Episode | 365 Christian Men

March 9. Casper ten Boom. Casper was a Dutch watch-maker. More significantly, he was a devout Christian who maintained a prayer tradition that had begun before he was born.

Casper’s parents had started assembling believers to pray for Jerusalem and for Jewish people around the world. With his father, Casper led 5,200 intercessory prayer meetings over a span of 100 years for Jerusalem and the ancient people of God. The last of those prayer meetings occurred on this date in 1944, when Casper died in a Nazi prison.

When evil descends, a man of conviction stands up.

When the Nazis occupied Holland in 1940, 84-year-old Casper lived as he always had: a life of love and faith-in-action upstairs above his watch shop. The only difference was higher stakes.

Affectionately nicknamed Haarlem’s Grand Old Man, Casper refused to leave the side of his neighbors when they were forced to take the dreaded yellow star that identified them as Jews.

“Go home!” his friends urged.

But Casper wouldn’t budge. “If it is good enough for God’s chosen people to suffer,” he said, “then it is good enough for me to suffer with them.”

When Casper returned home later that day, he handed the star to his daughter, Betsie. “Could you sew this onto my coat?”

Corrie cried, “No, Father!” In a passionate discussion, Casper’s daughters convinced him there were better ways to help the Jews. Casper lovingly placed the fabric star in the pages of his Bible.

Soon Jewish people knocked on Casper’s door. His home became a haven where Jews hid until more secure arrangements could be made through the Dutch underground.

Planning for a likely Gestapo raid, Casper installed a secret room upstairs. Building materials were smuggled in. A level stuck in a sock. Two or three bricks like loaves of bread in a basket. They called the room: Angel’s Den.

On February 28, 1944, minutes before the Gestapo stamped to the third floor, six people slipped into the secret room. One group of officers splintered floorboards and searched for hollow walls, and another group beat Casper and his family and demanded information about Jewish people.

Casper tasted blood and his head throbbed as he leaned heavily upon his daughters. The Gestapo shoved them through the dark streets of Haarlem, and held them in a crowded gymnasium.

As they awaited their fate, Casper did what he did every night. He prayed and shared Scripture. He had no Bible, but in his steady, faithful voice, he recited Psalm 91.

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refugeand my fortress,my God, in whom I trust” (Psalm 91:1–2 NIV).

The next morning, the Nazis told Casper could go home if he stopped sheltering Jews.

Casper stood erect, his white hair a halo. “If I go home today, tomorrow I will open my door again to any man in need who knocks.”

Fury replaced compassion, and the Nazis thrust Casper—and the daughters he loved—into a concrete courtyard to await imprisonment.

As Casper was taken from her, Corrie cried to her father, “God go with you.”

“And also with you, my daughters.”

It was their last loving exchange. After nine days in Scheveningen Prison, Casper died. But the six people hidden in his home escaped. Three of them survived the war.

During the Nazi occupation of Holland, the ten Booms and their friends rescued more than 800 people—Jewish people and non-Jewish members of the Dutch Underground.

Extraordinary times demand extraordinary action, but Casper didn’t suddenly step into greatness. He had prepared long before. “The cornerstone of [her father’s] character,” wrote Corrie, “was his steady and consistent walk with the Lord, his knowledge of, and trust in, the Bible. He believed the Bible was relevant for every part of his daily life.”

When evil descends, a man of conviction stands up. Will you?

“The ten Boom Family.” Friends of Zion Museum. Accessed August 20, 2020. https://www.fozmuseum.com/exhibits/dreamers/ten-boom/.

ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. Grand Rapids: Chosen Books. 2006.

Benge, Janet and Geoff. Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels’ Den. Seattle: YWAM Publishing. 1999.

Corrie ten Boom: A Faith Undefeated . Directed by Robert Fernandez. Herald Entertainment. 2013.

Story read by Daniel Carpenter

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

Want to read more about Casper and the family culture he created? Check out In My Father’s House and Corrie’s Christmas Memories, by Corrie ten Boom. For a virtual tour of Beje, the ten Boom home which is now a museum, visit: http://tenboom.org.

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March 8. Pope John Paul II. Before John Paul was pope, he lived in Nazi-occupied Poland. Fortunately, the Archbishop of Krakow ran an underground seminary, and the future pope was able to study for the priesthood. After seminary—and after the war—he traveled to Rome to earn a doctorate in theology.

Pope John Paul went on to become the first non-Italian pope in more than 400 years, and he became an advocate for human rights around the world. He believed in following the teachings of Jesus, and he didn’t exclude anyone.

He was the first pope since the first century to step inside a synagogue, and called the Jewish people “older brothers.” He traveled enough miles to go around the world thirty times, and he played a fundamental role in the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe.

Anger surrendered to God frees a man to forgive.

