Former professional baseball player-turned urban evangelist. Follow this daily blog that chronicles the life and ministry of revivalist preacher William Ashley "Billy" Sunday (1862-1935)
Billy Sunday’s 1918 revival campaign in Chicago, held from March 10 to May 20, was one of his most ambitious and high-profile efforts. It occurred during a pivotal moment in American history, as the nation grappled with World War I, the temperance movement, and the looming influenza pandemic.
The Billy Sunday Tabernacle, Chicago. 1918. Bill Sunday (left), Homer Rodeheaver (right). Public domain.
Campaign Overview
The campaign was strategically timed to bolster support for Prohibition in Chicago, a city known for its vibrant nightlife and strong opposition to temperance reforms. Sunday, a fervent advocate for the ban on alcohol, delivered his fiery sermon “Get on the Water Wagon,” in which he vividly denounced the liquor industry. He likened the “booze interests” to a “rattlesnake that wriggled its miserable carcass out of hell,” vowing to fight them relentlessly—even “on ice” if hell froze over.
Despite his passionate rhetoric and widespread attention, Sunday’s efforts did not yield the desired political outcome. Chicago voters rejected a local Prohibition initiative during the campaign, a defeat famously referenced in Frank Sinatra’s song “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town)” with the line: “The town that Billy Sunday could not shut down.”
Attendance and Impact
The campaign drew substantial crowds, with estimates suggesting that over 650,000 people attended the meetings over the course of seven weeks.
Sunday’s dynamic preaching style and the campaign’s extensive organization contributed to its broad reach and influence.
Legacy
Although the immediate goal of enacting local Prohibition in Chicago was not achieved, the campaign underscored Sunday’s significant role in the national temperance movement. His efforts contributed to the broader momentum that led to the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, establishing Prohibition across the United States. The Chicago campaign remains a notable example of Sunday’s impact on American society during a transformative era.
In early 1911, the city of Toledo, Ohio, found itself at the center of a spiritual and cultural whirlwind when Billy Sunday brought his revival campaign to town. Running from January 29 to March 12, this six-week crusade marked a significant moment not just in Sunday’s ministry, but in the broader urban revival movement sweeping America in the early 20th century.
To accommodate the expected crowds, a massive wooden tabernacle seating around 9,000 was constructed along Jefferson Avenue, near downtown. Though the city’s population at the time was just under 170,000, more than 350,000 people flooded into the tabernacle over the course of the campaign. It was not unusual for Sunday to preach three or four times a day to packed audiences, some standing in the aisles or spilling outside the structure just to hear his voice thunder through the open air.
Sunday’s preaching style in Toledo was vintage Billy—fiery, theatrical, and unforgettable. He ran across the stage, leapt onto chairs, punched the air, and peppered his sermons with vivid imagery and baseball metaphors. Among the messages he delivered were some of his most iconic: “Booze,” “Backsliding,” “If Hell is a Joke,” and “The Ten Commandments.” His attack on the saloon business in “Booze” especially struck a chord in a city known for its proliferation of taverns and political corruption. “I want to preach so plainly,” he declared, “that the man who runs may read, and that even the saloonkeeper will know that I mean him!”
The results were staggering. Over 18,000 individuals reportedly made decisions for Christ, and local churches saw a dramatic uptick in attendance and membership. The spiritual momentum didn’t stop at the altar. Sunday’s relentless promotion of Prohibition, moral reform, and church revitalization left an indelible mark on Toledo’s civic and religious landscape.
The local press—especially The Toledo Blade—covered the revival extensively, offering daily summaries and commentary. While some editorials criticized Sunday’s bluntness and emotionalism, many praised the campaign’s influence on the moral climate of the city. Business leaders, city officials, and pastors saw firsthand the social power of mass evangelism, and Sunday’s reputation as a national revivalist soared.
