Faith is not an instinct. It certainly is not a feeling – feelings don’t help much when you’re in the lions’ den or hanging on a wooden Cross. Faith is not inferred from the happy way things work. It is an act of will, a choice, based on the unbreakable Word of a God who cannot lie, and who showed us what love and obedience and sacrifice mean, in the person of Jesus Christ.
Elisabeth Elliot

Louis S Bauman

Louis S Bauman

Louis S. Bauman
1875-1950
Louis Sylvester Bauman, pastor, missionary statesman, Bible conference speaker, and author, was born on November 13, 1875. The son of an itinerant Brethren minister and evangelist, William J.H. Bauman, he yielded to the call of God to the Christian ministry in young manhood. Dr. Bauman served in pastorates at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Mexico and Rowan, Indiana; Long Beach, California; and Washington, D.C. His pastorate at Long Beach continued for 34 years, building a membership of over 1,900 and attendances nearing 2,500.

During that time, many branch churches were started in Southern California, and over 150 young men and women entered full-time Christian service. His ministry as an evangelist was blessed of God. Brethren churches from coast to coast credit his early meetings as the beginning of their work.

Early in his pastorate in Philadelphia, a street car conductor, James Gribble, was saved. Mr. Gribble became the first Brethren pioneer missionary to go to the Central African Republic, a ministry that has produced today almost 500 Brethren churches and a membership of over 80,000 African Christians.

Dr. Bauman served on the trustee board and as a missionary editor of the Foreign Missionary Society of the Brethren Church from 1904 to 1950. He died on November 8, 1950, and was buried on his 75th birthday.