Episode | 365 Christian Men

September 13. Stubborn Teenager. Today our story is about a man much like you and me. When he was a child, his parents took him to church, but when he became a teenager, he was ready to put away childish things—childish things like church and preaching. This kid was from Charlotte, North Carolina. Here’s his story.

If you’re suffering from a stony heart, God’s got the cure.

Before it was the birthplace of NASCAR racing, before it was the home of the NFL’s Panthers, before it was home for the NBA’s Hornets, Charlotte North Carolina was called the most church-going city in the country. And that was before the arrival of Dr. Mordecai Ham.

On the edge of Charlotte, the Christian Men’s Club built themselves a wood building on a steel frame. It may have been a ramshackle structure with a sawdust floor, but it could seat 5,000 people. And those devout men intended to fill it.

They called a self-educated evangelist—Dr. Mordecai Ham. They called him to preach to anyone who would listen. They called for a revival.

Dignified and strong, white-haired Dr. Ham knew his Bible, and he preached up a holy typhoon—morning and evening, six days a week, for eleven weeks.

This is where our mule-minded teenager entered the picture. “Everything I heard or read about [Dr. Ham] made me feel antagonistic toward the whole affair,” the boy said. “It sounded like a religious circus … I did not want anything to do with an evangelist—particularly with such a colorful character as Dr. Ham.” He told his parents he would not be joining them in the audience.

Even when his folks went and had a sort of spiritual awakening, for a whole month, the kid refused to go—until he heard the rumors.

As the high-school kids told it, that white-haired preacher had proof that a house across the street from the school was a den of immoral activity. It was said that kids were buying grain alcohol and the upstairs had been turned into a brothel. And Mordecai Ham meant to shut them down.

But truth was—a Men’s Group leader’s marketing strategy included leaking the news of the brothel to the preacher and getting signed depositions to back up the preacher’s accusations. Mordecai Ham got dubbed “the fighting preacher.” Who could stay away?

When a bunch of high school students decided to resort to might to defend their collective honor, even our church-hating teen couldn’t stay away. He wanted to see the fighting preacher. Mostly, he wanted to see the fight.

He sat in the far back, confident he was untouchable. And after the meeting, the boy couldn’t remember what the preacher had talked about, but he said, “ … I was spellbound. In some indefinable way, he was getting through to me … ”

“And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 11:19 ESV).

All the loud talk about sin and hell, and all the feelings that went with that bore down on the teen. Even way in the back row, he became convinced Dr. Ham was preaching right at him.

“Why would the evangelist always be pointing his bony finger at me?” the boy said. “I became deeply convicted about my sinfulness and rebellion. And confused.” After all he had been brought up in the church and doing good deeds.

That’s why he joined the choir—so he could stand on the stage behind the preacher and avoid the old man’s accusatory gaze.

Still, the Holy Spirit found the boy, and for the first time, he realized he didn’t know Jesus for himself. Hand-me-down religion was no longer enough.

So, when the preacher invited sinners to come to the front and find relief, the boy walked down the aisle. He didn’t feel anything and almost went back to his seat, but a tailor he knew came up to him and told him the gospel.

The boy said, “For the first time in my life I got down on my knees without being told to do so. I really wanted to talk to God. ‘Lord, I don’t know what happened to me tonight,’ I prayed. ‘You know. And I thank You for the privilege I’ve had tonight.’”

About the next night, the teen said, “All my father’s mules and horses could not have kept me from getting to that meeting.” He showed up every night for weeks.

And when the revival was over and Charlotte flowed back to normal, it wasn’t too long before the boy realized God had called him to preach. And he did.

Maybe you’ve heard of him. His name was Billy Graham.

Billy went on to preach about God’s love to nearly 215 million people around the world. He met with every sitting US president from Harry Truman to Barack Obama. In 2000, he received the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Freedom Award for his enduring contributions to the cause of freedom.

Is there something keeping you from turning your life over to God? If you’re suffering from a hard heart, God’s got the cure.

Bailey, Laura. “The Night Billy Graham Was Born Again.” November 6, 2017. https://billygraham.org/story/the-night-billy-graham-was-born-again/

Graham, Billy. Just As I Am: The Autobiography of Billy Graham. New York: Harper Collins, 2018.