On May 13, 1981, John Paul was visiting with thousands of parishioners in St. Peter’s Square. It was just like any other visit to the people he had dedicated his life to, full of blessing parishioners and showing them God’s love. The crowds cheered as John Paul passed, and they greeted him with smiles and waves.

The weather was pleasant, with peeks of sunlight shining through the clouds. The people who stood behind the barricades reached out toward John Paul, and he reached out too, blessing the people. He stood in an open white car as it inched down the street. Someone placed a little girl in his arms, and he held her gently and blessed her with father-like warmth.

Just as he handed her back, a cracking sound echoed through the air. A pop—simple and sudden—cut through the noise of people who were calling John Paul’s name.

Cheers turned to screams, and pain shot through his body. A second hit. A third. And then a fourth. His finger, his arm, and his abdomen stung. His shocked body was knocked back into the arms of his guards, and he sat down hard. His eyes danced around to make sense of what was happening, and the world quickly blurred away.

From a crowd standing near John Paul, a man darted out, and Security scrambled to catch him.

Women cried and screamed. John Paul’s bodyguards encircled him and shouted orders in the chaos. What had been a gentle breeze brushing his skin had turned to a great wind in his face, and the vehicle zoomed toward the nearest hospital.

The emergency attendants confirmed John Paul’s blood pressure had fallen, and he had lost consciousness. His heart rate had slowed. There were murmurs of emergency surgery, and as he was being prepped, his Secretary came forward and administered the Last Rites.

They rushed John Paul into surgery, and doctors worked to stop the internal hemorrhaging. Turned out that one of the bullets missed a main artery by a fraction of an inch. Had the bullet hit the artery, John Paul would have died.

Through life-saving surgery and the prayers of the people, John Paul made a remarkable recovery. And he soon learned who had pulled the trigger and tried to kill him.

The shooter was Mehmet Ali Ağca, who was quickly apprehended and jailed.

As John Paul lay in ICU, hooked up to machines and IVs and confined to his hospital bed, he made a decision that would put his words of faith into practice. From his room, he recorded a message for the people, letting them know he was praying for Ağca, and had forgiven him.

Two years later, John Paul visited Ağca, and there’s a famous picture of the event. John Paul leaned gently toward his would-be assassin as they sat together and talked privately. The Pope would never reveal what they had said.

But he did say, “I forgave him because that is what Jesus teaches us. He teaches us to forgive.”

“Certainly, forgiveness does not come spontaneously or naturally to people,” he wrote. “Forgiving from the heart can sometimes be heroic. … Thanks to the healing power of love, even the most wounded heart can experience the liberating encounter with forgiveness … Real peace … rests above all on … mutual acceptance and a capacity to forgive from the heart. We all need to be forgiven by others, so we must all be ready to forgive. Asking and granting forgiveness is something profoundly worthy of every one of us.”

“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4:26 NASB).

Who can you forgive from your heart today? Anger surrendered to God frees a man to forgive.

A & E Television Networks. “John Paul II Biography.” Biography.com. Updated October 15, 2019. https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/john-paul-ii.

Weigel, George. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II. HarperCollins e-books, 2005.

“Pope Explains Why He Forgave Gunman.” The Washington Post. Published October 10, 1999. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991010/aponline112915_000.htm#:~:text=%22I%20forgave%20him%20because%20that,Mehmet%20Ali%20Agca%20in%20St.&text=The%20pontiff%20publicly%20forgave%20Agca,few%20days%20after%20the%20attack.

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

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March 7. Emperor Constantine I. Of all the emperors Rome ever had, only Constantine I was called “The Great.” He unified and strengthened the empire, built a new capital, and was the first Christian emperor of Rome. He gave Christianity the social and political respectability it had previously lacked. On this date in 321, Constantine decreed that—throughout the Roman empire—Sunday would be a day of rest.

Not everyone was pleased with Constantine at the helm and trouble followed. Today’s story is about one of the troubles.

A man’s strength can make him confident, but victory comes from God.

The news was not good.

Constantine prepared to invade Italy and take over the western Roman Empire. But he had learned that his enemy Maxentius had him vastly outnumbered. Worse, Maxentius had been using sorcery and divination to win the favor of the Roman gods.

Going into battle was difficult enough, but having all the gods of Rome against him, too? What chance did he have? He was battling heaven and earth.

Maxentius was a cruel tyrant, who murdered innocents on a whim. He had to be stopped.

But with such a small army, Constantine didn’t have the strength to win on his own. And as for the Roman gods, many generals before had sought the favor of their gods—they had all met a terrible end with their so-called gods nowhere in sight.

But Constantine remembered his parents. His father, despite being high up in the Roman hierarchy, didn’t worship the gods his friends did. In fact, he only worshipped one—the God of the Christians. But Christians were always being persecuted in the Empire.

Could the Christian God help him? Was this God more powerful than the gods of Rome?

