Dwight Lyman Moody

Dwight Lyman Moody
Preacher, evangelist and publisher
Born	(1837-02-05)February 5, 1837 Northfield, Massachusetts, USA
Died	December 22, 1899(1899-12-22) (aged 62) Northfield, Massachusetts, USA

Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with the Holiness Movement, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts (now Northfield Mount Hermon School), the Moody Bible Institute, and Moody Publishers.

Dwight Moody was born in Northfield, Massachusetts, to a large family. His father, Edwin J. Moody (1800–1841), a small farmer and stonemason, died at the age of 41, when Dwight was only four years old; his mother was Betsey Moody (née Holton; 1805–1896). They had five sons and a daughter before Dwight's birth, with twins, a boy and a girl, born one month after Edwin's death. His mother struggled to support the family, but even with her best effort, some of her children had to be sent off to work for their room and board. Dwight too was sent off, where he received cornmeal, porridge, and milk three times a day. He complained to his mother, but when she found out that he got all that he wanted to eat, she sent him back. Even during that time she continued to send them to church. Together with his eight siblings he was raised in the Unitarian church. His oldest brother ran away and was not heard from by the family until many years later.

When Moody turned 17, he moved to Boston to work (after many job rejections) in an uncle's shoe store. One of the uncle's requirements was that Moody attend the Congregational Church of Mount Vernon where Dr. Edward Norris Kirk served as the pastor. In April 1855 Moody was then converted to evangelical Christianity when his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, talked to him about how much God loved him. His conversion sparked the start of his career as an evangelist. However, his first application for church membership, in May 1855, was rejected. He was not received as a church member until May 4, 1856. As his teacher, Edward Kimball, stated: