First Derry Presbyterian Church (1922)
After the mission in Newington and a short rest, William travelled to Londonderry, where his next campaign was to be held. Again he had a wide measure of support from the churches for the six weeks of meetings which began first in the Methodist Clooney Hall on the Waterside for three weeks and continued in the First Presbyterian Church within the city wall on the west side of the River Foyle.
An account in the Methodist weekly, the Irish Christian Advocate reports:
We have had an appalling year in some respects, but spiritually it has been glorious. The winds of God have been blowing over us, and not for many years has our church had so fruitful a season. There are manifest signs of a new spirit in our church. We believe that the revival of spiritual religion in which we are finding ourselves has had much to do with the increased interest in world evangelism.
Professor James Strahan, of Magee College, also wrote of the campaign:
His terrific severity is the faithfulness of a man who knows from experience the murderous thralldom of sin, and his motherlike tenderness is the love born at the cross where God's Son redeems sinful men. In the course of this six-week mission, three on the east and three on the west side of the Foyle, about 1,500 have come into the enquiry room seeking to learn the way of life and peace. In truth he has been a liberating force to vast numbers who have too much associated religion with outward dignity and decorum instead of peace and joy, and for long days to come the voice of gladness and rejoicing will put to shame all the empty follies of Vanity Fair.
From 'All for Jesus' by Stanley Barnes, published by Ambassador Productions, p67-8.