Episode | 365 Christian Men

November 2. James Dobson. Dobson is a world-famous psychologist. He founded Focus on the Family and started the radio broadcast “Family Talk.” On this date in 1981, “Family Talk” first became a daily thirty-minute program.

Today, it’s heard on more than 1,300 stations around the world. More than 5 million people follow Dobson on social media, and he has published 34 books.

Dobson likes to tell about the time he played pick-up basketball with pro-basketball player Pistol Pete Maravich. Minutes after that game, Pete had a heart attack and died. He was only 40.

Dobson points at his own success, awards he’s won, books he’s written, and at Pete’s great success in basketball and says this about the moment a person dies: “What will matter most in that moment is who you loved, who loved you, and what you did together in the service of the Lord. There’s nothing else that will stand the test of time.”

Life will trash your trophies.

Dobson—an 18-year-old college freshman—wandered around his new campus. He had arrived a few days before classes began, so he could tour the buildings, and it wasn’t long before he found a trophy case in an administration building.

Dobson was a highly competitive tennis player, and he scanned the majestic awards for his sport. Football, basketball, baseball … tennis. He stared at the two-foot-tall trophy and read the names of the college champions engraved on its shaft.

His name would be on a trophy there one day. He would show everyone how good he was.

That moment was the highlight of his morning, and that trophy became his highest ambition. During his four years in college, he played his way to the top and earned MVP in his sophomore and senior seasons.

But the real prize in his mind was realizing his dream. He won the honor of seeing his name engraved on that tall trophy—twice.

He imagined how the future generations would stand at the trophy case just as he had, how they would admire his name and his accomplishments, and how they would hope that they, too, could become as great as he was.

Fifteen years later, though, an old teammate of Dobson’s paid him a visit and related an odd story. The teammate had gone back to their alma mater recently.

While he was there, he went out behind the old administration building to dump some trash in the garbage bin. In the bin, something shiny caught his eye. It was the two-foot-tall tennis trophy. This thoughtful teammate rescued the trophy and cleaned it up.

Now, as the teammate visited Dobson, to commemorate what he called their “prime,” he presented the trophy as a gift to Dobson.

But Dobson no longer saw it as a symbol of glory. Now it was nothing more than a piece of polished trash.

So much for that.

Dobson talked about the moment. “If you live long enough, life will trash your trophies.” Dobson stressed the need to focus on the people in your life and what you do in service of the Lord. The only trophies that count were everlasting ones.

“This is what the LORD says: ‘Let not the wise boast of their wisdomor the strong boast of their strengthor the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to knowme, that I am the Lord,who exercises kindness,justice, and righteousnesson earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23–24 NIV).

Does the way you spend your time stand the test of time? Life will trash your trophies.

Buss, Dale. Family Man: The Biography of Dr. James Dobson. Carol Stream IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2005.

Dobson, James. Life on the Edge. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1995.

“Historical Timeline.” Focus on the Family. Accessed July 30, 2020. https://www.focusonthefamily.com/about/%20historical-timeline/.

Showalter, Brandon. “James Dobson to Liberty U Students: Don’t Focus on Earthly Achievements, ‘Life Will Trash Your Trophies.’” The Christian Post. Published September 26, 2016. https://www.christianpost.com/news/james-dobson-liberty-u-students-dont-focus-earthly-achievements-life-will-trash-your-trophies.html.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

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November 1. James M Gray. After DL Moody died, Gray was the first president of Moody Bible Institute, assuming the role in steps—dean to co-ordinate dean to president.

From 1904, when Gray was appointed dean, to 1931, the number of students at Moody increased 1,464 percent, and its assets grew 1,444 percent. Gray also established Moody’s still-popular radio ministry: Station WENR.

Gray taught and wrote and traveled and preached. And he kept on until he was 83. On this date in 1934, Gray resigned as the president of the institute and became president-emeritus.

That didn’t mean he stopped working. He still traveled extensively and taught and edited the monthly periodical of the Moody Bible Institute. Here is today’s story.

When doubt intrudes, let the Word of God be the final verdict.

At Moody Bible Institute, Gray handled the questions of a lot of theological students. He had a unique gift for making complex things easy to understand.

One day, one of his students—visibly distressed—went to visit Doctor Gray. Without wasting time, this student confessed what was on his mind: he was afraid he wasn’t saved.

Happily, already knowing where he would turn, Gray pulled out his Bible and “took [the student] to those wonderful words” found in John 5:24. Gray had the student read them out loud.

Though Gray was agreeable and sympathetic, the student was still unsure of himself. He began to read: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24 ESV).

