Moody Concludes 125th Anniversary

By Lindsey Zarob, director, Public Relations

This past Saturday I sat in a room with 3,000 of Moody’s faithful supporters, employees and students. It was hard to believe that this was finally it. Two years of planning and almost one full year of executing the various elements of the 125th Anniversary year were now coming to a close.

The minute I walked into the Sheraton Hotel and Towers the talented Moody staff and students were greeting people and ushering them to the appropriate locations. They all carried themselves with professionalism and a sincere joy. I was overwhelmed with gratitude that these are the people I serve alongside.

As I walked the promenade outside the massive banquet hall I looked on in awe at the incredible displays representing all of Moody’s ministries. I know the people behind these incredible displays, I am familiar with the hard work that went into making them just right. I walked through the displays so proud of the people I share office space with. What an honor to work with such creative and talented individuals.

And as we concluded our meal and the program began I could hear positive murmurings about the anniversary logo and tag line. It was a privilege to explain the effort behind creating the tagline Bold Legacy. Dynamic Future. It was a privilege because just like this event required a massive Team Moody effort, we began the planning process that way, engaging employees from across the organization to brainstorm with us.

Much like this blog has had contributors from all over Moody, every element of our anniversary celebration relied heavily on the time and talent of our dedicated staff. But none of us would be here without the consistent and thoughtful support of our friends.

We concluded our celebration with the anniversary luncheon and are thankful for all the ways you celebrated this year with us. Whether that was through our 125 Hours of Prayer or attending the luncheon, we are so delighted you joined us.  

We thought we would share some of your favorite posts and pictures from the year:

 A Look into DL Moody's Prayer Life, by Dr. Gregg Quiggle

Emma Dryer and Her Unrelenting Prayer, by Caleb Beatty

The Legacy of DL Moody in a Movement, by Dr. Gregg Quiggle

A Varied History—from Hotel Moody to the NBA, by Jim Vincent

Great is Thy Faithfulness, by Krystallin Baker

A Testimony to Moody's Prayer Legacy, by Lindsey Zarob

Setting Aside Time for Prayer, by Tim Arens

Here’s to the next 125 years of God’s divine direction for Moody Bible Institute!

President Paul Nyquist at the 125th Kick-off Chapel.

Students in Torrey-Gray Auditorium for the Kick-off Chapel.

Anniversary cake for students, staff and faculty after chapel.

David and Lucia Powell. David is DL Moody's great-grandson.

Anniversary street banner on Wells Street.

Prayer walk around campus beginning the 125 Hours of Prayer.

Moody leadership leading the students in the prayer walk.

Aaron Shust concert concluding the 125 Hours of prayer.

Chuck Swindoll delivering a powerful message at the luncheon.

A Testimony to Moody’s Prayer Legacy

It doesn’t happen too often that a national magazine recognizes the power of prayer. So when a blog post about Moody Bible Institute leading a prayer for rain came across this employee’s desk, she felt compelled to share. 

By, Lindsey Zarob, director, Public Relations 

On September 8, 2011 a link to a post in Back Issues, the archival blog of The New Yorker, made its way to my inbox via Google Alerts. When I clicked on the link I was taken to a post titled, Praying For Rain. As I often do when a Google Alert comes into my e-mail I scanned the article to see where Moody Bible Institute was located. I immediately found our name in the third sentence and began reading the entry beginning to end. 

We ended the month of August with 125 hours of constant prayer and were simply amazed at how many people came alongside us to pray for this historical organization. When I read the blog entry from Back Issues, I felt such a joy in learning of another example of this organization’s steadfast belief in the power of prayer.  We really are continuing an incredible legacy that speaks to the power of our God and Lord Jesus Christ. 

If you have a moment to read the entry you will find that in 1934 NBC hosted a five-minute program dedicated to praying for rain due to a severe drought. Rev. Harold Lundquist who was the dean of Moody at the time was leading this period of prayer. Not only did God answer the prayer for rain, but I thought what an incredible testimony for anyone listening who might not have believed in God. And Moody Bible Institute was a part of that historic moment. 

I’m humbled and grateful at the opportunity to work at a place with such a Bold Legacy. As we come close to the end of this 125^th Anniversary year we are launching into our Dynamic Future with new initiatives and God-sized dreams. It is testimonies like this that I believe help fuel our belief that if God showed up like that in the past how much more will He do in our future.

