Janet Benge

Buoyant and determined, and having at last won the support of the king and queen of Spain, Christopher Columbus sailed west from Europe with three ships, confident he would reach the Indies by this new route and find the gold-laden civilization to the great Khan....

The spiritual needs of the Muslim world, long neglected by Christian missionaries, came to the world's attention again when Samuel Zwemer dedicated himself to the advancement of the gospel in Arabia....

Escaping from slavery, Frederick Douglass became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in America, the greatest orator of his day, an influential newspaper publisher, writer, and statesman, and the most important African American of the nineteenth century....

Thrown overboard, enslaved by the Turks, captured by pirates, rescued by a princess-the story of Englishman John Smith (1580-1631) would seem unbelievable were it fiction....

When Charles Mulli was a child, his family repeatedly abandoned him, and he lived in fear of his abusive, alcoholic father. With an extraordinary will, the young Kenyan struggled to feed and educate himself and, encountering hope in the gospel, found a reason to live and to forgive....

One of the first Methodist bishops in America, English-born Francis Asbury devoted his life to ministry, traveling on horseback to preach and teach to those living on the vastly isolated American frontier.....

Born in Denison, Texas, Dwight David Eisenhower grew up poor in Abilene, Kansas. After graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point, Ike entered army service, commanding tank training in WWI and afterward, serving in Central America, Europe, and the Philippines....

As an Olympic runner, a bombardier in the Army Air Corps, and a prisoner of war, Louis Zamperini was determined to thrive and survive. Never backing down from a challenge, he lived a life of adventure while modeling hope and forgiveness to a generation....

Once timid and unsure of her own salvation, New Zealander Florence Young rose to her calling and became a fearless and faithful witness for Jesus Christ. Eventually serving in the remote Solomon Islands and in China during the deadly Boxer Rebellion, Florence began her service close to home....

As adventurers from around the world raced to reach the South Pole and achieve other polar firsts in the early 1900s, outsider Ernest Shackleton and his motley expeditions would outshine even the British navy, becoming icons of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.....

Richard Wurmbrand, founder of Voice of the Martyrs, was once a young atheist determined to experience everything the world had to offer. Yet he regretted that God did not exist, wishing that a heart of love beat somewhere in the universe....

As a fourteen-year-old intent on living a “modern” life, the last thing Isobel Kuhn wanted to grow up to be was a missionary. But as it turned out, this young agnostic’s life was redirected―from crisis and doubt to hope and strength....

Amy Carmichael stood on the deck of the steamer, waving good-bye once again to her old friend Robert Wilson. How could she have known she would never see him or the British Isles again? Amy was certain God had called her to India. Indeed! India would be home for the rest of her life....

Abe Lincoln had never set his sights on becoming president; after all, he'd grown up in a log cabin on the frontier and had hardly any formal schooling....

Alan Shepard's boyhood fascination with flight led him from constructing model airplanes in his grandfather's basement to attaining national hero status in the race to space....

While studying to be a minister, John Flynn longed to apply his training to help people in practical ways. Soon he discovered that his mission field was inside his own country: the vast and dangerous outback, or Never Never, where life-and-death struggles were a constant reality....

In search of open spaces and land to call his own, Daniel Boone fearlessly led a band of brave settlers into the bountiful Kentucky wilderness....

With only three months of formal education, Thomas Edison grew up to be one of the most successful inventors of all time. Applying scientific principles to practical use, he made scores of inventions and held over thirteen hundred patents....

Seven-year-old Nate Saint peered wide-eyed over the cockpit of his older brother Sam's Challenger biplane. The eastern Pennsylvania countryside was spread out neatly below him like a fine tablecloth. Nate was determined to remember every moment of this first high-flying adventure....

Corrie ten Boom's life of determination, faith, and forgiveness in the face of unimaginable brutality and hardship is a stunning testimony to the sustaining power of God....