Peter Lutz

Peter Lutz, born in 1811, was known as an able but eccentric preacher. Both in western Pennsylvania and in Iowa, where he moved in 1844, he was accustomed to walk ten to fifteen miles to fill an appointment, often going barefoot on the way and standing thus in the pulpit.

Seldom taking a text, he quoted freely from the Scriptures. Her sermons were considered unnecessarily long even in that era. At one time his closing prayer at a burial service lasted so long that everyone except one deacon left before he finished. When he spoke as a visiting minister at communion services, other ministers would often pull his coattail to get him to sit down.

These unconventional characteristics, along with his tendency to be outspoken, may explain why Peter Lutz, though considered a "power in the pulpit," was never ordained.

Source: Kenneth Morse, The Brethren Encyclopedia