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George Whitefield ---- 1714 - 1770
William Carey ---- 1761 - 1834
Adoniram Judson ---- 1788 - 1850
Charles Finney ---- 1791 - 1875
D.L. Moody ---- 1837 - 1899
Hudson Taylor ---- 1832 - 1905
John Hyde ---- 1865 - 1911
C.T. Studd ---- 1860 - 1931
Billy Sunday ---- 1862 - 1935
J. Frank Norris ---- 1877 - 1952
Jack Hyles ---- 1926 - present
Jack Hyles
The last man we will study is Dr. Jack Hyles. Knowing Brother Hyles personally makes it easier to write about him. I first met Dr. Hyles in Springfield, Missouri, in November of 1973. I determined that night to go to Hyles-Anderson College. Since that time it has been my privilege to know him, both as the man who has been my pastor, and also as a friend.
Like Dr. J. Frank Norris, our study of him should be especially beneficial since these two men are the only two we've studied who were pastors. There are many similarities in the life of J. Frank Norris and Dr. Jack Hyles. Both had fathers with drinking problems, both built great churches, and both stirred up much controversy.
There are also differences in some respects. Although both men got involved in plenty of controversy, J. Frank Norris liked it and even looked for it. Brother Hyles does not like controversy. He gets into a lot of it because he preaches and does what he believes is right. He has both moral and physical courage. He has been shot at, and had physical attacks against him. There have been attempts to burn down his house (unsuccessfully) and his church (successfully). He has been attacked by the media and the new evangelicals, the Catholics, and others. He does not like to fight. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is when you do what is right even when you are afraid. In other words, he does what is right, knowing that it is going to cost him, but he doesn't dwell on the cost so much that he compromises. He has often said, "I'm willing to make enemies over my position, but not because of my disposition." He would rather get along with people. He is a very compassionate person.
Like J. Frank Norris, Jack Hyles is a great motivator. But, by his own admission, J. Frank Norris was not a great organizer. Brother Hyles is a very efficient person and probably will have more lasting results. He has written about 50 books and pamphlets at last count.
The ministry of First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, is more complex than Dr. Norris' church, and the church continually starts new ministries. That is a result of Brother Hyles' meticulous planning and organization. His methods of reaching people have been widely copied and the Annual Pastors' School attracts about 7,000 delegates (mostly pastors) each year. Simply put, Brother Hyles has been a man who has seen (and is still seeing) revival.
On September 25, two months and nine days after that fateful day in 1926, when Chipps was killed in the office of J. Frank Norris, a name was Jack Hyles. As J. Frank Norris awaited his court trial to begin the following January, Jack Hyles would soon experience trials of his own.
The Hyles' family was very poor so they moved to Dallas to find work. The Hyles' first child, Lorene, died at age 7. The second, Hazel, also died at age 7. His father was unsaved, but was going to church when he was first married. By the time Jack Hyles was born (their fourth child), he had stopped going to church and had began to drink heavily. He was very big and very strong. He worked as a farmer and once owned a small grocery that went bankrupt during the depression. He also worked in a cotton field, a dairy, bought and sold cattle, and he layed oak floor.
His mother had a job cleaning a church building for $2 a week. They moved 18 times in his first 18 years, but never far from the same church. None of these old run down houses had indoor plumbing and one of his chores was carrying water for his family.
He loved baseball and played with a ball that was made of stuffing old socks and wrapping them in paper. His first bike was a broken one someone had thrown away. His mother sacrificed much. He determined that one day he would take good care of her, an opportunity he later had. They were often hungry. He recalls:
"I shall never forget one night. My dad didn't cone home. He was out drunk, We had nothing to eat, so Mamma cane to me and said, 'Son, let's go to bed early tonight.' I thought, 'Well...okay.' Then I heard Mamma crying. I didn't know then why, but now I realize it was because there was nothing to eat, and no wood to put in the stove. About four o'clock in the morning I heard Mother open the door. Daddy came stumbling in. the car was torn up; he was broke and bloody. There wasn't anything worth living for, it seemed."
