Historical Vignette: ‘The Million Soul Man’

Elamb Jackson Daniels (1908-1987) was born at O’Brien, 20 miles south of Live Oak near the Suwannee River. Daniels was one of eight children and was born into a family that had known material prosperity due to hard work and wise investing. His father was a farmer-timberman and was willing to work hard and risk. Much was lost but much was also gained. This was not lost on young E. J.

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At age 13 Daniels joined the church, but he was age 18 before he actually repented of his sins and was saved. He had planned to go to Stetson Law School and attended Stetson in 1929-1930. Due to an illness that confined him to bed he faced a physical and spiritual crisis and out of this experience was called to preach.

Pastor W. T. Newsome had influence over Daniels but his primary mentor was evangelist J. Earle Lewis, a well known tent preacher in central Florida. E. J. had finished high school at Branford in 1929 and had actually preached some in the area but began his evangelistic work under the tutelage of Lewis.

E. J. married Elizabeth Weaver at Live Oak in 1931. Although they never officially had children, they raised Kaye Josephs of Jamaica and loved her and her two children as their own. E. J. attended Stetson (1929-1930), Southern Florida Baptist School of Plant City (1930-1933) and Florida Southern (1933-1935). He was gifted as a preacher and evangelist. M. F. Morris in his biography of Daniels titled The Million Soul Man, says that as a young preacher Daniels was a “skinny blond tornado.”

Daniels served as pastor of four churches in Florida and one in Alabama before going into full time evangelism in 1947. He served as pastor of Broadway Baptist Church, Tampa (1930-1933), First Baptist Church, Eagle Lake (1933-1936), First Baptist Church, Winter Garden (1936-1942), First Baptist Church, Fort Pierce (1942-1943), and First Baptist Church of Fairfield, Ala., (1943-1947). Daniels then served as a Southern Baptist evangelist for 40 years.

E. J. Daniels was a preacher, pastor, evangelist, organizer, printer, writer, publisher, and leader. He wrote numerous tracts and small books that were packed with biblical theology, humor, and common sense. He loved photography and church and commercial designing. He became wealthy in the printing business and gave away tens of thousands of dollars to spread the Gospel.

In 1980, Daniels was facing open heart surgery and he asked the Lord for “a million souls.” He had preached for years in America, Korea, Africa, and India, but had never kept decision records. From 1980-1985 there were 1, 049,000 recorded decisions for Christ in the Christ for The World Crusade. Daniels and his wife, Elizabeth gave $1.7 million at one time for crusade work from their publishing fortune.

Before his death E. J. was asked what he thought was the most rewarding aspect of his years of ministry. He said, “winning souls.”