Constantine prayed to see if the Christian God would reveal himself and help with the battle to come. As Constantine was praying, and the sun was beginning to lower during the mid-day, he suddenly saw what looked like a cross of light in the sky, just above the sun, with words written there: “Conquer by this.”

Constantine was awestruck. His army suddenly stopped their work and saw the same thing, and he wondered what the miracle meant.

That night in a dream, Constantine saw Christ. The same sign he had seen earlier now stood beside the God he had prayed to. Christ told Constantine to make a standard like the sign he made, and use it during his battles to protect him.

When Constantine awoke at dawn, he immediately set out to work. He would join the Christian God and seek His protection, despite the persecutions that had threatened the Christians for centuries. He described the sign to some friends who were to make the standard, which was given the name labarum, and on it was a spear, with a crown decorated in gold and precious stones.

On the crown was the letter P [Rho], and intersected at the center was an X[Chi]. These letters were the two that indicated the name of Christ. The piece that crossed the spear was a streamer of purple, covered with precious stones and laced with gold.

But the standard was not enough. Before he went into battle, Constantine wanted to know who God was, so he asked about the Christian God and learned about the Christian faith. He decided to join the Christians and made priests his counselors. After all this, he was ready for battle, and despite the odds against him, Constantine went on to defeat Maxentius and become the first Christian Emperor of Rome.

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the LORD” (Proverbs 21:31 NIV).

We all face battles in our lives. Do you have everything you need to face overwhelming odds? A man’s strength can make him confident, but victory comes from God.

Freeman, Charles. Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Matyszak, Philip. “Constantine the Great: The Emperor Who Created Europe.” History Extra. Accessed August 17, 2020. https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/constantine-great-life-facts-christian-roman-emperor-europe/.

Firth, John B. Constantine the Great. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1905. Internet Archive. Accessed May 18, 2019. https://archive.org/details/constantinegrea01firtgoog/page/n14/mode/2up.

Pamphilus, Eusebius. The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, in Four Books, From 306 to 337 A.D. London: Samuel Bagster and Sons, 1845. Internet Archive. Accessed May 18, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=S09FAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.

Story read by Blake Mattocks

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March 6. Brent Henderson. Young Brent was a skinny kid from Pennsylvania. And he was smaller than his classmates, who bullied him. He didn’t play sports, and he didn’t fit in. So he retreated to the outdoors, where he seemed to fit better. And he grew up with a passion for the outdoors and for outdoor adventures.

As an adult, Brent worked in a steel mill, performed with world-renowned musical artists, led worship and men’s groups in church, and sponsored men’s retreats. Now, he speaks at men’s conferences, and serves as the executive director of MenMinistry, whose mission is “to help men recover their one, true identity in Christ.”

Brent also writes books. On this date in 2018, he published Into the Wilds: The Dangerous Truth Every Man Needs to Know.

But Brent probably would prefer that we did not focus on this list of his accomplishments. Here’s his story.

The devil’s lies can look attractive, but they lead to death. A real man banks on truth.

The black mamba is one of the fastest, deadliest snakes on the planet. It slithers across an African savannah at speeds of up to twelve miles per hour. If you get bitten by this serpent, it’s not three strikes and you’re out; it’s one strike, and you’re dead.

If you don’t receive anti-venom in time, which is often the case in Africa, expect paralysis and cardiac arrest within thirty minutes.

When Brent and a friend traveled to Africa in 2006, they weren’t thinking about the deadly black mamba. They were thinking about the hunting safari of a lifetime.

Brent arrived with plenty of outdoor experience and a fine reputation as a professional big-game hunter. Just two days into the safari, with a bow-and-arrow, he harvested a stallion zebra.

Later in the week, Brent and his friend drove into town and came upon a long “stick” in the road. It didn’t take long to recognize they were looking at a black mamba—grey—with a mouth as black as coal. What happened next can only be attributed to a testosterone-induced attack of temporary insanity.

Brent’s friend decided to get out, catch the snake, and have Brent videotape it.

Crazy?

Definitely.

By the time Brent got the camera rolling, his buddy had already used a stick and secured a tight grip behind the snake’s head. He picked up the snake for the camera and waved it at some shocked Africans who were driving by. (The passersby let Brent and his friend know they were nuts.)

Not to be outdone, Brent wanted a picture of himself holding the deadly viper. So, the two men switched places, and Brent had his photo taken with the snake. Then he dispatched the deadly serpent with his handy hunting knife. In the process, a drip of venom splashed onto his hand, and he cleaned it off with Coca-Cola. Crazy? Yep.

Later, Brent admitted the whole stunt was categorically stupid, and he was forced to ask himself—why did I do it? Why was it so important to have my picture taken holding a black mamba? He concluded it must have been the desire for “fame and glory.” But he went on to draw a spiritual correlation, which has helped him to teach others how to grow up and out of ego-driven performance stunts in order to feel better about themselves.