His mother would cut pictures of beer bottles out of the newspaper and show them to young Jack and say "No! No! No! No! No!" She make him repeat, "No! No! No! No! No!" and then stamp on the picture. He grew up with a deep hatred of sin, especially drinking. He was a very nervous child, often wondering if his dad would leave his mother. One day his father surprised him by saying he would join them at church that Sunday night.
Hoping his dad would get saved, he went to the pastor and asked him to preach on the Second Coming. That Sunday night , the church had a special program without any preaching. His dad didn't hear the Gospel. This caused Brother Hyles to vow later as a young pastor that he would always have preaching at his church services.
His daughter, Cyndy Hyles Schaap, wrote that her dad's lonely teenage years began when his mother told him his father was leaving. He had been gone from home a lot over the years but this time it was for him to go for good. Jack asked his mom if his dad would stop drinking, could he stay. She said, "yes." Jack then begged his dad on his knees saying, "Wouldn't you rather have me than a bottle of beer?" His dad said nothing. He walked away and never returned. From that time, Jack only saw his dad when he'd occasionally ask his son to meet him around the corner for ten minutes or so.
As a teenager, Jack Hyles was tested in his Christian life. (He was saved at the age 11.) He kept his promise to his mother and the Lord to never drink, smoke, or curse. As mentioned earlier, he loved baseball and became very good at pitching. During the summer he graduated from high school, he was pitching softball for the Dallas Railway and Terminal Co. Then the team won the city championship. The state finals were being held in Dallas that year. He had pitched one no-hit game and struck out at least ten batters in each game he pitched. To complicate matters, he was the only pitcher on the team and for several days he knew the championship would be played on Sunday evening at 7:00pm. As Sunday drew closer, he battled with his conscience as to whether or not he would play on Sunday. The coach was a member in the church rationalized: "Jack you have a decision to make." He said, "I'm going to church." His sister said, "It won't hurt to miss church just one time. "It won't hurt someone else, but it will hurt me," Jack Hyles responded. When he arrived at church, the coach had the team dressed in their uniforms, sitting across the street from the church. They met him as he walked up the church steps. The coach argued, "If you played shortstop, it wouldn't hurt us, but you are our only pitcher." With no encouragement from the adult leadership, he stood alone, refusing to pitch the game.
Other experiences similar to this in his early years taught him to stand alone. While he was working at the Dallas Railway Terminal that summer, a co-worker who was a Christian, startled him when he said, "God told me you ought to be a preacher." For the first time in his life, he began to think about it. Soon after he was drafted into the army, and a few days before leaving, he attended a watch night service. On that night, December 31, 1944, he surrendered to preach. When he told the pastor of his decision the pastor said, "Are you sure?" He didn't think he could ever preach.
After he was called to preach, his dad called him and asked to meet him in downtown Dallas. There, young Jack said, "Dad, God has called me to be a preacher." His dad got mad and cursed him. He pushed his son in the side and said, "My son, a ----- preacher." Then he yelled out, "You want to be a ----- Preacher son of a ------ preacher." Then he yelled out, "You want to be a ------ son of a ------preacher? WHY DON'T YOU BUILD THE BIGGEST CHURCH IN THE WORLD" His father's words were certainly prophetic.
After serving as a paratrooper, he left the army in 1949 and enrolled in East Texas State College. His first church was the Marris Chapel Baptist Church in Bogata, Texas. There were 19 members and the church grew to only 20 in one year the church was poor. No one in the congregation even had an indoor restroom. The only member with a telephone was nearly deaf!
He preached for the Grange Hall Baptist Church in Marshall, Texas, one Sunday, as they had no pastor. Two other men had candidated for the church and Brother Hyles wasn't interested in the church. He was only preaching because a friend was a member there. A vote was taken the next week. One of the men on the ballot received 17 votes and the other one received 9. Brother Hyles received 27 write in votes! One lady and the teenagers in the church voted for Brother Hyles. The deacons were furious. They called him on the phone and demanded that he come to church immediately. They had just concluded the deacon's meeting and it was after midnight.
