On Sunday, February 7, the Indianapolis Star included a story about Billy Sunday, the evangelist in the early 20th Century who made his home in Winona Lake, Ind. His home is now a museum that is operated by Grace College. A portion of the story appears below. Click here for the complete article.
Billy Sunday, the baseball evangelist, had Indiana home
He was a household name in the early 1900s, and could be as influential as presidents and governors.
But few know that evangelist Billy Sunday was a resident of Indiana and frequent speaker at gospel revivals in Indianapolis.
He was born William Ashley Sunday in Iowa during the Civil War. Sunday’s father died during the war, and his mother would later send Billy and his older brother to an orphanage. Sunday played baseball for the Chicago White Stockings, then several other teams, setting a record for stealing bases.
Bar-hopping with teammates, Sunday heard a choir singing hymns. He supposedly said, “Boys, I bid the old life goodbye.”
He quit baseball, worked at the YMCA and became an apprentice preacher and began preaching the Gospel in tents and tabernacles across the country.
Click here for the complete article.