In these words we see how Paul was a soul winner. Today is the anniversary of David Brainerd’s death. His short difficult life ended on October 9, 1747. He was a missionary to the Native American Indians in Delaware, New Jersey. Brainerd kept a diary which was published after his death by his friend Jonathan Edwards. As a result he has become a source of immense motivation to many Christian Missionaries such as William Carey. We call Carey the father of modern missions but through God Brainerd was his inspiration. David Brainerd was a man marked by great humility, devotion to God and a passion for the souls of men. He said, “I care not where I go, or how I live, or what I endure so that I may save souls. When I sleep I dream of them; when I awake they are first in my thoughts.” “All my desire was the conversion of the heathen.”

His gravestone in Northampton, Massachusetts reads,

Sacred to the memory of the Rev. David Brainerd. A faithful and laborious missionary to the Stockbridge, Delaware and Sasquehanna Tribes of Indians, who died in this town.