Synopses & Reviews
Dwight Lyman Moody was the greatest evangelist of the 19th century. In the pre-television era, he traveled more than one million miles to preach the gospel to more than 100 million people. Although equipped with just four years of formal schooling, Moody launched ministries in education and publishing that remain vital and fruitful today. Moody had a passion for souls.
Yet with all of his accomplishments for God, D. L. Moody remained a humble man. His greatest riches were found in the love of his Lord and the souls that had been changed for the glory of God. In these pages, today's believers will find a model of biblical passion, vision, and commitment. Lyle Dorsett reveals the heart of this great evangelist, recounting his life and realistically probing his strengths, weaknesses, virtues, faults, triumphs, struggles and motivations to find a man after God's own heart.
Review
Lyle Dorsett, one of America's foremost historians, writes with the insight and passion of an evangelist. That's why this book throbs with wonder. More than a definitive study on Moody, it gets to the heart of things, and shows how God can work through a man willing to take Him at His Word and let the Holy Spirit have His way. Read it, it has a tonic for your soul.
-Robert E. Coleman, Director of the School of World Missions and Evangelism, Trinity International University
I thoroughly enjoyed each chapter and gladly recommend it. Chapter four alone, on Moody and the Civil War, is worth the price of the book.
-George Sweeting, Chancellor Emeritus, Moody Bible Institute
Lyle Dorsett has written a fascinating account of D. L. Moody's life, using new materials in previously unpublished letters to demonstrate his humility, his relationship with his family and deep concern for his children, his interest in immigrants and poor young women, and his undaunted confidence in the young. This will be of great interest to evangelists, all Moody scholars, and the general public.
-Patty Stout, Great-granddaughter of D. L. Moody
D. L. Moody was a towering giant of the faith, an anointed powerful communicator of the gospel, and, most of all, a man exemplifying the humility and love of Christ. He is truly a model for all age groups. This book is an insightful look at a great man of God.
-Bill Bright, Founder and Former President, Campus Crusade for Christ International
D. L. Moody may have lived 100 years ago, but his life's story speaks to this generation with the same power that it did in the 19th century. Here is the story of an ordinary man who rose from poverty with only a minimum of education to bring two continents, Europe and North America, to repentance. No one can read this book without getting tremendously excited, motivated,and deeply moved by God.
-Luis Palau, International Evangelist
To our desperate world struggling with broken families, poverty, and hopelessness, D. L. Moody brings visionary inspiration. To our jaded world looking on men of God with skepticism, and even cynicism, D. L. Moody brings integrity. To our self-centered world starving for love, D. L. Moody brings a Christ-centered passion for souls.
-Gene Getz, Author, MBI: The Story of Moody Bible Institute
Biographers of D. L. Moody have tended to praise him as a spiritual hero or reduce his efforts to a function of historical circumstance. The great merit of Lyle Dorsett's new biography is to combine spiritual insight with unusually wide research. The result is a book that positions Moody in his times, but which also provides Christian reasons for why he was so important in those times, and since.
-Mark A. Noll, McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College
Synopsis
Moody was a model of biblical passion, vision, and commitment. Examine the life of this great evangelist probing his strengths and weaknesses, virtues and faults, triumphs and struggles, to find a man after God's own heart.
About the Author
REV. DR. LYLE W. DORSETT (Ph.D., University of Missouri-Columbia) is the Billy Graham Professor of Evangelism at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University, in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of numerous books, among them biographies of Joy Davidman (Mrs. C.S. Lewis), E. M. Bounds, and Billy Sunday. Keenly interested in the life and writings of C. S. Lewis, he has published a volume of Lewis¿s Letters to Children, The Essential C. S. Lewis, A Passion for Souls: The Life of D. L. Moody; Seeking the Secret Place: The Spiritual Formation of C.S. Lewis and A Passion for God: The Spiritual Journey of A.W. Tozer. His most recent book, published in August 2012, is titled Serving God and Country: US Military Chaplains in World War II.He serves as Rector of Christ the King Anglican Church in Homewood, Alabama, which he and his wife and deacon, Mary, planted in November 2007.The Dorsetts have two children and four grandchildren.
Table of Contents
1. D. L. Moody's family tree
2. Northfield, Massachusetts, 1837 - 1854.
3. Boston, 1854 - 1856.
4. Chicago, 1856 - 1860.
5. A School of Practical Theology - Chicago and the Civil War, 1861 - 1865.
6. A Wider Circle at Home and Abroad, 1865 - 1870.
7. Trial by Fire: A City and a Soul Aflame, 1868 - 1871.
8. A Call to the Unknown: England and Chicago, 1872 - 1873.
9. The Spreading Flame: Britain Ablaze, 1873 - 1875.
10. A Great Harvest Abroad and at Home, 1875 - 1877.
11. Consolidating the Gains: D. L. Moody the Educator, 1878 - 1889.
12. Landmarks in Nonformal Christian Education: D. L. Moody's Contributions to Worker Training,Publishing, and the Conference Movement, 1889 - 1895.
13. Finishing Well: D. L. Moody's Last Half-Decade, 1895 - 1899.
14. In Retrospect: Some Keys to D. L. Moody's Effectiveness