I am a retired teacher who wrote 7 photocopiable books for Teachers and one book for children Union Jack Colouring Book.
The 7books covered Geography, History (Medieval/ Tudor/ Stuart), Travel and Transport, Myself and Events (this included diaries), Race Against Time Stories (SATS based), Church Dates for Children plus Nature and Seasons (including Sport). These 7 books have been mainly broken into a number of segments.
Challenging the Physical Elements, my Geography book, is complete.
I am a retired teacher who wrote 7 photocopiable books for Teachers and one book for children Union Jack Colouring Book.
The 7books covered Geography, History (Medieval/ Tudor/ Stuart), Travel and Transport, Myself and Events (this included diaries), Race Against Time Stories (SATS based), Church Dates for Children plus Nature and Seasons (including Sport). These 7 books have been mainly broken into a number of segments.
Challenging the Physical Elements, my Geography book, is complete.
Gregory A. Boyd has been listed as one of the top 20 most influential Christians of the 20th century.
As a child he went to a Roman Catholic school where he was taught by nuns. In his testimony he thinks the nuns tagged him as ’ a demon child’.
In June, shortly after his 17th birthday, he went to a revival meeting. A young female student, after her sermon, did a timid altar call. *I rushed forward, It was then that I finally surrendered my life to Christ. *
Degrees
He received from the University of Minnesota a B.A. (1979). From Yale Divinity School he received his M. Div. (1982). From Princeton Theological Seminary he received his Ph,D (1988)
For 16 years he was professor of theology at Bethel University there he received the Teaching Excellence Award and Campus Leadership Award.
In 1992 he co-founded Woodlands Hills Church (WHC, an evangelical mega church in St Paul’s Minnesota. He is senior pastor there and weekly speaks to 1000s .
In 2000 he founded Christus Victor Ministries (CMV) , a non profit organization that promotes his writing and speaking ministry outside WHC
Greg is an internationally recognized theologian, preacher, teacher, apologist and author. He has authored or co-authored 22 books and numerous academic articles. His best selling book is Letters from a Sceptic.
He has appeared on the front page of The New York Times. He has been heard on the radio and seen on the television.
His main vision is to help the Church become the Kingdom of outrageous loving servants God called it be, and for non-believers to discover the transforming power of Jesus Christ.
In 2010 Greg was listed as one of the 20 most influential * living* scholars.
I have include part of Greg’s testimony - page 1 school, page 10 conviction
(For full testimony go - reknew.org/ 2007/12/testimony/Greg Bond)
Sources used
REKNEW
The work of the People
wikipedia
Granville Oral Roberts was born in Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, USA. He was a Choctaw American Charismatic Christian televangelist ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is recognized as the godfather of the charismatic movement and was one of the most recognized preachers in the USA at the height of his fame. He founded the Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association (OREA) and University (ORU).
He was the fifth and youngest child of Revd. Ellis Melvin and Claudia Priscilla Roberts. He was of Cherokee descent. He began life in poverty and nearly died of tuberculosis aged 17. He a conversion experience in 1935
He studied for 4 years, 2 at Oklahoma Baptist University, 2 at Phillips University.
In 1938 he married Evelyn Lutman Fahnestock -they were married for 66 years.
He left college without a degree and became a travelling faith healer. He made a name for himself by using a mobile tent which sat 3,000 on metal folding chairs.
(TIME magazine 1972)
Oral spent 12 years as a pastor in several towns in the South and built up his own organization, the Pentecostal Holiness Church (PHC).
1947 was a turning point. He read *I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth * 3 John v 2 .
He resigned from PHC to found OREA. He conducted evangelistic and faith healing crusades across the USA and around the world, claiming he could raise the dead. Through the years he held over 300 crusades on 6 continents and personally laid hands on more than 2 million people. At its peak he was leader of a $120 million a year organization, employing 2,300 people
In 1963 he founded OTU in Tulsa.First students arrived in 1965. Prayer Tower opened in 1967
Oral was a pioneer televangelist. The radio in 1947, the television in 1954
Golden Eagle Broadcasting was founded in 1996. By 1957 The Abundant Life reached 80% of the USA.
In 1977 Oral had a vision of a 900 foot Jesus to build a hospital. The City of Faith Medical and research Center opened in 1981. Losing money it closed in 1989. Today the orthopedic Hospital of Oklahoma operates on the site.
Oral fund raising was controversial. In 1987 he announced to a televison audience that God would ‘call him home’ - he would die - if he did not raise enough money. Jerry Collins as a result denoted $1.3 million.
Oral died of complications from pneumonia, in 2009 aged 91, He had semi-retired and was living in Newport Beach, California.
Oral was one of the most well known American religious leaders of the 20 th century.His preaching emphasized seed-faith His ministries reached millions of followers world wide. According to one authority his ministry’s influence was second only to that of Bill Graham.
