The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-02-08
MIR. Rhoads Is old
Of Effective Me-
thods Use d By
Sunday

one of Richmond's leading business
men, and a member of the special
of twenty-five desiring to
have first hand Information. wrote to
a prominent professional man of Phil
adelphia, asking for his frank opinion
Billy Sunday and his evan
gelistic mission. and has received
reply The man referred to is bril-
liant man, who has achieved eminent
success In his profession, man who
keeps abreast of the times. He was
born in an agnostic home, ana mas
therefore never affiliated with the
church nor attended church. In his
letter to Mr.. Rhoads he says:
II have read many OF his sermons
and have heard him on one occasion.
One hears all kinds Of comments
from all classes of people. These
range from hypocrite and monologue
artist to the other extreme. He is
not a hypocrite and / believe him to
be thoroughly conscientious and hon
est. and, Furthermore, ! believe he
practices what he breaches as far as
1t is within the power of mortal man
to do so. / attribute his success. and
that 1t certainly is, to several factors.
First. the perfect organization under
winch he operates sttoHut tbc hcfSA
and daring way in which he treats
his subject: third, his personality.
LAS TO the first of these. Before
he goes into town there must
thorough cooperation of the various
churches. community prayer meet
ings are held; all preliminary busi-
ness arrangements are made by one
OF his advance" men; daily press
notices OF one kind or another appear
Ia b t
campaign. He has surrounded HIM
self with a corps of efficient workers
who hold independent meetings at
various factories. plants. schools. etc
When the active campaign starts he
Is headliner for all the papers and
fully a page is given over to his work
by practically all or the daily papers
Aside from his own meetings. those
of his assistants are written up. You
will Judge from this that his organi-
zation is well nigh perfect, and so it
Is. He is TO the religious world what
r r. Barnuul and the De Long Hook
and Eye were to the amusement and
commercial fields, with the exception,
If | might take the probable words
from his mouth, he has them backed
off the map II Miller & Rhoads had
the same effective organization and
for about fourteen weeks.
t0iHk tHeJ Gpuiu Sell CaHlDEfc I0T
china silk and get away with it. These
side remarks are not made in a way
TO heiittle him, but. on the contrary,
to pat man on the back who has
done well what he has set out to ac-
coInpiish.
His Adjet1ives Unlimited.
las to the second factor All OF
his sermons and addresses abound In
slang and commonplace phrases. and
he has an unlimited supply OF adjec-
tives that he uses with an abandon
delightful. To the majority that I
have spoken 10, this phase of his adj
dresses has been least offensive when
heard. 10 me personally, | must con-
fess they were least so when read. His
sermons are we'll prepared and the
das ] heard him he used notes. The
statistics hs quotes are invaria bly,
taken from reliable sources and are
nat of the ] have been told charae-
ter However vigorous his attack may
be- ii is launched against one as be-
longing to a certain class ard not as
an individual. He is free from the
fault so frequently found among his
brother ministers. that Is, he does not
talk over the heads of his audience,
but like any good commander he
re gulates his speed to that of the
SlbNfsA snip To GTdW from the 0lhef
branch of the service, he shoots low
4, this factor. his modern English,
an@ the fact that he drives home
examples drawn from the daily walks
of life. / think. can be attributed
much of his effectiveness.
AS to his personality, I must say
that ] only knew what I have seen.
heard and read. for / have not met
h,rn IT the first place l think he is
regarded in tho light OF
reclaimed sour and these men al
ways put up stronger appeal to the
people. Undoubtedly his being an
cid baseball star has also added much
to this His oaiiy routine is viacrous
and systematic and an ex-prize fighter
also a reclaimed soul looks after
his physical health as far as exer-
else baths, rub-downs. etc. are con-
cerned
In his sermons he tends to the
dramatic in way that appeals 10
the people. II were in the theat-
rical business ! presume / would say.
his stagings or scenic effects were
good. l would not say that this fea-
ture was oyerdrawn for his purposes.
lie is a clean-cut looking man, dresses
well. drives point hard and to the
finish. but ! would not regard him as
a good orator.
HsatNNN f1Euc0ft0l-
AS to his effects on the community
can only say that / believe it to be
a beneficial and wholesome one. IL
] remember rightly Virginia went
dry at the last election: Sunday
will do more to keep 1t so than all
the ministers In Richmond put to-
gether. That is broad statement.
but I firmly believe It, When any
man can repeatedly draw from IS
600 to $4,000 men to service and
turn away 5000 to 5000 more, al
ways preach to standing room only,
he deserves some consideration.
III Sunday comes to Richmond he
will be heard by men to whom the
voice OF a minister is a distant echo
Are his results enduring? No preach
cr's ever were in all cases. and never
will be, but IL he can keep some poor
devil. who Is down and out. straight
for only six months. he has reached
an individual no other person ever
reached. or at least has done as well
as another. I can only sum up by
saying that Ii you can get him. take
him; ne will do some good. Certain
features about him do not appeal to
me. but he Ia not after me as r. II r..
ne wants souls and he can land Dick
Jones and Tom Smith by his present
methods he has the long end OF II by
two TO one.
II enclose attendance figures taken
r. x.r~ 4 ~. t<xt.... s.-.~ n l.