Listening to the Giants

David Brainerd Quotes: "All my desire was the conversion of the heathen... I declare, now I am dying, I would not have spent my life otherwise for the whole world." "First, Resolve upon, and daily endeavour to practise, a life of seriousness and strict sobriety." "If you hope for happiness in the world, hope for it from God, and not from the world." "I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep I dream of them; when I awake they are first in my thoughts."

In reading The Life and Diary of David Brainerd , I observed that Brainerd wrote often about his daily, personal struggle with sin. Here are three examples of his sin-focused entries: Lord's day, June 13: Felt something calm and resigned in the public worship: at the sacrament saw myself very vile and worthless. O that I may always lie low in the dust. My soul seemed steadily to go forth after God, in longing desires to live upon him. Thursday, May 13: Saw so much of the wickedness of my heart, that I longed to get away from myself. I never before thought there was so much spiritual pride in my soul. I felt almost pressed to death with my own vileness. Oh what a body of death is there in me! Lord, deliver my soul. I could not find any convenient place for retirement, and was greatly exercised. Lord's day, May 2: God was pleased this morning to give me such a sight of myself, as made me appear very vile in my own eyes. I felt corruption stirring in my hea...

It might surprise you that the journal of David Brainerd has encouraged hundreds of thousands of Christians and missionaries over the last 250 years. Though he never intended it to be read by anyone, Jonathan Edwards gave a gift to Christendom by publishing his experiences, his hurts, his sorrows and his victories. In other words, Brainerd’s journal resonated with fellow Christians because is a brutally honest account of his journey to the Celestial City. Brainerd was a man of great highs and great lows. In future blog posts, I will examine with more exactness his bouts of melancholy, but here I wanted to simply show some examples of his legendary journal. Wednesday, May 18. “My circumstances are such, that I have no comfort, of any kind, but what I have in God. I live in the most lonesome wilderness; have but one single person to converse with, that can speak English. Most of the talk I hear, is either Highland Scotch or Indian. I have no fellow-Christian to whom I might ...

Organic Outreach for Families: Turning Your Home into a Lighthouse is the last book of the trilogy written by Kevin and Sherry Harney. This reviewer had not heard of nor previously read any of Pastor Harney’s works, so my review is without bias or agenda. In the introduction, the authors are helpful is sketching out the book’s direction, which is challenging Christian families to pursue gospel moments through the use of their home in a natural, organic and relational way. Part one focuses on helping parents reach their children and extended family with the love of the gospel in practical ways. In part two, the Harney’s share their life experiences and proven methods of how they encouraged their kids to live out the Great Commission. Finally, the last section of the book focuses on the home itself: how to build a lighthouse, how to make it shine and how to avoid the dimming or covering of its light. One of my first impressions of the book is that it is an easy read . The generou...

Unfortunately, we do not know much about the younger years of Mr. Brainerd except this account, which is firmly established in church history lore.  “And it once happened, that he and two or three more of these intimate friends were in the hall together, after Mr. Whittelsey, one of the tutors, had been to prayer there with the scholars; no other person now remaining in the hall but Brainerd and his companions. Mr. Whittelsey having been unusually pathetic in his prayer, one of Brainerd’s friends on this occasion asked him what he thought of Mr. Whittelsey; he made answer, “He has no more grace that this chair”. One of the freshman happening at that time to be near the have (though not in the room) over-heard those words. This person, though he heard no name mentioned, and knew not who was thus censured, informed a certain woman in the town, withal telling her his own suspicion, that he believed Brainerd said this of someone or another of the rulers of the college. Whereupon sh...

David Brainerd, missionary, born in Haddam, Connecticut, April 20th, 1718; died in Northampton, Massachusetts, October 9th, 1747. From early childhood he had strong" religious feeling, and after entering Yale College in 1739, at the time of the great revival under Whitefield, his zeal led him into indiscretions. The' attitude of the College toward the "New Lights" was cold, and students had been forbidden to attend their meetings. Brainerd, then in his junior year, disobeyed this rule, and was also heard to say of one of the tutors that he had "no more religion than the chair on which he sat." Refusing to make public confession of these offences in chapel, Brainerd was expelled. He never ceased to regard this action as unjust, though acknowledging that he had been at fault. After leaving College he began to study theology, and on July 20th, 1742, was licensed to preach by the Danbury association of ministers. He had for some time been interested i...

Guest blogger: Dr. Matt Farlow Dr. Farlow and his family reside in Folsom, CA where he currently serves as the Director and Pastor of Inreach Ministries for Lakeside church. Matt completed a Ph.D. in Theology and Literature at The University of St Andrews. Matt’s doctoral research focused on humanity’s participation in God’s drama of reconciliation. His project investigated God’s imaginative performance in order to make further attempts in realizing the relationship between personhood (being) and how our identity helps to define our role and mission upon the world’s stage. ************************************************************************                                           C.S. Lewis— A man enmeshed in the scandalous nature of                                    ...