No immediate revelation came down on the student, so Gray, who could so gently lead people to truth without humiliating them, asked some questions.

“You have heard the words of Jesus?”

“Yes,” the student replied. That wasn’t difficult to answer.

Gray’s second question was just as plain: “You believe Him who sent Him?”

Again, this was a no-brainer for the theology student. “Yes.”

“Then what have you got?” Gray asked, watching the student’s reaction.

There was hesitation. But once again, the student realized it was all in that small verse. “I have everlasting life.”

Pressing on, Gray nudged him further. “And what else is true of you?”

The student hesitated longer this time and then answered steadily, “I shall not come into condemnation.”

“And what else?”

After the longest internal struggle yet, the student broke free, and he sighed deeply. “I have passed from death unto life,” he answered, smiling joyfully.

Neither of the men questioned what to do next. They just knelt and praised God. Something so simple filled the student with excitement; he grabbed his teacher’s hand and thanked him profusely for helping him.

But all Gray had done was lead him to the truth, and God did the rest.

“Let the words of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16 ESV) because “The unfolding of [God’s] words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple” (Psalm 119:130 NIV).

Today, what can you study in God’s Word to remind yourself of His rich truth? When doubt intrudes, let the Word of God be the final verdict.

Gray, James. My Faith in Jesus Christ: A Personal Testimony. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1927.

Hannah, John. James Martin Gray, 1951–1935: His Life and Work. ThD diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1974.

Runyan, William. Dr. Gray at Moody Bible Institute. New York: Oxford University Press, 1935.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

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October 31. Martin Luther. Luther had a painful, rocky start. When he was 13, he started university to study law, but fear, superstition, and a strict conscience combined to change his course, and he became a monk, and later a priest.

He was ordered to earn a doctorate in Bible and became a professor at Wittenberg University. When he taught on the book of Romans, he saw the truth: “… the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith …”

He went on to question the Catholic Church’s practice of selling forgiveness in the form of “indulgences.” On this date in 1517, he published his 95 Theses, detailing the offenses of the Catholic Church, and he called for a public debate.

His friends used the newly invented printing press to distribute his 95 Theses. Luther made a lot of enemies. In 1519, Luther said that “a simple layman armed with the Scriptures” was better than the pope or councils without the Scriptures. There were hearings and opportunities to admit he had been wrong, but he had not, and he would not. So they excommunicated him.

After that, Luther hid in the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, and while he hid, he translated the New Testament into German. Luther also played the lute and the flute, sang, and composed some music of his own. Here’s his story.

When suffering meets grace, grace wins.

Imagine a preacher who despised the one he preached about! The only person Luther hated more than God—was himself. Ever been there?

In 1515, Luther lay on the floor of his private room, too weak to rise. To atone for his inability to be good, he had taken no food for three days. Two nights before, he had practiced self-denial by sleeping outside in the winter cold without a blanket. Now a bluish tint around his little toe added a new color to the swollen red welts across his feet.

After confessing his sins yesterday—twice, the second time for three hours—he whipped himself again. This week was the same as the one before. Serving others in fruitless effort to please God. Confession. Self-denial. Self-punishment.

But Luther’s sense of depravity only grew. He was willing to be honest with himself about his short-comings. It wasn’t enough to fight worldly lust. It wasn’t enough to be better than other people. It wasn’t enough to join the religious elite. He had been to Rome and was only further disillusioned by the lack of godliness he had witnessed. No. God demanded that man be as perfect as He was, and Luther couldn’t be perfect.

Afraid of the justice of God, Luther went to extremes in an effort to cleanse himself of sin and failure. This anguish drove him to study Scripture. And it was in those holy pages that God set him free.

In 1519, Luther found comfort reading the Psalms, resonating especially with Psalm 22:1, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Christ Himself wailed these words from the cross, and they reflected Luther’s own cries as he fought cynicism about God and religion.

Then Luther studied the book of Romans and read, “The just will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). As he meditated on the passage, he began to understand that the key to walking with God was not to be afraid of Him or to be enslaved by religious devotion. He could never be good enough to earn God’s favor, but God in His grace offered salvation as a gift. Man only needed to receive it by faith.

“All at once I felt that I had been born again and entered into paradise itself through open gates,” wrote Luther. “I exalted this sweetest word of mine, “the justice of God,” with as much love as before I had hated it with hate.”

Joy and passion led Luther to challenge the church—the reigning power—of his time, risking not only his career, but also his life, to help others experience the freedom grace by faith had given him. Luther’s declaration that salvation comes through faith alone and his insistence that God’s Word was the only source of religious authority was born out of deep personal struggle and exultant victory.