Hammond, Sarah Ruth. God’s Businessmen: Entrepreneurial Evangelicals in Depression and War. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2017. pp. 72–74.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

In May of 1934, Christian businessmen in Charlotte, North Carolina, held an all-day prayer meeting on his father’s pasture. Billy Graham’s father, William Franklin Graham, Sr., recalled one of the men’s prayer that day: “That out of Charlotte the Lord would raise up someone to preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”

The Christian Men’s Club who invited Dr Ham to Charlotte, had been established by the fast-moving preacher Billy Sunday ten years before this story.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

Story written by: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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September 12. Majed El Shafie. Majed founded One Free World International, an organization devoted to supporting and speaking for persecuted people around the globe. He works to persuade world leaders to change the way they treat Christians, women, and other minorities.

Today’s story takes place back when Majed still lived in Egypt. He had converted to Christianity, and the persecution hit him fast and furious. Because he was from a prominent legal and political family, Majed tried to work within the Egyptian system to reform the country’s human-rights policies. But—because he was a Christian, because he wouldn’t turn over the names of all the other Christians—when Majed was 22, he was arrested, tortured, and condemned to death. Wait until you hear what happened.

Godly defiance may bring persecution. Be strong.

When Egyptian police broke into Majed’s home, dragged him to the police station, and demanded the names of his coworkers, he refused to turn his friends in.

With others, Majed had founded two underground churches, a bible school, a small clinic, and a newspaper. And he had exposed injustices against religious minorities. He wasn’t about to reveal anybody’s name.

They sent him to Abu Zaabel prison—“hell on earth”—and it almost killed him. For seven days, officers systematically scalded and questioned Majed.

When he still didn’t talk, the officers said they would bring in the dogs. Not just any dogs. German Shepherds. Trained to maim and mutilate.

Majed asked God to let him die before morning.

But the next morning, the sickening smell of sweat and blood hung in the air like a slaughterhouse. Trembling, Majed backed himself into a corner, squatted low, covered his face with his hands.

The cell door opened and three huge panting dogs entered the cell.

“Attack!” an officer commanded.

Majed waited, breathless. But nothing happened.

He slowly uncovered his face.

The dogs sat motionless and looked at Majed.

Astonished, the officers made excuses. Something was wrong. “The dogs must be sick.”

Quickly, the prison officers sent in three more German Shepherds.

“Attack!” an officer commanded.

Majed waited.

One of the dogs licked Majed’s face.

Stymied, the officers took the dogs and left Majed alone. He knew God had delivered him.

The following day, a muscular officer promised Majed anything he wanted in exchange for cooperation.

“Sounds good,” Majed said, “But I need to eat first.” So, they served him Egyptian shish kabob.

Afterward, Majed explained he could provide the name of his leader, but the rest of the Christians were too many to recall. “He knows all of our names,” he said. “I’m only a servant.”

“Well, who is he?” the officer demanded.

“Jesus Christ. If you can catch Him, catch Him.”

The officer knocked Majed across the room and then sent him to be crucified. They sliced his shoulder to the bone and poured in lemon and salt. They tied him to a wooden cross, and he hung upside down more than two days and blacked out. He later awoke in a hospital.

They accused Majed of trying to start a revolution, trying to change the state religion, and worshiping and loving Jesus Christ.

He told the judge, “If loving Christ and if worshipping Him is a crime, I’m guilty as charged, your Honor.”

He was placed under house arrest and sentenced to die in four days. What really hurt was that it was his own uncle who had asked for the death penalty.

But a group of armed Christians showed up at Majed’s home, kidnapped him, and fought off police. They sped him to Alexandria.

“You must leave the country,” they told him. “You can no longer stay in Egypt.”

Majed hid with a Bedouin family in a port city and monitored the border patrols on the sea.

Finally, Majed stole a jet ski and crossed a narrow stretch of the Red Sea. He knew Israeli and Egyptian patrols wouldn’t crossfire, so he evaded Egyptian gunfire by maneuvering between them. He surrendered to Israeli authorities, and they protected him until he obtained political asylum in Canada.

“So the king gave the order, and they brought Daniel and threw him into the lions’ den … At the first light of dawn, the king got up and hurried to the lions’ den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel in an anguished voice, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?’

“Daniel answered, “May the king live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions … . And when Daniel was lifted from the den, no wound was found on him, because he had trusted in his God” (Daniel 6: 16–21 NIV).

If loving Christ were a crime, would you be found guilty as charged? Godly defiance may bring persecution. Be strong.

Bernis, Johnathan. “Majed El Shafie, Escape From Egypt.” Jewish Voice Ministries International. “Majed El Shafie, Escape From Egypt.” Accessed June 15, 2012. https: //www.youtube.com/watch? v=AjCpv-KOKLw.

El Shafie, Majed. Freedom Fighte. Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers Inc., 2012.

