Melvin Ernest Trotter
1870-1940
Rescue mission worker. Mel Trotter was born in Orangeville,
Illinois, the son of a godly mother and a drunken father. His
mother tried to teach him to pray, but he followed in the
footsteps of his father and became a drunkard. He left home
at the age of 17 and, after years of drink and sin and on the
verge of self-destruction, Mel ventured into the Pacific Gar-
den Mission in Chicago, where he heard the Gospel. That night
he responded to the invitation to receive Christ as his Sa-
viour, and his life was transformed. Later he entered the
ministry, and was ordained a Presbyterian minister.
        After conducting some evangelistic meetings, he was
called to be superintendent of a rescue mission in Grand
Rapids, Michigan. His unusual burden for the spiritual needs
of the down and out prompted him to establish 67 rescue mis-
sions from Boston to San Francisco. He was known as the man
who “raved about Jesus.”