God confronted Luther’s self-abuse with glorious grace and unlimited favor. He gave Luther the righteousness of Jesus (Romans 4). Then God used Luther to spread that grace throughout the world, grace that continues to free us today.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?” (Psalm 22:1 NIV).

Cease striving for the acceptance you already have from your good Father. Thank Jesus for purchasing your freedom from self-incrimination. Today, take five minutes and praise God for setting you free from every failure and fault. You can even shout it with joy if you want to! When suffering meets grace, grace wins.

New World Encyclopedia. “Martin Luther.” Accessed July 8, 2020. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Martin_Luther.

Smith, Robert E. “Luther’s Tower Experience: Martin Luther Discovers the True Meaning of Righteousness An Excerpt From: Preface to the Complete Edition of Luther’s Latin Works (1545)”. Published 1983. http://www.projectwittenberg.org/pub/resources/text/wittenberg/luther/tower.txt.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

In 1523 Martin rescued several nuns out their convent by hiding them in empty herring barrels. A couple years later, Luther married one of them.

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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October 30. George Fox. In his diary, Fox wrote that the Lord showed him: “being bred at Oxford or Cambridge was not enough to qualify men to be ministers of Christ … then the Lord … let me see His love, which was endless and eternal, … and that love let me see myself, as I was without Him.”

This upset Fox’s world, and for the next years, he prayed and read his bible.

In 1647, Fox worked as an itinerant shoemaker and preacher, and in 1649, he interrupted a sermon in Nottingham and was jailed. His sentence was short, and the jailer came to believe in Jesus.

After a sermon in Derby, Fox said that people should stop arguing about Jesus and start obeying Him. For that speech, on this date in 1650, he was jailed for a year. And again, the jailer found new life in Christ.

At Fox’s trial for this offense of telling the truth, he asked the judge to “quake before the Lord.” The judge may not have quaked, but he did label Fox and his companions: Quakers. Here’s his story.

When our enemies fall, kindness helps them stand back up.

In the seventeenth century, the Church of England, who were also called Anglicans, taught that only Anglicans could be saved. Fox disagreed in public and taught that other denominations could be saved, too.

This not only made other ministers angry, but it made the government furious. They quickly tossed him into prison on charges of blasphemy, and even though he was a peaceful man, he ended up in the same place as criminals: the House of Correction.

Knowing God was with him, Fox accepted his sentence, but he wondered how he would be able to minister if he were in prison.

Alone in the cell, cold and dark, Fox knew his stay would be anything but pleasant. Many inmates viewed him with a hateful eye. One person who treated him the worst was the prison’s keeper, Thomas Sharman, who hated the things the preacher said. When Sharman passed Fox in his cell, the warden said ugly things about the preacher as if wanting to bring him extra harm.

But Fox would not respond with cruelty; he wanted to obey God and treat his enemies with goodness because that’s what God led him to do.

Day by day, Sharman taunted Fox, but Fox answered in kindness. He knew in his heart that God’s love was more powerful than any man’s hate.

But one day, as Fox was walking around his cell to stretch his legs, he heard a dreadful noise coming from down the jail’s hallway. He hurried to the edge of the door and pressed his face against the cold, hard surface to hear what was happening. The dreadful noises were coming from Sharman.

Panic had overwhelmed the prison’s keeper, and he battled thoughts that terrified him. He rambled like a madman, searching for some sort of relief. “I have seen the day of judgment,” Sharman wailed, “and I saw George there, and I was afraid of him, because I had done him so much wrong, and spoken so much against him to the priests and professors, and to the justices, and in taverns and ale-houses.”

Fox felt astonished. Had the prison’s keeper dreamed about him? Had God made Sharman realize that his mistreatment of Fox was a sin?

Fox waited, curious as to what Sharman would eventually say to him. As night fell, the prison keeper approached and entered Fox’s cell. But instead of his usual taunts, Sharman offered an apology.

“I have been like a lion against you,” Sharman began, his voice shaking with guilt, “but now I come like a lamb, and like the jailer that came to Paul and Silas, trembling.”

Fox listened as the jailer spoke with humility. How was it the man who had been bent on taunting him was now full of apology and regret? Surely God was at work.

Sharman asked Fox if he could stay with him in the cell for a little while. And Fox reminded him that Sharman was in control of the cell and could do as he wished. But the jailer wanted to make sure Fox was alright with it.

Fox agreed, knowing as a minister he could somehow help, and they sat together as Sharman shared how he had been plagued with guilt over how he had treated Fox. Fox listened and ministered as the jailer spoke through the night, and Sharman did not leave until morning.

