The Great Evangelists of Importance at the Time of A.A. Dr. Bob's Youth

The Great Evangelists of Dr. Bob's Time as a Youth
Dick B. Copyright 2011 Anonymous. All rights reserved
Dr. Bob said:
He was almost forced as a youngster to go to Church services, prayer meetings, and
Christian Endeavor four and sometimes five times a week.
He declared he had had excellent training in the Bible as a Youngster, and his son
said his dad had read the Bible from cover to cover three times.
In his last major address to AAs in 1948, Dr. Bob said early AAs believed the answers to their problems were in the Bible and that the basic ideas for the Twelve Steps came from study and effort in the Bible.
Highlights of Dr. Bob's Christian Upbringing in St. Johnsbury, Vermont
The Great Awakening of 1875 was catalyzed by YMCA lay brethren and evangelists, and
many hundreds converted to God through Jesus Christ; and in St. Johnsbury, there was a renaissance of church building and new devotion to Bible, prayer, and church.
Bob's parents, Judge Walter and Mrs. Susan Smith, were strong Congregationalists,
married in the Great Awakening aftermath, joined North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury; and there were Sunday school teachers, Sunday school superintendents, and very active in the church's leadership.
Colonel Fairbanks, a leading St. Johnsbury Protestant religious personage and long-time worker with Sunday school made it clear that the Sunday school really stressed salvation and the Word of God.
Church records show the entire Smith family (Judge Smith, his wife Susan, Susan's
mother, Dr. Bob, and his foster sister Amanda Northrup) all fully participated in
the North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury.
Church records also show these family members often attended five times a week and,
for some,  in addition to attendance at church leadership functions

And then there was the YMCA factor: The YMCA building was just a short distance
from the Smith family church. Judge Smith became YMCA president in St. Johnsbury. And the YMCA was very active both in the church's functions and at St. Johnsbury Academy where Dr. Bob matriculated.
And there was also the St. Johnsbury Academy factor where the officers and leaders were Congregationalists to the core; where daily chapel, weekly church attendance, and weekly Bible study were required; where students learned from a Christian curriculum; where both Dr. Bob's parents were active in teaching, examinations, alumni activities, and reporting the Academy's history; and where Dr. Bob earned a title bestowed on him by fellow students—"Reverend." The following appears in the book by Richard Beck, A Proud Tradition A Bright Future: A Sequicentenniel History of St. Johnsbury Academy (1976, p. 49): "Smith's unusually frequent church attendance also drew the attention of his Academy classmates. His Class of 1898 Class Day program, containing the Class Prophecy, predicted that ‘after leaving college,' he would become ‘a professional fisherman," then "settle down" as "Rev. Robert H. Smith, pastor of a church in Paunee, Ohio"
There was also the Christian Endeavor Factor – where confession of Jesus Christ,
Conversion meetings, regular Bible study and prayer meetings, Quiet Hour, the study of religious literature, topical discussions, and a motto of "Love and Service" prevailed. Church records contain Mrs. Smith's remarks about the effectiveness of this Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor.

