365 Christian Men | 365 Christian Men

October 17. JD Gibbs. JD was the oldest son of a famous man—Joe Gibbs, long-time coach of the NFL’s Washington Redskins.

JD laughed about the fact that as he was growing up, he rarely saw his dad unless it was on a football field or a racetrack. But as soon as the first grandchild came along—like magic—dad was finding reasons to visit every day.

When Joe left football, he and JD founded the Joe Gibbs NASCAR Racing team, and JD became the President. They started with seventeen employees and one racecar. As of 2019, there were 500 employees. Employees still talk about JD’s consistent positive attitude.

Honor others above yourselves, and watch the adventure unfold.

At the college of William & Mary, JD—popular and successful—believed that God was real, the Bible was true, and Jesus’s life and resurrection made JD’s life worth living.

Even in the dorm, where tempers, testosterone, and too much togetherness can get on a guy’s nerves, most of the guys got along, laughed, and hung out often.

But one guy on JD’s floor could get loud and obnoxious. He didn’t mean to, but his mere presence annoyed people. Some of the guys on the floor ignored this loud guy who stood out. If the dorm were a foot, this guy was a big toe that had been stomped.

But he had one thing in common with JD. He loved the Washington Redskins. Fanatically.

One day, JD’s dad, Joe Gibbs, the head coach of the Washington Redskins, came to the dorm to take his son out for lunch. Joe told JD he could ask a friend to come to lunch with them if he wanted.

Most young men would naturally think of their best buddy to invite. Others might think of a girl they wanted to impress. But not JD. He made his decision quickly. After more conversation in his dorm room, JD and Joe strode out into the dorm hall to make their way down to the parking lot.

The annoying guy was standing in the hall talking to the RA, with his back to JD and Joe. JD tapped him on the shoulder.

When the young man turned around, he stood face-to-face with his hero, Coach Joe Gibbs, owner of three Super Bowl victory rings, including the last Super Bowl in which the Redskins beat the Buffalo Bills thirty-seven to twenty-four.

JD asked, “Do you want to have lunch with me and my dad?”

For a minute, the young man didn’t even speak. But the excitement on his face said yes, yes, yes!

He finally whispered right out loud, “Yes.” And after a few seconds of silence, the young man began to pelt Joe Sr. with questions and loud praise.

JD chose to show this college dorm-mate kindness, without hidden motives. He wasn’t trying to impress anyone, and he wouldn’t earn any status points for taking him to lunch. JD knew this lunch would make this guy extremely happy. After that lunch, the two became friends.

Even though JD died at the early age of forty-nine, his short life displayed consistent love for God and others. He put others above himself no matter if he enjoyed their company or not.

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another about yourselves” (Romans 12:10 NIV).

Need some adventure in your life? Honor others above yourselves and watch the adventure unfold.

Game Plan for Life. “Average Joe: JD Gibbs.” February 24, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=YTXakdjdVk8&feature=youtu.be

Clarke, Liz. “J.D. Gibbs, son of Joe Gibbs and former NASCAR team president, dies at 49.” Washington, D.C.: The Washington Post, January 12, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/jd-gibbs-son-of-joe-gibbs-and-former-nascar-team-president-dies-at-49/2019/01/12/330283b2–1670–11e9–90a8–136fa44b80ba_story.html

Story read by: Nathan Walker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 16. Hugh Latimer. One of Latimer’s earliest memories was of when he was four. He remembered buckling his father’s armor before he went into battle. When Latimer was fourteen, he attended Cambridge University and became “ … a scrupulously observant Catholic priest.” He strongly opposed Martin Luther and the Reformation. And he was a popular preacher; he became chaplain to King Edward VI. But about himself, he said, “I was as obstinate a papist as any was in England.”

Then he met Thomas Bilney. They walked and talked, in fact they walked so much and so publicly, that the place they walked became known as “Heretics Hill.” At the White Horse Tavern, Latimer regularly met with men who held a reformed view of the church. Because so much Lutheran was talked there, the pub became known as “Little Germany.”

On this date in history in 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary, with a comrade named Ridley, Latimer was burned at the stake for opposing Catholicism. As the fire blazed, Latimer said, “Be of good comfort Master Ridley, and play the man: we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”

In Christ, even the weakest man is strong.

Latimer was devoted to school, to scholarship, and to his Church. He was a man of wit and stature, around thirty-years old, and admired by all at the University of Cambridge. Even his name had a certain celebrity ring to it.

But there was one thing Latimer was not. He was not part of the circle of believers at Cambridge, who had placed their faith in Christ alone. Some were scholars, and a few were faculty members, but in the eyes of Latimer the believers were weak and misguided heretics in need of repentance.

The believers met regularly to search the Scriptures. And Hugh sometimes joined them just to debate with them and to urge them to abandon their misguided notions. He even insulted Master Stafford, a professor, and encouraged the youth at the school to abandon the professor’s teachings.

