Written by Liz Givens, Garden Spot Village board member and resident
Fifty years ago, GSV resident David Givens, then a professor at Cairn University, worked with his former student, Dr. Allen Guelzo, to produce a multi-image show highlighting the spiritual history of Philadelphia for the Bicentennial. The title, And Thou Philadelphia, was taken from William Penn’s Prayer for Philadelphia, 1684 that is inscribed on a plaque in the courtyard of City Hall. Penn prays that the city will be kept from the evil that would overwhelm, stand in the day of trial, and be blessed and saved by God’s power. The multi-image show rehearsed much of the early history of Philadelphia, and highlighted the powerful preaching of George Whitefield that stirred the Great Awakening and prepared the way for the American Revolution.
Fifty years later, David is part of the cast of Sight & Sound’s new movie, A Great Awakening, opening on April 3, 2026, that beautifully weaves the dramatic impact of George Whitefield and his fascinating friendship with Benjamin Franklin. David’s bit part as an Oxford professor was an offshoot of his rabbi performance in Servant Stage’s Fiddler on the Roof in 2024. Even senior citizen professors can enjoy hanging out on the movie set with the cast.
Like most movies, the film was shot in multiple locations. The “Oxford” scenes were shot at the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge Park and beautifully portray in miniature what Oxford University might have looked like in the 1700’s.
Another set of scenes were shot in the somewhat derelict Widener Estate in Elkins Park northwest of Philadelphia. Interestingly, the early scenes of Whitefield in a tiny theater/pub were shot in David’s uncle’s barn in Elizabethtown where he recalls winter butchering with his father, grandfather, and uncles. Many other scenes were shot in a mockup of 1700’s Philadelphia on the back lot of Sight & Sound. This is the stuff of movies.
The story line of A Great Awakening chronicles the life of George Whitefield from an obscure pub/theater where an actor is so impressed with his booming voice and acting skills that he commends George to Oxford University. As an impoverished student, George has to work serving tables and life is hard, but the Holy Club, including the Wesley brothers, gather him to their group, and to genuine faith in Jesus. Acting abandoned, George becomes a preacher.
George’s preaching stirred England, especially the poor and the disadvantaged, and in 1738 he made his first of seven trips to the American colonies. His amazing voice draws the printer Ben Franklin and George together in a friendship that spans decades until Whitefield’s untimely death in 1770. Whitefield’s preaching events are also very good for Franklin’s business!
But Whitefield’s message stirs more than Franklin; his biblical teaching of each individual’s responsibility directly to God awakens in the Colonists an understanding that they are not ruled by the Church of England or the King of England. They can make free and independent decisions.
Whether Franklin believed all that George preached is not clear in history, but what IS very clear is that Whitefield’s emphasis on the responsibility of each individual before God greatly influenced Franklin’s contributions to both the Declaration of Independence and finally, the Constitution.
Remember the bicentennial? In the early 1970’s, Glenn Eshelman was just beginning what became Sight & Sound with a projector, a record player, and a flashlight. That young Cairn University professor who created a Bicentennial multi-image show and then, 50 years later appears in A Great Awakening as an Oxford professor, was inspired in his own visual storytelling craft by a visit he and some of his students had with Glenn Eshleman.
Before the semiquincentannial there was a bicentennial. And, before the Revolution that launched our country, there was a Revelation.
And Thou Philadelphia the virgin settlement of this province named before thou wert born, what care, what service, what travail have there been to bring thee forth and preserve they from such as would abuse and defile thee. O that thou mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee, that faithful to the God of thy mercies in the life of righteousness, thou mayest be preserved to the end. My soul prays to God for thee that thou mayest stand in the day of trial, that thy children may be blest of the Lord and thy people saved by His power. William Penn’s Prayer for Philadelphia, 1684
A graduate of Cairn University and Temple University’s School of Communications, Elizabeth Givens is a wordsmith , an experienced board person, and a strategist. With a passport full of stamps and a mind of Scripture, she spent 40 years as a global writer and speaker with SEND International, championing the integration of biblical truth into everyday life. Elizabeth has lived at Garden Spot Village since October 2018.