Source
wikipedia
New York Times
Gregory K. Beale, also known as G.K. Beale was born in Dallas, Texas, USA
He studied at Southern Methodist University, Dallas Theological Seminary and the University of Cambridge.
He worked at Grove City College (1980-4), Gordon- Conewll Theological Seminary (1984- 2000), Wheaton College (2000-10). Currently he is Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary (2010+).
He is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.
Gregory has made a number of contributions to conservative biblical hermeneutics especially in the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament.
He served as the president of the evangelical Theological Society in 2004.
2013 he was elected to be the first occupant of the J. Gresham Machen Chair of New Testament by the Westminster Theological Society.
Definitions
hermeneutics -the science of interpretation, especially of scripture
the branch of theology that deals with the principles and methodology of exegesis
exegesis - explanation or critical interpretation of the text
William was born in Kentucky near Burksville. His family were so poor he wore his winter coat in the classroom because he had no shirt.
At an early age he heard a voice say Do not drink or smoke or defile your body in any way, for when you are older I’ll have work for you to do. This frightened him so much he ran away as fast as he could.
He struggled with what to do. His brother Edward died and he began to seek Him. He was seriously ill in hospital when he heard the same voice say 3 times I called you would not go. William replied, if you let me live I’ll preach the gospel.
The next day he felt better. After he left hospital he looked for a church. He found a disciple church which believed in the baptism of the Spirit. He was anointed and instantly healed.
He was now on fire. For 6 months he cried out for baptism of the Holy Spirit. God’s presence came upon him in a mighty way. He felt called to preach and to heal. Aged 24 he began to hold tent meetings. Many people were converted.
He had visions about the rise of Nazism, Facism and Communism.
He built an independent Baptist church in Jeffersonville, Indiana. These were happy years, he got married and they had 2 children
Things started to go wrong. He turned down the chance to become a travelling evangelist withe Pentecostals. The church began to fail. Tragically his wife and one of their daughters were killed in the Ohio River flood of 1937.
He worked as a game warden and a logger and occasionally preached. He married Meda and they had 3 children.
7th May, 1946 he had a visitation from an angel . He was told he was a seer prophet in 2 ways - he would be able to detect illness and to see sins in their life they need to repent of.
William immediately started his healing ministry. He started in St. Louis and it would eventually spread all over the USA. Jack Moore took William to several churches across the USA. Gordon Lindsay became his campaign manager. The meetings were so dramatic they began the magazine and organization named The Voice of Healing. F.F. Bosworth joined them.
These meetings kicked off the healing revival that began in 1947 and continued throughout the 1950s. William was the first and best known but A.A. Allen, Jack Coe and Oral Roberts played their part. William took international trips abroad.
In 1955 things started to go wrong again. William lived an extremely simple life but the IRS settlement showed he owed $40,000 in back taxes.
By 1957 an exhausted William refused to do large meetings. Some of his teaching was being regarded as heretical., In the last years of his life he ministered in Arizona to support his family
In 1965 William died 5 days after a fatal, head on collision, on 24th December.
I have included a definition of Voice of Healing Revival
Sources used
A Man Sent by God
Healing and Revival Press
Evangelical times
Believe the Sign
wikipedia
Jack. aged 9, was placed in an orphanage by his overwhelmed mother. He left the orphanage when he was 17. He began to drink and gamble.
1941 Jack joined the army - that’s probably where he was ‘born again’. He attended church services every evening and as a result was persecuted by his fellow soldiers. A sergeant sent him to see a psychiatrist - they concluded he wasn’t a danger to himself or or others.
1944 left the army and was ordained minister of the Assemblies of God (A of G) in Springfield, Missouri.
Jack was a large man with a dynamic platform presence. The boldness of the Spirit of God was evident in his blunt to the point, frank, sometimes overbearing direct preaching style, which communicated with the masses. They walked out of his meetings full of faith for tomorrow
He brought healing to the sick. After a song he would grab those in wheelchairs by the hand and jerk them up out of their chairs. The proof that God was with him was they walked away healed.
Jack went to an Oral Roberts revival meeting and decided he wanted a bigger tent that Roberts. He bought the largest tent in the world- it held 22,000 seats.
Jack shared a testimony of a time when he asked God to fill one of his tents.
He prayed, God, you can fill this tent. The reply was, Give all the glory to Jesus Christ, and I will bless you and cause you to grow and prosper.
1950 he published The Herald of Healing magazine. Within 6 years it was being delivered to 360,000 readers. He opened a children’s orphanage.
1953 A of G expelled Jack- in their opinion he had become too independent and extreme.
He built one of the largest churches in Dallas - the Dallas Revival Center in just 2 years. This he was now his home base and center of his ministry activities.
1956 he set up his tent in South Florida. 1000s attended . Miami’s officials heard he was praying for the sick without a medical license - they put Jack in jail! In a packed courthouse he won the case.