Some people said Latimer was like Saul before he became the Apostle Paul—zealous for the laws and ordinances of the Church, but rallying against evangelical believers.

The leader of the group of believers was Thomas Bilney, a sickly-looking fellow, Latimer thought Bilney might be an easy target to defeat. But Bilney was a prayer warrior who got onto his knees and conquered men.

Bilney found a way to share his faith in Christ and make Latimer his captive audience. He asked Latimer to hear his private confessions.

Latimer assumed the straying prodigal was finally coming to his senses. Yes, of course he would hear the man’s confessions. All of his friends would give up their folly, as well, Latimer surmised.

But in private confession, Bilney shared how he had come to faith in Christ. He shared how he could not find the forgiveness he had sought by keeping the laws and precepts of the church. He had in fact, found no peace until he believed “Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.”

Latimer sat—dumbfounded. This is not what he had expected to hear. These were not the vain ramblings of a heretic. In fact, Latimer could feel his heart opening to the strange, new witness of the Holy Ghost speaking to him.Suddenly he was struck by the war he had waged against God, and he began to cry out loud.

Bilney tried to comfort him, “Brother, though thy sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.”

But Latimer was overwhelmed by the love of God in Christ, and he yielded to the truth and cast himself upon the Savior. The priest became the penitent! It was a miracle of God’s grace.

Latimer said afterward, “I learnt more by this confession than in many years before. From that time forward I began to smell the Word of God, and forsook the doctors of the schools and such fooleries.” He was a changed man.

The Bible promises: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9, NIV).

In Christ, even the weakest man is strong. The power of your testimony can set a person free. Be bold.

Merle d’Aubigne’, J.H. The Reformation in England. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1853.

Cairns, Earle E. Christianity Through the Centuries, A History of the Christian Church. p. 360. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1954.

“Bishops Ridley and Latimer Burned.” Christianity.com. May 3, 2010. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1501–1600/bishops-ridley-and-latimer-burned-11629990. html.

Hubbard, Scott. “The British Candle: Latimer and Ridley.” Accessed July 18, 2020. https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-british-candle.

Cavendish, Richard. “Latimer and Ridley, Burned at the Stake.” History Today. October 10, 2005. https://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/latimer-and-ridley-burned-stake.

Foxe, John. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. “Hugh Latimer.” London: Frederick Warne and Co., 1869.

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 15. William Cameron Townsend. When Cam—as he was known to friends and family—was a sophomore in college, he heard John Mott challenge students to dedicate their lives to the evangelizing the world. Cam signed up—but then he remembered. He was already in the National Guard and had planned to fight in World War I.

A friend persuaded him to meet Stella Zimmerman, a missionary on holiday, and Cam told her that he and his friend were heading off to war.

“You cowards!” she said. “Going to war where a million other men will go and leaving us women to do the Lord’s work alone! You are needed in Central America!”

That set Cam back. He petitioned the National Guard to release him to go oversees as a missionary, and they agreed. If God wants a door open, the door opens.

Cam went on to minister to the Cakchiquel Indians. On this date in 1929, Cam completed a Cakchiquel-language translation of the New Testament. He founded three organizations that promote Bible translation among minority-language groups: Wycliffe Bible Translators, the Summer Institute of Linguistics, and the Jungle Aviation and Radio Service. And when he was 72, instead of retiring, he went to Moscow and studied Russian. After all, the door was open.

Where God calls you, He will equip you. Work hard.

Through the jungles of Central America, William “Cam and his Indian guide Frisco traveled hundreds of trails together. They forged ahead in blinding dust storms, shivered in the rain under the jungle canopy, endured swarms of mosquitos and fleas, and—during the pandemic of 1918—suffered a severe case of the flu.

But in spite of the hardship, God prepared Cam to achieve something daring and new.

Not that he was particularly qualified. Cam had left college for a year of adventure in Central America to sell bibles. Then again, God often chooses the “unqualified” to do important work.

On the trail, Frisco told Cam about witchdoctors, who instilled superstition and fear among the Indians. Frisco described some clergy, who only showed up to perform rituals. Evangelical missionaries ministered mainly to the Spanish speaking, and nobody was reaching the Indians for Christ in their own language.

Frisco challenged Cam to become a missionary—a missionary who would do a new thing—reach the Cakchiquel Indians for Christ in their own tongue.

The more Cam contemplated the idea, the more he became convinced that was what God was calling him to do. One day, a Cakchiquel Indian asked Cam directly, “If your God knows everything, why can’t he speak my language?”

Cam didn’t have an immediate reply, but the answer was coming.

“Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:26–28 NIV).

One day the Cakchiquel would speak the Word of God in their own tongue.

Soon, on the strength of his own field experience, Cam was accepted as a missionary with Central American Mission. What he lacked academically, he made up for in dogged determination.

He had already been noting Cakchiquel expressions, and with his own savings and various donations, he started a small school for Indians. A believing Indian who spoke Spanish and Cakchiquel was hired to teach, while Cam concentrated on translation work and raising support.

