I recently finished reading Daniel Akin’s new book 10 Who Changed the World.
This book is one of the better books that I have read in a while. It stirred my heart to love and live for our Great God & Savior Jesus Christ with more zeal.
Akin’s book is made up of 10 short chapters, each of which is a brief biography of 10 different Missionary-Christians whose lives made a lasting impact upon the world.
Many Christians have spoken of the great influence that Christian biographies have had on their lives. This mighty book does that 10-fold. Dr. Akin has taken 10 different biographies and squeezed them into one small easy-to-read book that is certain to impact all who read it.
I will write one of my favorite quotes from each chapter of the book.
- William Carey = “On his deathbed, Carey breathed to the Scottish missionary Alexander Duff, “when I am gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey. Speak about Dr. Carey’s Savior.” Jesus is the Savior so worship Him.”
- Adoniram Judson = “Born in 1788 in Massachusetts, he died in 1850 and was buried at sea. No earthly grave marks his departure from this world into the world of his King Jesus. Fred Barlow said it well when he wrote, “By whatever measurement you measure the man Judson — the measurement always is the same — he was a mighty man!””
- Bill Wallace = “I don’t want to offend you, Miss Wright, but we Chinese are not used to seeing Americans or Europeans do things like this. We know the missionaries love us, but there was always a difference. They lived their way and we lived ours, but Dr. Wallace didn’t know about the difference. He was one of us. He accepted our portion — all of it.”
- Lottie Moon = “It was never said that she was beautiful, but this little lady had a certain attractiveness about her and a powerful personality that would be essential in her service on the mission field” and She said “We must go out and live among them, manifesting the gentle, loving spirit of our Lord. We need to make friends before we can hope to make converts.” And also “Twenty years following her death, Chinese women in remote villages would ask, “When will the Heavenly Book visitor come again?” Their testimony about her was, “How she loved us.””
- Jim Elliott = “He was a fine athlete who saw sports as a helpful way of preparing his body for the rigors of the mission field. He enrolled at Wheaton College in 1948, joined the wrestling team, began speaking to youth groups, started journaling in his junior year, and met Betty.” And Also my favorite quote by Elliott “I have found that the most extravagant dreams of boyhood have not surpassed the great experience of being in the will of God.”
- George Leile = “Unless the pastor functions as a pastor/theologian and missionary/evangelist, the church is left with no leader or example at the top of what it means to live the cross-centered life.”
- David Brainerd = “Oh how precious is time! And how guilty it makes me feel when I think I have trifled away and misapproved it, or neglected to fill up each part of it with duty to the utmost of my ability and capacity.”
- Eric Liddell = “My greatest joy is just to do what pleases Him.” And also an unknown prostitute from Tientsin who told how Eric put up a shelf for her: “He was the first man to do something for me without asking for a favor in return.”
- John and Betty Stam = “It is as clear as daylight to me that the only worth-while life is one of unconditional surrender to God’s will, and of living in His way, trusting His love and guidance.”
- James Fraser = “For years his godly mother prayed that at least one of her children would become a missionary. God heard and answered that prayer! In fact, his mother wrote, “I could not pour out the ointment on [Jesus] blessed feet as Mary did, but I gave Him my boy.” James would gladly say his missionary call was the result of his mother’s prayers. God hears the prayers of godly mothers and fathers for their children.”
These are just some of the many, many underlined and highlighted quotes in my copy of this good book. If I could recommend you to read any book next, please read this one. It is only 178 pages total. It will surely move and stir your heart toward God.