Short Bios

At http://www.av1611bible.com/saints.htm you can access short biographies of some great men and women of the past few centuries.

William Tyndale, Bible Translater

Over 100 years after Wyclif worked on an English translation of the Scriptures, William Tyndale attempted the same feat.  He gave his life for his conviction that the Bible should be in the language of the common "plow boy."  The good news is that most of his work found its way eventually into our own King James version. You can see a little of his Bible to the left.

One might wonder how on earth the Catholic church would have had a problem with the Bible being translated into common languages.  On the surface, the argument went that only Latin scholars were able to understand the Bible well enough to study it and that they had a special "grace" from God to understand it.  The article at the above link goes deeper, though.

"...(T)he church realized that their power and control over the people, and even over the state, would be lost if certain doctrines were exposed as unbiblical—especially the priesthood and purgatory and penance....(which) boils down mainly to the way Tyndale translated five words. He translated presbuteros as elder instead of priest. He translated ekklesia as congregation instead of church. He translated metanoeo as repent instead of do penance. He translated exomologeo as acknowledge or admit instead of confess. And he translated agape as love rather than charity....(T)hose words in particular undercut the entire sacramental structure of the thousand year church throughout Europe, Asia and North Africa....”

I don't know about you, but I am thankful for the strong stand William Tyndale took.  Because of him and others like him, we can now read our own Bibles in our own languages. 

(from  http://home.comcast.net/~pegbowman/BritishSaints/TyndaleWilliam.htm)

Revival Preacher in the American Colonies

Here is an article describing the life of George Whitefield, who preached an estimated 18,000 sermons in both England and colonial America in the mid 1700s.  And here is another interesting biography of Whitefield.

He was quoted as saying, "Works! Works! A man get to heaven by works! I would as soon as think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!"

An important part of the Great Awakening, this revival preacher was greatly influenced by the Bible commentary written by Matthew Henry, which is still one of the best you can get.

A Really Good Clip Art Site

For artwork on your poster, you can draw it yourself... Or you can use clip art.  Here is a free educational site (from the state of Florida) with tons of good pictures.  It can be searched easily, which is not the case with many clip art sites.  I've found pics of George Whitefield, John Wesley, and many others, and I've just started searching.  Happy Hunting!

To the left, you see a statue of John Wycliffe, who was the first one to translate the Bible into English, and is sometimes called "the Morning Star of the Reformation."  And here is a site where you can read Wycliffe's English version!

Great Link for Art Ideas

The ArtSkills website has free software for generating posters along with a lot of other helpful information.  What a fun way to get your creativity kick-started!

More Heroes from History - Some Distant, Some Quite Recent

Squanto - Native American who helped the Pilgrims and came to faith in Christ
Johnny Appleseed -  Helped the early American settlers by growing apple trees.
Wellesley Bailey - Founder of the Leprosy Mission
Dietrich Bonhoeffer - German pastor who stood in opposition to Hitler, martyred.
David Brainerd - Among the first to teach North American Indians the gospel of Christ
John Bunyan - Wrote Pilgrims Progress
Jim Elliot - Martyred missionary to South American Indians, whose wife, Elizabeth, returned and lived among her husband's murderers.
John Calvin - A Christian Reformer
William Carey - A Missionary to India
Amy Carmichael - Missionary to India, helped girls get free of being exploited.
Thomas Cranmer - Archbishop to Henry VIII. Major impact on the reformation and today's church
Oliver Cromwell - A constitutional reformer who brought political stability after the civil war
Jonathon Edwards - Revival preacher
Desiderius Erasmus - First printed Greek version of the New Testament
John Foxe - wrote Foxe's Book or Martyrs
Elizabeth Fry - Prison visitor and social reformer
Billy Graham - The people's Evangelist 'Hour of Decision'
Patrick Hamilton - A Scottish martyr whose preaching influenced the Scottish and English church
Peter Marshall - Preacher who became Chaplain of the U.S. Senate in the 1940s.  Husband of writer Catherine Marshall who wrote "Christie" and other books.
William Hunter - The boy martyr who refused to recant his faith.
John Huss - Martyred. He opposed the Roman church and preached the Gospel
Adoniram Judson - Missionary to Burma
Fanny Crosby - Blind hymn writer
John Knox - Reformation in Scotland
George Frederick Handel - Composer who wrote the Messiah
Eric Liddel - Athlete with principles 'Chariots of Fire'
David Livingstone - World-famous missionary from Scotland taking God's light to Africa
Martin Luther - The father of the Reformation
Sir Charles Middleton - First Lord of the Admiralty. Saved England at a time of peril
D.L. Moody - A great Bible teacher
George Mueller - Provided homes and education to over 120,000 children in England
John Newton - Slave-trader turned Christian, wrote "Amazing Grace"
Florence Nightingale - World-famous nurse
Nate Saint - Missionary and martyr
Jerome Savonarola - A pioneer of the Reformation
Mary Slessor - Dedicated Scottish missionary to Africa
C. H. Spurgeon -  The Great Orator
Dr. Henry Morris - Scientist and writer who founded the Institute for Creation Research.
Billy Sunday - A baseball player turned preacher
Hudson Taylor - First missionary to take God's Word to inland China
Corrie Ten Boom - A heroic modern day saint and evangelist
Robert Jermain Thomas - Protestant missionary martyr who changed the nation of Korea
William Cameron Townsend - Set up the Wycliffe Bible Translators to take the Word to the world
Lillian Trasher - Missionary in Egypt
William Tyndale - Translated the New Testament into English. Martyred
Saint Patrick - Missionary to Ireland circa 400 AD.
John and Charles Wesley - Methodist founders, hymn writers
George Whitfield - A revival preacher
William Wilberforce - The Christian politician who brought the end to the slave trade
John Wycliffe - The first English translation of the Bible
Count Zinzendorf - A Christian reformer in Education
Ulrich Zwingli - Led the Reformation movement in the northern part of Switzerland
Robert Sheffy -  Circuit riding preacher who held large camp meetings in the late 1800s
Col. George and Sarah Clarke - Founders of Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago.
Marcus and Narcissa Whitman -  Missionaries to American Indians in the Northwest
                                      

