Martin Wells Knapp was born in southern Michigan on March 27, 1853. His parents were farmers. At age 17, Knapp became a student of Methodist College in Albion, Michigan. It wasn’t until he was 19 that Knapp was converted, through the prayers and witness of Lucy J. Glenn, who later became his wife. He was both shy and unattractive, yet overcome both obstacles to become a pastor in the Methodist Michigan Conference. His biographer, A. M. Hills, said that “the various parts and members of his body,… seemed as if they had been thrown together… by some laughable in accident of nature.” Though it was difficult for people to warm up to him initially, God used him to change the course of church history. Knapp had four significant contributions to the future Pilgrim Holiness Church. They were revivals, publishing holiness literature, holiness associations, and foreign missions. In 1887, his conference gave him permission to leave his post as pastor to pursue his calling as an evangelist. That is also the time that he began to prolifically write, publishing his first book, Christ Crowne...
N.T. Wright: During my first semester at Northwestern College, I was assigned the book, “The Challenge of Jesus” by N.T. Wright for one of my Biblical Studies courses. This book and every other book Tom Wright has written has dramatically impacted my Christian faith. Dr. Wright has not only defended the basic tenants of the Christian faith, but also has shown how an academically-minded pastor ought to love and care for his or her congregants. N.T. Wright was previously the Bishop of Durham and pastored some of the poorest in the United Kingdom. His pastoral ministry has helped shape his understanding of God’s kingdom-vision which he is diagramming within his magnum opus “Christian Origins and the Question of God”. This series has instructed myself and countless other pastors to be for God’s kingdom as we eagerly await Christ’s return. Additionally, I have had the privilege of meeting with N.T. Wright one-on-one on numerous occasions to discuss faith, the Church, and his research. I firmly believe Tom Wright is the greatest New Testament scholar of our generation and he is the primary reason why I feel called into ministry.
This event changed the role of American religion during the early nineteenth century. Non-traditional religions such as Mormonism resulted from this religious revival movement as well. The religious revivals that emphasized individual choice of humans over predestination of God continuously shook New England Calvinism. The “cult of Matthias” was unlike any other religious groups during the time period.
David Berkowitz unleashed his random malicious scats during the summer of 1976. He is known today as one of New York’s most notorious serial killers. Berkowitz was born on June 1st, 1953 in New York, New York. He was adopted by the Berkowitz couple a few days after his birth. When Berkowitz was 18 the joined the U.S. Army. After the army, he got a job as a security officer and moved into an apartment in New York. No one even noticed the danger that slept next door.
David Walker was “born a free black in late eighteenth century Wilmington,” however, not much more information is known about his early life. During his childhood years, Walker was likely exposed to the Methodist church. During the nineteenth century, the Methodist church appealed directly to blacks because they, in particular, “provided educational resources for blacks in the Wilmington region.” Because his education and religion is based in the Methodist theology, Methodism set the tone and helped to shape the messages Walker conveys through his Appeal to the black people of the United States of America. As evident in his book, Walker’s “later deep devotion to the African Methodist Episcopal faith could surely argue for an earlier exposure to a black-dominated church” because it was here he would have been exposed to blacks managing their own dealings, leading classes, and preaching. His respect and high opinion of the potential of the black community is made clear when Walker says, “Surely the Americans must think...
Kittelson, James M. Luther the Reformer: The Story of the Man and His Career. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
Webber, Christopher. Welcome to the Episcopal Church: An Introduction to Its History, Faith, and Worship. Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Pub., 1999. Print.
"This is the Hour of Decision with Billy Graham, coming to you from Minneapolis Minnesota" Billy Graham, has preached to more than 210 million people through a live audience, more than anyone else in history. Not only that, but Mr. Graham has reached millions more through live televison, video and film. This has led Billy to be on the "Ten Most Admired Men in the World" from the Gallup Poll since 1955 a total of thirty-nine times. This includes thirty-two consecutive more than any other individual in the world, placing him as the most popular American for about forty years. This essay is going to talk about Graham's personal life, and what kind of family he grew up in and im also going to talk in detail about how he became an evangelist, because I feel it is very important yet interesting. His accomplishments in the fifties are uncomparable, so I will be including a considerable amount of information concerning that topic. Finally I will be talking about his personal achievements, books written, and how he has been a companion to some of the American Presidents. William Franklin Graham Jr. was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on November 17, 1918. Graham was raised on a dairy farm by William Franklin (deceased 1962) and Morrow Coffey Graham (deceased 1981). In 1943 he married his wife Ruth McCue Bell, and had four children Virginia 1945, Anne Morrow 1948, Ruth Bell 1950, William Franklin, Jr. 1952, and Nelson Edman 1958. At age eighty, he keeps fit by swimming, playing with is nineteen grand children, and from aerobic walking, in the mountains of North Carolina, where he currently lives. (Billy Graham Best Sellers, 1999) Billy Graham told Time Magazine in one article about his life before becoming a preacher. "I lived on a farm. The only difference was I had to get up early in the morning and go milk cows. When I came back from school that day, I had to milk those same cows. There were about twenty cows I had to milk. By hand. That was before they had those machines. I loved being a farmer. But God called me to this work that I'm in now. I knew it was God calling. I said, "Yes. I will follow what God wants me to do." And so I went to two or three schools to get education.
From an early age Jones was exposed to religion, specifically the Pentecostal sect of Christianity. With no father figure to look up to he turned to the pastors in his church for a role model. Watching the local pastors speak moved Jones; he id...
William Booth had always been a religious person, he started questioning religion at a young age. During his early youth he attended St Stephan’s Anglican Church, however in 1840 his teacher brought him to the Methodist church Broad Street Chapel. Booth instantly fell in love with the different form of worship, he loved that members of the congregation yelled throughout the ...
In a radio interview with the host Bob Edwards of the Morning Edition, and his guests Bruce Metzger, Professor, Princeton Theological Seminary, and Michael Coogan, Professor, Stonehill College, they discussed the history behind the story of Christ...
At the young age of eighteen, King was named a Baptist minister and became assistant minister at his father’s church. After receiving his bachelors degree from Morehouse, King entered the Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania. He was one of six blacks in a student body of one hundred. King ...
Although according to the author his co-workers called him compassionate and fierce with an orderly leadership when it came to working with him depending on his situation. One of Graham 's valuable contributions to the world of Christianity became the movement of an unborn evangelism. Nevertheless, as a leader, his relationship style of orientation to people made this process successfully.
He was admitted to Crozer Theologist Seminary in Chester, Pennsylvania in September of the same year, to receive his divinity degree. He graduated from Crozer with the honors of being the first African American to be elected president of the student body and the highest GPA in his class. He then went on to graduate school at Boston University where he formed a great devo...
Johnson, Rev. George, Rev. Jerome D. Hannan, and Sister M. Dominica. The Story of the Church: Her Founding, Mission and Progress; A Textbook in Church History. Rockford: Tan Book and Publishers Inc., 1980.
Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier . The Alban Institute, Inc., 1991. Kindle eBook file.