The same year Jack died of polio while preaching in Hot Springs , Arkansas. Jack died on 16th December, he was only 39.
Dr. Kenneth Hagin Sr. , founder of the Word of Faith Movement said * Jack Coe had the strongest healing anointing of anyone in my life time.
Definition of Voice of Healing Revival included in notes
Sources used
Voice of Healing evangelist
What was the voice of Healing Revival?
Merrill Unger was a Biblical commentator, scholar, archaeologist and theologian.
He was well known as a Biblical archaeologist and encyclopedist.
( See notes for definitions)
Early in his career he was identified as a Baptist, but later attended the Independent Fundamentalist Churches of America.
Education
He began his college education at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky bu transfered to the Evangelical Theological College - later Dallas Seminary. His Th. D dissertation was published as Biblical Demonology (1952) . His Th.M thesis was published as The Baptizing of the Holy Spirit (1953). His Ph.D dissertation was published as Israel and the Arameans of Damascus (1957)
Professional Life
He served at Buffalo and New York as a pastor. He taught for a year at Gordon college. From 1948-1967 he was professor of O.T. Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He then became professor emeritus.
In retirement he led Bible conferences and wrote on O.T. , theological and practical topics. He published Demonology in the World Today (1971. Merrill in his life time wrote more than 40 books.
Personal Life
On retiring due to health concerns and loss of his first wife he returned to Maryland. With Pearl, his second wife, they bought ’ Birdhaven’. Merrill died in 1980.
I have included information about Biblical archaeologist and encyclopedism.
Sources
wikipedia
Biblio.co.uk
Asa Alonzo Allen was born in Sulphur Rock, Arkansas on 27th March 1911. His parents were alcoholics and he grew up in dire poverty. For extra money he would busk on the streets. Aged 14 he ran away. He tok rides, hopped freight trains and did odd jobs.
IN 1934, now in his early 20s , he heard joyous singing, as he drove by the Onward Methodist Church in Miller, Missouri. Curious he went in to hear a woman evangelist preaching. He went the next night and committed his life to Jesus. He began to turn his life around. He met and married Lexie Scriven in 1936. He came in contact with Pentecostalism and during a home meeting became filled with the Spirit.
He decided he wanted to become a minister and affiliated with the relatively new Assembly of God. He chopped wood to make enough money to travel to small towns and preach. This was the time of the Depression - money came in very slowly.
Holly, Colorado was his first pastorate. He was officially ordained a minister of the Assembly of God. He prayed and fasted and God met him. He was given 13 things he needed - many of them focused on total consecration on God.
He left Colorado and began to hold meetings as a singing,healing evangelist.
In 1947 he became pastor at Corpus Christi, Texas - he wanted to settle down with his wife and 4 children. The church blossomed. He wanted a radio ministry- it was turned down.
In 1949 he went to an Oral Robert’s tent healing revival .He knew that was what God had called him to do. 1950 left his pastorate and began having evangelistic meetings. People were being healed, as he preached, where they sat.
1951 he bought first tent. 1953 on the radio in USA and beyond. 1955 stopped for drunk driving - was he drunk? Local church wanted him to pull out for a while -he resigned.
A.A. Allen continued as an independent minister. He started his own * Miracle Magazine* by the end of 1956 there were 340,000 subscribers. Started the Miracle Revival Fellowship aimed at ordaining ministers and supporting missions. His style which had always been aggressive became increasingly .
Healing ministries began to pull back. He was donated land and dubbed it Miracle Valley and in 1960 built a 4,000 seat church on the land. He also built Miracle Valley Bible College and planted more than 400 churches,
He helped pioneer revival in the Philippines where he repeatedly preached to more than 50,000 people during each service.
In the year he died he wrote his autobiography titled Born to Lose, Bound to win with co-author Walter Wagner.
A.A. Allen was only 59 when he died. He was found dead,sitting in a chair in front of the TV, in San Francisco on 11th June 1970.
They called A.A. Allen the Miracle Man. His Holy Ghost rallies would see 12,000 people receive baptism of the Holy Spirit in a single service.
Sources
healing and Revival
The New York Times
wikipedia
Frederick Fyvie Bruce, usually referred to as F. F. Bruce, is known world wide as the ‘Dean of Evangelical Scholarship’.
F.F. Bruce was born in Elgin, Moray, Scotland .His father was a Christian Plymouth Brethren preacher. He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, Gonvilla and Caius, College Cambridge and the University of Vienna.
F.F. Bruce was in Christian fellowship at various places during his life , but his primary commitment was to the Open brethren among whom he grew up.
He began his career by teaching Greek at the Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds. He then became Head of the Department of Biblical History and Literature at the University of Sheffield in 1947. In 1959 he moved to Manchester University to become Rylands Professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis. There he stayed until he retired from teaching in 1978.
F.F. Bruce wrote over 40 books and served as editor of both the The Evangelical and Palestine Exploration Quarterly.
