How many of us would return to a place where we were sold into slavery to preach the gospel? Bishop Samuel Ayaji Crowther did just that when he returned to his native Nigeria to turn his people from idol worship to Christ. Sold into slavery several times, Ayaji was on a slave ship headed to Brazil when a British warship …
On December 30, 1927, the International Church of the Fourscore Gospel was incorporated in Los Angeles, CA by its founder Pentecostal evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. She was an enormous influence in southern California for decades, fed over 1.5 million people during the depression, and even won several prizes for the church’s Rose Bowl Parade floats. At the height of her …
Who knows how the Lord will work to accomplish something good? Thomas Welch was an early convert to Methodism in England at age 19 and surrendered to the ministry in the 1840s. Soon after he had an issue with his voice that prevented him from being heard in the pulpit, so he took up dentistry and medicine. He then moved …
John Wycliffe is a superstar when it comes to the history of the Bible since he was the first to translate parts of It into English in 1382 AD. He had a stroke while performing mass at St. Mary’s parish church in Lutterworth, England on December 28, 1384, and died three days later. However, he didn’t stay buried. Some 30 …
The greatest basilica of the Greek Orthodox Church was the Hagia Sophia built in then-Constantinople. It was consecrated on December 27, 537, and served as the home of the patriarchs of the church. In the mid-1400’s it was taken over by Turks and was a Muslim mosque and is now a museum. This is a picture of the inside that …
Julius Caesar began the concept of being an emperor and his successors for over 1000 years kept the idea. The Romans “crowned themselves” by having the support of the army or other factions. While there were kings and queens after the fall of the Roman Empire, it wasn’t until Christmas Day in 800 AD when Charlemagne was crowned Holy Roman …
I no more believe that Jesus was born on the 25th of December than a man in the moon but the first time we see 25th recorded was in 354 AD in something called the Chronography of 354. A “chronography” was a type of almanac and this particular one was written by a guy named Filocalus for a wealthy Roman …
The Lovely Lane Meeting House in Baltimore, MD was the site on December 24, 1784, where the American Methodist Episcopal Church was formed. John Wesley apparently didn’t like the idea of the Americans starting their own church organization, but they ordained Francis Asbury as their first bishop anyway (smart choice). The Methodist Episcopal Church would eventually (after various mergers) become …
How many can name the patron saint of Iceland? If you raised your hand and said Thorlac Thorhallson you’d get it right. He started the first monastery in Iceland in the 1100s and died on December 23, 1193. On the 1,000th anniversary of the cathedral where St. Thorlac worshiped, the local diocese rebuilt this “new” cathedral in the 1950s.
If there was a Christian Hall of Fame Dwight L. Moody gets my vote to be included. Born and raised in Northfield, Massachusetts, in this house called Green Pastures, he eventually moved to Chicago where his efforts to win people to Christ were phenomenal. Some estimates say he led over 1 million people to the Lord in addition to establishing …
