A Pilgrimage Of Faith, J.B. Toews, 1993

the Mennonite Brethren, Biola attracted many young Mennonite Brethren and contributed significantly to the development of church leadership. Cornelius N. Hiebert (Winnipeg, Man.), George B. Huebert (Reedley, Calif.), Jacob D. Hofer (Fresno, Calif.), Nick Janz (Herbert, Sask.), Abram A. Kroeker (Winkler, Man,), Henry K. Warkentin (Fresno), and others received much of their leadership training at Biola under the famous Reuben A. Torrey. Abram A. Kroeker became a pioneer in Christian education at the Winkler Bible Institute and in the Canadian Conference. For many years Nick Janz was an evangelist and Bible school teacher in Herbert and Hepburn, Saskatchewan. The missionary fervor which characterized the latter years of H.K. Warkentin's life was an expression of the inspiration received at Biola. The writings of R.A. Torrey provided spiritual guidance for Mennonite Brethren. For several decades Torrey's book, What the Bible Teaches, was the primary guide for doctrinal studies. He conducted frequent Bible conferences in Menno- nite Brethren churches and spoke several times at the Annual Tabor College Bible Conference, Moody Bible Institute trained a number of early missionar- ies, such as Aron A, Janzen, pioneer of the African Mennonite Brethren church, and Daniel F. Bergthold, who went to India in 1904. The devotional books of Dwight L. Moody were mined for preaching material by lay ministers in many church- es, and the Moody Colportage Library books met the devo- tional needs of the constituency. Systematic Bible Studies by James M. Gray, the successor to Moody as president of the in- 191 A PILGRIMAGE OF FAITH stitute, was a basic text in Mennonite Brethren Bible institutes during the 1940s. Northwestern Bible Institute, led by the dynamic William B. Riley, also drew many students from Mennonite Brethren churches- Among its alumni were Jacob J. Wiebe, for many years pastor in Com, Oklahoma and member of the Board of Foreign Missions; Tina Pauls, missionary worker in Minneapolis; Martha Janzen, veteran missionary in Africa; and pastors Rueben Baerg, David Wiens and Leo Wiens. The writings of Norman D. Harrison, a member of the Northwestern faculty, were part of many ministers* libraries between the 1930s and 1950s.10 The spiritual contributions of these schools were tribu- taries that enlarged the original stream of Mennonite Brethren faith and life. The emphasis on biblical content, missionary motivation and simple hermeneutics became a sustaining fac- tor in Mennonite Brethren spirituality. At the same time, however, this influence tended to sub- merg