His first book New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? (1943) was voted in 2006, by Christianity Today , as one of the top 50 books ‘which have shaped evangelicals.’*
He was a scholar on the life of Paul the apostle and wrote several studies. Paul: Apostle of the Free Spirit, in the USA Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free, is the best known. He wrote commentaries on many of the books in the New Testament. He also wrote popular works on the Bible.
J.I. Packer said - No Christian was ever more free of narrow bigotry , prejudice and eccentricity in the views he held and the way he held them; no man did more to demonstrate how evangelical faith and total academic integrity may walk hand in hand.
F.F. Bruce, a British biblical scholar, who supported the historical reliability of the N.T., was one of the most influential evangelical scholars of the second half of the 20th century.
Bruce was an American scholar, Bible translator and textual critic, He was for many years the professor of Princeton Theological Seminary(PTS). He served on the board of the American Bible Society and United Bible Societies.
At Princeton Theological Seminary he gained a ThB (1938), M.A. (1940), PhD (1942). His PhD. was for Studies in Greek Gospel Lectionary (Greg. 303)
On 11 th April 1939 he was ordained in the United Presbyterian Church of North America - now Presbyterian Church (USA)
In 1944 he married Isobel Elizabeth Mackay and he was promoted to Assistant Professor. 1948 Associate professor. 1954 Full Professor. 10 years later he was named George L. Collard Professor of New Testament Language and Literature.
In the 1970s he became president of a number of Societies.
In England he was the visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge(1974) and Wolfson College. Oxford (1979).
In 1978 he had been elected corresponding fellow of the British academy- the highest distinction for a non resident of the U.K…
An eminent authority on translating the New Testament from the original Greek he was best known for directing 30 scholars for over 10 years on the new Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible. Archaic language was removed/eliminated. In 1990 this replaced RSV of 1952.
In 1984,aged 70, after 46 years teaching at PTS he retired as Professor Emeritus.
He continued to receive honorary doctorates after his retirement. He continued to write for many years, his last book was published in 2006.
Shortly after his 93rd birthday Bruce died - 13th February 2007. He died in Princeton, New Jersey.
Bruce was one of the most influential new testament scholars of the 20th century.
Sources
Theopedia
Princeton Alumni Weekly
wikipedia
Robert was an American Baptist minister and relief worker. He is best known as the founder of the international charity organizations Samaritan’s Purse (1970) and the World Vision International founded 20 years earlier (1950
Robert was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa. He went to Pasadena Nazarene college and studied for the ministry. For 3 years (1937-1940) he spent his time working as an evangelist across California. 1940 ordained minister and became involved with the Los Angeles branch of WW11 era ’ Youth for Christ’ movement.
After WW11 he went to with the Youth for Christ movement to China. H e was very successful with youth rallies and evangelical campaigns. It was evident that the grace of God was powerful upon his life. It was heady stuff for a young evangelist.
H e was just as successful in Korea. He rose at 6.30 am, worked through the day and preached at 7.30 pm. In a single day he would speak to 4-6,000 people and see 100s committed to Christ.
He witnessed the destruction of hospitals, schools. churches and homes. While there,in 1950, he met Tens Hoelkeboer. She presented him with a battered and abandoned child and asked, What are you going to do about her? Robert gave her his last 5 dollars and agreed to pay the same amount monthly.
Deeply affected a compassion and concern for orphans burned powerfully through him. He founded World Vision International (WVI) in 1950. An organization that focused on the physical needs of the poor in third world nations. Between 1955-64 he became one of the top 10 . He resigned from WVI in 1967.
In 1970 he founded Samaritan’s Purse which was modelled on the early WVI.
Robert died in 1978 from leukemia, four days after a last family reunion.
Today WVI is active in nearly 100 countries, with revenue through grants, product and foreign donations of $2 billion (2017).
Today Samaritan’s Purse, now headed by Billy Graham’s son Franklin through its Operation Christmas Child has delivered 135 million shoe boxes with gifts for needy children is ranked number 4 in the world of charity.
Sources used
*Man of Vision
* written by his daughter Marilee
World Vision International
Spirit of Grace Ministries
wikipedia
Gleason was a biblical scholar, theologian, educator and author.
He was born in Norwell, Massachusetts and became a Christian at a young age through the influence of his mother, Elizabeth.
He received an LL.B from Suffolk Law School in 1939 and the same year admitted to the Massachusetts bar. Gleason Archer Sr. was the founder of the school.
He attended both Harvard University (BA.,M.A., PhD) and Princeton Theological Seminary (BD).
His first pastoral role was at Park Street Church in Boston (!945-8). He then became Professor of Biblical Languages at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena (1948-65) He then served as Professor of Old Testament and Semitics at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Illinois (1965-86). He became an emeritus faculty member in (1989-91). The reminder of his life was spent researching, writing and lecturing.