"Young man," one man said, "You're not old enough to pastor this church, I own the largest store in town, and most of the members rent from me." Another threatened, "You will not walk into the pulpit nest Sunday." Brother Hyles replied, "You come this Sunday morning and you'll see both these feet behind the pulpit."
Brother Hyles didn't sleep that night, but drove the country roads of East Texas. Finally, he stopped to pray in a pine thicket, kneeling on a sand hill. That night he determined five principles that he would live by. He took out some scratch paper and wrote the following principles:
1) No man will ever tell me what to preach.
2) Money will never be the object of my preaching.
3) I will always be a friend to my friends.
4) I will be loyal to Biblical principles-not to institutions.
5) I will make decisions for the ministry based on what I think is right, and never go against my conscience.
Once a member came to complain to him about his sermon. Brother Hyles stopped him and said, "When we construct a new building, you get one vote. When we approve a budget, you get one vote. When we call a new staff member, you get one vote. But when I preach, you don't get a vote. That's between me and God."
Brother Hyles wasn't paid for 12 weeks. On several occasions, the deacons sat and made faces at him while he preached. One night, God give him the verse in Jeremiah 1:8 "Be not afraid of their faces," He announced to the congregation on a Sunday evening, "Look what I found in the Bible! God says, I'm not supposed to be afraid of their faces." Then he pointed to the deacons and said: "You...and you...and you...have been making faces at me when I preached. God tells me not to be afraid of you."
On January 1, 1950, his dad came to hear him preach. Here is Brother Hyle's recollection:
"On December 31, 1949, I found my father in a tavern. I walked inside that tavern and said, 'Dad, you're going home with me this weekend. You're going to Marshall Texas, with me today and I'm going to preach to you tomorrow on New Year's Day.' I took my Dad to my car and on to Marshall, Texas. On New Year's Eve night we had a Watch Night Service, a blessed time. I said to my father, 'Dad, are you having a good time?' He looked at me, smiled, and great big tears rolled down his whiskered cheeks as he said, 'Son, they don't have this much fun where I stay.' I took him outside the building and said, 'Dad, I'm so happy! I want you to be one of my deacons. I want you to get saved.' Dad began to cry, 'Son, I would love to be one of your deacons.''Dad, would you receive Christ?' He didn't receive Christ that night. The next morning I preached to him. He actually dug his fingernails into the pew as he went and cried but he didn't come. I closed the service and said, 'He'll come tonight! He'll come tonight!' "That afternoon we went out in the pasture near the little country church. I put my arm around his big shoulders and said, 'Daddy, I've always wanted you to be a Christian. I'm a preacher, a pastor; but Dad, you drink, you curse, you are separated from mother; our home is broken. Won't you receive Christ as your Saviour?' My dad put his arm on my shoulder, looked me in the eye and said, 'Son, I'm going to come to East Texas and buy a little fruit stand and grocery store and go in business down here. I'm going to hear you preach every Sunday. I'm going to receive Christ and let you baptize me.'"
But soon after this, his father died. Brother Hyles tells in a sermon entitled "The Fullness of the Spirit" how God used his death:
"As a kid preacher, I got this truth. I read every book I could find on the Holy Spirit. I said, 'Dear God, I'm willing to go into fanaticism.' I did not do so and do not think it necessary to do so, but I said, 'Dear God, if I find it in the Bible, I'll seek for it, whatever it is.' I used to stay awake at night in the pine thicket in East Texas. If you would have driven down Highway 43 at 2:00 and 3:00 in the morning, you would have hearkened a young preacher crying in the woods, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' Oh, all night prayer meetings over and over again. One day, the telephone rang, and the operator said, 'Rev. Jack Hyles?' And I said, 'This is he.' She said, 'Long Distance call from Dallas, Texas.' A voice, a male voice said, 'Rev. Hyles?' And I said, 'Yes,' He said, 'Your daddy just dropped dead with a heart attack.' I buried my drunkard dad. After the graveside service I went back to the cemetery. No one was there but me. I knelt on his grave. I put my face next to the marker. I prostrated myself on that little mound. In a little town called Italy, Texas, I said, 'Dear God, if I had the power of god, my dad wouldn't have been in a drunkard's grave. I'm not going to leave until something happens to me.' I did not see angel's wings. I did not speak in some other language. I did not see Gabriel face to face. But I got off my face a different man. How long I stayed I do not know. I have no idea.k But I would betray my Lord today if I did not say then and there for the first time, I knew I was filled with the Holy Spirit. And my dear Christian, you can not account to a fellow like me apart from that. You can't. There's no way in the world. I'm not a ten-talented person. I'm not a gifted person. But, thanks be to God, you don't have to be if you're anointed with the Holy Spirit of God."
