Oral Roberts
Granville Oral Roberts was born January 24, 1918 in Pontotoc County, near Ada, in Oklahoma. His parents were deeply religious. His father was a farmer who also preached the gospel and established Pentecostal Holiness churches. His mother regularly prayed for the sick and led people to Christ. While she was still pregnant, Robert’s mother committed…
Read MoreJohn F. MacArthur
“The dominant thrust of my ministry . . . is to help make God’s living Word alive to His people. It is a refreshing adventure,” Pastor John MacArthur wrote in the preface to his New Testament Commentary series. He lived out that adventure by preaching in the same California church for over 50 years and…
Read MoreRobert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was one of the most widely recognized and respected figures of the American Civil War. A proud son of Virginia, he devoted his life to the service of his home state, even at the cost of breaking ties with the United States Army, where he had served with distinction for over three…
Read MoreOliver Otis Howard
Oliver Otis Howard was one of the most enigmatic figures of the Civil War, yet he was also one of its most profoundly devout Christian leaders. His faith was not a private matter but an integral part of his decision-making, leadership, and postwar efforts. From the battlefields to Reconstruction, Howard’s legacy was shaped by his…
Read MoreLyman Beecher
Lyman Beecher was one of the most influential religious figures in 19th-century America, a man whose theological convictions and activism helped shape the course of American history. Rooted in the fervor of the Second Great Awakening, Beecher emerged as a powerful voice in the religious revival movement that swept across the United States in the…
Read MoreAngelina Grimké
Angelina Grimke was one of the famous “Grimke Sisters,” known for their staunch women’s rights and abolitionist stances in the 19th century United States. Along with her sister Sarah, Angelina became a leading voice in two of the most significant reform movements of her time, spearheading both women’s rights and the abolition of slavery. Her…
Read MoreHarold J. Ockenga
In the 1940s and ‘50s, American Christianity was in contention with itself. After the Scopes Trial in 1925, Christians had retreated from the public square. At the trial, the state prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan, was asked a series of questions about miracles in the Bible. He was peppered with questions about Jonah’s encounter with a…
Read MoreCharles E. Fuller
Charles Fuller’s call to Gospel ministry began with hearing Ephesians 1:8, preached by Paul Rader in 1917. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,” Paul writes, “in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” After that day…
Read MoreJohn Wesley Work Jr.
John Wesley Work is said to have been the first black collector of Negro folksongs, and was most likely born on August 6, 1871 in Nashville, Tennessee. His father, John Wesley Work, was a church choir director in Nashville, where he wrote and arranged music for his choirs. Some of his choristers were members of…
Read MoreD.L. Moody
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899), evangelist and Christian educator, was born in Northfield, Massachusetts. Leaving home at a young age Moody travelled to Boston where he became a successful shoe salesman. While in Boston he was converted by a Congregationalist Sunday-school teacher named Edward Kimball and soon afterward directed much of his efforts towards preaching the…
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