Garth M Rosell

Who did Billy Graham and Bill Bright say was the most influential person in their lives outside of their wives and mothers? Who did God use to train and send out hundreds of pastors, missionaries, and to inspire the birthing of at least fifty new ministries to proclaim the gospel? Henrietta Mears was a woman God used to love the lost into the kingdom. ""To know Christ and to make Him known"" was her motto. In spite of obstacles, ""Teacher,"" as she was best known by those around her, vitally transformed Sunday school education and camping ministry, and impacted Hollywood. Those are only a taste of her accomplishments. Look inside to learn more about this remarkable woman. But don't stop with her story. Throughout her life young people said to her, ""I want to be just like you,"" to which she lovingly replied, ""Nonsense "" She understood that every person has their own call and destiny from our Creator. You will find help to understand the timeless, biblical principles she lived by, to help you become the best you that God created you to become, from before the beginning of time.

Who did Billy Graham and Bill Bright say was the most influential person in their lives outside of their wives and mothers? Who did God use to train and send out hundreds of pastors, missionaries, and to inspire the birthing of at least fifty new ministries to proclaim the gospel? Henrietta Mears was a woman God used to love the lost into the kingdom. ""To know Christ and to make Him known"" was her motto. In spite of obstacles, ""Teacher,"" as she was best known by those around her, vitally transformed Sunday school education and camping ministry, and impacted Hollywood. Those are only a taste of her accomplishments. Look inside to learn more about this remarkable woman. But don't stop with her story. Throughout her life young people said to her, ""I want to be just like you,"" to which she lovingly replied, ""Nonsense "" She understood that every person has their own call and destiny from our Creator. You will find help to understand the timeless, biblical principles she lived by, to help you become the best you that God created you to become, from before the beginning of time.

The Surprising Work of God tells the story of how America's mid-twentieth-century spiritual awakening became a worldwide Christian movement. This seminal study brings a unique perspective to the history, personalities, and institutions of that period and offers an intimate look at evangelicalism through the window of the life, ministry, and writings of Harold John Ockenga and his long friendship with Billy Graham. Ockenga was pastor of the historic Park Street Congregational Church in Boston and cofounder of Fuller Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Christianity Today. As such, he was a central figure in the birth and development of American neo-evangelicalism. This lively, engaging story will be of value to anyone with an interest in the American church of the last century.

The Surprising Work of God tells the story of how America's mid-twentieth-century spiritual awakening became a worldwide Christian movement. This seminal study brings a unique perspective to the history, personalities, and institutions of that period and offers an intimate look at evangelicalism through the window of the life, ministry, and writings of Harold John Ockenga and his long friendship with Billy Graham. Ockenga was pastor of the historic Park Street Congregational Church in Boston and cofounder of Fuller Theological Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, the National Association of Evangelicals, and Christianity Today. As such, he was a central figure in the birth and development of American neo-evangelicalism. This lively, engaging story will be of value to anyone with an interest in the American church of the last century.

In celebration of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's fiftieth anniversary, its former Academic Dean and longtime historian, Garth M. Rosell, was commissioned to write a history of the school. The merger of two much older institutions, the Conwell School of Theology founded in 1884 in Philadelphia and Gordon Divinity School founded in 1889 in Boston, created an institution that since its own founding in 1969 has become one of the largest theological seminaries in the world. With more than ten thousand graduates and nearly two thousand students studying on four campuses from Hamilton and Boston in the north to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the south, the seminary has become an important center for theological education in the evangelical tradition. A Charge to Keep explores the seminary's history from its founding by Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, and J. Howard Pew to the installation of its seventh president, Scott Sunquist.

In celebration of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's fiftieth anniversary, its former Academic Dean and longtime historian, Garth M. Rosell, was commissioned to write a history of the school. The merger of two much older institutions, the Conwell School of Theology founded in 1884 in Philadelphia and Gordon Divinity School founded in 1889 in Boston, created an institution that since its own founding in 1969 has become one of the largest theological seminaries in the world. With more than ten thousand graduates and nearly two thousand students studying on four campuses from Hamilton and Boston in the north to Charlotte and Jacksonville in the south, the seminary has become an important center for theological education in the evangelical tradition. A Charge to Keep explores the seminary's history from its founding by Billy Graham, Harold John Ockenga, and J. Howard Pew to the installation of its seventh president, Scott Sunquist.

