8 Loxley Court, two blocks south of St. George's. This house was owned by prominent Philadelphian Benjamin Lowley who also owned and lived at the house at 177 South 2nd Street, which had a balcony upon which George Whitefield had famously preached to thousands in years prior. At the Methodist conference in England on August 16, 1768, Methodist founder John Wesley had presented the idea of sending preachers to America. At the conference the following year in Leeds on August 1–4, 1769, Joseph Pilmore and Richard Boardman volunteered to go to America to assist the Methodist societies already forming there and to build upon the years of work done by George Whitefield and others in the Great Awakening. Joseph Pilmore and Richard Boardman volunteered to preach to the fledgling Methodist movement in the new world colonies. Pilmore and Boardman arrived in Philadelphia October 21, 1769. Boardman then moved on to New York to establish a base there and Pilmore stayed in Philadelphia. They then traded places every four months after that. In Philadelphia Pilmore and Boardman were welcomed by John Hood and Lambert Wilmer of the Philadelphia Society and soon after they met fellow Methodist preachers Robert Williams and the charismatic Captain Thomas Webb. The society grew rapidly under the guidance of the popular Pilmore and they were soon ready for a new meeting place to accommodate their growing numbers. Purchase of the building and grounds On Thursday, November 23, 1769 Joseph Pilmore wrote in his journal: The building was purchased for 650 pounds by Miles Pennington, a member of the Philadelphia Methodist Society. On the day of the purchase, the Methodists took possession of the building and began worshiping there, which continues to this day. On Friday, November 24, 1769, the day after the purchase, Pilmore dedicated the unfinished building with a sermon to 100 worshipers upon the text, "Who are thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying grace, grace upon it." (Zechariah 4:7 KJV) The purchase price did not include the grounds, which were owned by a Dr. Shippen, which was rented to the Society at 70 pounds sterling annually, redeemable within ten years by the payment of 400 pounds. In late 1782 Francis Asbury began an effort to pay off the rest of the grounds and accomplished this task by June 25,