When his father died, he didn't leave his family any thing, except a $700 funeral bill. However, revival broke out in the Grange Hall Baptist Church. Brother Hyles describes it:
"I went back to Grange Hall Baptist Church the nest Sunday. That night I got to preach, and the flood tides of Heaven began to turn loose. I preached a simple message---I don't know what it was on. Maybe it was Elijah or something. When I got through preaching I gave the invitation and three people came to Jesus. Three. That was three times as many as I had had the first six months! I was so happy. "Folks were leaving the service and I was so happy! I was still standing at the altar rejoicing in the Lord that three people got saved. I was in ecstasy. All of a sudden, from behind me a great big 235 pound fellow hit me from the rear. He was draped all over me. 'Brother Hyles, my 17 year old daughter wants to get saved. . Will you go talk to her?' I didn't walk down the aisle; I walked across the pews! I told her about Jesus and she got converted. "I went out on the porch and said, 'Hey, come on back in folks! Barbara got saved!' And the folks got out of their cars and came back in the church house, and we voted Barbara in. They came to shake her hand. We all waited then had the benediction. Boy, that was wonderful. I said, 'This is tremendous! Praise God!'
"We dismissed the service, and I was at the altar rejoicing when all of a sudden the same fellow---wham! He hit me from the rear. 'Brother Hyles, my other married daughter wants to get saved. Can you go and tell her?' I went back in the corner and told her about Jesus and got her saved, then went out on the front porch and said, 'Hey, come on back in!' And they came back in, voted her in, came by to shake her hand. We dismissed the service again. Oh, I rejoiced in God! "Then about the time the folks got in their cars, the same fellow hit me and said, 'Hey preacher! Her husband wants to get saved ,too.' I went back and got my arm around him, got him converted, then went out on the porch and said, 'Come on back again.' The folks came back in, we voted him in, they came to shake his hand. Six saved!
"Again I was standing at the altar after the dismissal prayer. The same fellow hit me again. He draped around me and said, 'Preacher, I think I will get saved myself before I go home!' We knelt at the altar in the old church and I told somebody to go out and tell people to come on back in; that another had gotten converted. It was 11:20 that night when we got through. "We went home, next door. The parsonage was a little old cheap place. Mrs Hyles and I got our Bible, we opened it up and I said, 'Honey, this is what I want every Sunday, don't you?' She said, 'yes.' Two little old kids who didn't know John 3:16 very good---we got on our knees, opened the Bible, put our hands on the blessed Word of God and said, 'Dear Lord, we are not going to have anything but this. We claim it.'"
He then became pastor of the Southside Baptist Church in Henderson, Texas, and the church grew from 100 to 600 members in eight months! He finished college during this time. One day he visited a small church of 44 members in Garland , Texas, the Miller Road Baptist Church. Through the series of events, he became pastor and the church grew.k They had 618 on their first year anniversary, and 2,212 on their third year anniversary. Bigger battles came and he was kicked out of the Southern Baptist Convention for preaching for independent Baptists and having independent Baptist preachers like Lester Roloff, John R. Rice, and Lee Roberson preach for him.