Sermons from Second Corinthians Harold John Ockenga had not yet reached his fortieth birthday when he preached this series of sermons as pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church. Already widely recognized as one of America's premier preachers, he invited his congregation to join him in a careful study of Second Corinthians and its application to their daily lives. Today's readers will find these sermons as timely and relevant as they were for those who originally heard them preached. ""Every Sunday during my undergraduate and graduate years at Harvard, I joined many others from all walks of life who flocked to Park Street Church in Boston to hear Harold Ockenga preach God's word. I listened eagerly to his persuasive, erudite, and evangelistic expositions of biblical books. Whenever he began to preach, the very atmosphere seemed to become electrified with the power of God's truth. This particular set of sermons on 2 Corinthians displays his characteristic fidelity to the inerrant Bible, his winsome but no-nonsense exposure of bad theologies and biased critical methods, and his keen sense of how to identify the major themes of a passage with balanced attention to both its component parts and its practical thrust. These sermons have lost none of their relevance. They will challenge your mind and enrich your zeal for God. Especially, they will help you to value the ways that God is our great comfort in all circumstances."" --Doug Stuart, Professor of Old Testament, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

Ten Sermons on Women in the Bible For the third published book of his early career, Harold John Ockenga chose to focus on a series of biographical sermons on women in the Bible that he had preached on Sunday evenings at Boston's Park Street Church. Although the series continued for several months, ten of the sermons were selected for inclusion in this volume. ""The identity of these women was not revealed until each sermon was preached,"" as we learn from the book's foreword, to help stimulate curiosity and a sense of anticipation. ""Keen interest in Bible study,"" we are told, ""was sustained through the entire series."" ""From Delilah and Rachel to Ruth, Martha, and Mary, Harold John Ockenga introduces his readers to a fascinating array of female characters found in the pages of Scripture. Each seems to spring to life once again as their stories are told yet again by a gifted communicator and trusted pastor. As was the result when they were first preached, I suspect that they will stimulate whole new generations of readers to search the Scriptures for themselves."" --Garth M. Rosell, Senior Research Professor of Church History, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

Sermons on an Evangelical Statement of Faith When the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) was founded in 1942, Harold John Ockenga was elected as it first president. By the following year, the young organization had adopted a written statement of faith affirming its commitment to historic Christianity, to the truth of Scripture, and to sound doctrine. As pastor of Boston's historic Park Street Church, Ockenga took the opportunity to preach a series of sermons explaining the basic teachings of the NAE and applying them to the life and labors of his congregation. His clear and powerful expositions are as relevant today as they were when they were first delivered. ""My earliest memory as a child was attending the second meeting of the National Association of Evangelicals held in Chicago in 1943 with my parents and their close friends, the Ockenga family. It was at that meeting that the new NAE Statement of Faith was adopted--the document on which Harold John Ockenga subsequently focused his attention in the series of Sunday evening sermons you now hold in your hands. To read these sermons today is a marvelous walk back into the history of the mid-twentieth century re-emergence of authentic Evangelicalism. These powerful messages are also a helpful reminder that today's preaching must never neglect its responsibility to uphold the whole teaching of the faith once delivered to the saints with gracious theological and pastoral integrity."" --The Rev. Dr. John Huffman, Chair, Board of Trustees, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.

In this series of beautifully crafted sermons, first delivered to the congregation of Boston's historic Park Street Church in 1937, Harold John Ockenga invites his listeners--then and now--to embrace the kind of historic Christianity that challenges the mind, transforms the behavior, and warms the heart. Calling Christianity ""a religion of the heart"" first and foremost, he explores the biblical foundations and practical implications of the religious heart, the wicked heart, the pricked heart, the contrite heart, the believing heart, the hardened heart, the burning heart, the pure heart, the troubled heart, and the loving heart. ""Harold John Ockenga's stirring challenge for the Christian church to rediscover its rich heritage as a 'religion of the heart' was first issued in 1937. Delivered as a series of sermons to his Park Street Church congregation in Boston, the gifted young preacher called his listeners to embrace the joys of true Biblical Christianity through a return to personal, experiential, and wholesome faith. As relevant today as it was in the twentieth century, Ockenga's sermons will encourage your heart, stretch your mind, and strengthen your faith."" Garth M. Rosell, Senior Research Professor of Church History, Gordon-Conwell Seminary Harold John Ockenga (1905-1985) studied at Taylor University, Princeton Theological Seminary, Westminster Theological Seminary, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1931 to 1936 he served as pastor at Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, and from 1936 to 1969 as senior minister at historic Park Street Church in Boston. From his base at Park Street he rose to international prominence, becoming one of the most recognized leaders of the resurgent evangelical movement that swept across America and around the world during the 1940s and 1950s.