Great Preachers Who Contributed to the 20^th Century Growth of the Church

There were also many great preachers who contributed to the 20^th Century growth of the church. In the early part of the 20^th Century, there were such men as M. C. Kurfees, Price Billingsley, George Klingman, C. R. Nichol, A. G. Freed, James A. Harding, G. Dallas Smith, and others. M. C. Kurfees spent many years preaching for the Campbell Street church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is best remembered for a very good work that he did, a book that he published, called Instrumental Music In Worship, and that is still a book that is widely used today. Brother George Klingman delivered a series of lectures in Abilene, Texas, in 1907, and this became the forerunner of the Abilene Christian College Lectureship (later the Abilene Christian University Lectureship). C. R. Nichol engaged in many religious debates during his lifetime, as did men like J. D. Tant, J. W. Chisholm, Joe Warlick and others.

And then, in the 1930’s and 40’s men like N. B. Hardeman, J. C. Brewer, Foy E. Wallace, Jr. were among the most influential preachers in the church. Hardeman is remembered for the great “Hardeman Tabernacle Meetings” that were held in Nashville, Tennessee. These began in 1922, and there were three or four of these that were held—1922, 1923, another in 1928, and I’m thinking that there might have been one in 1930. These were held at the old Ryman Auditorium. You’re familiar with the Ryman Auditorium if you’ve ever been to Nashville, Tennessee. That was the place where the Grand Old Oprey was held for many years. By the way, I have these sermons that he preached that were published. I have three of the volumes; two of them are reprints, but here is one that is one of the originals—this is one of the original books that was published in 1923. During these Tabernacle Meetings he would deliver something on the order of 21 or 22 sermons, and they would be held over a period of several weeks. In this particular volume, there is a picture—sort of a panoramic picture—that was taken of the Ryman Auditorium during one of these meetings, and there were several thousand people in there. Again, Brother Hardeman is well-known for those meetings.

Religious debates were very popular in the 1930’s and 40’s. Brother Hardeman held a debate with a Baptist preacher named Ben M. Bogard. J. C. Brewer held many debates, as did Foy Wallace. Again, these debates were quite popular. They would certainly attract members of the church, but they would also attract a lot of non-Christians, and after these debates people would be interested and enthused to learn more about the Gospel.

Well, we don’t do much of that sort of thing anymore. We don’t have Gospel Meetings. We don’t engage in debates, and whatnot, but these were very popular.

Bible Classes Given Part Of The Credit For The Growth Of The Church

I also mentioned Bible classes, Bible class programs, being given part of the credit for the growth of the church. As an example, Jessie P. Sewell was one of the first to see the possibilities of having adequate classes for children. And as far back as 1927 at the Grove Avenue church in San Antonio, Texas, J. P. Sewell would plan an educational program—develop the curriculum, and so on—which is really the envy of a lot of us today. But, it would be through this congregational education that young people growing up in the church were better grounded, and so on.

The Influence Of The Writing Of Editors Of Various Journals

Well, we had talked before of the influence of the writing of editors of various journals, going all the way back to Alexander Campbell, and his penchant for the pen, for his writing. And certainly during the 20^th Century there would be a good bit of influence wielded by the pen.

The Gospel Advocate, The Firm Foundation—of course we’ve already mentioned them. They have their roots going all the way back into the 19^th Century; but into the 20^th Century, these two journals would continue and would really be the most influential publications among the churches of Christ, and on through the 20^th Century.

The Gospel Advocate had many great men who were on the editorial staff. Of course, we’ve mentioned in the past David Lipscomb being the long-time editor. But, men like M. C. Kurfees, E. A. Elam, H. Leo Boles, Foy E. Wallace, Jr., B. C. Goodpasture—all of these men would write and contribute to this journal.

The Firm Foundation was edited by G. H. P. Showalter from 1908 until his death in 1954. Reuel Lemmons became the editor of The Firm Foundation in 1955, and of course, we know that The Firm Foundation continues today.

There were many other journals as well. Christian Leader was another journal that had its roots all the way back in the 19^th Century. Some of these publications were regional papers. The Christian Worker, for example, was published in Wichita, Kansas, began being published in 1915, and was widely read throughout the Midwest.

There was The Christian Chronicle, which was founded in 1942 by Olin L. Hicks, and he continued as the editor for 12 years. Well, we know that The Christian Chronicle is still being published. In fact, I just got my copy in the mail today. One of the things that made it unique and continues, actually, to make it unique is that it was really more of a newspaper-type format where it reports the news around the brotherhood, and reports it, supposedly, in an objective-type manner. It’s not filled with doctrinal pieces, writings, and so on; it, rather, reports the news. For example, on the front page of the latest Christian Chronicle there is an article about the tsunami disaster relief that is going on among brethren.

In the 20^th Century, there was a publication called The Twentieth Century Christian that was edited by M. Norvel Young. In the later part of the 20^th Century—along about 1996-1997, I think—they changed the name to The Twenty-First Century Christian.

Then there are some others: The Christian Woman; Teenage Christian; The Christian Bible Teacher; Power For Today, and some others. For example, most of us are familiar with The Gospel Journal that’s edited by our Brother Dub McClish, along with a myriad of other smaller, some of them more regional-type papers that continue to be written and published today.

Next week, we will point out some interesting things about Restoration Movement Colleges, Universities and Seminaries.