CHAPTER 17

MID-TWENTIETH CENTURY AWAKENING

One day in 1948, in London, Edwin Orr sat listening to a man of God, Principal Andrew MacBeath, secretary of the Keswick

Convention.! He told a striking story of a visitor to France who used to pray in the quiet of a little French Roman Catholic parish church. The British visitor noticed that a middle-aged

French lady used to come each morning regularly, make the rounds of the Stations of the Cross, and then spend half an hour in rapt adoration of a beautiful picture of the Blessed Virgin

Mary. The visitor commented upon her devotion, but the priest reluctantly told him that, thirty years or so before, the lady had posed for a Parisian artist's picture of the Virgin, and that she

_was really only contemplating what she once was.

That story convicted Orr, for he had dearly loved to contemplate the days when he had been getting attention as a worldwide evangelist in 1935 and 1936. The upshot of it was that he began to pray that God would give him something to be grateful for in 1949. The burden returned, not only for revival but for the Filling of the Spirit.

God had raised up a deeply spiritual friend in Armin Richard Gesswein who, for several years, kept burning in Orr the fire of longing for a world-wide Revival, even when that fire tended to die down. The story of their close friendship is quite interesting."

Gesswein was born in Missouri on 28th November 1907 and so was more than four years older than Orr. He had been theologically trained and ordained in the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church, so exclusive in its dealings with other Christian denominations including Lutherans. He held his first pastorate in Long Island, near New York City and his work there was greatly blessed of God. The people liked him and he liked the people. He doubtless would have continued to work in that congregation but the leaders of his denomination frowned upon his ideas of friendly co-operation with other evangelical Churches,

pastorate. was s in a 'Soarmunity 'Churol in Loug ian which ey _ gave him greater freedom.

In 1937, Gesswein crossed the Atlantic and visited Britain, Scandinavia and other countries. He wrote to Orr: "I do. not a x _ want to hurry back now. I am praying for more fire before that. _ ee

I feel like a vessel i in the Potter's hand when he must break andy make it again."

At that time there was a remarkable Revival going on in Norway, and Gesswein came into close contact with it. This was a new experience for him. He was familiar with evangelistic campaigns in the United States, crowded meetings, hundreds

— of people coming forward, the testimony of what God had done > : a for them, immense advertisement. But the sights he saw in Norway

— were different, for whole communities came under the direction of the Holy Spirit, not merely during a special evangelistic campaign, but for weeks and months. This was Revival. Modern publicity methods had nothing to do with it; it was the work of the Holy Spirit who put new life into whole communities.

He saw with his own eyes things which have been described in the classic accounts of the historic Revivals. And he returned to America with a passionate longing to awaken in ministers a _ great eagerness to experience such awakenings.

In 1941, Gesswein wrote to Orr from the city of Los Angeles:

"More and more am I burdened about the large field in the old- ' line denominational churches. I could go on and on in churches like the Alliance or others very congenial. But that will not reach our age and generation. It seems to me that like yourself I must strike out for the larger field with the message of Revival and be given wisdom from on high to adapt without compromising.''?

Gesswein settled in Los Angeles and spent the war years calling preachers together for prayer. Orr returned to the United

States after military service and studies at Oxford and in October 1948 took part in a week of meetings with Gesswein in Min- — neapolis, sponsored by eighty ministers of many denominations

—Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Covenant, Pentecostalist, Nazarene and the like in a prayer fellowship then directed by Dr. Paul S. Rees of First Covenant Church and others.* Dr. Rees later became vice-president of the missionary

PAPE FBR SF a SEA) BREET eho ELL MMA Re 9 ga eg I a Be ee nee ee organization World Vision and became aes

asa gifted Bible teacher in hundreds of pastors' conference held © to stimulate the spiritual life of national pastors, many of whom — live in far away places without s augoee oie for spiritual fellow- — wt eae Gl ship.

The meetings in Minneapolis were held in the First Covenant :

Church and there had been much prayer. Orr fresh from his — research at Oxford gave a lecture on the 1858-9 Revivals in America and Britain. This acted like a spark upon tinder.

Prayers were interrupted by tears and there resulted many confessions of failure, neglect and sin. Reconciliations took place between pastors who had quarrelled or parted company.

There had been a similar meeting held a few weeks earlier in — Los Angeles.