Story read by: Blake Mattocks

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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September 3. Sádhu Sundar Singh. Sundar was desperate to know the truth about life. He knew it must mean something. In his extremity, he cried out for the One-in-charge to reveal himself—or Sundar would end his own life right then.

And Jesus, the Messiah, revealed Himself to Sundar and recruited him to feed His sheep. On this date in 1905, Sundar was baptized into the body of Christ.

He became a Sádhu—a holy man and teacher—and he traveled and preached throughout the Himalayas and even into Nepal and Tibet, which were closed to the gospel. Today’s story is about one day’s work in Sundar’s life.

Surprise your enemies—don’t try to get revenge.

Dressed in his signature saffron-colored robe and matching turban, his feet bare, Sundar approached the Indian men working in the Markanda field. They were working hard to reap crops under a blazing sun, and he saw men who needed a savior.

He watched them swing their scythes. They listened to him with little more than indifference as he—a sádhu, the Indian word for holy man or sage—talked to them about Jesus Christ.

Gradually, the workers’ disinterest morphed into disapproval. Although Indians have always revered religious men, these men grew impatient with this man’s strange teachings. They rained curses and threats on Sundar, and suddenly a stone sailed through the air and hit its target: the sádhu’s head.

But moments later, the man who had thrown the stone developed such a bad headache that he had to stop working.

Feeling compassion rather than vindication, Sundar picked up the man’s scythe and took his place in the field, working alongside the now-astonished men.

“But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked” (Luke 6:35 NIV).

The men grew quiet and attentive and Sundar knew that his actions had demonstrated the faith he had been sharing.

At the end of the day, the workers invited him to join them for their evening supper. At home, long into the night they listened to his compelling message about the Christ, and then he left them.

Later, when the men had rested, they went out to take inventory of their harvest. It soon became obvious their yield was much greater than what they had seen in previous years. Shocked and somewhat fearful, they declared to each other that they had surely been visited by a holy man.

An opportunity to disarm an enemy awaits; look for it and take action. Surprise your enemies—don’t try to get revenge.

Parker, Mrs. Arthur. Sádhu Sundar Singh—Called of God. Madras: Christian Literature Society for India, 1919, xiv.

Heiler, Friedrich. The Gospel of Sádhu Sundar Singh, trans. Olive Wyon. Lucknow, IN: Lucknow Publishing House, 1970, 1.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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September 2. Deano Sargent. Deano was a man who loved God, loved his neighbor, and loved to farm. He was a faithful man. A faithful man who did the job at hand, cared for the people at hand, and didn’t worry himself about getting to the top. Here’s his story.

When you value God’s people, they begin to see their worth.

The tractor motor roared, and Deano kept a steady eye on the horizon, a wake of heartland dust rising behind him. His heart overflowed with gratitude. How could simply serving God and loving others have led him here?

For as long as he could remember, Deano had always hoped of being a farmer, and now he was living the dream.

As a new resident of a small-farming town and rookie farmer, Deano decided to meet his neighbors. Rejecting the scuttlebutt about the “odd” couple who lived in the little red farmhouse, one day Deano showed up on their front porch—with a firm knock and a friendly smile.

The door opened, and a committee greeted him: there was Floyd and Mary and a heap of cats. Deano took Floyd’s leathery hand and pumped. And a unique friendship began.

Deano soon learned that this elderly couple had no children and no one to help them out in their time of need. And Floyd and Mary’s concerns became Deano’s to-do list.

“Everyone has a story, and their story deserves to be heard,” Deano often said.

From then on, Floyd regularly invited Deano to help on the farm. And Deano was happy to serve. He figured that was what God had created him for—and why God had put this love of farming in his soul.

But, in Floyd, Deano also found a farming mentor. And the two men enjoyed a growing bond around their shared love of farming.

One chilly spring morning, Deano got up before the sun made its appearance, and he hopped in his truck. He rumbled down the old gravel road to Floyd and Mary’s farm, and his coffee sloshed in the cupholder.

As he stepped out of his truck, Deano smiled and thought it was a beautiful morning. Without being asked, he had stopped by to spray Floyd’s fields for weeds before he went to work.

From the farmhouse, Floyd had heard the truck pull up and hurried out to see who was there. Surprised to see Deano, especially at this hour, Floyd walked out to the field and said, “Deano, I want you to do something for me. I want you to tell me you will take care of Mary if anything should happen to me.”

Deano was surprised. And with a compassionate smile said, “Sure, Floyd. You bet.” That was it. A short conversation, and they got on with the business of spraying weeds.

