Archives: Episode

July 10. Adam Voss. Adam is a hard-working guy with a houseful of daughters and a love for God that shows up in everyday practical ways. Today’s story is about one of Adam’s days off from work. 

Your job may not make you famous, but in Kingdom currency, it’s pure gold. 

Adam is a Christian and a barber. But sometimes he doubts that his life makes a difference for the Kingdom of God. Seeing his gregarious, Scripture-memorizing wife lead events for women, Adam wonders why he can’t be more like the Matt Chandlers of the world. He doesn’t preach or lead worship service or write books. He thinks he isn’t anything special as a husband. Why had God left him out of the gift distribution? 

But here’s what happened on one of Adam’s days off. 

Daisy and Russ had been married now for sixty-one years. And up until the last couple years, for ten years, they had their special Taco Bell breakfast and then stopped in Adam’s barbershop for their haircuts. Adam was their guy. 

But now, Daisy and Russ were both in a nursing home and in separate wings—no room available for the couple to be together. Adam still went to the nursing home and cut their hair. Regular barbering for Russ and a buzz cut for Daisy for under her wig. 

But this one time, Adam asked his wife Casey—who was a hairstylist—to go with him and make the haircut special for Daisy. 

When Adam and Casey checked in at the nursing home, the people at the front desk seemed annoyed. “We have a stylist on staff here; do they know that?” 

Adam said, “Yeah, but I’m Russ’s guy.” 

By the time Adam and Casey got into Daisy’s room, she was fumbling with her flip phone and afraid they had forgotten. Adam assured her they had arrived at nine like he had promised, but Security took longer than expected. 

Daisy was eager to lead them to the other wing where Russ lived. Though Adam helped with the wheelchair, Daisy shuffled her feet down the long halls, her wig tilted and little hairs sneaking out from under. 

When they finally got to Russ’s room, he was yelling into his flip phone (as he was hard of hearing), and when he saw Adam, his eyes sparkled. He hollered, “I gotta go. My Adam just got here.” 

Adam helped Russ into a more suitable chair, and they talked while Adam cut Russ’s hair. In a nearby alcove, Casey cut Daisy’s hair, too. But every few minutes Daisy shuffle-rolled into Russ’s tiny space to remind Adam not to forget to trim Russ’s beard, or she flirted with Russ, saying things like, “Now, that looks like my guy.” 

Russ and Daisy shared many stories with Casey and Adam that day, but they all seemed to be about the couple’s love for one another. 

As Adam and Casey were packing up to leave, Daisy rolled in with her checkbook. “How much do we owe you for coming here?” 

Adam shook his head. “Nothing.” 

“What?” came the screechy voice. “No, I gotta pay you. You came all the way out here.” 

Casey said, “The problem is, Daisy, we don’t take money on Wednesdays. We didn’t have anything to do today, so this was our pleasure.” 

Daisy wheeled back into Russ’s room and said, “They won’t let us pay them, Honey.” 

Russ said, “Well, pay the man!” 

Daisy’s voice rose. “No. They don’t want any money!” 

Russ reached for his wallet and yelled, “You don’t have any money?” 

She wheeled closer and waved her checkbook. “They don’t want any!” 

Now Russ was certain he understood. “OK. Write them a check.” 

Adam and Casey walked out quietly through the long halls, and Adam reached for Casey’s hand. When they finally made it to the front, Adam asked the woman at the front desk, “What do you have to do to ensure we can have a joint suite around here?” 

Casey grinned and told Adam, “I’m glad you’re my guy.” 

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as though you were working for the Lord and not for people” (Colossians 3:23 GNT). 

Your life can make a difference when you believe it can, make a decision, and act on it. Your job may not make you famous, but in Kingdom currency, it’s pure gold. 

Based on an interview with Adam Voss July 19, 2019. 

Story read by: Nathan Walker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter  

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks  

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 8. Setan Lee. Setan—the son of a wealthy businessperson and the “youngest student in his medical-school class”—was suddenly arrested for being intellectual. His escape was one miracle after another. 

On this date in 1995, Setan founded TransformAsia, which has planted thirty-six churches and built—among other things—a women’s center, Battambang Trade School, David Orphanage Center, Kambour Village Feeding Center, Joy Day Care Center, and multiple Medical Mobile Clinics. They also preach via mass media and distribute rice to many unreached villages in Cambodia. 

