“He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”  Mark 16:15

It was the year 1858 in the city of Boston.  Edward Kimball was a young Sunday School teacher who made it a habit to personally give each student in his class an opportunity to accept Christ as their Savior.  He was concerned about one of his students who worked in a shoe store.  One day, Kimball visited the young man at the store where he found him in the back stocking shelves, and led him to Christ.  That student was Dwight L. Moody who eventually left the shoe business to become one of the greatest evangelists of all time.

Moody became an international speaker and toured the British Isles.  He preached in a little chapel pastored by a young man named Frederic Meyer.  In his sermon, he told the story of his Sunday School teacher.  That message changed Pastor Meyer’s ministry, inspiring him to become an evangelist like Moody.  Meyer eventually preached in America, in Northfield, MA where a young preacher heard him say, “If you are not willing to give up everything for Christ, are you willing to be made willing?”  That remark led J. Wilbur Chapman to respond to God’s call on his life.

Wilbur Chapman went on to become an effective evangelist.  He enlisted the help of a volunteer named Billy Sunday who helped him set up for his crusades.  Billy Sunday learned how to preach by watching Chapman and eventually took over Chapman’s ministry, becoming a dynamic evangelist.  Billy Sunday’s preaching brought thousands to Christ.

Inspired by a Billy Sunday Crusade in Charlotte, NC, a group of Christian men dedicated themselves to reaching their city for Christ.  They invited an evangelist Mordecai Ham to come and hold a series of evangelistic meetings.  The year was 1932.  A local farmer loaded his pick-up truck with neighbors and brought them to the meetings.  One was a 16 year old boy who sat in the crowd each night spellbound by the message.  Each evening the preacher seemed to be shouting and waving his finger at the young man.  Night after night, the teenager came and finally on the last night, he went forward and gave his life to Christ.  That teenager was Billy Graham.

Billy Graham has communicated the gospel to more people than any other person in history.   You probably know someone who was led to Christ through his ministry.  I can think of several just in my acquaintance!  And it all started with a Sunday School teacher named Edward Kimball who cared for the souls of his students to personally make sure they knew and understood the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Only eternity will reveal the impact of that one teacher who invested his life in the lives of his students.

Don’t give up teachers!!  You might think you are not getting through to those kids in your class, but God is using you to bless their lives!! Persevere!!  Rely on the power of the Holy Spirit!  Maybe you have an evangelist or missionary sitting in those chairs in front of you!!  “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days,” Ecclesiastes 11:1

Your friend, Jean