Brent teaches men that Satan’s BIG LIE consists in this: performance, plus other people’s opinion, equals a man’s self-worth. You could say it’s the Big Black Mamba Lie, and a lot of men are tempted to buy into it.

God’s Word says, “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” (Galatians 5:26 NIV). When we know who we are in Christ, we won’t be conceited, and we won’t need to envy or provoke anyone.

Are you believing the Big Lie, or are you living free in Jesus Christ and believing the truth? The devil’s lies can look attractive, but they lead to death. A real man banks on truth.

“Mission—Vision—Values.” Men Ministry: Changed Men Change Men. Accessed August 17, 2020. https:/www.menministry.org/mission-vision-values/.

Henderson, Brent. Into the Wilds: The Dangerous Truth Every Man Needs to Know. PA: Whitaker House, 2018.

“Brent Henderson.” The MitchellGroup. Accessed October 15, 2020. http://mitchellgroup.org/brent-henderson/.

Story read by Joel Carpenter

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

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March 5. Daniel Webster. When you think of Daniel, think of the number three.

He was a member of three different political parties, each of which advocated for strong centralized government: the Federalists, the National Republicans, and the Whigs.

He ran, unsuccessfully, for the office of President three times: 1836, 1848, and 1852. He served as Secretary of State under three different presidents: William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and Millard Fillmore.

While serving in the US Senate, Daniel was known as a member of the “Immortal Trio” along with his colleagues Henry Clay and John Calhoun.

Daniel was an outstanding orator who worked hard in college to overcome a fear of public speaking. And he became a successful lawyer who argued many high-profile constitutional cases before the Supreme Court. By 1822, Daniel was considered to be the nation’s leading lawyer and a rising political power. On this date in 1841, Daniel was appointed as the 14^th US Secretary of State.

When critics attack, God enables us to respond in love.

In the mid-1800s, Daniel was a legal powerhouse on Constitutional issues. His speeches enthralled people, and they crowded in to hear him speak in court or in the House of Representatives.

In 1841, President Harrison appointed Daniel Secretary of State, which was a good fit for him, his principles, and his values.

But nine days after his inauguration, President Harrison died, and Vice President Tyler stepped into the job. All of President Harrison’s Cabinet appointments—including Daniel—agreed to remain.

President Tyler’s leadership style and policies differed greatly from President Harrison’s. A conflict developed. When President Tyler vetoed a bill to create a national bank, tensions exploded. In a show of solidarity against the President’s actions, the idea was for the entire Cabinet to offer their resignations.

But Daniel knew certain foreign-relations matters desperately needed resolution, including a border dispute with Great Britain over Canada.

So Daniel had to choose—he could act in solidarity with his political compatriots or stay and continue the important negotiations with England. He had always been a man to put the country’s interests before loyalty to any party. And he had no reason to change now. In the end, Daniel was the only Cabinet member to remain in his post.

In the months following, many in Daniel’s political party distanced themselves from him. Others went even further and treated him rudely for agreeing to work with the President.

Instead of defending himself to his critics, Daniel worked steadily to resolve the border dispute. Almost a year later, that issue ended with the Ashburton Treaty—an agreement highly praised in North America and Europe. Suddenly Daniel’s reputation resurrected from political pariah to celebrated statesman.

Not long after this success, Daniel attended a political dinner where many of his friends-turned-enemies would be. When he arrived, the same people who had criticized him now raised a gallant toast to his negotiation skills.

Daniel’s ability to wield words put him in a perfect position to skewer those who had derided him. But, as his former secretary wrote, “No man ever had his powers more completely under command.”

And so Daniel said, “I have also a sentiment for you: to the Senate of the United States, without which the Ashburton Treaty would have been nothing, and the negotiator of that treaty less than nothing.”

In that moment, Daniel demonstrated that he considered his “sense of [his] individual responsibility to God” as more important than his reputation among men.

“I will exalt you, LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me” (Psalm 30:1 NIV).

Who are the “enemies” in your life? How does God want you to respond to them? When critics attack, God enables us to respond in love.

“Daniel Webster.” New World Encyclopedia. Newworldencyclopedia.org. Accessed August 17, 2020. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Daniel_Webster.

Nathans, Sydney. “Daniel Webster.” Marshfield.net. Grolier Electronic Publishing, 1995. Accessed August 17, 2020. http://www.marshfield.net/History/webster.htm.

“Webster, Daniel: Biography.” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 17, 2020. https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=W000238.

“William Henry Harrison and Daniel Webster.” Presidential History Geeks. Published January 15, 2014. https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/437947.html.

Everett, Edward. The Life of Daniel Webster. New York: J.A. Hill and Company, 1904. Google Books. Accessed December 2018. https://books.google.nr/books?output=html_text&id=B6HY4EkcHvYC&jtp=231. p.231.

