Jesus of Nazareth is the founding figure of Christianity and Christianity is the religion that shaped Europe, and much of the world as a consequence. As the largest religion in the world, there is no doubt that Christianity is still making an impact to this day. The principal sources of information regarding Jesus’ life and teachings are the four canonical gospels. Most critical scholars in the fields of history and biblical studies believe that ancient texts on Jesus’ life are at least partially accurate, agreeing that Jesus was a Galilean Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer. They also generally accept that he was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire.
2:Moses
1393 BC – 1273
Moses is a Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, a Levi, prophet, and military leader, who wrote the Torah. He is the most important prophet in Judaism. According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew mother, Jochebed, who hid him when a Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, where they wandered in the desert for 40 years, during which time, according to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments.
3:Abraham
2000 BC to 1825 BC
Jewish, Christian and Muslim traditions regard Abraham as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites and Edomite peoples. He is widely regarded as the patriarch of Judaism and monotheism. Abraham means “High Father”, coming from the Aramaic words “Aba Rama”. Judaism, Christianity and Islam are sometimes referred to as the “Abrahamic religions”, because of the progenitor role Abraham plays in their holy books. According to Genesis, Abraham was brought by God from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan. There Abraham entered into a covenant: in exchange for sole recognition of God as supreme universal deity and authority, Abraham will be blessed with innumerable progeny.
4:Albert Einstein
14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955
Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He is best known for his theory of relativity and specifically mass–energy equivalence, E = mc², the most famous equation of the twentieth century. Einstein received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.” Einstein published over 300 scientific works and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein is revered by the physics community, and in 1999 Time magazine named him the “Person of the Century”. In wider culture the name “Einstein” has become synonymous with genius.
5:Maimonides
March 30, 1135 – December 13, 1204
Moses Maimonides, also known as the Rambam, was a rabbi, physician, and philosopher in Spain, Morocco and Egypt during the Middle Ages. He was the preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher whose ideas also influenced the non-Jewish world. One of the central tenets of Maimonides’s philosophy is that it is impossible for the truths arrived at by human intellect to contradict those revealed by God. Although his copious works on Jewish law and ethics were initially met with opposition during his lifetime, he was posthumously acknowledged to be one of the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history. Today, his works and his views are considered a cornerstone of Jewish thought and study.
6:,Sigmund Freud
May 6, 1856 – September 23, 1939
Sigmund Freud, born Sigismund Shlomo Freud, was an Austrian psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression and for creating the clinical practice of psychoanalysis for curing psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst. Freud is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life, as well as his therapeutic techniques, including the use of free association, his theory of transference in the therapeutic relationship, and the interpretation of dreams as sources of insight into unconscious desires.
7:Baruch de Spinoza
November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677
Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza’s work was not fully realized until years after his death. Today, he is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy, laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism. By virtue of his magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes’ mind–body dualism, Spinoza is considered to be one of Western philosophy’s most important philosophers.
8:Gustav Mahler
7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911
Gustav Mahler was a composer and conductor, born in Bohemia (formerly part of the Austrian Empire, currently located in the Czech Republic), and identified throughout his life as a German-speaking Austrian. Mahler was best known during his own lifetime as one of the leading orchestral and operatic conductors of the day. He has since come to be acknowledged as among the most important late-romantic composers, although his music was never completely accepted by the musical establishment of Vienna while he was still alive. Mahler composed primarily symphonies and songs; however, his approach to genre often blurred the lines between orchestral song, symphony, and symphonic poem.
9:Niels Bohr
7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made fundamental contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in Copenhagen. He was also part of the team of physicists working on the Manhattan Project. Bohr married Margrethe Nørlund in 1912, and one of their sons, Aage Niels Bohr, grew up to be an important physicist who, like his father, received the Nobel prize, in 1975. Bohr has been described as one of the most influential physicists of the 20th century.
10:David Ben-Gurion
16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973
David Ben-Gurion was the first Prime Minister of Israel. Ben-Gurion’s passion for Zionism, which began early in life, culminated in his instrumental role in the founding of the state of Israel. After leading Israel to victory in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Ben-Gurion helped build the state institutions and oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world. Upon retiring from political life in 1970, he moved to Sde Boker, where he lived until his death. Posthumously, Ben-Gurion was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Important People of the Century
The above article and images are taken from listverse.com
Jacob Joseph "Jack" Lew (born August 29, 1955) is an American government administrator and attorney who is the 76th and current United States Secretary of the Treasury, serving since 2013. He served as the 25th White House Chief of Staff from 2012 to 2013. Lew previously served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton and Obama Administrations, and is a member of the Democratic Party.
