Missionary Biography

In a remote valley north of Kabul, in August 2010, American peacemaker Dan Terry and nine other aid workers were attacked and killed in an event that made worldwide headlines. Why would one man take his family, follow faith and calling into the political and religious maelstrom of Afghanistan, and through years of war and strife believe he could make a difference? In Making Friends among the Taliban, childhood friend Jonathan Larson retraces Dan's nearly 40 years in Afghanistan, and through interviews and eye-witness accounts, relays Dan's incredible way of daily living.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary and one of the greatest European explorers who ever lived. He fought all his life against slavery, and is remembered as a national hero for opening up the interior of the so-called "Dark Continent"; his expeditions had a tremendous influence on the colonization of Africa and the relation between Europeans and Africans. The son of a Christian missionary himself, Livingstone felt a spiritual calling to reach people in the interior of Africa in order to find new commercial routes and thus free the Africans from the plague of slavery.

The name Eric Liddell is a familiar one to many, having gained much fame through the film Chariots of Fire. A Christian athlete and missionary, his passion for his Saviour could be seen throughout his life. From university days to internment at Weihsien POW Camp, John Keddie’s biography brings together a specialist understanding of both Liddell’s faith and sporting achievements to provide an engaging account of this normal man’s extraordinary life.

At age twenty Rowland Bingham committed himself to serving not only in Africa, known as the white man's grave, but in Africa's Sudan interior, where few missionaries had ventured and those who did soon died of disease or retreated in defeat. Experienced missionaries told Rowland that his dream was impossible. But when he found himself the sole surviving member of the fledgling Sudan Interior Mission, he didn't give up—neither did God.

Saint? Missionary? Scientist? Explorer? The titles given to David Livingstone since his death are varied enough to seem dubious—and with good reason. In view of the confessions in his own journals, saint is out of the question. Even missionary is tenuous, considering he made only one convert. And despite his fame as a scientist and explorer, Livingstone left his most indelible mark on Africa in an arena few have previously examined: slavery. His impact on abolishing what he called “this awful slave-trade” has been shockingly overlooked as the centerpiece of his African mission. Until now.

Leaving Western culture and their German home far behind, Amiira Ann and her husband, Chris, responded to the prompting of God to move to one of the most thoroughly Muslim cultures on earth, Yemen. The 9/11 attacks in the United States created the dangerous backdrop for reaching out to their Yemeni hosts with the love of Christ. With a commitment to work in relief and development, they would find, despite the threat of death, that their hearts would be forever knit together with this people so different from themselves.

A remarkable story of two missionaries who spent forty years on the mission field, enduring incredible hardships overcoming impossible obstacles, witnessing astonishing miracles, and experiencing God's faithful protection and peace in the dangerous, difficult place they came to love as home. For centuries the Totonac Indians of Mexico had lived in superstitious fear, under the bondage of witchcraft and poverty. Larry and Doris Puckett reared their four children in the remote village of Mecatlan, Veracruz.

In the early 20th century, a man in Pakistan happened to walk by a small Christian chapel. Inside the preacher was speaking about the love of God. The man, a physician, took the same route the next day and stopped to listen. This was the beginning of a decades long commitment by the doctor to bring more people to faith in Jesus.

A single woman missionary, Becky Ruland, vividly writes about death defying adventures in communist nations where she lived for 14 years. From the challenges of learning Russian to understanding how to live cross-culturally in spiritually dark lands, Becky's words tell the stories of real people.

Miriam Therese Winter, an award-winning musician and four-time Catholic Book Award-winner, shares her experiences of becoming a Sister, working with starving children in Ethiopia and with refugees in Cambodia, of exploring the mysteries of India and the wonders of God in her own backyard, of having breast cancer and having hope. She also illumines new aspects of community, Eucharist, the word and spirit, water and the stars, spiritual blessedness, and much more.