Though Fox wasn’t removed from prison immediately, he was granted some leave to walk a mile on his own. Sharman eventually confessed to Fox that one of the justices, who had imprisoned him, had also been plagued by guilt, and this was his way of offering Fox a chance to escape. But Fox remained in the prison so as not to cause more trouble until he could be released legally. While there, he continued to minister to other prisoners and to local people who came to the prison, including Sharman’s own sister. Fox kept that up for a year until he was released.

“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing” (1 Peter 3:9 NIV).

Here’s a challenge: take five minutes today and write out a prayer for someone who has mistreated you. When our enemies fall, kindness helps them stand back up.

Hodgkin, Thomas. George Fox. Boston: Houghton, Methuen and Company, 1896. Internet Archive. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://archive.org/details/georgefox01hodggoog/page/n12/mode/2up.

Penny, Norman. Journal of George Fox. London: J.M. Dent & Sons LTD, 1924. Internet Archive. Accessed April 8, 2019. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015012082130&view=1up&seq=12.

Do You Want to Learn More About This Man?

At a meeting held in a Leicester church to discuss religious issues: A woman asked a question from the first epistle of Peter, “What that birth was—a being born again of incorruptible seed, by the word of God, that liveth and abideth forever?”

The local priest said to her, “I permit not a woman to speak in the church.” This brought Fox to his feet, who stepped up and asked the priest, “Dost thou call this place a church? or dost thou call this mixed multitude a church?”

But instead of answering him, the priest asked what a church was? To which Fox replied, “The church is the pillar and ground of truth, made up of living stones, living members, a spiritual household, of which Christ is the head; but he is not the head of a mixed multitude, or of an old house made up of lime, stones and wood.” This set them all on fire; the priest came down from his pulpit, the others out of their pews, and the discussion was broken up. (From Janney’s Life of Penn)

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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October 29. Keith C. Smith. Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them. This is the burden that drove Keith’s passion and shaped his life.

Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them.

Twenty-three-year old Keith tapped on the driver’s-side window of his sister Sandy’s car. He shivered; night-time temperatures dropped quickly in Cortez, Colorado.

His sister rolled down her window. Tears streaked her face, and it was too dark to see who was in the car with her. Keith told Sandy their mom had sent him to say Sandy needed to get home.

After Sandy slipped into the house and went straight to her bedroom, Keith knocked on her door. Sandy let him in and explained that she’d told her boyfriend she was pregnant. Keith pulled Sandy into a hug, held her while she cried, and promised to help her tell their parents.

Their mother was angry, but their father said, “I knew what it was like not to be loved. Not to be wanted. I’m not going to do that. Sandy is my daughter … I’m going to stand by my daughter and the baby.”

Keith cried. He would stand by Sandy too.

“Little Man” was born in July. That fall Keith started law school at Arizona State University. The next spring Sandy and Little Man needed housing, so Keith and his new wife invited them to share their apartment.

Having a child there was a big adjustment. Sometimes it was hard to study, and Keith got frustrated. But Little Man brought joy; he laughed, ran around the coffee table in time to his favorite song, and cuddled to watch movies. Keith loved him.

Sandy took classes in the evenings, so Keith helped with Little Man. He would often take the two-year-old for a walk. During one of their walks, Little Man asked, “Are you my daddy?”

Keith didn’t know how to respond. Finally he said, “No, Little Man, I am your uncle. Your mother is my sister. Do you understand?”

Little Man nodded.

Keith didn’t want to upset Sandy, so he didn’t tell her. But he worried about Little Man. Would the subject would come up again?

Months passed. Little Man was almost three when he again asked Keith, “Are you my daddy?” Keith explained once more that he was Little Man’s uncle, and he loved him very much.

About a month later Keith tucked Little Man into bed. He looked at Keith with sad eyes, “Uncle, where is my daddy?”

Keith couldn’t tell the boy that his birth father had never contacted them. Finally Keith said, “I don’t know, Little Man. Maybe he hasn’t shown up yet, but God will send him along soon.”

Little Man flashed a big smile and fell asleep.

Keith wondered if he had lied to his nephew, or if his words had been inspired.

Two years passed. Sandy fell in love with a good man named Ryan, and soon there was a wedding. Keith, a groomsman, stood with his sister during the ceremony. When Ryan said his vows, he first spoke to Sandy. Then he turned to Little Man. Ryan vowed to love him as his own and be a father to him.

Keith wanted to sob but allowed only one “manly” tear to slip down his cheek.

At the reception Little Man, now five, played and laughed with his cousins. Then he suddenly ran to Keith, jumped on his lap, and wrapped his arms around Keith’s neck. Little man pulled Keith’s ear toward his mouth. “I’m so happy,” he whispered.