In the days ahead, Deano invited Floyd to Stiles Christian Church, where Deano served as an elder. Floyd gave his heart to Christ there, and was thrilled to have finally found a church family who accepted him and loved him like Deano.

And it was this same church family who wrapped their arms around Mary, when Floyd unexpectedly passed away.

From that day on, Deano visited Mary nearly every night, and he brought along caring conversation and a few jokes to brighten her day. He became the son she never had.

Whether taking her for Sunday drives around the farm, or attending special events at her nursing home, he was doing what he did best, planting seeds of love—in God’s creation.

On one of their many drives around the farmland, Mary said to him, “Deano, I want you to have all of this when I’m gone. All 600 acres.” And when she joined Floyd in heaven, she made that happen.

To anyone who would listen, Deano would say, “J.O.Y.—surely means Jesus first, yourself last and others in between.”

“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love” (Hosea 10:12 NLT).

Is there someone in your life who needs to be reminded of their value? When you value God’s people, they begin to see their worth.

Based on an interview with Sandy Sargent and Melinda Sargent Bray, August 4, 2019.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

Story written by: Shelli Mandeville, https://worthy.life/

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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September 1. Alok. Alok was a young man in India—a young man who faced addiction and deception and thought running away was his only choice. But one day, during Alok’s private devotions, God spoke to him and sent him on a whole new adventure.

God gave Alok a new life of purpose. Now Alok leads a group dedicated to planting churches in northern India, where both Hinduism and Buddhism began. When Alok started preaching, not even one percent of the people there were Christians, but today there are more than a million Christians and 22,000 churches!

Running from God? He has a rescue plan.

When Alok was in his teens, too often he had watched his parents crying and begging the gods to help him. I cannot be a good man, thought Alok.

Alok wanted to be a good man. He wanted to please his parents. And he wanted to please the three-eyed Hindu god, Shiva.

Because Shiva loved marijuana, Alok smoked it. This would help Alok build a relationship with him. Instead Alok was trapped. Powerless to break his addiction to marijuana, drugs, and alcohol, he left home and planned to kill himself. Maybe they will be sad one or two days, thought Alok. But then their suffering will be over.

Now, far from home, Alok stared at the nearby railroad tracks. He would try to please Shiva one last time. If the god didn’t communicate, Alok would lie on the shining metal. Smoking marijuana and drinking, he refused to sleep or eat, but he chanted all night and all day. The gods required Alok to chant his mantra 108,000 times. It was impossible to count, but surely two days of chanting would get Shiva’s attention.

Nothing happened.

“There is no god,” Alok said. “Just darkness and death, so I must go and die.”

Indulging in one last alcoholic binge, Alok stared toward the railroad tracks when a painter caught his attention. A new message gleamed on the building across the street. It read: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NIV).

In a drunken stupor Alok danced and sang out, “Jesus, if it is true, please save me because I’m going to die!” Then he passed out.

Alok awoke in a bed and tried to get up, but he had a fever and was vomiting. He slept fitfully throughout the day. About five o’clock, he heard someone say, “Alok, get up.”

Where had the voice come from? Weak, he crept from bed, looked beneath it and all around the empty room. There was no one there. He got back into bed, fully awake, and Someone touched his back.

He jumped.

“Alok, get up.” The voice was sweet and soft, like a father calling his son, but Alok saw no one.

Terrified, Alok clambered out of the bed, and he ran. He ran out of the building.

Outside, the falling rain streaked his face, and the wind whipped about him. He stared across the street, and a song floated from a building over there. “Jesus is calling you,” sang a chorus of voices.

A presence propelled Alok forward. As he reached the building, his bones began cracking, and a black shadow came out of his body!

“You have come to a good place, my friend,” the people in the building said. “God loves you.”

A god loved him?

A man in the front of the room talked about Jesus, and then Alok knew where the voice had come from. Somebody loved him. Somebody had died for him! Alok rushed forward. “I want to know Jesus!” Falling on the floor, he rolled around and cried for a half hour.

A few days later Alok returned to his parents. “Your son has now changed,” he told them. “He has become a good boy.”

Maybe, like Alok, you have felt the hopelessness of sin and the weight of deception or addiction. Running from God? He has a rescue plan. Run to him.

Based on an interview with Alok in 2018.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

You can also read more of the story in Treasures in Dark Places by Leanna Cinquanta, published by Chosen Books, a Division of Baker Publishing, 2017.

