Moody gave up his lucrative boot and shoe business to devote his life to revivalism, working first in the Civil War with Union troops through YMCA in the United States Christian Commission.

Working with singer Ira Sankey, he toured the country and the British Isles, drawing large crowds with a dynamic speaking style.

[3] When Moody turned 17, he moved to Boston to work (after receiving many job rejections locally) in an uncle's shoe store.

One of the uncle's requirements was that Moody attend the Congregational Church of Mount Vernon, where Dr. Edward Norris Kirk served as the pastor.

In April 1855 Moody was converted to evangelical Christianity when his Sunday school teacher, Edward Kimball, talked to him about how much God loved him.

According to Moody's memoir, his teacher, Edward Kimball, said: I can truly say, and in saying it I magnify the infinite grace of God as bestowed upon him, that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday School class; and I think that the committee of the Mount Vernon Church seldom met an applicant for membership more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of Gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere of public usefulness.

I went there a little late; and the first thing I saw was a man standing up with a few tallow candles around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to him the story of the Prodigal Son and a great many words he could not readout, and had to skip.

As a result of his tireless labor, within a year the average attendance at his school was 650, while 60 volunteers from various churches served as teachers.

[8] In June 1871 at an International Sunday School Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, Dwight Moody met Ira D. Sankey.

[9] Four months later, in October 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed Moody's church building, as well as his house and those of most of his congregation.

But the newly famous Moody, also sought by supporters in New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere, chose a tranquil farm he had purchased near his birthplace in Northfield, Massachusetts.

[2] Northfield became an important location in evangelical Christian history in the late 19th century as Moody organized summer conferences.

[15] Moody aided the work of cross-cultural evangelism by promoting "The Wordless Book", a teaching tool Charles Spurgeon had developed in 1866.

Moody later preached at the laying of the foundation stone for what is now called the Carrubbers Christian Centre, one of the few buildings on the Royal Mile which continues to be used for its original purpose.

[14] Moody greatly influenced the cause of cross-cultural Christian missions after he met Hudson Taylor, a pioneer missionary to China.

During World War II, the Liberty ship SS Dwight L. Moody was built in Panama City, Florida, and named in his honor.