Toledo was more than a successful campaign—it was a turning point. It proved that Sunday could handle large urban centers with complex political, economic, and moral challenges. It set the stage for even bigger crusades in Detroit, Boston, and New York, and solidified his status as one of the most influential evangelists of his time.
Billy Sunday’s sermon titled “Backsliding” was part of his standard preaching repertoire and was delivered repeatedly throughout his evangelistic campaigns, especially in the 1910s and 1920s. While it’s difficult to pinpoint a single first occurrence, several documented instances include:
1915 Syracuse, NY Campaign – He preached “Backsliding” to a large crowd, with newspapers reporting on its vivid imagery and sharp rebukes against nominal Christians and social sins.
Backsliding by Billy Sunday (1862-1935)
“Thy own wickedness shall correct thee. Thy backsliding shall reprove thee. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of Hosts.” Jeremiah 11:19.
Many start the voyage of the Christian life under sending skies and upon smooth waters, but as they sail out of the harbor the sky becomes dark and the craft of their religion crashes upon the rocks. At first they are careful to obey the command of God, but after the revival they neglect their duties and finally come to wreck.
God speaks much of the sin of backsliding, and in the Bible has spoken of it in many places. There are all kinds of backsliding.
First, there is the careless kind. The invitation is never given at the revival but there are those who will respond to it, and for a time will live as Christians should. Then, when the revival is over and the routine of everyday life begins, they slip gradually back into their former ways. They become negligent and drift back to the old haunts and the old gang.
Oh, it is easy to think of things divine when the revival is on and there is inspiration on every side and the bands are playing and the crowds are marching.
I’ve sometimes thought, almost, that it might be a Godsend to many a community if it could only be swept by typhoid fever or pneumonia or scarlet fever just after a good revival and before the people have a chance to slide back.
The second class of backsliders is the class that started soberly and seriously, but not seriously enough. They do not make a complete surrender. If you secure a balloon with 100 ropes and cut 99 of them, the balloon will still be held, but don’t cut the shore lines, they have failed to cut loose from sin, and it is drawing them back.
A friend of mine holding a meeting, asked how many who were present had been Christians, but were now backsliders. Finally forty fessed up. Then he asked them for the reasons for their falling away. Finally a man got up and said he backslid through believing that he could be a Christian and keep his store open on Sundays.
A young lady arose and said that she backslid because of cards. A friend had given a card party and she had to give one in reciprocity. She said she had invited a young man to attend, but that he didn’t know what kind of a party it was to be. He came, but when he found out he said he was sorry, but he must go, for he could not stay there. “I admired him for his loyalty to his religion, he made me feel that I wasn’t worthy to have my name as a church member,” the young lady said.
Another man stood up and said: “I backslid when I voted for the saloon.” You bet he did or he would not have voted for the dirty, rotten thing. Why, he backslid before he voted that ticket, or he wouldn’t have voted it.
A young lady said: “I thought I could be a member of the church and dance.” Sure she could. You can be a member of the church and a burglar too, but not a member of the body of Christ. She said, “I attended a dance and found my desire to pray diminishing. I attended another and I found my desire to pray had become nebulous. And then,” she said, “my desire to pray disappeared.”
I tell you I never saw a drinking, dancing, card playing Christian who amounted to anything. The dance is a quagmire of wreckage. It’s as rotten as hell. You wait until I get at it.
I believe more people in the church backslide because of the dance, card playing and theater gadding then through the saloons. But hold on there, don’t you think for a minute that I’m in favor of the dirty, stinking, rotting saloons.
I’m against a lot of amusements popular among church members, as you people are going to find out before I am through in Boston. I don’t give that (snapping his fingers) whether you like my preaching or not. Understand? It’s a question of whether you are interested in decency. If you live wrong you can’t die right. Emerson said: “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.