Story read by: Peter R Warren, https://www.peterwarrenministries.com/

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

Story written by: John Mandeville, https://www.johnmandeville.com/

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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August 31. Andy Kellywood. Andy was the maintenance man for Navajo Ministries. And he was eager to help boys who needed help.

The director had his hands full with three particular boys, ages nine to fifteen. They ran together, sneaked out at night, and caused trouble. So the director assigned the boys to work for Andy every morning that summer. Here’s what happened.

When you trust an untested man, he can grow to pass the test.

The first day Andy had the three troublemakers on his maintenance crew, he lined them up and pointed to a patch of weeds. The day was over 90 degrees. The work was dusty, monotonous, and back-breaking. The boys wiped sweat on their shirt sleeves, but not once did they complain. For a whole week, they persevered. At first, Andy stayed close. As they proved themselves, he left periodically to show they had earned his trust.

The next week Andy introduced the boys to the push mower, used to care for more than an acre of lawn. He taught them to check the oil and gas, explained the mowing pattern, and then pulled the cord. The engine rumbled to life.

The boys took turns. When grass clippings filled the bag, he showed them how to empty them into the front-end bucket on the blue tractor. Then he drove the tractor to the dumpster, deposited the clippings, and taught the boys to reattach the bag. After the lawn was finished, he told them to refill the mower’s gas tank.

The boys seemed more engaged. But the day he led them to the blue tractor really drew them in. “Do you wanna drive?”

Their eyes widened in shock. He was trusting them with the tractor? Fear and excitement flitted across their faces.

Andy invited Casey to climb onto the driver’s seat and showed him where to place his hands and feet. The others watched as he taught Casey to turn on the tractor and put it into the low-low gear.

The chug-chug of the engine matched the slow speed of Casey’s first drive. And Andy walked right next to him.

Once Casey had control, Andy put the tractor in a higher gear. As Andy repeated the process with the others, eagerness shone in their eyes. They became proficient. Their grins widened.

Then they learned their favorite part—how to release the bucket, so the clippings fell into the dumpster.

As summer progressed, Andy gave them more responsibility. When one task was finished, they asked what else needed to be done—and they stayed past their mandatory work hours. The boys took ownership of their work.

When water lines broke, they put their backs into digging through the hard earth—even breaking concrete—to help with repairs.

Andy knew their work was not only an investment in Navajo Ministries but also in the boys’ futures. He watched for opportunities to teach them new skills. They changed oil, brakes, and rotors on the ministries’ vehicles. And when it was time for new tires, he taught them to shop for the best price so no one would overcharge them. “If you ever get a car, then you know what to do,” he said.

Once summer was over, the boys found Andy after school and asked if they could help. “They are standing taller,” said Andy.

Half Navajo and half Laguna Pueblo, Andy knew what it was like to struggle to grow up, navigate multiple cultures, and get into trouble. When he blew it, he had no one to talk to. But it’s different for these boys—they talk to him. Andy loves planting good into their futures, and “to plant that one little seed” has Andy standing taller too.

“But other seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop that sprang up, increased and produced: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred” (Mark 4:8 NKJV).

Whose life can you seed into? When you trust an untested man, he can grow to pass the test.

Based on an interview with Andy Kellywood, September 10, 2019.

*Names of minors have been changed.

Story read by: Joel Carpenter

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project Manager: Blake Mattocks

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August 30. Christopher Todd. On this date in 1995, Christopher began a spiritual-healing program, a long struggle from darkness to light.

The place beyond God’s love doesn’t exist.

At twelve-years-old, Christopher struggled with conflicting realities. In church, he was taught that God could not remain in the presence of sin. But Christopher had a secret he believed was sin. He was attracted to guys.

Through his teens, Christopher lived a double life. He had a girlfriend—and privately—a boyfriend. He hated his secret, but he didn’t know what to do. He even considered suicide. It wasn’t safe to talk about this issue at church, so eventually, he quit going. He wondered if God even cared.

When Christopher was nineteen, he went back to church, had a powerful encounter with God, and got baptized. He prayed and prayed that God would take away his attraction to men. But God didn’t.

At 23, certain God would fulfill his needs through the union, Christopher married a beautiful Christian woman. But his desire for men persisted. And the rules taught at church didn’t empower him to change. He was also told, whether or not he acted on them, his feelings were wrong. So he was consumed with shame, condemnation, and failure.

Under the pressure, Christopher caved and acted on his desire. His wife’s trust shattered like a dropped pane of glass. For more than a year, he worked hard to piece it back together. They attended a spiritual-healing program, and Christopher began to have hope. But then the ministry abruptly and harshly fell apart. Confused, Christopher doubted all he had learned there. As he questioned, the desire for men grew.