“Presidents and Their Cabinets: John Tyler.” Presidential History Geeks. Published March 29, 2018. https://potus-geeks.livejournal.com/951556.html.

Lanman, Charles. The Private Life of Daniel Webster. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1852. Google books. Accessed December, 2018. https://books.google.com/books?id=EyEFAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false. p. 136.

“Daniel Webster’s Greatest Thought.” 1timothy4-13.com. Accessed December 19, 2018. https://www.1timothy4-13.com/files/chr_vik/webster.html.

Story read by Daniel Carpenter

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March 4. Franco Santoriello. “When Franco was a teenager, his dream was to play football.  He practiced hard, got good grades to get a scholarship, and even wanted to take ballet to improve his game.  While weight training, a gym buddy told him about a body-building competition and urged Franco him to compete. 

Franco thought the bodybuilders at the gym looked cool, but he wasn’t interested in that sport.  But his friend insisted, and Franco eventually agreed and joined the competition.  He won second place, despite being the youngest of the twenty-one competitors.

Ever since then, Franco dreamed of becoming the best bodybuilder he could be.  Within a few years, he was travelling internationally and competing against the strongest men in the world. At 18, he was in Switzerland doing international bodybuilding competitions. By 24, he got his pro card. He was in the top 20 in the world and well on his way to winning Mr. Olympia, the top testosterone cypionate for bodybuilding competition in bodybuilding. That’s a lot of glory for such a young man to handle.

Self-glorifying talent leads to destruction, but God-glorifying talent leads to life and healing.

For Franco, adulthood had barely begun, and he was already signing autographs and rising in popularity with a sport that celebrated strength and power in men.

But in private, he struggled with drugs and sometimes partied so hard that his workout regime took a hit.

Franco knew the drugs were wrong. And when his older brother invited him to church, Franco rushed to the altar and accepted Christ because he knew he needed God and didn’t want to go to hell. But the glory of bodybuilding offered so many things he didn’t want to give up. Pride. Drugs. Women. Franco wanted Christ as his savior, but not his Lord. After all – he was already in his prime. His talent and his good genes had already brought him so high, he was one of the strongest men in the world. Nothing would take him down.

But in time, the drug use took its toll. Franco went to rehab—six times, but the addiction still gripped him. By 30, he had done his last show. “I couldn’t recover. I wanted to recover, but couldn’t recover,” Franco said. Eventually, he hit rock bottom and ended up in prison.

Anxious, depressed, and full of despair, Franco wondered what had happened. Now overweight, there were times he could barely walk. He’d survived a heroin overdose and a widow-maker heart attack. And he needed help. While in prison, he cried out to God. Now he realized, he needed more than a savior. He needed a Lord.

When He read the Bible, things began to click. His spirit had been starving. He went back to the gym and started exercising again. What started off as five minutes a day for the Bible and five for the workout turned into four hours a day for each. Within nine months, he lost a hundred pounds. More importantly, he knew he had to focus on what God said.

When Franco got out of prison, he was determined to continue his new regimen. And he would take the gospel to the addict and the convict. Because he was a bodybuilder, he now had a platform to help others who had been just like him. Franco felt the Lord say, “What I’m doing for you, I want you to do it for them.”

At first, Franco didn’t know where to begin his ministry, but God provided a way. People were asking “What happened to Franco Santoriello?”

When he reappeared, he got asked to share his story—not only in the prisons, but in bodybuilding podcasts and other venues. Franco’s strength and appearance gave him credibility, and his experience made people want to listen. “I lived it,” Franco said. His audience was able to relate to him.

Today, Franco ministers not only to prisoners and addicts, but to bodybuilders, as well. “There is victory. There is hope. There is life in Christ,” he says. And though many enter bodybuilding, only a few make it professionally. Franco understands, however, that no matter where they end up, every athlete goes all in, and he wants to help them find their true purpose in Christ. His mission statement is “to encourage, motivate, and inspire those that are broken, bound, and bruised  into living a victorious and purposeful like in Christ.”

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” (Ephesians 6:10 NIV).

Think about your talents. Are you using them to glorify yourself, or Christ? Self-glorifying talent leads to destruction, but God-glorifying talent leads to life and healing.

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March 3. Dawson Trotman. Dawson was a producer. He was a California lumberyard worker.

He had started out strong, but after a brilliant high school career, Dawson’s life floundered. He went from Boy Scout, student body president, and valedictorian to gambler, pool shark, and drunk. He was running bootleg liquor and consuming it—during Prohibition.

When local law-enforcement officers caught him drinking, he uttered a quick “save me” prayer. And by the grace of God, Dawson went from new convert to Bible-college student to disciple-maker-in-action. On this date in 1933, he founded the Navigators, whose purpose is “to know Christ, make him known, and help others do the same.” Today’s story highlights the kind of production Dawson valued.

