Shubal Stearns

Shubal Stearns (sometimes spelled Shubael; 28 January 1706 – November 20, 1771), was a colonial evangelist and preacher during the Great Awakening. He converted after hearing George Whitefield and planted a Baptist Church in Sandy Creek, Guilford County, North Carolina. Stearns' highly successful ministry was related to the rise and expansion of the Separate Baptists Whitefield preached that, instead of trying to reform the Congregational church over doctrinal issues, members needed 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. 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. His central theme was recounted as discussing the need for followers of Christ to be "born again" from within. At first churchgoers in North Carolina found this a difficult concept as they never thought of their religion as anything more than external.

Stearns was married to Sarah Johnson, and they had no children.