We now look back to Gasper River as the first “camp meeting”—that is, the first religious service of several days’ length held outdoors, for people who had traveled a distance to attend. They camped on the spot—thus the name. McGready was a pacesetter. For almost two centuries the revival preacher and the camp meeting have endured in America. Time, however, had its way and the intensity of the preaching cooled. It was inevitable. Man does not live by fire alone. Under the leadership of men like Charles Finney, D. L. Moody, and Billy Graham, the camp meeting moved indoors and continued its
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