Finally, there was the cluster of noted Christian evangelists whose work was extensive at or near St. Johnsbury, and who laid great emphasis on conversion and Bible, their concern about drunkenness, their involvement in YMCA, the Christian Endeavor Society, and even mention of General Booth and his Salvation Army.
The Cluster of Great Evangelists Whose Work Impacted upon St. Johnsbury
Allen Folger of New Hampshire should perhaps be listed first. He became a lay
evangelist in 1873. In 1905, he published his autobiography, Twenty-Five Years as an Evangelist. Folger there recounts his many revivals, conversions, and work with churches and the YMCA.  He worked mostly under the auspices of the YMCA for his first sixteen years; and then changed "when called by the Evangelistic Association of New England to labor under their auspices and visit any place in New England where invited" (p. 336). He said of his preaching that it was plain to lovingly preach "Christ and Him crucified," "man a sinner and Christ a Saviour" (p. 211). And he was one of the men who attended the Vermont State YMCA convention in Norwich, Vermont in November, 19-20, 1874, where the kickoff for the Great Awakening of 1875 in St. Johnsbury really began with despair over Vermont's religious state. He comments on the union meetings for prayer that by churches in St. Johnsbury, pointing out that "the result was the greatest revival the town had experienced in this generation" (pp. 51, 191). He commented on the work of Christian Endeavor, and on his address to, and the work of, the Society of Christian Endeavor in St. Johnsbury (191).
Dwight L. Moody, of Northfield, Massachusetts, a giant of the YMCA movement would
come next, if not first. In The Life of D. L. Moody (NY: Fleming H. Revell, 1900), William R. Moody wrote that Moody held "tenaciously to the Bible as the inspired word of God," stating, "Take the Bible, study it . . . feed on the Word . . . pass on the message." (pp. 497, 19). Biographer James F. Findlay, Jr. wrote  Dwight L. Moody American Evangelist (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969). He called Moody the most widely heralded representative of evangelical Protestantism after 1870 . . . a "professional revivalist" (pp. 19-21, 136). Findlay commented about Moody's views: "Jesus as the Christ stood as the divine instrument by which individuals were brought to God and transformed into people of faith . . . . The dealings of God compel men to turn to the man Christ Jesus for sympathy, to the Savior Christ Jesus for atonement and pardon, to the intercessor Christ Jesus for an answer to prayer, and to the glorified Christ for an heavenly inheritance (p. 231).
Moody's first connection with Dr. Bob's St. Johnsbury occurred in 1870 when Moody attended and spoke at the Fourth Annual Convention of the State of Vermont Young Men's Christian Association and, as was his custom, began his talk with a quote from the Bible. In September 12, 1875, Moody addressed 1000 people on the steps of the Orthodox Church in Northfield. In the afternoon, Colonel Fairbanks of St. Johnsbury organized a grove meeting for the crowds waiting and before whom Moody spoke at 5:00 PM. Moody again preached--this time to an audience of 2000. On November 3, 1877, The New York Times published an article on revivals in New England, stating, "The Moody and Sankey campaign in Vermont closed last night, and was very successful at every point. At Burlington they had large audiences three and four times each day. During the past month, the churches have been strengthened and revived, and large numbers from all classes of citizens have been converted. . . . Mr. Merehouse [sic], assisted by Mr. Sankey during the past week, has been at work in St. Johnsbury. They have had large audiences, and the work promises well." Later, Moody played an important role Brattleboro, Vermont, where the eighteenth [Vermont YMCA] State Convention was held October 10-12, 1884. See Dick B. and Ken B., Dr. Bob of Alcoholics Anonymous (p. 260)
As we have shown and will show, Moody's evangelism permeated the Vermont scene, influenced St. Johnsbury leaders, and impacted citizens of that village at the time when Dr. Bob's parents were married and becoming leaders in their church and community. Moody also was much connected with Christian Endeavor, as illustrated by the Christian Endeavor book by Dwight L. Moody, "Golden Counsels" (Moody: United Society of Christian Endeavor, n.d.). Moreover, Moody also influenced A.A.'s progenitor Dr. Frank N. D. Buchman, founder of the Oxford Group. Buchman met Moody at the Northfield Student Conference in 1901, said the visit "completely changed my life," and then decided that winning people to Christ must be his main objective in life. See Dick B., The Oxford Group & Alcoholics Anonymous, 2d ed. (p. 46)/
Ira D. Sankey also deserves listing. He was not only a famous singer-evangelist, but a traveling partner with Dwight Moody. Sankey wrote My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1907). Sankey was with Moody during their highly successful tour of England and by Moody's side during the Great Awakening period. And he was characterized as an evangelist.
There were others such as F.B. Meyer and Billy Sunday who will be discussed soon