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THOMAS A’KEMPIS (1380-1471) was a Dutch priest, monk, and writer born in Kempen, Germany. He attended a school near Deventer in Holland. Thomas of Kempen, as he was known at school, was so impressed by his teachers that he decided to live his own life according to their ideals. When he was 19, he entered the monastery of Mount St. Agnes and spent the rest of his long life behind the walls of that monastery. Thomas wrote a number of sermons, letters, hymns, and lives of the saints. The most famous of his works, by far, is The Imitation of Christ, a charming instruction on how to love God. The Imitation of Christ has come to be, after the Bible, the most widely translated book in Christian literature.
Read MoreHENRY DRUMMOND was born in Stirling, Scotland on August 17, 1851. As a young man he attended Edinburgh University where he particularly enjoyed the natural sciences. However, driven by a desire to preach the Gospel, he entered the Free Church of Scotland, where, before taking his own pastorate, he worked with D.L. Moody on his evangelistic efforts. In 1877 he became a teacher of natural science at the Free Church College. He spent six years lecturing and writing until, in 1883, he received an opportunity to conduct a geological survey in southern Africa. Upon his return a year later, he found himself to be rather famous in his homeland. Later on he would write of his work in Africa and participate in a similar work in Australia. He continued to write and lecture in England and the United States until his death on March 11, 1897.
Read MoreJAMES H. THOMAS (1890–1973) was a Bible teacher, pastor, and John Bunyan scholar. Born in Maury City, Tennessee, Thomas graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University and earned a ThD from Central Baptist Seminary, Kansas City. After discovering the Phillips New Testament in Modern English, Thomas wanted to take a similar approach with an updated version of John Bunyan’s most famous book. The resulting work, Pilgrim’s Progress in Today’s English, is the bestselling modern version of Bunyan’s classic.
Read MoreRUTH PAXSON (1889-1949) was Bible teacher, missionary, and author. Born in Manchester, Iowa, she graduated from the State University of Iowa and then attended Chicago’s Moody Bible Institute. She served as YWCA secretary for Iowa and eventually traveled as secretary for the Student Volunteer Movement. In 1911, Ruth sailed for the mission field in China, sponsored by the YWCA. Health concerns forced her to leave China soon thereafter and she then taught Bible in Europe and the United States until her death. She is author of several books, including Life on the Highest Plane and Caleb the Overcomer.
Read MoreCARRIE E. GRUHN was born Carrie E. Meyers on April 3, 1907 in Clarinda, Iowa. After completing high school, she attended Iowa State Teacher’s College for a year. She married a printer named Stanley Gruhn on May 18, 1929 at the age of twenty-two. Later the family moved to Ogle County, Illinois with their two boys. She is best known as the author of several books including An Unwanted Legacy (1953), Happy is the Man (1963), and The Lost City (1969).
Read MoreARTHUR E. SMITH, father of five, was born in London, England. Smith received the diploma of Fellow College of Violinists (F.C.V.) of London and after he moved to Canada, became a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, serving as violinist with the organization for ten years. Most of his time has been spent in Bible teaching in Canada and U.S. His 40 years of evangelism include work among the men of lumber camps and gold and silver mines of northern Ontario.
Read MoreDR. A. J. SWOBODA is a professor, author, and pastor of Theophilus Church in Portland, Oregon. He teaches biblical studies, theology, and church history at George Fox Evangelical Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary, among others. Previously he served as a campus pastor at the University of Oregon. He is the author of A Glorious Dark: Finding Hope in the Tension Between Belief and Experience, Messy: God Likes it That Way, and The Dusty Ones: Why Wandering Deepens Your Faith, and coauthor of Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology.
