Trauma Headquarters and ADSG

Saw this idea and think it is a great one.  This is a game that just keeps going and going...The day you post, name some christian history that happened on the exact month and day, but however many years ago.

You can only post one history point at a time, and you cannot post 2 in a row.  ex. if you post something for 1/1/ then you can't post anything else for 1/1/ ; other people can but you would have to wait until the next day to post again.  Each post can only have one history item in it.  It can be anything that has to do with christianity.

some examples:

on Nov 3,  a post could be: November 3, 1966: John Lennon tells reporters that his band, the Beatles, is "more popular than Jesus," touching off a firestorm of controversy.

On Nov 10,  a post could be: November 10, 1483: German reformer Martin Luther is born in Eisleben, Germany. (see issue 34: Luther's Early Years).

on Nov 4,  a post could be: November 4, 1646: The Massachusetts Bay Colony makes it a capital offense to deny that the Bible is the Word of God.


and so forth.

ok, I'll start it off:

November 11, 1620 The Pilgrims on the Mayflower sat down to decide how to prevent anarchy as a result of having landed in an area not covered by their "patent."  The result was the composition of a compact signed by all the men creating the first Christian foundation for civil government in this  country.  It began "In ye name of God, amen" and included these words, "For the glorie of God, and advancement of ye Christian faith...doe by these presents solemnly & mutually in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves togeather into a civill body politick...."

November 11, 1760

 English founder of Methodism John Wesley wrote in a letter: 'You cannot live on what He did yesterday. Therefore He comes today.'

November 12, 1660:

John Bunyan is arrested for unlicensed preaching and sentenced to prison. While incarcerated, he penned Pilgrim's Progess and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, the greatest Puritan spiritual autobiography.

November 13, 1962

 The name of St. Joseph was added to the canon of the Roman Catholic mass. It constituted the first alteration made to this canon since the seventh century.

November 13, 354:

Augustine of Hippo, the greatest of the Latin church fathers and author of Confessions and City of God, is born in Thagaste—modern Souq Ahras, Algeria

Stars Fall From Heaven
In 1833, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of his second advent. Said Jesus, "The stars shall fall from heaven." Matt. 24:29. And John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that herald the day of God: "The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833. That was the most extensive and wonderful display of falling stars which has ever been recorded; "the whole firmament, over all the United States, being then, for hours, in fiery commotion.

The shooting stars were so numerous that a newspaper could be read at night.No celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with such intense admiration by one class in the community, or such dread and alarm by another." "Its sublimity and awful beauty still linger in many minds. . . . Never did rain fall much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion. . . . The display, as described in Professor Silliman's journal, was seen all over North America. . . . From two o'clock until broad daylight, the sky being perfectly serene and cloudless, an incessant play of dazzlingly brilliant luminosities was kept up in the whole heavens."

http://www.bibleprophecytruth.com/JesusChrist/shootingstars.asp (http://www.bibleprophecytruth.com/JesusChrist/shootingstars.asp)

November 14,  1739:

English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in his journal: 'We can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our own hearts.'

November 18, 1095:

Pope Urban II opens the Council of Clermont to reform the Church and to plan the First Crusade. The 200 bishops attending the council decreed that those traveling to Jerusalem would be granted a plenary indulgence.

Nov. 18, 1626

In Rome, the newly completed St Peter's Basilica was consecrated by Urban VIII. St. Peter's is presently the largest church in Christendom, with a length of 619 feet.

Nov. 19, 1885

Birth of Haldor Lillenas, American hymnwriter. He penned nearly 4,000 Gospel texts and hymn tunes during his lifetime, including "It Is Glory Just to Walk With Him," Wonderful Grace of Jesus" and "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace."

Nov. 20,  1541

In Switzerland, French reformer John Calvin, 32, established a theocratic government at Geneva, thereby creating a home base for emergent Protestantism throughout Europe.

Nov. 21, 1948

The Sunday morning religious program "Lamp Unto My Feet" first aired over CBS television. It became one of TV's longest-running network shows, and aired through January 1979.

Nov. 22,1963

Death of C.S. Lewis, 65, Anglican scholar, novelist and Christian apologist. Well_known for his children's classic, "The Chronicles of Narnia" (1950-56), Lewis also penned other Christian classics, including "The Screwtape Letters" (1943) and "The Great Divorce" (1946).

Nov. 23 1947

E. L. Sukenik of Jerusalem's Hebrew University first received word of the existence of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The documents, dating between 200 BC and AD 70, had been accidentally discovered the previous winter (1946-47) by two Bedouin shepherds in the vicinity of Qumran.

Nov. 24, 1838

Canadian Sulpician missionary Franois Blanchet, 43, first arrived in the Oregon Territory. A native of Quebec, he spent 45 years planting churches in the American Northwest, and is remembered today as the "Apostle of Oregon."

Nov. 25, 2348 BC

According to Archbishop James Ussher's Old Testament chronology, the Great Deluge ("Noah's Flood") began on this date.

Nov. 30,  1554

Roman Catholicism was (briefly) restored to England, under the reign of Mary Tudor, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. In the process, "Bloody Mary" had Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley and nearly 300 other Protestant leaders burned at the stake.

Dec. 1, 1909

Groundbreaking ceremonies were held for Bob Jones College (University), in Panama City, FL. This Protestant Fundamentalist college later relocated its campus to Greenville, SC.

Dec. 2, 1946   

Rev. E.V. Steele founded the European Christian Orphanage and Mission Society in Alberta, Canada. Its name was changed in 1953 to World Missions Fellowship and has been headquartered since 1961 in Grants Pass. OR.

Dec. 3, 1902

Birth of Mitsuo Fuchida, the pilot who flew the lead plane in Japan's air attack on Pearl Harbor (12/7/1941). Following WWII, through representatives of the Pocket Testament League, Fuchida was converted to Christianity in 1950.

Dec. 4, 1854

Birth of Mary Reed, American Methodist missionary. She died in 1943, having spent the last 52 years of her life ministering to the lepers of India.

Dec. 5, 1848

Death of Joseph Mohr, 56, Austrian Roman Catholic vicar and author in 1818 of the enduring Christmas hymn, "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night").

Dec. 8, 1981

In one of its major rulings regarding the issue of the separation of Church and State, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of student organizations holding religious services at public colleges and universities.

Dec. 9, 1840

Scottish missionary explorer David Livingstone, 27, set sail on his first journey to Africa. (He had been accepted to serve under the London Missionary Society two years earlier.)

Dec. 11, 1792

Birth of Joseph Mohr, the Austrian Roman Catholic vicar who, along with the Oberndorf Church organist Franz Gruber, on Christmas Eve of 1818, authored the enduring Christmas hymn, "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night").

Dec. 12, 1712

The South Carolina colony passed a "Sunday Law" requiring "all...persons whatsoever" to attend church each Sunday, to refrain from skilled labor, and to do no traveling by horse or wagon beyond the necessary. Infractions of this law were met with a 10-shilling fine and/or a two-hour lock-up in the village stocks.

Dec. 13, 1835

Birth of Phillips Brooks, American Episcopal clergyman. Though he produced ten volumes of sermons, he is better remembered today as author of the Christmas carol, "O Little Town of Bethlehem," written in 1868 for the children of his Sunday School.

Dec. 14, 1955

Catholic religious leader, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, 60, was quoted in "Look" magazine on this date as stating that 'an atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.'

Dec. 15, 1957

British apologist C.S. Lewis wrote in a letter: 'May it please the Lord that...faith unimpaired may strengthen us, contrition soften us and peace make us joyful.'

Dec. 16, 1870

The Colored Methodist Church of America was established at Jackson, TN. Its name was changed in 1954 to the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination today is comprised of approximately 3,000 congregations.

Dec. 17, 1843

Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" was first published. The "social conversion" of Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve may be seen as a literary symbol (based on the events of the first Christmas night) of the human potential released through spiritual conversion.

