Charles Templeton
Charles Bradley Templeton (October 7, 1915 – June 7, 2001) was a Canadian cartoonist, evangelist, agnostic, politician, newspaper editor, inventor, broadcaster and author. He was born and died in the same city, Toronto, Canada. His early education was at Parkdale Collegiate Institute.
Cartoonist
At age 17, during the Great Depression, Chuck Templeton (as he was then known) got his first job as a sports cartoonist for The Globe and Mail.
Christian evangelist
In 1936, Templeton converted to Christianity and became an evangelist. In 1941, Templeton founded the Avenue Road Church of the Nazarene, in Toronto, in a building that formerly housed a Presbyterian congregation, where he served as senior pastor despite his lack of formal theological training. The Avenue Road Church of the Nazarene congregation eventually became affiliated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination, and its name was changed to Bayview Glen Church.
Youth for Christ International
In 1945 Templeton and Torrey Johnson of Chicago, Illinois met with a number of youth leaders from around the United States at Winona Lake, Indiana. Their agenda was to form a working group that would become an organization known as Youth for Christ which was born in 1946. Torrey Johnson was elected as its first president and Billy Graham was hired as the first full-time evangelist. Shortly afterward, Graham and Templeton made an evangelistic tour of western Europe, frequently rooming together, and holding crusades in England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden and other countries.