Venture into a world marked by two World Wars, where familial bonds and resilient spirits are tested against the challenging tapestry of time. ‘Echoes of Resilience: A Tale of Two Grandmothers’ is a captivating compilation of two autobiographical sketches written by Gertrude Jacobson Hult and Gertrud Beer Trobisch, two women born at the twilight of the 19th century in very different corners of the globe. Their narratives intersect when a divine calling to African missions and an unexpected romance join their families together as Walter, Gertrud Trobisch's son and a former soldier in ...

Being a missionary in Ivory Coast, West Africa, is not only about dangers, hard work, and culture shock, interspersed with moments of high joy and deep sorrow. It is life found in the small and daily things, the quotidian experience that renders familiar a vastly different way of life, a life at the edge of the village. This book collects Lisa Leidenfrost's sketches of missionary life, compiled from letters sent home from Ivory Coast to her church in the United Sates.

Hearing God's call to serve as a missionary in the French-speaking world, Joe Portale responded with excitement, boldness, and humility. His lifelong dreams were being fulfilled, and the land God had promised was within reach. But the journey was not easy. From spiritual forces in France to the perilous Sahara desert to war and poverty in Southeast Asia, Joe and his ministry team persevered through many challenges. Their successes and failures provide a roadmap for all who would respond to God's call, an instructive account of pursuing one's life vocation and ministry.

Sarah Thebarge, a Yale-trained physician assistant, nearly died of breast cancer at age 27, but that did not end her deeply felt spiritual calling to medical missions in Africa. Risking her own health, she moved to Togo, West Africa - ranked by the United Nations as the least happy country in the world - to care for sick and suffering patients. Serving without pay in a mission hospital, she pondered the intersection of faith and medicine in her quest to help make the world "well".

Barbara Kreiger's intriguing narrative presents the account of Clorinda Minor, a charismatic American Christian woman whose belief in the second coming prompted her to leave a comfortable life in Philadelphia in 1851 and take up agriculture in Palestine.

Slowly the boat pushed us forward, away from certain shipwreck, and gained the upper hand in its struggle against the surging current. The victory did not spark spontaneous celebration; rather, we spent the next moments in a trembling recovery. Kent, an American, and Josephine, an Australian, journeyed to an unfamiliar continent and set out to live on a riverboat deep in the jungle. With their four young children and ministry team, they served on the Purus River in the Amazon, bringing education, health care, and the love of God to remote communities

Blessed Ramon Llull’s ultimate act of final perseverance was not one single decision made by grace, but the culmination of a life spent adhering to the will of God. The Memoirs of Blessed Ramon Llull is a thrilling narrative, reading almost like an action novel. In this autobiographical work, he humbly details his triumphs as well as his own weaknesses and disappointments. Due to rivalries between Catholic leaders, Bl. Ramon’s missionary zeal faced indifference from within the Church as well as resistance from without.

Stories of a Scrappy Missionary Kid invites you to join in on the adventures of Emmy Grace, who grew up as a third culture kid in Romania, became a travel nurse, and now continues to explore the world beyond her borders. She shares the humorous and heartwarming stories of faith, family, and friendships formed along the way. Emmy Grace retells her journey of growing from a shy child to a confident adult making friends, learning lots, and bringing hope to others on her many adventures and misadventures.

A group of Colombian soldiers prepares to raid a drug lord's safe house on the Venezuelan border. They're watching him with an American-made drone, about to strike using military tactics taught to them by US soldiers who honed their skills to lethal perfection in Iraq. In Missionaries, Phil Klay examines the globalization of violence through the interlocking stories of four characters and the conflicts that define their lives.

Riley Unlikely is the inspiring story of Riley Banks, who first traveled to Kenya at age 13, and has been back every year since, bringing backpacks of school supplies and hygiene kits for young girls, developing relationships and friendships, and is currently, as a young millennial, raising money to build a complete learning complex in Kibwezi, Kenya for those who have nothing.