Jesus Loves Springfield!

Celebrate the Great Springfield Revival of 1909


Pentecost Sunday, May 28th, at the Bank of Springfield Center

BILLY SUNDAY 1909 CELEBRATION
"Six Weeks that Saved the Soul of Springfield"
A Trilogy - Part 1

"Billy" ( Russ Williams Impersonator) will be retelling his personal baseball testimony just as he told it in Springfield on March 21, 1909 before 8,000 men. 
Early Career image
His professional baseball career began with the Chicago White Stockings in 1883 (he struck out his first 13 at bats); he moved to the Pittsburgh Pirates, and in 1890, to the Philadelphia Athletics, where he was batting .261, then at the height of his career, the fleet-footed Sunday (who had just stolen 84 bases in 1890) quit baseball to enter Christian work.

Ever since his conversion to Christianity at the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago in 1886, he had felt an increasingly strong call to preach. The YMCA finally convinced him to leave baseball to preach at their services (which meant a two-thirds cut in pay). He moved on to work with two other traveling evangelists, then was invited to conduct a revival in Garner, Iowa. From then on he was never without an invitation to preach, at first holding campaigns in midwestern towns and then, after World War I, preaching in Boston, New York, and other major cities.

This was just the beginning for Sunday. Until Billy Graham, no American evangelist preached to so many millions, or saw as many conversions—an estimated 300,000.

For more information please check out these links on Billy Sunday
Springfield Billy Sunday revival 1909
Overall biography on Billy Sunday 
Celebrate the Great Springfield Revival of 1909
On December 2nd, 1907, seventy churches and businessmen came together to petition the mayor for the ills of Springfield. Febuary 26th, 1909, Billy Sunday and his team arrived to begin his tabernacle revival and as a result 700,000 people heard the word of God and over 4,700 people convert and publicly commit to follow Jesus!

Join us on Pentecost Sunday, May 28th at 4pm, at the Bank of Springfield Center located at 1 Convention Center Plaza, Springfield IL.

Let's welcome Jesus back to Springfield!

Admission is free but please register to help us ensure we have enough seats for everyone.

Join us May 28th, Pentecost Sunday, for our Billy Sunday 1909 Celebration honoring the 115th year anniversary of The Great Springfield Revival. You will hear Billy Sunday impersonator retell Billy's personal transformation story as well as the stories of the transformation of Springfield as a result in the weeks and months that followed.Read More


  • Date: 5/28/2023 04:00 PM
  • Location: Bank of Springfield Center, 1 Convention Center Plaza, Springfield IL. 62701 (Map)

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More than 20 Springfield Churches and 50 businesses came together to invite Billy Sunday to Springfield!
$100

Donation Amount

Daily Prayer Meetings - During their 1909 Great Campaign, one of the most important and forceful features were the Cottage Prayer Meetings. Under the direction of the chairman of this committee, Rev. Inman, these meeting were brought to a success in numbers and attendance, and there were hundreds of home in the community thrown open to prayer meetings that had never before been offered for such a purpose.
There were weekly meetings at the executive mansion and they proved a great success in every sense of the word. Governor and Mrs. Deneen cheerfully threw open their residence for this purpose every Wednesday, and the attendance and influence were very marked and notable. The influence and endorsement in this campaign by the Governor and his wife have been highly appreciated by the Christian people of the community and state. These meetings were led by Mrs. Sunday, Mrs. Muirhead, Miss Miller, and others.
These Cottage Prayer Meetings were attended by as many as 1,500 people in one day. This is quite remarkable, when the duties of all who attended these meetings are considered.

Source: Reverend William Ashley Sunday, Meetings At Springfield, Illinois by Springfield Ministerial Association

The Billy Sunday 1909 Celebration Prayer Committee would like volunteers to host or lead cottage prayer meetings just like they did in 1909. If you'd like more information on volunteering please submit the contact form below and include your interest in the notes section. We'd love to get in touch with you with more information.

United In Prayer
We were evil
We prayed united
4000+ people were saved
Jesus Loves Springfield!

Let's come together in Prayer!