These men were not approved by the denomination. Some of the influential Baptist leaders took it upon themselves to advise the young preacher. They invited him to a meeting at a cafeteria in Dallas. The room was packed with a luncheon crowd when the preachers sat down to talk. "We might as well get to the point" one of them announced to Hyles. "If you run with John R. Rice, Lester Roloff, and all the other Independents, you'll lose your denomination opportunities." Two or three of the others tried to force him to stop. Finally he had had enough.
"I'M NOT FOR SALE!" Brother Hyles shouted as he pounded the table so hard food spilled on some of the preachers. His outbursts silenced the cafeteria as people looked away from their noon meal. "You can't buy Jack Hyles" he told them, walking out of the cafeteria. Soon he lost all his preaching engagements and most of his so-called friends.
"People we never dreamed would leave us, left us. Folks we never dreamed would break their friendship, broke their friendship. I mean the best friends I had, I thought, turned their backs on our church and upon me just like that. Preacher boys whom God had saved and called to preach under our ministry, and everything they knew had been taught from our pulpit, left us just in a moment." To make matters worse, a tornado nearly destroyed his church. "So I was sound asleep and dreaming. The telephone rang.... One of the custodians said, 'Brother Jack, come to the church quickly.'
"What in the name of common sense happened?' "'A tornado hit the educational building....' I rushed down to the church house in the midst of pouring down rain and hail, looked up and saw through the top of our educational building. The top story was blown off and was down against one of the other buildings. The water was going through and you could swim in the bottom floor....I looked at my associate pastor...and said, 'Brother Jim, this is it! Friends are gone, members are gone, deacons are mad, preacher boys have left--now the building down. This is it!' "The next morning I got up in the pulpit. What did I preach on? On Job: what else was there to preach on?... I got down to where I was trying to show them that God gave Job the victory and he said, 'I knew that my Redeemer liveth.' Usually I would say, 'Boy, I KNOW that my Redeemer liveth,' but that morning I didn't know...I didn't know it but I said it. 'I know God is going to bless us.' Look here, and I read the Scripture...and you know what it said? It said when the Lord came down to tell Job that the victory had come, He came IN A WHIRLWIND! Oh!, I said, 'Victory has come! The Lord came in a tornado and told us that victory is here, and defeat is over!' By, the people shouted for joy, the choir rejoiced, and folks were saying, 'Praise the Lord!'"
It was at this church that Brother Hyles began to see what could be done if there were many soul winners in the church, not just the preacher. It wasn't long before there were 300 soul winners in the church. His ability to enlist and train soul winners was perfected in Hammond later and partly explains the phenomenal growth in both churches. While in Texas he preached many revival meetings. One week he was preaching in a small town that was known for having a lot of bootleggers (those engaged in the illegal liquor business). The first three nights there were no results and so he began to preach against beer and whiskey and the bootleggers got mad. They would pass the church and shoot their guns in the air. The third night he decided to pray all night. At 4:00 a.m. the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart, "Go and find the meanest bootlegger and witness to him."
Brother Hyles woke up the pastor in the darkness and asked, "Who is the meanest bootlegger in this county?"
"Bain Ward in the meanest. He will shoot you if he's mad."
"Let's go witness to him" Brother Hyles challenged the preacher.
"Not me!" The pastor responded. "He runs the whole county's bootlegging and everyone is afraid of him, including me!"
"But you're going!" Brother Hyles was emphatic. "No, I'm not!" the preacher countered.
" OK, I'm going to tell Bain Ward that you said he's the meanest man in town." Brother Hyles said.
"OK, I'll go!" The preacher didn't want that to happen! It was 6:00 a.m. when they arrived at his home and he was outside cooking breakfast. Bain Ward was 6'4" tall. Brother Hyles walked up to him and asked, "Are you Bain Ward?" "Yeah, I'm Bain Ward," he answered. "I'm Jack Hyles and I'm preaching at the revival." "get out of here, I don't have time for preachers." Bain Ward shouted. "I have heard that you were the meanest man in town." Brother Hyles said. "Who said that?" Bain Ward demanded. The pastor with Brother Hyles was getting nervous but Brother Hyles said, "Never mind who said it. This whole town is going to hell. You break up homes. The families don't have food to eat because of your wicked business and hell won't be too hot for you."