A Few Ideas for Your Poster Subject

Here are some great Christians you might want to consider studying and illustrating...

Gladys Aylward - Missionary to China in the early 1900s.  Her story has been fictionalized into the movie, "Inn of the Sixth Happiness."  When she couldn't get backing from any missionary society, she worked as a maid until she saved enough money to make the trip by herself. Her story is one of adventure, heroism, and danger.  She was able to help the government put an end to the practice of binding the feet of baby girls.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer - A German pastor who stood against Hitler, and was eventually executed for it.

John Bunyan - Reformation-era preacher who wrote Pilgrim's Progress.  He spent a good deal of time in prison for his faith.

David Brainerd - One of the first missionaries to the American Indians in the early 1700s.  He died of tuberculosis at the age of only 29, yet people are still inspired by his diary.

William Carey - An influential missionary to India around 1800.

Amy Carmichael - A missionary who ran children's homes in India for 55 years during the first half of the 1900s.

For a longer list with links to short biographies, please visit this link. 

Who was Athanasius?

I ran across this interesting blog post, telling the story of Athanasius.  In the third century A.D.,  he remained solid on the doctrine of the Trinity when a lot of people were against him.  Here's how this blogger put it:

"Too many times, Protestants forget that for centuries there was one church....There are wonderful heroes that are dubbed St. This or St. That. The history of the Catholic Church before the 16th century is the history of Protestants as well and we should know it! We should know the personalities involved in the Protestant Reformation. We should be at least as familiar with our Christian heroes as we are our country’s founding fathers."

I tend to agree with her, but some non-Catholic Christian denominations particularly the Baptists, trace their history apart from the Reformation.  Here's a scholarly article from one of these historians.  You may or may not agree with every single thing he says, but there is some useful and thought-provoking information here.

All Kinds of Heros!

The word "heritage" means "something that comes or belongs to one by reason of birth," and "anything that has been transmitted from the past or handed down by tradition."  In other words, when we are born again, we inherit a history of notable heroes of all sorts.

For example, there are musical heroes, like Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote all his music to glorify God.  Or Fanny Crosby, who wrote hundreds of hymns in spite of the fact that she was blind.

There are scientists who qualify as Christian heroes as well.  For instance, George Washington Carver rose from the humble beginning of slavery to becoming famous for his agricultural discoveries, for which he gave all credit to God.


There are even a few athletes who have been heroes of the faith.  Eric Liddell, for instance, was an Olympic runner who stunned the world when he refused to run on Sunday.  If you study his life, you'll find out that as he grew older, he became a dedicated missionary to China. 

Missionaries are another group of Christian heroes.  Gladys Aylward was refused by all mission boards, but still felt sure of God's call to share the gospel in China.  If you'd like to know more about her, you can get an overview by watching the old movie "Inn of the Sixth Happiness."

These are just a few ideas for heroes who would make an interesting topic for a poster. 

O give thanks unto the LORD; 

call upon his name: 

make known his deeds among the people.

 Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: 

talk ye of all his wondrous works.

(Ps. 105:1-2)

Announcing a Chance to Honor Your Favorite Christian Hero of the Past

I woke up not long ago with this thought on my mind:  We have such a great heritage, yet no one is talking about it!  Of course that's not altogether true, since there are some great books and speakers available who can enlighten us.  Still, we often forget just what our predecessors went through.  As I pondered these thoughts, I remembered that Oct. 31 is sometimes celebrated as Reformation Day because it is the anniversary of the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Wittenburg Church, which sparked the Reformation.

Then I realized that it was the perfect time of the year to suggest to our church that we celebrate Oct. 31 with an outreach designed to honor the heroes of the faith.  I've wanted to suggest that in previous churches, but never thought of it until it was too late.  This year is different, however, and the "Christian Heritage Celebration" to be held at Faith Baptist Church in Sedalia, MO, is now in the planning stages.

Since we are a fairly small church, we'd like to invite others to get involved, and that's where you come in!  Whether you're a student, a parent, or just someone who likes history, why not design a poster depicting a great Christian of the past?  To get you started, here's a link to a site that has a lot of information about Christian heroes.

We will be providing specific rules very soon, as well as ideas and suggestions for your posters, so stay tuned!

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, 

let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, 

and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; 

who for the joy that was set before him 

endured the cross, despising the shame, 

and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

(Heb. 12:1-2)