Christian Hall of Fame

Watch Our Christian Heritage at the Christian Hall of Fame

Canton, Ohio, is the home of the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Pastor Harold Henniger had suffered a heart attack and was recovering at the Aultman Hospital. On the radio he heard about the Hall of Fame, and thought back to his Bible reading in Hebrews 11, the “Hall of Faith.”

Working with artists from Christian colleges across the country, the Christian Hall of Fame features paintings and short biographies that recognize the “early church fathers, reformers, missionaries, pastors, scholars, and evangelists” who held “an unswerving devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and a complete dedication to His Word.”

Throughout the hallways of the church, you will see people such as the early Christian Polycarp, Czech martyr John Huss, American missionary Adoniram Judson, author and radio broadcaster Warren W. Wiersbe, evangelist Dwight L. Moody, hymnwriter Fanny Crosby, and pastor and radio broadcaster Adrian Rogers.

There is also a portrait of the “Unknown Christian.” The description states “he (or she) is a faithful, consecrated, born-again layman. The foot soldier in the Gospel army. He (or she) is a Sunday School teacher, an usher, a singer, a bus worker, a nursery helper, a parking lot attendant, or a prayer warrior.”

From Pastor Harold Henniger:

The Christian Hall of Fame was born in my mind as I lay in Aultman Hospital recovering from a heart attack which I experienced in November, 1964. After reading the 11th chapter of Hebrews, I heard a radio announcement referring to the Professional Football Hall of Fame which is located in our city. The idea came to me that we should put “God’s Heroes” on display in our church: the men who through the centuries have stood for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

The following Christian artists were commissioned to paint the original oil portraits: Dr. Peter Ruckman of Pensacola, Florida, Dr. Harold Wittig of Ramsey, New Jersey, Mr. Carl Blair and Mr. Emory Bopp, members of the Art Faculty of Bob Jones University, Greenville, South Carolina, Mrs. Shirley Henly of Tennessee Temple Schools, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Mrs. Evelyn Carter of Monroe, Michigan. Other artists who painted portraits in the Christian Hall of Fame include: Phyllis Gibbons and Bob Davis.

The Christian Hall of Fame is designed to trace the progress of Biblical Christianity from the closing of the New Testament Canon down through the centuries until this present hour. Among these men are early church fathers, reformers, missionaries, pastors, scholars, and evangelists. Though differing in background, education, method, and field of ministry, these men had in common an unswerving devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and a complete dedication to His Word. The main purpose of the Christian Hall of Fame is inspirational, not merely educational. It is our prayer that as a result of viewing the likenesses of these men and reading the biographies, many will be inspired to carry the blood-stained banner of the cross around the world as missionaries, that men will be called into the ministry to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and that all will be led to a life dedicated to the honor of Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, even our Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory.

To that end this project is dedicated.