United Gospel Tabernacle

The United Gospel Tabernacle, the "Tab," was established in 1926 by a group of Swedish students who met together for prayer. The meetings soon evolved into complete church services. It was not unusual for the pastors to be students, early examples were Don Hillis '36, Titus Johnson '38, John Ballbach '38 and Billy Graham '43. Wheaton College faculty also served as pastor of this small church that met at the Wheaton Masonic Temple, these included V. Raymond Edman, Eugene Harrison and Merrill Tenney. Edman had been a popular Sunday school teacher at The Tab and succeeded Ballbach as pastor when Ballbach graduated in 1938. Edman was pastor until September 1941 when Graham took over at $5 per week.