Six months later another pastor's conference which proved significant was held in early March 1949 at Pacific

Palisades Presbyterian Conference Grounds in Los Angeles.

The director was the Reverend Armin Gesswein who had invited Drs. Harold J. Ockenga and J. Edwin Orr to be speakers.

More than 300 ministers and their wives came. Half of them continued in penitence and prayer for hours after midnight.

- The Holy Spirit was powerfully at work, convicting many of sin and leading them to confession and surrender.®

This spirit of prayer spread on a wide scale throughout Southern California.6 Though no large gatherings took place, many pastors were engaged in earnest prayer for an Awakening.

They met in small groups, often not more than two or three dozen people, in different cities and districts. As there was no central organization behind them, no central office sending out

_ topics for prayer, these groups met informally on their own initiative and continued in prayer for months.

Though they met in different places without central direction, there were certain characteristics common to all. The important business of the meetings was prayer. Often reports were heard from missionaries who had passed through genuine movements

_Of Revival on the mission-field. Methods of preparing congregations for Revival were discussed. Addresses were given on the personal responsibility of pastors and other leaders. All these were meant to stimulate prayer. They were not academic discussions. Repentance of sin was another characteristic of these

tin gs. S iri iritual offences, st such as as jealousy, Siete in prayer and neglect of fea witness we Te Ci (eae most often. There was real penitence followed by the joy of a deliverance. a A Presbyterian pastor was moved to start a meeting in a cma ie, town in the San Joaquin Valley, so he sent out postcards to all. the local ministers inviting them to a prayer meeting. No one came." He sent out a second series of postcards. It met with the same result. Then he began to telephone his fellow pastors with a personal invitation. They gave various excuses—one saying that he was too busy to come, another saying that he prayed alone, and another commenting: "I'm really too busy to come

_ to your prayer meeting but I have a good sermon on prayer and _ I will be glad to deliver it to your prayer group some time."

The pastor decided to try another method. On the morning of the prayer meeting, he called on the pastor of the First Baptist

Church and asked if they could pray together right away in church. After a moment's hesitation, the Baptist agreed and they

— prayed together for some time in true spiritual harmony. The following Thursday the number increased to three with a Naza_ ' rene; then a Lutheran minister joined them, then a Methodist minister, then an Episcopal rector and so on. In the meantime, the praying ministers organized Saturday evening rallies for the — young people and before long attracted attendances exceeding the population of the town. After six months of such fellowship, the Baptist minister said to the Presbyterian: "You know, brother, before the Lord revived my heart, when I met a minister who did not believe in believers' baptism the way we Baptists teach it, I treated him like a heathen and a publican. Since the Lord has revived my heart, now I just let him be wrong."

These many prayer groups and the earnest prayer that was offered in them must be reckoned as the essential background of the great spiritual movements which took place in America about the middle of the twentieth century. God does answer prayer. God does respond to the earnest longing of His people.

God does open the heavens and pour down His blessings when men humble themselves and confess their sins.

There were several significant spiritual movements arising in California about this time such as the crusades for mass evan-

* slit led fe Billy cna the 'beaeation Christian Group, the awakenings in the Christian college: 'the _. work of international Navigators, World Vision and perhaps a total of forty organizations that were organized or expanded at the mid-century.® The general movement that spread over the United States was at first a deep movement, later a much more superficial one as calculating men tried to make use of the genuine spiritual hunger. Church membership and church attendance reached an all-time high. Religion became news in secular journals.

Christian books and films became popular. But within twelve years observers both secular and spiritual agreed that the popular peak had passed.

But only the peak of the popular movement had passed. With more than a million correspondents writing to him in Minneapolis, no one is better placed than Dr. Billy Graham to report on the situation. It is well to remember that in his early years, he was very cautious in his use of the word Revival, stressing that his own Crusades were evangelistic endeavours, not _ Revival. After twelve years, he reported in Decision, July 1962 as follows:

In a very glorious way, the Holy Spirit is beginning to move quietly across America. Prayer groups unrelated to each other are beginning to spring up here and there throughout the nation. Remarkable conversions are occurring in the most unexpected parts of the nation. In my opinion, there is taking place a deep spiritual revival of which many of its spiritual leaders are unaware.