When Cam struggled to unlock the mysteries of the Cakchiquel language, an archeologist advised him not to try to fit Cakchiquel into a Latin mold, but to learn it like the Indians do. So, Cam listened and asked countless questions of his Indian helpers.

Creating a written language meant learning the many complicated sounds of Cakchiquel. Cam also discovered the language was built upon root words, much like English, and that one verb might take on thousands of forms. He took hundreds of pages of notes until a complex pattern of language emerged. Incredibly, he was becoming a linguist.

Cam translated the first four chapters of Mark and had it printed. The Indians were thrilled. “God speaks our language,” they exclaimed. It wasn’t long before the adult Cakchiquel wanted to attend school, where they, too, could learn to read the bible.

It took ten years of painstaking work and inquiry, but step by step Cam completed the whole New Testament in the language of the Cakchiquel, and the methods he developed became a roadmap for Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics.

Do you see a need where God is calling you to make a difference? Where God calls you, He will equip you. Work hard.

Hefley, James and Marti Hefley. Uncle Cam, the story of William Cameron Townsend, founder of the Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Huntington Beach, CA: Wycliffe Bible Translators, 1984.

“Cameron Townsend Resolved to do God’s Will.” Christianity.com. May 3, 2010. https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1901–2000/cameron-townsend-resolved-to-do-gods-will-11630715. html.

“William Carmeron Townsend.” Missions Box. July 2, 2013. https://missionsbox.org/missionary-bio/william-cameron-townsend/.

Petersen, Matt and Borghy Holm. “William Cameron “Uncle Cam” Townsend (1896–1982).” Encyclopediaofarkansas.net. June 15, 2015. http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx? entryID=4453.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

Technically the manuscript was done by October 15, 1929 except for the last two words in Revelation. Cam wanted his parents to write in the last two words during a special dedication service.

“The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It needs no furlough and is never considered a foreigner.”

~William Cameron Townsend

“Understanding Scripture in a language other than the heart language in which we think and experience emotion is like trying to eat soup with a fork. You can get a little taste, but you cannot get nourished.”

~William Cameron Townsend

Story read by: Blake Mattocks

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

Leave a Comment

October 14. John Wesley. Wesley grew up in a Christian home—the fifteenth of the nineteen children of an Anglican pastor and a devout mother. He always thought of himself as a believer and became a priest. On this date in 1735, he sailed to the newly founded colony Georgia, but neither the colonists nor the native people took to his message. After two years, he sailed back to England.

In 1738, at a Moravian meeting, Wesley listened to preaching from Martin Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. Wesley wrote, that he had changed. “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

After that, Wesley was a man on fire for the Lord. He wanted to preach the truth, but the Anglicans were hostile to the point of closing their churches to him. So, Wesley became a traveling preacher. He stood 5-feet 6-inches-tall and weighed about 120 pounds, so he had to stand on a chair or platform to preach. Fifteen times a week, he preached—more than 40,000 sermons in all, and he traveled more than 250,000 miles during a time when many roads were muddy ruts.

Because he preached outdoors, he was able to reach many people that the Church of England had neglected. But still some crowds were hostile, and once a non-fan loosed a bull in the open-air congregation. It didn’t deter Wesley. He kept preaching for fifty years—his last sermon delivered four months before he died.

Even when we are faithless, God remains faithful.

Have you ever questioned God’s purpose for your life? John Wesley did.

On the surface, he modeled the life of a devout Christian minister. And he led the members of the church in a strict religious regimen. Their days included prayer, Bible study, weekly communion, and social ministries.

But on the inside, doubts about his own salvation plagued Wesley. He was afraid to die.

Wesley was called to be the priest in a new Savannah, Georgia parish. To get there, he had to cross the ocean on a three-month voyage to America. And he set sail in October 1735.

The first weeks on the ship went by without incident. But the fifth week of the journey, storms raged, and the ocean swelled. Grey clouds overshadowed the ship, and the whole sky blackened. Torrential rains pounded the deck and filled the air with the taste of salt water. Gale winds howled, and waves jolted the ship from side to side. Wesley tried to carry out his pastoral duties without showing his fear, but terror gripped his heart.

He wrote in his journal, “I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay, and believe myself, while no danger is near; but let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled.”

There was a group of German Christians aboard—the Moravians—and they gathered routinely to worship and to sing to the Lord. In January, horrible storms battered the ship for more than a week.

One storm arose in the middle of the Moravian’s worship service. When the storm split the mainsail, the English passengers screamed, and the sound was petrifying. But the Moravian missionaries went on singing to the Lord.

Later, Wesley asked Peter Bohler—one of the Moravian men—if the Moravians were afraid.

And Bohler answered, “I thank God, no.” Wesley asked if the women and children had been afraid, and Bohler replied the same. “Neither their women nor their children were afraid to die.”

