123
TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
March 1925
A n Eight Months’ Revival in Des Moines, Iowa Something New in th e H istory of Evangelism
“The T ribune,” a local newspaper, in reporting one of th e meetings du r ing the closing week, had this to say: “Nearly one hundred persons ‘h it the sawdust tra il’ when Evangelist H arry O. Anderson made th e call for converts at the. conclusion of his ser mon on the subject ‘Dynam ite’ a t th e Tabernacle, F ifth and Center Streets, last night. “ P reaching from the text, ‘For l am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvar tion,’ Rev. Anderson made a plea for less formalism and more sincerity in worship. ‘God’s Word says th a t you are dead in trespasses and sins,’ the evangelist said, ‘and the only way this condition could be remedied was for God to send His Son to die in th e sin n er’s place. Jesus is more th an a saint, a m artyr, or a g reat and noble man. He is the veritable Son of God, and wherever He has been lifted up, He has saved to th e utterm ost. I believe th a t Jesus Christ is the only Saviour of mankind, and He is the c e n tra l. theme of all history.’ ” Mr. Anderson is now holding meet ings in Spokane, W ashington, bu t is scheduled to re tu rn to Iowa for an o ther campaign th is spring. tached to paganism , though an aw ak ening has begun. “The first m issionaries came to Cy prus from Beyrut in 1834. They began evangelistic and educational work, w ith headquarters in Larnaca, bu t in 1841 were forced to abandon it owing to the unhealthiness of th e climate. In 1888 delegates from L atak ia resumed the work and a chapel'was built. This chapel was destroyed by fire in 1901 (evidently by n atives), b u t on the same site a stone chapel was erected later. “The work now being carried on by th e Reformed P resbyterian Mission of North America is well organized, bu t th e ir work is extremely difficult, having to deal w ith people of different nationalities and peculiar customs, especially in religion. They have met w ith g reat opposition, b u t God has blessed the seed sown and it is now beginning to bear fruit. “ I hope God is pu tting Cyprus upon th e h earts of His people, and ask you to pray for th is island. ‘Behold, th e arm of th e Lord is no t shortened th a t He cannot save, nor His ear heavy th a t He cannot h ear.’ Please pray for th e conversion of my wife and chil dren. “ I rem ain, yours in th e Lord Jesus, all by grace, “ Christo H ji K yriakan..”
through which the Holy Spirit m ight operate. Many times the organization would manifest th e weakness of human flesh in neglect and indiffer-
(Rev. H arry O. Anderson, a former stud en t of the Bible In stitu te of Los Angeles, concluded, last December, a rem arkable series of meetings in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, dem onstrat ing th e possibility and advisability of holding city-wide evangelistic cam paigns by one evangelist. The story, as given below, speaks for itself. We commend th is man of God to The K ing’s Business Fam ily for th eir pray- ers.1^—Ed.) In March, 1924, the H arry O. Ander son Evangelistic Party, conducted th eir opening meeting in the city of Des. Moines, Iowa, and from th a t ini tia l service a revival fire started to burn in the h earts of God’s people and swept over the city. Five Union Taber nacle campaigns were conducted in five different sections of th e city, over a period of eight months,— from the opening' service to the closing night— December 15, 1924. The fifth and la st Tabernacle Meet ing was held in the h e a rt of th e city, two blocks from the place where Billy Sunday conducted his most successful campaign ju st ten years previously. This Tabernacle .seated 4000 people, and represented th e nine large down town churches. The glory and bless ing of th e Lord rested upon th e meet ings in an unusual manner, and many souls were won to Christ. During Evangelist Anderson’s cam paigns in DCs Moines, he preached’ to over 200,000 people. The movement was backed by more th an fifty evan gelical churches, and 2,200 persons definitely and publicly confessed the Lord Jesus Christ. The Des Moines newspapers covered th e meetings w ith special reporters, and the closing meetings were reported in “The Des Moines C apital’’ as fol lows: “A trium phal close to Evangelist H arry O. Anderson’s Union Taber nacle meetings in Des Moines, extend ing over a period of eight months in five different sections of the city, was staged last night w ith the-reception of 260 converts in response to the last call. “Numbered among those who ‘h it the sawdust tra il’ were a L A R G E PROPORTION OF MEN, INCLUDING BUSINESS EXECUTIVES from the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE and the local Civic Clubs.” “One thing th a t characterized the Des Moines campaigns was th e leading and direction of the Holy Spirit. O rganization was used and fostered as much as possible to form a channel
REV. HARRY O. ^NDERSON Former Student Bible Institute of Los Angeles
epee, bu t ju st a t such points the Holy Spirit manifested H imself as th e great Executive. In bringing the crowds to th e Tabernacle, in moving upon the waiting people in convicting and con verting power, in com forting and sus taining grace,— the Holy Spirit was p resen t.” '
wmm jsÉ?
I
âfep THE ISLE OF CYPRUS
“Now they which were scattered abroad upon th e persecution th a t arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching .'the word to none bu t unto th e Jews only’-’ (Acts 11 :19 ). One member of The K ing’s Business fam ily lives in th e ancient Isle of Cy prus, one of the first places to be evangelized by the early church, as mentioned in the reference from Acts given above. W riting to our Book Room for supplies recently, he gave some very in teresting facts about con ditions there, himself being a convert to Christianity through the work of the Reformed P resbyterian Church. Mr. ICyriokan says: “The New Testament does not re cord more about Cyprus th an that, after th e preaching referred to in Acts 11:19, P aul and Barnabas landed at Salamis in Cyprus and went through the island preaching; but we know from other sources th a t the church here began to grow rapidly, especially afte r the expulsion of th e Jews, bu t later became corrupted, being mixed w ith Hellenism and Judaism . Even today, the ancient church th ere is at-
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker