Archives: Episode

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~John Huss 

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

~John Huss 

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

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

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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

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

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

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

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

Finish strong; a future harvest depends on it. 

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

His eyes fluttered open. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nancy asked him about regret. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man? 

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

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

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

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

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story read by: Joel Carpenter 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Story read by: Chuck Stecker 

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter 

Audio production: Joel Carpenter 

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

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks 

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

June 30. David Green. Green, with $600 in his pocket and a craft idea, founded the arts-and-crafts store Hobby Lobby. So far, his idea has grown into 900 stores and several major ministries.  

Still, the principles Green bases his decisions on are not always popular. Today’s story tells about a principle Green had to fight for. On this date in 2014, Green won his case in the United States Supreme Court. 

At the crossroads of Right–versus–Popular stands a man who can make a difference. 

His eyes closed, Green sat alone in his office, deep in prayer. This may be an atypical scenario for the CEO of a multibillion-dollar enterprise like Hobby Lobby, which is owned and operated by the Green family. But prayer had been a vital part of the fabric of Green’s life since his childhood.  

Growing up a pastor’s son, he had seen for himself how God moved through prayer and principled living. There in the quiet, Green called to mind memories of the many times over his lifetime God had answered impossible prayers. Today, perhaps more than ever, he needed to remember. 

Green found himself entangled in a ferocious legal battle and boxed his way from the Oklahoma US District Court all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. And the controversy was still alive and well. For more than two years, Green and his family had been fighting to defend deeply held Christian values foundational to their lives and business.  

He said, “It’s amazing how God has blessed us beyond our comprehension. We see ourselves as stewards not owners.… This isn’t ours; it belongs to God.” 

With more than 900 debt-free stores nationwide, Hobby Lobby provides more than 32,000 jobs. It generates over $4.6 billion dollars in annual revenue and dedicates half of the corporate profit each year to Kingdom purposes. So the stakes that Green faced as he prayed that day were significant. 

The problem: In 2010, The Affordable Care Act mandated that all US companies provide twenty forms of contraception free of charge to all employees, four of which would terminate pregnancy after conception. To Green and his family, to support any form of birth control that would end a life after the moment of conception was unthinkable. It also violated the biblical principles, which their company bylaws mandated them to uphold. 

“There were four of the contraceptives that we could not agree with because we knew it would take life,” Green said. “We had to go against our government. We didn’t want to, but we felt we had to.” 

The government warned that if Hobby Lobby did not comply with this mandate, the government would assess the company a fine of $1.3 million per day for every day it was in violation. Unwilling to compromise his position, Green decided to take the issue to the Supreme Court and fought for his deeply held principles rather than cave in. 

“It’s our rights that are being infringed upon to require us to do something against our conscience,” said Green. “All the things we do, all our behavior, should let others know that we are living by, and operating in, biblical principles.” 

Knowing there was a possibility of losing the family business in the legal battle, Green called a family meeting to discuss the risks involved, and everyone agreed to proceed. 

“We believe that the principles that are taught scripturally are what we should operate our lives by… and so we cannot be a part of taking life,” explained Hobby Lobby President Steve Green, David Green’s son. 

At the end of a long, treacherous legal battle, Green’s prayers and uncompromising journey were rewarded when the Court ruled five to four in favor of Hobby Lobby and the religious freedom of Christian business owners in America. 

“The Supreme Court granted a landmark victory for religious liberty on June 30, 2014 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., ruling that individuals do not lose their religious freedom when they open a family business.” 

“Love the LORD your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always” (Deuteronomy 11:1 NIV). 

How can you approach the battles you find yourself in today? At the crossroads of Right-versus-Popular stands a man who can make a difference. 

ChristiaNet. “Hobby Lobby CEO, David Green.” Copyright 2017. Accessed May 9, 2020. 

https://christiannews.christianet.com/1096289115.htm.