Dec. 18, 1834

Emory College was chartered in Oxford, GA, under Methodist auspices. In 1915 it changed its name to Emory University and in 1919 the campus was relocated in Atlanta, GA.

Dec. 19, 1855

Birth of William Henry Draper, Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter. His words to "All Creatures of Our God and King" are an English translation of a Latin text believed to have been penned by St. Francis of Assisi.

Dec. 20, 1552   

Death of Katherine von Bora, 53, a former nun and the widow of German reformer Martin Luther. They married in 1525, when Luther was 42 and Katie was 26, and bore six children. Luther died in 1546; Katie, six years later.

Dec. 21, 1843

Irish Catholic religious Frances Ward, 33, first arrived in the U.S. in Pittsburgh, where she afterward helped establish successive convents of the Sisters of Mercy, both in Chicago and in Loretto, Pennsylvania.

Dec. 22, 1921

The first U.S. commercial radio license assigned to a religious broadcaster was awarded to the National Presbyterian Church of Washington, D.C. Within five years, there were over 60 other licensed religious broadcasters, including KJS-Biola (L.A.), KFUO-Concordia Seminary (St. Louis), and WMBI-Moody Bible Institute (Chicago).

Dec. 23, 1950

Pope Pius XII declared that the tomb of St. Peter had been discovered beneath St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Dec. 24, 1818   

In St. Nicholas Church at Oberndorf, Austria, church organist Franz Gruber, 31, composed a melody on guitar for the poem, "Stille Nacht," written earlier by pastor Joseph Mohr, 26. This evening the world heard "Silent Night" sung for the very first time.

Dec. 25, 0336   

This is the earliest known year that Jesus' nativity was celebrated on December 25th, as mentioned in the Philocalian Calendar of A.D. 354. Jesus' birth was commemorated on January 6th in Greek Orthodoxy, although by the 400s most of the Eastern churches had accepted the Roman date.

Dec. 26, 1887   

Birth of Charles Brandon Booth, American social reformer and head of the Volunteers of America, 1949-58. Booth was the grandson of Salvation Army founder William Booth.

Jan. 4, 1915   

Democrat Moses Alexander, 62, was sworn in as governor of Idaho. He was the first elected Jewish governor in the U.S., and served two terms (1915-19).

Jan. 5, 1964

Following an unprecedented pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Paul VI met with Greek Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. It was the first such meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches in over 500 years (since 1439).

Jan. 6, 1494

The first mass in America was celebrated in the Roman Catholic church on Isabella Island in Haiti. This was the first church established in the New World, founded by Christopher Columbus.

Jan. 7, 1856

In London, famed English Baptist preacher Charles H. Spurgeon, 22, married Susannah Thompson, one of the parishioners at the New Park Street Baptist Chapel, where he was pastoring.

Jan. 8, 1956   

In Ecuador, Plymouth Brethren missionaries Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully and Pete Fleming were killed by the Auca Indians, while attempting to evangelize their tribe. Elliot's widow Elisabeth later published the story of their work and martyrdom in her book "Through Gates of Splendor" (1963).

Jan. 9, 1970

After 140 years of unofficial racial discrimination, the Mormons issued an official statement declaring that blacks were not yet to receive the priesthood "for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man."

Huh?!?   :icon_scratch:

Jan. 10, 1538   

Regarding the doctrine of purgatory, German Reformer Martin Luther reported in a "Table Talk": 'God has placed two ways before us in His Word: salvation by faith, damnation by unbelief (Mark 16:16). He does not mention purgatory at all. Nor is purgatory to be admitted, for it obscures the benefits and grace of Christ.'

Jan. 11, 1791

In Philadelphia, Episcopal Bishop William White, 43, founded the First Day Society. It became the forerunner of the American Missionary Fellowship, chartered in 1817 and headquartered today in Villanova, PA.

Jan. 12, 893

Representatives of 21 mission boards met in NY City to discuss common concerns. Soon becoming an annual event, by 1911 the convention was known as the Foreign Missions Conference. In 1950 it became a constituting member of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, serving as its Division of Foreign Missions.

Jan. 22, 1882   

The Fifth Street Presbyterian Church of Troy, New York, became the first church in America to be illuminated by electric lighting.

Jan. 23, 1943   

The New Tribes Mission was incorporated in Los Angeles by founder Paul W. Fleming. NTM works today primarily in missionary aviation, Bible translation, church planting and the production and distribution of Christian literature.

Jan. 24, 1989   

The Rev. Barbara C. Harris, 55, of Boston, was confirmed as the first female bishop in the 450-year history of the Anglican Church.

Jan. 25, 1959   

Pope John XXIII, 90 days after his election, announced his intention to hold an ecumenical church council. (The Vatican II Council officially opened October 11, 1962 and closed December 8, 1965.)

Jan. 26, 1951   

The Temple Beth Israel of Meridian, Miss. became the first Jewish congregation to allow women to perform the functions of a rabbi.

Jan. 27, 1972   

In Columbia, the white and black United Methodist conferences of South Carolina -- separated since the Civil War -- voted in their respective meetings to adopt a plan of union.

Jan. 28, 1834   

Birth of Sabine Baring-Gould, Anglican clergyman and author. A man of widely diverging interests, he published numerous books on history, biography, poetry and fiction. He also penned the enduring hymns, "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day is Over."

Jan. 29, 1967   

Pope Paul VI and Soviet President Nikolai Podgorny conferred at the Vatican in the first meeting in history between a Roman Catholic pontiff and the head of a Communist state.

Jan. 30, 1867   

The American branch of the Evangelical Alliance was organized at the Bible House in New York City, with William E. Dodge elected president.

Jan. 31, 1752   

The profession ceremony for Sister St. Martha Turpin was held at Ursuline Convent in New Orleans, LA. She was the first American-born woman to become a nun in the Catholic Church.

Feb. 1, 1949   

The modern state of Israel formally annexed West Jerusalem.

Feb. 2, 1881

The first formal church youth organization was established in the Williston Congregational Church in Portland, Maine, by the Rev. Francis E. Clark, 29. Originally called "Christian Endeavor," it became the prototype of the modern denominational "youth fellowship."
 

Feb. 3, 1985   

In South Africa, Desmond Tutu, 53, became Johannesburg's first black Anglican bishop.

Feb. 4, 1873   

Birth of George Bennard, American Methodist evangelist. He penned over 300 Gospel songs during his lifetime, but is primarily remembered today for one: "The Old Rugged Cross."

Feb. 5, 1887   

The Chicago Evangelization Society was organized by evangelist D. L. Moody, 50. Two years later, the Society established the Bible Institute for Home and Foreign Missions. Moody died in 1899, and in 1900 the school was renamed Moody Bible Institute.

Feb. 10, 1899   

The Church of England first authorized use of the 1885 English Revised (RV or ERV) Version of the Bible in Anglican liturgy and worship.

Feb. 11, 1989   

Rev. Barbara C. Harris, 58, was consecrated in Boston as the first woman bishop in the Anglican Church. (In 1988 the Church of England passed the first legislation which began opening the Anglican priesthood to women.)

Feb. 12, 1952   

The Roman Catholic program "Life is Worth Living" debuted on television. Hosted by (then-) Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, the half-hour program aired on Tuesday nights. It became the longest-running religious TV series of its day, and ran through February of 1957.

Feb. 13, 1826   

The American Temperance Society (later renamed the American Temperance Union) was organized in Boston. It quickly grew into a national crusade, and within a decade over 8,000 similar groups had been formed, boasting a total of 1.5 million members.

Feb. 14, 1985   

The U.S. Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism announced their decision to begin accepting women as rabbis.

Feb. 15, 1986   

Living Bibles International moved to its present headquarters in Naperville, IL. Founded in 1968 by Ken Taylor, editor of the Living Bible, LBI is an interdenominational Bible distributing agency, working in 45 countries.

Feb. 16, 1911   

William P. Merrill, 44, first published his hymn, "Rise Up, O Men of God," in the Presbyterian periodical, "The Continent."

