Miracle in Hollywood
Charles E. Fuller
People at the wedding could not help but admire the young couple. Grace Payton was the beautiful daughter of the local country doctor. Charles Fuller was a successful orange grower and the superintendent of a great packing house in Southern California. At Pomona College he had received the highest scholastic honors and was captain of the football team.
"Charlie and Grace have so much to live for," someone whispered as the two swept down the church aisle after saying their marriage vows.
Charles and Grace Fuller had planned to have five or six children so they were delighted that Grace was expecting after a year of marriage. But to their sorrow the baby did not live.
Then Grace developed tuberculosis and had to spend most of the next three years in bed. She could not even attend church. That was no problem for Charles. Before Grace's illness, he had always found things to do on Sunday while she was in church. If there were no chores, then a nearby theater always offered a movie.
Grace was a Christian, having been led to Christ by a tubercular woman a few years earlier. Charles was
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not, but he was devoted to his beloved wife. He spent almost every spare moment at her bedside.
"Charlie, would you mind if I went with mother for a few weeks to Big Bear Lake?" she asked one morning. "The doctor thinks the change of climate might restore my health."
Devoted Charles Fuller smiled weakly. "I'll be terribly lonely, but if you think it will help, then go."
The days were lonely for Charlie after Grace left — especially the weekends. On Sundays he tried to occupy himself by reading the paper and polishing and fixing up his car. But the hours always seemed to drag by until it was time to go to the packing house on Monday morning.
One Saturday he read in an afternoon Los Angeles newspaper that a former amateur wrestler and boxer was to speak at the Church of the Open Door. The name, Paul Rader, sounded familiar. "Yes, that must be the same Paul Rader I knew in college," he said half aloud. "I'll go hear him preach."
When Charles Fuller entered the auditorium on the following Sunday afternoon he had difficulty finding a seat. Finally he settled for a place behind a pillar. Paul Rader, a nationally known evangelist, chose for his text Ephesians 1:18, "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints."
The evangelist's words pierced Charles Fuller's heart. He leaned his head on the seat ahead of him and trembled, although at the time he did not know what was troubling him.
When the service was over, he hurried to his car.
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He drove to a quiet spot on the edge of Franklin Park in Hollywood. He parked under a eucalyptus tree and climbed into the back seat, where he fell on his knees in prayer. That hour he surrendered his life to Christ.
Charles Fuller was then thirty years old. He was not aware that only a few blocks away was the Women's Club of Hollywood where he would one day begin a gospel radio program heard around the world.
Grace soon recovered from her illness. United now in Christ, the two plunged into active Christian work.
Mr. Fuller entered the ministry and served several years in a successful pastorate. In 1927 he attended a Bible conference in Indianapolis. Without previous warning he was asked to take the place of the regular speaker on a Christian radio program. After the program, an unusual number of letters were received telling of the blessing received.
While returning to California that same week, he was awakened from sleep by what he felt to be a message from God. "I want you to undertake a radio ministry for Me," the voice seemed to say.
For three hours Charles wrestled with the inner voice. At last he whispered, "Lord if you will go with me, I will do Your bidding."
In February 1928, Charles E. Fuller began broadcasting the gospel from Placentia, California on a single station. His radio ministry grew rapidly. By 1943, the Old Fashioned Revival Hour, with its familiar "Heavenly Sunshine" theme song, was going forth over a thousand stations.
Today the Fullers are with the Lord, but they are remembered by millions — Charles for his preaching and Grace for her reading of letters from listeners. Mr. Fuller has been credited with conducting the longest running radio program of any kind in the history of broadcasting.
Webmaster's note: Another significant legacy and ministry of Charles Fuller was the founding of Fuller Seminary in Pasadena in 1947. For more about Charles Fuller's life, please see http://www.ccel.us/fuller.toc.html