He dropped his cooking utensils and stepped up close to Brother Hyles' face and said in a threatening tone of voice, "What did you say?"
Brother Hyles repeated what he said and continued, "What you ought to do is get down on your knees and pray and confess your sins."
Both the pastor and Brother Hyles were shocked when Bain Ward dropped to his knees and said, "This man is right."
"You need to come to church and walk down the aisle tonight," Brother Hyles told him.
That day word spread all around that Bain Ward had "got religion." All the bootleggers came to church but sat in their cars and trucks to watch. The P.A. system was turned up so they could hear the simple sermon Brother Hyles preached entitled, "Will There Be Any Drunkards in Heaven?"
When the invitation began, Bain Ward got up out of his seat and walked down the aisle and people in the cars began cheering honking their horns. Eleven drunkards got out of their cars and got saved saying, "If it's good enough for Bain Ward, then it's good enough for me." Over 200 adults were saved in the following days of revival!
Brother Hyles went back to Miller Road Baptists Church rejoicing. He stayed at that church for six years and eight months and God blessed. There were 4,128 members when he left. On August 27, 1959, at the age of 32, Jack Hyles became the pastor of First Baptists Church, Hammond, Indiana, a suburb of Chicago. Unlike Texas, where, where people were friendly, most people in the Chicagoland area seemed cold and unfriendly. It was a difficult adjustment in many ways.
The church was very formal. The choir sang the sevenfold "Amen." The first Sunday he was there the congregation sang "Amen" at the end hymns. He had never heard it sung, so while the congregation sang "Amen" he began to make announcements. Embarrassed, he decided during the second song he would sing the "Amen" like everyone else. But the organist and pianist decided the new preacher wasn't used to the "Amen", so at the end of the song, they quit playing. But, Brother Hyles, in his not on-key bass voice, sang his first solo! "Amen, Amen, Amen."
The church was a very important social church. It wasn't long before some of the wealthy members who controlled the church began to oppose his preaching and the kind of people he was reaching. Their opposition was serious, as his house was set on fire, but it was discovered in time and put out. Finally, on June 5, 1964, he received a call at 1:10 a.m. from the fire chief. "You'd better come downtown. The church is burning"he said. An arsonist had set fire to three of the buildings. The arsonist was later identified by a photograph taken at the scene of the fire. Amazingly, he came back to the burning church and was photograph serving coffee and donuts to the firemen who were risking their lives to fight the fire that he had started! Church services were held the next day which was Sunday. After the service, Brother Hyles went to the jail to visit the arsonist.
"Hello Friend," he said to the man, who was very surprised by this. The arsonist asked, "Why would you call me friend?" Brother Hyles began to tell the story of Jesus Christ and how he was a friend of sinners. Brother Hyles said even though he had burned down his church, God still loved him and wanted him to be saved. There in jail, he received Jesus Christ as Saviour.
The church had become divided and in only one week, 400members left. The church went from 700 to 400 in attendance. Most of the wealthy and influential left. But, God did not leave. Instead, God sent revival to the church and by 1972, it was listed as the World's Largest Sunday School. That same year, Hyles-Anderson was started. In 1973, the church averaged 7,837 in attendance, nearly 2,000 more than the year before. When he was awarded a plaque by "Christian Life Magazine" for having the largest and fastest growing Sunday School in the United States in 1973, he said, "I'd rather have the World's greatest Christians in my Church than the World's Largest Sunday School. The world's greatest Christians have made this the world's largest church."
The church began to reach the Chicago area with many kinds of ministries. It's deaf ministry and ministry to the educable slow are the largest of any church. First Baptist has a ministry reaching young people in the public schools, a ministry for the blind, a Rescue Mission for the homeless, and a ministry to sailors. The different ministries are simply too numerous to list them all but the philosophy of the church in to win souls, any time, anyway, and any place possible. The church annually baptizes over 8,000 converts a year and averages about 20,000 each Sunday. They have ministries to many different groups who don't speak English. The Spanish Department alone averages over 1,200 each week.