Feb. 17, 1889   

Billy Sunday, 27, baseball player-turned-preacher, made his first appearance as an evangelist in Chicago. A strong fundamentalist, Sunday preached temperance and opposed scientific evolution. Over 100 million are estimated to have heard Sunday preach before his death in 1935.

Feb. 18, 1678   

John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" was first published, in England. Bunyan was frequently imprisoned for preaching without a license. During these sequestered times, between 1660-72, Bunyan collected the ideas enabling him to pen this masterpiece of Christian literature.

Feb. 19, 1568   

Death of Miles Coverdale, 80, translator and publisher of the first complete Bible to be printed in English (1535). Coverdale was also editor of the Great Bible of 1539.

Feb. 20, 1976   

Death of Kathryn Kuhlman, 69, popular American radio and TV evangelist. A member of the American Baptist Convention, Kuhlman's preaching emphasized the healing power of the Holy Spirit.

Feb. 21, 1945   

Death of Eric Liddell, 43, Scottish Olympic champion runner. Later a missionary to China, Liddell was captured by the Japanese during WWII and died of a brain tumor while still imprisoned. (His college running days were portrayed in the 1981 British film, "Chariots of Fire.")

Feb. 22, 1805   

Birth of Sarah Flower Adams, English religious writer. Her most enduring verses today comprise the lyrics to the hymn, "Nearer, My God, To Thee."

Feb. 27, 1849   

William Jewell College was chartered in Liberty, Missouri, under Baptist sponsorship.

March 1, 1810   

Georgetown College was chartered in Washington, D.C., making it the first Roman Catholic institution of higher learning established in the United States.

March 2, 1979   

Over 1,100 Christian organizations combined to form the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). This oversight agency was created to demonstrate to the public that religious groups wanted to make themselves accountable for the funds they raise and spend.

March 3, 1959   

By a vote taken in both bodies, the Unitarian Church and the Universalist Church, along with their fellowships -- the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of America merged into a single denomination.

March 4, 1966   

London's "Evening Standard" newspaper published an interview with Beatle John Lennon in which he remarked: 'Christianity will... vanish and shrink... We're more popular than Jesus Christ right now.' The quote touched off a storm of international protest, resulting in burnings and boycotts of the Beatles' records.

March 5, 1850   

Birth of Daniel B. Towner, American music evangelist. An associate of D.L. Moody, Towner composed over 2,000 hymn tunes, including AT CALVARY ("Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride"), MOODY ("Marvelous Grace of our Loving Lord") and TRUST AND OBEY ("When We Walk With the Lord").

March 6, 1919   

Death of Julia H. Johnston, 70, American Presbyterian Sunday School leader. She penned about 500 hymns during her lifetime, one of which is still sung today: "Grace Greater Than Our Sin" (a.k.a. "Marvelous Grace of our Loving Lord").

March 7, 1867   

Birth of Peter Cameron Scott, founder of the Africa Inland Mission. In 1895, Scott led the first band of missionaries to reach Kenya. He died in Africa the following year, at 29, of blackwater fever. Over 700 AIM missionaries have since followed in Scott's footsteps.

March 8, 1921   

The United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia was organized at Ebenezer, in South Australia. In 1966 the UELCA united with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (ELCA) to form the Lutheran Church of Australia (LCA).

March 9, 1965   

Three white Unitarian ministers, including the Rev. James J. Reeb, were attacked with clubs on the streets of Selma, Alabama, while participating in a civil rights demonstration. Reeb later died in a Birmingham, Alabama hospital.

March 10, 1748   

[O.S.] Slave-ship Captain John Newton, 22, was converted to a saving Christian faith. Newton later became an Anglican clergyman, and (as the author of "Amazing Grace") a greatly respected hymnwriter as well.

March 11, 1860   

Birth of H. Frances Davidson, pioneer missionary. In 1892 she became the first woman from the Brethren in Christ Church to earn an M.A. degree, and in 1897 became one of her denomination's first missionaries to travel to the African continent.

March 12, 1826   

Birth of Robert Lowery, American Baptist clergyman and hymnwriter. He is chiefly remembered today for writing and composing the hymns "Christ Arose," "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus," "We're Marching to Zion," "All the Way My Savior Leads Me" and "I Need Thee Every Hour."

March 13, 1904   

"The Christ of the Andes", a bronze statue of Christ located on the Argentina-Chile border, was formally dedicated.

March 14, 1961   

The New Testament of the New English Bible was simultaneously published by both the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses. (The complete Old & New Testament of the NEB was published in 1970.)

March 15, 1875   

In New York City, at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Archbishop John McCloskey, 65, became the first American to be named a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

March 16, 597 BC

According to certain archaeological calculations, the first conquest of Jerusalem by Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar occurred. In the Bible, the event is recorded in 2 Kings 24:1ff. and in 2 Chronicles 36:5-8. It is also implied in the early chapters of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

March 17, 1897   

Emilie Grace Briggs became the first woman in America to graduate from a Presbyterian theological school, when she received her Bachelor of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary, in New York City.

March 18, 1673   

Lord Berkeley of England sold his half of the American colony of New Jersey to the Quakers.

That would probably be West Jersey.  I grew up in South Jersey, and my ancestors came over in 1628.

March 19, 1987   

Jim Bakker, 48, stepped down as head of the PTL ministry amid disclosures of a 1980 sexual liaison with church secretary Jessica Hahn.

March 20, 1928   

Birth of Fred Rogers, American Presbyterian clergyman and -- since its premiere in 1965 -- host of public television's longest running children's program: "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."

March 21, 1900   

In Chicago, following the death of its founder Dwight L. Moody, the Bible Institute for Home and Foreign Missions changed its name to Moody Bible Institute. The school has since become the model after which other learning institutions have patterned their curriculum.

March 22, 1930   

Birthday of Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson, religious broadcaster, politician and founder in 1963 of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).

March 23, 1744   

In London, composer George Frederic Handel's famous oratorio "Messiah" was performed for the first time.

March 24, 1980   

El Salvador's leading human rights activist, Archbishop Oscar Romero, 62, was assassinated by a sniper while saying mass in a hospital chapel.

March 25, 1634   

The Catholic Church gained a foothold in colonial America when the ships "Dove" and "Ark" arrived in Maryland with 128 Catholic colonists, selected by Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. The colony was under the leadership of Leonard Calvert, Lord Baltimore's brother.

March 26, 1840

Birth of George Smith, famed English Assyriologist. During several expeditions to the site of ancient Nineveh, (1873-74), Smith unearthed over 3,000 cuneiform tablets, including one which told the story of an ancient deluge, similar to Noah's Flood.

March 27, 1962   

In Louisiana, Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel ordered all Roman Catholic schools in the New Orleans diocese to end segregation.

March 28, 1936   

Birth of Bill Gaither, contemporary Gospel songwriter and vocal artist. Together with his wife Gloria, he wrote some of the most popular Christian songs of the 1960s-1970s, including "Because He Lives," "The King is Coming," "The Longer I Serve Him" and "Something Beautiful."

March 29, 1847   

Birth of Winfield Scott Weeden, American sacred chorister and hymnwriter. During his life he led music and singing schools for the YMCA and Christian Endeavor. Of his several musical compositions, Weeden is best remembered today for the hymn, "I Surrender All."

March 30, 1492   

The Jews were expelled from Spain by Inquisitor-General Tom's Torquemada (Spanish Inquisition).

March 31, 1816   

Death of Francis Asbury, 70, pioneer Methodist bishop. Sent to America in 1771 by John Wesley, he saw the new denomination grow from under 500 members to over 200,000 by the time of his death.

April 1, 1956   

Death of William R. Newell, 88, American Congregational pastor and Bible teacher. He is remembered today as author of the hymn, "At Calvary" ("Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride").

April 2, 1978   

Episcopal Canon Mary Simpson of New York spoke from the pulpit of Westminster Abbey in London. She was the first ordained woman to preach there in the 913 years since 1065, when the Abbey was first consecrated.