If your faith is all you have, you have all you need. 

Seventeen-year-old Setan was celebrating the Cambodian New Year with his friends. Music and laughter and horseplay filled the Buddhist Temple Square, and children played freely. Partiers sprinkled perfumed water on the temple statues, a Buddhist gesture which was supposed to bring “good luck, long life, and happiness.” 

Just then, trucks full of Communist Khmer Rouge soldiers barreled into the square. The black-uniformed soldiers jumped out, screamed, “Enemy” over and over, and fired into the crowd. People screamed and ran and fell and bled and died. 

Then the soldiers methodically hunted down the educated people and shot them wholesale. To keep from getting shot, Setan changed into rags. He was put into a youth prison camp and forced to work from four in the morning until midnight. 

One day, soldiers hauled Setan and four others out to an open field. They were to be executed. 

One at a time—Setan was the last of his friends in his line—soldiers blindfolded them, tied them up, and beat them with sharpened bamboo until they bled out and died. 

They screamed and at first begged for mercy, and then they begged for death. In an agonizing panic, Setan cried out, “Lord of the Universe, whoever you are please spare my life!” 

But he was stunned. He had no idea how those words came out of his mouth—he had always been a devout Buddhist, who acknowledged no Lord of the Universe. 

The executioner untied Setan, pushed him to his knees, and readied the bamboo branch along his neck. 

But a loud voice from some unknown place shouted, “Stop.” 

The soldier dropped the branch. 

Setan had no idea who had spoken, but he was officially no longer a Buddhist. He would now follow the Lord of the Universe—whoever He was. He stood, and he moved. 

On battered, bare feet Setan escaped into the jungle. He hid among the leaves and trees, and for days he lived off the land. 

From out of nowhere, a poorly dressed man grabbed Setan. He leaned in and whispered, “Do you believe in the Lord of the Universe?” 

Setan didn’t know how to respond. The man asked the same question again. Setan remembered the moment before he was to be executed. He looked straight at the man, “I do believe in the Lord of the Universe.” 

“His name is Jesus Christ. Would you like to accept him as your Lord and Savior? He will give you eternal life,” the man said. “You and I may not have much time. Any minute now, either of us could step on a landmine and die!” 

Now Setan knew who had spared his life. It was Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe. The man disappeared, and Setan kept running. 

A month went by before he finally saw the white flag of the Red Cross, and a man with outstretched arms welcomed him safely into Thailand. Setan realized the man in the jungle had been a messenger from the Lord of the Universe. Crossing that border was Setan’s first step into the future. 

“This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him” (Psalm 91:2 NLT). 

If your faith is all you have, you have all you need. How can you live it out boldly? 

Hoback, Jane. “The Healing Fields As seen in the Rocky Mountain News in 2004.” June 5, 2004. http://www.transformasia.us/all-about-us/meet-our-board-staff/setan-randa-lee/the-healing-fields-part-1/. 

Lee, Setan. Miracles In The Forgotten Land And Beyond. Xulon Press, 2010, pp. 42–51. 

TransformAsia. “Home page introduction.” http://www.transformasia.us. 

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 6. John Huss. Huss grew up poor and became a priest. But when he came face to face with Jesus Christ, Huss’s heart was changed. 

About 1401, Huss got a hold of some writings of John Wycliff, and from then on, he spoke out in favor of ordinary people being able to read the Scripture in their own language. For this and other things he said about the Church, he was condemned.  

His last recorded words were, “… in 100 years, God will raise up a man whose calls for reform cannot be suppressed.” Almost exactly 100 years later, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. On this date in 1415, Huss was burned at the stake for telling the truth. 

The enemy can kill us, but they can’t silence the Word of God. 

In 1414 Bohemia (in Central Europe), the authority of church and government was all entangled. The Catholic Church owned half of the property in the country, and they didn’t allow people to hear preaching in their own language. 

Then a priest named John Huss spoke up against the unfair church-government system. 

Naturally, church leaders decided Huss had to be stopped, but he refused to be silenced. He preached only as he was led by the Spirit of God. 

To trap him, church leaders sent Huss to a religious council in Germany, and Huss hoped it was going to be a chance to defend his beliefs. Instead, they arrested him and locked him in a filthy dungeon. They accused him of spreading false doctrines, being a heretic, and being disloyal to the Pope. 

