Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-12-07
A New Revival.
A GREAT C1y1rRCH DEBT PERSUADED
HIS REMARKABLE SUCCESS IN PAY
MENT OF CHURCH DEBTs-sOME OF THE
SCENES ATTENDING HIS LABORS,
So &C. sc.


MENT OF CHURCH DEBTs-soME OF THE
SCENES ATTENDING HIS LABORS,
&C.. &C. sc.
Edward Kimball has suddenly sprung
into prominence as successful payer OIL
church debts. lie has succeeded in an al
most miraculous way on the Pacific coast
and has come to the Eastetli States to ope-
rate, The n. Y. '-Su,A" sent a iepoi ter
to interview hin, Wiz found i,Ll {. man
ov.r six ieet in height, with full beard
and nluustache. which, as we'll as lis hair,
are Hinged with gray. tie speaks in low
voice, and very slowly, except when he
talks Oh his favorite subject of church
debts Then his face lights up, and he be
cu,,ies eloquent In his own words, tie
history I'll his undertaking is DIS follows:
Il am i.ot preacher, thou-,h have III =
quentiy occupied puip'ts as Lay preacher
| an ihe tiVelili g agenL OF Chlcas,
firln ;tL,i d man Of very moderate mean.
Three years go first visited The Pacifi
coast. at tht second visit | became yeI
much inter sisd III a little mission churc
Lat was embarrassed " it'd debt, without a
paSuUf- Il III Oh tll6 Dl iflh vi Itlu 1t Is lllt
~ est munster Presb terrain Ctiurch of San
Francis. o. worked there Sundays and
AT evening prayer meetings, and we were
blessed VITA such a revival that many new
menberS weie added to the church, they
were enabled to call and pay a pastor and
t:ieir prospect S were materially Frightened.
Over d year ago | again visited San Fran
cisco, and found the church still com
rstivey prosperous, but burdened with
d debt OF Sc $40. AT tins time became
il t-rest,d III tie Third Congregational
Church of that city, and again we had a
blessed revival. The pastors OF these
churches were encouraged 10y what had
been done, but they felt deeply the debts
with " hicll their churches were burGened
and which seriously embarrassed them.
This set me thinking, and / prayed that
some method might be shown me by WI ich
could extricate these struggling churches
from their difficulties. | concentrated
upon this subject all my business know
ledge and my knowledge of men ana
things. Finally hit upon the plan which
l have since adopted. L. was Saturday,
and that very evening called upon Mr..
Baker, the p. stor Of the Third Congrega-
tional Church, and said to him, 'Io-mor-
row, with Gods help, l mean to clear away
the cloud Of debt that hangs over your
church, He didn't seem to understand
me, and had to repeat it. You can't do
it, he said, when explained what meant
to do. 'We have all We can do to pay the
interest of our debt, let alone the p Incl
pal. What with the depressed state of
business and the panic ard a broken stock
market, it can't be DONE | said to him:
we ell, Mr.. Baker, ii you think am going
to fail in what [ have undertaken. you give
up your pulpit to NE, and go yourself over
to Oakland and fill the vacant pulpit at
the Point tomorrow morning. He pro-
missed to do SO.
1.-The next morning went to that church
determined that before [ left it it Should
be free from debt AS the trustees and
deacons came in L told them what [ pro-
posed to do. They were aghast, and beg
ged and implored me not to undertake it.
we aren't Prepared said ore, Let us
talk it over,' said another, and 1T can't be
DONE was echoed on Ill sides. | said to
them: 1t is now II O'Clock: you watch
that clock, and when it's hands point to
half past l. your church shall be free from
debt: Then | went into the pulpit and
began the services. When it came time
for the sermon [ said to the people, Instead
of hearing a sermon from the pulpit you
are to preach the sermon Of this moraing,
and it is to be an effective protest against
debt. You say that you have heard too
much about the church finances from this
pulpit, aud that religion and money have
become too much mixed. Well, [ propose
this morning to divorce them for ever. so
far as this church is concerned Now,
MI johnson, will you come TO the front,
and, with this pencil and paper, keep I.
record Of the subscriptions as they are Of
fered p Brother Johnson came, but he
looked very much surprised. / then told
them that [ wanted zine persons to sub
scribe $3.50 each, and that [ would be the
tenth, The offers came in rather slowly
at first, but pretty soon the people began
to be interested, & generous rivalry was
excited among them, and before they
knew it ST 800 we're subscribed. Then
began on 500 subscriptions, and from
that went down to smaller sums. The
gentleman keeping The memorandum look
ed up to me and said: We've got -
| motioned to linn to be still, for I knew
what lie was about to say. aid it was not
until we had got down to 81 subscriptions
that | asked him to announce the result.
lie said that the debt and 10 per cent more
had been given. When [ asked the doubt
ing brethren to look at the clock and it
wanted seven minutes Of the half hour,
never aw people more happy, and before
we separated they sang, Praise God from
whom all blessings 1iow,' with d spirit that
that made the very rafters ring. 1t was
with a full heart that [ told Mr.. Baker
what had been accomplished during his
absence.
Then [ made arrangements to relieve
the Westminster Churcii Of their debt Of
Sc, 500 lii the same way. and then turned
to DR.. Stones church, W hich had debt of
s75 000-the largest church debs Oh the
Pacific coast. DR.. ssSlone considered my
proposal a strange Que, but was willing it
should be tried. When the Sunday came
told DR.. Stone that Iw0uld spend an
hour al the Westminster Church and then
come to his. He said no, that [ mnst stay
with him. So [ gave my data to the pas
tor and trustees of the Westminster
Church, and instructed them how to pro-
coed.
when DR.. Stone introduced me to his
congregation, he told them that l had d
plan 10 propose to them of such magnitude
that he had no words to express it. un-
folded it to them, and the work began as
it had in the other church. When we were
about half through a delegation came in
to tell us that the debt Of the " estminster
Church bad been raised. This was slim
illus that reused the enthusiasm of the
of tie workers. and in u short time S67 600
had been promised. The next Sunday Or.
Stone, without my aid, raised the remain
der. and $4,000 over, in the same way,
while l W at work raising a debt of SIS
OOO in the Calvary Church. That money
has all been paid in, and the churches are
free from debt. In the same way have
been cleared from debt thirteen churches
on the Pacific coast, three in Denver. and
two in Peoria.
DR. Robinson's church Is the first Eas-
tern church in which [ have labored hut
I am daily in receipt of letters from
churches in all parts CT the Union. The
most pleading letters, begging me to come
to their assistance, and save them fIom
ruin.''
s'Do you confine your efforts entirely to
Presbyterian churches 20
mo, have aided Baptist, Methodist,
and Congregational churches, as we'll ?"
ssIc # trua that Mr Moody, 81