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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 finding hope and revival in the midst of trouble, emphasizing that even when deliverance seems delayed and the enemy continues to oppress, God's promise to revive us still stands true. Just like Martha's lack of hope was met with a promise from Jesus, our hopeless situations are where God's power is displayed. The center of trouble is where God revives us, not where He fails us, and it's in the eye of the storm that we find shelter, calm, and God's presence.
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Thou Wilt Revive Me
"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me" (Ps. 138:7). The Hebrew rendering of the above is "go on in the center of trouble." What descriptive words! We have called on God in the day of trouble; we have pleaded His promise of deliverance but no deliverance has been given; the enemy has continued oppressing until we were in the very thick of the fight, in the center of trouble. Why then trouble the Master any further? When Martha said, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died," our Lord met her lack of hope with His further promise, "Thy brother shall rise again." And when we walk "in the center of trouble" and are tempted to think like Martha that the time of deliverance is past, He meets us too with a promise from His Word. "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me." Though His answer has so long delayed, though we may still continue to "go on" in the midst of trouble, "the center of trouble" is the place where He revives, not the place where He fails us. When in the hopeless place, the continued hopeless place, is the very time when He will stretch forth His hand against the wrath of our enemies and perfect that which concerneth us, the very time when He will make the attack to cease and fail and come to an end. What occasion is there then for fainting? --Aphra White THE EYE OF THE STORM "Fear not that the whirlwind shall carry thee hence, Nor wait for its onslaught in breathless suspense, Nor shrink from the whips of the terrible hail, But pass through the edge to the heart of the gale, For there is a shelter, sunlighted and warm, And Faith sees her God through the eye of the storm. "The passionate tempest with rush and wild roar And threatenings of evil may beat on the shore, The waves may be mountains, the fields battle plains, And the earth be immersed in a deluge of rains, Yet, the soul, stayed on God, may sing bravely its psalm, For the heart of the storm is the center of calm. "Let hope be not quenched in the blackness of night, Though the cyclone awhile may have blotted the light, For behind the great darkness the stars ever shine, And the light of God's heavens, His love shall make thine, Let no gloom dim thine eyes, but uplif t them on high To the face of thy God and the blue of His sky. "The storm is thy shelter from danger and sin, And God Himself takes thee for safety within; The tempest with Him passeth into deep calm, And the roar of the winds is the sound of a psalm. Be glad and serene when the tempest clouds form; God smiles on His child in the eye of the storm."
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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.