At Princeton he studied Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic. He taught languages at Suffolk University in Boston. Some have estimated that he spoke about 30 languages which must have helped when he was translating.
He was also an assistant pastor at Park Street church in Boston and assistant dean of the Boston Evening School of the Bible. In the Netherlands he was the visiting Professor of the Old Testament at Tyndale Theological Seminary.
In 1971 he was one of the 50 original translators of the New American Standard Bible (NASB). He also worked on the New International Version (NIV) in (1978).
A number of summers were spent translating. His family went with him on these trips which took him to Scotland, Greece, Spain and Belgium.
Gleason did a great deal of other translations, wrote a number of books and had many articles published in magazines. ( See para. 5 of Memorials and Books)
He was the 57th charter member of the Evangelical Theological Society - joined 28th February 1950- president in 1986.
Gleason passed into the presence of the Lord on 27th April 2004, aged 87. He was buried beside his wife Sandra at the Willow Lawn cemetery in Mundelein, Illinois.
Sources
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
wikipedia
Amazon
Tommy was born on 23rd December 1923 on a farm in Grady County, Oklahoma. He was the 7th and youngest son of 13 children.
Aged 13, in 1937, he experienced a Christian conversion at Pentecostal church in Mannford. Aged 15, while milking the cows he began to cry. He fell on his knees praying and asking God what was happening. He said the Lord called him to be an evangelist- overwhelmed he did not know whether to cry or laugh.
Aged about 16 he met future televangelist Oral Roberts - they stayed friends for 70 years.
He dropped out of school and hit the road with E. M. Dillard , a travelling evangelist.In 1941 he met Daisy Washburn and married her on Easter Day, 5th April 1942.
Mr. and Mrs Osborn worked as evangelists for the Pentecostal Church of God denomination in rural Oklahoma . They returned to California as itinerant pastors and evangelists. In 1944 (?) they started Montaville Tabernacle and became pastors. The superintendent came and spoke about his time as a missionary in India -aged 21 & 20 they were hooked. Their trip to India lasted less than a year - they both became ill.
On their return they took over the pastorate at Full Gospel Church in McMinnville (FGCM), Oregano. They prayed and they read the scriptures. In March 1947 they attended a meeting - the subject was ‘Seeing Jesus’. At 6 am Tommy had a vision. He testified that Jesus stood in front of him and his senses overwhelmed. The experience drove home one point home- Jesus was the Lord of his life. Tommy wanted only one thing- ‘the glory of Jesus’.
They first gained public notice as evangelists on the Big Tent Revival circuit in the USA and Canada.
They returned to FGCM. William Branham, Jack Moore and Gordon Lindsay were holding healing meeting. The Osborn’s with the a new vision of the love of Jesus. Branham was a humble man simply doing what Jesus asked him to do - heal the blind, give ears to the deaf, heal the cripple.
They began to hold healing meetings at their church. Miracles began to happen. The missionary flame in the Osborns rose again. They felt they now had the key to reach the lost in foreign lands. They joined Voice of Healing Organization
Between 1950-1964 the couple held large crusades in 40 countries. 10s of 1000s attended the meetings and the ministry was marked by dramatic miracles and healings.
The Osborns used the media- books, media recordings and a magazine called
Faith Digest. They created a vast amount of evangelistic and training material. The couple were very active and by the 1980s had visited 70 nations holding large crusades and reaching millions of people
Tommy and Daisy were married for 53 years.
Daisy died 27th May, 1995, aged 70. Tommy continued to travel/conduct crusades for 15 more years, if his health allowed, and died on 14th February 2013, aged 89, after many years of faithful service.
Tommy and Daisy are interred together at the memorial Park Cemetery in Tulsa.
Sources
Healing & Revival
wikipedia
Dr. D. James Kennedy. an American evangelist, was dedicated to spreading conservative Christianity through his broadcasts on radio and the outreach programs he established.
On Sunday, 5th September, 1953, he began his Christian life. He heard , on the radio this question from a preacher - *Suppose you were to die today and stand before God and he was to ask you, What right do you have to enter M y heaven?
He was converted to Christ and shortly later into the Gospel ministry.
Dr. Kenny served 47 years as Senior Minister of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (CRPC) in Fort Lauderdale. When he arrived in 1959 his congregation was about 40, it grew to more than 10,000. For 15 years the rocketing growth made it the fastest growing Presbyterian church in America. Decision magazine said it was one of the 5 Great Churches in North America.
Why did it happen? Dr. Kenny in 1960 had a vision for making a global impact after reading Jeremiah 33v3 to a small congregation of 15-20 people.
Call unto me and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
He said, You know, I believe we can change the world.
He founded 5 organizations.
It began with Evangelism Explosion (EE) in 1962 - a ministry for training Christians to share their personal faith and lead others to Christ.
