D. L. MOODY : American Evangelist Part 1

Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899), more than any other, can be said to be the founder of the modern mass evangelism movement. While Whitefield and Wesley before him had attracted large crowds, it was Moody who pioneered evangelistic campaigns with a planned itinerary and funding, had meetings booked at specific venues, arranged publicity, introduced the inquiry room and, with Sankey, broke new ground in the use of religious songs.

The Moody family lived in the farming community of North field, Massachusetts, and were left to struggle as best they could after their father died of too much whisky. Their determined mother, a Unitarian by religion, sent her children to school, but the need to earn money often kept young Dwight at home. Such was his lack of education that throughout the rest of his life he was never able to spell properly and sometimes felt ill-at-ease in the company of educated people.
At the age of seventeen he left home and persuaded his uncle to give him a job in his Boston shoe shop. The following year, during revival meetings at the Congregational Church, his Sunday School teacher visited the shoe shop and urged Moody to come to Christ, which he did. The decision was immediate and real, and Moody was a new man. In 1856 he moved to Chicago with an ambition to become rich. He found work as a travelling salesman, joined Plymouth Church and immersed himself in evangelism, often filling the front pews with men he had pulled in from the streets.
Keen to reach children for Christ, he became a Sunday School teacher at the Wells Street Mission and on his first morning rounded up eighteen slum boys from the streets. Though the meetings were frequently noisy, the children enjoyed the talks and the singing, but were specially captivated by Moody's compassion, good humour and winning ways. As the numbers grew to around six hundred, Moody gave up his job to devote himself to full-time evangelism.
He started week-night meetings for both children and adults, and during the day worked as a missionary for the newly-formed YMCA. Eager to win souls for Christ, he became known in Chicago as 'Crazy Moody'. During the years of the Civil War (1861-65) the scope of his ministry widened still further. His Sunday School developed into an Independent Church, on Illinois Street, and as a YMCA worker he held preaching services for the troops at Camp David; later he ministered at the battlefront to the wounded on both sides, as well as to the freed slaves.
In 1862 he took time off to get married to English-born Emma Revell, whom he considered to be a cut above himself; throughout all their life together they were 'so perfectly one... completely wrapped up in each other'. Mrs. Moody often accompanied her husband on his tours, but their first trip to England was taken on doctor's orders. Emma had developed asthma and was advised to take a long sea voyage, so the Moodys took the opportunity to visit the 'Old Country'.
There were a few speaking engagements, mostly in Brethren halls, but the visit had more far-reaching consequences than Moody could have expected, through meeting Harry Moorhouse, a converted pick¬pocket from Lancashire.
The following year, Moorhouse turned up at the Moody home in Chicago and offered to preach at Illinois Street Church. As Moody had to be away, he reluctantly agreed for him to speak at a mid-week meeting. The church was highly impressed with Moorhouse, as his message was different to that preached by the pastor; whereas Moody declared that God hated the sinner as well as the sin, Moorhouse preached from John 3:16 that God loves sinners.
When Moody returned, his prejudice was shattered; the character of
his message had to be revised, and he even learned from Moorhouse how to read and study the Bible. Later that year at a Convention, he told his listeners how they had to 'conquer by love; for if a man has his heart full of love and a little common sense, he will succeed'.
In October 1871 a great fire destroyed much of the city of Chicago, including the Moody's home, the church and the new YMCA building. But Moody saw the hand of God for him in this terrible tragedy, and he felt led to give up the Mission and undertake a much wider ministry.
Feeling dried up inside and lacking in power, he prayed for some weeks that God would 'baptise him in the Spirit'. His prayer was answered one day when he was walking down a street in New York; as in his heart he surrendered to God, he was overpowered-by the Spirit and from that moment his life took a completely different turn.

Continue to D. L. MOODY: American Evangelist Part 2