This is an age of incompleteness of unfinished things. Life is full of half done things. Education is begun and abandoned. Obedience to the law of God is begun – and given up. People start in business – and fail. They attempt to learn a trade – and don’t do it thoroughly. A hound once started running after a stag and after running for a while it saw a fox and turned after it. A little farther along it saw a rabbit and ran after that, and finally wound up holing a field mouse. So it is with so many who enter the Christian life. They started to hunt and compromised on a glass of booze. They enter a royal race, but compromised on a glass of beer or on some little gain through dishonesty.
Not every backslider is an apostate, but every apostate is a backslider. Peter was a backslider, but he came back and preached that sermon at Pentecost. Judas was a backslider, and what he did so preyed upon his mind that he did not want it. He went out but he never came back.
I have never tabooed but two towns in my life and one of them was a little town in Iowa, where I once held a meeting before I really became an evangelist. That town had an infidel club of 150 members. There were only two church members in the place, and there was an interrogation point after them at that. They could have started a founding asylum of their own in that community. My life was not safe there – they threw stones at me in the streets.
A storekeeper there told me he was going to sell out and leave the town for purely moral reasons, at a loss of about $8000.00. He said that he had daughters and that there wasn’t a young man in the town that he would trust with them. He said that any young man in that town were to call on any of his daughters he wouldn’t go upstairs to bed unless he had a Gattling gun he could train on the visitor at a moments notice. It is not only for here and now, it is not only for a time, but it is for eternity. It is one of the great things. All other things are incidents.
The leader of that God – forsaken, iniquitous gang was a man named Dickson, who ran a one – horse country grocery business in a place about as big as a boxcar. He had been a Christian – used to be a classleader in a Methodist church. He kept a store. I used to pass the store as I went to preach, and I would see the bunch, as many as 40 sometimes, sitting around in the little store.
Whenever a new preacher came they would assemble to talk him over, and if old Dickson gave consent, they would go to church to hear him. I remember one old brush rat. He had bushy whiskers with a dirty brown streak down the middle, and he could spit 30 yards and hit a fly. I’ll bet my life he could hit a post down there. He used to come in late, with one pant leg tucked in his boot, no coat or vest, no galoshes – just a rope around his paunch – the old son of perdition.
He’d sit down and turn the hose on the wall. He looked to me as if he had had only one bath in his life and that one when he was born. He came clattering down the aisle – old hair and beard twisted – looked like a cows tail. He started as a backslider, ended in apostasy, just as disease ends in death if not checked.
In business life, crises come unforeseen. Hard times come. When they do, you may be able to get away with a overdraft at the bank if the cashier knows you too well. At the bank of heaven no checks on God’s mercy, when signed by God’s loyal followers have ever been turned down. If you come with honest heart God will honor the appeal if your hands are red with blood.
In a campaign like this, for some little thing many men will sell out. There are men whose honor hang like meat in butcher shop, for sale for so much a pound. I thank God though, that most men are honest and most women are virtuous, and that even the minority can be made to yield when you preach the gospel right.
I ask about a man. “Has he reached the burning bush?” They answer, “Yes, and got past it.” I ask, “Is he a K. of P.?” They say he is. I ask, “Has he jumped?” They say, “Yes.” I don’t know what it means to jump, for I am not a K. of P. I heard a couple of K. of P.’s talking, though ? they didn’t leak. I suppose it has something to do with the initiation. I ask. “Is he an Odd Fellow?” “Yes” They tell me he will share his last dollar with a needy person, die for the widow or the orphan, put his head on the track ahead of the Black Diamond or allow himself to be shot to pieces before he would be false to the vows he took amid the scent of the orange blossoms.
That sounds like a good man, but there are lots of men who will be true in all these things, and false to Jesus Christ. They will go to church and partake of the communion, then will line up in front of some bar and tell smutty stories. True in business, true to lodge, true in society, true in the home, but a perjurer in the sight of God. If you are such a man you are a backslider – a backslider, sir, and a liar.