 April 3, 1528   

In Cologne, German reformer Adolf Clarenbach, 28, was arrested for teaching Protestant (some say Anabaptist or Waldensian) doctrines. The following year, Clarenbach was burned at the stake for his faith.

April 4, 1507   

Future German reformer Martin Luther, at age 21, was ordained a priest in the Roman Catholic church.

April 5, 1953   

In Washington, D.C., President Dwight Eisenhower inaugurated the Presidential Prayer Breakfast. (Its name was later changed to the Annual National Prayer Breakfast.)

April 6, 6 BC

This day is believed by some Biblical scholars to be the actual date of the historical birth of Jesus Christ.

April 7, 1884   

Birth of C. H. Dodd, English clergyman and Bible scholar. Dodd became the most influential British New Testament scholar of the mid-20th century, and penned over a dozen books, including "The Parables of the Kingdom" (1934).

April 8, 1988   

Televangelist Jimmy Swaggert, 52, was defrocked by the Assemblies of God following the disclosure of his involvement with a prostitute. (Swaggert was ordered to stay off TV for a year, but had returned after only three months.)

April 9, 1909   

In Pentecostal history, the first group outbreak of the charismatic gift of tongues occurred in Los Angeles under the leadership of black evangelist William J. Seymour, 38. It marked the beginning of the three-year-long "Azusa Street Revival."

April 10, 1933   

Death of Henry Van Dyke, 81, an American Presbyterian clergyman and author. He is still remembered for two writings: a book, "The Story of the Other Wise Man" (1896), and a hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" (1908).

April 11, 1836   

English philanthropist George Mueller opened his famous orphanage on Wilson Street in Bristol. (By 1875, Mueller's orphanage was providing care for over 2,000 children.)

April 12, 1914   

An 11-day constitutional convention in Hot Springs, Arkansas, ended. During its sessions, the Assemblies of God denomination was founded.

April 13, 1059   

Pope Nicholas II decreed that future popes could be elected by cardinals only.

April 14, 73   

According to Jewish historian Josephus, 967 Jewish zealots committed mass suicide within the fortress of Masada on this last night before the walls were breached by the attacking Roman Tenth Legion. (Two women and five children survived by hiding in a cistern, and were later released unharmed by the Romans.)

April 15, 1892   

Birth of Corrie ten Boom, Dutch devotional author whose family was arrested by the Gestapo during WWII for hiding Jewish refugees in their home. (Corrie's experience with the Nazis was depicted in the 1971 film, "The Hiding Place.")

April 16, 1948   

Christians in Action was incorporated in Compton, CA. Founded by Rev. Lee Shelley, this interdenominational overseas mission helps establish national churches in nearly two dozen overseas countries.

April 17, 1920   

Birth of Robert G. Bratcher, principal translator of the American Bible Society's 1966-1976 "Good News Bible" (also known as "Today's English Version").

April 18, 1606   

In Rome, Julius II laid the foundation stone of the second building of St. Peter's Basilica. Completed 20 years later by Urban VIII, St. Peter's today is the largest church in Christendom, with an overall length of 619 feet.

April 19, 1941   

Robert F. Wagner, Sr. introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate stating that U.S. policy should favor the "restoration of the Jews in Palestine." The resolution was supported by 68 Senators.

April 20, 1987   

In Columbus, OH, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was organized, making it the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S. It represented the merger of three smaller Lutheran bodies, and was officially born on Jan 1, 1988.

April 28, 1960   

The 100th General Assembly of the Southern Presbyterian Church (PCUS) passed a resolution declaring that sexual relations within marriage -- without the intention of procreation -- were not sinful.

April 30, 1841   

Birth of Orville J. Nave, the U.S. Armed Services chaplain who compiled the "Nave's Topical Bible" -- still in print!

May 1, 1939   

"Back to the Bible Broadcast" was launched by founder Theodore Epp, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Today, over 600 radio stations nationwide carry the program.

May 2, 1507   

Two years after entering the Augustinian monastery at Erfurt, future German reformer Martin Luther, 23, was consecrated a priest. (Luther remained in the order until 1521, when he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church.)

May 3, 1675   

A Massachusetts law was enacted requiring church doors to be locked during the worship service. (Too many people were leaving before the long sermons were completed.)   :laugh:

May 4, 1784   

Birth of Carl G. Glaser, German music teacher. Of his many choral pieces, Glaser is primarily remembered today for his hymn tune AZMON, to which the Church today sings: "O For a Thousand Tongues."

May 5, 1925   

High school biology teacher John T. Scopes, 24, was arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in his Dayton, Tennessee classroom.

May 6, 1527   

Forty thousand mercenaries, hired by Cardinal Pompeo Colonna, sacked the city of Rome, destroying two-thirds of the houses. They butchered clergy and laity alike, and forced Clement VII to flee, disguised as a gardener. It was the end of the golden age of the Renaissance.

May 7, 1839   

Birth of Elisha A. Hoffman, American clergyman and a prolific writer of Gospel songs. His musical legacy has left the Church such favorites as: "What a Wonderful Savior," "I Must Tell Jesus," "Are You Washed in the Blood?" "Glory to His Name" and "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms."

May 10, 1939   

The Declaration of Union reunited the Methodist Episcopal Church in the U.S. after 109 years of division. (The Methodist Protestant Church had separated from the parent denomination in 1830, as had the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, later, in 1844.)

May 11, 1682   

The General Court of Massachusetts repealed two laws which had been passed two years earlier: one forbade the keeping of Christmas, and the second mandated capital punishment for Quakers who returned to the colony after being banished.

May 12, 1907   

Birth of Sidney N. Correll, founder and first General Director (1946-1971) of United World Mission, Inc. This evangelical missions organization is involved worldwide in evangelism, church planting and Christian education.

May 13, 1981   

In St. Peter's Square, Rome, Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, 23, shot and seriously wounded Pope John Paul II in an assassination attempt. Following a long convalescence, however, John Paul resumed his world travels.

May 14, 1948   

After nineteen centuries of enforced exile, the Jewish people regained their homeland when the State of Israel was formally proclaimed in Tel Aviv. On this same date, the U.S. became the first world nation to recognize the newly-refounded state of Israel.

May 15, 1889   

At the close of a two-day denominational conference in Cleveland, Ohio, the Epworth League of the Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. It became the foundation of the current United Methodist Youth (UMY) fellowship programs.

May 17, 1947   

The Conservative Baptist Association of America (CBAA) was formally established at Atlantic City, NJ, as a breakaway movement from within the American Baptist Convention.

May 18, 1631   

The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony decreed that 'no man shall be admitted to the body politic but such as are members of some of the churches within the limits' of the colony. (Separation of church and state was an unthinkable concept in early American colonialism.)

May 19, 1971   

"Godspell" first opened at the Cherry Lane Theater in New York City. The musical by Stephen Schwartz is based on the New Testament Gospel of Matthew, and is still produced by secular and religious theater groups today.

May 20, 1690   

Death of John Eliot, 86, colonial missionary to the American Indians of Maryland. Eliot arrived in America from England in 1631; by 1663 he had translated the entire Bible into the Algonquin Indian language.

May 21, 1739   

Methodist hymnwriter Charles Wesley, 31, on the first anniversary of his religious conversion, penned the hymn, "O For a Thousand Tongues."

May 22, 1541   

In Germany, the Ratisbon (Regensburg) Conference ended, its mission to reunify the Catholic Church having failed. From this time on, the Protestant movement became permanent.

May 23, 1903   

Death of American Congregational missionary Henry Blodget, 78. He served 40 years in China (1854-94), and helped translate the New Testament into the colloquial Mandarin language of Peking.

May 24, 1738   

English founder of Methodism John Wesley underwent his famous religious conversion at Aldersgate Chapel in London. Later, in his journal, Wesley reflected under this date: 'I felt my heart strangely warmed....'

