Archive for April 2025
Fanny Crosby
The “Queen of Gospel Song Writers” came into this world on March 24, 1820. Fanny Crosby was the only child of John and his second wife, Mercy Crosby. She had a half-sister from her father’s first marriage. Hardship came to her early in life, and without her full recognition. At six weeks old, her eye…
Read MoreFlorence Nightingale
Famous for being the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ who organised the nursing of sick and wounded soldiers during the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale’s far-sighted ideas and reforms have influenced the very nature of modern healthcare. Her greatest achievement was to transform nursing into a respectable profession for women and in 1860, she established the first…
Read MoreAlexander Crummell
Alexander Crummell, an Episcopalian priest, missionary, scholar and teacher, was born in New York City in 1819 to free black parents. He spent much of his life addressing the conditions of African Americans while urging an educated black elite to aspire to the highest intellectual attainments as a refutation of the theory of black inferiority.…
Read MoreDavid Livingstone
A young Scotsman had come to hear an address by a celebrated missionary. Following his conversion several years earlier, the young man had begun to grapple with the question, “What shall I do with my life?” The Great Commission had come to have a singular hold upon his mind. Its majestic syllables had for him…
Read MoreHenry Ward Beecher
Henry Ward Beecher was a political and social reformer and a prominent clergyman in nineteenth century America. Beecher was born on June 24, 1813, in Litchfield, Connecticut. His father, Lyman Beecher, placed a heavy emphasis on education. He was a Congregational minister and dedicated his life to his religion and to helping others. Lyman Beecher…
Read MoreHarriet Tubman
Reverently called “Moses” by the hundreds of slaves she helped to freedom and the thousands of others she inspired, Harriet Tubman became the most famous leader of the Underground Railroad to aid slaves escaping to free states or Canada. Born into slavery in Bucktown, Maryland, Tubman escaped her own chains in 1849 to find safe…
Read MoreSøren Kierkegaard
“I dare not call myself a Christian.” One would not typically believe these words to be uttered by a Christian of great standing or by a man considered one of the most influential theologians of the 20th century. They would be expected from a person who had committed many indiscretions and not from a person who had written…
Read MoreJames Finn
James Finn was born in London. The classic lnaguages, including Greek and Hebrew, were part of his early education. By 1846, he and his new wife Elizabeth Ann McCaul journeyed to Jerusalem. He worked as the British Consul until 1863 when they returned to England. Both he and his wife were concerned about the welfare…
Read MoreGeorge Mueller
George Mueller was born in Germany on September 27, 1805. In his early life he was not an honest person. From the time he was ten years old he was stealing money from his father. As time passed he also stole from his friends. He finally was arrested and locked up with other thieves such…
Read MoreSamuel Ajayi Crowther
Crowther was born with the name Ajayi in Osogun, in the Egba section of the Yoruba people, in what is now western Nigeria. When about 13, he was taken as a slave by Fulani and Yoruba Muslim raiders and sold several times before being purchased by Portuguese traders for the transatlantic market. His ship was…
Read More