Dec. 28 in Christian History

Dec 28, 2009 11:42 AM EST

1741 - English revivalist George Whitefield wrote in a letter: 'Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God.'


1832 - In Missouri, St. Louis Academy (founded in 1818) was chartered as St. Louis University. It was the first Catholic university established in the U.S. west of the Allegheny Mountains.


1838 - Greensborough Female College was chartered in North Carolina, under the Methodist Church. In 1920 its name was changed to Greensboro College.


1847 - Birth of Samuel A. Ward, American music publisher. Ward composed the tune MATERNA, to which we sing today the patriotic hymn, "America, The Beautiful."


1916 - At a seven-day convention in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, the General Assembly of Apostolic Assemblies (GAAA) was formed. Its institutional life was short, however. Due to the pressures of World War I, the GAAA was formed too late to recognize ministers of military age.


© 1987-2009, William D. Blake. Used by permission of the author, from

Almanac of the Christian Church