Keith leaned back and looked into those big, brown eyes. “Me, too.”

“Know why?” Little Man asked. “Because my daddy is here now. God showed him the way. He came for me.”

“Yes, he sure has,” Keith said.

“[God] does what is right and fair for the child without parents and the woman whose husband has died. He shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing” (Deuteronomy 10:18 NLV).

Do you know a single mom or fatherless child who needs you? Single moms and fatherless sons live with a gaping hole. Stand by them.

Based on an interview with Keith C. Smith, 2019.

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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October 28. William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a teen from a wealthy family at the time when—every year—English businessmen kidnapped 35,000 to 50,000 African people and sold them as property. After Wilberforce became a true Christian, he saw a purpose for his life.

He said, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade’s wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for abolition. Let the consequences be what they would: I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition.”

Already a member of Parliament, on this date in 1787, Wilberforce resolved to end human trafficking in Great Britain. For 18 years, he introduced anti-slavery motions in Parliament until a bill finally passed. But that’s not all he did.

He also organized the Society for the Suppression of Vice and worked with reformer Hannah More to provide children with regular education in reading, personal hygiene, and religion. He supported the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and encouraged Christian missionaries to go to India.

God calls each of us to join Him in the good He’s doing.

Once Wilberforce heard the call of God, he threw his heart into the fight against slavery.

Twenty-one, wealthy, and charming, Wilberforce entered Parliament in 1780, but later he said, “The first years in Parliament I did nothing—nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.”

But God did not abandon Wilberforce.

“God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9 NASB).

The realization he had wasted seven years pained his conscience, and he suffered deeply until one Easter morning, the light broke on his soul, and he became a follower of Jesus the Christ. His close times with Jesus permeated his life, and he soon saw his idleness in the Parliament had to go.

Two influential men who detested slavery—Thomas Clarkson and John Wesley—separately approached Wilberforce and encouraged him to use his position to put an end to the evil of human trafficking.

From John Newton, a former slave trader and author of the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace,” Wilberforce learned the horrors of capturing and transporting Africans for slavery.

He and Clarkson worked together against slavery, but in 1787, when the British Parliament voted down the anti-slave-trade bill, Wilberforce experienced a crushing defeat. Undaunted, that day the young politician recorded his resolve in his diary: he would see an end to the slave trade.

Although small in stature, whenever he was given the opportunity, he spoke boldly.

Several atrocities awakened the whole of England to the horrors of the slave trade such as the Zong case, where the crew forced several captured Africans, who were considered cargo, over the side, so the owners could claim the insurance payments.

Slavery remained legal in England, and the transatlantic slave trade made for good business for British shippers. These events consumed Wilberforce.

He had to do something. He was committed to obeying Scripture.

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

Wilberforce engaged in conversations with numerous like-minded people, and they determined nothing less than the full abolition of the slave trade would suffice.

They demonstrated that this evil harmed all parties. Most brutal for Africans, it made for corrupt business leaders and appalling working conditions for the sailors. If the people were not swayed by the plight of the Africans, perhaps they would be troubled by the dangers and moral degradation faced by their fellow Englishmen.

The pro-slave traders tried to derail Wilberforce by telling the public how the Africans were far better off in captivity than in their natural state in Africa—a lie of tremendous proportions. Plenty of obstacles stood in Wilberforce’s way, but he remained strong.

Although the first bill had been defeated by a two-to-one margin, the new version carried more promise. Wilberforce and his partners successfully persuaded their counterparts. The Slave Trade Act of 1807 passed with overwhelming numbers.

God is the one who calls and equips us. Is God calling you to do something? Is there an area where you’ve been idle and it is now time to step up and step out? God calls each of us to join Him in the good He is doing.

Christianity Today. “William Wilberforce: Antislavery politician.” Christian History. Accessed July 20, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/activists/william-wilberforce.html

Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. New York: HarperOne, 2008. p 10.

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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October 27. Billy Sunday. Billy grew up in a log cabin in Iowa, where ten members of his family—including his father, died before Billy turned ten. His mother had to send her remaining children to live in the Soldier’s Orphan Home. But thanks to the love of his brother and Billy’s love for baseball, he still became a star.

With the Chicago White Stockings in 1883, Billy struck out his first 13 at-bats. But by 1890, with the Philadelphia Athletics, he was batting .261 and had stolen 84 bases. By this time, he had already been a Christian for 4 years, and he left baseball, took a two-thirds cut in pay, and became a preacher.