HobbyLobbyCase.com “Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Hobby Lobby: A Victory for Americans Who Seek to Live by Faith.” Accessed May 9, 2020. http://hobbylobbycase.com/. 

June 29. Richard Allen. Allen endured huge loss as a child. But even as a new believer, he stood strong in the face of gross injustice and became one of America’s most active and influential black leaders.  

Obstacles can cripple or cause growth. It’s your choice. 

Allen was a human being who was legally owned by another human being. In the United States.  

In the late 1700s, the cruel abuse Allen suffered could have made him bitter. But Allen chose a different path. 

He was born into a slave family owned by Benjamin Chew, the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, who soon sold the family to Stokely Sturgis in Delaware. Sturgis, always in need of money, later sold Allen’s mother and three siblings to another slave owner. Which, of course, left young Allen all alone in the world.  

The loss of his family was gut-wrenching, but Allen got through it. 

Sturgis was not cruel to his slaves. Unlike most slave owners, he allowed his slaves to attend religious services. So—with some of the other slaves—Allen went to hear a man preach the gospel. The meetings were often held in someone’s home, in open fields, or under a canopy of trees. 

At seventeen, Allen became a follower of Jesus Christ. He said, “I cried to the Lord both day and night… and all of a sudden my dungeon shook, my chains fell off, and glory to God, I cried.” 

Allen asked the slave-owner Sturgis to hold services in his home, and he did because he had noticed that Christianity had made Allen a better slave. Not too long after that, Sturgis became convinced that slavery was wrong, and he set his slaves free. 

Believing God’s call was upon his life, Allen started preaching to African Americans. Soon he returned to the place of his birth, and at St. George’s Methodist Episcopal Church, he held services for African Americans. Even though the service had to be at 5:00 in the morning, within a year attendance increased so much that the white people decided to build a large balcony where African American people could be segregated. 

But some African Americans were caught praying on their knees in another part of the church building and were forcibly removed. Allen and other African Americans decided to leave en masse and build their own church, something that wasn’t done in that time. 

But they did! 

They called it “Mother Bethel.” Methodist Bishop Francis Asbury, who had met Allen when he had preached at Sturgis’s farm in 1779, dedicated their church and building on June 29, 1794. It would become a stop on the “Underground Railroad,” the pipeline that runaway slaves took from the South to freedom. 

Allen was forever thankful to the Methodists even though he writes, “We bore much persecution from many of the Methodist connection, but we have reason to be thankful to Almighty God, who was our deliverer.” 

Allen was never a bitter man. Never resentful. Never vengeful. Mistreated? Yes. But he let it all go.  

“Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13–14 ESV). 

On April 10, 1816, Allen met with leaders of African American churches from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. After forming the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first Black denomination in America, Allen was elected their first bishop. Today the church numbers nearly three million members—all because Allen let the past go and set us an example to follow. 

Do you ever dwell on some mistreatment you received in the past? If so, it’s time to let it go. God has great things for you to do. Obstacles can cripple or cause growth. It’s your choice. 

Biography.com. “Richard Allen.” Updated March 6, 2020. 

https://www.biography.com/religious-figure/richard-allen.

PBS. “Richard Allen.” Africans in America. Part 3. Accessed May 9, 2020. 

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p97.html.

June 28. Mike McNeill. Mike grew up with a dad who took him fly-fishing. But Mike knew that today in America, 50 percent of boys grow up in fatherless homes. Mike got involved in a group called Fathers in the Field, which pairs fatherless boys with Christian mentors. Today’s story is about how Mike got started with a boy we’ll call Dan.* 

Showing up—it’s often the way to break through. 

Dan was seventeen, older than boys usually accepted into the program, but Mike felt drawn to him. Since Dan was almost a man, Mike asked him to commit to three years of mentoring. And Dan agonized over the decision. 

Once Dan said yes, Mike was “all in.” But even after months of spending time together, the wall around Dan’s heart wore a Do Not Enter sign.  

