June 17. John Eliot. John dreamed of taking the gospel to nearby native Americans. On this date in 1670, John established a church at Maktapog and preached to them—a little haltingly maybe—in their own language.   A fundamental Puritan tenet held that believers ought to be able to read and interpret the Bible for themselves.   So while he did his full-time pastor’s job, John managed to devise […]

June 16. Glenn Cunningham. Glenn had the courage and the drive of a lion. On this date in 1934, Glenn set the World Record for the Outdoor Mile. Four years later, he set the World Record for the Indoor Mile. Wait until you hear how he got started.   When tragedy strikes, triumph starts between your ears.   Glenn won races. But he never should have been able […]

June 15. Kimo. Kimo lived in an Ecuadorian jungle, and his  tribe’s name was Waodani, but because of their stone-age mentality and violent ways, neighboring tribes called them the Auca, which means “naked savages.”    As a boy, Kimo was was taught what all the Waodani were taught: that “he must spear and live or be speared and die.”   Today’s story takes place eight years after Kimo and some other natives surrounded a small group of […]

June 14. Phil Robertson. Phil grew up in a log cabin with no electricity or phone or toilet or bathtub, and he had four brothers and two sisters. And he grew up to be a reality TV star. Phil says he came up in the 1950s, but it was more like the 1850s, and his […]

June 13. Dallas Willard. Dallas served for 45 years as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California. He was also a Baptist pastor and wrote world-rocking books about what it means to be a Christian and what spiritual disciplines are all about. Dallas didn’t argue. He didn’t put people down. He didn’t have […]

June 12. Steve Saint. Steve was born to missionaries in Ecuador—missionaries who wanted to reach a tribe whose basic teaching was, “[You] must spear and live or be speared and die.”  And when Steve was five, natives speared his father, jungle-pilot Nate Saint, to death. After a time, the violent tribe did repent and turn to Christ, and one of the men who had attacked Nate Saint […]

June 11. Thomas Hooker. Hooker lived long before the United States had a flag with thirteen stars. He was a pastor willing to pick a fight he believed in. And he believed the people had the God-given right to vote.  So he took his people and founded the Colony of Connecticut. Now there’s a man ready to act on what he believes. Today’s story gives us a […]

June 10. Lewis Tappan. Tappan knew what he believed and in whom he believed, and he wasn’t afraid to take a stand. Take one of hundreds of stands he made—in 1863, he held a Christian service to celebrate Emancipation Day and the freeing of slaves in the United States. It ended in a riot—hymnals and […]

June 9. Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy. Geoffrey volunteered as a chaplain to the British Army when World War I broke out. On this date in 1917, he went into battle to support the soldiers, and he was later awarded the Military Cross. Wait until you hear how he supported the soldiers. Geoffrey also wrote poetry with […]

June 8. Adoniram Judson. Judson was on a mission from God. Before he showed up in Burma, a Burmese Bible didn’t exist, and there wasn’t a single known Christ-follower. By 1837, Judson had completed the Burmese Bible, and there were 1,144 baptized converts. In 1880, there were 7,000 Burmese Christians, 63 churches, a publishing house, […]