If I were to go to a man and say: “They say you’re an old liar.” Would he say, “Well, Bill, I suppose I am, but you mustn’t put the standard too high for poor, weak humanity, and I’m only human.” If I were to say to him, “They say you are an old thief and that they have to hide everything when you come around.” Would he say he supposed it was true, but I mustn’t set the standard too high for poor human nature? If I say, “They tell me that you are a rotten old libertine and that you have ruined many innocent girls, that you would crush a woman’s virtue as quickly as a snake beneath your foot.” Would he say he supposed it was true, but I mustn’t set the standard too high for poor human nature?
No sir. If he were anything of a man at all he would say, “I demand, sir, that you prove your charges.” But that’s not what a man does when you charge him with being a backslider or to say that he is a liar. Oh, for the Presbyterian or Baptist or Episcopal backslider who stands up and talks about poor human nature – yet to say a man is a backslider is to say that he is a liar. Of, for power to come to you and show what you ought to be.
I can imagine a man being untrue in business. I can imagine him being untrue in politics. I can even – but it is difficult – imagine him being untrue to the vows made at the altar – but to be untrue to God! Be untrue to God and you will lose heaven and lose all. Be true to God and you will lose hell. I pray that God will so work upon the consciences of you backsliders who hear me that you will cry salt tears and turn and roll upon your pillows when you go home tonight and seek a dry spot that he may reproach you until you have been stung into a return to the God to whom you have been false.
A heathen woman named Panathea was famous for her great beauty, and King Cyrus wanted her for his harem. He sent his representatives to her and offered her money and jewels to come, but she repulsed them and spurned their advances. Again he sent them, this time with offers more generous and tempting; but again she sent them away with scorn. A third time she said “Nay.” Then King Cyrus went in person to see her and he doubled and tripled and quadrupled the offers his men had made, but still she would not go. She told him that she was a wife, and that she was true to her husband.
He said “Panathea, where dwellest thee?”
“In the arms and on the breast of my husband.” She said.
“Take her away.” Said Cyrus. “She is of no use to me.”
Then he put her husband in command of the charioteers and sent him into battle at the head of the troops. Panathea knew what this meant – that her husband had been sent in that he might be killed.
She waited while the battle raged and when the field was cleared she shouted his name and searched for him and finally found him wounded and dying. She knelt and clasped him in her arms, and as they kissed, his lamp of life went out forever.
King Cyrus heard of the mans death and came to the field. Panathea saw him coming, careening on his camel like a ship in a storm. She called, “Oh, husband! He comes – he shall not have me. I was true to you in life and will be true to you in death.” And she drew her dead husband’s poniard from its sheath, drove it into her own breast and fell dead across his body.
King Cyrus came up and dismounted. He removed his turban and knelt By the dead husband and wife and thanked his God that he had found in his kingdom one true and virtuous woman that his money could not buy nor his power intimidate.
A person of Boston, preachers, the problem of this century is the problem of the first century. We must win the world for God and we will win the world for God just as soon as we have men and woman who will be faithful to God and will not lie and will not sell out to the devil.
You have by this act of coming forward publicly acknowledged your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour. No one could possibly be more rejoiced that you have done this or be more anxious for you to succeed and get the most joy and service out of the Christian life than I. I therefore ask you to read carefully this little tract. Paste it in your Bible and read it frequently.
What it means to be a Christian
What It Means to Be a Christian.
“A Christian is any man, woman or child who comes to God as a lost sinner, accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour, surrenders to Him as their Lord and Master, confesses Him as such before the world, and strives to please Him in everything day by day.”
Have you come to God realizing that you are a lost sinner?
Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour; that is, do you believe with all your heart that He bore the penalty of your sins (I Peter 2: 24), and that now your sins are forgiven because Jesus died in your stead?
Have you surrendered to Him as your Lord and Master?
That is, are you willing to do His will even when it conflicts with your desire?
Have you confessed Him as your Saviour and Master before the world?
Is it your purpose to strive to please Him in everything day by day?
