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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 on the transformative power of love that covers all things, urging believers to earnestly pursue this love as described in 1 Corinthians 13:7-13. He shares a personal testimony of a sleepless night filled with injustice and the struggle to obey God's command to love and cover offenses, leading to a powerful experience of healing and forgetfulness through surrendering to God. Through the imagery of burying past hurts and wounds, he illustrates the beauty and restoration that comes from allowing God's love to heal and transform our hearts.
Rehearse Your Troubles to God Only
"Love covereth" (Prov. 10:12). "Be eager in pursuit of this love" (1 Cor. 13:7-13, Weymouth). Rehearse your troubles to God only. Not long ago I read in a paper a bit of personal experience from a precious child of God, and it made such an impression upon me that I record it here. She wrote: "I found myself one midnight wholly sleepless as the surges of a cruel injustice swept over me, and the love which covers seemed to have crept out of my heart. Then I cried to God in an agony for the power to obey His injunction, 'Love covereth.' "Immediately the Spirit began to work in me the power that brought about the forgetfulness. "Mentally I dug a grave. Deliberately I threw up the earth until the excavation was deep. "Sorrowfully I lowered into it the thing which wounded me. Quickly I shoveled in the clods. "Over the mound I carefully laid the green sods. Then I covered it with white roses and forget-me-nots, and quickly walked away. "Sweet sleep came. The wound which had been so nearly deadly was healed without a scar, and I know not today what caused my grief." "There was a scar on yonder mountain-side, Gashed out where once the cruel storm had trod; A barren, desolate chasm, reaching wide, Across the soft green sod. "But years crept by beneath the purple pines, And veiled the scar with grass and moss once more, And left it fairer now with flowers and vines Than it had been before. "There was a wound once in a gentle heart, Whence all life's sweetness seemed to ebb and die; And love's confiding changed to bitter smart, While slow, sad years went by. "Yet as they passed, unseen an angel stole And laid a balm of healing on the pain, Till love grew purer in the heart made whole, And peace came back again."
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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.