Touching Lives We May Never Know

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."    I Corinthians 15:58

Do you ever wonder if what you do is significant?  Will anything you do ever make a real difference in the work of the Lord?  Perhaps the story of Elias Kimball can give us hope.  Elias was a Sunday School teacher who worked with a class of young men in Boston.  In 1858, Elias felt the tugging of the Holy Spirit move him to share his faith with a young shoe salesman he knew.  At first, he was hesitant to do so, but finally went into the shoe store and shared his faith with him.  As a result, the young shoe salesman prayed and received Christ that day.  The shoe salesman's name was Dwight L. Moody who went on to become the greatest evangelist of his generation.  Dwight Moody moved to Chicago where he started a Sunday School work among children that would eventually lead to the Moody Bible Institute.

In 1879, Moody went to England to lead an evangelistic crusade.  At first, the British clergy found his sermons too overly emotional. One minister in particular, F.B. Meyer was very critical of him until a lady from his church convinced him that Moody was truly a great minister.  Meyer decided to give him another chance and was won over by his dynamic preaching.  Meyer was so influenced by Moody that he became a traveling evangelist.

Years late while preaching in America, Meyer was approached by a young minister named J. Wilbur Chapman who was so discouraged he was ready to resign.  Meyer counseled him and Chapman regained his faith and began a career as an evangelist in the early 20th century.  Before long, Chapman knew he would need an assistant and recruited a highly motivated but largely uneducated former professional baseball player.  This ball player was Billy Sunday who would go on to win over one million people to the Lord.

In 1924, Billy Sunday was preaching a crusade in Charlotte, North Carolina.  It changed the city.  One result was a group of young men who were so moved that they started a small prayer group.  That prayer group continued to pray for years and during the midst of the Great Depression they felt a strong need for Charlotte to have another great revival.  In 1934, they recruited a man named Mordecai Hamm to preach the crusade.  During the last night of the Crusade, under the big tent, one tall, lanky young man walked up the aisle to receive Christ.  That man's name was William Franklin Graham or Billy as millions around the world would soon know him.  Billy Graham would go on to become the greatest evangelist the world has ever known.

As you think of this story, which person do you think was the most important?  Graham?  Sunday?  They clearly are the most familiar.  However, in a sense, perhaps the most important was a humble, everyday, Sunday School teacher named Elias Kimball.  Most of us will never be a Billy Graham or Billy Sunday.  But you could be an Elias Kimball.  You could be a humble, faithful servant whose name few may remember, but a future harvest of your labors might forever change the world.