I wish you could read some of the thousands of letters we receive from our television correspondents. The stories of conversion and rededication are astounding. In addition, hundreds of letters have come informing us of thrilling instances of the Holy Spirit's working in dozens of communities. While

Satan is labouring overtime, stirring up division, hatred, jealousy, envy and greed, the Holy Spirit is bringing believers together here and there with a desire' to know the Scriptures and obey God.

This is precisely what happened after the Wesleyan Revival in the eighteenth century in England. Had you been living in

. progress. Very. few clergy i in Britain ceemtantire they were nes in the midst of one of the greatest religious awakenings of all time. Yet, here and there, little prayer groups were being organized.

Laymen were assuming new responsibilities. oe Astounding conversions were reported across the land. The. people who gathered together in these little class meetings were called in derision, Methodists. Yet two hundred years after Wesley, church historians say that the revival in the middle of | Pe the eighteenth century changed the course of English history.

_ Edwin Orr stressed that each great Evangelical Awakening © began in an outpouring of the Spirit on individuals and groups, © followed by an evangelistic phase, followed by consolidation and extension, with further outpourings of the Spirit. Future

| historians writing about the mid-century period will find Orr's book Good News in Bad Times of real value—if they can manage to ignore the "'catchy"' title, its lack of learned footnotes and | absence of books cited, none being available. It is clear that Orr's information came from his personal knowledge and par- | ticipation.

Stanley High, an editor of Reader's Digest, stated in his' popular biography of Billy Graham that "Billy Graham's associates speak of his career in two major parts: before Los

Angeles and since Los Angeles ... it is difficult even for a _ journalist to escape the conclusion that at Los Angeles a power ji

; greater than Billy Graham began to take Billy Graham more directly in hand."'® Those who knew Billy Graham better fixed the point of his. enduement with power a little earlier. Billy Graham was passing — through a crisis in his work as an evangelist in late August 1949.

He had been asked to lead a campaign in Los Angeles that September. There had been many difficulties. He and the Crusade

| Committee had various differences of opinion, so much so that both considered seriously whether they should cancel the arrangements for the Crusade. Billy Graham was troubled in spirit over these petty controversies.

At this time, a conference was held at Forest Home in the — beautiful San Bernadino Mountains in Southern California.

ie 5, 280 feet above sea evel It was a prior spot. Even v the inner valleys had to endure the great heat of summer, 'Forest i ot at el ia a Home, in the shadow of the big trees, enjoyed pleasant days bright with sunshine and delightfully cool nights. It was here that the future world-evangelist met with God.

S i _ Among the chief speakers were Edwin Orr and Billy Graham.

Graham was delivering a course of addresses in the mornings and Orr in the evenings. Of the latter, Billy Graham said:'°

The messages Dr. Orr gave as one of the others speakers were of tremendous blessing in my own life. His logical development of the whole subject of full surrender and the outpouring of the Spirit stirred the whole conference, evening by evening.

Seven years later, Billy Graham wrote in an issue of Christianity Today :+ _ In 1949, I had been having a great many doubts concerning the Bible. I thought I saw apparent contradictions in Scripture. Some things I could not reconcile with my restricted concept of God. When I stood up to preach, the authoritative note so characteristic of all great preachers of the past was lacking. Like hundreds of young seminary students, I was waging the intellectual battle of my life.

At 1 o'clock in the morning, Billy Graham sat down with Edwin Orr beside the fish-pond outside Orr's cabin. Seventeen simultaneous after-meetings had just concluded and Graham was deeply moved. Orr's book, Good News in Bad Times, tells how the conversation began with the subject of surrender and how he felt led to suggest that perhaps his need was in the realm of the mind and not heart or will."

When Edwin Orr talked to him, he did not know that Billy Graham's intellectual problem involved the question of the authority of Scripture. One of the faculty at the conference was passing through a period of unbelief which afterwards resulted in his renunciation of the ministry, and he tried to shake Graham's faith in the Scripture.

_ After half an hour of conversation, Graham walked off into the woods to pray. "Out of that sacred hour", wrote F. W.

Hoffman in his volume?® Revival Times in America, "came a new Billy Graham." And Graham himself wrote :14

'soul 'seemed to be caught in the crossbie: 'Finally, in deere | tion, I surrendered to the Living God as revealed in Scripture.

