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BRUNSWICK — A performance by Mark Alan Leslie will evoke the life and legend of America’s first “circuit rider” preacher on Sunday, June 23, at United Methodist Church.

Leslie, author of the novel “Midnight Rider for the Morning Star,” will portray its subject, Francis Asbury, during the church’s 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services.

British-born, Asbury sailed to America in 1771 just before the Revolution began. Under his guidance, the number of Methodists in America grew from 600 to more than 210,000 by the time of his death in 1816, according to Leslie.

He traveled by horseback from church to church, about 6,000 miles a year, from Maine to Georgia to speak out against slavery and liquor long before the anti-slavery and temperance movements.

United Methodist Church is located at 320 Church Road.



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