Heroes of the Faith week

Hello all! I really enjoyed the LOTR week that someone started back a few months ago and thought it might be fun/inspiring to do one using usernames/avatars related to our forebears in the faith. It could be a great way to learn about them and be encouraged. It would start the first week of April. Also, if you'd like, this page would be the place to tell about the character you have chosen. I hope that makes sense (I'm feeling muddled this morning).

This sounds awesome! I'm not sure I'll change my pic for it..but I'll definitely do so with my username.

This sounds awesome! I'm not sure I'll change my pic for it..but I'll definitely do so with my username.

^^^^ Same here :):)

This sounds awesome! I'm not sure I'll change my pic for it..but I'll definitely do so with my username.

^^^^ Same here :):)

This sounds awesome! I'm not sure I'll change my pic for it..but I'll definitely do so with my username.

^^^^ Same here :):)

This is an awesome idea!!!

I'm glad you liked the LOTR week! :)

Great!!!
(I probably won't change my pic either, Carissa :) )

This sounds awesome! I'm not sure I'll change my pic for it..but I'll definitely do so with my username.

^^^^ Same here :):)

I will probably choose Abigail Adams or Corrie Ten Boom.

I'll probably go with Ann Judson.

I'll go with Elisabeth Elliot… or Esther.

I'll go with my favorite…Eric Liddell! :D

I'll go with my favorite...Eric Liddell! :D

:D

I can't decide between Anne Bradstreet and Margaret Wilson (a Scottish Covenanter)… I think I'll go with Anne Bradstreet.

Yes, if you impersonate the Margaret one, they might confuse you with me. Not that I would mind confusing people particularly, but, especially if you were typing in a Scottish accent, you might give someone a conniption.

If you are speaking of the "Esther" in the Bible, I believe it is spelled with an "h".

Yeah, your right. Thanks.

Who qualifies as "heroes of the faith"?

Heroes of the faith are: Men, women, and children who have lived anytime from Creation to 2014 and have shown an example of walking in a Christ-like manner and therefore worthy of emulation. (They don't have to be martyrs or anything… just true Christians.)

Hmm.. You know, that might be interesting.
But truly, ye donae think mi' accent wa be sae bad a' that, d'ye?
(If anyone feels a conniption coming on, look away and count to ten, then tell me, and I will delete the post.)

Does Billy Sunday count?

Save us! NO!!!!! (Just kidding – well, kind of)
If you genuinely think that Billy Sunday was a Christian worthy of emulation and an actual hero of the faith, you are welcome to choose him.

Does it start the first day of April or the first Monday in April?

The first day of April. Everyone will probably forget about it by next Monday.

The first day of April is April Fools day; I foresee some interesting "heroes".

Uh-oh.

Do you think I should change it?

Are you allowed to pick people that are fictional? xD

If so, I'll change my pic and become Elsie Dinsmore :)

You don't have to, I just can't guarantee that no one will pick Judas Iscariot, or Nero, or someone like that. We could start today or on the 2nd, if you don't want to wait until the first complete week in April.

If so, I'll change my pic and become Elsie Dinsmore :)

NOOOOO!!!!! starts sobbing That's who sniff I wanted to sniff beeeeeee!!!! :( :( ;)

Why would you want to be Elsie Dismal?

Let's start now.

The Heroes of the Faith Week officially begins now!
Let the usernames be changed!

Great.

If so, I'll change my pic and become Elsie Dinsmore :)

NOOOOO!!!!! *starts sobbing* That's who *sniff* I wanted to *sniff* beeeeeee!!!! :( :( ;)

Nevermind…I'll think of someone else…. ;)

Why would you want to be Elsie Dismal?

I seriously just laughed so hard! super awesome high five

Really, Hannah? Elsie Dinsmore? coughs and blames it on my horrible cold

Sorry… I'll change to Doris Avery.

NOO!! It's fine! =)

About Anne Bradstreet, my chosen lady of the faith.
Anne Bradstreet was a lovely, excellent, gracious, and wise Puritan woman. She loved the Lord with zeal, raised eight faithful children, both her father and her husband were governors of Massachusetts, she wrote beautiful poetry, had wit, wisdom, and great skill, and was an faithful, loving wife. Her life is a picture to me of a virtuous woman.
I have tried a couple of times to sum up her story and failed, so instead I recommend the book on her life and character: Beyond Stateliest Marble (by Douglas Wilson)
And I include a little of her poems:

Then straight I 'gin my heart to chide
And did they wealth on earth abide?
Ist fix they hope on mod'ring dust?
The arem of flesh dist make they trust?
Raise up they thoughts above the sky
That dughill mists away may fly.

I had eight birds hatched in one nest,
Four cocks were there, and hens the rest.
I nursed them up with pain and care,
Nor cost, nor labour did I spare,
Till at last they felt their wing,
Mounted the trees, and learned to sing.

And of course her best known goes, "My head my heart mine eyes, nay more, by magazine of earthy store…"

EDIT: I'd really like to hear y'all's stories. I find myself surprisingly ignorant of several of them.

Ann Judson was the wife of Adoniram Judson who were the first American missionaries. She and her husband went to Burma even though they were warned against going there because of the war between the Burmese and the English. Ann had many health problems but she continued on. She bore three children but they all died before the age of five. Even when Adoniram was put in the worst prison and was constantly in danger of being executed she pressed on. Though she was ill most of the time she spent her days in begging the governor to help her get Adoniram out. After two years of constant suffering and danger they were released. Adoniram then had to go help with the translation of the treaties between the English and Burmese and while he was away Ann became very sick and God called her home.

Naw, go ahead. I like Doris anyway :)

Ian, if you read this, could you tell me a little about Billy Sunday? Personally, I haven't really liked the fellow, but I would love to be enlightened. Thanks.

Also, the heroes of the faith week is over, but I'm keeping my name for now, since I admire Mrs. Bradstreet so much.

I'm not an expert on him, but here is what I do know about him: Billy Sunday spent eight seasons as a professional baseball player. In 1886, while on a drinking binge in Chicago with his teammates, he heard a group of works from the Pacific Garden Rescue Mission singing in the street. Reminded of the gospel songs his devout mother had sung, Sunday followed the singer back to the mission. After attending several services there, Sunday was converted. He married in 1888 and left baseball altogether in 1891 to work at the YMCA. He then spent two years as an assistant to Evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman. When Chapman temporarily left evangelism to return to the pastorate, Sunday was left without a job. Then three churches in Garner, Iowa, invited him to conduct a campaign in their town, and he entered into a new career as an evangelist. He soon adopted an aggressive, popular style. In order to reach the masses, he added dramatic, almost athletic gestures to his sermons and spoke in slangy vernacular. His reputation grew throughout the first decade of the twentieth century, and in the 1910s he was at the height of his fame. His most famous campaign was in New York City in 1917. In this ten-week campaign nearly one and a half million people attended his meetings and almost one hundred thousand responded to his altar calls. The New York campaign marked the height of Sunday's career and the climax of American urban evangelism.

That's most of what I know about him, and if you're wondering where I got this information, I got it all from my history book for school. :)

Thank you very much!
I'm not sure that my opinion of him has changed (he seems Finney-ish), but I do know way more than I did at first. Thank you.

You're welcome! Oh, and what does Finney-ish mean?

Finney-ish: Of or relating to the revivalist Charles Finney
(Evie's Dictionary of Incorrect Terminology)