Struck by their indomitable courage, Wesley was convinced the Moravians had a faith he did not have. And he hoped Peter Bohler would help him find that kind of faith.

Wesley thought saving faith had to be earned over time through human effort. But Bohler taught him that saving faith did not exist in degrees. He either had it, or he did not.

Bohler adamantly insisted Wesley needed to be purged of his works-based religious philosophy. And Bohler asked Wesley about Jesus.

“I know he is the Savior of the world,” was the best answer Wesley had to offer.

And Bohler told Wesley that he was still an unbeliever.

This left Wesley utterly confused. He reasoned that if he didn’t believe himself, he certainly couldn’t go on preaching to others. He resolved to cling to the truth of Scripture: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5–6 NIV). And Wesley purposed to put the question about preaching to Peter Bohler.

Bohler responded emphatically, “By no means” do not stop preaching.

Wesley said, “‘But what can I preach?’”

“[Bohler] said, ‘Preach faith till you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith.’”

Wesley believed that Bohler’s response confirmed God’s divine direction. He then determined to put his calling to the test.

Right away, Wesley started on this adventure. “Accordingly, Monday 6—two days later, I began preaching.” The first person to whom he offered salvation was a prisoner under the sentence of death. After praying with Wesley, the condemned man arose from prayer and exclaimed, “I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins, and there is no condemnation for me.”

From that point on, every Sunday Wesley could be found confidently preaching. As he shared the gospel with others, he continued his diligent search for the faith of the Moravians.

What might you attempt to do today if you knew without doubt, it was God’s determined purpose for your life? Even when we are faithless, God remains faithful.

Wesley, John. The Journal of John Wesley. April 12, 2010.

Wesley, John. A History of the Christian Church. “Chapter 7.” New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970.

Miller, Basil. “John Wesley.” Archive.Org. 1987. https://archive.org/stream/johnwesleymenoff00basi#page/58/mode/2up.

Story read by: Nathan Walker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 13. Abraham Kuyper. When Abraham was a boy, people thought him dull-witted, but he graduated university with honors and went on to earn a doctorate in theology. He was Prime Minister of the Netherlands and founded the Free University of Amsterdam, where he also served as president and professor of theology.

He established the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and became editor-in-chief of De Standaard. On this date in 1898, Abraham lectured on Calvinism at Princeton Theological Seminary. But he still had things to learn. Here’s the story.

Tradition can lead to stubborn thinking, but humility opens the way to the truth.

Abraham was a brilliant man—valedictorian in high school and summa cum laude university graduate—but as a young man, he had gotten hold of some false teaching.

Soon Abraham became the pastor of a village church in the Netherlands. Most of the church members were well taught in the Scriptures. They believed the Scriptures to be absolute truth and that every human being is in desperate need of God and His grace.

As the pastor, of course Abraham wanted to get to know his parishioners, so he visited them at their homes. One day, he visited a thirty-year-old woman, and he offered her his hand, but she refused to shake it.

He was a little taken aback, but he didn’t stop visiting her. He thought that eventually she would shake his hand. And soon she did.

But she never shook his hand without telling him exactly what she thought of him. She would shake his hand not because he was a brother in Christ, she told him, but rather she would do so because he was a fellow human being.

A fellow human being, but not a brother in Christ? He was, after all, the preacher of that congregation. Touched by this young woman’s sincerity, Abraham continued to visit her. She spoke honestly to him about his beliefs—the false teachings he had always held to, told him he was preaching a false doctrine and persuading others not to believe the truth of the Scriptures. He listened and humbly returned to her home again and again. She impacted his beliefs, his thoughts.

He took another look at his own heart and his own beliefs, and he realized they were void of something, and the more he spoke to this young woman and other parishioners like her, the more he came to the conclusion that instead of him teaching them something, they were teaching him.

God used these meek followers of Jesus to show him a new thing and to lead him to the truth of the Scriptures and the truth of who God is, and with that came a realization that Abraham needed God—Abraham couldn’t live without God.

This stayed with him for the rest of his life, and it’s sown like life-giving seed throughout his hundreds of lectures, essays, devotionals, and other writings that can be read and studied today.

“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor” (James 4:10 NLT).

The conviction of the Holy Spirit can lead us into all truth, if we’re willing to listen. And tradition can lead to stubborn thinking, but humility opens the way to the truth.

Heslam, Peter S. Dallas Baptist University. “Fact Sheet on Abraham Kuyper.” Accessed July 6, 2020. https://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/FactSheet_Abraham.pdf.

Hanko, Herman. Portaits of Faithful Saints. “Chapter 50 Abraham Kuyper: Dutch Calvinist.” Jenison, Michigah: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1999. Accessed July 6, 2020. http:// www.prca.org/books/portraits/kuyper.htm

Jackson, Wayne. “What Is Modernism?” ChristianCourier. Accessed July 6, 2020. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/299-what-is-modernism.

