The goal, he said, was to overcome the "summer slump in church attendance". Nightly meetings were held in the 500-seat tent, which he called "The Canvas Chapel". įor two years, Nelson led the Youth for Christ movement in Long Beach, California, one of the largest at the time on the West Coast, and organized and conducted their mass rallies at the Hollywood Bowl. Known as the "singing evangelist", Nelson both sang and preached at his church, as well as when making frequent guest appearances at other churches. In the 1960s–1970s, Nelson was minister at Metropolitan Bible Church in Paramount, California, in addition to continuing to make singing appearances as a soloist. While pastoring the Grace Church of Huntington Park, Nelson founded the Grace Evangelistic Association to produce a daily half-hour radio program, The Morning Chapel Hour, beginning in 1944 on KGER in Long Beach, California. The broadcast was eventually syndicated to radio stations around the United States and internationally. In later years, it was also carried by the Bible Broadcasting Network during the 1970s–1990s. On each broadcast, a choir sang gospel hymns, often as backup with Nelson singing lead, preceding a short devotional message given by Nelson to encourage and comfort listeners. The program's motto was, "Songs and Thoughts that Lift the Heart". He made guest singing and speaking appearances at churches and special events around the country, such as the Western Pennsylvania Bible Conference in June 1974. Īs the program's popularity grew, Nelson extended its international outreach.
In the early 1950s, for example, the Morning Chapel Hour broadcast sponsored the building of the Evangel Children's Home in Hong Kong, a Christian orphanage for refugee children from mainland China. He also built a 2000-seat chapel/auditorium for Isabelle Christian School for Girls in Pusan, Korea. The auditorium was named "Nelson Hall" in his honor. Recordings made by Nelson and the Morning Chapel Hour singers include: The Morning Chapel Hour: Wilbur Nelson and the Chapel Singers on the Word Records label, Great Day!, Memory Melodies, and O Come, O Come Immanuel: Songs of the Savior's Birth, a self-produced album of Christmas music performed by the Morning Chapel Hour singers accompanied by orchestra and directed by Nelson. On the latter album's liner notes, Nelson wrote of the Morning Chapel Hour music: "A diligent effort has been made since the program began to present Gospel music in a way which leads the listener to an experience of reverence as well as listening pleasure.
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