US Secretary of Treasury Jack Lew Photo: REUTERS
JACK LEW is the most powerful Jew in the US administration, the world’s top superpower. Formerly President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, his current post of secretary of the Treasury puts him in one of the key jobs in the executive cabinet: proctoring economic recovery, forecasting future debt, and managing a complex infrastructure of international sanctions. The Treasury, not the Pentagon, would be responsible for the weapon of choice used by Obama against a nuclear Iran, and Lew has been central in shaping the policy.
Controlling the purse strings of the US Treasury, Lew’s proximity to the president, the most powerful person on the planet, is indisputable.
Last year, when Obama appointed Lew as his chief of staff, he said, “If there was a Hall of Fame for budget directors, then Jack Lew surely would have earned a place for his service in that role under president Clinton.”
Lew has served as one of Obama’s top lieutenants in negotiations over the “fiscal cliff” crisis. And when Obama was locked in painful spending negotiations with House Republicans last spring, Lew went to the Oval Office to propose some complex budget changes.
As Lew delved deeper and deeper into the numbers, Obama put up his hand, signaling him to stop.
“Jack, it’s fine,” the president said, according to Gene Sperling, Obama’s economics adviser, who witnessed the exchange. “I trust your values. I trust your judgment on this.”
His appointment to the Treasury secretary was above else a testament to Obama’s appreciation of Lew’s skills, values and judgment. But it was also an opportunity for Jews in Israel and abroad to delight in the fact that a member of the tribe had climbed to such an influential position in the US.
This is especially true in the case of Lew, a man proud of his Jewish roots and unabashedly committed to his rich tradition. An Orthodox Jew who observes Shabbat, he regularly attends synagogue services. Lew’s former chief on the National Security Council, Sandy Berger, once commented that “Lew’s faith never got in the way of performing his duties.”
Unlike many of his Orthodox Jewish peers, who tend to hold relatively conservative political positions, Lew – whose father arrived in the US from Poland in 1916 – has a long history with the Democrats, particularly the party’s most liberal wing. Already in 1968, when just 12 years old, Lew canvassed in New York for senator Eugene McCarthy, a poet who ran on an anti-Vietnam war platform in the campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In an interview with The New York Times, Lew said of that experience, “It was... my introduction to seeing that you could make a difference in people’s lives through politics.”
Lew and his wife, Ruth Schwartz, have two children.
2. Janet Yellen, Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve
JANET YELLEN made history this year when she became the first woman ever appointed chair of the US Federal Reserve. This made her one of the most influential people in the world, and arguably the most influential woman.
She was voted No. 2 on Forbes’s list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women this year.
Dominated by American Jews over the last 50 years – at least five chairmen have been practicing members of the faith – the position is now held by “one of the nation’s foremost economists and policy makers,” according to US President Barack Obama.
Yellen has an uphill climb: She is tasked with redefining the labor market, reassuring markets that the economic recovery is real, and convincing consumers to have confidence in their purchases for the first time in years. Her position has often been described as the most powerful position in the nation aside from that of president.
Before taking on this new role on February 3, 2014, Yellen held the second-highest position on the Federal Board of Governors, vice chair, from 2010 to 2014. Yellen simultaneously began a 14-year term as a member of the Federal Reserve Board that will expire on January 31, 2024.
A lifelong Democrat, she has been described as a “traditional American Keynesian” who has supported some of former chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke’s more unorthodox policies in dealing with a troubled economy during the Great Recession.
Yellen is seen as a monetary policy “dove” whose views on the economy mesh with the Obama administration’s, particularly on high unemployment being a greater threat to the nation’s economy than inflation. “Reducing unemployment should take center stage,” Yellen has said.
The New Yorker magazine said of her that “In a field noted for its conservatism and adherence to free-market orthodoxy, [Yellen] has long stood out as a lively and liberal thinker who resisted the rightward shift that many of her colleagues took in the 80s and 90s.”
