M.R. Conrad's Blog
October 15, 2025
Robert Murray M’Cheyne: Almost a Missionary
Robert Murray M'Cheyne (1813–1843) nearly left Scotland for the mission field. He read the biographies of David Brainerd and Henry Martyn, compelling him to consider foreign fields. Yet, God drew him to his homeland to reach the thousands in his own perishing parish.
June 3, 2025
Norris Groves: The Little-Known Man Who Inspired George Muller and Hudson Taylor
“If you don’t stop praying to God, then we’ll keep you in prison for the rest of your life,” the Soviet official threatened Pastor Peter Rumachik (p. 40). Threats like this became common for Rumachik in the 1960s and 1970s. For nearly two decades, he faithfully preached the gospel in prison from Siberia to the Ural Mountains.
May 2, 2025
Peter Rumachik: Russian Prison, Centipedes, and God at Work
Lottie Moon. You've heard the name. If you are Southern Baptist, it is synonymous with the annual Christmas offering. You might vaguely remember that Moon was a single, female missionary to China in a previous century. But what did she do? Why is her name remembered? And how did she become so associated with giving to missions?
February 14, 2025
Just Who Is Lottie Moon?
Lottie Moon. You've heard the name. If you are Southern Baptist, it is synonymous with the annual Christmas offering. You might vaguely remember that Moon was a single, female missionary to China in a previous century. But what did she do? Why is her name remembered? And how did she become so associated with giving to missions?
October 12, 2024
The Story You Never Heard: The Ecuador Missionary Who Survived
This is the story you never heard. Jim Elliot got all the headlines from Ecuador in the 1950s, but Frank Drown took similar risks and survived. Just south of where Elliot and his four friends were martyred at the spears of the Waordani, Drown dared to introduce the gospel to Atshuara head-shrinkers with guns.
October 1, 2024
Meet the Australian Commando Turned Missionary
Dense jungles. Nearly impassable ravines. Stone-age villages. Demonic opposition. Daring advance. The author of Stanley Dale's biography had no need to sensationalize this life story.
July 24, 2024
Read the Mind of a Modern Martyr
Exploration in Asian jungles. Penetration of dark canyons cut off from the light of the gospel. Constant spiritual warfare. Persevering prayer that overcomes the obstacles. Joy from communion with God despite discouragement from lack of results and demonic oppression. Accounts of light overcoming darkness as whole villages came to Christ. The biography of James O. Fraser offers all this and more.
July 5, 2024
Go Behind the Ranges with James O. Fraser
Exploration in Asian jungles. Penetration of dark canyons cut off from the light of the gospel. Constant spiritual warfare. Persevering prayer that overcomes the obstacles. Joy from communion with God despite discouragement from lack of results and demonic oppression. Accounts of light overcoming darkness as whole villages came to Christ. The biography of James O. Fraser offers all this and more.
May 24, 2024
Go Searching with Isobel Kuhn
The sneering condescension of a university professor shattered young Isobel Kuhn's comfortable Christianity. She began to question the foundation of her worldview, formed in a conservative Christian home in Canada. Kuhn entered the party scene of the 1920s, seeking meaning and finding none. Join Isobel Kuhn's quest for truth that led her to Christ and then to China.
May 7, 2024
Adoniram Judson: The Classic Biography Everyone Should Read
Romance. Capture by pirates. Rescue from the French Revolution. Storms at sea in wooden ships. Death prison. Sacrifice to save others. Gospel advance. Faith in the face of unthinkable trials. Devastating loneliness and God's provision. Triumphant fruit in a dark land after decades of perseverance.
