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He went to his grave, and beyond, preaching

An evangelist and Christian radio pioneer lived to "save souls," and died doing it.

By SCOTT TAYLOR HARTZELL
Published April 6, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - During his funeral service in 1985, evangelist Dr. William Ward Ayer addressed his more than 1,000 mourners.

"It was a 20-minute taped sermon. His theme was prepare to meet thy God," said Margaret Billings, wife of Dr. George C. Billings, former pastor of Fifth Avenue Baptist Church.

For 70 years, Ayer preached from numerous pulpits. He reached the world by radio for 41 years, and he organized and presided over the National Religious Broadcasters. "He was articulate. Prophetic," said Charlotte Clutton, Ayer's secretary here for 20 years.

Ayer penned nine books and various pamphlets on Christianity. His publication Marching Truth was read worldwide. During the last 25 years of his life, Ayer's evangelism emanated from St. Petersburg.

"Evangelism has been my forte through the years," said Ayer, hailed as "Doc" by most. "Throngs of people . . . have heard God's message from these lips of clay."

Five years after his birth in 1892, Ayer's mother died. The Canadian native left his abusive father to hawk newspapers in Brooklyn, N.Y. Poor health then took Ayer to Massachusetts, where he finished the eighth grade and became a printer.

In 1916 at age 24, Ayer met evangelist Billy Sunday.

"Sunday held you right over the pit," said Ayer, who then forsook whiskey, cigars and Godless ways. "He said so many things that hit home. I wondered how he knew I was there."

After attending Chicago's Moody Bible Institute in 1917, Ayer delivered his first sermon one year later in Mason City, Ill. While there he met and married choir member Lucille Woodward in 1919.

In Atlanta, Ill., Ayer received further education and ministered. He then had successive parishes in Valparaiso and Gary, Ind., where in 1927 he pioneered Christian radio broadcasting. After serving in Ontario, Ayer came to New York City in 1936 to Calvary Baptist Church.

From the pulpit and over the radio every Sunday at Calvary, Ayer reached 500,000 worshipers. His controversial sermons brought letters and death threats. In 1947 Ayer was named the third most influential person in New York City, after Cardinal Francis Spellman and Eleanor Roosevelt.

When Ayer left Calvary in 1949, he established his Marching Truth newsletter, and "groups of 40 to 60 pastors were begging for his ministry in evangelistic campaigns," Ayer's biographer, Mel Larson, wrote in God's Man in Manhattan. After establishing Marching Truth radio, he embarked on British and Central and South American campaigns.

In 1959, Ayer came to St. Petersburg. From his office at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street and 22nd Avenue S, his taped radio messages reached Tampa, New York City and locations in Pennsylvania and California.

After the death of Ayer's wife in 1967, Ayer and his secretary Barbara Scofield initiated the Lucille Ayer Memorial Missionary Fund, which funded the distribution of audiotapes to missionaries worldwide. Ayer married Scofield in 1968.

"Doc loved saving souls," said Barbara Scofield Ayer, 88.

Sometime after moving his office into his home in 1968, Ayer and his wife led a tour of the Holy Land. "He lectured at various sights, making the Bible come alive as everyone walked where Jesus walked," said Clutton, 68.

Ayer loved touring Lake Maggiore and attending the Festival of States. He was affiliated with the Lake Maggiore, Bay Ridge and Fifth Avenue Baptist churches. Numerous other area churches and conventions requested Ayer's presence for lectures.

"The Christian world respected what he said," said Dr. George C. Billings, 74, speaking of Ayer, who was awarded the key to the city by Mayor Corrine Freeman (1977-1985) and continued to publish his Marching Truth newsletter.

"I like to keep my mind active," Ayer said when he was about 83. In 1978, Ayer was installed into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame. In 1983 the NRB, which Ayer helped found in 1944, honored him at Fifth Avenue Baptist Church. The Rev. Jerry Falwell spoke at the service.

"Falwell spoke 45 minutes about Doc's accomplishments," said Margaret Billings, 69. "The church was packed."

From his bed, Ayer successfully labored to get the Marching Truth's November 1985 issue to his readers.

"You don't retire from God's work," he said. Weeks later, Ayer died at his home on 51st Avenue S. He was 93.

Scott Taylor Hartzell can be reached at hartzel@msn.com

[Last modified April 6, 2005, 01:06:15]