Followed by Westminster Academy (1971), D James Kennedy Ministries (1974) and Knox Theological Seminary (1989) Center for Christian Statemanship (1994) (See notes for more data on each)
Evangelist Billy Graham spoke at the dedication of the new CRPC building in 1974. ( Read Dr. Kenny’s dedication prayer - Founding of CRPC)
Dr. Kenny may have died 13 years ago bur he still remains one of the most listened to Christian ministers in the USA. His forthright and rational presentation of the Gospel is heard via television, radio and the Internet throughout the USA and the world.
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. was an American religious leader, televangelist and founder of the Moral Majority.
He accepted Jesus in 1952. He was a good athlete and entered Lynchburg College but transfered to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri,and graduated in 1956.
In the same year he founded and stayed at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. The congregation grew from a modest 35 members to 20,000 by his death. He also started to broadcast his sermons on the Old Time Gospel Hour- a radio and television programme . This quickly moved from local, to national, to international and claimed 50 million viewers.
He founded the Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967. In 1971 he founded and led Liberty Baptist College - later Liberty University - a fundamentalist Christian University, until his death.
Jerry created a Christian media empire. In 1995 he started the monthly National Liberty Journal for evangelical Christians. In 2002 he created the Liberty Channel a satellite based network which offers a variety of content all from a Christian perspective.
He also wrote more than 12 books. He shared his faith and ideas in Champion of the Gods (1985) and The New American Family (1992).
Throughout his career he engendered controversy on a number of topics and was perceived as intolerant or bigoted. This included his thought on abortion, feminism, gay and lesbian rights,homosexuality/ AIDS and other causes.
Jerry is perhaps best known for his political activism. He founded in 1979 the Moral Majority organization which mobilized religious voters… It grew to have millions of supporters and was credited in helping Republican Ronald Reagan become president in 1980. He disbanded it in 1989 - Jerry said it had accomplished its mission. In 2004 however, buoyed by George W. Bush’s success he founded the Faith and Values Coalition- which became the Moral Majority Coalition. He wanted to keep the evangelical movement as a strong force in politics.
Jerry had health problems in 2005 and was hospitalized twice. On 15th May, 2007 he died, having been discovered unconscious in his office at the school.
He had a marked impact, sometimes controversially , on both American religious and political life, in the late 20th century.
Sources used
Britannia Online Encyclopedia
Biography.com/personality/jerry-falwell
James was an American Reformed Christian theologian, Bible teacher, author and speaker known for his writing on the authority of scripture and the defence of Biblical inerrancy. He was the Senior Minister of Tenth Presbyterian Church (TBC) in Philadelphia from 1968-2000 - 32 years. He was a prodigious world traveller and visited over 30 countries teaching the Bible…
He was a graduate of Harvard University (1960) and Princeton Theological Seminary (1963) and received his doctorate in Theology from the University of Basel in Switzerland (1966).While there he started a Bible study group which eventually developed into the Basel Christian fellowship.
James was an assistant editor of* Christianity Today* before starting at TBC
Under James leadership TBC became a model for ministry in America’s northeastern inner cities. The church offered a range of classes, fellowship groups and specialised outreach ministries to the physically sick, women in crisis and the homeless.Plus a school - City Center Academy. Attendance grew from 350 to 1,200.
He was founder and chairmen of the International Council of Biblical Inerrancy (ICBI) (1977-87). They completed 3 classic,creedal documents
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy
" " " " Biblical Hermeneutics
" " " " the Application of theBible to Contemporary issues
He also served on the Board of Bible Study Fellowship. In 1996 he helped develop the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals which brought a number of groups together including Bible Study Hour, God’s World Today Magazine and Philadelphia Conference of Reformation Theology. It is an organization to encourage Christians to rediscover their protestant Reformation roots.
Many of his writings are publicly available or online, and translated into other languages. (See Writings & Expositional commentaries).
James was diagnosed with liver cancer in the spring of 2000 and died on June 15th aged 61.
Theologian, R. C. Sproul, said at James funeral, *No one can possible measure the loss that this represents to those who survive him. Here we had a valiant warrior for the church militant in our age *
Sources
wikipedia
Alliance of Confessing evangelicals ' website
Phineas was the primary founder member of the Church of the Nazarene and the founding president of Point Loma Nazarene University.
Phineas was born on a farm in Franklin, New York. Aged 18 he was converted to Christianity in the Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) in Davenport and gave his first sermon. In 1857 he helped his family move to Iowa and he entered the ME ministry. In 1860 he married Maria Hebbard (they had 6 children).
He was pastor in Iowa for 25 years (1857-83), He had been a pastor for 10 years including being a circuit preacher. station pastor and presiding elder when, as he preached, he experienced a fresh fire in his soul. He had a close encounter with the Holy Spirit and sanctified wholly, It changed his life -his doubts frustrations/disappeared and were replaced with a heart filled with love and desire to wholly live through the Holy Spirit.