When you teach what you know, you reproduce what you are.

The aroma of a home-cooked meal filled the room as Dawson and Sailor Les Spencer sat at the kitchen table.

Dawson and his wife had opened their home for regular meetings to teach the Scriptures to guys from the Navy, and these two men met several times each week. With a welcoming smile, Mrs. Trotman set their plates in front of them, and Trotman opened his well-worn Bible.

Over the course of these Bible studies, Spencer’s life changed. In the Scriptures, he discovered who Jesus is and what He’s done. Spencer began to talk with Jesus and listen and to do the things He had said.

Dawson called Spencer “a producer”—a man who could show what he had learned to another man and help him connect with Jesus. The change was so evident that several of Spencer’s fellow sailors on the USS West Virginia asked him about it.

But Spencer struggled. He told Trotman he had prayed and prayed and asked God to send him more producers, but guys he talked to were willing to go to church, but they never did anything about showing someone else.

Trotman told him, “Ask God for one. You have to have one before you can have two.”

Within a few weeks, there were three places set at the table: one for Dawson, one for Spencer, and a one for a friend, whom Spencer brought from the ship. As Spencer and Gurney Harris set their sailor hats on the table, Dawson grinned and reached for his Bible.

“Teach him to do what you’ve taught me,” Spencer said.

Dawson responded, “No, you teach him.”

Spencer did teach Gurney about Jesus, and Gurney taught another sailor, who taught another sailor. And before they knew it, their message of hope spread throughout the US Navy, with one hundred twenty-five men living for Christ on the USS West Virginia alone.

Their extraordinary reach was miraculous. Dawson later recalled that “there was a work going forward on fifty ships of the US fleet.” Very soon, it became clear why God had entrusted them with such powerful influence.

On the morning of December 7, 1941, everything changed for the Navigators. Everything changed for the Navy. Everything changed for the United States.

A group of sailors gathered at one Honolulu home for breakfast and a Navigators Bible Study. They were eating and talking.

The ground beneath them trembled. An explosion thundered through the house, and the house shook. Another blast hit. And another. Everyone in the room sat speechless. On the radio, the announcer said, “The island of Oahu is under enemy attack.”

The sailors jumped up and ran to the car and raced toward their ships under thick clouds of black smoke.

Wave after wave of fighter planes buzzed the unprepared US vessels, and they strafed everything in sight.

Japanese torpedoes appeared on the water’s surface. The first of nine torpedoes ripped a hole in the USS West Virginia, and it burst into flames. The ship began to take on water. Thirty hours later, she joined the other forty-eight vessels that were destroyed and sank to the bottom with sixty-six sailors aboard.

“On that ship, 125 men found the Savior before it was sunk at Pearl Harbor … And men off of that battleship through this particular line are in four continents of the world as missionaries today,” Trotman said.

“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2 NKJV).

God has purposefully placed you where you are in life. Who within your reach needs to encounter the hope you’ve found in Christ? When you teach what you know, you reproduce what you are.

“History of The Navigators.” Navigators. Accessed August 15, 2020. https://www.navigators.org/about/history/.

Sanny, Lorne C. “The Pathfinder: A Condensed Life Story of Dawson E. Trotman.” Discipleship Library. Accessed August 15, 2020. http://www.discipleshiplibrary.com/pdfs/dawson_trotman_more.pdf.

Taylor, Justin. “60 Years Ago Today Dawson Trotman, the Founder of the Navigators, Drowned While Saving a Girl’s Life: An Interview.” The Gospel Coalition. Published June 18, 2016. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/60-years-ago-today-the-founder-of-navigators-drowned-while-saving-a-girls-life-an-interview.

Trotman, Dawson. “Born to Reproduce–Early History of the Navigators.” Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ_dVYTjLb0&t=183s.

Stephenson, Kristen. “Monday Motivation: The Pearl Harbor hero who’s now a record-breaking author.” Guinness World Records. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2017/10/monday-motivation-the-pearl-harbor-hero-whos-now-a-record-breaking-author-500025.

“USS West Virginia: When the Japanese planes came swarming down on Pearl Harbor.” Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau. Accessed April 23, 2019. https://visitpearlharbor.org/world-war-ii-battleships/uss-west-virginia/.

Trotman, Dawson. “Born to Reproduce.” Discipleship Library. Accessed April 23, 2019. http://discipleshiplibrary.com/pdfs/AA094.pdf.

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

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

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March 2. Jeffrey Fidler. Jeffrey had been a construction worker. He had been a husband, and he had been a father. Enter heroin.

Exit hope.

Until this date in 1995, when God showed up. Here’s today’s story.

Shame can cripple a man; embrace the truth and break free.

Jeff was a man who loved his family, but drug addiction gripped him, and heroin had become his true love. The sun rose and set on getting his fix. Even his kids, four and two at the time, couldn’t compete with the allure of heroin.