Janet Louise Yellen is married to George Akerlof, a Nobel prize-winning economist and professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. Their son, Robert Akerlof, teaches economics at the University of Warwick.
Yellen is due to receive an honorary doctorate from the London School of Economics in July 2014, making her and George Akerlof “the first wife-and-husband team to hold honorary doctorates from the school.”
3. Binyamin Netanyahu, Prime minister of Israel
BY THE very nature of the position, the prime minister of Israel – regardless of who occupies that office at any given time – must be high atop any list of the world’s most influential Jews.
What the prime minister says and does has enormous impact – life and death – on the lives of the country’s 8.2 million people, including 6.1 million Jews, the largest Jewish community in the world. But not only. The prime minister’s words and actions impact mightily on Israel’s Jewish brethren abroad, because of the way the Diaspora community is interwoven with Israel.
And, finally, there is not a Jew alive whose pronouncements and decisions are more important to a wide array of world leaders and their advisers – from US President Barack Obama to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Saudi Arabian King Abdullah – than those of the prime minister of Israel. Standing at the top of the strongest country in the Middle East – economically, technologically and militarily – gives the prime minister a degree of power and influence that no other Jew in the world can rival.
Those who ask how Netanyahu sees his position, how he envisions his historic function, would do well to study the speech he delivered at Yad Vashem-Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority on Holocaust Remembrance Day in April. Because that speech embodies how he sees his role.
Netanyahu drew parallels between the period leading up to World War II and the Holocaust, and the present situation regarding Iran. “Very few world leaders understood the enormity of the threat to humanity posed by Nazism,” Netanyahu said. “[Former British prime minister Winston] Churchill was one of them. Few among our leaders, primarily [Ze’ev] Jabotinsky, warned against the imminent destruction facing our nation, but they were widely criticized and their warnings were disregarded, and they were treated as merchants of doom and warmongers.”
Netanyahu’s subtext in that speech, his implied message, was that he was a leader with a sense of his historic responsibility, that he was a leader who would act if compelled to do so.
He sees his primary role as the protector of Israel, not necessarily the peacemaker for Israel.
He sees himself as one who will defend the Jewish people and its homeland, not divide Jerusalem or give up Shiloh.
This does not mean Netanyahu would not like to bring peace, rather he believes that in the present situation, the current generation of Palestinian leadership will not agree to his formula: a demilitarized Palestinian state that lives alongside and recognizes the Jewish State of Israel.
Netanyahu is legacy minded. How will he be remembered? What will have been his influence? What was his historic function? His answer? The defender of his people and its homeland, a leader who provided Jews with security, and who sounded the alarm for all to hear – even those who were plugging their ears – well before it was too late.
4. Shimon Peres , President of Israel
ANYONE WHO thinks that after July 26, when his seven- year term as president expires, Shimon Peres will fade into oblivion is greatly mistaken. Let it not be forgotten that he is the country’s only president who was also prime minister and vice president of the Socialist International.
During his seven years as president, every major delegation that came to Israel and every visiting dignitary asked for a meeting with Peres. He now has a string of invitations from his global network of contacts: policymakers, past and present heads of state and government, writers, actors, artists, hi-tech gurus, scientists, philanthropists and other people of influence.
Peres symbolizes the history and development of the State of Israel in which he played a significant role from the period prior to the establishment of the state up to the present day. He is credited with having conceived Israel Aircraft Industries and the nuclear reactor in Dimona. He was the brains behind the Operation Entebbe rescue mission in 1976, and he took Israel out of triple-digit inflation. He promoted nanotechnology and is currently promoting brain research.
A tireless advocate for peace, Peres is optimistic and continues in his efforts to persuade the Arab world that peace will bring prosperity to its countries and take its citizens out of the cycle of poverty.
Peres did not wait until he was out of office to build his legacy. He established the Peres Center for Peace in 1996 for the purpose of fostering cross-border relationships in agriculture, water and environment, business and economics, civil leadership and peace education, culture, media and the arts, food security, medicine and health care and sport and technology. The center is engaged in numerous projects and programs for adults, youth and children aimed at breaking down barriers of hostility and living as good neighbors in every sense of that concept.
Peres may cease to be a public servant, but he will remain a public figure, and many visiting dignitaries who in the past beat a path to Jerusalem will also beat one to Jaffa, where the Peres Center for Peace is located.