I knelt before the open Bible and said: "Lord, many ne Zee things in this book I do not understand. But Thou hast

— said, 'The just shall live by faith'. All I have 'received from Thee, I have taken by faith. Here and now, by faith, I — : accept the Bible as Thy Word. I take it all, I take it without — reservations. Where there are things that I cannot understand,

I will reserve judgment until I receive more light. If this pleases Thee, give me authority as I proclaim Thy Word, and Gi ; through that authority convict men of sin and turn sinners to the Saviour."

Orr was still awake when th returned to say that he had : been filled afresh with the Spirit of God, adding that God had given him a vision of what was going to happen down the mountain in Los Angeles—Orr remembered this, though he had put it down to enthusiasm at the time. Orr!® reported these events by letter to Paul Rees with whom he had agreed to pray, since that spring, for special unction for Billy Graham.

Within six weeks, Billy Graham started his Los Angeles Crusade and during that Crusade he applied the secret that changed his ministry. He had never before seen such crowds of people in his meetings. There were sensational cases of outright conversion. The newspapers began to splash with headlines the doings of the Crusade.

At first, the evangelist was alarmed by the publicity and. told ing Orr that some of his advisers thought that the publicity might

_ be "the kiss of death'? to the whole movement. The evangelists were sitting in a parked car in the darkness, for privacy's sake.

On Orr's lap was a copy of his recently-published Oxford thesis on the Awakening of 1858-9. He held it to the light and showed ~

Graham a paragraph dealing with the 58 Revival :*° The press, which speaks in the ear of millions, is taken possession of by the Spirit, willing or unwilling, to proclaim

His wonders and go everywhere preaching the Word in its most impressive, its living forms .

"<That was ninety years ago, Billy," said Orr, "and the news-

papers were giving a icatici WILE eir t tot ai spac

nev .

| believe it will happen again, 'if this is. 'coulye an i awaketas Whe ha Government has to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to _ get newspaper space to publicize an idea. I believe that the Lord may make the American press act as His publicity agent for — nothing, so don't be afraid of it."

The sudden thrusting of fame upon Billy Graham had its - amusing side also. He telephoned Orr in the fourth week of the Crusade, which had been extended indefinitely :'"

"Say, Edwin. I have a problem. I am out of outlines for * sermons..."

Orr advised him to borrow freely. So Graham called a mutual friend in Pasadena to ask him what he intended to preach upon on Sunday. The pastor told him that he had an outline based

- upon four men from the Acts of the Apostles—of whom Gallio was indifferent, Felix procrastinated, Agrippa sneered 'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian?" and the Philippian jailer said "'What must I do to be saved!" said Billy:

"Had you not better preach that sermon about six months from now?"

**Why ?"? asked the puzzled pastor.

'*Because," replied Graham, "'by a strange coincidence, that's what I expect to be preaching about tonight in the Tent."

Billy Graham's first book published after Los Angeles was _ Revival in Our Time, and it contains a chapter dealing with the _ movement of the Spirit in preparation for the Crusade. Edwin

Orr's share in that ministry was a month spent in the spring urging the Christian people of Los Angeles to pray for a genuine

Awakening.® Orr spoke five times a day under the sponsorship of the Christ for Greater Los Angeles Committee which was preparing to launch the Graham Crusade.

Edwin Orr occasionally sat in upon Graham Crusades elsewhere. His friendship with Billy Graham, already close, continued cordial.1® Unlike some of his friends, Edwin Orr never felt led to join the Graham organization, though at the start the evangelist suggested that to him. Occasionally Graham consulted

Orr about matters of strategy, but as both men became even busier in their ever so different ministries, they lost contact and only renewed it when their paths crossed. Edwin Orr prayed for

an ratific the he prayed daily 6 ts frien Or, Bier Gener is penne of her regard for Carol Orr's shy Christian atrongths of character, though they seldom met. ch With Cliff Barrows, Beverly Shea, Grady Wilson and ae by members of the Graham Team, Edwin Orr was on very good > ae terms. Most of Graham's organizational executives were old

_ friends also. There were some exceptions.

Late in 1950, the Sunday School Times carried an editorial ; , e on the Awakening then current in the United States. Itcommented

_ on the movement of the Spirit of God in Los Angeles, the remarkable college awakenings, and other evidences of real revival, then cited men like Wadsworth, Gesswein and Orr who had been i ;

: instrumental under God to create revival hunger."