One winter night—it had been two weeks since he had seen his children; his mother had been caring for them—Jeff walked through his mother’s front door.

Dirty, dressed in rags, with scraggly hair down to his waist, he knelt in front of his son, who was watching television.

“Hey, buddy!” Jeff said. “I missed you! Did you miss me?”

The little boy ignored him and kept his eyes glued to the TV screen.

“I’m gonna pick you up this weekend, and we’re gonna go to the park, OK, bud?”

His son nodded, but never looked in his father’s direction. The little boy had heard this before. When it came to his dad, promises were made to be broken.

“I mean it this time, OK? I love you buddy.”

Silence.

Broken, Jeff kissed his young son’s forehead and quietly left. He was losing everyone and everything that was important to him, and he didn’t know how to fix it. A dozen stints in rehab hadn’t helped him. He was thinking about suicide.

Feeling disgusted with himself, Jeff punched the front door of his dimly lit apartment. He went to the basement and started lifting weights. With a fury.

Lifting weights had always been his refuge, his chance to think, but this time he was pushing himself to the limit, not because he wanted to bulk up, but to punish himself.

“I deserve pain!” he growled.

As his muscles burned, and sweat dripped into his eyes, he heard a voice: “Worship me.”

Jeff lowered the weights onto the weight bench and looked around the dingy basement. Was he losing it? “Who’s there?” he shouted.

No answer.

Jeff looked around the basement.

“Worship me.” It was louder this time.

Then overwhelming peace washed over Jeff. Something was pulling him. He fell on his knees, then all the way down, his face to the floor. Bathed in peace. Healing peace.

“Worship me!”

In that moment, Jeff knew God was speaking to him. Tears turned to sobs. Jeff lay on the floor and cried out, “Help me, God! Save me!”

Hours passed.

When Jeff got up, his knees ached and were covered in dirt. But something was … different. He was … new.

He knew he was done with drugs, and he had an overwhelming desire to pick up a Bible and learn about the Lord.

He remembered his grandmother. Her years of prayers. She had prayed that her entire family would come to know Jesus.

Jeff had heard about Jesus all his life, and had rejected Him. Jeff had assumed that God was so disgusted with him that it wasn’t worth asking Him for help.

Until now.

Today, Jeff knows that no one is beyond redemption, and God offers it to anyone who needs it.

In his bedroom, Jeff leaned back in his chair and reached for his well-worn Bible. Seated in the armchair near the window sat a fellow construction worker.

He had gotten injured on the job and had become addicted to opioids. His wife took the children and left him, and he feared he was about to be unemployed. He knew he needed help, he told Jeff, but he was too ashamed to admit he was an addict.

“Dude—” Jeff said, pausing. He paged through the Word until he found an appropriate verse. Reaching over to place a hand on his co-worker’s shoulder, Jeff said, “I get it. But God doesn’t see you as an addict, and He can take your shame away. Listen to this …”

“As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:11-13 NIV).

If the weight of your past still causes you shame, confront the shame with the truth of God’s Word and be set free. Shame can cripple a man; embrace the truth and break free.

Based on a talk with Jeffrey Fidler, 2019.

Story read by Nathan Walker

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It is a 365 2024 update from the executive Director Blake Mattocks.

365 Christian Men is a project built on some basic truths about God and His character. God cares deeply about each man, and He has a specific purpose for every man’s life. In fact, God wants to tell His stories through the lives of His men.

One man had a vision for the project—to find the real-life stories of Christian men from all walks of life, men from the first century through last week. Some of the stories would be about pastors and missionaries, but he would also feature mechanics, a barber, a former mob boss, a dad, a star football coach, the voice actor for a Star Wars character, and many more!

These very short stories would be about men who have fought their battles, are overcoming their obstacles, and are using the lessons they’ve learned to help others.

For this vision to come to fruition, we needed a team, which would include the project manager, more than thirty writers, an editor, an audio engineer, a graphics designer, a website builder and many other talented people who believed in the project’s vision.

For more than two years, the team has worked hard to see that vision come to life. To make that happen, they were committed to several foundational truths:

1. History is shaped by how men live their lives.

2. No man is perfect. Many of the great triumphs in life have come through trials, great fails, setbacks, and heartache.

3. God can use real-life stories to demonstrate His power, His goodness, and His love for men. He can do tremendous things through a man who recognizes his need for God, is willing to submit to His plan, and will trust Him with his future.

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February 28. David Wilkerson. Wilkerson was the founding pastor of the non-denominational Times Square Church in New York City and the founder of the addiction-recovery program Teen Challenge. He started as a Pentecostal preacher in rural Pennsylvania. On this date in 1958, Wilkerson drove eight hours to preach God’s love to members of a New York gang. Soon he moved to New York City to minister to the gangs.

