16
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
January 1930
e * ^ 6 & - ¿> Adventures in Soul Winning B y G eorge t T b TD avis
HEN fifteen years of age I decided to devote my life to the service of the Lord. Later, as I attended college and a the ological seminary, I heard very little about, the duty of Christians to lead people to Christ one by one by personal individual ef
twenty-four hours every day, and surely I can do that much for the Master who died on Calvary for me.” I soon discovered that while in the mission meetings it was easy and natural to speak to people about accepting Christ, it would not do to stop a man on the street sud denly and ask him if he were a Christian. I found there must be a natural method of approach. At this time I heard of the Pocket Testament League, and began the habit of carrying Gospels and Testaments with me to give to those who would agree to read and carry them. Then when they had declared that they would read a Gospel or Testament, it was the most natural thing in the world to say to them, “ That’s a splendid thing to do; but did you ever accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Sav iour? In this way it was as easy and natural to do personal work on the street or in a train or on a steamship as in the white heat of revival meetings. And the beauty and the glory of the plan was this, that while my talk with the individual might amount to absolutely nothing, yet he had the Word of God with which to read himself into the Kingdom if he was not a Christian; or to build him up in the faith if he had already found the Lord. tret me give an example of how this method works. Some years ago, while in Birmingham, England, I had gone but a few steps from the place where we were stay ing when I met a big policeman. Something said to me, Speak to him about his soul.” I must confess that at ^ was a little afraid to go up to a policeman, and begin talking to him immediately about his soul and about the Lord Jesus Christ. I began to talk about the weather and politics, but presently I got up courage to talk about the Lord. I had not been talking about the Lord very long before I saw a tear glistening in his eye. I thought, “ Hello, this man is interested in this matter.” Presently I pulled out a little Testament and said, Constable, I will give you this Book if you will do two things carry it with you, and read one or more chapters daily.” He agreed to this, and signed his name in the little Book. S eeing R esults About a month later Mr. Alexander was holding a meeting in a mission hall near there. Back near the door, dressed in plain clothes, sat the same policeman. In giv ing the invitation Mr. Alexander said, “ Who will accept Christ? Stand up.” The policeman was the first to re spond. He marched up to the front with the others—and it took a lot of courage, for they were mostly boys and girls ^and young people—and rang out as clearly as could be, “ I accept Jesus as my Saviour, my Lord, and my King.” Seeing he was such a big, fine-looking fellow, Mr. Alexander said, “ Brother, I don’t usually ask this, but I would just like to know, if you don’t mind telling us, what it was that led you to Christ.” The policeman replied, as he held up the Testament, “It was this little Book given me a month ago.” That was a fresh revelation to me of the power of God’s Word to lead people to Christ. I said, “ If one little (Continued on page 27)
fort. Sometimes I would read about how Dwight L. Moody spoke to strangers on railway trains about accept ing Christ. But I thought, “ Oh, that’s all right for him. He’s an evangelist. That’s his business.. But it is not necessary for thè ordinary Christian to do anything like that.” After leaving the theological seminary, I was on the staff of The Ram’s Horn, a very unique religious paper published in Chicago. At this time, my soul was deeply stirred by the reports of the wonderful mission meetings conducted by Dr. R. A. Torrey and Mr. Charles Alex ander, first in Australia, then in Great Britain. In the midst of their missions in England, Mr. Alex ander married Miss Helen Cadbury, and they came to America on their honeymoon trip. When Mr. Alexander reached Chicago, I interviewed him, and sent the inter view to a number of religious papers. Mr. Alexander was delighted with this method of sending the same story to various papers and thus greatly increasing the number of Teacjfrs. He suggested that I go to Great Britain and write up the Torrey and Alexander mission meetings for the press, and só help to spread the revival fire. I was not slow in accepting his offer, for it was the thing above all else that I desired to do. When we reached England, Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander had just com menced a mission at Bolton. Night after night thousands of people gathered in a big drill hall. God’s Spirit was present in great power. The very atmosphere was sur charged with spiritual exaltation. F irst E fforts I supposed, of course, that my chief business would be to describe the meetings for the press, but I soon found that I was mistaken. The second or third night after I reached there I was standing around looking for some striking incident to write up. Mr. Alexander called me up to the platform and said, “ Davis, the sermon is over. Take your Bible and go down there and lead some one to Jesus Christ.” It was very hard for me to go right up to strangers and say, “ Are you a Christian ? Are you saved ? Do you love the Lord ?” I had not the courage to begin with men I just spoke to boys. But as one boy after another began to 'say, “ Yes, I will take Christ as my Saviour,” it thrilled me through and through with the holy joy of it. I said, “ Oh, if it brings this wonderful joy in the mission meetings, God helping me, I will do it on the streets, on tramcars, on railway trains, and everywhere.” I found that my chief business each day was winning souls, in stead of writing articles. About that time I heard Dr. Torrey tell how Dwight L. Moody, soon after his conversion, made up his mind that he would speak to some one each day about accepting Christ. I said, “ If Moody can do that, I can. I have
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