If you can sincerely answer “YES” to the foregoing questions, then you may know on the authority of God’s Word that you are NOW a child of God (John 1: 12), that you have NOW eternal life (John 3: 36); that is to say, if you have done your part (i.e., accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Master) God has done HIS part and imparted to you His own nature (II Peter 1: 4).
How to Make a Success of the Christian Life
Now that you are a child of God your growth depends upon YOURSELF.
It is impossible for you to become a useful Christian unless you are attending to the things which are absolutely essential to your spiritual growth. To this end the following suggestions will be found to be of vital importance. that ye may grow thereby.” — I Peter 2: 2.
STUDY THE BIBLE. Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day for your Bible Study. Let God talk to you fifteen minutes a day through His Word. Talk to God fifteen minutes a day in prayer. Talk for God fifteen minutes a day.”As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word,
The Word of God is food for the soul.
Commit to memory one verse of scripture each day.
Join a Bible Class. (Psalm 119:11
2. PRAY MUCH. Praying is talking to God. Talk to Him about everything: your perplexities, joys, sorrows sins, mistakes, friends, enemies.
“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God
3. WIN SOMEONE FOR CHRIST. For spiritual growth we need not only food (Bible study) but exercise. Work for Christ. The only work Christ ever set for Christians is to win others.
“Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15.
“When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.” Ezek. 3:18.
4. SHUN EVIL COMPANIONS. Avoid bad people, bad books, bad thoughts. (Read the 1st Psalm.)
“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness—what part hath he that believeth with an infidel—wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord” II Cor. 6:14-17.
Try to win the wicked for God but do not choose them for your companions.
5. JOIN SOME CHURCH. Be faithful in your attendance at the Sabbath and mid-week services.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is;” Heb. 10:25
Co-operate with your pastor. God has appointed the pastor to be a shepherd over the church and you should give him due reverence and seek to co-operate with him in his plans for the welfare of the church
6. GIVE TO THE SUPPORT OF THE LORD’S WORK. Give as the Lord hath prospered you. I Cor. 16:2.
“Give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver.” II Cor. 9:7
7. DO NOT BECOME DISCOURAGED. Expect temptations, trials, suffering and persecution; The Christian life is warfare.
“Yea and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” II Tim. 3:12.
The eternal God is thy refuge. We have the promise that all things, even strange and hard unaccountable obstacles work together for our good. Many of God’s brightest saints who are now in glory, have passed through dark trials, the hottest fire, and were blessed and used mightily in the world made better because they had lived in it.
Read often the following passages of Scripture: Romans 8:18; I Corinthians 10:13
Fred R. Seibert played a pivotal role in Billy Sunday’s evangelistic campaigns during the early 20th century. As a member of Sunday’s core team, Seibert was known as the “handy man of the tabernacle,” overseeing the logistical and operational aspects of the revival meetings. His responsibilities included managing the physical setup of the tabernacle, coordinating volunteers, and ensuring the smooth execution of events.
Beyond his logistical duties, Seibert was deeply involved in the spiritual mission of the campaigns. He authored Rescue the Perishing, a guide aimed at assisting new converts in their Christian journey. Published in 1921, this work provided practical advice and biblical teachings to support individuals in their newfound faith.
Seibert’s contributions were integral to the success of Billy Sunday’s revivals, combining organizational acumen with a commitment to spiritual mentorship.
BELOW – Article in The South Bend Tribune. May 1, 1913.
HERE IS STORY OF FRED’S LIFE
If you have heard Billy Sunday, you have also heard him say, “Here, Fred, open some of these ventilators, it’s too hot in here,” or “If you people want song books, you can get them from Fred.”
In fact, Billy started talking about Fred long before South Bend people ever knew there was a Fred. But most of the people who are going to the tabernacle these days, know Fred now.
Fred is a stock sort of a fellow, with raven black hair. His last name is Seibert and his initials might be “A. B.”—always busy—but they are not.