Then his dad came for a visit. They attended a Promise Keeper’s event and had a miraculous, healing conversation. Both of them admitted regret and processed forgiveness. But even in a stadium full of Christian men, Christopher fought temptation.

Christopher’s dad flew back home. In an automobile accident two days later, he died. Color left Christopher’s world. He grieved, battled his desire for men, and wondered where God was. He felt like Job. How could he trust God when everything hurt? He just wanted to be held. His wife held him, but it didn’t help. He wanted to be held by the masculine.

Lost in the grayscale world, Christopher was done. God had not answered his cries of desperation, so he decided to meet his own needs. Since he believed God could not follow where he was going, he disconnected. Like pushing “End” on a cell phone, he “hung up” on God.

Christopher chose to engage in anonymous sex with a male partner. But suddenly, right there in the dark room, God revealed Himself. It was as if the most loving, non-judgmental, compassionate father walked into the room. God’s Presence shattered the lies Christopher had believed: That God wouldn’t take care of him. That God didn’t go into the dark places. That God abandoned him when he sinned.

Christopher stood, walked through the door, and stepped outside. When he did, color returned to his world.

For years Christopher’s shame had kept him in bondage. Now he understood the truth. “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1 NLT).

When Jesus died on the cross, he took the sins Christopher had done, was doing, and would do. Forgiveness was a complete package—and God accepted Christopher even in failure. Finally, Christopher had the freedom to move forward. He was empowered to face the battle, love others, and become more like Jesus—whether or not his attraction to men ever changed.

Does moral failure make you feel alone, ashamed, and powerless? Or do you hold onto the truth you are fully forgiven, loved, and accepted? The place beyond God’s love doesn’t exist.

*Christopher is a pseudonym. Now nearly 50, he is still married to his first wife and raising two wonderful sons to love Jesus. He believes all healing happens in the context of healthy relationships and walks in compassion with people as they face life’s challenges.

Based on an interview with “Christopher” Todd, 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

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August 29. Fred Luter Jr. Luter was a young man when he crashed his motorcycle and met the Lord Jesus. He called the crash his “Road to Damascus moment.”

He went on to become a powerful Christian pastor, and he enjoyed success until—on this day in 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded the church and forced the congregation to disperse across the nation.

Seven years later, Luter became the first African American to be elected Southern Baptist Convention President.

Even if we lose everything, God is with us.

Luter sat quietly in his daughter’s Birmingham, Alabama apartment, sipped an iced tea, and stared angrily at the television newscast. Days after Hurricane Katrina had slammed the Gulf Coast, the city he loved—his hometown, New Orleans—was under water.

Begging to be saved, frightened residents stood on rooftops. Others gathered at the convention center, searching for food. Hundreds were dead. Hundreds more were missing.

A string of thoughts swirled through Luter’s head: The city shouldn’t have flooded. People shouldn’t have been stranded. It shouldn’t be this way. Not in 2005. Not in the most powerful nation on the planet. Not in the United States.

Days earlier, Luter and his wife had evacuated from New Orleans to Birmingham, assuming their stay would be short. But New Orleans now was uninhabitable. They couldn’t go back. Their house was flooded. Their neighborhood too. And their beloved church, Franklin Avenue Baptist—which he had built from 65 members in 1986 to more than 7,000 two decades later—had taken on 10 feet of water.

New Orleans had survived the hurricane’s winds, only to succumb to floodwaters when the levees broke. Luter was mad at the Mayor and the Governor and the President. He even was mad at God.

“I looked up to heaven, and I said, ‘God, why don’t you do something? God, this is America. God, this is not right. People need water. People need food.’ For the first time in my life, my faith was literally shaken like it had never been shaken before.”

There were other problems. Most church members—fleeing the destruction and perhaps looking for a fresh start—were spread across the South. Luter had lost his church building, and he had lost his congregation.

But God provided hope.

Pastors throughout the nation phoned and pledged their help in rebuilding. First Baptist, a sister New Orleans church that had escaped damage, invited the 1,000 remaining members of Luter’s church to hold services there. Luter reconnected with church members in other cities—in Baton Rouge and Birmingham and Houston—and began holding church services in those cities, too.

He became a circuit preacher, traveling thousands of miles each month in his Jeep Cherokee to minister to his flock. They hugged and cried and laughed. It was like a family reunion, and Luter was encouraged.

But God wasn’t finished.

