New York Times
article, July 11, 1892: A history of the first 11 years of Christian Endeavor
Researched by Ken B.
February 9, 2012
Dick B. and Ken B.
Copyright 2012
Anonymous. All rights reserved
We have read thousands of Christian Endeavor pages,
collected dozens of Christian Endeavor books, and published extensively on the
founding, practices, and impact of the Christian Endeavor Society of which Dr.
Bob, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous was an active member through his and
his family’s North Congregational Church of St. Johnsbury, Vermont
Christian Endeavor was founded at Williston Congregational
Church in Maine in 1881
The movement spread like wild fire across New England and
elsewhere and eventually reached a worldwide membership of 4.5 million. We
recommend all the materials we have written on
the subject as well as a research effort at the Dr. Bob Core Library at
North Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. There our benefactors
have donated many informative Christian Endeavor books and pamphlets and
articles.
The article, for which a link is provided below, shows those
few doubters of the Christian status of Dr. Robert H. Smith just what were the
beliefs, pledge, and structure of this Christian organization organized to keep
young people from going astray.
This is only one piece of evidence of Dr. Bob’s tremendous
training in the Bible as a youngster in Vermont. The training came from his
parents, who were devout Christians stressing salvation and the Bible. It came
from North Congregational Church services, sermons, and Sunday school, from the
prayer meetings of the church, from Christian Endeavor Society, from the
activity of Bob’s parents (father a Deacon, executive committee member, and
Sunday school teacher; mother head of the church’s educational work, member of
the choir, member of the women’s group of the church and church historian), and
from the church’s connections with the Young Men’s Christian Association, of
which Dr. Bob’s father, Judge Walter P. Smith, was president during Bob’s years
at St. Johnsbury Academy.
As a reader, you can take this one piece of evidence—among hundreds
and hundreds—and decide for yourself whether it indicates Dr. Bob believed in
God, had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior, and devoted endless
hours to Bible study and Bible study meetings.
Gloria Deo
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