May 25, 1824   

The American Sunday School Union was established in Philadelphia. It pledged itself: (1) to circulate appropriate literature in every part of the land; (2) to secure a unity of evangelistic effort; and (3) to plant a Sunday School wherever there was a population.

May 26, 1957   

The religious program "The Fourth R" aired for the last time over NBC television. Produced by several different religious organizations, this short-lived series aired on Sunday mornings.

May 27, 1924   

The General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, meeting at Springfield, Maryland, repealed its ban on dancing and theater attendance.

May 28, 1954   

President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill which added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

May 29, 1837   

Birth of Charles W. Fry, the English musician who, along with his three sons, formed the first Salvation Army brass band. Fry also authored the hymn, "Lily of the Valley."

May 31, 1942   

German warplanes bombed Canterbury, England, causing severe damage to the Canterbury Cathedral (seat of Anglicanism), in retaliation for Britain's assault on Cologne, Germany.

June 1, 1978   

The Evangelical Free Baptist Church was incorporated in DuPage County, Illinois, having withdrawn from the Southern Baptist Convention following a doctrinal dispute.

June 2, 1875   

James A. Healy was consecrated bishop over the Diocese of Maine, making him the first African-American bishop in the history of American Catholicism.

June 3, 1972   

In Cincinnati, Ohio, Sally J. Priesand, 25, became the first woman in Reform Judaism to be ordained as a rabbi.

June 4, 1820   

Birth of Elvina M. Hall, American Methodist poet who authored the hymn, 'Jesus Paid It All' (a.k.a. 'I Hear the Savior Say').

June 5, 1860   

The Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Augsburg Synod in North America was founded in Wisconsin. In 1962, the Augsburg Synod became one of four branches in American Lutheranism that merged to form the Lutheran Church in America (LCA).

June 6, 1622   

Gregory XV published the bull 'Inscrutabili Divinae,' which reminded the Church of its mission to the newly discovered native populations in the recently discovered Americas.

June 7, 1913   

Ohio-born Methodist evangelist George Bennard introduced his new hymn, 'The Old Rugged Cross,' during a revival he was conducting at Pokagon, Michigan.

June 8, 1942   

Unevangelized Fields Mission (UFM) was incorporated in Philadelphia. Today this interdenominational mission agency works in a dozen countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa.

June 9, 1834   

English Baptist missionary pioneer William Carey died at 73. Having translated portions of Scripture into as many as 25 languages, he is known by some today as the 'father of modern missions.'

June 10, 1925   

The United Church of Canada was formed, uniting both the Methodist and Presbyterian denominations of Canada. The merger also took in 3,000 independent Canadian Congregational churches.

June 11, 1850   

Birth of David C. Cook, pioneer developer of Sunday School curriculum. In 1875, Cook founded the David C. Cook Publishing Co., headquartered today in Elgin, Illinois.

June 12, 1914   

The first edition of A.T. Robertson's monumental 'Grammar of the Greek New Testament' was released. Its 1400+ pages make it the largest systematic analysis of the original New Testament language ever published.

June 13, 1525   

German Reformer Martin Luther, 42, married former nun Katherine von Bora, 26. Their 21-year marriage bore six children. Kate outlived her husband (who died in 1546) by six years.

June 14, 1956   

President Eisenhower signed a congressional resolution which added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance. The last phrase now reads: '...one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'

June 15, 1649   

Margaret Jones of Charlestown became the first person tried and executed for witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts.

June 16, 1654   

Queen Christina, a convert to Roman Catholicism, abdicated her Swedish throne to devote the remainder of her life to religion and art.

June 17, 1703   

Birth of John Wesley, English founder of Methodism. The systematic disciplines of the 'Holy Club,' which John and his brother Charles founded, elicited the nickname 'Methodies' from their critics.

 June 18, 1781   

The first Baptist church established in Kentucky was organized at Elizabethtown. (Kentucky was first visited by Baptist missionaries in 1772 when Squire Boone, brother of explorer Daniel Boone, began exploring the eastern Kentucky regions.)

June 19, 1910   

In Spokane, Washington, under sponsorship of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, Father's Day was observed for the first time.

June 20, 1885

A band of Moravian missionaries landed on the shores of Alaska and founded the Bethel Mission. During the first year of their mission work among the, eskimoes, winter temperatures outside their makeshift housing plummeted to 50 degrees below zero!

June 21, 1963   

In Rome, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected Pope Paul VI, the 261st pontiff of the Catholic Church.

June 22, 1870   

Scholars began translation work on the English Revised Version of the Bible. Released in 1881, the ERV became the textual basis for the American Standard Version (ASV), first published in the United States in 1901.

June 23, 1683   

English Quaker William Penn signed his famous treaty with the Indians of Pennsylvania. Voltaire once remarked that it was the only treaty never sworn to, and never broken.

June 24, 1917   

Death of Orville J. Nave (born 1841), U.S. Armed Services chaplain and compiler of the popular 'Nave's Topical Bible.'

June 25, 1957   

During a convention in Cleveland, Ohio, the United Church of Christ (UCC) was formed by a merger of the Congregational Christian Church and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.

June 26, 1892   

Birth of Pearl S. Buck, American Presbyterian missionary to China and author of the 1931 best-seller, 'The Good Earth.'

June 27, 1844   

Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons, and his brother Hyrum were lynched by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, resulting in part from the community's moral outrage at Smith's recent authorization of polygamous Mormon marriages.

June 28, 1962   

The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was formed with the merger of four Lutheran synods: the United Lutheran Church in America, the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, the American Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church.

June 29, 1931   

The Unevangelized Fields Mission was founded in England. UFM missionaries today work primarily in Latin America, Europe and Africa, as well as in Haiti and Indonesia.

June 30, 1974   

Mrs. Martin Luther King, Sr., and a church deacon were slain by a crazed gunman in Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where her son, the assassinated civil rights leader, once preached.

July 1, 1899   

In Wisconsin, the Gideons were founded by three traveling businessmen. They placed their first Bibles in 1908 at the Superior Hotel in Iron Mountain, Montana.

July 2, 1752   The first Bible in America printed in English was published in Boston.

July 3, 1959   

Pope John XXIII, in his encyclical 'Ad Petri Cathedram,' expressed the hope that non-Catholic Christians would see in the upcoming Vatical II Ecumenical Council 'a warm invitation to seek and find unity.'

July 4, 1831   

Baptist clergyman Samuel Francis Smith penned the American patriotic hymn,'America' ('My Country, 'tis of Thee'). Smith was unaware that the tune, ironically, was also that of England's national anthem: 'God Save the Queen'!

July 5, 1962   

Death of Helmut Richard Niebuhr, 67. Christian Ethics professor at Yale for 30years, Niebuhr is better remembered for his popular and oft-reprinted 1951 classic, 'Christ and Culture' -- a work that explores available options of relating one's personal faith to the world's highest and noblest principles.

July 6, 1535   

English Catholic theologian Thomas More was beheaded for refusing to recognize Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England, which had just broken with the Roman Catholic Church.

July 7, 1946   

Italian-American educator, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850-1917) became the first American citizen to be made a saint in the Catholic Church. She arrived in the U.S. in 1889, and was naturalized in 1909.

July 8, 1792   

Birth of Lowell Mason, Presbyterian pioneer of congregational singing. He composed over 1,000 hymn tunes, including BETHANY ('Nearer, My God, To Thee'), DENNIS ('Blest Be the Tie That Binds'), and HAMBURG ('When I Survey the Wondrous Cross').

July 9, 1896   

Birth of William Cameron Townsend, American missionary and linguist. In 1942 he established what has become the largest evangelical missionary agency in the world --Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT).

July 10, 1925   

The famous 'Scopes Monkey Trial' began in Dayton, TN, after high school biology teacher John T. Scopes, 24, was charged with teaching evolution to his students.

July 11, 1656   

Ann Austin and Mary Fisher became the first Quakers to arrive in America - and were promptly arrested. Five weeks later, they were deported back to England.

