Open Every Night

The formal dedication of the new home of the old Moody Mission took place on Wednesday night.

In introducing Mr. Storey, who is to be superintendent of the Mission and Director of Open Air Work, Mr. Rader spoke of the vision God had given him for the mission.

The Vision

I am sure God has given us a vision for this mission. As you know, since liquor has been put out of business, the need for the old style rescue mission is gone; but the need for the old Gospel remains the same. For a long time I have felt that the greatest need for this church was to have a place where people by the hundreds might be reached with the Gospel every night, and reached by our own church members.

For two years we held meetings in this Tabernacle every night, and I have been sure all the while that this is exactly what God wants on this corner. We need a place where every one can go out and do soul saving work, not only on Sunday night, but every night in the week. This is the normal way for us to do work.

During the two years that we were holding meetings, we found the men and women who were out on Monday night were not the same as those who were out on Tuesday night. We had almost an entirely different crowd. Then on Wednesday night, we had another crowd and so on through the week. While a few attended all the services, for the most part we had a different crowd every night.

No matter what is going on in the big Tabernacle, we are going to hold services on the corner. Thousands of people are going by the corner who do not go by the tabernacle doors.

The Man

In order to do this work we must have a man to manage it. I found Mr. Storey in New York, and I am going to ask him to speak to you.

Mr. Storey’s Testimony

I rejoice tonight that I can testify to the fact that the Old Story is true, not merely because I have heard it, not because I have been taught to believe it; but because in my own heart I have proven that Jesus does save from the penalty and power of sin. He does keep day by day as we trust Him, and I have proven this for many years.

I was saved when a boy nine years of age in the great Victoria Hall, Liverpool, when Mr. Moody and Sankey first held meetings in that city. As I listened to those sermons and heard Mr. Sankey sing, the way of salvation was very plain to me. I was raised an Episcopalian, and “I knew I had done those things which I ought not to have done, and left undone those things which I ought to have done, and that there was no help in me.” I knew I needed to call on the Lord to have mercy on me a miserable sinner.

One night as I was sitting in the gallery with my parents, I arose from my seat and walked down the long aisle to the back and went down the stairs and into the inquiry room and sat there dangling my feet. I was one of the last in the inquiry room. No one came to speak to me. Eventually a young lady came to me and said, "Little boy, what are you doing here?" I said, "I want to give my heart to Jesus." She talked to me a little while and explained a few passages of Scripture to make sure I understood. Then she said, “Let us kneel down.” We knelt down, and my heart opened, and I found the Lord that night. If I was not saved at that hour, I have never been saved. From that hour to this I have known Christ and have never had to seek Him again.

At twelve years of age, my father took me to a mission, and I asked permission to preach my first sermon on my twelfth birthday. They thought I was rather precocious and rather threw cold water on me. If I had preached, I believe the Lord would have wonderfully used me because I have preached that sermon since and have been unable to improve on it.

I said, “I must do something for the Lord.” In those days children were hardly recognized. There was no opportunity given them to testify or work for the Lord.

My father had a large kitchen with a garden beyond and stables. Beyond this was a poor neighborhood. I asked my father if I might have the use of the kitchen and if he would send a carpenter to build some seats that we could fold up and put in the barn.

There was another boy whom the Lord had used me to bring to Christ. We got together with a bundle of paper and made out some notices of a meeting to be held in that kitchen at 7:30 on Tuesday night. Then we went from door to door in this poor neighborhood and asked if any boys lived there. If there were boys in the home we left an invitation. We gave out something like two hundred.

On the first Tuesday night the kitchen was crowded. I was Moody and the other boy was Sankey. I preached my sermon to those boys. The meetings went on for six weeks and we thought it about time someone was saved. The invitation was given and six of the boys raised their hands. We dismissed the meeting and hoped those six boys would not stay. We did not know what to do with them, but they stayed.

I went to my father and said, “Father, six boys want to be saved, and I don’t know how to save them.” My father came and gave me my first lesson in leading souls to Christ.

At fifteen years of age I felt the Spirit of the Lord prompting me to go out into the open air. Others promise to go with me, but on Sunday evening they forgot to come. I stood under a tree with the Bible in my hand and one of Sankey’s books and gave out one of the songs and sang it. Then I opened the Bible and began to preach the Gospel of Jesus. Many souls were converted in the open air.

I am telling you this story to show that when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, and we are truly born of the Spirit, there is a great hunger to bring others to Christ.

From that time to the present my life has been devoted to this kind of work.

My dear friend, Brother Oliver, whom I have known for many years, suggested to me that some time when Mr. Rader was in New York I should look him up and shake hands with him.

To my surprise, when I met Mr. Rader, he began to talk to me about the work here. He said he had been praying the Lord would send him a man on that very trip. Somehow I felt in my heart it was a call from God, and I do feel I have come into your midst in the way of God’s will.