Five Houses. One Home.

“If you believe in a God who controls the big things, you have to believe in a God who controls the little things.”

Elisabeth Elliot

Elisabeth Elliot was born in the early 20th century to missionary parents in Belgium. After moving to Pennsylvania, she attended Wheaton College. There, she studied Greek and met her future husband: Jim Elliot. Shortly after graduating, they became missionaries in Ecuador, where they married. Shortly thereafter, Jim was speared and killed by the Waorani tribe, to whom they were ministering.

Even this, however, didn’t keep Elliot from her ministry. She stayed with the tribe after her husband was killed and eventually built relationships with the tribe and converted them to Christ. After returning to the United States, Elliot continued her career in ministry as a writer and speaker, and she and her second husband toured the United States on many occasions.

“If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind…for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.”

Fanny Crosby

Fanny Crosby was born in the early 19th century to a Puritan family. As a baby, she developed an eye infection, which, when treated improperly, rendered her eyes scarred and useless for the rest of her life. A young girl endowed with a particular spirit, however, her blindness did not weigh on her life; instead, she often expressed gladness in her disability. This attitude was, no doubt, inspired by the teaching of her grandmother, who helped her memorize Scripture and would describe the world to her.

After teaching at the New York Institute for the Blind, Crosby married and left teaching, where she found her true calling: as a hymn writer. She was exceptionally gifted as a musician and lyricist, and wrote thousands of hymns under various pen names, many of which are still modern favorites. In her life, Crosby always had a song in her heart, and in difficult circumstances, she never lost her vigor at proclaiming the praise of her Maker.

“I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.”

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was born a slave around 1818 in Maryland, and after being passed around a few masters through his youth, he managed to escape and live as a free man in the North. He quickly rose to prominence as a leading abolitionist and intellectual, having been taught to read and write by one of his early masters. Through his life, Douglass remained a staunch opponent of slavery, speaking with a quiet fire and candor that still echoes in his work today.

With his freedom, Douglass was a frequent speaker at abolitionist rallies, published a newspaper that espoused abolitionist ideals, and worked to better the lives of oppressed groups, including women and Irish immigrants. He was a man of deep integrity and passion, who spoke with fire on the subject of justice, and who faced immense challenges with an almost supernatural endurance in pursuit of his God-given freedom.

“Judging others makes us blind, whereas real love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany before World War I. As a young boy, he demonstrated significant musical talent, but he ended up pursuing the path of a pastor instead. He later obtained a doctorate of theology and traveled around, motivated by justice and protecting the oppressed.

When Hitler was elected to Chancellor of Germany, Bonhoeffer was one of his most outspoken critics, and he drew significant public ire in his opposition, warning of the dangers of Nazism. He continued to oppose the Nazi party through World War II, writing some of his most significant theological works during this time. Eventually, though, his opposition landed him in a Nazi jail, and he was executed shortly thereafter. He died a martyr, standing against the oppression and evil in his homeland.