July 12, 1843   

Mormon church founder Joseph Smith announced that a divine revelation had been given him sanctioning polygamy among his newly-organized religious followers.

July 13, 1886   

Birth of Father Edward Flanagan, American Catholic parish priest. Believing there was 'no such thing as a bad boy,' in 1922 he organized Boys Town near Omaha, Nebraska.

July 14, 1892   

The Baptist Young People's Union held its first national convention in Detroit. The founding of the BYP Union was inspired by the earlier work of Francis E. Clark, a Congregational pastor who founded the first 'modern' youth fellowship in 1881.

July 15, 1779   

Birth of Clement C. Moore, American Episcopal educator. His fame endures today, not as a theologian, but as the author of a completely mythical poem: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' (1823).

July 16, 1769   

Spanish Franciscan missionary Father Junipero Serra founded the San Diego deAlcala mission in California -- the first permanent Spanish settlement on America's west coast.

July 17, 1674   

Birth of Isaac Watts, innovative pioneer of modern English hymnody. Among his many beloved sacred compositions are: 'At the Cross,' 'Joy to the World,' 'Marching to Zion' and 'When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.'

July 18, 1870   

The Vatican I Ecumenical Council issued the proclamation 'Pastor Aeternus,'declaring the pope's primacy and infallibility in deciding faith and moral matters. (Few Protestants agree with this doctrine.)

July 19, 1904   

Construction began on the Liverpool Cathedral in England. The cathedral was completed 20 years later and consecrated on this same date in 1924.

July 20, 1910   

The Christian Endeavor Society of Missouri began a campaign to ban all motion pictures that depicted kissing between non-relatives.

July 21, 1925   

Following a sensational 12-day trial, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching evolution in his Dayton, TN classroom and was fined $100.

July 22, 1981   

Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, 23, was sentenced to life imprisonment for his attempted assassination of Pope John Paul II in May of this year.

July 23, 1846   

Birth of William R. Featherstone, Canadian Methodist hymn writer. He penned the words to 'My Jesus, I Love Thee' before age 16.

July 24, 1725   

Birth of John Newton, an English slave ship's captain. He was converted at age 22, and entered the Anglican ministry. Newton is remembered today as author of several enduring hymns, including 'Amazing Grace' and 'Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.'

July 25, 1968   

Pope Paul VI published the encyclical 'Humanae Vitae.' It restated the Catholic position on the family, and condemned all artificial methods of birth control.

Aug. 3, 1858   

Birth of Maltbie D. Babcock, American Presbyterian clergyman. His pastoral work centered around Maryland and New York, but he is better remembered today as author of the well-known hymn, "This is My Father's World."

Aug. 4, 1892   

English medical missionary Wilfred T. Grenfell, 26, first arrived in Labrador, Newfoundland. For 42 years he labored among the fisherfolk, helping build hospitals and orphanages as well as churches.

Aug. 5, 1570   

Spanish Jesuits led by Fray Batista Segura arrived in the Chesapeake Bay area of Virginia, for the purpose of converting the American Indians to Christianity. (Unfortunately, six months later, the entire group was massacred by the very Indians they had come to evangelize.)

Aug. 6, 1801   

The Great Religious Revival of the American West began at a Presbyterian camp meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky.

Aug. 7, 1852   

Birth of Franklin L. Sheppard, Presbyterian organist and hymnbook editor. It was Sheppard who composed the hymn tune TERRA PATRIS, to which we sing "This is My Father's World."

Aug. 8, 1910   

The Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments in the Vatican issued the decree "Quam singulari," which recommended that children be permitted to receive Holy Communion as soon as they reached the "age of discretion" (i.e., about age 7).

Aug. 9, 1788   

Birth of Adoniram Judson, American Baptist missionary. He first sailed to Burma in 1812, and spent nearly all of his remaining 38 years in missionary and literacy work there. Judson translated the entire Bible into Burmese by 1834.

Aug. 10, 1760   

Philip Embury (1728-1773) arrived in New York the first Methodist clergyman to come over from England.

Aug. 11, 1933   

Birth of Jerry Falwell, U.S. Baptist clergyman. Pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, he has also been an active political lobbyist and once headed the Liberty Federation (formerly called Moral Majority), a Christian lobby which Falwell founded in 1979.

Aug. 12, 1988   

In Hollywood, the controversial religious movie "The Last Temptation of Christ" was released, sparking protests from evangelical church groups across the nation.

Aug. 13, 1682   

The first Welsh immigrants to the American colonies arrived in Pennsylvania. They were Quakers, and settled near modern Philadelphia.

Aug 14, 1814   

During the American Revolution, American patriot Francis Scott Key (1779-1843) was held overnight as a British prisoner during their shelling of Fort McHenry in Baltimore. In the morning, Key penned what later became our national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner."

 Aug. 15, 1790   

Father John Carroll, 55, was consecrated by Pius VI as the first Roman Catholic bishop (later, in 1811, the first archbishop) of the United States.

Aug. 16, 1972   

African-American Methodist clergyman from Dominica, West Indies, Philip A. Potter, 51, was named general secretary of the World Council of Churches. Serving until 1984, Potter gave strong spiritual guidance to the work of the WCC.

Aug. 17, 1761   

Birth of William Carey, pioneer English missionary to India. He taught at the newly founded Fort William College of Calcutta from 1801 until his death, and helped found the Serampore Press, which made the Bible accessible to over 300 million people.

Aug. 18, 1927   

At age 20, Christian radio pioneer Theodore Epp was converted to a living faith. In 1939 he founded Back to the Bible Broadcast, an evangelistic radio program with outlets today on over 600 stations around the world.

Aug. 19, 1953   

Israel's parliament conferred Israeli citizenship posthumously on all Jews killed by the Nazis during the years of the Holocaust (1933-45) in Europe.

Aug. 20, 1745   

Birth of Francis Asbury, English Methodist missionary and circuit-riding bishop of the American colonies. During 42 years of labor, Asbury traveled 300,000 miles by horseback, ministering up and down the Eastern seaboard.

Aug. 21, 1874   

Popular 19th century preacher Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887) was accused by Theodore Tilton of committing adultery with his wife. The resulting trial ended in a 9-3 hung jury decision, in Beecher's favor.

Aug. 22, 1968   

Pope Paul VI arrived in Colombia, making his the first-ever papal visit to South America.

Aug. 23, 1952   

Death of Frederick George Kenyon, 89, British archaeologist and language scholar. Kenyon devoted his life to discovering biblical parallels in ancient Greek papyri, convincing critics that science does not disprove the Bible.

Aug. 24, 1456   

In Mainz, Germany, volume two of the famed Gutenberg Bible was bound, completing a two-year publishing project, and making it the first full-length book to be printed using movable type.

Aug. 25, 1817   

Joseph Mohr, 25, began serving as pastor of the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf, Austria. (It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when Mohr and church organist Franz Gruber, together, produced the enduring Christmas carol, "Stille Nacht"/"Silent Night.")

Aug. 27, 1877   

Birth of Lloyd C. Douglas, American Lutheran clergyman and religious novelist. Douglas published his first best-seller, "Magnificent Obsession," in 1929, followed later by "The Robe" (1942) and "The Big Fisherman" (1948).

Aug. 28, 1953   

Campus Crusade for Christ was incorporated in Los Angeles by founder Bill Bright. Today, CCC is an evangelical organization training Christian leaders in over 90 countries around the world.

Aug. 29, 1867   

The Social Brethren were officially organized in Illinois. Today, there are about 1,000 total members of this small, evangelistic denomination, with most churches located in Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Church doctrine is a blend of Methodist and Baptist polity.

Aug. 30, 1894   

Independent Christian evangelist and educator Bob Jones, Sr. was converted at age 11 to a vital Christian faith. Licensed to preach by the Methodists at 15, Jones maintained a lifelong fundamentalist view of the Bible. In 1926, at age 32, he founded Bob Jones University.