Kraby, Clayton. “The Five Points of Calvinism – Defining the Doctrines of Grace.” Reasonable Theology. Accessed July 6, 2020. https://reasonabletheology.org/five-points-calvinism-defining-doctrines-of-grace/.

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

Leave a Comment

October 12. Thomas Bilney. Thomas first found forgiveness through a translation of the Bible done by Erasmus.

As Thomas grew in faith, he studied the writings of William Tyndale, and Thomas spoke out every chance he got—He preached that every man had a right to read the Scriptures in his own language. In 1531, Thomas was burned at the stake. Here’s his story.

Faltering faith? God is the God of new beginnings.

Kindhearted Thomas found it hard to be kindhearted to himself. In a confused state of mind, he had made a compromising decision, and now he found himself imprisoned in a hellish self-reproach he thought he had left behind.

From his unremarkable beginning, Thomas grew up to be a well-mannered, studious, and scrupulous man. Born in Norfolk, England, he attended Cambridge University and became a priest, studying at Trinity Hall. But Thomas suffered privately, burdened under the weight of his own sin. No matter how obediently he kept God’s laws or observed the many rules and obligations of the church, it was never enough to satisfy his troubled soul.

At Cambridge, he learned of a new translation of the New Testament by Erasmus—but the Pope had forbidden the clergy to read it. Tormented by his need of salvation and searching for truth outside the strict parameters of the pope, Thomas smuggled the translation into his private chamber.

He read from Paul’s letter to Timothy: “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). Thomas thought, “I am also like Paul, the greatest of sinners, but Christ saves sinners.” This simple truth released him from the condemnation of the law.

When Thomas was able to trust the blood of Christ alone—his only hope—he became a changed man.

Thomas shared his faith with others freely. He even influenced the highly renowned Hugh Latimer, a fellow priest and gifted orator. But other priests began to see Thomas as a growing threat.

While preaching Christ, he denounced the worship of relics and saints and the need for making pilgrimages, and this rankled the other clergy. Thomas was arrested on May 28, 1527, and brought before the bishop’s court at Westminster. He had a choice: he could stop his controversial preaching or be burned at the stake until he was dead.

Under tremendous pressure from the authorities and his friends, Thomas wavered. If he saved his life, he could still serve God, he reasoned. In a weak and compromised state of mind, Thomas agreed to stop preaching, but they still convicted him as a heretic and imprisoned him for two years.

It was then, in the dungeon at St. Paul’s Cross, a deep and crippling despair returned to haunt Thomas. He barely found the courage to lift his eyes toward heaven. Yet God in his great mercy forgave him and reignited in him a new resolve to serve the Lord.

Thomas was filled with new determination. He renounced his former renouncement and was eager to make up for his wasted years in prison. He returned to preaching the simplicity of faith and began distributing Tyndale’s New Testaments printed in the language of the people.

As expected, Thomas was re-arrested and charged as a “re-lapsed heretic.” He was condemned to die at the stake in Norwich. In a sunken field called Lollard’s Pit, Thomas succumbed to the flames repeating the name “Jesus” and “I believe!”

Are you ready for a new beginning? God is the God of new beginnings.

D’Aubigné, J, H. Merle. “The Death of Thomas Bilney” Extracted from The Reformation of England. Volume 2. Article published July 20, 2001. https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/articles/2001/the-death-of-thomas-bilney/.

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 11. Robert Hamill Nassau. On this date in 1835, Nassau was born in Pennsylvania. But for forty-five years, he worked in various parts of Africa as a missionary, a medical doctor, a scientist, an explorer, a pioneer, and a prolific author.

Nassau sent large collections of cultural artifacts to the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton for study, and he was the first to send a gorilla carcass to the US. As of 1891, he was the only scientist to supply perfect gorilla brains for anatomists to study, and if you’re an anatomist, I guess that’s a big deal.

Nassau also wrote many thick volumes—with illustrations—about life in Africa, and the man translated the Bible into the language of West Equatorial Africa.

Fear can paralyze a man who lacks trust, but a Christ-follower can stifle fear.

Nassau lived among the native people of West Africa with his family and three groups: new native Christians, natives who liked the missionaries, and a group of natives who hated the missionaries and wanted to drive them out.

In his writing, Nassau referred to these unhappy natives as heathens, and he had to find creative ways to negotiate with them since they believed in spirits and curses and witchcraft.

One Friday afternoon, a group of heathens converged on the village and demanded the villagers charge the missionaries higher prices for their produce. Nassau had always been able to settle issues by open discussion, so he politely declined the price increase.

But Nassau’s quiet confidence infuriated the heathens. Immediately, they invoked the power of Ukuku and made a new law with three parts:

No more food should be sold to Nassau.

No native should work for him.

And Nassau would not be permitted to drink from his own spring on the mission premises.

The law of Ukuku was rooted in superstition and witchcraft, was created by a secret society of men, and was designed to cause fear and submission. So for a native to fetch water from the spring and bring it to the missionaries became a crime punishable by death.