The Council asked Huss if he had received formal forgiveness from the Pope. 

Huss explained he had tried, but it did not work, therefore he had appealed directly to Christ on his own behalf. He explained there was no judge more just and no appeal more effectual than a request made directly to Jesus Christ. 

The officials were appalled. They mocked Huss and made fun of him. 

And Huss prayed out loud. In today’s English it would be: O God and Lord, now the council condemns even your own action and your own law, and they call it heresy. I say this because you laid your own cause before your Father the just judge as an example for us to copy, whenever we are severely oppressed. 

The officials heaped on more contempt, and they condemned Huss as a heretic. 

But he fell to his knees and asked God to forgive his enemies in this room. 

Officials removed his priestly garments and put a paper miter on his head. It was tall like a bishop’s hat, but with pictures of devils and a label that meant Arch Heretic. Huss reminded them Jesus had worn a crown of thorns for sinners, so Huss would wear the crown of shame for Christ. 

Afterward, the bishop announced, “Now we commit thy soul unto the devil.” 

Huss lifted his eyes toward heaven and said, “But I do commend into Thy hands, O Lord Jesus Christ my spirit which Thou hast redeemed.” 

They led Huss away past the churchyard, where clergy were burning books Huss had written. The smell of the ashes tinged the air. 

Outside the city, an executioner chained Huss to a stake and piled sticks and straw up to his neck. Again, he was urged to take back what he had said about the church. But he said, “I never preached any doctrine of an evil tendency; and what I taught with my lips I now seal with my blood.” Above the noise of the crackling flames, Huss praised God. 

“When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you” (Matthew 10:19–20 ESV). 

In a world gone wrong, would you be a voice for Christ? Jesus is calling for witnesses. The enemy can kill us, but they can’t silence the Word of God. 

Cairns, Earle E. Christianity through the Centuries. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1954. 

Hus, John. Greatsite.com. “John Hus.” Accessed 2019. https://www.greatsite.com/timeline-english-bible-history/john-hus.html. 

Bible Study Tools. Salem Web Network. “Persecution of John Huss.” Accessed 2019. https://www.biblestudytools.com/history/foxs-book-of-martyrs/persecution-of-john-huss.html. 

“Therefore, faithful Christian, seek the truth, listen to the truth, learn the truth, love the truth, tell the truth, learn the truth, defend the truth even to death.” 

~John Huss 

“Rejoice, that the immortal God is born, so that mortal men may live in eternity.” 

~John Huss 

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 4. Benjamin Franklin. Franklin is known to be one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Few people know that he spent only two years in school. And later, he spent two years in a colonial prison for opposing the revolution. 

At 12, Franklin became an indentured apprentice at his brother’s print shop, where he worked hard and was beaten often. At 16, he took the pen name Mrs. Silence Dogood and published essays for women. 

When he started his own print shop, he published Poor Richard’s Almanac, which with some land deals enabled him to retire, and he remained so-called retired for half his life. 

While retired, he invented the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and a more efficient heating stove. He was a delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, ambassador to France and Sweden, the first postmaster general, and the president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania. On this date in history, Franklin signed the Declaration of Independence. 

Finish strong; a future harvest depends on it. 

Hugging her slate to her chest, a little girl peeked into the dark bedroom where Franklin slept. “Grandfather?” 

His eyes fluttered open. 

But the woman standing next to his bed hushed the child and walked quickly to meet the little one at the doorway. 

“I need Grandfather to hear my lesson!” Nancy whispered loudly. 

“Not now! Grandfather needs to rest. He is very weak.” The woman tried to usher Nancy out. 

But 84-year-old Franklin rasped, “Let her in! It is the working man who is the happy man. It is the idle man who is the miserable man. I refuse to be idle, even on my deathbed! Let the child in so I can hear her lesson.” 

Nancy darted over to her grandpa, recited her lesson, and then turned to the papers on the table next to the bed. “What are you writing, Grandfather?” 

“Ahh, just a letter to an old friend. I am telling him about my one regret.” 

Nancy asked him about regret. 

“I was born too soon, Nancy!” he said. “I will miss all improvements and inventions I feel are coming. I regret that I will not see the further spread of liberty in this country and the world. I am so curious to see how it will all turn out! But this old body just won’t hold out!” 