In 1883 he relocated to the Southern California Conference on the West Coast, where he ministered in 4 churches in the Los Angeles area and served as presiding elder. At the First methodist Church in Los Angeles he found a small group of active holiness people - this is where his work as a special force to promote scriptural holiness began. 4 years later in Pasadena he held special meeting featuring holiness evangelists
When he became Presiding Elder of the Los Angeles district he promoted a holiness revival through out the area…Opposition stirred. The bishop was not a holiness man. Phineas was sent to smaller less influential churches. He saw the churches were doing nothing for the the ‘needy’ .people. He was invited to help organize an independent mission, Penial Mission
Phineas proposed that the Conference made it a regular appointment or let him remain at the mission as a methodist leader… Proposal was rejected and he left with 'almost unbearable sadness’- the leaders thought it would hurt the image of the church.
After 37 years, in 1894, he withdrew from the MEC to serve as pastor to the Peniel Mission, an independent ministry to the homeless in Fort Street Methodist Church, Los Angeles. A rift developed between Phineas and the Peniel founders, Rev. T.P.Ferguson and his wife. Phineas wanted a church that ministered to the whole family; they wanted to focus on the ‘down and out’.
October 1895 Phineas, with Dr. Joseph Pomeroy Widney , joined with numerous lay people to form a new church. Widney suggested 'Church of the Nazarene (C.of N.) - because it identified the ministry with the toiling masses of common people for whom Jesus lived and died.
News of the C of N spread across the USA. Phineas -General Superintendent (20 years). October 13th, 1908 C of N official opening.
A car accident in 1900 slowed him down!!
In 1915 he died and went home.
The Church of Nazarenes now includes congregations in more than 160 countries. The 30,000 Nazarene churches around the world now has has a total membership of more the 2.5 million.
wikipedia
Britannia
Gardner was the grandson of emancipated slaves. His father Rev. Washington M. Taylor was a Baptist pastor. He grew up in the segregated South of the early 20th century. He was admired for his eloquence of speech -hence his nickname ‘dean’.
Gardner wanted to be a lawyer. He received a football scholarship to Leland College. He served as as a chauffeur for the president of Leland, Dr. James A. Bacoats, a friend of his father’s. At the time he was struggling with the call to the ministry - he just received an acceptance to the University of Michigan Law School.
A car accident changed his mind. He was driving Dr. Bacoats car when another car veered across the highway. He slammed on the brakes and steered towards a ditch. One man was dead or dying. At the inquest two white witnesses said Gardner was not responsible for the fatal accident.
This near brush with death turned Gardner’s mind. That summer he acknowledged his call to the ministry.
Before going to college he had already been the pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in Elyria, Ohio (1938-41). He graduated from Oberlin College School of Theology in 1940 and began a lifetime of preaching and civil rights activism. He was only the third, of African- American decent, to graduate from Oberlin. In May he married laura Bell Scott.
He ministered at two more churches ,Beulah Baptist(1943) and his father’s former congregation at Mount Zion Baptist Church, before becoming the pastor at Concord Baptist Church of Christ (CBCC) in March,1948. He was just 29. It had the second largest membership in America- 5,000 ; under Gardner’s leadership it grew to 10,000.
In 1952 the beloved edifice of Concorde fire. They were without a facility for 4 years. ** 13** years later, 1965 they entered their new 2,200 sanctuary at a cost of 1,7 million $.
Gardner retired as pastor of CBCC in 1990 after 42 years, The congregation gave him the title of senior pastor emeritus, He lived for another 15 years. He died on 5th April, 2015 , aged 96, he ‘crossed the Jordan’.
In 1958 he became only the second black member of the New York City Board of education -on board for 3 years - he attacked segregation in the city schools.
Gardner was a close friend and mentor of Martin Luther King Jr. and played a prominent role in the Civil rights Movement in the 1960s. In 1961 he founded the Progressive National Baptist Convention (PNBC) - a new national fellowship for Black baptists., with Martin L.K.Jr… He was president for (1967/9).
Gardner gave lectures and sermons at universities and churches all over the USA. as well as in the U.K. Denmark , Australia , China and Japan. During his life time he received 15 honorary degrees. On August 9th, 2000 he received from Bill Clinton the Presidential medal of Freedom.
(To understand Garner’s method of preaching you need to read* *Preaching **-
the last page and a half of the notes I have included).
Sources used
wikipedia
Martin Luther King research
Wallie Amos Criswell was an American pastor, author and a twice elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 1968-1970. He became widely known for his expository biblical preaching. He is regarded as a key figure in the late 1970s’ Conservative Resurgence’ within the S BC.
W. A. Criswell only gained his first names until some years later. He was registered at birth as W.A.Criswell. Government officials wanted first names for his passport-he was given his father’s names of Wallie Amos…
He grew up in poverty. His father was a cowboy -barber and barely earned a living. After learning to read books and ideas came to interest and excite him.
