M y Personal Impression of Dr. Louis T Talbot
BY ROBERT P. SHULER, D. D. Pastor of the Trinity Methodist Church, Los Angeles, California
Delighted with the following tribute to our president and editor in chief, which appeared in the publication of a neighboring church, we secured the author’s per mission to reproduce it in connection with Dr. Talbot’s retirement as pastor of the Church of the Open Door, after seventeen years of faithful and sacrificial serv ice. — W illiam W. O rr , Associate Editor.
M ORE than a half century ago, a little wisp of a woman gave birth to a baby boy in Sydney, Australia. She humbly thanked God for the tiny pink package that lay by her side and started out to make a Christian man out of this baby, although the odds were against her. His father was in the brewing business and made his living handling liquor, supplying the Sydney hotels and other places where the stuff was dispensed. As the boy grew up, he assisted his father and became a distributor of alcoholic beverages. But the little woman, at times almost a shadow, kept crowd ing God’s throne of grace with her prayers and as constantly warning her growing son of the dangers and pitfalls that his father’s business afforded. There was no open rift in the family but the strength of her dedicated soul was set against the liquor business, out of which the living of this Australian family came. She literally prayed Jim, an older brother, out of the saloons and theaters and into Moody Bible Institute in America. And now she had more time to pray for “Louie.” It was a rather tedious undertaking however. This boy of her prayers came to manhood unsaved and still delivering liquor to the hotels. But God was on His throne and something outside this world began to stir in the heart of Louis Talbot. He became restless, dissatisfied, disillusioned as to the business he was in. He dreamed of America and a new life. His brother Jim was to be a preacher. “Louie” began to wonder why there could not be two preachers in the family. In such a state of mind and with possibly no actual transformation of his heart as yet, he followed Jim across the seas and appeared at Moody. He had cut loose from the liquor evil and he was ready for a fresh adventure. It came. Louis Talbot went to Moody with the thought that preach ing meant success, crowds of admiring listeners, place and position. He had heard Torrey and J. Wilbur Chapman in Sydney. He had noted the great throngs that crowded to hear these splendid American evangelists. He had heard Harkness on the piano and Charles M. Alexander leading singing in the popular evangelistic campaigns that moved Australia in those days. All this had attracted him greatly. He undoubt edly went to America because of his desire for a career rather than because of any great transformation that had taken place in his life. Indeed, he was far along in his studies at Moody and act ing as pastor of a small church, when, under the' preaching of a Baptist preacher, John Harper of London, who was sup plying the Moody Church for the summer, Louis Talbot was actually and genuinely converted. He went forward un ashamed, fell at the altar, cried for mercy, obtained it, and arose to go out into one of the most spectacularly successful ministries of any man I have ever known. He lived to be pastor of the very church in Los Angeles.which the mighty J A N U A R Y , I 9 4 9
Dr. Talbot in a typical teaching pose, with his open Bible before him.
Torrey had founded, and to minister to hundreds of thousands of people over the radio networks of America. I first knew Louis Talbot thirty-two years ago in Paris, Texas. He was pastor of a small Congregational church in that prosperous Texas city. I was at First Methodist Church and had in my congregation a young lady by the name of Audrey Hogue. She was a music teacher and a lovely Chris tian. The Congregational people employed her as organist. Louis Talbot joined her music class. That was the beginning of what happened rather swiftly. I assisted in the wedding ceremonies, and from that day to this have had a very intimate interest in Dr. Louis Talbot. From Paris, this young Australian went from pastorate to pastorate in the United States and Canada until, almost two decades ago, he received a call to the great Church of the Open Door in Los Angeles. I happened to be at Trinity Meth odist Church, only a few blocks away. We have been enthusi astic friends through the years of our pastorates in this great city. Dr. Talbot is also the President of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, an institution closely related to the Church of the Open Door. Recently he resigned his pastorate because of the tremendous responsibilities that the growing Bible School entails. I count it one of the greatest honors of my life 'that I was invited by his Board, undoubtedly at his sug gestion, to preach the sermon in December, on the Sunday when he terminated his official relationship with this great church. (Continued on Page 10) Page Seven
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