A Difficult Childhood Prepared Mary Slessor for Difficult Mission Work

A scene from Torchlighters: The Mary Slessor Story

Mary Slessor didn’t let a harsh childhood discourage her or hold her back. She made the best of her trials, and eventually they prepared her for greater challenges ahead. Born in Scotland in 1848, Mary Slessor was one of the best-known missionaries of the nineteenth century. By eleven-years old she was working in a mill […]

Torchlighters’ Sacrifical Wartime Service

On Wednesday, September 2, 2020, the world will mark the 75th anniversary of the official end of World War II.  This is a perfect time to honor the Torchlighter heroes whose witness for Jesus shone a bright light during that dark era. The Japanese invasion of China forced Gladys Aylward to flee the village where […]

Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People

Harriet Tubman was a slave in Maryland who escaped to freedom in Pennsylvania. She could have fled to safety in Canada, but after years of enduring harsh treatment, she was determined to help other slaves to freedom. Becoming a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, she delivered over 300 runaway slaves. Infuriated by her success, slave […]

Torchlighters Shine on: Martin Luther and the Reformation

October 31st, in addition to being Halloween, is known as Reformation Day. In 1517 a German monk named Martin Luther was appalled by the Catholic Church’s sale of pieces of paper signed by the pope that claimed to provide indulgences, that is, forgiveness of the penalties of sins, to free souls from Purgatory. On October […]

Vibia Perpetua, the young Roman mother who chose Christ

She was only about 21 years old and her faith was new, but the young mother Perpetua was strong in the Lord and ready to face any test. When Carthage officials placed Vibia Perpetua and other Christians under official restrictions for practicing Christianity, she was in danger of public execution, as was her slave Felicity. […]

Adoniram and Ann Judson, Heroic Champions of the Gospel

If heroes are people who sacrifice themselves for the good of others, Adoniram and Ann Judson fit the description. Nineteenth-century Americans considered them Christian missionary heroes, but their fame came at the cost of great sacrifice and suffering.  Along the way they would wonder how to find God, though their faith in him never wavered. […]

Augustine, a man of learning who “put on the Lord Jesus”

Like so many mothers before and since, Monica prayed fervently for her wayward son. When Augustine stole pears from a neighbor’s orchard, she prayed; when he lied and cheated and neglected his lessons and sassed his elders and injured other boys with stones from his slingshot, she prayed; when he indulged his passions, took a […]

John Bunyan: The Poor Tinker Who Wrote a Masterpiece

“Maybe we should cancel today’s meeting.” John Bunyan (1628-1688) considered these words as he prepared to preach at a private gathering in Stamhill, England. The seething political turmoil of 1660 caused King Charles II to distrust unlicensed preachers; those hostile to the monarchy could stir up rebellion. New laws allowed preaching only in the established […]