"In this connection might be mentioned the pemark able ministry of Dr. J. Edwin Orr ... More recently he has been at — work among students and striae an active figure behind the scenes in college revivals and other awakenings." Thus was prefaced and concluded a paragraph dealing with twenty year of Orr's ministry.

While acknowledging the impact of campaigns of extraordinary proportions, full attendances at Sunday services and many other | gratifying evidences of mass interest in religion at the mid- | century, the editor observed that a sweeping revival throughout the churches had yet to come.

Edwin Orr, while eagerly helping more than one national a evangelist in mass crusades, nevertheless emphasized the need of real revival within the local church, God's ordained unit of nurture for saint and sinner alike. Billy Graham had urged Orr

\ to form his own team and engage in evangelism. Orr felt that far too few were engaging in the work of reviving the Church, so he concentrated on that needed ministry.

Charles Murray Albertyn, to whose research I owe much of this information, cited the case of a Lutheran church in Lynwood,

_ ie California as very typical of Orr's type of ministry upon the local congregation. The organ of the inter-synodical Lutheran

— Evangelistic Movement, in July 1950, reported a movement of Hee the Spirit which it had designated ''The Real Thing'':"4

Dr. J. Edwin Orr has just concluded here in St. Paul's

NaN Which God ada irgsrhar sent a revival. The pa the congregation, a conservative Lutheran, although having ie heard of the good reception given to the speaker (a non- — Lutheran) in the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia and else- © where, was a bit hesitant—not so much as to how the speaker

'might be received by his people as to what the attitude of eae his fellow-Lutheran pastors might be.

The meetings commenced on Sunday. The speaker's approach was that of teaching evangelism and his messages were wellsuited to Lutheran doctrine. By Wednesday evening, the officers, members and friends of the congregation were in deep concern. There was open confession of need, recon- -ciliation and restitution, and some were restored from backsliding. On Friday, in the midst of Christians seeking help and blessing, some began to confess spontaneously their need of conversion. On the second Sunday, there were more than a score of conversions together with such a flood of testimonies that it was difficult to close the meeting. (The meetings were surprisingly long, beginning at 7.30 and often continuing until 10 o'clock, yet the people were reluctant to leave.) Never before in the history of this congregation has there been such a working of the Spirit of God God kept His promise, that He would open the windows of heaven and pour out upon His people great blessings. Several Lutheran pastors present highly commended the messages. Because of the results and the manner in which the meetings were conducted, the congregation asked Dr. Orr to continue . efi tt _ Albertyn interviewed the Reverend Allan D. Hansen, minister of St. Paul's, nearly a decade later. The effects of the awakening of 1950 were still being felt, he said. The messages delivered by Dr. Orr had brought about under God an intense conviction of sin among the members, resulting in wholesome humbling before Almighty God and producing the works meet for repentance. Private and public confession of sin had been made in a blameless way, without a single instance of indelicate expression.

Besides confessions, there were costly restitutions and reconciliations. Orr's teaching was agreeable to Lutheran doctrine and

ne rs of the g how enthusiasm for winning . igs: git > Christ; and other enbeiobees in the Synod showed the utmost goodwill in retrospect. As for actual church ee

Hansen attributed extraordinary growth of the congregation to the permeation of the church by the spirit of revival and the © adoption of the pattern of scriptural victorious living, as taught — :

: by Edwin Orr in 1950. The keynote of the life of the church | became freedom of expression, quite unexpected in a church — worshipping liturgically. Cell meetings for all ages abounded, — and in each group meeting the spiritual needs of each member were prayed for by another, the needs of the church were prayed for by each group and the needs of the community were prayed for by the whole congregation. Startlingly significant was the. fact that the greatest strength of the church lay in the sinh a is of its men. ie * It would be foolish to suggest that such results sonikied everywhere that Edwin Orr ministered. Nevertheless, a goodly. number ee of congregations of all denominations experienced a reviving of real significance. Edwin Orr conducted a series for the deepening = of the spiritual life from coast to coast in the United States and Canada. Revival was still the burden of his heart—revival for Nee the individual, for the church, for the community.

' [ i i -

CHAPTER 18

AWAKENING IN BRAZIL.

The auditorium of the Colegio Presbiteriana in the town of Presidente Soares, high up in the mountains of Brazil, was crowded with more than 1,500 people. There was a large overflow into the street and roofs of buses and cars were occupied by younger people listening to the message over the loud-speakers.

