Biographical Sketch

In 1890, one brave missionary ventured into the sandy deserts of Arabia to bring the Gospel back to the lands of the Middle East from which it had arisen centuries earlier. Samuel Marinus Zwemer would become known as the Apostle to Islam, a man who unlocked the language, culture, and religion of Islam to the Western World.

Moody’s life, preaching, and legacy have touched many lives all over the world. The boy who had honored his mother and had eaten obediently his simple porridge of cornmeal had grown up to honor the Lord and give the simple, nourishing Bread of Life to hundreds of thousands of souls across the globe.

No one in England ever would have guessed that C. T. Studd would become a missionary. Why? He was the most famous cricket player in England! His name was a household word known throughout England and the entire English-speaking world wherever the sport of cricket was followed.

Ira Sankey seemed to hear a voice say gently to him, “Sing the hymn you found on the train.” But that was impossible! The poem had no tune. In vain, he considered what to do next. Again, compelled by the quiet leading of the Holy Spirit, Sankey pulled out the newspaper clipping from his scrapbook and placed it on the organ.

As a young girl living in Boone, Iowa, the cry of Darlene’s heart was, “Lord, I’d go anywhere for you, no matter what the cost!” This enthusiastic promise she made as a child was tested many times over her long life. She carried with her all her life the lesson learned in prison: “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

More than any other one man, a British politician named William Wilberforce was raised up as an instrument in the hands of God to put an end to the human-enslaving practices of the British Empire. In the generation before his birth, the Great Awakening had swept through the British Isles and the American colonies.

Just after the end of the Civil War, a pastor and his wife welcomed another baby boy into the world. They named their baby John Nelson Hyde, and they devoted their son to the service of the Lord. The father, Pastor Smith Harris Hyde, and his wife Lucinda had prayed that one of their boys would be used mightily of God in the advancement of the Gospel.

The emaciated monk wept bitterly on the floor of his chamber. Try as he might, he could not break the chains of uncleanness. He had renounced the world. He had fled all temptation. He had taken the Augustinian vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

Everyone in the room knew that this Nonconformist meeting was illegal. The sound of larks and sparrows took the place of the peals of the organ. A simple table served as a pulpit, and upon it rested the well-worn Bible of John Bunyan, their pastor.

In a dark rainforest in what is now Nigeria, a young African mother placed two large clay pots under a tree. Any observer from Europe might have imagined that she was collecting food for her family. But there was a darker purpose for her actions!

Many Christians have read with spiritual profit the works of E. M. Bounds on prayer. His rich and powerful quotes on the subject of prayer have been repeated many times. He said rightly, “The story of every great Christian achievement is the history of answered prayer.”

On May 11, 1928, a baby boy was born to a Dutch blacksmith and his invalid wife. They named their little boy Anne. In the Dutch language, Anne can be a masculine name. This little boy would grow up to become known as “Brother Andrew” in the English-speaking world.

George Washington Carver is most famous for discovering many remarkable uses of the sweet potato and the peanut. But Carver’s influence was far beyond these two commodities. His greatest legacy was the way that he overcame the prejudices of his generation. He helped white men, even former slaveholders, to appreciate the gifts of their black brethren. He set an example of not judging men by the color of their skin, laying aside prejudice, and following the example of His Master, Jesus.

The young couple from America stood side by side on a hill. The location was a remote area deep in the heart of China. A year earlier, the two had stood together at the marriage altar. They had faced a bright future before them, a future seemingly filled with hope and promise as they purposed to serve the Lord together. Little did they know then that their love for the Master would lead them to their present situation—on the hill of execution outside the Chinese village of Miaoshou.

The sixteen-year-old boy stood in amazement as he beheld a large temple in Kyoto, Japan. It was acclaimed to be the “temple of 33,333 gods.” Row upon row were carved wooden images, brightly gilded and set in niches in the walls. He had never seen anything like it before. William Borden was already a devoted Christian by the age of sixteen. The trip around the world opened his youthful eyes to the realities of heathenism.

Many of us have heard these inspiring words that are the title of a famous book of selected Scripture meditations. However, fewer people are familiar with the life of the man who made these words his testimony. Although Oswald Chambers lived to be only forty-three years old, his life after his conversion was characterized by a desire to love the Lord with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might. In secret, Chambers was the same man that he was in public—a wholehearted servant of the Lord.

Sergeant Jacob DeShazer was assigned to kitchen duty on December 7, 1941, and was peeling potatoes when the news came that Pearl Harbor had been attacked by the Japanese Imperial Air Force. DeShazer was filled with hatred at the knowledge that his fellow servicemen had been strafed and bombed in Hawaii. He shouted out in anger, “Japan is going to pay for this!”

No one would have thought that the poorly educated British girl would someday become a missionary in a faraway land. The young girl probably never thought so either! Gladys Aylward was living the typical life of a working class girl at the turn of the twentieth century in England. She worked as a parlormaid, and she had no interest in spiritual matters. Her ambitions and dreams were in drama, and she hoped to become an actress. Thus, Miss Aylward spent her evenings attending drama classes. One night, however, for some reason she went to church instead. That evening, the Holy Spirit moved in her heart, and Gladys Aylward dedicated her life to Christ.

As the preacher began preaching that July day in Enfield, Connecticut, there were no outward manifestations that this sermon would be different from any other previously preached message. The minister’s delivery was not dramatic or energetic. Instead, he had read slowly and distinctly from a handwritten manuscript. He described in the language of the Bible the everlasting fate that awaited the sinner, apart from the saving grace of the Lord Jesus. The minister viewed himself as God’s emissary, and saw his duty as a simple one: to speak the truth.

Dr. Graham became known as “America’s pastor.” He preached in 185 countries all over the planet. He was friends with numerous presidents, and met personally with these men, from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. Graham was known and respected by heads of state all around the world. His son, Franklin Graham is the founder of the international relief ministry called Samaritan’s Purse. Franklin Graham once said about his father, “My father, Billy Graham, lived to be 100 years old without a scandal, because he followed the footsteps of his father in heaven with consistency.”