The churches are very much in this condition.  There are cogwheels, pulleys, belting, and engines in the church, but out of all useful relationship.  There are sincere, earnest Christians, men and women, but they are adjusted to no power and no purpose; they have no definite relationship to utility.  They go or come, or lie still and rust, and a vast power for good is unapplied.  The text says “We are ambassadors for Christ”; that means, in the clearest terms, the greatest object of the Christian teacher and worker should be the bringing into right relations all the forces of men, and gearing them to the power of Christ”

He undoubtedly understands bringing men together, and getting them at work to secure almost marvelous results.  A friend speaking of his ability once said:  “I admire Mr. Conwell for the power of which he is possessed of reaching out and getting hold of men and grappling them to himself with hooks of steel.

“I admire him not only for the power he has of binding men not only to himself, but of binding men to Christ, and of binding them to one another; for the power he has of generating enthusiasm.  His people are bound not only to the church, to the pastor, to God, but to one another.”

He never fails to appreciate the spirit with which a church member works, even if results are not always as anticipated, or even if the project itself is not always practical.  He will cheerfully put his hand down into his pocket and pay the bill for some impractical scheme, rather than dampen the ardor of an enthusiastic worker.  He knows that experience will come with practice, but that a willing, zealous worker is above price.

Those who know him most intimately find in him, despite his strong, practical common sense, despite his years of hard work in the world, despite the many times he has been deceived and imposed upon, a certain boyish simplicity and guilelessness of heart, a touch of the poetic, idealistic temperament that sees gold where there is only brass; that hopes and believes, where reason for hope and belief there is none.  It is a winning trait that endears friends to him most closely, that makes them cheerfully overlook such imprudent benefactions as may result from it, though he himself holds it with a strong rein, and only reveals that side of his nature to those who know him best.

He studies constantly how he may help others, never how he may rest himself.  At his old home at South Worthington, Mass., he has built and equipped an academy for the education of the boys and girls of the neighborhood.  He wants no boy or girl of his home locality to have the bitter fight for an education that he was forced to experience.  It is a commodious building with class-rooms and a large public hall which is used for entertainments, for prayer meetings, harvest homes and all the gatherings of the nearby farming community.

Many other enterprises besides those directly connected with the church grow out of Dr. Conwell’s desire to be of service to mankind.  But like the organizations of the church, the need for them was strongly felt before they took form.