Franklin had spent his life constantly working on ideas to improve life for society. He had organized the first police and fire services and even created sidewalks. He had improved fireplaces and chimneys, discovered ways to heat public buildings, harnessed electricity, and developed salt mines. 

But his greatest passion was liberty. He had fought for the freedom from oppression for his fellow Americans, including groups of people who were often overlooked. He advocated for the protection of Native Americans and initiated the humane treatment of prisoners. All this besides his work to help form the government of the United States. 

“A dying man can do nothing easy!” Franklin moved slowly in the bed, trying to get comfortable. He was still sore from the long carriage ride he had made a few weeks previous. 

When he had undertaken the journey, he had known he didn’t have much longer in this world, and he was determined to do one last act for liberty. He would go to Congress to present the first “Petition and Remonstrance Against Slavery in America.” 

Part of that petition read: “… that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men who, alone in a land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage.…” Franklin never got to see that liberty granted—that would take another seventy-five years—but it did come. 

“Nancy, do you see that picture up there?” asked Franklin. “Who is it?” His voice was barely above a whisper now. 

Nancy looked up at the framed painting on the wall. “It is Christ,” she said. 

“Yes, Nancy. He is the one who came into this world to teach men how to love one another.” 

Franklin took his last breath as he confidently fixed his eyes on the picture. He had sown many seeds, and he had been allowed to see only hints of the harvest to come. But a harvest was coming, and Christ would finish the work He had begun. 

“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world” (1 John 4:17 NLT). 

Are you busy sowing seeds? Think through how you spend your days. How can you use the passion God has given you to sow seeds that will grow and produce a harvest? Finish strong; a future harvest depends on it. 

Brooks, Elbridge S. The True Story of Benjamin Franklin. Boston: Lothrop Publishing Company, 1898. 

The Franklin Institute. “Benjamin Franklin FAQ.” Accessed June 1, 2020. https://www.fi.edu/benjamin-franklin-faq.  

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man? 

What Franklin earned, he spent on books, and he learned to write by reading published articles and rewriting them from memory.  

In his will, Franklin left almost $2500 to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia with the provision that for its first 100 years, the money must be placed in a trust and only used for loans to local trades people. 

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 3. Army Ranger Sergeant Jeff Struecker. Struecker was the real-life hero behind the 2001 Oscar-winning movie: Black Hawk Down. 

It’s the story of 160 crack soldiers dropping into Somalia to take down 2 top lieutenants of the renegade warlord. 

In today’s story, Struecker’s prime directive drives a key decision. What he does is motivated by his love for God and his love for his men. 

Once you’ve committed never to leave a man behind, you’re ready to make the tough decisions. 

For the sixth time that hot October afternoon, Struecker and his ten-man squad roared back to base in their Humvee. They had rescued another wounded Ranger from the heart of a battle-torn city in Somalia. Their Ranger Creed was: “I will never leave a fallen comrade to fall into the hands of an enemy.…” 

Through narrow streets lined with two- and three-story buildings, they sped. Insurgents hid in those upper rooms, and they controlled the city and everyone in it. As the Humvee zipped through, from every direction, bullets flew. 

Rounding a corner, Struecker yelled directions to his driver. But just that instant, the machine gunner in the turret was hit and killed. For a second, Struecker panicked. He’d just lost a good soldier, a man he was responsible for, and a good friend. 

Everything was going haywire. Struecker struggled to detach himself and jump back into tactical mode. The team raced through the hail of bullets, and Struecker ordered himself to get it together. 

Back at the base, doctors cared for the wounded Ranger the team had rescued. But Struecker stood alone with his thoughts and the body of his friend. “God, like, so what’s the deal here? How come this all fell apart on me? What am I supposed to do next?” 

The officer in charge walked up and addressed Struecker. “You need to get the guys ready to go back out there again. We don’t have everybody. In fact, it sounds like half the assault force is stuck at the crash site … Black Hawk down.” 

Struecker had to go tell his men they were going back into that deadly city for the seventh time. Their job was to support the rescue effort and escort them back. As they geared up, he stood in silence. 

“I’m going to die tonight. And what’s just as bad, I’m going to get every one of my men killed. I just know it. There’s no way we can survive another run back into that city. Tomorrow this squad is going to have ten dead Rangers instead of just one. God, I’m in deep trouble, as you can see. I need help. I’m not saying you should get me out of this. I just need your help.” 