It was an unusual crowd for a town of 1,500 inhabitants plus the students in residence during the school year

The speaker in the college auditorium was Dr. Edwin Orr who had come from the capital of the State of Minas Geraes, the beautiful city of Belo Horizonte, where he had said farewell in the last meeting of a stirring evangelistic campaign to a crowd of 5,000.

That night among the audience in Presidente Soares were many hundreds under deep conviction of sin. When Orr came to the porch of the auditorium to say a word over the loudspeakers, the street was filled with kneeling people, 3,000 in all.

There were four evangelical churches in the mountain town —Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal and Presbyterian. Hurriedly their pastors opened their doors, and the great crowd of penitents soon filled each one to overflowing. The main meeting lasted three hours. The crowded after-meetings continued until 10.30

p.m., resulting in reconciliations of enemies, confession of shortcomings, restitution of things wrongfully taken, restoration of backsliders to the faith, and the conversion of sinners, including a good number of non-evangelicals.

At 10.30 p.m., the people began to return to the main audi_torium for a service of praise that lasted until midnight. At midnight, the buses and cars loaded with singing people made their way into the night and the town settled into sleep. But next morning, classes in the college commenced with songs of praise, the town barber sang as he clipped his customers' hair and passengers were singing in the bus occasionally passing by.

as "Vem, ee tua \ *headio "Salvador!" dine, visit. Thy Church, (ons a _ Saviour!" sung to an old-fashioned tune from Wales. The _ scenes in the street that week were reminiscent of the 1904 sites

_ Welsh Revival. And yet this was Brazil in 1952.

I am indebted for descriptions of Reavivamento Brasleiee: ( the movement of 1952, to the author Lauro Bretones who > published the only full account of it.1 My friends in Edinburgh

_ House were kind enough to send me a copy. Besides atypewritten translation of this book, published only in lucid Portuguese, | there are briefer reports found in English in the International

Review of Missions, the Annual Reports of the Bible Societies, and statements by the Evangelical Confederation of Brazil and other denominational bodies. Also available are articles and _ reports from both secular and religious press in Brazil, some of ; them fortunately available in English form.

Lauro Bretones, in a book Whirlwinds of the South, Jas i a ; described Edwin Orr's first visit to Brazil in 1951, when he met with ministers and theological students and lay workers to discuss _ the topic uppermost in his mind, Revival in our time. Such was the impact of the meetings that the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, contemplating the celebration of its centenary in 1959,

_ officially decided to ask the Baptist evangelist to help them '

; commemorate by preparing the leaders for the coming of Revival, a phenomenon hitherto unknown in Brazil.? As soon as Orr arrived in 1952, the Baptist and Methodist ministers associated themselves with the Presbyterians in the venture and soon Congregationalists, Episcopalians, Lutherans and — Pentecostalists were doing the same. It was the first truly uated work of evangelism in Brazil.

The General Secretary of the Church Council (Evangelical Confederation) of Brazil reported :?

In 1951, an unknown evangelist visited our country, an uD oe unusual combination of zeal and scholarship. His was a prophetic message, telling the churches to prepare for Revival, a phenomenon which Brazilians had read about without experiencing. The response was immediate. Eighty churches in Sio Paulo commenced weekly prayer meetings for Revival.

; To' Orr's dismay, the Commission planning his itinerary

ro he ministers ap A igolbgbet students, feeling lope alert onal z prejudice might cause resentment of a more public ministry.

But the secretary of the group, the Reverend Boanerges Ribeiro, overwhelmed by the correspondence involved and unprepared for Sunday evening service, asked Orr to speak by interpretation in Bras Presbyterian Church in Sao Paulo. Of the more than

300 in the crowded church, more than 100 waited for counsel to receive Christ as Saviour.* The Commission immediately reversed its decision, and made

Orr's ministry available to united ministerial groups in thirty cities. Edwin Orr stayed eleven weeks in Sao Paulo.® The Orr family made its home in the neighbouring city of Campinas.

- Orr was joined by three Americans, William Dunlap, a Presbyterian, Carl Hahn, a Methodist, and Don Phillips, a Baptist; he was assisted by Brazilian ministers in various parts of the vast country.