Aged 10 he was converted and became an evangelical Baptist. Aged 12 he was ‘called’ to the ministry. He studied at Baylor University in Waco, Texas He continued his ministry training at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in theology.
While studying he ministered at 4 churches.
He took his first ministry roll, at Chickasha, Oklahoma (1937). He moved on to Muskogee in1941. He moved on to the First Baptist Church (FBC) in Dallas
( 1944 -1993) to replace George Washington Truett.
In the next 50 years the membership grew from 7,800 to 26,000. Sunday School attendance was 5,000+. The church expanded to multiple buildings- it became the largest Southern Baptist church in the world. Billy Graham joined the church in 1953.
W.A. was an early pioneer of the modern mega church phenomenon. ( See First Baptist Church of Dallas paragraphs).
The most significant impact of W.A/ preaching was to foster expositional preaching within the SBC and beyond. In 1946 he began an expository preaching tour through the whole Bible beginning with Genisis and ending with Revelation- it took 17 i/2 years. When he announced his intention there were many ‘nay sayers’ but the church expanded and the ministries flourished.
( See Preaching para 2)
W.A. published 54 books ( See ‘Selected works’)
In 1988 W.A. requested a search party to find his replacement- he was approaching 80. In 1900 Joel C. Gregory became pastor, W.A. took the title ‘Senior Pastor’. It did not work out - Gregory resigned in 1992. In 1993 O.S. Hawkins was appointed and W.R. entered semi-retirement. He kept himself busy around the church for the next 7 years.
He died at the home of a long time friend, Jack Pogue on January 10th 2002, aged 92. His death made national headlines -the city of Dallas closed off the U.S. -75 for the celebrated pastor’s funeral cortege.
In his book The Purpose Driven Church , pastor and author, Rick Warren describes Wallie Amos Criswell as the greatest American pastor of the twentieth century. ( See ’ Influence’)
Sources used
Preaching
Baptist History Homepage
wikipedia
The Time Magazine ™ in 1961 said that Ralph was generally acknowledged as the best Protestant preacher in the USA. He had gained considerable prominence in the USA as the featured speaker on the weekly NBC radio program National Radio Pulpit (1928-1962) and as a writer of several best selling books…
Back in 1946 the ™ pointed out that his radio program received 4,000 letters weekly ’ the number one protestant radio pastor of the US … rated by volume fan mail. ’
In 1950 the ™ listed a typical Sunday routine for then 60 year old Ralph.
(Read marked margin).
Ralph graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University and studied for the ministry at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He was initially called to be an associate minister (1916), but became the senior pastor (1917) at Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. Later it was called Christ Church, in New York City. He stayed there for the next 44 years (1916-1961) and had a membership of 5,000.
In Preaching it says he was called the 20th century 'circuit rider. He combined being a pastor, a radio pastor and a seminary lecturer. Why all 3?
Ralph explained - For many years I have been convinced that the greatest need of the contemporary church is the strengthening of the local pulpit. Public speaking was his specialty.
The article in Preaching goes into great detail about his style of preaching.
Briefly -preparation began in the summer vocation. He wrote the sermon out in full. The preached sermon he spoke extemporaneously.
(Read last para. of page 1 then pages 2,3 & 4 for full detail)
He published 23 books
G. Paul Butler called him the preacher’s preacher. To hear him preach is a spiritual event. Dr Sockman is one of the greatest preachers of our day
Sources used
Facebook
Preaching.com
The New York Times
Wikipedia
Harry was an American pastor who became a central figure in the Fundamentalist - Modernist-controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s. He was one of the most prominent liberal ministers in the early 20th century.
He graduated from Colgate University in 1900. He became an ordained Baptist minister in 1903 and left Union Theological Seminary in 1904.
First Baptist Church, Montclair, New Jersey was his first ministry (1904-1915).
In 1917 he volunteered as an Army chaplain serving in France. He also taught at Union Theological Seminary (1908-1946).
In 1918 he moved to the First Presbyterian Church. On May 21st, 1922, he delivered his famous sermon Shall the Fundamentalists Win?. He presented the Bible as a record of the unfolding of God;s will not as the literal ‘Word of God’. This caused an uproar. Fundamentalists regarded it as rank apostasy and a investigation followed. At a formal trial in 1924 he escaped censure.
Harry resigned and was immediately called to Park Avenue Baptist, later renamed Riverside Church. (1925-30, 1930-1946). John D.Rockefeller Jr. funded the building of the famed ecumenical Riverside Church in Morningside heights, Manhattan.
Harry opposed racism and injustice. His sermons won him wide recognition.His 1933 anti-war sermon The Unknown Soldierultimately led to the founding of the Peace Pledge Union His radio addresses were broadcast nationally. Many of his sermon collections are still in print and he wrote many books. (See ‘Works’)
He had a major influence on Martin Luther King Jr. who said Harry was the greatest preacher of the century.