Dwight L. Moody Biography Quotes 25 Report mistakes

Early Life
Dwight Lyman Moody was born on February 5, 1837, in Northfield, Massachusetts, into a large New England family marked by early hardship. His father, Edwin Moody, died when Dwight was a small boy, leaving his mother, Betsey Holton Moody, to raise the children in deep poverty. Formal schooling for Dwight was limited, and he was thrust early into farm work and odd jobs that developed his resourcefulness and tenacity. As a teenager he moved to Boston to work in his uncle's shoe store, where the faithful care of his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, led to his conversion to Christian faith in 1855.

Chicago and the YMCA
In 1856 Moody relocated to booming Chicago, where his energy and organizational gifts found a ready field. He sold shoes by day and poured himself into Sunday school and Young Men's Christian Association work by night, recruiting children from the city's rough neighborhoods and building one of the largest Sunday schools in the country. Business leaders such as John V. Farwell and Cyrus H. McCormick supported his efforts, and the YMCA's Farwell Hall provided a platform for outreach. During the Civil War he worked with the U.S. Christian Commission, traveling to camps and hospitals to comfort and exhort soldiers, honing the direct, compassionate style that became his hallmark.

Marriage and Family
Moody married Emma Charlotte Revell in 1862. Practical, steady, and deeply devoted, Emma became his closest counselor and manager of a home often serving as a hub for ministry guests and planning. Her brother, the publisher Fleming H. Revell, later issued many of Moody's books and tracts. The couple raised three children, Emma, William Revell, and Paul Dwight, balancing the demands of relentless travel with rooted family life in Northfield and Chicago.

Shaping of His Message
Several friendships sharpened Moody's approach. The young British preacher Henry Moorhouse persuaded him to center his appeals on the love of God, especially John 3:16. In 1870 Moody met Ira D. Sankey, whose rich voice and gift for simple gospel song transformed the tone of the meetings; soon "Moody and Sankey" became synonymous with mass evangelism. Associated musicians and workers such as Philip P. Bliss and Major Daniel W. Whittle supplied hymns and organizational acumen that complemented Moody's preaching.

Fire, Renewal, and the British Campaigns
The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed Moody's church and much of his neighborhood, forcing a reappraisal of priorities. He emerged resolved to devote himself entirely to evangelism. In 1873 he and Sankey began extended campaigns across the British Isles, drawing vast crowds in Scotland, Ireland, and England. Esteemed leaders including C. H. Spurgeon and Andrew Bonar welcomed the mission, while Scottish writer Henry Drummond forged a lasting friendship with Moody. Sankey's solo singing and the use of portable hymn collections helped fix the message in popular memory.

Institutions and Training
After returning to the United States, Moody anchored his urban work in Chicago's Illinois Street Church, later known as the Chicago Avenue Church and eventually the Moody Church. Convinced that cities required trained lay workers, he founded the Chicago Evangelization Society in 1886, with Emma Dryer as an early catalyst and organizer; the school would soon be widely known as the Moody Bible Institute, where R. A. Torrey served as a key leader. Chicago benefactors, notably Cyrus H. McCormick and Nettie Fowler McCormick, underwrote buildings and scholarships. In his hometown he established Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies (1879) and Mount Hermon School for Boys (1881), combining rigorous study with spiritual formation.

Conferences and Global Vision
Beginning in the 1880s Moody hosted the Northfield Conferences, summer gatherings for pastors, students, and lay workers devoted to Bible study and practical methods of evangelism. Speakers such as Henry Drummond, A. J. Gordon, F. B. Meyer, and A. T. Pierson broadened the conversation. At the 1886 student conference, a nucleus of young leaders, including John R. Mott and Robert Wilder, helped launch the Student Volunteer Movement, which framed missions as "the evangelization of the world in this generation" and sent thousands overseas.

Method and Message
Moody deliberately kept theology plain and centered on the cross, urging immediate, personal decision for Christ. He avoided sectarian controversy, welcomed cooperation among denominations, and leaned on practical tools such as inquiry rooms, personal workers, and decision cards. Large temporary tabernacles, volunteer choirs, and Sankey's songs lowered barriers and invited participation. Though he emphasized holy living and the empowering work of the Spirit, he resisted abstract debates, preferring stories, questions, and clear calls to action.

Later Years and Legacy
Moody's final decade mixed national campaigns with steady oversight of his schools and institute. He organized outreach during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and made repeated tours of major American cities. Increasing heart trouble slowed his pace, but not his resolve. He died in Northfield on December 22, 1899. His influence endured in the institutions he founded, in the ongoing ministry of the Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute, in the Northfield Mount Hermon School, and in a style of evangelism that shaped figures like R. A. Torrey and, later, Billy Sunday. Through partnerships with people such as Ira D. Sankey, Emma Charlotte Moody, Edward Kimball, John V. Farwell, Cyrus and Nettie McCormick, Henry Moorhouse, Henry Drummond, and many others, he embodied a collaborative, entrepreneurial faith that bridged pulpit and street, school and mission, city and countryside.

Our collection contains 25 quotes who is written by Dwight, under the main topics: Leadership - Faith - Honesty & Integrity - Legacy & Remembrance - Aging.