Jack Shuler
bookended the 1950s preaching with Jack Holcomb. It 1950 it was a three-week
“sawdust crusade” in southern California in September.[1]
In 1960 it was a three-day “crusade for souls” in Tucson, Arizona from February
28 to March 1.[2]
The “sawdust
crusade” was backed and planned by the Board of Directors of Christ for Greater
Los Angeles, Inc., the same group that planned the Billy Graham 1949 crusade in
Los Angeles. Following that 1949 crusade, the CFGLA committee released a letter
telling of their history and future plans. In it they stated that “There are
many calls on us for united campaigns for 1950. One has already been set up for
the Harbor Area, taking in San Pedro, Wilmington, Harbor City, Lomita, etc.,
with Jack Shuler and Jack Holcomb as the evangelists, for September, 1950.”[3]
The lede
sentence in the Peninsula Press,
September 14, 1950 stated, “Jack Shuler, 31-year-old dramatic – fiery
evangelist opened a 22-day ‘sawdust crusade’ in a 2500-seat circus tent at
Vermont and Pacific Coast Highway Sept. 10 and religious leaders of the 50
cooperating churches in the Los Angeles harbor area predict that it will be the
greatest religious awakening in the history of the harbor section of Southern
California.”
The article went
on to say, “With the assistance of Jack Holcomb, stratospheric tenor, the
Shuler evangelistic party assisted by a 100-voice choir and hundreds of
personal workers, ushers and others has started what many believe will be the
most vital thrust at ungodliness ever made in this community.”
Holcomb, also an Assembly of God preacher, would
become one of the most popular Christian vocalists in the 1960s. By the time of
his “Crusade for Souls” in Tucson in 1960 his star was already beginning to
rise while Shuler’s was setting. By the end of that year Holcomb was billed as “America’s greatest gospel
recording artist – television star – evangelist. Thousands have thrilled to his
tremendous voice…”[4]
An article in a more recent newspaper stated that “Jack Holcomb was a
speaker and singer for the nationwide movement, Youth for Christ, and he also
performed on radio and television in Southern California for a preacher named
Jack Shuler, an evangelist who was a contemporary of Billy Graham…”[5]
[1] Peninsula [Torrance] Press, September 14, 1950.
[2] Tucson Daily Citizen, February 27, 1960.
[3]
From photocopy of report by the Christ for Great Los Angeles Committee, ca.
December 1949. The three-page report by the Committee gave a historical
background on previous evangelistic campaigns they had sponsored, summed up the
results of the campaign led by Billy Graham, and concluded with brief comments
on plans for 1950. From
Collection 141, box 5, folder 33. http://www2.wheaton.edu/bgc/archives/exhibits/LA49/08after01.html
[4] St. Petersburg [Florida] Times, December
30, 1960. His given name was Harold Jackson Holcomb.
[5] Victoria [Texas] Advocate, Saturday,
July 26, 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment