HISTORY OF HERALD OF HIS COMING
Herald of His Coming came into being in Los Angeles, California in 1941. Willard C. and Sarah Foulkes Moore had been traveling and holding meetings, Brother Moore teaching on prayer. In 1941 God directed their steps to Los Angeles, where they had met and married a few years previously, being in their late 40's at the time.
They were living in a small room of a church, using the auditorium to gather people to pray. A printer who was a man of prayer offered to print a paper for them to help spread their deep burden that the Church worldwide be clothed in holy garments, ready to meet Christ at His coming. Brother and Sister Moore had no experience in editing and had no thought of printing a paper. Neither had they any money. But a friend who had given them $50 to print tracts agreed they could use the money toward the paper.
The first edition of 10,000 copies had a good reception, and a second was printed. Others followed, and in this way God led His servants into publishing Herald of His Coming monthly. In 1943 Gospel Revivals Inc. was established as the non-profit corporation which publishes Herald of His Coming.
God made the Moores to know Herald of His Coming was to be undenominational. It was to be kept unworldly and unadorned and printed economically on newsprint that it might be sent without charge, that no one be denied the Gospel because they could not afford to pay for it.
After the church in which they were working closed, God led the Moores through a series of moves, to a large second-floor room in a former mortuary in downtown Los Angeles. They were living and working here when the building was put up for sale. Through the sacrificial giving of friends, they were able to purchase the building and here the ministry was housed for about 25 years.
As many as 12 to 15 workers lived and worked in the building. Additional workers lived in economical hotels nearby. A number who helped shoulder the work not only volunteered their time but also gave to the work from their modest pensions. Others whose love and zeal for the Lord made them gladly willing for the simple, unworldly, dedicated living and working which the humble ministry required, received in exchange room and board and a small allowance for necessary expenses.
Calls for Herald of His Coming began to come from around the world, and eventually the paper was being mailed into as many as 200 countries. The number of papers printed grew steadily until a peak was reached in the early 1960's of 425,000 monthly. Six four-page papers for the unsaved were printed and mailed by the hundreds of thousands. A number went to distributors who took them to the highways and by-ways of the world to many beyond reach of the post office. About 20 of Brother and Sister Moore's editorials were printed in tract form and circulated by the tens of thousands.
From the beginning, prayer was the heartbeat of the work. Lone prayer vigils in early morning or late night, twos and threes agreeing together throughout the day, prayerful hearts at the work desk, and especially the gathering of the staff in the old mortuary chapel, where prayer times were sparked by the fiery, faith-filled prayers of Brother and Sister Moore -- all told that God's blessing on the ministry was dependent on and the result of prayer.
The ever-present needs of the ministry for workers and finances were brought before the Throne of God as well as the need for divine blessing on the messages of the Herald. Always there were prayers for revival and for the salvation of dying souls. Often God was beseeched to send deep conviction on sin to bring men to repentance, for without repentance, God cannot come and save and deliver and heal -- whether it be the individual soul or a nation.
Brother and Sister Moore sometimes wished they could do nothing but shut themselves away and pour out their lives in prayer. But God had placed on their shoulders the responsibilities of the worldwide work of Herald of His Coming, and they were faithful workers, giving themselves from early morning until late at night -- their breaks being mostly prayer breaks, or breaks for necessities such as sleeping and eating and short walks. They lived in the simplest of rooms alongside the staff. Personal comforts and conveniences were all but forgotten in their zeal to finish the work God had given them to do and in their loving concern for their co-workers.
The fire in their hearts had been lighted by God and it was fueled by the Holy Spirit whose anointing they humbly and constantly sought. Supported by coworkers of like heart and mind, likewise sparing not themselves for the sake of world revival and world evangelization, the Moores were able to send out the fiery messages and faithful teachings from God's Word regularly, without fear or favor.
God also gave a host of priceless friends from among Herald readers scattered around the world. Some were hearts already akin, and others had a fresh fire kindled as they read the paper. Taking the ministry on their hearts for prayer, sending gifts even to the point of sacrifice, and ordering copies to help spread the flame -- made them invaluable coworkers in the continuation and growth of the ministry.
In 1968 it seemed wiser to move from the old building in downtown Los Angeles than to fix it up to meet changing fire codes, and so the Moores and part of the staff moved to the high desert outside Los Angeles. The mailing department remained in the Los Angeles area for convenience' sake. All but a minimum staff and the Moores moved back to a Los Angeles suburb to merge with the mailing department in 1972 when a suitable building was found to lease.
It was in 1973, when Sister Moore's strength was totally spent, that God gathered her to her rest. Brother Moore and faithful staff members carried on the ministry until he, too, at the age of 90, was called above in 1980.