Fred Seibert is official custodian of the big Sunday tabernacle on Vistula avenue and he guards the immense building day and night. If you want to hear an interesting story sometime, just step up to Fred and ask him to tell something of his life history.
But maybe Fred would be backward in speaking to a stranger about the matter, so you can be saved the trouble of approaching Fred by continuing to read this story.
Eighteen years ago, in a little town out in Iowa, there lived a young man who, like many other young men, was wasting his life away on cards and similar vices.
One night the young fellow got up from the gaming table with no money. Some people call it “broke,” while others who are without money, say they are “strapped.”
Well, “broke” or “strapped,” the gambler had no money, and he was disgusted with cards, the world and himself. He left the place and went out in the street. Near the corner he heard music. It was the singing of a church choir, but the fellow did not know that when he entered the building.
He knew it a minute after, however, when an evangelist in the front of the room arose to announce his text for the evening.
The man tried to leave the building, but a usher held him.
“I guess I done passed by my station,” said the gambler, but the usher thought otherwise and told the other so.
That gambler, broken spirited and penniless, was Fred Seibert, the “Fred” to-day of the Billy Sunday party.
And to-day Seibert can look the best man in the world in the eye and say casually:
“My friend, my life has not been in vain for the reason I have had the pleasure of bringing 12,000 people to the altar, and showing them the presumptive military pages to them who accept it.”
And Fred has earned a nation wide reputation as a Bible student and a personal worker. He has committed 1,400 books of scripture to memory and can do a trick with the Bible which is a common enough one with playing cards, but is a decidedly unique one when it comes to the Bible. He also enjoyed the privilege of assisting to escort his mother and six brothers and three sisters to the altar.
Pick up the Bible and turn to any page in it, and Fred will tell you the name of the book and just about the chapter you have your hand on.
Seibert was born in Waverly, Ia., and worked as a broom twister for nine years. After he was converted he entered the Moody Institute, where he stayed for a year and a half. Five years ago he joined the Sunday party. Ever since his duties have been that of taking care of the tabernacle and personal work.
To assist himself and others in this work, Fred wrote a little pamphlet, “Rescue the Perishing,” which has been accepted as an authority by experts of the Bible throughout the country.
Seibert is married, and as two children, who live in Santa Monica, Cal., but the greatest thing, next to his family and his God, is the greatest respect.
Fred pays his children so much for learning scripture and they have to memorize every week and recite it word for word.
The little boy and girl of mine keep on learning scripture and they interrupt their “daddy,” said Fred.
And they that follow me, because I do not believe he doesn’t care.
Many fielders in professional baseball in the mid to late 1880’s did not wear a glove. It was even seen ‘unmanly’ by some. The Billy Sunday museum home in Winona Lake has a glove on display that may have been his personal glove when he played. It looks much like the glove below. His baseball card below shows a glove similar to what is pictured here as well.
A postcard postmarked November 23, 1909, recently sold on eBay with the following handwritten message by the sender.
[This text is legally in public domain.]
Dear Mother & Father,
Am sending you this of “Billy Sunday” if anyone ever says anything against him tell them they don’t know a thing about him he is a sincere Christian he doesn’t go around the bush for any one he is out spoken and some people can’t stand that. are all well hope you are the same.
There seems to be no record of Sunday hosting an evangelistic campaign at Havana, Illinois. This postcard is titled “Billy Sunday addressing 4,000 people at Chautauqua, Havana, Illinois.”
This appearance was part of the broader Chautauqua movement, which brought religious, educational, and cultural programming to communities across the United States.
While Havana isn’t listed among the cities where Sunday held his major revival campaigns, his participation in the Chautauqua there reflects his widespread influence and the popularity of his preaching style. These events often featured prominent speakers and were significant cultural gatherings in early 20th-century America.
Evangelist Billy Sunday (1862-1935) 