The Christian natives who normally worked with Nassau were caught in a dilemma: they would have to defy Ukuku or break their agreement with Nassau. So he removed the conflict—he refused to ring the come-to-work bell.

“ … Staying away from the spring would seem to be bowing to a power which we had always preached against, which was based on a lie, and which stood in the eyes of the African as an idol … ,” Nassau said.

So the next morning, Nassau made a public demonstration against the Ukuku law. He went to the spring and drew up a bucket of water.

The spring was several hundred yards from Nassau’s house, through a winding jungle path. From a hiding place in the vegetation, a spy jumped out at Nassau and tried to knock the bucket away, but Nassau outmaneuvered him.

The spy viciously thrust his spear at Nassau’s back, but somehow, the point couldn’t touch Nassau. Neither the spy nor Nassau could see what had stopped the spear. And Nassau carried the water home in triumph.

“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!” (Psalm 46:1–3 NLT).

The young spy ran off to raise a mob, but his heart wasn’t in it. The demonstration of protective power “made the younger heathen see that they had gone too far. He rallied with the Christians” to protect the mission and even warned Nassau about the mob on its way.

Before Nassau could join his wife, the mob opened fire on the premises. Rapid shots were exchanged. Nassau crossed an open space to get to his wife and locked the door behind him.

“It was a short, angry, bloodless fight of less than twenty minutes, and Ukuku was defeated.”

“Side by side Mrs. Nassau and I knelt, and felt too deeply for words, that ‘God was our refuge, a very present help in trouble.’”

Looking back on the day, Nassau saw that the Christians of this village were becoming noble and courageous. God was rearranging the way the natives thought. Glory to God.

Do you let fear dictate your next move, or is your confidence in Jesus able to silence that fear? Fear can paralyze a man who lacks trust, but a Christ-follower can stifle fear.

Nassau, Robert Hamill. Crowned in Palm-Land. Philadelphia: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 1874.

Nassau, Robert Hamill. Corisco Days. Philadelphia: Allen, Lane & Scott, 1910, pp. 88–91.

Nassau, Robert Hamill. Fetichism in West Africa: Forty Years’ Observation of Native Customs and Superstitions. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1904, p. 275.

Story read by: Blake Mattocks

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 10. Chris Green. Chris used to work for FedEx. Now—all around the world—he rescues children.

He founded Vision for the Children, International (VFTCI), which provides proactive and preventative care for at-risk children and their families. Because more than 80% of the 150 million UNICEF orphans in the world actually have a living parent, VFTCI finds ways to change the conditions that force parents to abandon their children.

Chris’s group operates Transitional Living Centers for abandoned mothers with children and provides safe, healthy after-school programs. They also reach out by means of Kids’ Club programs, village outreach ministries, and various summer and holiday programs. On this date in 2018, Chris purchased computers for 400 at-risk kids in northern India.

When God calls, get set for a powerful adventure.

In a village in northern India, a computer classroom sat empty. The walls, painted a bright blue, boasted power strips above the hand-built desks. Christ-followers had established the school for the 400 children, and the community was grateful for quality education.

But there were no funds for computers that would prepare their students for success beyond the school walls. Staff, students, and teachers prayed for computers.

On the other side of the world in Colorado, Chris Green returned from launching a computer lab in southern India.

(Eight years before, God had called him and his wife Monique out of their “comfortably numb” American life to adopt two Ukraine siblings, and Chris and Monique had responded. Then God told Chris that was just the beginning. Would Chris say yes when God called again? Chris swallowed hard. “Whatever it is you ask me to do, I’ll say yes,” Chris said, “no matter how uncomfortable it is.” That’s when God prompted Chris to start VFTCI, a non-profit that serves at-risk kids around the world, and Chris said yes.)

Now, after eight years of working full-time as a manager at FedEx^® and simultaneously leading VFTCI, Chris faced burn-out. It felt like he could never do enough.

In April, as he considered shutting down VFTCI, a church friend asked Chris and Monique to host Aarav, an Indian man scheduled to speak. Chris said yes.

And he was immediately drawn to Aarav’s quick smile. Like Chris, Aarav was on a powerful adventure to help at-risk kids. Chris told him that the organization focused on connecting at-risk kids to a loving community through Computer Learning Centers (CLCs).

The men enjoyed the visit and parted. In early summer Aarav learned about the school in northern India, who—for nearly three years—had been praying for computers.

And Aarav called Chris.

Seeing God making connections like this energized Chris. The school needed $6,000 for computers. Aarav was soon going to India on business, so he volunteered to oversee the installation, saving VFTCI the expense of putting someone on the ground in India.

But where would Chris get the funds?

VFTCI didn’t have the money, but Chris had promised that if God led, he would respond, so Chris gave Aarav $1000 seed money. And Chris tried to raise the additional $5,000, but the money didn’t come. He felt confused.

