The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-10-01
IF POl HIS RELIGION TO THE TEST
THE IRT G9ES TO HEAR THE PASTOR Of THE IARcrST HErio=
DIST CHURCH IN AMERICA AND WRITES ABOUT HIN AZD
HIS METHODS

preaching, saying: If TOD wants me
IN this work he Will prove ii by Civ
ing me visible results
I'm other words. he asked ri his
Gospel. as the convict later asked OF
1t: WIN It work.
1T did work. and Young Goodell
entered upon his first pastorate. which
was somewhere IN or around Boston.
Still the young preacher put his min !
istry on probation. Again the re-
suits came. The church grew beyond
all precedent. But three years was !
the ecclesiastical limit of a Method !
list paStorate in those days, and Good
ell was soon tested in another field.
The results came as before. There VAS
no question about il. The earnest
young minister was 3 marvellous man
/. winner.
New York city has been called t h
graveyard Of minister's Many men
With regulations and success have
been swallowed up or lost in this big
city. DR.. Goodell came to his present
church here fresh from Victories in
ether important places, but he was
warned by not a few friends when he
anne here that he would find New
York very different" but instead Of
being discouraged he replied:
God is the same in New York as
in every other city in the world. "
Before there shall be a failure in Cal
vary Church there will be a funeral in
Calvary's parsonage. ! will die
in the streets before there shall be q
failure Of Gods great work in New
York City"
But there was no failure. On the
first Sunday IN February, 1905, which
was the first day upon which he ex-
tended the general invitation Of the
Gospel after a period of evengelistic
preaching, there were three hundred
a nd Ciyf -fo31r onn1jco nfO for r,oYphn~
ship. which. SO far as DR.. Goodell
knows, is the largest mi of per
sons ever received at one time into the
fellowship Of one Protestant congre-
cation. The membership Of the church
has grown from 1900 to 5000. Here
is Mr.. Macfarlane's story Of how his
success has been won, and it should be
widely read:
yet DR.. Goodelrs evangelistic
nethods are simple. There is no faint
OF professionalism about them. They
are accompanied by no fanfare of cor
Eets. There is no throbbing Of the
deep bass drum. There is no i1npor-
tation of professional exhorters or
multiplication Of evangelisttc stage
p~ersonages and stage properties, with
a chorus Of singers and takers and
workers who are %uncannily skilled in
~pandering to the psychology Of the
crowd. Instead, DR.. Goodell simply
devote n month of every pastoral
year, the month Of January, usually,
to evangelistic preaching, every single
I night. of the Gospel as he understand
{ it. h service may be relieved now
and then or embellished by the
preaching Of a neighboring pastor, but
for the most part the doctor is his
own evangelist, and his own mission
airy as we'll, for he spends the day be-
fore the night Of the evange!istic ser
% in going among the people and
!, personally p~ersuading them to the bet
I ter life. Nor is he any r~eSpeCter OF
! persons at such times. His friends
! tell of an occasion when a Seif-lnade
, merchant and manufactures, whose
; final triumph had come in the cree
! ton of q great business block, which
! was filled, floor on foo To the very
: top. with goods Of his own production
: which were there assembled for sale
!. had personally conducted Or. GOodel
through the entire establishment, anc
as he went. told the story of his bust
ness life. The minister heard hin
: through with sympathy, ever entered
into his enthusiasm over each victory
and. when the narrator had finished
: as they stood at the top Of the store
: on the very pinnacle Of his achieve
: Inents. as 1t We're, asked him:
: HOY about Goo? And Your dutN
: to him? God, who gave You Al! this
; proSperlty2?'
Nor did the matter end With What
. might BADLY sound like an llnpertl
rent question. AS the minister aSke4
: it. the question was not impertineEt
y and there. amid the h~eterogeny OF
: merchandise emporium, the power Q
: it all pla ceG his hand in the minister
u and pledged himself to walk TOWARD
heaven
I sometimes wonder whether if al
!! preachers would put their preachin;
to the test as did DR.. Goodell and haN'
the Thou art the man more as the
Deal with their hearers and with me
e they seek u away from their church
- es-I say I wonder if there would b
$ SO many empty pews and II SO man,
n business men would stay away fron
church. If | were q preacher-tan'
it is the highest calling and | woul'
IS have felt lifted up if called 10 tina
n highest service)-I think | woul
preach more to folks who do not g
Dl to 0h1rch than IN those who 90 I