Until Billy Graham, Billy Sunday preached to more millions than any other preacher, and he had led about 300,000 people to the Lord. Not everyone liked him, but he wasn’t out to please people.

He said, “I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I have a foot. I’ll fight it as long as I have a fist. I’ll butt it as long as I have a head. I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old and fistless and footless and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to Glory, and it goes home to perdition.”

On this date in 1935, Billy preached his final sermon.

God designs your gift; you discover and develop it.

Ever heard of Billy Sunday?

You might have heard about his eight-year stint in professional baseball; he played for the Chicago White Stockings (now the Cubs), the Pennsylvania Athletics, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Billy wasn’t a great hitter, but he stole bases like no one ever had.

Billy was fast. God made Billy fast.

Billy could have used that speed to make a great deal of money and live a comfortable life as a professional baseball player. But he chose to use his gift to speak up for the Lord. Because of this courageous choice, when people hear the name Billy Sunday, they often remember a preacher whose defining characteristic was speed. But could God use “speed?”

In church?

God designed that gift. He can use the gift. No matter what kind of gift.

One day when Billy and some other baseball players were walking around Chicago, a woman approached them and invited them to the Pacific Garden Mission. Billy started attending, and on one of those Sundays he asked the Lord to take over his life. A year later he accepted a job in the Chicago YMCA as an assistant secretary at $83.33 per month—and sometimes this arrived 6 months overdue. Billy rejected a $500-a-month baseball contract so he could serve Christ.

Soon Billy began preaching the Word of God. At first, he was subdued and acted like someone he wasn’t. But soon, God showed Billy that the gift of speed he had used in baseball games was exactly what Billy was to use in his preaching. His athletic ability was perfect for the way he preached.

Billy would “impersonate a sinner trying to reach heaven like a ballplayer sliding for home and illustrate by running and sliding the length of the stage. Every story was a pantomime performance.”

His style made people curious. Soon he was filling up revival tents and campaigns across the country. His reputation for theatrics grew. He would charge back and forth, drop to his knees, jump, wave, and flop on the ground, all to preach Jesus.

Billy was also a wordsmith. His turn of phrase, speedily delivered, God used extensively as another way to grab the audiences and usher them into the Kingdom of God. Each of the following were phrases he had used in his sermons:

“You can find everything in the average church today from a humming bird to a turkey buzzard.”

“Some persons think they have to look like a hedgehog to be pious.”

“Some people pray like a jack rabbit eating cabbage.”

“Going to church,” he said, “doesn’t make a man a Christian any more than going to a garage makes him an automobile.”

Billy’s popularity grew. His antics made the people curious. What was he doing? They marveled at his agility and energy. As they were captured by his actions, they listened to his words. And because of the power of the Word of God, thousands came to Christ.

Billy Sunday became a preacher out of love for the Father. He wanted to serve God.

“Do you see someone skilled in their work? They will serve before kings; they will not serve before officials of low rank” (Proverbs 22:29 NIV).

How can you maximize your God–given skill today? God designs your gift; you discover and develop it.

Elllis, William. “Billy” Sunday The Man and His Message. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Co., 1914. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/50586/50586-h/50586-h.htm.

Taylor, Justin. The Gospel Coalition. “What Was It Like to Hear Billy Sunday Preach?” Published August 3, 2016. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/what-was-it-like-to-hear-billy-sunday-preach/.

Keller, Paul. NEWSLETTER of the North Manchester Historical Society, Inc. VOLUME XIII, NUMBER 1. “Life of Billy Sunday.” Published February, 1996. http://www.nmanchesterhistory.org/more-billy-sunday.html.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

“Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That’s why people are going to the devil in multitudes.”

~Billy Sunday

“To know what the devil will do, find out what the saloon is doing,” he said repeatedly. “If ever there was a jubilee in hell it was when lager beer was invented.”

~Billy Sunday

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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October 26. Rory Lee Feek. Rory is an American country-music singer and songwriter. He has written songs for artists such as Clay Walker, Tracy Byrd, and Blake Shelton.

Rory has always been diligent about what he was called to do, but in the four years after the loss of his wife Joey, Rory raised funding and built a one-room school house on his farm, produced a movie as a tribute to Joey, To Joey, With Love, and wrote two powerful books. He also created a television series and released a film entitled Finding Josephine.

Meanwhile, Rory returned to singing and performed a series of concerts for the Music Health Alliance, and he performed at the Grand Ole Opry. He accepted awards for Joey and Rory’s Hymns album, which won a Grammy Award for Best Roots Gospel Album. All this while raising his little girl, who was two when Joey died. Rory is all about making the hard choices.