It was 11:30 at night as Struecker led a rescue convoy back into the city. In the lead Humvee, he picked their way through the narrow streets to the site of the downed Black Hawk helicopter, where a bunch of Rangers were pinned down by enemy fire. 

Struecker’s team stopped just short of the downed Black Hawk, and his squad provided cover while waiting for the last group of survivors to be rescued. The whole time he kept thinking … we’re the easiest target in town; we’re every rifleman’s dream sitting here, and there’s nothing I can do about it but keep fighting and praying. 

When the order to leave the city came, the sun was rising. Struecker’s squad was in the last two vehicles to leave, and they guarded against insurgents following them. 

All of a sudden, the top machine gunner yelled, “We’ve got bodies chasing after us from down the street.” 

Struecker gave the command to open fire, but the gunner didn’t shoot. 

“Why aren’t you shooting?” Struecker yelled. 

“Sergeant, I think they’re our guys.” 

That didn’t make sense. The entire convoy had sped off, leaving Struecker’s team isolated in the street with Somali gunfire increasing all around them. But his primary directive was never to leave a man behind. 

Immediately, Struecker gave the command to stop and back up. Wide-eyed and exhausted, Rangers and special-ops soldiers returned fire in all directions as they piled onto the last two Humvees. 

“If a man has a hundred sheep, and one wanders away and is lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others and go out into the hills to search for the lost one? And if he finds it, he will rejoice over it more than over the ninety-nine others safe at home! Just so, it is not my Father’s will that even one of these little ones should perish” (Matthew 18:12–14 TLB). 

If you were to write out a prime directive for your life, what would it be? If you’ve already committed never to leave a man behind, you’ll be ready when you make the tough decisions. 

CBN. “Captain Jeff Struecker, Fearless?” Accessed June 1, 2020. https://www1.cbn.com/700club/captain-jeff-struecker-fearless. 

Struecker, Jeff. The Road to Unafraid: How the Army’s Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009. 

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Story written by: Thomas Mitchell, http://www.walkwithgod.org/ 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 2. William Booth. Booth was a minister but saw that a lot of suffering people would never come into a church. And in some places, if they did come, they wouldn’t be welcome. So Booth decided to take his preaching to the people. 

When other pastors denounced his ideas, he and his wife left the church and started training more people to preach on the streets. He came to establish the Salvation Army. And on this date in 1865, he preached his first tent meeting in London’s notorious East End. 

Pain can numb us to the world, but God’s heart drives us to action. 

Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, was not so different from most of us. He was busy. Had stuff on his mind. Things to do. Until God gave Booth a vision so gut-wrenching that he was changed forever. 

At that time, England was corrupt, and a great many people were destitute, lost in alcoholism and other vices. Eager to tell people about the hope that life with Jesus held, Booth gave up a voice from the pulpit, traveled extensively, and preached to crowds wherever he could. In his early adventures, “thieves, prostitutes, gamblers, and drunkards” gained new lives. 

During one of these journeys, Booth was in a coach riding through the countryside when he gazed out the window, and God gave him this vision: 

Booth said, “I seemed to see them all … millions of people all around me given up to their drink and their pleasure, their dancing and their music, their business and their anxieties, their politics and their troubles. Ignorant—willfully ignorant in many cases—and in other instances knowing all about the truth and not caring at all…. 

“I saw a dark and stormy ocean. Over it, the black clouds hung heavily; vivid lightning flashed, and loud thunder rolled…. 

“In that ocean, I thought I saw myriads of poor human beings plunging and floating, shouting and shrieking, cursing and struggling and drowning, and as they cursed and screamed, they rose and shrieked again, and then some sank to rise no more…. 

“What puzzled me most,” Booth said, “was the fact that though all of them had been rescued from the ocean, nearly everyone seemed to have forgotten all about it. And what seemed equally strange to me was that these people did not even seem to care about the poor perishing ones who were struggling and drowning right before their very eyes … many of whom were their own husbands and wives, brothers and sisters—and even their own children.” 

That’s where the vision ended. Booth knew that it meant God was calling him to immediate action, to go into the darkness and rescue the lost. 

