Connections 4-6-25 by First Southern Baptist Church

April 6, 2025

“And let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

~ Galatians 6:9 (KJV) ~

The Saga of D.L. Moody ~

by John Bisagno ~

It was a warm sunny Saturday afternoon inApril, 1855. In so many ways, this day was like any other day. But somehow in the heart of one Sunday School teacher in London, a restlessness could not be satisfied. Finally, agreeing in his spirit to obey the voice of God and the troubling of the Holy Spirit, Edward Kimball decided to go talk to that student in his class whom God had placed so heavily on his heart.

Kimball knew the student was not a Christian but was becoming increasingly interested, and he felt that the time to talk with him was now. So, he lay aside his Saturday afternoon pleasantries, got in his buggy, and went down to the little store where Lyman Moody was learning to be an apprentice shoemaker and repairman.

He found a ready heart. Moody took a small break from work; the two went aside; and, in only moments, a man who was destined to become one of England’s mightiest preachers became a Christian. Dwight Lyman Moody bowed his head and thanked Edward Kimball for coming and caring as he said yes to Jesus Christ.

Little did the world know that D.L. Moody would one day take two continents, one in each hand, and shake them for God. So powerful was the revival in America as D.L. Moody swayed crowds and preached in the power of God so that tens and hundreds of thousands were saved he needed help. So, he sent word back to London and asked his longtime friend F.B. Myer if he would come and help him preach. Soon, the crusades grew to be so mighty that both of them had to preach. They parted ways and began two sets of crusades acrossAmerica.

In one of those crusades, a young man came forward and had a mighty experience with God. He opened his heart to Jesus Christ. He was J. Wilbert Chapman. When Dr. Chapman was saved, God gave him two interests. One was the souls of people, and the other was the physical needs of people.And so, with the help of Mrs. George Clark, he was instrumental in beginning what was destined to become the most significant and famed inner-city gospel rescue mission in the world, the Pacific Garden Mission.

with Pastor Terrell

One evening, a former big-league baseball player, now an alcoholic and broke, stumbled into the Pacific Garden Mission, heard the gospel, and was converted. The fire of God stirred in his soul. He went from tabernacle to tabernacle preaching, from building to revival, from tent to stadium jumping off pianos, turning over benches, throwing his Bible, storming across the pulpit. He took America by storm. He became the most powerful evangelist in the history of the world to that day. He was the baseball player we know as Billy Sunday.

Another young man, a preacher from the South, was so stirred with the message, inspirational life, and preaching of Billy Sunday that he decided he too must preach. His prayer was that he might be another Billy Sunday.

Mordecai Hamm began to thunder up and down the trails of South Georgia and across Mississippi. Within a few months, his preaching would take him to the hills of North Carolina. There, on a quiet evening in a brush arbor meeting, after he had preached a stirring sermon on hell, a 16-year-old mountain boy walked down the aisle at the invitation of Mordecai Hamm and his Lord. “Billy Frank” they called him. Within three years, he would be called to preach and would enroll in Bible college. No one ever dreamed that more than 100 years later, the result of that faithful Sunday School teacher’s witness in London would be the mighty worldwide ministry of the most effective and successful evangelist in the history of the Christian faith, William Franklin (Billy) Graham.

As we near the end of the school year, we also near the end of our Good News Clubs. In addition, those who teach our kids in Kid City and youth in the Cabin, will see some move up and out of their classes. Most of you who are involved in leading and teaching are feeling somewhat weary by now. Let me encourage you to not give up. The work you are doing now will be paying eternal dividends tomorrow. Who knows what the seeds of the gospel you are planting today will bloom into in generations to come? We don’t but God does!

Blessings on your week as you consider how your life is making an impact for Christ on those around you and let’s meet in worship together Sunday morning. Once again, we will be looking at 1 Corinthians as we continue to discover GOOD NEWS FOR THE NOT SO GOOD. This Sunday, we see the resurrection power God provides when we choose to TAKEASTAND.

Pastor Terrell

Concludes on Monday, 4/7 10:00 AM - 12:00 Noon in Fellowship Hall