When the hard choice presents itself, do your own job, and choose love.

Almost done writing his third book, Rory noted that writing about this chapter in his life had been a whole lot easier than living it. The hearts of his daughters had been at stake. How he thought of himself as a Christian was at stake. The kind of man he would be, the way he would choose to live was at stake.

At one of the toughest times of his life—he had just buried his young wife Joey—Rory came home to the farmhouse to find his middle daughter, 27-year-old Hope, upset. Something was hurting her deeply, and she seemed afraid to tell him. He asked her what was wrong.

“‘You won’t understand,’ she answered through her tears. ‘You’ll judge me.’”

“‘Just tell me, Hopie,’ [Rory] said again. ‘It’s okay.’

And she did.”

Like Rory, Hope was a Christian, and now she sat at the kitchen table with him and told him that her friend Wendy was more than a friend, had been more than a friend for a while. Hope and Wendy were in love.

To say the least, Rory felt surprised. A tear presented itself, ran down his face.

“‘See, you’re judging me,’ she said.

“And without even knowing … I was.… She could see it on my face, see it in my eyes.”

Rory scrambled inside, tried not to knee-jerk react. This was his daughter he loved. But he said things he later thought he shouldn’t have said. Reality was smacking hard right up against what he had always believed as a Christian, and his life united with Jesus was Rory’s core.

“My conservative Christian faith was the first part of me to judge Hopie,” Rory wrote. “To want to push her away. To withhold love from her. And she could feel it. See it in my eyes. And in that moment, we had a conversation without any words.”

Her eyes were asking if he would still love her, and his eyes were answering.

“My eyes were hardening around the edges, just like my heart,” he wrote. “‘Probably not,’ they said, as I looked away. More ashamed of what I was thinking than of what she had shared with me.”

This father and daughter who loved each other, and who belonged to Jesus, didn’t work through the issue that night. They went their separate ways.

It took time to talk it through. For Rory to spend time with Wendy. To ask her questions, too. To know who she was.

It took time to talk with the Lord about it, to know what to think, what to do.

Rory described it, “Hopie has made me rethink everything I’ve ever thought when it comes to some things. And in other ways I’m still right where I always was. First off, I’m not the judge. That is not my job. I’m Hopie’s father. My job is to love her. She gets to make her decisions in life. All of them. I can approve or disapprove, but it’s her life, and she has a right to live it as she chooses.”

Rory wrote that this chapter in his life has been challenging. “I’ve still got a long way to grow, but I believe that I’m getting there. And I can’t help but think, in the end … how can we lose if we choose love?”

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34–35 NIV).

If someone you loved dearly made a life choice you don’t support, how could you work through that? When the hard choice presents itself, do your own job, and choose love.

Access. “Country Star Rory Feek Reveals His Faith Guided Him To Love His Gay Daughter Even More.” Published October 3, 2018. https://youtu.be/9P1jkVDmCl4.

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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October 25. Francis Asbury. Although Asbury suffered much and was often ill, on this date in 1773, after nearly dying, he miraculously rebounded.

Asbury spent 45 years in the colonies and the newly independent United States as a circuit-riding preacher, a minister, and a bishop. It is estimated that he ordained 2,000 ministers and rode more than 130,000 miles up and down the East Coast and as far west as Kentucky and Tennessee.

When illness is a constant companion, God’s grace is needed.

Asbury experienced so much sickness that anyone in his ministerial shoes would give up.

When he was 26, Asbury answered John Wesley’s challenge to cross the Atlantic Ocean and preach the gospel in America. He was appointed a superintendent and given the ministry of a circuit-riding preacher. A circuit consisted of 25 to 30 villages and towns, and usually encompassed 200 to 600 miles, often in bitter cold and snow or the stifling heat of summer.

Asbury kept a journal of his travels and his ministry: where he went, the people he met, responses to his preaching of the gospel of Christ. Throughout his journal he records that he was frequently ill: headaches, toothaches, horrible sore throats, swollen feet, and worst of all undiagnosed sicknesses that put him in bed, sometimes for days.

One of his entries reveals his belief that he was near death. “My disorder has increased.” His friends were sure he was going to die. “But the Lord thought of both them and me to raise me up from the bonds of death,” he later wrote.

He and his friends prayed and asked God to heal him of sickness because they knew the Scriptures. “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1‒2 ESV).

The call of God was upon his life, and Asbury refused to let life drag him down. Yet his days of illness were far from over. At the start of the next year he wrote, “My body has been indisposed for some days past, but the grace of God has rested on my soul, and I have been enabled to preach … with freedom and power, and great boldness, the Lord being my helper.”

