L. Nelson Bell

Lemuel Nelson Bell ( * 1894 in Longdale, Virginia; † 1973 in Montreat, North Carolina) was an American physician, missionary and co-founder of the magazine Christianity Today.

Life

Bell was born in Longdale ( Virginia). At the age of eleven he had a conversion experience. After his medical training at the Medical College of Virginia, he spent the next 25 years as a medical missionary of the Southern Presbyterian Church to China. In 1941, Bell returned to the United States and practiced as a physician in Asheville. His conservative attitude as a Presbyterian, he gave a voice in the Southern Presbyterian Journal, which he founded in 1942. Bell was instrumental in that the planned merger of the Southern Presbyterian Church with the Presbyterian Church in the USA has not been done because it was too liberal in his opinion. Together with his son, Billy Graham, he founded the evangelical magazine Christianity Today, in which he published columns written by him and for the Board to hear.