Leave a legacy

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

In the annals of Christian history, one name most Christians have never heard of is Edward Kimball. Kimball, who was born in Rowley, Massachusetts in 1823, eventually moved to Boston, where he became head of a firm of carpet dealers, Kimball, Felt and Wentworth. While living in Boston, he joined the Mount Vernon Congregational Church, where he taught Sunday School to teenage boys. Kimball took an interest in one particular 17-year-old boy in his class who showed little interest in God or religion. One day, he went to visit the young man at the shoe store in which he worked, and during that conversation, Kimball led that young man to faith in Jesus. That young man was D.L. Moody, who went on to become one of the greatest evangelists in the world, sharing the gospel with 100 million people and founding Moody Bible Institute and The Moody Church in Chicago.

But the story doesn’t end there. At one point in his ministry, Moody preached in England at the church of a man named F.B. Meyer, who credited Moody with revolutionizing his ministry.  Through Meyer’s preaching, a man named J. Wilbur Chapman was inspired to evangelize. Through Chapman’s work with the YMCA, he influenced a former baseball player named Billy Sunday, who came to faith in Christ and worked with Chapman for two years on his Christian crusades. At one of Sunday’s crusades, a man named Mordecai Ham preached, and he was used by God to lead a 16-year-old boy named Billy Graham to faith in Christ.  

And that, my friends, is a spiritual legacy.

In a similar way, most people have never heard the names Shari Engman, Karlyn Banda, or Stephan Thibodeau. But it was these three college students who started a youth group in the summer of 1994 where I attended as an 18-year-old, and it was through their influence that I came to faith in Jesus, and their legacy lives on through my life and ministry to this day.

Edward Kimball’s story reminds us to never underestimate the influence you can have on the world by sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, even with just one person. Ask God to use you as he used Edward Kimball, that you might make an eternal impact on this world. Perhaps, like Kimball, it will happen as a result of being involved in the lives of the children or teens of our church. Or maybe it will happen through a relationship at work, school, or in your neighborhood. Wherever your impact may be, may the story of Edward Kimball encourage you to continue to pray and to look for opportunities to share about the salvation found in Jesus Christ, that you might leave a spiritual legacy.