly ministers" by some stalwarts who complained to the Philadelphia Association, but this charge was dismissed.

On November 22, 1755, Stearns and his party moved further south to Sandy Creek, in Guilford County, North Carolina to build a new church. This party consisted of eight men and their wives, mostly relatives of Stearns. Stearns pastored at Sandy Creek until his death. From there, Separate Baptists spread in the South. The church quickly grew from 16 members to 606. Church members moved to other areas and started other churches.

The Sandy Creek Association was formed in 1758. Morgan Edwards, a Baptist minister who visited Sandy Creek the year after Stearns' death, recorded that, "in 17 years, [Sandy Creek] has spread its branches westward as far as the great river Mississippi; southward as far as Georgia; eastward to the sea and Chesopeck [sic] Bay; and northward to the waters of the Pottowmack [sic]; it, in 17 years, is become mother, grandmother, and great grandmother to 42 churches, from which sprang 125 ministers." Based on the testimony of those who remembered him, Edwards described Stearns as fervent and charismatic preacher who was capable of inspiring the most powerful emotions in his congregation.

None of Stearns' sermons has survived in writing, but a central theme seems to have been the need for followers of Christ to be "born again" from within, which at first seemed strange to churchgoers in North Carolina who never thought of their religion as anything more than external. His style of preaching became the model for many other preachers who sought to copy his example, down to the minutest gesture or inflection of voice. Stearns believed that God pours his spirit like water upon a new believer, requiring no special learning or instruction; and this 'outpouring' swiftly became a flood that spread from Sandy Creek throughout all parts of the southern frontier.

Stearns was married to Sarah Johnstone, but never had children.