Frank W. Boreham was born in England. Becoming a pastor in New Zealand and Australia, he wrote a large number of books, chiefly essays that took everyday and literary topics to illustrate spiritual themes.
Birth of Lettie Burd, who became Mrs. Charles E. Cowman. With her husband she founded the Oriental Missionary Society in 1907. When her husband became terminally ill--he never took a rest from his energetic work load--they had to return home from the field, but they both kept up the ministry of intercessory prayer. In caring for him for six long years, Lettie had time to recall the multiplied blessings of the ministry they had enjoyed, and she put down on paper many of the devotionals which had blessed her over the years of their ministry together. After the passing of Charles, she printed a few copies of the book, calling it Streams in The Desert. After passing those on to their close friends, she thought that would be the end of it. But the demand for copies increased until by 1982 there had been over 3,000,000 copies distributed. These were followed by a Volume 2, then five other titles--all filled with worthwhile spiritual devotionals to cheer the heart of every reader.
Birth of William Strong, founder of the Gospel Mission to South America. A New York City business man, he was converted at age 35, and began reading his Bible and studying as he commuted by train. It was while he was attending the Noon Fulton Street Prayer Meetings (three blocks from his Manhatten office) that the Lord called Him into His service. Heeding that call, he went to Tacna, Chili, in December, 1923, and began working with the armed forces. Here was an unusual opportunity, for in Chili at that time every young man gave a year of service to the military. The work was known as Soldiers & Gospel Mission (the name was changed several years later). He began by having mass meetings with the men, distributing 20,000 Gideon New Testaments each year. In 1997 there were over 7,000 national men in the several branches of military service, who call themselves the Uniform Evangelical Mission. The Gospel Mission of South America had work from Capiapoacute; in the North to Coyhaique in the South (1,500 miles apart on the narrow strip of country) churches, pastors, camps, Bible Institutes, Correspondence Courses, schools and extensions in Argentine and Uruguay. Strong's 37 years of dedicated ministry were not in vain!
