The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-11-04

IN "eernt Years the wish has "ftea
been heard, expressed particularly
by older Christian people. that they
might once more witness an old
fashioned revival. one so marked by
evidences al divine power as to he
convincing and reassuring. 1t seems
to be usually taken for granted that
reviNais of this neture are To be found
almost entirely in the country
churches. If indeed even there they
survive the many social and religious
changes of our tune. 1t falls to the
! lot of The Nirgnjan, however. TO
record two recent REVEALS In large
cities Of the State, reyiyals So per-
vasive, so notable in all their features
lhat they deserve to he sketehed in
soclt detail on this page. one ot
these has just closed that Is the
regular services connected with II
haze closed. IN LSnchburg Ma. In
this religious movement all the Bap-
tist churches and pastors Of the city
We're engaged, not To speak OF such
! Incidental and valuable help as came
J from the cooperation Of other
! Christian people Etere too there was
I full eNangeiistic corps OF workers
! a,.d OF singers sent by the Home Mis-
| sion board of Atlanta and led by
/ Rev. Weston Bruner. formerly pas
/ tor Of the Calvary ehure h in this
! city Already il is reported that there
/ have been four hundred and dfty ae-
( cessions To the Baptist churches Of
1 that city not to mention those Who
! have united with other Christian
! bodies
Here III our ov city Within a week
j or two past there has been one Of the
| most striking and impressive reNiVals
which have been held III Richmond
! for MANY years passed. Up to this
! time only brief and fragmentary men
I ton has been made OF 1t and it seems
good 10 give to the rehders OF this
| page Il some what larger and fuller
| story of how God worked with strong
story Of how God worked With and
| among his people in this meeting
which has recently been held i'll Ven
| able street church.
Rev NJ f. Ham a Well known
evangelist and his thorister, Mr.
| Schoitield. came from Kentucky to
! Virginia at the invitation of Pastor
j. X. johnson to aid in special ser
| vices. The meeting began sunday.
| October .. Talking with Pastor j.
! X. Johnson about il, the representa-
tive OF this page procured the toll
lowing interview
Were YOU really looking tor such
u meeting came to your people
| Knowing the man and the cond-
tons prevailing in the church, | was
expecting great outpour of the Holy
Spirit.
Did your people from the outset
identify themselves fully and heartily
with the movement or did u take
you some time. as II often does, to
bring the church into sympathy:
The leading members of the
church. that is those that take the
most active part in the regular ser
| vices. enlisted at once In cooperative
effort to bring the lost To Christ,
| while. possibly. those who take a less
active part were some days in giving
| their full strength to the meeting.
/ Did you adopt any unusual
| methods of organization or work
that could account in part tor the
| great general movement which you
| afterwards rejoiced in
! There was no organized effort at
all It is the frs meeting that l
| remember having in many years
where l had not made previous prep
aration and would likely have done
4 the same before this meeting had
| known in time that ! could have
| secured the services of these men. But
! not knowing until two weeks before
they came that could have them.
4 II left us practically no time to make
preparation further than IA few cot
! tag- prayer meeting services. There
! was not so much az an organized
/ class OF personal workers. Neither
was there any organization during the
meeting to do personal work further
| than just AS the spirit led the people
/ into service. Neither were there any
| methods used by the evangelist, save
the preaching Of the gospel in its
] plain. simple terms
What are the facts concerning the
attendance on these serEieess
THE attendance was overlooking
from the beginning The first sun
i day evening service. We had To turn
/ hundreds Of people away from the
! church and so it continued at almost
III the evening services. particularly