Category Archives: 1. Birth

Heart of a founder: William Carey

William Carey (1761-1834) was an impoverished village cobbler and part-time pastor with a limited education. As a young pastor, Carey became focused on one question: “Was not the command given to the Apostles, to teach all nations obligatory on all succeeding ministers to the end of the world?” Since the Reformation it was held that: [...]

The heart of a founder: Steve Jobs

Great founders are master storytellers HT: PresentationZen AppleMovementsSteve Jobs

Heart of a founder: Sam Metcalf

Another in the series on how God shapes the heart of movement founders. This story comes from Sam Metcalf who heads up Church Resource Ministries (CRM). In February of 1985, about 40 staff and friends of Church Resource Ministries (CRM) gathered at Glen Eyrie, for our annual conference. Several months earlier, Chuck Singletary (then president [...]

Heart of a founder: John Wesley

Those whom God would use greatly, He first wounds deeply. AW Tozer This is the story of John Wesley’s broken heart. In August 1748 John Wesley rode into Newcastle where he stayed at one of his homes for orphans. He fell sick. Grace Murray who ran the orphanage cared for him. The more he grew [...]

Heart of a founder: Rick

I’m trying to eliminate paper from my life. But when this letter arrived four years ago I carefully preserved it. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sort of people who make great founders of movements. I think this letter from Rick reveals some of what it takes to be a great founder. He’s [...]

5 Good Biographies on 6 Great Founders

“St. Patrick of Ireland : A Biography” (Philip Freeman) “Here I Stand : A Life of Martin Luther” (Roland H. Bainton) “Ignatius Loyola: A Biography of the Founder of the Jesuits” (Phillip Caraman) “Wesley the Preacher” (John Pollock) “Blood and Fire : William and Catherine Booth and the Salvation Army” (Roy Hattersley) Post a comment [...]

Listening to Patrick

One of my heroes of the faith is Patrick of Ireland. One of the great movement founders. Here part of an address on Patrick at a Forge intensive last year. Happy listening! MonasticismMovements

God’s troubadour: 7 Lessons from a movement founder

The Middle Ages is regarded as and age of faith. It was also a period of mounting crisis. Into this world came Francis of Assisi—rich playboy, soldier of fortune and one of the greatest movement founders of all time. I’ve just finished a study of Francis of Assisi as a movement founder. The article is [...]

Taming the Spirit

Time for another Roland Allen classic quote. Read it and weep. Read it and dream. A professional class does not easily encourage the spontaneous zeal of men who are not members of their profession. Spontaneous zeal is alarming to them. When the faith is spread spontaneously both the charlatan and the saint find an opportunity [...]

Nothing new

The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when someone takes radically something that was already there. Helmut Richard Niebuhr (1894-1962) Source