“Jesus Christ, the Son of God is, through His Spirit, in the midst of this dying multitude, struggling to save them,” Booth said. “And He is calling on you to jump into the sea—to go right away to His side and help Him in the holy strife. Will you jump? That is, will you go to His feet and place yourself absolutely at His disposal?” 

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19: 10 NIV). 

Ask God to share with you his love for the lost. Pain can numb us to the world, but God’s heart drives us into action. 

Booth, William. “A Vision of the Lost.” Accessed June 3, 2020. https://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Stories/A.Vision.of.the.Lost. 

The Salvation Army. “History of the Salvation Army.” Accessed June 1, 2020. https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/history-of-the-salvation-army.  

Story read by: Joel Carpenter 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

© 2020, 365 Christian Men, LLC. All rights reserved. 

July 1. Jeremiah Lanphier. Jeremiah became a Christian—and he felt deep concern for his fellow New Yorkers. So when a struggling church offered him a job visiting the congregation, he took the job. 

On this date in 1857, Jeremiah signed on as an inner-city missionary. 

“What if …?” will either cripple you or compel you. Your move. 

In autumn of 1857, a lot of people in New York City were unemployed. Businesses and railroads were going downhill, and panic was spreading. 

A number of churches had already closed, and Old Dutch North Church struggled. Membership was dwindling, and families were moving away. But the church had been there 88 years, and they didn’t want to give up on the people. 

So the trustees decided to try something different. They hired Jeremiah—a 49-year-old tradesman—to leave his trade and make door-to-door visits to the immigrants, the laborers, and the unemployed in New York City. These people needed to hear the gospel. 

And Jeremiah had a heart for people, but he had never done anything like this before. What if he failed? What if he spent his entire time pounding the pavement with no results? What if the church was wasting its money? 

At first the work seemed unproductive, but then Jeremiah got an idea. Maybe businessmen would attend a weekly prayer meeting during their lunch hours. 

He got permission to print up flyers and advertise. Any man who wanted to attend was welcome, and they would meet September 23, 1857, at noon. 

On the big day, Jeremiah sat alone in the third-floor prayer room of the old church building. He waited. Fifteen minutes passed, and he waited. After twenty minutes, Jeremiah checked his pocket watch, and he waited. 

At 12:30, he heard footsteps on the old wooden steps. One by one, six people showed up. 

The following week twenty men came, and the next week forty men turned out! Their prayers were earnest, but as yet, unremarkable. 

Undaunted, Jeremiah took a step of faith and decided the men should meet daily. 

October 14—the twenty-first day after the first meeting—the stock market crashed. It didn’t dip. It bottomed out. Banks closed, and the whole country descended into the worst financial crisis it had ever seen. Upended New Yorkers flocked to the meetings for prayer. 

Within six months, ten-thousand businessmen were bringing their petitions to God, meeting in churches and public buildings throughout New York City. 

Laymen led these meetings. No controversial topics or advertising were allowed. Men wrote down their prayer requests and passed them to the front. Anybody could stand and pray for the request. 

One man cried openly over his wayward children, while another stood and repented of his own sins. The days passed, and answers to prayers filtered back. Unconverted men publicly asked for prayer. People wanted more and more to know Jesus and what it meant to be his disciple. As the Spirit moved, song broke out, but no excess excitement took over. 

Newspapers picked up the story and reported the revival spreading to other churches in Philadelphia and Chicago. Soon, every northern city had prayer meetings. Eventually, the revival spread to the South. Upwards of a million souls were converted to Christ across America because God used one ordinary man named Jeremiah Lanphier, who started a prayer meeting on the third floor of a dying church. 

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42 ESV). 

Might God be wanting to use a man like you? “What if …?” will either cripple you or compel you. Your move. 

“Revival Born in a Prayer Meeting.” America’s Great Revivals.  Bethany House Publishers. Minneapolis. Originally published in Christian Life Magazine and CS Lewis Institute’s Fall 2004 issue of Knowing and Doing, Springfield, VA: 2004. 

Lanphier, Jeremiah. “Revival Starting in the Marketplace.” Bible Prayer Fellowship. Dallas, Texas: 1996. 

Price, Oliver. “The Layman’s Prayer Revival of 1857–58.” Bible Prayer Fellowship. Dallas, Texas: 1998. 

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

Story written by: Toni M Babcock, https://www.facebook.com/toni.babcock.1 

Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/ 

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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