Aug. 31, 1688   

Death of English Puritan clergyman and writer John Bunyan, 69. Imprisoned several times between 1660 and 1672, Bunyan used these periods of isolation to pen his two literary masterpieces, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (1666) and Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

Sept. 1, 1836   

A wagon train of Presbyterian missionaries, led by pioneer missionary Dr. Marcus Whitman, reached the site of modern Walla Walla, WA. Whitman's wife Narcissa became the first white woman to cross the North American continent.

Sept. 2, 1758   

The first Anglican service of worship to be held on Canadian soil was led by Rev. Robert Wolfall at Frobisher Bay, on Baffin Island.

Sept. 3, 1934   

In London, Evangeline Cory Booth, 69, the seventh child of founder William Booth (1829-1912), became the fourth elected commander and the first woman general of the Salvation Army.

Sept. 4, 1802   

Birth of Marcus Whitman, American Presbyterian and pioneer medical missionary. In 1836 his family became the first whites to reach the Pacific coast by wagon train. Whitman and his wife Narcissa were murdered by the Cayuse Indians in present-day Washington state in 1847.

Sept. 5, 1950   

Baptist Bible College was founded in Springfield, MO, under auspices of the Baptist Bible Fellowship. With an enrollment of over 2,000, it is today one of the largest Bible colleges in America.

Sept. 6, 1938   

The movie "Boys Town" was first released by MGM studios. Starring Spencer Tracy, the award-winning film depicted the founding of the famous vocational institution in Nebraska in 1917 by parish priest Father Edward J. Flanagan, 31.

Sept. 7, 1845   

St. Louis, Missouri, became the site of the first Hebrew synagogue to be built in the Mississippi Valley.

Sept. 8, 1636   

Harvard College (later University) was founded by the Massachusetts Puritans at New Towne. It was the first institution of higher learning established in North America, and was originally founded to train future ministers.

Sept. 9, 1952   

The religious program 'This is the Life' premiered on Dumont (later ABC) television. This long-running series was produced under the auspices of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church.

Sept. 10, 1819   

Birth of Canadian hymnwriter Joseph Scriven. The accidental drowning of his bride-to-be the night before their wedding led to a life of depression; yet he also authored the hymn of comfort, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

Sept. 11, 1672   

Colonial American clergyman Solomon Stoddard, 29, was ordained pastor of the Congregational church in Northampton, Mass. He remained at this pulpit for the next 57 years! (From 1727 until his death in 1729, Stoddard was assisted by his grandson, Jonathan Edwards.)

Sept. 12, 1908   

The Bible-distributing mission agency known as the Pocket Testament League was incorporated in Birmingham, England. (The U.S. branch of this outreach is headquartered in Lititz, PA.)

Sept. 13, 1845   

William Walford's hymn, "Sweet Hour of Prayer," first appeared in print in the "New York Observer." Walford (1772-1850), a blind lay preacher, had written the poem three years earlier in the village of Coleshill, England.

Sept. 14, 1741   

German composer George Frederick Handel, 56, finished composing his oratorio, "The Messiah." He wrote the score, start-to-finish, in only 24 days, subsisting primarily on coffee.   :coffee2:

Sept. 15, 1853   

In her home state of New York, Antoinette L. Brown, 28, became pastor of the Congregational church in South Butler -- making her the first woman to be formally ordained to the pastorate in the United States.

Sept. 16, 1224   

During an extended period of prayer and fasting, St. Francis of Assisi, 42, received the stigmata (crucifixion scars of Christ) on Mount Alvernia, in Italy. Francis, the founder of the Franciscans in 1209, has been called by some the greatest of all the Christian saints.

Sept. 17, 1787   

The U.S. Constitution -- ratified on this date -- contained the following code under Article 6, Section 3: 'No religious tests shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.'

Sept. 18, 1765   

Birth of Oliver Holden, early Puritan pastor and statesman. His love for music is demonstrated in the hymn tune CORONATION ("All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name"), which he composed in 1792 at the age of 27.

Sept. 19, 1971   

Death of William F. Albright, 80, American Methodist archaeologist. Professor of Semitic languages at Johns Hopkins for nearly 30 years, he penned over 1,000 articles and books, and led several Near Eastern expeditions which excavated the biblical sites of Gibeah, Bethel and Petra.

Sept. 20, 1932   

Four branches of Methodism in England united to form the Methodist Church of Great Britain and Ireland. These were the Wesleyan Methodists (founded 1784), the Primitive Methodists (1811), the United Methodist Free Churches (1857) and the United Methodists (1907).

Sept. 21, 1933   

In Germany during Hitler's rise to power, Martin Niemoeller began organizing the Pastors' Emergency League. Over 7,000 churches joined, although some 2,500 later withdrew under Nazi pressure. (The League itself gave birth to the more famous Barmen Synod, formed in May 1934.)

Sept. 22, 1871   

Death of Charlotte Elliott, 82, English devotional writer and author of the enduring hymn, "Just As I Am." (A serious illness at 33 had left her an invalid her remaining 50 years.)

Sept. 23, 1667   

In Williamsburg, Virginia, a law was passed, barring slaves from obtaining their freedom by converting to Christianity.

Sept. 24, 1977   

Rev. John T. Walker was installed as the sixth -- and first African American -- bishop of the Episcopal diocese in Washington, D.C.

Sept. 25, 1789   

The establishment of religion on a national level was expressly prohibited in the U.S. with the adoption of the First Amendment, the opening words of which read: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' Final ratification of the First Amendment came in 1791.

Sept. 26, 1990   

In Russia, the Supreme Soviet ended decades of religious repression with a new declaration, forbidding government interference in religious activities and giving citizens the right to study religion in homes and private schools.

Sept. 27, 1785   

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S. was founded on this date, following the American Revolutionary War, when U.S. Anglicans met in Philadelphia to create a denomination independent from and autonomous of the Church of England.

Sept. 28, 1895   

At a convention in Atlanta, three Baptist groups merged to form the National Baptist Convention. It is today the largest African-American denomination in America and the world.

Sept. 29, 1990   

In Washington, DC, the National Cathedral (officially, the Cathedral Church of St. Peter and St. Paul) was completed after 83 years of construction. Begun in 1907, the Gothic edifice had been used in its incomplete form since 1912.

Sept. 30, 1951   

Billy Graham's "Hour of Decision" first aired over ABC television. Broadcast on Sunday nights 10:00-10:30, the program aired through February 1954, before entering syndication.

Oct. 1, 1946   

World Literature Crusade was founded in Saskatchewan, Canada, by Rev. Jack McAlister (president 1946-79). This mission is engaged primarily in Bible distribution, church planting and Bible correspondence courses.

Oct. 2, 1970   

A two-day convention opened at which the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania-South Jersey was formed. It was comprised of 9,000 charter members from 52 Southern Baptist churches.

Oct. 3, 1692   

In Massachusetts, Increase Mather published his "Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits," which effectively brought an end to the Salem Witch Trials which had begun earlier this year.

Oct. 4, 1965   

Paul VI arrived in New York City, making him the first pope in history to visit the United States. While speaking at the UN, Paul published a document exonerating the Jews of all blame in the death of Christ.

Oct. 5, 1989   

Ten months after being indicted by a federal grand jury, televangelist Jim Bakker, 50, was found guilty on 24 counts of mail and wire fraud. Three weeks later, on October 24th, Bakker was fined $500,000 and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Oct. 6, 1683   

A band of religious refugees from Krefield, Germany came ashore at Philadelphia -- the first Mennonites to arrive in North America. Their pastor, F. Daniel Pastorius, was considered by many the most learned man in America at the time.

Oct. 7, 1832   

Birth of Charles Converse, American lawyer and sacred composer. Converse penned the hymn tune CONVERSE, to which we sing today "What a Friend We Have in Jesus."

Oct. 8, 1924   

In New York City, the National Lutheran Conference banned the playing of jazz music in the local churches.

