Rachael M. Phillips

I've heard much about Billy Sunday, the Christian evangelist from the early 1900s, but I discovered much more while reading this book, "Billy Sunday: Evangelist of the Sawdust Trail".

One thing I really liked was that the author did not whitewash Mr. Sunday, making him into some holy prophet. Billy Sunday was a child from a broken home, and was always getting into trouble. For several years he and his brother lived in an orphanage, as his widowed mother was unable to provide for them. As an adult he played professional baseball, at the time that the leagues were getting started.

A chance encounter with a missionary led him to become a born-again Christian. Eventually, his faith would take him to become an evangelist, holding huge meetings in which thousands of people attending would come forward to repent and become Christians.

But not all went well for Billy: his children went astray despite their parents' faith, and he struggled with doing what was right versus wanting to help them out of their troubles.

Not a preachy book, but an interesting one. It made the legendary figure much more human. I plan to reread it at a later date.… (más)