The "Two Young Moravian Missionaries" from Paris Reidhead's "10 Shekels and a Shirt"

Paris Reidhead in his famous sermon " 10 Shekels and a Shirt" concludes his sermon with a story of two young missionaries who went to the evangelize the slaves of St. Thomas. Those two young Moravian missionaries were Leonard Dober, and David Nitschmann.




After the mission got started, David Nitschmann went back to Hernhut. Leonard Dober stayed for two more years until he was called (by the lot) back to be a minister in Hernhut.

David Nitschmann was one of the original Moravians. He was born on December 27, 1696 at Zauchtenthal, Moravian and immigrated to Hernhut in 1724. He became the first bishop of the "Moravian Church."

David Nitschmann later was on the ship to America that also carried John Wesley. This was the ship ride that John Wesley says in his journal had the misfortune of running into a hurricane. Wesley reports that the storm was so severe that even the main mast of the ship collapsed. Everyone went into a panic. Wesley admitted that he also was afraid to die. But then Wesley looked and saw a group of Moravians just singing and trusting God. He was amazed and asked them later if they were afraid to die. The Moravians confidently told Wesley that they or their children were not afraid to die. Wesley reports that the Moravians went on to exhort him for his lack of faith in Christ. This convicted him.

Later this David Nitschmann started the community in Savanna Georgia and after that he made it up to Bethlehem. Later he also went on to start the community in Lititz. He is buried in God's Acre in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
These Christian communities were powerful. Bethlehem was a full Christian community and even practiced a general economy. Everything in this community was aimed at propagating the kingdom of God--everything! As Mike Atnip said, "Bethlehem was a Mission Machine."

Truly David Nitschmann was a monument of a man a true burning and shining light. But here in God's acre all that is here is a tiny flat tomb stone buried under the snow.

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[pintaekim]

Good video. While Reidhead indeed captures the Moravian spirit, this video corrects some of the historical details of his story. Moravian zeal, love, and brotherhood is a worthy Ebenezer in our spiritual journeys.