Oct. 9, 1747   

Colonial missionary to the New England Indians, David Brainerd died of tuberculosis (brought on by exposure) at age 29. Following his death, the publication of "Brainerd's Journal" by Jonathan Edwards influenced hundreds to become missionaries after him.

Oct. 11, 1914   

During World War I, the Cathedral of Notre Dame suffered minor damage during an air raid on Paris. (Notre Dame, the most famous of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages, is distinguished for both its size and antiquity.)

Oct. 12, 1971   

The rock musical "Jesus Christ, Superstar" debuted on Broadway. (Twenty years later, the actor who played the part of Jesus, Jeff Fenholt became a born-again Christian.)

Oct. 13, 1988   

The Bishop of Turin, Italy announced that the Shroud of Turin, long believed to be Christ's burial sheet, did not withstand scientific testing. It dated back only to 1280, and not to the time of Jesus' crucifixion (ca. AD 30-33).

Oct. 14, 1983   

The National Council of Churches issued "The Inclusive Language Lectionary -- " Scripture readings translated to omit or blur gender references. God was thus called "Father and Mother" or "the One"; and "man" was replaced by "humanity" or "humankind." The translation proved shortlived.

Oct. 15, 1784   

Birth of Thomas Hastings, American sacred composer. Hastings was an albino afflicted with extreme nearsightedness, yet from his pen came such enduring hymn tunes as TOPLADY ("Rock of Ages") and ORTONVILLE ("Majestic Sweetness Sits Enthroned").

Oct. 16, 1649   

The American colony of Maine passed legislation granting religious freedom to all its citizens, on condition that those of contrary religious persuasions behave acceptably.

Oct. 17, 1812   

In Washington Co., PA, the first of seven eventual conferences convened, leading ultimately to the founding in 1836 of the Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and Other States.

Oct. 18, 1662   

Birth of Matthew Henry, English Presbyterian pastor. He is remembered for his "Exposition of the Old and New Testaments" (1708-10) -- still in print! -- whose value lies in its devotional and practical comments on the books of the Bible.

Oct. 19, 1921

Birth of Bill Bright, American youth evangelist. Bill and his wife Vonette founded Campus Crusade for Christ in 1951, incorporating this evangelical Christian student organization in California in 1953.

Oct. 20, 1828   

Birth of American lawyer Horatio Gates Spafford. In 1873, upon learning of the drowning of his four daughters following a ship collision in the Atlantic, Spafford penned the lines to the hymn, "It is Well With My Soul."

Oct. 21, 1808   

Birth of American Baptist clergyman Samuel Francis Smith. Credited with writing over 100 hymns, Smith is best remembered as the author of "America" ("My Country, 'Tis of Thee"), written at age 23, while a student at Andover Seminary.

Oct. 22, 1844   

The "Great Disappointment" began when this latest date, set for the return of Christ by religious leader William Miller, passed without event. Over 100,000 disillusioned followers returned to their former churches, or abandoned the Christian faith altogether.

Oct. 23, 1385   

In Germany, the University of Heidelberg was founded under Pope Urban VI as a college of the Cistercian order. (Among its faculties today are theology, law, medicine and philosophy.)

Oct. 24, 1956   

In Syracuse, New York, Margaret Ellen Towner became the first woman ordained in the Presbyterian Church.

Oct. 25, 1941   

The first Youth For Christ rally was held at Bryant's Alliance Tabernacle in New York City. An international evangelical youth organization, YFC has no single founder, but rather emerged out of weekly rallies held for the youth of New York City during the 1930s.

Oct. 26, 1948   

The Pentecostal Fellowship of North America was organized at Des Moines, Iowa. The association is comprised of 24 Pentecostal groups and meets annually to promote unity among Pentecostal Christians.

Oct. 27, 1771   

Landing at Philadelphia, pioneer bishop Francis Asbury, 26, first arrived in America. He had been sent from England by John Wesley to oversee Methodism in the American colonies, and stayed all of his remaining 45 years, till his death in 1816.

Oct. 28, 1646   

At Nonantum, Mass., colonial missionary John Eliot ("Apostle to the New England Indians"), 42, conducted the first Protestant worship service for the Indians of North America. He also delivered the first sermon preached to the Indians in their native tongue.

Oct. 29, 1955   

American missionary Jim Elliot, 28, wrote in his journal: 'First time I ever saw an Auca--1500' is a long ways if you're looking out of an airplane.' Ten weeks later, on Jan 8, 1956, Jim and four other missionaries would be speared to death by these same Indians they had come to Ecuador in hopes of evangelizing.

Oct. 30, 1536   

Thirteen years after Lutheran ministers came to bring spiritual renewal to its people, Denmark adopted Lutheranism as its official state religion.

Oct. 31, 1517   

German Augustinian monk Martin Luther, 31, nailed to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg a list of 95 theological points he wished to debate ... and touched off the Protestant Reformation!

Nov. 1, 1512   

Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo, 37, unveiled his 5,808-square-foot masterpiece, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. He had been commissioned in 1508 by Pope Julius II to do a work depicting the whole story of the Bible.

Nov. 2, 1789   

During the chaos of the French Revolution, the property of the Church in France was taken over by the state.

Nov. 3, 1818   

Pliny Fisk, 26, set sail for Palestine. Ordained by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, Fisk became the first American missionary to journey to the Near East.

Nov. 4, 1966   

London's "Evening Standard" newspaper published John Lennon's controversial remark stating that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus." The quote touched off a storm of controversy and international protest, resulting in a world-wide boycott of Beatles music.

Nov. 5, 1950   

Billy Graham's "Hour of Decision" program was first broadcast over television.

Nov. 6, 1789   

Following the American Revolution, Father John Carroll, 54, was appointed the first Roman Catholic bishop in the newly organized and independent United States of America.

Nov. 7, 1837   

American Presbyterian abolitionist and newspaper editor Elijah P. Lovejoy, 35, was murdered. Forced earlier to move his business from St. Louis to Alton, Illinois, Lovejoy was shot during the night by an anti-abolitionist mob while defending his presses.

Nov. 8, 1837   

Mt. Holyoke Seminary first opened in Massachusetts. Founded by Mary Lyon, 39, it was the first college in the U.S. established specifically for the education of women.

Nov.9, 1938   

The worst Jewish pogrom in peacetime Germany took place as Nazi thugs led a "spontaneous" campaign of terror. During the night 267 synagogues were plundered, 7,500 shops were wrecked, 91 Jews were killed and 20,000 others were arrested and sent to concentration camps. It was afterward known as "Kristallnacht" because of the thousands of windows broken.

Nov. 10, 1871   

Following seven months of searching, foreign correspondent to the "New York Herald" Henry M. Stanley succeeded at last in locating Scottish missionary David Livingstone in Ujiji, Central Africa. Stanley prefaced his encounter with these words: 'Dr. Livingstone, I presume.'

Nov. 11, 1966   

The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren voted to merge into one denomination in the U.S., afterward to be called the United Methodist Church. (The "declaration of union" took place officially on April 23, 1968.)

Nov. 12, 1701   

The Carolina Assembly passed a Vestry Act making the Church of England the official religion of the Carolina Colony. (Strong opposition by Quakers and other resident Nonconformists forced the colony's proprietors to revoke their legislation two years later.)

Nov. 13, 1962   

The name of St. Joseph was added to the canon of the Roman Catholic mass. It constituted the first alteration made to this canon since the seventh century.

In 1831, Baptist clergyman Samuel Francis Smith penned the American patriotic hymn,'America' ('My Country, 'tis of Thee'). Smith was unaware that the tune, ironically, was also that of England's national anthem: 'God Save the Queen'!
http://www.studylight.org/his/tich/ (http://www.studylight.org/his/tich/)

Today in 1775 in Christian History, Anglican clergyman and hymnwriter John Newton wrote in a letter: 'The knowledge of God cannot be attained by studious discussion on our parts; it must be by revelation on His part.'