God nudged again. Donating more to the computer lab meant trusting God as bills came due in the months ahead. Chris sent an additional $2,000. VFTCI received a $1,500 grant and a $1,000 donation, so VFTCI’s needs were met!

But Chris still needed $3,000 to fully fund the computer lab. Discouraged, Chris told Aarav to get whatever computers he could—maybe 6 or 8 of the 16 the school needed. He waited to see what God would do.

In India now, Aarav and the school reconfigured how the computers would be used. They could run the lab with only 10 computers. There wasn’t enough money for 10, but Aarav would do what he could. When he went to buy the computers, he negotiated a deal: all 10 computers for $2,800, $200 less than VFTCI had sent!

Five days later the CLC launched. Three-pronged cords filled the once-empty electrical sockets, brought computers to life, and the bright-blue computer lab now teamed with excited children connecting to the wide world.

When Aarav told Chris, he was overjoyed. A weight fell away. His responsibility was to say yes to God’s prompting, not to carry the weight of the needs.

“It’s mind-boggling,” Chris said. “When I was at my lowest, wanting to quit, God did miraculous things for kids through VFTCI. I don’t go out searching for these things. But God brings them.”

Chris posted this scripture where he could see it often. “The smallest family will become a thousand people, and the tiniest group will become a mighty nation. At the right time, I, the LORD, will make it happen” (Isaiah 60:22 NLT).

Have you heard God calling? Are you ready to say yes? When God calls, get set for a powerful adventure.

Based on interviews with Chris and Monique Green.

Story read by: Joel Carpenter

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

Story written by: Abigail Schultz, https://www.instagram.com/abigail_faith65/

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 9. John Peters. John is a successful entrepreneur, who has built and sold multiple businesses. Every business is started with one idea in mind: to sell it. In 2018, he sold a large national-service company and has experienced success.

And not just in the US, but globally. With a handpicked team, he also invests on other continents. The goal: to fund, train, and mentor Christian entrepreneurs.

John has helped fund building projects in The Middle East and Asia that are having a global impact and reaching tens of thousands. It was only John was personally challenged by God’s principles for finances that his vision for God’s purposes became far-reaching, even global.

Having already learned some hard lessons about self-centered success, John was now ready to surrender. Here’s his candid admission.

Amassing wealth can enslave a man, but using it the way God wants, gives a man’s life purpose.

At 28, John had a high-finance job, a Midtown-Manhattan apartment, and a family—complete with a nanny.

But when he and his wife were expecting their third child, John was working a 70-hour week. Each time he left for a business trip, their son began to stutter. John loved his family and wanted more family time.

So they moved out of the city and bought a growing equipment-rental company. John could grow a business and build a family life. He was capable. Smart. Determined. But, while John sometimes prayed, and his family did attend church, he didn’t invite God into his business plan.

A year and a half later, with an expanding company in need of ongoing investment, John cashed out his retirement and home equity—and was in debt more than a million dollars. Three months behind on his mortgage payment, he had little income.

Since John managed the household finances, he didn’t tell his wife. He would shield her. He would protect her. He would carry the stress alone. He was in control. He would figure it out.

One Wednesday night, a visiting missionary told how he had struggled, especially when money was tight, to give tithes and offerings to God. But he gave, and God consistently provided for his needs. Everything belonged to God. And money given for God’s purposes made a difference in the world.

John had been raised to give a portion of his income to God, but he hadn’t tithed in years. “Money was a mirror for what was going on in my heart,” John said. “In my pride I wanted to be successful because of me.” His finances reflected his need for control.

On Thursday, while John was at work, his pregnant wife phoned, and she was crying. While grocery shopping with their three children, all four of her credit cards were declined.

John reeled. He had told himself everything was okay. They were building equity. He could handle it. But now the person he loved most couldn’t even buy groceries. He was out of options.

On Friday, John prayed, “I’ve been trying to do this myself. I thought I was smart enough. But I give up.” In his wallet was $300 for car insurance. If he had been tithing, it was about the amount John would have given that month. John decided to give it to God. “I’m going to let You figure this out,” he prayed.

On Sunday, John gave God all his cash. It was his way of saying God was in charge.

On Monday morning, a man who had found John’s company on the internet contacted him. When a deal had fallen through, the man was stuck with 1,000 units of used specialty equipment.

Desperate to sell, the man offered them at a low price. John, who had always bought new, usually paid ten times the amount. He had had no idea this small niche existed.

God had brought an opportunity that changed everything. Excited, John borrowed money from his parents and purchased the equipment. In that market, his company became almost the only buyer of used equipment. And he never bought new again.

Though the company’s rental revenue per unit remained the same, costs decreased by 92%. So as John’s business grew, his finances quickly recovered.

Sixteen years later, when the business sold for a significant profit, it had locations in twenty-one US cities. Sales had increased by twenty-seven times.

John hadn’t created wealth on his own. God had given him great opportunities. Luke 12:48 became his heartbeat. His family enjoyed wealth, and wealth allowed them to give much.

