Sermons & Devotionals by Short Biographies

Born: May 1, 1672, Mil­ston (near Ames­bu­ry), Wilt­shire, Eng­land. Died: June 17, 1719, Hol­land House, Ken­sing­ton, Eng­land. Buried: West­min­ster Ab­bey, Lon­don, Eng­land. Son of Lancelot Addison, some­time Dean of Lich­field and au­thor of De­vo­tional Poems, Joseph at­tend­ed the Char­ter­h... Read More

The Lady Juliana was born about 1342, and when she was thirty years old, she became gravely ill and was expected to die. Then, on the seventh day, the medical crisis passed, and she had a series of fifteen visions, or "showings," in which she was led to contemplate the Passion of Christ. These broug... Read More

Justin Martyr was born around 100 (both his birth and death dates are approximate) at Flavia Neapolis (ancient Shechem, modern Nablus) in Samaria (the middle portion of Israel, between Galilee and Judea) of pagan Greek parents. He was brought up with a good education in rhetoric, poetry, and history... Read More

Karl Barth 1886-1968 Karl Barth is considered by some the greatest Protestant theologian of the 20th century and possibly the greatest since the Reformation. More than anyone else, Barth inspired and led the renaissance of theology that took place from about 1920 to 1950. The son of the Swiss Reform... Read More

Lars Olsen Skrefsrud was born in Norway in 1840. He wanted to become a pastor, but his family was very poor, and after minimal education he was trained as a coppersmith. Unhappy with his life, he began to drink heavily. With some drinking companions, he robbed a bank when he was nineteen years old. ... Read More

Leo I (440-461) and Gregory I (590-604) are the only two bishops of Rome commonly called "the Great." Leo, at a time when the capital of the Empire had been moved to Constantinople, and the government even in Italy no longer had its headquarters at Rome, was the most important official in the city. ... Read More

Leonard Ravenhill was one of Britain's foremost outdoor evangelists of the 20th century. God used him to help bring thousands of people to Christ throughout Britain. Unlike the case with many of today's evangelists, the conversions that Leonard helped to bring about were generally lasting conversion... Read More

Born: September 6, 1866, Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Lizzie was the daugh­ter of Rev. Jo­seph Ben­son Ak­ers (1829-89), of the Meth­od­ist Cen­tral Penn­syl­van­ia Con­fer­ence, and Hen­ri­et­ta Gal­li­gher Ak­ers. Liz­zie’s mo­ther died when she was sev­en years old, and she de­vel­oped ju­ve­nile a... Read More

Ludwig Nommensen, Missionary to Sumatra Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen was born in 1834 in Schleswig-Holstein (a district long disputed between Denmark and Germany, and at that time Danish). In 1857 he began training for missionary work, and in 1862 he went as a Lutheran missionary to Sumatra (a large isla... Read More

Born: April 1, 1648, Montargis, Loiret, France. Died: June 9, 1717, Blois, France. Madame Guyon was the leader of the Quietist movement in France. The foundation of her Quietism was laid in her study of St. Francis de Sales, Madame de Chantal, and Thomas à Kempis. At age 16, she married Jacques Guyo... Read More

Martin of Erfurt, born in 1483 of German peasant stock, was a monk (more exactly, a regular canon) of the Order of Saint Augustine, and a Doctor of Theology. In his day, the Church was at a spiritual low. Church offices were openly sold to the highest bidder, and not nearly enough was being done to ... Read More

Martin Luther King, Jr.(January 15,1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until th... Read More

"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was n... Read More

Mary Slessor 1848-1915 "Mother of All the Peoples" Mary Slessor was born on 2nd December 1848 in Gilcomston, a suburb of Aberdeen, the second of seven children, only four of whom survived childhood. Her father, Robert Slessor, originally from Buchan, was a shoemaker to trade. Her mother, from Oldmel... Read More

Raymond Kolbe (who took the name Maximilian when he became a friar) is known chiefly for the manner of his death, but his life was also noteworthy. He was born in 1894 near Lodz (51:49 N 19:28 E) in a part of Poland then under Russian rule, of parents who worked at home as weavers. In 1910 he became... Read More

Menno Simons 1492-1559 Dutch Anabaptist. Menno Simons was born in Friesland, Holland. Little is known of his early life and education. In 1524 he was ordained to the priesthood of the Roman Church. However, his study of the New Testament soon began to produce doubts about many of the doctrines. Luth... Read More

Born: January 31, 1844, Liverpool, England. Died: August 25, 1913, Bux­ton, Der­by­shire, Eng­land. Buried: Ryde, Isle of Wight. Pseudonym: Stephen Adams. Maybrick played the or­gan at St Peter’s Church (his fa­ther was par­ish clerk), 1855-1865. In 1866, he went to stu­dy in Leip­zig, and dis­cov­e... Read More

Born: May 26, 1826, Carlton, Yorkshire, England. Died: October 19, 1899, Wellington, New Zealand. Originally a Methodist preacher, Aldersley joined the Salvation Army around 1879, serving as a sergeant at Keighley, Yorkshire, where he sold earthenware. He moved in New Zealand in 1884 and lived in Ch... Read More

Nathan Söderblom, Archbishop of Uppsala Nathan Söderblom was born in Trönö, Sweden, in 1866 and ordained in 1893. He was chaplain at the Swedish Embassy in Paris from 1894 to 1901, and earned a doctorate in comparative religion from the Sorbonne. He then became professor of the history of religion a... Read More

Born: Feb­ru­a­ry 19, 1806, Sa­lem, Mass­a­chu­setts. Died: Oc­to­ber 6, 1878, Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts. Adams grad­u­at­ed from Har­vard Col­lege in 1826, and An­do­ver The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­a­ry in 1829. He then be­came pas­tor of a Con­gre­ga­tion­al church in Cam­bridge, Mass­a­chu­setts, wher... Read More