Edwin Orr's work in Brazil would have been gravely handicapped but for the provision of a truly remarkable interpreter.

Dona Else Lima, whose husband, Dr. Durval de Magalhaes Lima, was a high official in the Federal Commission of Immigration, had attended a meeting in 1930 where an American visitor

_ had spoken on Revival. So moved was Dona Else that she went forward to seek prayer, and impulsively placed her infant daughter in the arms of the missionary, asking him to pray that the baby girl would be used of God in the reviving of the work of God in Brazil.

A score of years had passed. Silvia Lima, the daughter, had returned from academic success in the United States, but with a cold heart spiritually. Visiting SAo Paulo, she attended out of curiosity a packed-out meeting where Orr's interpreter had failed to show because of ill-health. Edwin Orr begged the reluctant young lady to help out. It was an immediate and striking success. Dona Silvia entered into a deep spiritual blessing through the ministry shared, and was invited to join the Orr team for the ministry throughout Brazil. Hers was the most linguistically exquisite, and most spiritually effective, ministry of interpretation known in Brazil until that time.* Dona Silvia met a — splendid Christian engineer in the final Orr Campaign, and settled

'Evangelicals noted? This. SNR a dupekondet ae cent 5 S. gain. The American Bible Society sme Report for the peer

1952 observed:

While most of ne growth of Ae evangelical movement _ could be attributed to the day-by-day witness of its members, _ special efforts also drew the attention of the people. na nation-wide evangelistic crusade that crossed denominational lines and drew the interest of the multitudes, a special evan-. gelistic team went from centre to centre calling for repentance | and dedication to Christ. Time and time again, the largest auditoriums could not seat the thousands who came to hear the gospel, and hundreds upon hundreds came forward to accept Christ as their Saviour. Some there were who compared

— this movement with the great nation-wide revivals which laid the foundation for the Protestant growth in the United States, and there was a strong feeling that 1952 had been a crucial hour of victory in the winning of Brazil to Christ.®

The International Review of Missions claimed® that the Brazilian evangelical churches were growing faster than those anywhere else in the world, and added that the churches of many de_ nominations "had been greatly stimulated by the evangelistic campaigns of Dr. Edwin Orr who, using air travel, covered almost the whole land.' Of this movement, the British and Foreign

— Bible Society reported:1° "Brazil is being shaken by the winds of the Spirit as never before,' describing 1952 as a year of triumph. It was a year of revival.

Edwin Orr visited each of the twenty-five states and territories of Brazil, a tremendous undertaking, causing the Secretary of the Church Council to remark that Orr had outdistanced any missionary or national known to him. The awakening which |

began during his visit to the Mato Grosso (Great Jungle) towns continued for years in effectiveness. He preached in the ornate

Grand Opera House in Manaus, 1,000 miles up the Amazon, By air he visited the vast interior of Brazil as well as the coastal cities.

In Governador Valadares, a town in Minas, no church could

"hold 'the anes. aoe meeting:

. & a Orr felt sorry for the audience standing all evening, so" the four churches to bring their pews and benches to the field. ac?

This was done, for the reluctance of the church committees was overcome by enthusiasm. Church people occupied the benches, so Orr told them to bring their own chairs and leave benches for visitors.. The effect of seeing church people carrying chairs balanced upon their heads was too much for the unchurched.

They crowded the field.

In Niteroi, capital of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the Municipal Theatre was crowded, with hundreds standing the first night, and it remained so throughout the campaign until the last night,

-_ when 3,000 attended and the police would not permit any more to enter the building. There were hundreds of conversions and _ restorations.}2 In Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, in the State of Espirito Santo, the ministers of seven churches were facing the problem of where to accommodate the people when the evangelist came. The Gloria

Theatre was suggested, but it was pointed out that one of the churches was larger than the theatre. Its pastor protested that the church could not hold more than a quarter of the believers in town. It was remembered that the Bartolo Circus had just come to town. The committee interviewed the circus manager, offered him his operating costs, filled the arena with chairs and filled both arena and banked amphitheatre with people.}*

Edwin Orr waited five nights before giving an evangelistic invitation. The arena was too full to ask anyone to come forward, and the people in the amphitheatre were sitting upon planks without support for their feet. The first man to stand to declare his faith in Christ forgot that his feet had nothing to support them, and he fell between the rows of seats, causing a ripple of laughter which became the joke of the town, bringing more still.

