George Williams
George Williams was an English philanthropist and social reformer best known as the founder of the Young Men’s Christian Association, or YMCA. His life’s work was deeply shaped by his own experience as a young man in industrial England, and by his conviction that Christian faith should be a public force for good. His vision…
Read MoreGeorge Taylor
Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, George Taylor quintessentially exemplifies the hopes realized of America’s founding document. The groundbreaking resolution contained existential realities beating in every heart of mankind. Those given by Providence. Recognized and protected by a nascent government. George Taylor was born in 1716, the Irishman came to the colonies penniless…
Read MoreJohn Chacha
Born and raised in Tanzania, poverty was prevalent all around him and he yearned for something more. In 1979, Dr. Chacha received a sponsorship to go to the United States for Bible School. After completing Bible School and college, he went back to Kenya and Tanzania to seek the Lord and there he received a…
Read MoreRick Elias
April 7, 2019 – This past Tuesday, Rick Elias passed away from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. He was sixty-four. I grew up on his music, mainly through his work with one of my all-time favorite songwriters, the late Rich Mullins. Elias made numerous contributions to contemporary Christian music, or CCM, as it’s…
Read MoreJack Heaslip
On Wednesday, February 25, members of the band U2 gathered at St. Mary’s Church outside of Dublin in order to observe the passing of the Rev. Jack Heaslip, the band’s long time friend and “traveling pastor.” The 71-year-old Anglican priest passed away after a lengthy battle with motor neuron disease. Heaslip’s pivotal spiritual guidance and…
Read MoreSimone Weil
Susan Sontag called her “one of the most uncompromising and troubling witnesses to the modern travail of the spirit”, TS Eliot a “genius akin to that of the saints.” One hundred years after her birth, Simone Weil remains a conundrum: her work for the French resistance and writings on the needs of mankind sit alongside hints of…
Read MoreManasseh Cutler
Although he did not spend that much time in the state, Manasseh Cutler was a major figure in the settling of Ohio in the years after the American Revolution. Cutler was born on May 13, 1742, in Connecticut. Descended from a long line of clergymen, Cutler entered Yale to become an attorney and broke with…
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