A little later on he noted: “I have been sick near 10 months … yet I have preached 300 times and rode near 2,000 miles.”

His days of illness and fatigue were far from over, yet Asbury declared throughout his journal, “What a miracle of grace am I!”

Asbury’s story is like that of the apostle Paul, who asked God to take away his thorn in the flesh, which was probably an illness of some sort.

Paul wrote, “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8–10 NLT).

Is there an obstacle dragging you down? God’s strength is a prayer away. When illness is a constant companion, God’s grace is needed.

Francis Asbury. The Journal of the Rev. Francis Asbury, Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. I. Bedford, MA: Applewood Books, 1821. October 25, 1773, p. 54.

Christianity Today. “Francis Asbury Methodist on horseback.” Accessed July 7, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/denominationalfounders/francis-asbury.html.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

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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October 24. Bruce Olson. Bruce is a Scandinavian American Christian missionary best known for his work in bringing Christianity to the Motilone Indians of Colombia and Venezuela. But on his very first trip into the jungle, Bruce walked in circles for hours, and when he stopped for the night, he had no machete, not even a tool to open his can of sardines.

He sat on the trail with his mule, and he when he realized that the mule wasn’t scared, Bruce figured he would be all right, too. Getting to all right had some hiccups, but welcoming this people to faith in Jesus was worth it.

Then, after years serving here, on this date in 1988, Bruce was captured by a band of guerrilla terrorists who wanted to control this territory. And God rescued him again. Today’s story takes place in early days, when reaching out to the Motilone Indians.

Many men run from danger, but a few run toward it and overcome.

Bruce Olson ran toward.

Weak and wounded, Bruce stumbled onward through the jungle, and every time he slowed his pace, a hostile native jabbed him with an arrow. They led him forward to a clearing and locked him in an Indian longhouse.

For days he suffered there, and infection spread from an arrow that had been pulled out of his thigh. His stomach churned from hunger sometimes, but at other times, acrid smells of burning monkey fur and parrot feathers gagged him. The month dragged on as he prayed.

Then one moonlit night Bruce made a daring escape—and survived! He could go back to America where he was safe …

But he didn’t.

When he was a teenager, he had heard a rousing sermon on the need to reach unreached souls for Christ. This began an inner struggle. “Why can’t I be your servant here in Minneapolis?” he had asked the Lord. God didn’t answer, but slowly changed Bruce’s heart until the idea of serving in a foreign land became intriguing. South America had captured his interest, and two countries in particular: Colombia and Venezuela. He knew he had to go.

Once Bruce surrendered to the idea of foreign service, he became unstoppable. At nineteen—with only seventy dollars in his pocket and no missionary backing to support him—he flew to South America.

“So he said to me, ‘This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty’” (Zechariah 4:6 NIV).

Bruce prepared by spending several months adjusting to jungle life with a less aggressive tribe called the Yukos. He convinced six of them to guide his way to Motilone territory. (This was the expedition that ended with Bruce’s unfortunate capture initially described.) The Yukos escaped back into the jungle.

Later, Bruce went alone to try to reach the Motilones, and he left gifts on their trails and waited. When they appeared again, they cautiously received him as harmless—even a friend. God had granted Bruce acceptance with the tribe! Now the Motilones called him “Bruchko.”

Incredibly, the Motilones held an ancient belief that a tall prophet with yellow hair carrying banana stalks (Bruce was tall and blond) would one day appear to lead them to God. Knowledge of God would come out of the banana stalks.

One time when Bruce and the Motilones were hunting, they talked about the legend, and the group came upon two Motilones—one looking for God in a hole, the other over the horizon. Someone sliced open a fallen stalk. The inner leaves fell open like the pages of a book.

Bruce cried out, “This is it! I have it here! This is God’s banana stalk.”He took his Bible and held it up, then proceeded to share the gospel in ways the natives could comprehend. Eventually, nearly the entire Motilone tribe began to “walk on Jesus’ trail” through faith in Christ.

No one would have suspected a near-sighted, unathletic, and unassuming teenage boy would leave the United States to reach a tribe so fierce and isolated. He would be the first to contact them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet Bruce Olson believed he was called to be like Jesus wherever it would take him, and he went.

Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5 NIV), but with Jesus we can do anything he asks.

Is God asking you to reach out to someone? Take a step of faith toward that one today. Many men run from danger, but a few run toward it and overcome.

Olson, Bruce. Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe. Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma House, 2006. p. 26.

Olson, Bruce and James Lund. Bruchko and the Motilone Miracle, How Bruce Olson Brought a Stone Age Tribe into the 21st Century. Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma House, 2006.

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

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

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