How to Become an Evangelist for Your Brand

Billy Sunday (1862 - 1935) 

Billy Sunday was an American baseball player, who after becoming popular in the 1880s, turned to become the most celebrated American evangelist in the first twenty years of the twentieth century. He was considered a conservative evangelist who embraced fundamentalist perspectives. An analysis of several of his sermons indicates that he applied natural analogies in most of his sermons which were mainly centered on forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ and salvation. For example, in his sermon titled why delay your real conversion, Billy Sunday when talking about issues among people about joining a church and going to heaven, he gave an example of someone going to Europe. He was trying to address the notion that one can enter heaven as a Christian without having to join a church. He likened this idea to a person going to Europe by swimming across the ocean where there are sharks waiting to devour people who decide to swim across instead of boarding a steamer. 

In another sermon titled atonement through the blood of Jesus, Billy Sunday likened this Biblical concept to an encounter he had while in Y.M.C.A. Chicago. He came across a boy carrying a young sparrow in his hand and asked him to let it go. After negotiating with the boy, he gave him dough as he requested and the boy handed the sparrow to him. Billy Sunday let the young bird go free. The boy wondered why Billy let the sparrow go instead of throwing it into the sewer. Therefore, just as he bought the sparrow from the boy and decided to do with it as he wished so has God paid for people with the blood of Jesus to set them free from the devil. This natural analogy provides a better understanding of the concept of atonement that came through the blood of Jesus Christ. 

Billy Graham (1918- 2018) 

Billy Graham was an American evangelist who is known for attracting large numbers of people in his crusades and leading many to salvation. Despite big masses in his crusades, Billy Graham was able to appeal to his hearers at an individual level to make a decision and receive salvation. Through his sermons he was able to persuade his hearers by appealing to their volition. For example, in a crusade at Los Angeles in 1949 where he preached the sermon on sinners in the hands of a loving God, Billy Graham approached his hearers with a fiery call to repent by boldly declaring that city, which he termed as full of sin as well as wickedness, had to choose to either embrace both renewal and revival or have judgment. He appealed to the volition of his hearers with application. Billy Graham had perfected the art of preaching to masses and persuading them to accept Christ. He effectively managed to call people to make a decision to accept Christ through appealing to their volition. 

In some of the sermons watched, after preaching and calling out people to receive salvation in his crusades, hundreds of people responded to the call in a single meeting. He effectively presented new thinking, perception, and conduct possibilities to his audience. In his sermons, he explicitly presented the available alternatives to his hearers and then called them to make a decision. He always made it clear to his hearers that every person had to make a decision for himself. As a result of his compelling application, many were persuaded to accept salvation. The sermons of Billy Graham appealed to a person as a whole and this worked towards faith and surrendering to Christ.