• Greer Fay Cashman
5. Sheldon Adelson, CEO and owner of Sands Hotel and Casino, philanthropist
A TENDENCY towards entrepreneurship was already evident when Sheldon Adelson, chairman of the board, CEO and principal owner of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, was still a boy in his native Boston. He was only 12 years old when he first went into business by borrowing $200 from his uncle to buy a license to sell newspapers.
Four years later he went into the vending- machine business, selling candy. Following a stint in the army, he sold toiletry kits, then ventured into chemical sprays to clear frozen windshields.
Moving in a different direction altogether, he founded a charter tours enterprise that turned a profit.
Adelson has formed more than 50 companies including COMDEX, one of the world’s preeminent computer expo and mega exhibition companies. Along the way he was a mortgage broker, investment adviser and financial consultant contributing to his becoming a multi-billionaire.
Due to his ventures, often in fields where others feared to tread, Adelson developed a reputation for being unafraid of risk-taking. His business enterprises had their ups and downs, but according to Forbes, the multinational businessman, mega philanthropist and octogenarian, primarily known as a casino tycoon, is on a roll. In March, he was back on the magazine’s list of the 10 richest people in the world with a net worth of $40.8 billion – after a seven-year absence.
Just before and during that time, he donated tens of millions of dollars to causes in the United States, Israel, China and Singapore. Adelson is a firm believer in giving back to the community wherever he sets up one of his resorts.
A die-hard Republican, in 2012 he spent more than $100 million on the unfulfilled wish of having a Republican as the 45th president of the United States.
As a man who attracts controversy, Adelson is waging battles on two fronts.
One is in the US, where he is spending a great deal of money fighting Internet gambling. The other is in Israel, where he is combating proposed legislation to close down his tabloid newspaper Israel Hayom. The paper is a give-away, and its rival Yediot Aharonot, Israel’s former most popular daily, is using all its influence with legislators to bring about a law forbidding the distribution of free daily newspapers.
Major Israeli beneficiaries of Adelson’s philanthropy through the Adelson Family Foundation, which he set up together with his second wife Dr. Miriam Adelson, include Yad Vashem-Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, Taglit-Birthright Israel, the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, the Dr. Miriam and Sheldon G. Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment and Research, and medical research in the areas of neurology, immunology and oncology.
Adelson was a key sponsor of the Israeli Presidential Conference: Facing Tomorrow.
• Greer Fay Cashman
6. Malcolm Hoenlein, Vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations A NUMBER of poky rooms in the back of the Jewish Agency’s New York office on Manhattan’s East Side appear to suffice for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and its longtime president.
Sitting in his crowded inner sanctum, it is hard to believe just how influential Malcolm Hoenlein is, at least until you hear him speak. A confidant of presidents and kings, Hoenlein is a longtime Jewish activist who got his start during the struggle for Soviet Jewry.
Representing the interests of a large segment of American Jewry, he lobbies the Executive Branch for Israel, just as conference member AIPAC lobbies Congress. Working to secure the Jewish community, he liaises with the FBI and other federal and local law enforcement agencies as part of his work in helping lead the Secure Community Network, a joint initiative of the conference and the Jewish Federations of North America.
Hoenlein is also well known for his radio show and his insistence, despite rising assimilation and intermarriage – coupled with a decrease in involvement in Israeli advocacy and Jewish communal involvement – that young Jews are not lost to the Jewish people.
In a series of interviews with The Jerusalem Post over the past year, Hoenlein hammered home that point again and again.
Young American Jews care very much about Israel,” he said. “I think that one of the huge problems we have is ignorance... and [that] you don’t have a rallying cause – like we had with Soviet Jews, Syrian Jews and Ethiopian Jews – for people to manifest their interest.”
There are fundamental changes taking place in the affiliation of American Jews, he continued. There are indeed many young Jews who are disinterested, but “that was always true.”
Still, he stressed, “it’s not disaffection. There is tremendous ignorance, and I think that is a critical factor. Part of the problem is education, especially educating youth. We neglect our youth in the community and in the general population.”
In cultivating the next generation of communal leaders, America’s Jewish community must “think out of the box and say that the traditional ways are no longer necessarily relevant for today,” he believes.
