A Shoe Clerk Named Moody
Matthew 21:1-11
Illustration
by Brett Blair

How did Billy Graham become a Christian? Well, let me lay it out for you.

  1. A 19th century Sunday School teacher named Kimball led a shoe clerk named Moody to Jesus Christ.
  2. Dwight L. Moody became a famous evangelist who influenced Frederick B. Meyer to preach on college campuses.
  3. Meyer led J. Wilbur Chapman to the Lord on those campuses.
  4. Chapman while working with the YMCA arranged for Billy Sunday to come to Charlotte, North Carolina to attend revival meetings.
  5. Community leaders in Charlotte, seeing the success of the revivals, scheduled another revival with Mordecai Hamm.
  6. Under Hamm's preaching in these revivals Billy Graham gave his heart to Jesus Christ.

That's how Graham became a Christian, and Billy Graham has preached to more people than any man in history. I am sure this Sunday School teacher in Boston had no idea what would happen from leading a shoe clerk to Christ. As we examine this passage of Scripture, I encourage you to look at the owner of the donkey and his response to the king who entered into Jerusalem that day.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., Adapted from John G. Davis, On the Backs of Donkeys, by Brett Blair