Brief Description.
Collection 399 [May 31, 2000]
Johnson, Paul E; 1909-
Interview; 1988
2 Reels of Audio Tape
Restrictions
There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.
Biography
Paul E. Johnson was born in 1909 in Denver, Colorado, the son of Swedish immigrants Henning and Elin Johnson. There were two other boys in the family - Arnold and Gordon. After living in Iowa during Paul's early years, the family settled in Chicago, Illinois in 1923. Paul attended public school there and graduated from high school in 1928. He worked for a while as a manual training instructor for the Chicago Schools System. In 1930, he went to work for the tool and die department of Pullman and worked there sporadically for the next nine years. During these Depression years, he had part time jobs at various other garages and machine shops. He also took classes at Lewis University and Moody Bible Institute. After many years of courtship, he married Dolores Youngberg in 1937. They eventually had three children - Keith, Kent, and Linda.
As a child and young man he attended the Mission Covenant Church of Grant Crossing with his family and committed his life to Christ there at a revival service in 1930. He became active in many types of Christian outreach including visiting prisoners in the Cook County Jail and the state prisons, and playing his trombone for services at the Pacific Garden Mission and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle and other churches.
In 1939 Paul became a full time salesman for the OK Tool Company, responsible for Illinois and
Wisconsin. He became the Indianapolis representative of the company in 1941 and moved to
that city with his family. While there, he became deeply involved in the evangelistic work of the
Christian Businessmen's Committee and was one of the early supporters of the Youth for Christ
organization started by Roger Malsbary. In 1946 the OK Tool Company was sold. Johnson
worked for the new owners for a brief time, but in 1947 he moved to Wheaton Illinois, where he
managed the Manufacturers Tools Service Company, in which he had a half interest. He sold the
company in 1979 and served as a manufacturers representative for the Apex Tool and Cutter
Company. While living in Wheaton, he participated in the founding of the Wheaton Evangelical
Free Church and the Wheaton Grammar School.
Scope and Content
Paul Johnson was interviewed by archivist Robert Shuster on August 5, 1988 at the office of the Billy Graham Center Archives. The time period covered in the interview is from the early 1920's to 1947. Time elapsed from the beginning of the interview is recorded in the column to the left of the column describing topics discussed. The interview is keyed to the cassette copy and not the reel-to-reel original.
Tape T1 - side 1
00:00 Start of Tape
00:15 Introduction; family background; growing up in Chicago; married in 1937; working as a
tool salesman in Indiana; did not want to become a Christian because of taboos against
dancing and modern music
05:45 Conducting young people's meeting in Swedish; large number of immigrants in the
church; description of his conversion as young man on February 27, 1930 during revival
meetings; fear of Hell; playing with a brass quartet at the Pacific Garden Mission (PCM)
and local jails; a description of a typical Saturday evening at PCM
10:45 Playing Gospel music at the Cook County Jail; typical responses at the PCM to the
presentation of the Gospel; more details about the Saturday night programs; the theme of
sermons preached at PCM; meeting famous criminals at the Cook County Jail
17:00 Description of the services at the Cook County Jail; why the prisoners came to the
meetings; follow-up on converts at the jail meetings; working with homeless people
23:00 Prison visitation at Dwight, Joliet and Statesville Prisons; dinner with the warden and
prison officials; description of prisoners' complaints about their incarceration; life on the
prison's honor farm; visiting Dwight Woman's Prison
29:15 Reactions of prisoners to the Gospel services; reactions of the wardens and the guards to
the services; Miss Hazard
33:00 Contacts with Al Capone's family; preparing Ralph Capone's cars for trips to Detroit;
experiencing a police raid
36:15 Contacts with Clarence Jones, Merrill Dunlop and other musicians of the Chicago Gospel
Tabernacle; the Southside Young People's Orchestra; of services at the Chicago Gospel
Tabernacle; preaching style of Paul Rader; playing on the radio for evangelist Sprowl;
baptisms on the radio
42:15 Influence of Paul Rader on the later style of Youth for Christ; courting his future wife,
Dolores Youngberg; description of his family; high school educationn; unable to afford
college because of the Depression
46:00 End of side 1
T1 - side 2
00:00 Start of side 2, duplication from side 1
01:15 Becoming a high school manual training teacher for the Chicago school system; studying
Bible at Moody Bible Institute; learning to play the trombone in high school; other jobs
he held during the Depression
07:15 Going to work as a salesman for the OK Tool Company; moving to Indianapolis; travel
conditions between Chicago and Indianapolis in 1941; involvement with the Christian
Businessmen's Committee in Indianapolis; first acquaintance with Roger Malsbary, a
Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor; underwriting Malsbary's Youth for Christ program
13:30 Influence of Jack Wyrtzen on Malsbary; opposition of local churches to Malsbary youth
program; Malsbary's plans for Youth for Christ; origins of the name "Youth for Christ"
19:00 End of side 2.
Tape T2 - side 1
00:00 Start of Tape
00:30 Introduction; meeting between Wyrtzen and Johnson; impressions of Wyrtzen; reasons
why not all the members of the Christian Businessmen's Committee supported Malsbary's
program; description of Malsbary; later career of Malsbary
06:15 Youth for Christ incorporated in 1943; other YFC rallies in the midwest; visit of Torrey
Johnson and plans to start a rally in Chicago; description of the first rally in Indianapolis;
live radio broadcasts of rallies; outreach to servicemen, typical rally programs; lack of
involvement by local people; names of some local supporters
13:45 Influence of newcomers to Indianapolis; newspaper coverage of Youth for Christ;
criticism of YFC for being too lighthearted and entertaining; the formation of YFC
nationwide; the part the Indianapolis rally played in organizing the first national meeting
in 1944; reasons for Malsbary's lack of involvement in the national organization; Johnson
moved to Wheaton 1947
22:15 Excitement of the early days of Youth for Christ; programs that grew out of YFC;
Johnson's business career after 1945
30:00 Involvement in getting the Wheaton Evangelical Free Church and the Wheaton Christian
Grammar School get started
31:45 End of tape
Provenance
The tape of this interview was given to the Center by Johnson in August, 1988.
Acc. 88-89
Robert Shuster
April 4, 1990
LOCATION RECORD
Accession -88-89
Type of Material: Audio Tapes
The following item is located in the AUDIO TAPE FILE:
T1 Reel-to-reel tape, 3 3/4 ips, 64 minutes, 1 side. Interview with Paul Johnson in which he discusses his family background, conversion, the Depression in Chicago, Paul Rader and the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle, evangelistic activities around Chicago, Roger Malsbary and the founding of Youth for Christ in Indianapolis; August 5, 1988.
T2 Reel-to-reel tape, 3 3/4 ips, 32 minutes, 1 side. Interview with Paul E. Johnson.
Continuation of interview on tape T1 in which he discusses the beginnings of YFC in
Indianapolis and his post-1945 business career; August 5, 1988.