Many of the organizations of the past “do not attract the young generation, but they are creating new vehicles and new approaches” to try and stay relevant, he told the Post.
Founded in the 1950s by over 50 Jewish organizations to provide a united front in dealing with the federal government, the conference is one of the most visible arms of America Jewry, making Hoenlein the communal representative par excellence.
• Sam Sokol
7. Avigdor Liberman, Foreign minister of Israel
WHAT A year it has been for Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman. He was acquitted on charges of corruption, ending a legal saga that stretched for nearly 17 years.
He returned to the Foreign Ministry, building a close relationship with US Secretary of State John Kerry that he did not have with Kerry’s predecessor, Hillary Clinton, who had shunned him.
And he restored his political power, helping pass electoral reforms and the haredi conscription bill.
Liberman has decided not to continue his Yisrael Beytenu Party’s bond with Likud in the next elections, and he has started flirting politically with popular former communications minister Moshe Kahlon, who could help him maintain his political strength.
Liberman sent shock waves through Israeli politics when he became the first high-profile figure in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s coalition to openly suggest initiating new elections, in an interview at The Jerusalem Post Conference with The Jerusalem Post editor- in-chief Steve Linde.
After Liberman was seen as shifting leftward, he returned to his political base by saying that he would rather have elections than change the coalition or return to the deal by which Israel would release Palestinian terrorists in order to continue American-brokered diplomatic negotiations.
Now, he aims to use his perch as the No. 2 man in Netanyahu’s faction to advance legislation on issues such as civil unions and conversion.
How he fares in his efforts to use his legal freedom to advance his agenda will determine his political future.
• Gil Hoffman
8. Adina Bar-Shalom. Founder of the Haredi College for Women
ADINA BAR-SHALOM is not a radical revolutionary. But since the death of her father Rabbi Ovadia Yosef – the leader of the Shas party – last October, the 69-year-old Tel Aviv mother of three has been increasingly daring, at least according to the standards of the ultra-Orthodox community into which she was born.
Bar-Shalom is known primarily for establishing, in 2000, the Haredi College in Jerusalem, that provides occupational training for ultra-Orthodox women and men, helping them integrate into the labor market. She skillfully enlisted her father to provide the needed rabbinic clout to legitimize the endeavor, which was considered highly controversial in ultra-Orthodox circles.
In a sense, the Haredi College was Bar-Shalom’s point of self-discovery outside her upbringing. After her arranged marriage at the age of 17, she worked as a seamstress. Her aspiration to study psychology was at the time, vetoed by her father and husband.
Today, psychology is taught at the Haredi College.
In the months after her father’s death, Bar-Shalom has considered becoming a candidate for president of Israel, and running for a seat in the Knesset, roles that he had ruled as off limits to women.
She was awarded this year with the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement.
“She managed to navigate the choppy waters of opposing worldviews and fierce disagreements and offer a significant social contribution,” the committee that granted her the prize announced.
• Jerusalem Post staff
9. Yair Lapid, Finance minister of Israel
LAST YEAR, Finance Minister Yair Lapid topped this list.
He was chosen because he had rocketed his way to the top of the Israeli consciousness and redefined the country’s priorities away from security concerns and toward domestic issues, galvanizing an otherwise splintered Center bloc.
In a recent interview, Lapid boasted to The Jerusalem Postthat out of the five main promises his party had made ahead of last year’s election, four were already being implemented: The electoral system was changed, the conscription bill was passed, diplomatic talks with the Palestinians were restarted and educational reforms were being carried out.
He said the only one that has not been done was lowering the cost of the housing market – a goal that he said required a lot more work.
Despite his successes, Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party is not doing particularly well in the polls. His job as finance minister eroded his support, his constituency saw the conscription bill as overly generous to the ultra-Orthodox and the diplomatic agenda that dominated the news this past year was Hatnua leader Tzipi Livni’s baby, not his.
The race for president made Lapid seem irrelevant.
He could have proven himself as a kingmaker by bringing in a maverick candidate from outside the political world who would wow the people of Israel and win the support of the Knesset.
But instead he kept his vote a secret and scattered his MKs among five presidential candidates. Why? Because he honestly didn’t care who won.
For a man with prime ministerial aspirations, Lapid should have at least feigned interest. For him to top this list again, Lapid must regain his political drive, win back support in the polls and continue to dominate the national agenda.
