The Sunday School Teacher who led Moody to Christ

Most people have heard of D.L. Moody. He was used by God to lead hundreds to Christ through the course of his ministry in the late 19th century.

But have you heard of Edward Kimball?

Edward Kimball was the lay Sunday School teacher who lead D.L. Moody to Christ when Moody was an 18 year old shoe salesman in Boston.

Moody visited his Sunday School class and was won over to the middle-age man when he rescued him from the embarrassment of not being able to find the gospel of John (he was thumbing through the Old Testament).

Shortly after, Kimball "felt constrained to go call on Dwight Moody and inquire about the condition of his soul." Although Kimball felt the Lord leading him, he feared the encounter and was so absorbed with debating whether or not he should actually go talk to Moody that he past the store and had to circle back.

Mustering up the courage he decided to "have it over at once" and talk to Moody. While Moody was shelving shoes Kimball remembered "I went up to him and put my hand on his shoulder, and as I leaned over...I made my plea, and I feel that it was really a weak one. I don't know just what the words I used...I simply told him of Christ's love for him and the love Christ wanted in return."

How did it go? How did God use his weak presentation of the gospel?

Moody describes how this man's love was used to lead him to Christ:

"I recollect that my teacher came around behind the counter of the shop I was at work in, and put his hand upon my shoulder, and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I had not felt that I had a soul till then. I said to myself: 'this is a very strange thing. Here is a man who never saw me till lately, and he is weeping over my sins, and I never shed a tear for them.' But I understand it now, and know what it is to have a passion for men's souls and weep over their sins. I don't remember what he said, but I can feel the power of that man's hand on my shoulder tonight. It was not long after that I was brought into the Kingdom of God." (A Passion for Souls, Lyle Dorsett, pg. 47)