In 1966, on Dr. Hyles' 40th birthday, he stayed up late praying for his future and what God would do to make his life more effective. He had been invited to preach in 22 city-wide revivals. But, the Lord spoke to his heart about the need to challenge and also teach pastors how to have soul winning churches.
There were three things he did to accomplish this. First, he began to travel every Monday and Thursday to a different church. The local pastor of the church would invite pastors from all over the area to come and Brother Hyles would preach. Much of the time he would preach with Dr. John. R. Rice, the editor of the Sword of the Lord. They covered the United States, speaking every Monday Night, Tuesday morning, and Tuesday night. God used these meetings to stir pastors to pray for the power of God to reach their area for Christ.
Secondly, he invited preachers from all over the United States to come to Hammond, Indiana for a week called "Pastors' School." From morning until late afternoon, the ministries of First Baptist Church and practical aspects of the ministry would be taught by Dr. Hyles and the church staff. Special programs were held at night. Thursday night was often the highlight of the week. In 1976, the theme of the Pastors' School was "Don't Quit." On Thursday night, Missionary Bob Hughes of the Philippines, who was dying of cancer, got out of his hospital bed in Dallas, Texas, and flew to Chicago. He only spoke for a few minutes. It was that night that the Lord spoke to my heart and several others, about coming to the Philippines. Countless life-changing decisions through the years have been made at Pastors' School.
The third thing Brother Hyles decided to do was to start Hyles-Anderson College, to train young people for full time Christian work. In 1972, Hyles-Anderson College was opened with nearly 300 students. It has grown and presently is training more men for the Gospel ministry than any other Bible College in the world.
The church is the most influential church in the United States, not only because of its size, but it's influence on other fundamental churches.
It is hard to find a good soul winning independent Baptist church in the United States, that hasn't been influenced in some way by the First Baptist Church of Hammond. His books and pamphlets which have sold over 15,000,000 copies gave also had a profound effect on fundamental churches, not only in the USA, but around the world, including here in the Philippines.
Dr. Jack Hyles is like Hudson Taylor in one way. Although both men have probably seen greater results than anyone in their field of ministry, (Taylor as a missionary, and Brother Hyles as a pastor), I believe he will be remembered more by the results God blessed him with. He is an idealist.
To understand him you must understand what is important to him. The Dr. Hyles I know is first a man who believes in friendship and loyalty. He has often said,"I'd rather be a friend than have a friend." He believes that you can never lose a friend, because if a prison who claims to be your friend turns away when trouble come, then he wasn't your friend in the first place. If Brother Hyles says he is your friend, you don't have to worry about losing his friendship during hard times.
After going through a very difficult time, when several wicked men tried to destroy his reputation, I heard Dr. Hyles say "I'm a very fortunate man." I was surprised to hear him say this. He continued, "I'm very fortunate because I've been able to find out who my friends really are." He went on to explain that people never find out who their real friends until they're down and it's easier to be against someone than for someone.
He would do any thing for a friend. "A request from a friend is a royal command," he once said. Friendship and loyalty are synonymous to him and his fierce loyalty to his members who go through hard times has resulted in a church that reciprocates this same kind of loyalty. Once, when Brother Hyles was being attacked by some people, a good friend of mine and Dr. Hyles, Dr. Jim Vineyard, said to me, "Brother Rick, when Brother Hyles gets in trouble you never have to worry about him and his church. There is no one I've ever known that has people that rally to them like Brother Hyles!" I have observed that although Brother Hyles does not like controversy, the First Baptist Church and Brother Hyles does not like controversy, the First Baptist Church and Brother Hyles are at their best when there is opposition and trials.
Dr. Hyles will be remembered as a fundamental, independent Baptist. He will be remembered for his position that each local church is autonomous, and for his strong stand on both personal and ecclesiastical separation. He believes that preaching is always the main course to be served in the service of the church. People do not influence what he preaches, depending upon who they are or what they have. He believes in the local church and that there is no such thing as the invisible church so they can give an invisible tithe!
