J. Wilbur Chapman

1859-1918

“It is a very difficult thing to make a rule for another to live by.  The rule which governs my life is this:  anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps me in my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me.; and I must, as a Christian, turn away from it.” 

Though J. Wilbur Chapman was not converted until years later, at the age of four he was often seen standing on his chair for a pulpit, acting out the role of preacher. 

A Presbyterian, he had great success in four pastorates, but is best remembered as a powerful evangelist.   

Greatly influenced for Christ as a young man by a godly mother and a spiritual father, he was led to accept Christ by his Sunday school teacher and later found absolute assurance that he was a child of God through the personal counseling of Dwight L. Moody. 

Why was he such a success as a pastor and leader?  “His unusual power with men, his never-failing friendliness, his positive and comprehensive preaching, his extraordinary genius for organization, and the unprecedented results of his manifold labors,” are the reasons given by his biographer, Mr. Ford Ottman. 

 Mr. Ottman reports, “He made fluent use of an adequate vocabulary, and it was said his full, round and firm voice, when rising to a climax, developed a depth and power comparable to thunder at a distance; yet it had a musical tenderness, a pathos almost like tears, a throb, a tremolo-stop, as in the grand organ, perfectly adapted to the wonderful expression of God’s symphony, of God’s love and grace and sufficiency.”   

Through his teaching, preaching, and greatly used Bible conferences, he influenced thousands of Christians to have a deeper, more effective devotion to Christ and the Bible.  He won many thousands to the Lord in his evangelistic meetings. 

Though he had an unusual sense of humor, he seldom joked; yet he trained an excitable, vehement seeker of souls to carry on after he was gone—a young baseball player named Billy Sunday.  No two men were ever more different in their methods; no two ever agreed more completely on their message.