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his life. Audrey Lucille Hogue, then serving as organist in his church, became Mrs. Louis Talbot on Dec. 27, 1916. Two daughters were bom to them, Audrey (wife of Rev. Charles Svendsen and mother of Elisabeth, Charles, Mary and John) and Betty (wife of Dr. Gerald P. Foster and moth er of Shirley and David). Dr. Talbot served four Ameri can churches and one Canadian church, the longest pastorate be ing the Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles from 1932-1948. His preaching in all his churches as well as on the radio and in conferences was characterized by ap emphasis upon evangelism and Bible teaching. Cons equent ly thousands of men and women, young people and children, came to know Christ as their Lord and Saviour and were built up in the Word of God, particularly the prophetic Scriptures, on which he is an expert. Cults too were ex amined and refuted through slides by which the Bible and their false teachings were con trasted. One of the outstanding achieve ments of the life of Dr. Louis Talbot was the clearing of the downtown Los Angeles buildings of Church and school of one and one-half million dollars’ indebted ness. For this he ever has refused to take credit, giving thanks in stead to God and the thousands of God’s people who aided with their prayers and sacrificial gifts. Nev ertheless, without his leadership, it could not have been accom plished. In a very real sense, Biola Schools and Colleges exist today because in that early crisis, Louis Talbot was the man God had chos en for that particular task. He had another leader ready in Dr. Samuel H. Sutherland under whose efficient leadership Biola has made the amazing develop ment into a five-school Christian institution. The campus at La Mirada, with its numerous struc tures continually growing like a giant forest, its ever-increasing enrollment and its eighty or more faculty members all committed to THE K IN G 'S BUSINESS
1902 Dr. R. A. Torrey, Biola’s first Dean, and the famous Gos pel singer, Charles Alexander, conducted a campaign in Sydney, whom thirteen-year-old Loui s Talbot heard with great interest. He had no inkling that one day he would stand in “Torrey’s pul pit” in the United States. How ever, it was in a meeting held by Evangelist Wirt that one of the older sons, James Talbot, turned from a promising worldly career to dedicate his life to full-time service. His decision affected his entire family. Soon Jim Talbot was on his way to Moody Bible Institute to train for the ministry. After he graduated and went on to semi nary, Louis in 1911, at age 22, followed. Although committed to the Lord’s work, and an outstand ing student, under the preaching of the Baptist minister from Lon don, England, Rev. John Harper, Louis Talbot was convicted of a great spiritual need in his life. Accordingly, in November 1911, he fully surrendered his life to the Lord. Attempting a second return to Moody Church, in April 1912, John Harper was among the 1,503 persons who perished in the tragic sea disaster when the British White Star l iner Titanic struck icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland and sank. This was a great sorrow to the Moody students, including Louis Talbot, who had been so blessed by Mr. Harper’s ministry. After Louis graduated from Moody Bible Institute in 1913, he accepted a pastorate in Paris, Texas where he found himself al most a neighboring pastor with brother Jim who was in St. Louis, Mo. But the happy relationship did not last long, for in Oct. 1913, Jim at the age of 28 suddenly went to be with the Lord. It was a great blow to Louis Talbot. Af ter a long, sad journey to Sydney to comfort his family and to tell of the wonderful testimony Jim had left and his great ministry in America, Louis Talbot returned to his Texas church. There the Lord sent a ray of sunshine into
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR . TALBOT
b y B e t t y B r u e c h e r t
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F o r m o r e than thirty years, Dr. Louis T. Talbot has served BIOLA in various capacities —as vice president, interim presi dent, pres ident and chancellor. The terms BIOLA and TALBOT have become practically synony mous. Biola’s graduate school, Talbot Theo l og i ca l Seminary, bears his name. Over the years, Dr. Talbot has 'achieved national renown as a Bi ble teacher, conference speaker, evangelist, radio minister, author, editor, missionary traveler and producer of missionary films. God has honored him with a long and useful life and an extraordinary service for Him. On October 19, 1969, his eightieth birthday, his colleagues, co-workers, fr i ends and family celebrated his anni versary in various ways. This brief picture story is one way in which our readers may share with us. Born in Sydney, Australia of English parents, October 19, 1889, Louis Thompson Talbot en joyed an interesting, and exciting boyhood. With his three sisters and four brothers, he contributed his part to forming a very lively household of which many amus ing anecdotes may be related. While schools and sports occupied the major part of the lives of the young Talbots, their devout Chris tian mother saw to their spiritual education as well. In this she was aided greatly by the Rev. Fred Binns, a relative who became pas tor of the Redfem Congregation al Church, which the family at tended. A distinguished Bible stu dent and soul winner, he faith fully taught the Word of God. In addition, the Talbots attended many evangelistic services. In 20
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