“I don’t know if it’s going to work out with this kid,” Mike told his wife Maria. “He is so…broken down.” But Mike invited Dan to go fly-fishing. 

The afternoon before the fishing trip, Mike’s cell rang. He pulled into a parking space on the side of the post office and answered. It was Dan. 

Dan talked in overlapping circles. And Mike thought maybe Dan didn’t want to fish. He said they could do something else. But that didn’t fix whatever the problem was. The conversation was going nowhere. “Dan, what’s really up?” Mike asked. 

“Are you really going to pick me up tomorrow?” 

Mike sucked in a quick breath. It wasn’t that Dan didn’t want to go. It was how much he did want to go. Dan was afraid Mike wouldn’t show up. What should have brought excitement, anticipation, and joy had reawakened old fear. Memories of the million times he had been let down. 

Mike told Dan that nothing—short of death—would keep him away. He added that he believed God wanted them to go fishing, so he wasn’t worried about dying today.  

The next morning, it was still dark when Mike arrived at Dan’s condo. And he texted Dan to let him know he was outside: Come on out.  

But Dan didn’t respond. 

The neighborhood was quiet, and surely Dan’s family was still asleep. Mike walked to the front door and knocked softly.  

No answer. 

Mike hesitated only a minute before he rang the doorbell—repeatedly. Dan might not be all in, but Mike was in enough for both of them right now. He wasn’t walking away. He would wake up the whole house if he had to. 

Finally, Dan opened the door, his sun-streaked blond hair sticking up and sticking out. “I’m sorry. I forgot to set my alarm.” 

“It’s okay.” Mike understood what Dan hadn’t said. “I’ll wait in the car.” Dan had been afraid to set his alarm. Afraid Mike wouldn’t show. Afraid to risk disappointment again. Not setting his alarm was self-preservation. 

Twenty minutes later Dan appeared, climbed in, and they drove to Eleven Mile Canyon. Unloaded. Put on waders, boots, and fishing vests. 

One of the prettiest stretches of pristine water in Colorado, the Platte River flowed through a high rock canyon, and here Mike showed Dan how to cast. They fished up and down the river, but Mike was most excited to introduce Dan to his favorite spot—the place Mike’s dad had brought him as a kid. 

For a while, Mike and Dan cast below a little bit of a rapid—what fly-fishermen called a ripple. Then streaking lightning sent them scrambling for cover. Hunkered beneath a tree, they laughed and waited out the storm. 

That day Dan began to trust Mike. From then on, Mike invited Dan into his life, his family, and his heart. They did a lot of fun stuff together. They also faced Dan’s dark times: Drug addiction. Sexual addiction. Attempted suicide. Mike was always there—for a long time. And when Dan decided to follow Jesus, he asked Mike to baptize him—in their fishing hole on the Platt River. 

“But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him” (1 John 2:5 ESV ).  

Who in your life are you all in for? Showing up—it’s often the way to break through. 

Based on an interview with Mike McNeil, 2019. 

NFL. “Players: Mike McNeill.” Accessed May 9, 2020. http://www.nfl.com/player/mikemcneill/2530977/profile. 

*Dan is not the boy’s real name. 

Do You Want to Learn More About This Man? 

Today in America, 50 percent of boys grow up in fatherless homes. Fathers in the Field pairs fatherless boys with Christian mentors. 

In his book Every Man’s a Mentor, Sam Mehaffie defines a mentor as “a man willing to serve; to share his life with a boy; to be a role model, an encourager, a listener. Mentoring helps to develop good character traits in a boy: fairness, decency, self-sacrifice, respect, loyalty, service, responsibility, integrity, unselfishness, honor, and self-esteem. And, when a godly man mentors a boy, he is helping to build Christian character into that boy, and hopefully will introduce him to Christ. A Christian mentor is a man reaching out to a boy to help him reach his God-given potential.”