Two and a half years after Katrina, Franklin Avenue’s building reopened, with 4,000 joy-filled members and residents in attendance. The dirty water and smelly sludge was gone, replaced with brand-new carpet and tiles. “We’re baaaaaaaaaaack!” an excited Luter shouted.

“For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13 NIV).

Are you in a storm? Are you confused by life’s trials? Have you lost everything? Do the little things; do the basic things consistently. “I don’t care what you’re going through,” Luter said, years after Katrina. “He’s walking with you. He’s there all the time.” Even if we lose everything, God is with us.

Franklin Avenue Baptist Church. “Pastor Fred Luter, Jr,” Accessed June 22, 2020. http://www.franklinabc.com/pastor.

Chandler, Diana. “Fred Luter’s trailblazing life rich with trials, blessings.” Baptist Press. Posted June 19, 2012. http://www.bpnews.net/38080/fred-luters-trailblazing-life-rich-with-trials-blessings.

Nobts Chapel. “Facing Life’s Storms—Fred Luter.” YouTube video, 33:06. Published March 24, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZE1yXrYydA&feature=youtu.be.

Baker, Shannon. “Katrina calls Fred Luter to ‘one church in three cities.’” Baptist Press. Posted February 21, 2006. http://www.bpnews.net/22695/katrina-calls-fred-luter-to-one-church-in-3-cities.

Willoughby, Karen L. “In New Orleans, joy abounds as congregation returns home.” Baptist Press. Posted April 7, 2008. http://www.bpnews.n.et/27774/in-new-orleans-joy-abounds-as-congregation-returns-home.

Story read by: Stephen Holcomb

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project Manager: Blake Mattocks

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August 28. Martin Luther King Jr. King started college when he was 15, and he questioned religion in general. But by the time he became a senior, he had met the Lord Jesus and knew His love and goodness.

King went on to seminary, where the president was outspoken about civil rights in America.

King became a Baptist minister and activist and the most visible leader in the Civil Rights Movement starting in 1955.

On this day in 1963, King delivered a speech in which he said, “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”

In 1968, King was brutally assassinated—for telling the truth. Today’s story is about King’s doggedness.

Darkness can cripple a people until one man has the courage to strike a match.

Racism, hatred, and cruelty had grown to a pervasive darkness. It seeped across the United States and poisoned the minds of men and women. In 1963—100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation—political leaders, business people, some clergy, the man on the street, and kids in the schoolyard heaped emotional and physical abuse on American citizens who happened to be African American. King dreamed of an integrated and unified America—where all men are created equal, and they can all use the same public restrooms.

He wrote about how the dark practice of segregation hurt his little daughter. “You suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can’t go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky.”

In April 1963, King was determined to bring the light to Birmingham, Alabama. He met with three ministers to plan a city-wide protest against segregation laws.The city leaders would fight back. The group of pastors designed a legal protest, and King met with the City Commissioner to request a permit for the march.

But the Commissioner said, “No, you will not get a permit in Birmingham, Alabama to picket. I will picket you over to the county jail.”

Undeterred by the threat, the campaign launched, and throngs of American citizens demonstrated their opposition to segregation. After a week of protests, Judge William Jenkins Jr. issued a court injunction prohibiting any more public protestsalthough the protestors weren’t doing anything illegal.

The injunction came two days before the final march was scheduled to begin. King decided that he was willing to risk being arrested to demonstrate how serious and wrong segregation was. He knew freedom came at a price. The others on the campaign stood firm on King’s decision. The day for the march arrived with a crowd that had gathered at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church ready to go.

As they marched through the city streets, police arrested the campaign leaders near St. Paul Methodist Church.The chief of police arrested King and took him to jail.

They put King in solitary confinement. He was forbidden any communication for the first twenty-four-hours, not even a phone call to his wife, who was recovering from the birth of their fourth child.

Despite the harsh treatment, the fire inside King still burned. So he sat in his cold cell and wrote out the reasons he had risked his life for the people’s freedom. “Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus saith the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns, and just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town. Like Paul, I must constantly respond to the Macedonian call for aid.”

The margins of a newspaper and a roll of toilet paper carried the weight of his words.He wrote to light the fire in more and more Americans. “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.”

“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows” (Isaiah 1:17 NLT).

In lots of ways, darkness still spreads. What can you do today to shine a light on it? Darkness can cripple a people until one man has the courage to strike a match.

National Archives. “The Emancipation Proclamation.” Reviewed April 17, 2019. www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured-documents/emancipation-proclamation.

King, Martin Luther Jr. African Studies Center. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” Accessed June 24, 2020. www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html.

