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Hymn History: Just a Little Talk with Jesus Author: Cleavant Derricks “The same songs that ministered to impoverished blacks enduring discrimination in the Jim Crow South, spoke to the hearts of disadvantaged whites whose lot seemed similarly dismal…” (Greg Freeman) The Origin of the Hymn “Just a Little Talk with Jesus” Few gospel songs capture the heartfelt simplicity Read more...
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Hymn History: I Will Sing the Wondrous Story Author: Francis Harold Rowley “The first element in worship is adoration. The Hebrews expressed this by their posture and not alone my their word. For they prostrated themselves before God. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” (Francis Harold Rowley) The Read more...
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Hymn History: Sweet, Sweet Spirit Author: Doris Mae Akers “Her music was a special gift, and she gave God all the glory for it. It wasn’t her, it was God that put that gift into her possession.” (Rev. Willa Grant Battle, Founding Pastor of Grace Temple Deliverance Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota) Born in Brookfield, Missouri, on May 21, Read more...
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Hymn History: Grace Greater Than All Our Sin Author: Julia Harriette Johnston I have partly learned some of my lessons, Some others but dimly I see; I was ever, I think, a slow learner: My Teacher is patient with me; So patient and tender and loving, So gentle and kindly His rule, I care not how simple my lessons, Read more...
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From Reach Beyond (HCJB): One Sunday morning at Lake Harbor, Paul Rader gave a missionary challenge, and at the invitation, Clarence, who had been leading the singing, went forward to give his life for missionary service. Rader was greatly moved. “God bless him. We need Clarence Jones here in this work. But if God wants him in missionary work, Read more...
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Billy Sunday is widely remembered for his energetic preaching and national influence, but the roots of his character were formed in far humbler surroundings. One of the most significant of these was the Iowa Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, located in Davenport. It was here, during his boyhood, that Sunday developed the discipline, resilience, and moral grounding that would later define his Read more...
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President Abraham Lincoln spoke September 30th, 1859 at the Wisconsin State Fair. This campaign speech was his only speech on agriculture. He would create the U.S. Department of Agriculture two years after being elected as President of the United States. In recognition of then-Candidate Lincoln’s speech, a granite marker with a brass plaque was placed by the 4th Congressional District Read more...
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Place where John & Abigail Adams, and John Quincy & Louisa Catherine Adams worshipped and are buried. Of interest is a letter from John to Abigail about his thoughts on church: Phyladelphia Octr. 9, 1774 My Dear I am wearied to Death with the Life I lead. The Business of the Congress is tedious, beyond Expression. This Assembly Read more...
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The Pilgrims who gathered first in Scrooby, then moved to the Netherlands, then they worshipped together in the Mayflower as they sailed in 1620. Their meetinghouse was the fort (depicted at Plimoth Plantation but originally located on Burial Hill), then moved down the hill to the current location. In 1801, the Trinitarians left in the split (identifying with the theological Read more...
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William Bradford stands as one of the most important figures among the Pilgrim Fathers, remembered especially for his role as a signer of the Mayflower Compact and for his long service as governor of Plymouth Colony. His life reflects both the hardships and the determination that marked the early years of English settlement in America. Born in 1590 in Read more...
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William Brewster stands as one of the most respected and steady figures among the Pilgrim Fathers, serving as their spiritual guide and elder during one of the most challenging chapters in early American history. Though not formally ordained as a minister, Brewster fulfilled the role of pastor to the Pilgrims, providing leadership, encouragement, and biblical instruction from their days in Read more...
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The Pilgrims did not seek to build fancy houses of worship like those of the Church of England that they left. Rather they met in the fort for collective worship. The church later had its own building at First Parish Church. _____ Image Source/Credit: • Swampyank at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons Read more...
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Although depicted nearby at Plimoth Plantation, the actual location of the Pilgrim’s first church is here. Later the church would move down the hill to First Parish Church. Site of the First Fort Built in 1621 Lower part used for church Also site of the fort built in 1675 which was 100 ft sq. Sides 10½ ft high _____ Read more...
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Better known as Patch the Pirate, Ron Hamilton authored thousands of songs and the musical adventure series, The Adventures of Patch the Pirate. Obituary in Christianity Today From his obituary: Ronald Allen Hamilton was born in South Bend, Indiana on November 9, 1950. His parents, Melvin Hamilton and Leota Marie Hamilton, were perfect family planners. Marta Sue was born exactly two Read more...
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Tabernacles & Sawdust Trails: “At Ames, Iowa,” he says, “we had to wait for the train and we went to a little hotel and they came about one o’clock and said : ‘Get ready for the train.’ I looked into mother’s face, and her eyes were red, her hair was disheveled. I said: ‘What’s the matter mother?’ All the time Read more...
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Wikipedia: By fourteen, Sunday was shifting for himself. In Nevada, Iowa, he worked for Colonel John Scott, a former lieutenant governor, tending Shetland ponies and doing other farm chores. The Scotts provided Sunday a good home and the opportunity to attend Nevada High School.[5] Although Sunday never received a high school diploma, by 1880 he was better educated than many Read more...
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Billy Sunday, one of the most vibrant figures in early twentieth-century American religious life, is often remembered for his electrifying revival meetings and dramatic preaching style. However, his rise to prominence was shaped not only by his athletic and spiritual gifts but also by experiences rooted in small-town America. One such formative connection was with the Tremont Inn, a gathering Read more...
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Billy Sunday is remembered today as one of the most dynamic revivalists in American history, a man whose fiery sermons and dramatic style captivated audiences across the nation in the early twentieth century. While his fame eventually spread far and wide, one of the most important turning points in his life occurred in Chicago, where his association with the Pacific Read more...
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Billy Sunday remains one of the most colorful and influential figures in early twentieth-century American religious life, and his formative years at Northwestern Academy—often referred to historically as Evanston Academy—played a meaningful role in shaping the man he would become. Born in 1862 in rural Iowa, Billy Sunday’s early life was marked by hardship. His father, a Union soldier, died Read more...
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Jefferson Park Presbyterian Church. Jefferson Park is now Skinner Park. Northeast corner of Adams & Throop St. Billy Sunday started attending in 1886, became an elder, and was ordained there in 1905. Real Billy Sunday: IN 1905 Mr. Sunday was ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church, by the Chicago Presbytery, the ordination taking place at the Jefferson Park Presbyterian Read more...