He will be remembered for his conviction that the main work God gave to the churches is winning souls. Through the years, as many others who used to believe these same things began to soften and change their stand, Brother Hyles simply does not change. He often says that in order for a preacher not to change, he must purpose in his heart not to change because the natural thing to do is change as others do.
Modern educators and intellectuals who seem to think they aye smarter than God, have never impressed Brother Hyles. His schools are not accredited by the heathen who are against almost everything we are for?" he argues. In a day when the intellectuals laugh at the Bible, and laugh at the fundamentalist who believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible, Brother Hyles laughs right back. He once said about evolution, "The strongest arguments for evolution are the monkeys who teach it."
Once on an airplane, he sat next to a man who introduced himself as a college professor at Bucknell University. As they talked, he asked this man, "If you died today, do you know for sure that you would you go to heaven?"
The professor replied, "I don't believe that. I don't the Bible; it's not scholarly."
Brother Hyles asked, "Have you read all of the Bible?" "Of course," the professor proudly replied.
"What did you think about the book of Jerusalem?" Brother Hyles asked.
"Well, it's a good book, but it's not true." the professor replied.
When Brother Hyles educated him a little by informing him that there was no book of "Jerusalem" in the Bible, the professor admitted he had never read the Bible. Brother Hyles is not one that is intimidated by people like this.
I think one of the best illustrations I can give to show that he is committed to his principles came one day when one of his heroes, Dr. G.B. Vick, stopped in Hammond, Indiana, while passing through the area. At that time, Dr. Vick's church, Temple Baptist Church, Detroit Michigan, (the same church Dr.J.Frank Norris had pastored), was the second largest church in the USA. The First Baptist Church of Hammond was growing but at that time was a smaller church. It so happened that on the same afternoon that Dr. Vick stopped, Brother Hyles had promised one of his daughters that he would take her shopping and would spend the afternoon with her.
He told Dr. Vick, "I'm sorry I can't talk to you as I have a very important appointment."
Much later when they met again, Dr. Hyles asked Dr. Vick,"Were you mad when I didn't spend time with you that day?"
"Yes", Dr. Vick replied, "I was at the time. But when I found out later your very important appointment was keeping your promise to spend time with your daughter, I was so proud of you."
If the words "loyalty" and "friend" are two words he treasures much, the words "quit" and "compromise" are despised. In fact, when I was a student at Hyles-Anderson College, those words should not be in the vocabulary of a real man of God."
To some who do not really know Dr. Hyles, they may only see him as a man who has stood for right and built a great work of God. But those who know see him as a more than that. They see him as a man of love and compassion. He is extremely generous and will help anyone who has made a mistake to get back up and serve the Lord. In a day when many Christians seem to be unforgiving to those who make mistakes and don't want to give people second chance, it is ironic that the man who preaches the hardest against sin may have helped restore more Christians to Christian service than anyone!
He preaches very hard to warn people, especially young people, from making mistakes that ruin their lives. He preaches hard, not because he sees the hurt sin brings.
To close, let me testify that it has been such a privilege to personally know Dr. Jack Hyles. I'm excited that someday I'll be able to meet these other great men in heaven: George Whitfield, Hudson Taylor, J. Frank Norris, and others. Knowing Brother Hyles has been a foretaste of what it will be like to meet the other great men someday!
Home
George Whitefield ---- 1714 - 1770
William Carey ---- 1761 - 1834
Adoniram Judson ---- 1788 - 1850
Charles Finney ---- 1791 - 1875
D.L. Moody ---- 1837 - 1899
Hudson Taylor ---- 1832 - 1905
John Hyde ---- 1865 - 1911
C.T. Studd ---- 1860 - 1931
Billy Sunday ---- 1862 - 1935
J. Frank Norris ---- 1877 - 1952
Jack Hyles ---- 1926 - present