Birmingham Times. “The Momentous Events Leading to Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail.’” Published January 12, 2017. www.birminghamtimes.com/2017/01/the-momentous-events-leading-to-martin-luther-kings-letter-from-birmingham-jail/.

Roy, Deborah A. SCOTUSblog. “The Good Friday parade: Birmingham—April 12, 1963.” Posted August 28, 2013. https://www.scotusblog.com/2013/08/the-good-friday-parade-birmingham-april-12-1963/.

Jeffries, Hasan Kwame. Encyclopedia of Alabama. “Modern Civil Rights Movement in Alabama.” Updated March 31, 2017. www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/h-1580.

Wright, Barnett. “1963 In Birmingham, Alabama: A timeline of events.” Posted January 1, 2013. blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/01/1963_in_birmingham_alabama_a_t.html.

Los Angeles Times. “Jack Warren; Policeman Involved in Martin Luther King Jr. Arrest.” Posted March 18, 1991. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-18-mn-288-story.html.

Fuller, John, and Kathryn Whitbourne. How the Civil Rights Movement Worked. “Jim Crow Laws.” Accessed June 24, 2020. https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/civil-rights-movement1.htm.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project Manager: Blake Mattocks

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August 27. Henry Dunster. Dunster was an English Puritan and a preacher who looked for religious freedom in the New World.

Three weeks after he arrived in Boston, the Harvard search committee offered Dunster a job. On this day in 1640, Dunster became the first president of Harvard.

During his tenure, the first Harvard buildings were built, and the motto Veritas was proposed. By marrying Elizabeth Glover, Dunster came to own the first printing press in England’s American colonies.

Our life’s work may not yield fast results, but the results can last lifetimes.

Taking in the sight of the school, Dunster walked the grounds of Harvard College—which was nothing like his alma mater back in England. It was smaller, filled with fewer books, and more rural. There were barely enough students here to even fill a class back at Cambridge.

But despite Harvard’s humble beginnings, Dunster knew he could take the struggling school and make it into a great university. With hard work, dedication, and God’s help, he would make Harvard a worthy institution of education.

When classes first began, Dunster had to contend with hard memories of the school’s previous headmaster, Nathaniel Eaton. He had been a cruel man, who was removed from leadership early because he beat his usher.

To some people, Dunster was a welcome reprieve. But to others, he was another possible tyrant come to wreak havoc on the learning. But Dunster didn’t let what happened in the past affect the future. Harvard was going to change and move forward—even if it took years.

He started by taking matters into his own hands. Dunster knew he couldn’t run a school from behind a desk. He had to know what the students were learning, and he had to be familiar with how it was being taught. He stepped into the classroom, teaching the entire curriculum—all subjects—himself. To make Harvard more academically credible in Biblical Studies, he added Semitic languages to the curriculum. To help his students’ education even further, he established a four-year studies program, which eventually became the typical liberal arts course that American universities use today. For Dunster, learning was important, and if his students were going to be prepared for the world, they had to be educated mentally and spiritually.

“Let every student be plainly instructed,” Dunster said in the Dunster Code, “and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, and therefore to lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning.”

Dunster knew curriculum alone wasn’t enough to build up a school. As its president, there were administrative duties to attend to, as well, such as student billing and accounting. He also created a code of law and admission guidelines. But there was another problem. If Harvard was to grow like Dunster wanted, it needed physical space. Land was needed and new buildings.

Yet money was scarce. Living in the American colonies was more of a guarantee to poverty than wealth. How would he get the school land when people wanted land for their own homes and farming?

Dunster knew poverty himself. He barely had enough money to provide for his family. But he believed in the future of Harvard, a seed planted in the ground that would eventually grow into a mighty tree. Harvard needed land, and he would provide it. Taking out paper and ink, he signed a donation of a hundred acres of his own property to the school.

Months turned to years. Years turned to decades. There was growth, and Harvard was no longer the struggling school that had nearly gone under. But even after Dunster’s departure and death, Harvard continued with what he had established.

Like a seed planted in the ground, it grew to become mighty. Dunster didn’t live long enough to see his college become one of the most prominent universities in the world, but he had envisioned what it could become with hard work and dedication. The lives of his students and the students who came after them, were impacted by his legacy.

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3 NIV).

What kind of legacy will your work leave? Our life’s work may not yield fast results, but the results can last lifetimes.

Youngs, Bill. “Dunster, Henry.” Accessed June 22, 2020. http://www.americanrealities.com/dunster-henry.html.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project Manager: Blake Mattocks

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