• Gil Hoffman
10. Naftali Bennett, Economy minister of Israel
WHENEVER BAYIT Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett was asked about the Palestinian conflict during the election campaign, he gave a short answer and tried to change the subject to what he really cared about.
He knew that in the eyes of Israelis the election was more about bridging socioeconomic gaps, advancing matters of religion and state as well as bringing fresh voices into politics.
But then the government was formed, US Secretary of State John Kerry came to Israel 11 times and the Palestinian issue dominated the national agenda.
All along, Bennett continued to downplay the talks – without undermining them. He simply waited for them to fail.
There are those who believe his party ensured their failure by advancing a construction project in Jerusalem’s Gilo neighborhood, or by threatening to quit the coalition if Arab-Israeli terrorists would have been released, despite the inclusion of Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard in the deal with the Americans.
But the facts prove the former claim untrue, and the latter argument became irrelevant when later ideas for reviving the talks were rejected by the Palestinian Authority in favor of a deal with Hamas.
So Bennett has his way. The talks are dead, at least for now. His strategy was proven correct in hindsight.
His new goal is to try to convince Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to annex Area C, the areas of Judea and Samaria where Jews live.
It is clearly a long shot. But if Bennett’s strategy was right last year, who knows? Perhaps he can use his powers of persuasion to have his way again in the year ahead.
• Gil Hoffman
The above article and images are taken from wikipedia and jpost
1. Pastor Joel Osteen
"The 50-year-old preacher made headlines in 2012 when he was pictured in Hawaii with six-pack abs, which is a testament in itself to how much he exercises," said Becic. "Osteen frequently posts diet and fitness advice on his website, encouraging people to take care of their temple, limit sugar and drink more water. He also cares about the health of his congregation which is why he appointed me to lead the health and fitness program at his megachurch."
2. Father Mark Ivany
"Mark Ivany who leads Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Washington, D.C., believes that eating well and staying in good shape is going to add to his service as a priest. He was an all-American lacrosse player in college and says he doesn't like the gym, so he would rather motivate students, friends, and family to be active in social sports," said Becic.
3. Pastor Steve Spear
"49 year-old Steve Spear, who took up running just five years ago, ran coast to coast, which totals 3,081 miles from Los Angeles to New York in five months, averaging 170 miles a week, or a marathon a day," Becic explained. "The Chicago-area pastor quit his job at Willow Creek Church last year to focus on raising $1.5 million to provide clean water for 30,000 people living in Kenya."
4. Pastor Chuck Bernal
"Chuck Bernal, the lead pastor at LifePointe Church in Dallas, Texas, wasn't always the picture of health. In 2010, he started his health journey weighing in at 336 lbs. however, after 13 months of hard work he got to a healthy weight of 220 lbs. that he has managed to maintain for 18 months now. His daily secrets to success include eating five small meals, drinking over 100 ounces of water, using the elliptical for 45 minutes in addition to going to the gym and exercising at least five times a week," said Becic.
5. Pastor Scott Bennefield
"Known as the "Ironman Pastor," Bennefield of New Covenant Church in New Mexico, began running in 1991 as a normal guy with a minimal athletic background. He has had seven Ironman finishes since then, the first being at age 4," said Becic. "He is passionate about assisting others to run the "race of life" with passion and purpose and he currently leads the Faith and Fitness program at his church."
6. Msgr. Rick Hilgartner
"Monsignor Hilgartner has said modern technology and transportation advances have helped create a more sedentary life for humans in the past century, including priests," said Becic. "It's one of the reasons why this 45-year-old priest makes time to work out daily in the gym. In fact, running has become a passion for him and he has participated in many marathons in recent years."
7. Pastor Rick Warren
"Warren had an epiphany one day while he was baptizing 858 people. After dipping the 500th body into the water, he thought 'we're all fat.' That triggered him to create a health program with leading experts such as Dr. Oz that Christians could follow. He also wrote the book, "The Daniel Plan," which Warren lost over 30 pounds by following," said Becic.
8. Pastor Heather Lindsey
"Heather, who co-pastors with her husband Cornelius Lindsey at The Gathering Oasis Church in Atlanta, knows what it takes to stay healthy and fit after working as a TV host in the entertainment industry. In 2012, she founded The Pinky Promise, an organization that promotes honoring God with your life & body and has also written "The Perfect Recipe," which is geared towards women who desire to get closer to Christ, eat healthier and feel better," said Becic.
