Anne Askew
A hot day in July 1546 was about to get hotter for Anne Askew, who was tied to a bundle of sticks between two similarly restrained friends. Her jailers had secured the wood to her mid-section because she’d been tortured to the point where she could no longer hold herself upright. Anne was the married…
Read MoreGeorge Fox
In 1647, as a 23-year-old, Fox was already a discerning critic of his culture. When human counselors could not fill his spiritual void, he turned to Bible reading and prayer, often in the sanctuary of “hollow trees and lonesome places.” On some of these occasions he received “openings,” e.g., that attending a university does not…
Read MoreFrederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was one of the most important figures of the 19th century, known for his role in the abolitionist movement and for becoming an internationally renowned spokesperson for freedom and equality. Born into slavery, Douglass escaped to the North, where he became a powerful voice for the enslaved and a fierce advocate for the…
Read MoreBilly Sunday
Billy Sunday (1862-1935), evangelist. Born near Ames, Iowa the son of a tenant farmer and wife, he spent most of his teen years in an orphanage and working as a hired farm laborer. A superb baseball player with lightning speed he was signed to a contract with the Chicago White Stockings (today’s Chicago Cubs) in…
Read MoreSojourner Truth
Sojourner Truth was born into slavery about 1797 in Ulster County, New York. Known as Isabella, her parents were James and Betsey, the property of Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh. As a child she spoke only low Dutch and, like most slaves, never learned to read or write. About 1815 Isabella married Thomas, a fellow slave, and…
Read MoreFrancis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi was a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit, and without a sense of self-importance. Serious illness brought the young Francis to see the emptiness of his…
Read MoreJohn Chrysostom
“As a moth gnaws a garment, so doth envy consume a man.” “No matter how just your words may be, you ruin everything when you speak with anger.” “Fasting of the body is food for the soul.” The eloquence and elegance of Archbishop John’s words catalyzed his moniker, chrysostom, given 150 years after his death. The…
Read MoreFrancis Asbury
“Whither am I going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No, if I know my own heart. To get money? No: I am going to live to God, and to bring others so to do.”
Read MoreGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield was born on December 27, 1714 (December 16 of the Julian calendar), in Gloucester, England. The youngest of seven children, he was born in the Bell Inn where his father, Thomas, was a wine merchant and innkeeper. His father died when George was two and his widowed mother Elizabeth struggled to provide for…
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