Emma Dryer and Her Unrelenting Prayer

We have mentioned that Emma Dryer had a significant role in the establishment of Moody Bible Institute. Today one of our very own undergraduate students shares what he learned about this prayer warrior while researching for a school paper. If you are interested in reading more you can visit his post titled Emma Dryer on his personal blog.

 

By Caleb Beatty, undergraduate student at Moody Bible Institute

I’ve always been intrigued by Emma Dryer. I’ve spent my entire career as a Moody student living in a dormitory named after her, and I’ve heard much about her from my parents and grandparents who are Moody alumni. I even live in Normal, Ill. where Ms. Dryer lived prior to moving to Chicago to work with the famous evangelist, D.L. Moody.

Little is written about her, and even less is left of her writings. Though she had kept a journal throughout her entire life, she burned them all shortly before her death. What we know about Ms. Dryer is mostly from letters and interviews now kept in the archives of Moody Bible Institute. I had the privilege of examining these letters a couple semesters ago as part of a research project. What I found was a woman in love with the Word of God and motivated by the power of prayer.

Emma Dryer had a profound vision for ministry in the city of Chicago. In fact, in 1873 she wrote this on a piece of her personal stationary: “I hope that we may, within a few years, see our city filled with live missions, doing a great work for Christ, and hastening the Coming of His dear Kingdom.” Ms. Dryer did more than simply hope for these things; she began earnestly praying and preparing for her goal.

For years Ms. Dryer prayed asking the Lord to lay an idea for a school in Chicago upon D.L. Moody’s heart. In a personal letter to Mr. Moody, Dryer wrote, “Through loneliness and trouble, and constraint, wearing work, then I held on. When others shuddered, I believed. When others hurried away, I prayed on and worked on. When others said you were never meant to come here, I believed that God had made you speak The Truth, in preaching and planned purposes. And I prayed on.”

Weekly prayer group meetings began every Saturday morning in 1883 with one goal in mind: the “establishment of the Bible Work in Chicago, and the training of missionaries for home and foreign fields.” For three years they prayed for the school to be established. In 1886 Emma’s prayers were answered. Moody Bible Institute was founded under the name Chicago Evangelization Society.

Emma Dryer was one of a faithful group of people praying for the school which I now attend, one hundred and twenty-five years later. As we celebrate our 125^th anniversary at MBI, I wonder who will be impacted by my prayers, one hundred and twenty-five years from now?

Prayer at Moody Publishers

We’re 17 days away from the start of our 125 Hours of Prayer. Have you signed-up for a 15 minute time slot yet? Today Greg Thornton, vice president of Moody Publishers contributes to the prayer theme we’ve been focusing on for the past few weeks.  

By Greg Thornton, vice president, Moody Publishers

R.A. Torrey, Moody Bible Institute’s first superintendent/president, opens his must-read little book How to Pray with Ephesians 6:18, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.” Torrey writes that as the intelligent child of God weighs the meaning of these words, we each are driven to say, “I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.”

My colleagues at Moody Publishers and I have sought to live out this truth by praying often.  Meetings begin with requests for wisdom as we do this work of publishing.  We seek the mind of Christ when acquiring and editing new titles. We ask that decisions made in marketing and selling books will honor God. Even performance reviews start with acknowledging God’s gifting in each individual, and praying that those gifts will be developed and fully used. And often we simply ask as Moses did, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands.”

Also, in an effort to keep Moody’s global vision in front of us, we have framed and mounted a huge map of the world on a wall in our main conference room. A copy of Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation helps us with specific prayers for God’s people and work in other countries.  

And personally, I use my morning walk from the train to the office for prayer. Often I find myself praying our Lord’s prayer as I prepare for the day ahead. Another favorite is Psalm 19:14: “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”

How about you?  How do you connect with God in prayer related to your work? I and others would be encouraged to hear your thoughts.    

The Legacy of DL Moody in a Movement

DL Moody founded two schools in Massachusetts in addition to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. One of those schools served as the backdrop to the birth of an entire movement. And it all began with prayer. Today, Dr. Quiggle explains.

By Greg Quiggle, dean, International Study Programs

The motto of the Student Volunteer Movement was “The evangelization of the world in this generation.” This movement, founded in the late nineteenth century, produced an estimated 100,000 missionaries until its dissolution in 1959. It is a testament to prayer and one of the many endeavors of DL Moody.

