How one business leader promoted Christ - 1888
John Wanamaker, Christian businessman.
Introduction
John Wanamaker was a go-getter first as a YMCA leader and afterward as a businessman, opening one of the first successful department stores in the United States. His building had a wireless telegraph, and it was the first station in America to learn of the sinking of the Titanic. John was an innovator in advertising and in money-back guarantees. When few others did so, he offered his employees benefits such as pensions, life insurance, and vacations. One of his stores pioneered the use of Christmas lights. He taught Sunday school and constantly sought to win souls for Christ and urged others to do the same, saying, “If you once have the joy and sweet pleasure of bringing one soul to Christ, you will be hungry to get another.” On this day March 12, 1888, he wrote out by hand the following note to each person in his Sunday school class.
Quote
“If you are not saved my dear friend—flee to the merciful Savior, as you would fly, into this warm room tonight out of the cold streets & the drifting snow.—If you are saved—humbly trusting in what Jesus did when his loved failed not on the Cross—think of others not saved—NOT SAVED—going to the eternal darkness—your near friend, your relative—and do something!”
John Wanamaker’s letter to his Sunday school class members.