The lives of great men and women of faith are replete with fascinating and beneficial stories. Not fictional stories; rather, actual events from the experiences of those believers. Some of those stories touch the heart – or the funny bone. Many touch the soul at a deep level by inspiring, instructing, encouraging, comforting or convicting. This book is a collection of such stories from the lives of ten outstanding Christian couples or individuals who ministered in the last three centuries: John Wesley; George Whitefield; George Muller; William and Catherine Booth; Hudson Taylor; Charles Spurgeon; Dwight Moody; Amy Carmichael; Corrie ten Boom; Billy and Ruth Graham. Their personal examples provide a treasure trove of illustrative material relating to a wide variety of life-related themes. Among the primary themes considered in this book are Family, Service, Faith, Prayer, Witness, Forgiveness, Stewardship and Adversity.
Endorsements:
“These aptly chosen stories from the lives of John Wesley, Amy Carmichael, Billy Graham, George Muller, Corrie ten Boom, and others give insight into these heroes of faith and whet the reader’s appetite for more. An inspiring and quick resource for teachers, preachers, parents, and kids.”
World Magazine
Vance’s Story Behind the Book:
Throughout my years of pastoral ministry I have shared true stories from the lives of renowned Christians of the past (along with plenty of contemporary illustrations) in my preaching and teaching ministries. I became convinced that a book of such historic anecdotes, relating to major aspects of the Christian life, would provide great spiritual encouragement and benefit for contemporary believers. As a result, for a decade I sent various versions of the same basic book proposal to numerous publishers, proffering a collection of such stories. In the end, Christian Focus Publications kindly accepted my proposal, resulting in the 2010 publication of Timeless Stories.
I’ve also shared these historic incidents, for both pleasure and spiritual profit, with family members and friends in countless informal conversations. Kids as well as adults take an interest in these stories. I fondly remember an occasion when our three children were very young when I offered to tell them a story before bedtime prayer. That was a periodic feature of our nighttime family devotions, and they knew the type of tale I often shared. So they spontaneously started chanting, competition-like, the names of two individuals about whom they had heard a number of stories. “Moody! Moody!” shouted two. “Hudson! Hudson!” countered the third with equal enthusiasm.
I have long wished that historic Christian biography enjoyed the same popularity that historic Christian fiction does. (I actually wish biography were the more popular of the two as I believe it has greater spiritual value to offer. But that’s a discussion for another time and place!) I was pleased and gratified, therefore, with a promotional piece that Crossings Book Club did on Timeless Stories when the company included the book as one of its featured titles about a year after the volume was published. The back of the Crossing’s mass mailing envelope pictured Timeless Stories beside two works of historic fiction, and over all three books was the caption, “Inspiring, Thrilling Christian Lives—from both fiction and fact!” The advertisement symbolized the greater acknowledgement and prominence that I desire historic Christian biography to gain.
Related Media:
Publisher: Christian Focus Publications
Publication Date: 2010
Page Count: 224
ISBN: 9781845505578
Available Formats: Paperback, E-book
Preview Table of Contents: PDF
Preview Introduction: PDF
Where to Buy: