David Brainerd

Hello, I’m Joe Pursch, and this is a Transforming Moment. His name was David Brainerd, and he was the first missionary to the Native Indians of North America. He had no mission society that sent him, no church that supported him, no team that went with him. Brainerd just felt convicted by God to go and live among the Indians alone. Miraculous stories abound of how Brainerd was spared from murder by the tribes out of their sheer admiration for his courage. His life text was John 7:37, where Jesus said “If any man is thirsty, let him come unto Me and drink”. Brainerd preached from that verse in hundreds of villages, and thousands of early Native Americans indeed came to Christ and drank deeply of eternal life. David Brainerd died at age 29 from pneumonia contracted from sleeping in the forests and preaching almost nonstop. His last words were: “I would not have lived otherwise for anything in the world.” American history textbooks may ignore his story, but heaven is the richer for his life. I’m Joe Pursch, and this has been a Transforming Moment.