Evangelism's First Modern Media Star: Reverend Bill Stidger

by Jack Hyland

Overview

Bill Stidger was the most famous preacher in America in the 1930s and the model for Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Norman Vincent Peale and Cardinal Sheehan acknowledged their friend Stidger as the source of many of their ideas. Stidger was the first person to realize the potential of modern media promotional techniques for evangelizing. A fervent preacher with a social conscience, he invented and patented an electric revolving cross to adorn church roofs and attract worshippers. He used advertising and wrote newspaper columns to publicize his services and even supported bowling alleys on church grounds. He brought religion to the radio with his program "Getting the Most Out of Life." His tactics aroused controversy and changed the way we worship in America.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815411871
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	04/15/2002
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Jack Hyland, an investment banker, is Reverend Bill Stidger's grandson. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

Reverend William Leroy Stidger (1885-1949) was a dynamic Methodist preacher with a social conscience who was known for his innovative use of the media. He served in World War I, provided for the destitute in the great depression, and performed missionary work in China, Korea, Japan, and the Phillipines. This biography by his grandson is illustrated with 24 photographs.

Theology Digest

Bill Stidger was a fearless and creative preacher...{He} used the latest in journalism, advertising, showmanship, and the radio and adapted his message to what most effective. Yet, he quite consistently retained the integrity of his message....He never forgot he was a christian preacher.

Walter G. Muelder

An excellent piece of work...a remarkable accomplishment.

Brendan Gill

Written by his grandson, this is a well-documented and personal biography of Methodist evangelist Bill Stidger (1885-1949). Stidger experienced conversion at a Methodist revival and went on to become an ingenious innovator whose marketing abilities filled churches wherever he pastored: San Francisco, San Jose, Detroit, Kansas City, and Boston. He wrote 52 books, ran FDR's radio reelection campaign in 1936, and taught techniques for sermon writing at Boston University's School of Theology. He also actively addressed social issues, traveled abroad to mission stations, and volunteered and served with the YMCA on the front lines in France during World War I. Hyland, who incorporates Stidger's personal correspondence into the text, discusses how Stidger pioneered in preaching techniques, in creating news events that appeared in the daily papers, and in advertising. Though the book's appeal may seem limited to those seeking information on evangelism or Methodist preachers, it has a broader human interest, particularly in light of its historical setting, with accounts of World War I, Roosevelt, and Stidger's meetings and friendships with other notables. Nevertheless, because of its subject matter, general public library patrons may not seek it out; recommended for theological collections and large libraries. George Westerlund, formerly with Providence P.L., Palmyra, VA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

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