“For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:48 NKJV).

After the family spent three weeks with missionaries in the Philippines, they embraced a specific purpose: “to equip and encourage missionaries.”

When John started his first business, he had worked for his own glory. But now, John says, “God gets the glory because without Him we would have failed.”

If you hold a mirror to your finances, what do you see? Amassing wealth can enslave a man, but using it the way God wants, gives a man’s life purpose.

Based on an interview with John Peters,* September 10, 2019.

*pseudonym

Story read by: Chuck Stecker

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

October 8. George Washington Carver. Carver was an American professor, agricultural scientist, and inventor. When he was young, he was known as “the plant doctor.” He told about when he was a young boy and said, “Often … people … would say to me, ‘George, my fern is sick. See what you can do with it.’… At this time I had never heard of botany and could scarcely read.” But he got the plants healthy again.

Carver went on to invent many important things, including 300 peanut-related products, but sought only three patents. He actively promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. He appeared before the House Ways and Means Committee and provided vital information that well served southern farmers. Carver was the most prominent Black scientist of the early 20th century.

He connected with Booker T Washington, Henry Ford, President Franklin Roosevelt, and Mahatma Gandhi. And when Thomas Edison offered Carver a six-figure job, Carver turned it down. And on this date, in 1896, he arrived to teach at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute—and nobody was talking about six figures.

The true measure of a man’s success is found in his willingness to serve others.

Carver stared at the invitation to join the faculty of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama. It was the first major educational institution in the South to hire Black faculty, and its goal was to develop Black leaders. But Carver had no desire to return to the South.

He re-read Booker T. Washington’s letter. “I cannot offer you money, position, or fame.… These things I now ask you to give up. I offer you in their place: work—hard, hard work, the task of bringing a people from degradation, poverty, and waste to full manhood. Your department exists only on paper, and your laboratory will have to be in your head.”

Carver had fought hard to get where he was: the first Black man to earn a master’s degree from Iowa State College. And he now served on its faculty—the first Black college instructor in the whole state of Iowa. He had overcome isolation, hunger, and discrimination and struggled for years to gain acceptance based on his achievements, not the color of his skin.

But the invitation haunted him. He thought about a Scripture he had loved even before he could read, one his foster-mother Susan Carver had taught him. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

The students of Tuskegee Institute, just one generation from slavery, were technically free, but society—and the students’ own perceptions—held them back. Who would teach them that, as God’s treasured creations, they were free to dream? Who saw and encouraged their talents? Their curiosity? Carver sensed God’s call to Tuskegee. This decision wasn’t only about logic. It was also about living out his faith in service to God and others. This was the true measure of success.

Carver accepted the new job, where he employed all the knowledge he had gained, not only in his education, but also in his years of struggle.

He turned a swamp into an agricultural-testing site and developed a lab from items he had found in trash heaps. He conducted experiments on top of teaching science and agriculture; he also taught weekly Bible studies. He wanted his students to see themselves as valued children full of potential—potential that, when surrendered to their Creator, could take them beyond their dreams and help them serve others.

Farmers—both Black and white—succeeded using Carver’s methods. He taught crop rotation and explained that planting sweet potatoes and legumes—like peanuts—would return needed nutrients to worn-out cotton fields.

When the farmers didn’t know what to do with the peanuts they grew, Carver developed more than 300 uses for them. When he had arrived at Tuskegee in 1896, the peanut was not a recognized US crop, but by 1940, it had become one of the six leading crops in the nation.To better serve farmers, Carver designed a traveling classroom in a wagon, so representatives from Tuskegee could go directly to the farms.

Though Booker had not promised him fame, fame came to Carver anyway. By 1905, most people in America and across the world knew the name George Washington Carver. (He took Booker’s last name for his middle name.)

As Carver’s success grew, people sometimes urged him to update his lifestyle—including his wardrobe and living arrangements—but Carver told them it didn’t matter how much money people had in the bank or what type of automobile they drove. “These mean nothing,” he said. “It is simply service that measures success.”

How do you measure success? The true measure of a man’s success is found in his willingness to serve others.

O’Connor, Allison. “Tuskegee University (1881- ).” Blackpast. Published October 27, 2009. https://blackpast.org/aah/tuskegee-university-1881.

Collins, Ace. Stories Behind Men of Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. Chapter Seven.

“George Washington Carver.” Science History Institute. Updated December 4, 2017. https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/george-washington-carver.

Would You Like to Learn More About This Man?

Want to share Carver’s story with your children or grandchildren? See George Washington Carver by Andy Carter and Carol Saller (Millbrook Press, 2001).

Story read by: Daniel Carpenter

Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter

Audio production: Joel Carpenter

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

Project manager: Blake Mattocks

Leave a Comment

Inspirational Stories Of Real Men

SPONSOR

Spotlight Podcast:
Samuel Cathy, U.S., Businessman

Podcast: 365 Christian Men