04/10/2026
April 10, 1829 – William Booth was born in Nottingham, England.
He was converted at 15 and immediately went to the poorest
parts of town to hold meetings in cottages and on the streets.
He later said he'd been apprenticed to the work of reaching
souls on the very day he came to faith.
Years later, as a successful and well-loved minister, he found
himself miserable. The comfort of the position was causing him
to settle into being a preacher and nothing more. He walked
away from the salary, the security, and the congregation – and
went back to the people the church wasn't reaching.
He wrote this in 1896:
"If the people won't come to the Office, the Officer must go to
the people. If he is consumed by a passion for their souls, he
will reach them somehow; if not in the barracks, in the streets;
if not in the streets, in their cottages; if not in groups and
congregations, then one by one."
– William Booth | How to Keep Souls to the Front, 1896
The language is his era – officers, barracks, cottages. But the
movement underneath the words belongs to every Salvationist,
every soldier, every volunteer who has ever decided to go toward
someone instead of waiting for them to show up.
Happy birthday, General. We're still going. ☝️