In 1962, Wilkerson published The Cross and the Switchblade, which made him famous, especially after its movie version came out eight years later.

But when Wilkerson published his new book: Vision, which warned that because of America’s “rebellion against God, we were headed toward major judgments and ultimate destruction,” he immediately fell out of favor. Wilkerson “became a pariah overnight. His books were removed from the church bookstores, and he was personally condemned as a ‘fear–monger.’”

Wilkerson had written: “The world is about to witness the beginnings of great sorrows brought about by history’s most drastic weather changes, earthquakes, floods—terrible calamities …” and “It is not really a depression I see coming—but a recession of such magnitude that it will affect the lifestyle of nearly every wage earner in America and around the world.… some of the nation’s major corporations will declare bankruptcy. … Fear generated by the economy will lead to a revolution at the polls” … and … “The auto industry is going to be hurt badly.”

No amount of shunning could keep Wilkerson quiet. He kept telling the truth in love until he died in 2011. Today’s story focuses on his early years in New York.

Nothing can stand against a man fueled by God’s love.

With the newspaper spread out in front of him, small-town preacher David Wilkerson sat praying. The article in front of him was about the Mau Maus—a New York City gang who had declared war on the police department. Gang members hid on rooftops and dropped sandbags on the police. They fired at each other with shotguns, and many of the boys died that year.

Wilkerson thought about the Apostle Paul saying he was the worst of sinners, but he had found grace. Paul thought of himself as an example of what Jesus could do, he said. If God could save Paul, God could save anybody.

So Wilkerson prayed that God would send him to “one of the worst gang leaders in New York City. Save him and put your hand on him, and then let him walk the streets with me.” That young man would be an example like Paul.

And before long, Wilkerson stood on a stage in New York, and the Mau Maus were in the auditorium. Wilkerson said God had the power to change the people—he meant the people there this night.

Nicky Cruz jumped up, pointed at Wilkerson, and yelled, “You shut up. Don’t open your mouth anymore. If you say anything, you’re gonna drop dead. … This is not God power here … this is man power and this is gang power. And there’s no way that God has the power to change anybody.”

“He was standing calmly on stage,” Nicky said about Wilkerson. “His head bowed. I knew he was praying. Here was this skinny man, unafraid, in the midst of all this danger. Where did he get his power? Why wasn’t he afraid like all the rest of us?”

Nicky was irate, told his gang the preacher was crazy, took them down to a certain basement, and promised them a good time.

Fifteen minutes later, without even knocking, Wilkerson opened the door and walked into the basement room, the Brooklyn headquarters of the Mau Maus. He said, “Where’s Nicky?” as if he had known him a long time.

Nicky stood and yelled at him, told him to stop, pointed his gun at Wilkerson, and said if he took another step Nicky would blow his head off.

“Wilkerson hesitated for a moment,” Nicky said. “But he didn’t stop … he was a skinny man, but he kept walking straight toward me and said, ‘Come on, Nicky, shake my hand.’”

Nicky slapped Wilkerson’s face, spat on him, cursed at him, and threatened to kill the young preacher. Then he headed for the door.

Before he reached the door, Wilkerson yelled at him, “Nicky, just a moment.” He said, “You could kill me, Nicky. You could cut me in a thousand pieces and lay them out on the street. But every piece would cry out Jesus loves you.”

Trying to scare Wilkerson away, Nicky gave him a death stare.

“Nicky, I’m not scared of you,” Wilkerson said. “You’re just like the rest of us. You’re afraid. You’re lonely. But Jesus loves you. One day, Nicky, you are going to stop running and come running to Him.”

Crying, Wilkerson put his hand on Nicky’s head and prayed for him—the first time Nicky had heard anyone pray out loud.

Nicky swore he wouldn’t cry; he hadn’t cried since he was eight—but this man was talking to God about him. Nicky pushed Wilkerson away, but then he saw a vicious gang member on his knees and bawling his head off, asking Jesus to help him. Two more gang members were on their knees and crying.

Nicky thought this was crazy. He was so confused. Could it be true that God loved him? After a gut-wrenching struggle, Nicky asked God—if it was true—would God help him.

Within minutes, a burden lifted off his shoulders, and he told Wilkerson that he knew that Jesus loved him.

God began a great work in Nicky that night. And he went on to enter the ministry full time.

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:18 NASB).

Are there things you fear? What small step toward overcoming that fear can you take today? Nothing can stand against a man fueled by God’s love.

Wilkerson, David. “Nicky Cruz Ex-gang leader conversion story.” Update written by Keith Thompson. Published November 22, 2016. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC4UYcRTk88&feature=youtu.be.

Cruz, Nicky and Jamie Buckingham. Run Baby Run. Newberry, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishers, 2016.

Batty, David and Ethan Campbell. Teen Challenge 50 Years of Miracles. Columbus, GA: Teen Challenge International, 2008.

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