The ultimate origins of the movement can be traced to the prayers of a brother and sister named Robert and Grace Wilder. Grace was a graduate of Mount Holyoke College where Mr. Moody served as a trustee of the school. She developed a burden for foreign missions and prayer and enlisted her younger brother Robert, a student at Princeton, in her prayer efforts. Between 1884 and 1886 the two engaged in consistent and persistent prayer asking God for a great missionary awakening among college students.

In 1886, their prayers were answered through Mr. Moody and a gathering of college men on the campus of one of Moody’s schools, the Mount Hermon School in Northfield, Mass. Mr. Moody planned a series of meetings for college men in the summer of 1886 and Robert Wilder was invited to attend along with several others from Princeton. Before they left for Mount Hermon, Grace gathered the young Princeton men together and charged them to persevere in prayer so that this gathering might not close without the inauguration of a missionary movement.

The meetings convened with 251 young men from 89 different colleges. Mr. Moody spoke to the men for nearly four weeks and urged them to pray for a quickening from the Holy Spirit. As the students prayed, they began expressing a concern for the lost overseas. By the end of the meetings, 100 men had committed themselves to overseas missions. They became known as the Mount Hermon 100. These were the first of thousands who, many at Mr. Moody’s urging, would follow their example. These students would go throughout the world, proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit, they would literally transform the face of the Church.

It all started with the prayers of a single college aged women. Prayer really does matter.

Setting Aside Time for Prayer

Each year Moody Bible Institute’s students, staff and faculty engage in a full day of prayer. Today, Dean Arens reflects on this essential annual event.

By Tim Arens, dean of students, Student Development

One of the things that I have appreciated about my time at Moody (27 years now) is the emphasis and commitment that is made to pray. One significant event that demonstrates this is our annual Day of Prayer held on the first Wednesday of March. This is a day on which classes are suspended and various opportunities are made for students, faculty and staff to pray corporately, in groups, and individually for the needs of Moody, Chicago and the world.

On the morning of this day everyone comes together for a two hour opening session during which we praise the Lord through music, scripture and prayer. We often break into small prayer groups during this time which give students an opportunity to pray with faculty and staff.  I have been humbled and encouraged to hear the fervent prayers of our students as they pour their hearts out to the Lord on behalf of our community. They never cease to amaze me.

I have had the honor to witness how the students are positively affected by praying with faculty and staff who serve as models for effective prayer. Concurrently, the students have modeled for the faculty and staff the necessity to set aside dedicated times for prayer emphasis in the future. Over the years I have had many students comment to me that the Day of Prayer was just what they needed, at such a busy time of the semester, to be spiritually rejuvenated to better meet the challenges of life and academics.

I have been so blessed in my career at Moody to be involved with The Day of Prayer. It is a wonderful tradition that helps us all, students and staff, maintain the proper spiritual perspective. May God continue to bless the school that D.L. Moody founded as we continue to pray faithfully.

Interceding Prayer

There are many prayerful employees at Moody Bible Institute but one in particular always seems to stand out as often you can find him praying for the students and staff in the Culbertson Hall prayer chapel. Today we hear from him and his experience praying through his work at Moody.

By, Oakley Smith, custodial administrator, Facilities

I have found that on rare occasion, communication with another person reaches paramount level. My spirit affirms that the person so well understands and experiences my thoughts and motives that it causes great inward rejoicing and at least for that circumstance, I have found good fellowship.

When we come to God with a clean and open heart, we can begin to understand His ways and view things from His perspective.  We identify with Him and agree with Him.

In the 1982-1983 school year I had regular contact with a student who helped me wash windows during his freshman year.  In his last two years at Moody he worked off campus but we stayed in contact.  He had a heart for Latin America and since his graduation God has used him to show the love of Jesus in several countries. I consider it a privilege to pray for him work he is doing. Individuals have been saved and lives changed through his ministry, and although I am not physically there it is an honor to have a part through the prayers I pray. In similar fashion, a few years ago I met another student with special talents and a great spirit; he is now part of a team spreading God’s love in a difficult place, and it is a joy to have a part in seeing Him work.

Moody Bible Institute is a unique place; God's providential hand has graced us for 125 years.  For all of our multi-faceted programs and contacts, there is no doubt that the students always have been and still are the heart of our ministry, and serving them is the core of our work. I have had the opportunity to get to know members of the student body pretty well.  My hope is that when God leads us into specific, regular contact with certain students we will take the opportunity of active prayer on their behalf, thus taking part in Jesus' work. Much like our founder D.L. Moody, I pray our hearts would be burdened for the children, or in this case the young adults.