Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Spurgeon was born in 1834 after his father and grandfather, both Independent preachers committed to a Nonconformist path against the established Church of England. He was born in a rural area, out of the Industrial Revolution's reach. He was born again at a Primitive Methodist meeting in 1850 at 16 and soon became a Baptist and began preaching almost immediately to huge audiences. "A boy wonder of the fens." He was invited to preach at New Park Street Chapel in London at 19, boosting attendance from under 200 to over 1200, moving to larger and larger venues until settling into the newly built Metropolitan Tabernacle with 6000 seats. He died in 1892 at age 57.
He married Susannah Thompson in 1856 and had twins, Charles and Thomas. Spurgeon opened Pastors' College and trained over 900 pastors. He also opened orphanages. He also developed a program to publish and distribute Christian literature with his wife, possibly reaching over 10 million people in his 40 years of ministry. His sermons sold over 25000 copies each week and were translated into 20 languages.
He was relatable as a small village man transplanted to the huge city, like so many displaced by the Industrial Revolution.
He once preached to a crowd of 23000 people without mechanical amplification. He used an outline, developing his themes extemporaneously and speaking "in common language to common people" with lots of stories, poetry, drama, and emotion, and always in motion.
He was an expositional preacher (expository preaching), exploring a passage of Scripture for its meanings both within the text as well as in the lives of each member of his congregation. Scripture is alive and specifically relevant to people's lives, whatever their status or situation. He explored the mysteries of God, comfortable with saying "This I know, and this I don't know-yet will I trust."
(Spurgeon's Sermons on Prayer by Charles H. Spurgeon (2007). Pages xiii-xv)