Read MoreRICHARD ELLSWORTH DAY was born in the United States in 1884. In his early life he was an apprentice at the Terre Haute Gazette in Indiana serving as an associate reporter. His first book was a biography on the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon entitled The Shadow of the Broad Brim, which he published with Judson Press in 1934. The book was an immediate success which led to subsequent biographies on Charles Grandison Finney (1942), D.L. Moody (1944), and Henry Parsons Crowell (1946). Richard Day and his wife Deborah would begin each project with extensive research and study and then retreat to their little cottage in Sunnyvale, California to write. In his day he was a noted Christian biographer, and between projects, traveled around speaking in churches and schools until his death in 1965.
Read MoreARTHUR MORGAN DERHAM was born in Hertfordshire, England in 1915. He was converted when he was fourteen. After some time as a business man and four years serving with the Metropolitan Police Force, he entered the Strict Baptist Bible Institute in Brockley, London, in 1938. Derham took the pastorate of the West Ham Baptist Tabernacle in west London, and it was there that the weight of Hitler’s blitz fell in 1940. The area bore attacks throughout the war, and within a few weeks eighty percent of the congregation disappeared because of damage to their homes. The church services were continued underground until 1944. After the war he began writing in addition to part-time pastoral work in other churches in England. He was also married and the father of a son and a daughter. During his life he authored one book and two small publications published in London as well as contributed to a number of magazines and papers.
Read MoreCai Sujuan, also known in the West as Christiana Tsai, was born the 18th of 24 children in Nanjing, China. Sujuan grew up in a fortunate setting, but she was often sad and a very serious child—she even considered becoming a Buddhist nun. She was fascinated by the English language and was initially introduced to the Gospel at a missionary school. Soon after, though she was inclined to disbelieve, the message of Jesus Christ struck Sujuan’s heart and she became a Christian.Sujuan grew in love and faith, and upon graduation decided to return home to bring her family to Christ. In all, 55 members of her family eventually followed the Lord.Later in life, Sujuan contracted malaria and spent much of the rest of her life bedridden. But her ministry only grew! From her bedside, Sujuan was able to comfort lost and broken souls more effectively than she ever had before.After many decades of faithful service to the Lord, never losing her love for her homeland, Sujuan went to be with Jesus on August 25th, 1984.
Read MoreDAVID THOMPSON was born in the U.S. but grew up in Cambodia where his parents worked for 16 years. When he was 14 he and his father tried unsuccessfully to save a Cambodian man who was seriously injured when a truck and a bus collided. God used the incident to plant in David's young heart a desire to become a doctor and help people who had limited access to healthcare. David graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1973 with a M.D. degree and eventually completed five years of residency in general surgery in southern California. In 1977 he and his wife Rebecca moved to Gabon, Africa and for the next 34 years built a 150-bed full-service hospital to provide medical services to Gabon's least served provinces. In 1966, Dr. Thompson helped establish the Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS), an organization that trains African surgeons at Christian hospitals throughout the continent. Since 2014, Dr. Thompson has been working as a volunteer to train Egyptian surgeons at Harpur Memorial Hospital.
Read MoreCHARLES LEACH was born in England on March 1, 1847 and started from humble beginnings, having to begin work at the age of eight. He worked hard and eventually went to Ranmoor Theological College. In 1873 he took up a pastorate in Sheffield, and for the next thirty years, preached, ministered, and lectured all around England. He also took several trips to the Middle East and the United States. While he was successful in his professional life, he was not as fortunate in his personal life as only two of his six children were alive at his death. In 1908 he joined the Liberal Party to run for Parliament. Although initially thought to be a weak candidate, he won his seat in 1910. While in Parliament he introduced several bills and was fairly influential. Because of this and his ministry background he was named Chaplain to the Armed Forces at outset of World War I. After this, he began to step back from public life because of physical and mental deterioration. He died in England on November 24, 1919 at the age of seventy-two.
Read MoreCOLIN SMITH serves as senior pastor of The Orchard with six campuses across Chicagoland. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Colin received his Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Master of Philosophy from the London School of Theology. Colin is the author of several books including The Ten Greatest Struggles of Your Life. He can be heard daily on the Open the Bible radio broadcast and at openthebible.org and openthebible.org.uk. Colin and his wife, Karen, have two sons and five granddaughters.
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