sentences:  Edgar was converted to Christ at the age of 19 during the great revival of Philadelphia, often called the Awakening of 1857 and 1858.Shortly thereafter, he joined the Methodist Church of Cape May and became a local “lay pastor.” As a home missionary, he also was involved in the starting of new churches in the South Jersey area.In 1869, Stites, along with other Methodist ministers and laymen, founded the “Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association” to run a Methodist camp meeting south of Ocean Grove, New Jersey.