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Charles E. Cowman
Charles Elmer Cowman (1868 - 1924). American missionary and co-founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (now One Mission Society), born in Toulon, Illinois. Raised Methodist, he worked as a telegraph operator from age 15, rising to a high-paying role in Chicago by 19. Converted in 1894 after hearing A.B. Simpson at Moody Church, he married childhood friend Lettie Burd in 1889. In 1901, they moved to Japan, co-founding the society with Juji Nakada and Ernest Kilbourne, establishing Bible training institutes in Tokyo by 1903. Cowman led the Great Village Campaign (1913-1918), distributing Gospels to 10 million Japanese homes across 161,000 square miles. Known for holiness preaching and organizational zeal, he authored no books but inspired Streams in the Desert by Lettie. They had no children. Health issues forced his return to Los Angeles in 1917, where he continued guiding the mission. His work sparked revivals and trained thousands of native evangelists.
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Charles E. Cowman preaches about the ministry of great sorrow, drawing parallels to the earthquake that ploughs the mountains but ultimately leads to beauty, grace, and God's everlasting peace. He emphasizes that just as God ploughs the mountains to bring forth beauty and freshness, our lives may face jarring sorrows that are part of His greater plan to renew and bring His peace. Through the imagery of mountains being transformed by earthquakes, Cowman encourages the congregation to trust in God's process of healing and restoration even in the midst of trials.
The Mountain After the Quake
"He maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth and his hands make whole" (Job 5:18). The ministry of a great sorrow. As we pass beneath the hills which have been shaken by the earthquake and torn by convulsion, we find that periods of perfect repose succeed those of destruction. The pools of calm water lie clear beneath their fallen rocks, the water lilies gleam, and the reeds whisper among the shadows; the village rises again over the forgotten graves, and its church tower, white through the storm twilight, proclaims a renewed appeal to His protection "in whose hand are all the corners of the earth, and the strength of the hills is his also." --Ruskin God ploughed one day with an earthquake, And drove His furrows deep! The huddling plains upstarted, The hills were all aleap! But that is the mountains' secret, Age-hidden in their breast; "God's peace is everlasting," Are the dream-words of their rest. He made them the haunts of beauty, The home elect of His grace; He spreadeth His mornings upon them, His sunsets light their face. His winds bring messages to them Wild storm-news from the main; They sing it down the valleys In the love-song of the rain. They are nurseries for young rivers, Nests for His flying cloud, Homesteads for new-born races, Masterful, free, and proud. The people of tired cities Come up to their shrines and pray; God freshens again within them, As He passes by all day. And lo, I have caught their secret! The beauty deeper than all! This faith--that life's hard moments, When the jarring sorrows befall, Are but God ploughing His mountains; And those mountains yet shall be The source of His grace and freshness, And His peace everlasting to me. --William C. Gannett
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Charles Elmer Cowman (1868 - 1924). American missionary and co-founder of the Oriental Missionary Society (now One Mission Society), born in Toulon, Illinois. Raised Methodist, he worked as a telegraph operator from age 15, rising to a high-paying role in Chicago by 19. Converted in 1894 after hearing A.B. Simpson at Moody Church, he married childhood friend Lettie Burd in 1889. In 1901, they moved to Japan, co-founding the society with Juji Nakada and Ernest Kilbourne, establishing Bible training institutes in Tokyo by 1903. Cowman led the Great Village Campaign (1913-1918), distributing Gospels to 10 million Japanese homes across 161,000 square miles. Known for holiness preaching and organizational zeal, he authored no books but inspired Streams in the Desert by Lettie. They had no children. Health issues forced his return to Los Angeles in 1917, where he continued guiding the mission. His work sparked revivals and trained thousands of native evangelists.