Last week was Family Weekend at Greensboro College. Parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts, little brothers and sisters crowded the campus to visit with their college student, perhaps for the first time since bringing them to campus Aug. 13. It's an exciting time as parents listen carefully to their student to be absolutely certain the college experience is working out as they had hoped.
During one of my conversations with a father of a student, after talking about all the nice things they were experiencing and the enthusiasm of their daughter, the father pulled me aside. He wanted me to know that the sound system in our Huggins Performance Center was not all it should be. There had been a student-led program in the Center the previous evening, and he was concerned that he could not hear as well as he would have liked. He encouraged me to look into the sound system, and I assured him I would. In the 21st century we have to be certain we have a good sound system so people can hear all the way to the back of the hall.
That conversation reminded me of the built-in sound system John Wesley possessed. He often preached to outdoor congregations of well over a thousand people. Sometimes he preached to crowds numbering in the tens of thousands. I continue to be amazed that his voice could be heard by so many. It was a phenomenon that intrigued even John Wesley.
In his WORKS, Wesley makes this entry on April 5, 1752: "At one I preached at Birstall. Observing that several sat on the side of the opposite hill, I afterward desired one to measure the ground, and we found it was seven score yards from the place where I had stood. Yet the people heard perfectly well. I did not think any human voice could have reached so far."
Wesley historian Conrad Archer reminds us that John Wesley's voice often carried better out of doors than indoors. Archer writes: "He preached at 'our new house' at Leeds. But it was so full, and consequently so hot, besides which my voice was so damped by the breath of the people, that I suppose many could not hear."
I need to do more research to determine Wesley's secret. In the meantime, I had better get the sound system checked in Huggins Performance Center.
Craven E. Williams
President
Greensboro College
Greensboro, N.C.
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Dr. Williams Profiled in "In the Spotlight" Magazine
