Readability
Original Sources
Devotional Quality
Avoids Hagiography
Biblical Clarity
| Field | Colonial Era Native Americans |
| Missionary | David Brainerd |
| Author | Vance Christie |
| Era | mid-1700s |
Overview
I wanted to find out why the brief twenty-nine-year life of David Brainerd has inspired so many Christian leaders. William Carey, the Father of Modern Missions, points to Brainerd’s example in his pamphlet that sparked the missions movement. Henry Martyn, an early missionary to India and Persia, modeled his life and diary after Brainerd. John Wesley recommended that every preacher read Brainerd’s diary. In more modern times, Jim Elliot penned his immortal quote in the weeks he was reading Brainerd’s diary: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” Countless others have pointed to David Brainerd’s example as their motivation for a life of dedication and service to God.
However, when I tried to get into The Life and Diary of David Brainerd, I got bogged down. I appreciated the passion of Brainerd’s commitment to God, but I just got lost in the story. When did these events happen? What is the context of his struggles? Why did he do what he did, feel what he felt, and write what he wrote? Then, I discovered Vance Christie’s biography, David Brainerd: A Flame for God. This excellent biography provided context to Brainerd’s writings and a framework for the story of his life.
Therefore, I recommend that you read these two works together. Start with Christie’s biography. Then read Brainerd’s diaries. Together, these two books reveal the outward factors of Brainerd’s life and ministry and his inward devotion to God and His glory.
Highlights
- How God used his youthful indiscretion and the denominational tensions of his time to direct Brainerd’s path to missions among the Native Americans.
- How God worked among the Native Americans despite difficult circumstances.
- How Brainerd passed away in Jonathan Edward’s house and Edward’s published his diary as arguably the first missionary biography.
Quotes
- “In the evening I was grieved that I had done so little for God. Oh, that I could be ‘a flame of fire’ in the service of my God!”
- “My mind was much burdened with the weight and difficulty of my work. My whole dependence and hope of success seemed to be on God; who alone I saw could make them willing to receive instruction. My heart was much engaged in prayer, sending up silent requests to God even while I was speaking to them.”
- “‘Yet God strengthened me when I was just gone [starting to fail] . . . and enabled me to speak His Word with freedom, fervency, and application to the conscience. And praised be the Lord; ‘out of weakness I was made strong’ (Heb. 11:34).”
Other Sources
David Brainerd is also highlighted in Daring Devotion, Day 9.
