Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1907-05-18
BOB BUHDETTE'S CHURCH.
Where the Famous Humorist rreaenoS
on SUNDAYS In Los Angeles.

Sundays WI I've
nov Robert j. Burdette, best known
as Bob" Burdette, humorist poet ec-
turer newspaper editor and now pas
tor nreaches on Sundays in one OF 'he
finest auditoriums in the country Ia
nous for its engineering departures
nnd used six days in the week TOT
cd ..,yl and the performances OF
etsA npany. Temple Baptist church
,vas a~.e:ri2ed by Burdette's friends so
,b9t !, might take the pastorate.
The congregation moved from one
n,oce TO another in the first year OF its
life. paying rent to others because II
had no church of its own. Then one Oh
tbe members of the congregation
Charles f. Harris, conceived the pan
of combining an office building, church
and nlayhouse under one roof, and the
people took 1t up.
The result is one Of the greatest
church buildings in the world, one or a
fev that pay large income to the
church itself. The building Is built en-
tirelv Of REINFORCED concrete. Twenty
thousand barrels Of cement were used
IN its construction, and seven times
that much sand and gavel. Embedded
in the building throughout are 200 tons
Of twisted steel laid in the cement 10
hold II In place In spite of strain.
Engineers said that it would be I'M
nossible TO build the immense dome OF
cement alone. The architects plans
called for span Of twenty-five fee
bich and 1875 feet across. But 1t was
done.
Another engineering feat that was
thought impossible was the consuuc
tion of the immense galleries, two o
them. without the use of pillars. Can
talevers twenty-seven feet in Length
were required, and when they wer
done and tested with five times IN
weight they would ever be called o.
TO uphold they sagged only an eight
zenith of an inch. There are man
other features Of the building tina
: architects and engineers consider wor
derful.
In a way the metamorphosis OF III
y preacher is quite as wonderful as som
of the engineering feats In the Duil'
ing. Bob Burdette was a humoris
= writer and lecturer, but none OF n
U friends ever thought of him as
y preacher.
Until he came to California, six veal
Il ogo. after giving up the editorship
d the Burlington Hawkeye, which /
e made famous. he was thought OF as
successful joker, that was all. But
u his more serious moments BOD Bu
Il dette had always been recognized |
L nature as a good church man. VINE
- he settled down in his handsome Pas
J. dena home on Orange Grove ayen'
y he turned more seriously than ever
church work.
The result was that he was duly c
II doined minister of the Baptist chur'
~ three years ago and since that time h
'e Jeveloped into preacher of remark
10 BILE force and power. From 3'Ooo
I 5000 persons listen to his morning Sc
Il. mons every Sunday,~He takes time
u do n certain amount Of writing ais
IL travels extensively and reads omniN
:, rously.
~ Added to the interest attaching
IL every one of Burdette's sermons Is I
sp music rendered from that great org'
n one of the largest in the world, that
az built into the auditorium. This org
u Is one of the three largest and finest
81 the world and has sixty stops and !
ID, pipes.-Los Angeles Cor. Washingt
ed 60