One woman's view: One person's influence can touch many
Contributing writer
How many know who Edward Kimball was? I don't see any hands raised, and I am not surprised. I had never heard of him until I read a book titled "The 100 Most important Events in Christian History" several months ago. However, he had a much wider influence than you might think.
Kimball was teaching a Sunday school class in Mount Vernon Congregational Church in Boston in the 1850s. Dwight, a young shoe salesman, came to his class one Sunday. When Dwight's attendance lapsed, Kimball took the trouble to urge him to return. At first, Dwight said he could not understand it. Later, Kimball was to write about this rather apathetic teen-ager, "I have seen few people whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when came into my class."
Finally, Kimball felt it was time to ask his young protégé for a commitment to Christ. One day he visited him at his job, where he was wrapping and shelving shoes, and led him to salvation. It would be some time before Dwight could fully understand and articulate his faith. In fact, he was not accepted for church membership, because he could not explain what Christ had one for him. Nevertheless, his heart was changed, and he continued growing in his faith.
After moving from Boston to Chicago, Dwight volunteered to teach a Sunday school class at a mission. Told that the mission had plenty of teachers, but not enough students, he brought in crowds of youngsters off the streets and taught them. By 1864 he was working full time in ministry with his class and the YMCA. In 1864 his mission became a church and continued to grow. After the great Chicago fire destroyed Dwight's home, his church and the YMCA, he became a traveling evangelist.
Yes, Dwight's last name was Moody. Although you may have never heard of Edward Kimball, most of you have probably heard plenty of D.L. Moody, who made thousands of converts to Christianity. He could be called the Billy Graham of the Nineteenth Century. In fact, many elements of modern evangelism had their beginnings with Dwight L. Moody. He used music, counseling and follow-up as tools of his organized approach to selling the gospel. He founded the Moody Bible Institute to train pastors, missionaries, and other church workers.
Moody's evangelism had a well-developed social aspect, which encouraged evangelical churches to become involved in programs to minister to the poor, especially in the cities.
It would be hard to overestimate the influence of Dwight L. Moody on everything Christian in our culture. When Kimball walked into the shoe store that day in 1855 to talk with young Dwight about the state of his soul, did he have a vision of changing the world? I doubt it. He was just deeply concerned about one lonely young man in his Sunday school class.
None of us can live our lives without having some impact on people around us. If you sometimes feel you have accomplished very little with your life, think of Edward Kimball. You have no idea how many people may be touched directly or indirectly by your influence. If you have an uneasy conscience about some issues, that idea can be pretty scary, but it can also be very encouraging. Hang in there, reader! You may be changing the world.
