"Billy" Sunday, the Man and His Message: With his own words which have won thousands for ChristEllis, William T. (William Thomas)
Religion
"Billy" Sunday, the Man and His Message: With his own words which have won thousands for Christ
Ellis, William T. (William Thomas)
Baseball players -- United States -- Biography; Evangelists -- United States -- Biography; Sunday, Billy, 1862-1935
The statistics show that there were 6,000 converts at South Bend,
Indiana, in the spring of 1913, but they do not reveal the fact that
immediately afterwards there was inaugurated an era of civic reform
which cleaned up the city for the first time in fifteen years, and
elected as mayor one of the Billy Sunday converts.
Prior to the Sunday campaign in Steubenville, Ohio, September and
October, 1913 (where the converts numbered 8,000), the town had gone
"wet" by 1,400 majority, after the meetings it went "dry" by 300
majority.
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with a campaign held November and December,
1913, reported 12,000 conversions, and a Billy Sunday Anti-saloon
League of 10,000 men. The fame of the Pittsburgh campaign, January and
February, 1914, is in all the churches; 27,000 converts were reported.
Mrs. Sunday is my authority for these and the following details of
recent meetings:
The Scranton campaign (March and April, 1914) was unusual in several
respects. It not only reported 18,000 converts, but it also held the
greatest industrial parade, under distinctively Christian auspices,
that the country has ever seen. In preparation for the Sunday meetings
10,000 adults were enlisted in Bible classes, and this number grew
steadily during and after the campaign.
In May and June of 1914 the evangelist worked in Huntingdon, West
Virginia, where the conversions were 6,500. From there he went to
Colorado Springs and a total of 4,500 persons "hit the trail." The
Colorado Springs meetings were unusual in that the attendants were from
all parts of the country, and so the revival fire was carried far.
The organization of adult Bible classes followed the Colorado Springs
campaign. This promises to be one of the distinctive features of Billy
Sunday's meetings.
In reading such a compiled record as the foregoing, it is to be
remembered that in all things that affect spiritual values the only
true record is that which is kept in another world. Enough has been
shown, however, to make clear that Sunday practices what he preaches
when he urges Christians to whole-hearted service.
SUNDAY'S "CONSECRATION" SERMON
"I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service."
The armies of God are never made up of drafted men and women, ordered
into service whether willing or not. God never owned a slave. God
doesn't want you to do anything that you can't do without protest. This
is not a call to hard duty, but an invitation to the enjoyment of a
privilege. It is not a call to hired labor to take the hoe and go into
the field, but the appeal of a loving father to his children to partake
of all he has to give.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account