R. A. Torrey

RUBEN ARCHER TORREY (1856-1928), educated at Yale University and Divinity School, was renowned as an educator, a pastor, a world evangelist and an author. Besides his gifts in all these areas, he was also a man of prayer and a student of the Bible. He pastored Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, was the superintendent of Moody Bible Institute for nineteen years, and served as the dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles from 1911 to 1924, when he retired to embark upon full time evangelistic campaigns around the world. Mr. Torrey wrote more than forty books and his practical writings on the Holy Spirit, prayer, salvation, soul-winning, and evangelism are still favorites of many Christians. How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival is considered one of the best books on personal and mass evangelism ever written. How to Pray is another of his classics.At Mr. Torrey’s funeral, William Houghton described him saying, “...But those who knew Dr. Torrey more intimately knew him as a man of regular and uninterrupted prayer. He knew what it meant to pray without ceasing. With hours set systematically apart for prayer, he gave himself diligently to this ministry." Mr. Torrey was married to Clara and together they had five children.