The movement throughout Brazil was free from all sensationalism. There were tears but no emotionalism, confessions but no scandals, rejoicing but no extravagances, and meetings protracted for hours but always in decency and in order. And no unfavourable reaction from people attending these meetings reached the Secretary of the Brazilian Church Confederation, whose opinions are quoted.'#

De Fe

; riptural ching, instruction i in righteousness and: 'effective evangelism ; in Brazilian churches. Many Brazilians, sharing in the series,

- went forth to preach in new power with success even greater than q dent their teacher from overseas. This also was the opinion of the _

Confederation's General Secretary, Rodolfo Anders.15

The Orr campaigns marked a coming of age in Brazilian evangelism, 100 per cent of the support of the ministry and travel coming from Brazilian sources. Not a penny came from outside.

— Ten years later, there were Brazilian pastors in the churches of — the denominations and Brazilian missionaries abroad, converted or called in 1952.

Noteworthy in the 1952 Revival were churches that were crowded for prayer at 6 o'clock in the morning; and evening meetings moved from the largest churches to larger theatres, or sportsfields or the open air; and protracted preaching. Some churches increased by fifty per cent in a week. And the upsurge continued with various fluctuations for a decade.

The Board of Ecumenical Missions of the American Presbyterian Church made a minute of record in late 1952 regarding the remarkable series of evangelistic campaigns by the Orr team in Brazil, "resulting in a deep and widespread spiritual revival in the churches and in thousands of conversions''. And the Brazilian

Presbyterian church echoed the sentiment by claiming that all Brazil was "'vibrating with works of revival and evangelization.''!'

Methodist support was enthusiastic. A leading Methodist journal, summed up thus:?® And the results? A total of 10,000 persons recorded decision.

In S&éo Paulo are churches which received a hundred new members. A great movement of revival has surged through Brazil these past few months, calling churches to repentance of sin and hearts to acceptance of salvation.

The final review of Reavivamento Brasileiro in April 1953 in the Jornal Batista claimed that there was general acceptance of the movement by Baptist people in every part of Brazil.

The long article reviewed the extraordinary impact of the Orr Campaign in Belo Horizonte and other cities.'®

Strange to relate, it was among a minority of Baptists that the only significant opposition had developed. A few of the Baptist

j with other Piglestaeee dnd ini enact Bava: Orr 's work.

The controversy became more serious when the conspirators. r accused Orr of fomenting divisions among the Baptists, forcing confessions of sin, raising the spirit of the Brazilians against the missionaries, agreeing to organize colleges and seminaries with schismatic intent—all of which was palpably false. The matter was not settled until 1953, when a champion in the person of a university professor universally regarded arose in the Brazilian.

Baptist Convention to give messengers of the churches the actual facts. By three votes, ranging from an overwhelming majority to an absolute unanimity, the 1953 Convention showed itself on the side of the Orr campaigns. Ten years later, the matter was forgotten and Orr was graciously received by former critics.

One extraordinary feature of the Reavivamento Brasileiro movement of 1952 was the remarkable support of the secular press, which publicized Orr in its own way on front-page and in editorials."° In a country where the Evangelicals numbered a bare five per cent of the population, this was a remarkable develop- 'ment. A missionary in Curitiba reported that the local newspaper dedicated a page of news and pictures to the visiting evangelist.

The leading newspaper in Salvador, Brazil's oldest city, protested against the attempt made by Italian priests to drown out Orr's voice in the city plaza by ringing their church bells.

Instead of distracting the thousands who had gathered, the bells attracted a much larger crowd and gave a great boost to the evangelistic meetings held in a suitably large auditorium. The editorial of protest was entitled '"'For Whom the Bells Toll!'

Edwin Orr told me personally in India that the year 1952 was the happiest year of his life. His work brought him much praise from Brazilians but the very nature of the movement was such that all concerned gave thanks to God for His blessing.

In surveying "a year of revival in Brazil with Orr', Lauro Bretones concluded his book with the words "The movement demonstrated the opportunity in Brazil for the operation of the Holy Spirit"; and Professor Benjamin Moraes, Vice-President of the Presbyterian World Alliance, added briefly that 'Dr.

Orr had an excellent ministry here, and an evangelistic mind has since remained over all the Brazilian Church."

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