Ten-year old Lottie Moon had seen too much bitterness and gossip among churchgoers to want anything to do with religion or God. In fact, if there was a single way to waste a life, Lottie told herself, being a missionary was it.In a twist that only God could orchestrate, this spirited young girl who grew up to become the most educated woman in the American South would ultimately find her calling as a missionary to China. As Lottie watched her fellow missionaries fall to disease, exh...

Born into slavery in Maryland, Frederick Douglass was separated from his mother during infancy, then taken from his grandparents at the age of six to serve at the “Great House” on the Wye Plantation in Maryland. He never imagined the cruelties he would witness or the indignities of his family being treated like cattle to be sold, divided, and scattered far and wide.Escaping from slavery, Frederick Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in America, the greate...

The icy Arctic cold stabbed at Wilfred's fingers and toes. A howling wind was pushing the ice pan he was stranded on out to sea -- and with it hope of rescue. His clothes, soaked when his dogsled fell through the ice, were now frozen. Lying near his sled dog for warmth, Wilfred fought off sleep, knowing he might never wake up.Adventurous Wilfred Grenfell was no stranger to danger. As a new Christian, this English doctor ministered to fishermen on the deadly North Sea. And when her ...

When she arrived at a clinic, usually five hundred, sometimes a thousand people were there to greet her. Helen's reputation as the unstoppable Mama Luka had gone before her - she could do more to heal a sick child or baby than all the witch doctors in the area combined. This was the work God had called her to pioneer, and that belief encouraged her. Helen Roseveare served as a medical missionary in the Congo during one of the most chaotic periods in the nation's history. Arriving in 1953, ...

While studying to be a minister, John Flynn longed to apply his training to help people in practical ways. Soon he discovered that his mission field was inside his own countrythe vast and dangerous outback, or Never Never, where life-and-death struggles were a constant reality.

"Seven-year-old Nate Saint peered wide-eyed over the cockpit of his older brother Sam's Challenger biplane. The eastern Pennsylvania countryside was spread out neatly below him like a fine tablecloth. Nate was determined to remember every moment of this first high-flying adventure."Flying soon captured Nate's heart. His air service ministry to isolated missionaries put him on a path of destiny that would ultimately end with a final airplane flight with 4 missionary friends to the "...

When Charles Mulli was a child, his family repeatedly abandoned him, and he lived in fear of his abusive, alcoholic father. With an extraordinary will, the young Kenyan struggled to feed and educate himself and, encountering hope in the gospel, found a reason to live and to forgive.Later, as a multimillionaire and father of eight, the entrepreneur sold his businesses to devote himself to caring for street children throughout Kenya. Since 1989, Charles and his wife, Esther, have tak...

Norman read the first sentence of the letter again: The whole country round seems to be really greedy to hear the Word of God, many are deciding for Christ. As he read, he heard a clear voice inside his head say, That s where you are to go. A shiver ran down Norman s spine. He was positive God had just directed him to join C.T. Studd and his mission in the heart of Africa. That was where his life s work lay. As a boy at boarding school in Great Britain, Norman would never have guessed wher...

From his earliest childhood, C.S. Lewis loved to hear and tell stories. Persuaded that stories could reveal the truth about the real world in a unique way, the literature professor would write more than thirty books, including science fiction, theology, literary criticism, and fantasy. (1898 -1963)In an era marked by two world wars, Lewis attacked tough questions about life and faith headfirst. Convinced that the story of Jesus Christ is the truest of all stories, and known for sea...

As Ben experimented, people peppered him with questions about electricity. Distracted, Ben was still holding the ends of two bare wires when the other ends touched the Leyden jars. A massive charge knocked him to the ground. When he clambered to his feet, he had to admit that his guests appeared to have enjoyed watching him get electrocuted.Benjamin Franklin's life never lacked excitement and intrigue. As a printer, writer, scientist, inventor, and American statesman, this spirited...

"You fool of a boy!" William's father screamed. "You had the world ahead of you, and you threw it away for some religious meeting. Why, Parliament has ordered the heads of a dozen Puritans to be stuck on poles around the city as a warning against disobeying the law. Have you thought of that? Have you thought of anything?"With the favor William's father enjoyed in Britain's royal court, all William had to do was show himself to be a faithful royalist, and wealth and privilege would ...

Ben thought about the strange course of events that had led him to this point in his life. He had considered being a lawyer but had ended up becoming a doctor, and now he was also a politician and member of the Continental Congress. Ben had never thought of working with the army. But for now, that was what he was doing. He wondered if he too might be called to die for the new country they were trying to forge.Filled with intelligence and devotion, Benjamin Rush eagerly took up nume...