9. Pastor Chris Townsend
"This pastor is so committed to fitness that he shows his congregation at Emanuel Lutheran Church in California that they can truly make time to be fit by brining stationary bikes, treadmills, and yoga balls to the pulpit!," said Becic. "But his main message is to be physically and spiritually fit. So far, he's lost 35 pounds and wants to lose another 25 to 30 pounds to reach his goal weight. In addition to exercise, Townsend has also completely cut out caffeine from his diet."
10. Pastor Jeff Kapusta
"Kapusta, lead pastor at Lifepoint Church in Wilmington, N.C., has a personal blog where he writes about fitness and admits that he hadn't realized how much being in ministry could be hazardous to his health," said Becic. "He maintains his healthy lifestyle by biking, surfing, running, and taking on fitness programs such as P90X, Insanity, and CrossFit. However, he actually managed to get down to his ideal weight of 163lbs by following the Paleo Diet."
John Leland was a faithful minister of the gospel for sixty-seven years. Leland was what some would call a “circuit preacher,” traveling on foot or horseback from Massachusetts to South Carolina. He traveled more than a hundred thousand miles in his preaching journeys [1]. He was most famous for his plight for religious freedom in the United States of America. In 1787, Leland was a great supporter of James Madison as he pursued his election to the Virginia Convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution and to adopt the Bill of Rights. He endorsed Mr. Madison and convinced many fellow Baptists to do the same because he knew Madison would pursue a federal amendment for religious freedom. Elder Leland spent more than 60 years fighting for what has commonly been called “separation of church and state” in the United States today. Elder Leland wrote his own epitaph: “Here lies the body of John Leland, who labored 67 years to promote piety and vindicate the civil and religious rights of all men.” [2]
William Carey (1761-1834)
A self-taught English cobbler, William Carey set out to evangelize the people of India. When Carey was called to missions, the vision of world evangelism was not clear in England. He was, in fact, considered to be the father of modern Protestant missions. Carey’s first six years on the field were nothing short of outrageously awful. He survived malaria, dysentery, and cholera. During his years in Bengal, he and his family tolerated inhabitable conditions, disease, grief, and wild animals. He buried 2 wives and one young child in the field.
Williams Carey was best known for penning the original translations of the Bible into Bengali, Oriya, Marathi, Hindi, Assamese, and Sanskrit, and parts of it into 29 other languages and dialects.
Carey was co-founder of Serampore College and a member of the Baptist Missionary Society.
One Famous Quote of William Carey is: “I can plod, I can persevere to any definite pursuit.”
Dr. Jerry Falwell (1933-2007)
Dr. Falwell had a vision to train young people for Christ. He was a faithful husband, father, and grandfather, as well as a servant for the Lord. In 1985, he hoped to seeLiberty University train 50,000 students. Today more than 70,000 students are enrolled in onsite and offsite classes, thereby fulfilling his vision. Dr. Falwell often took heat for his pro-life, pro-family, and favor for a national defense stance but stuck to his guns. He was a strong supporter of seeing Ronald Reagan elected as President of the United States.
Dr. Falwell was best known for his radio and television ministry “Old Time Gospel Hour” and as the founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA.
Dr. Falwell was also the founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA.
Dr. Falwell often said that his heart was to “train young Champions for Christ.”
Rev. Billy Graham
Billy Graham is an Evangelist, best known for his televised crusades. He preached the message of Christianity for forty years. He was advisor to several American Presidents. It is believed that he has led thousands to profess Jesus Christ as personal Savior.
Rev. Graham is best known for his worldwide evangelist crusades.
Rev. Graham is founder of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA).
Rev. Graham once said: “It is not the body’s posture, but the heart’s attitude that counts when we pray.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson
As a civil rights activist and minister, Rev. Jackson has been in the limelight for both for his accomplishments and for his controversial stand on popular political topics. He was with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., at his march in Selma, Alabama. And in the 1980s, he became the leading spokesman for African Americans.
Rev. Jackson is best known for his civil rights activism but also twice ran for President of the United States.
Rev. Jackson is founder of Rainbow/PUSH Coalition whose goal is to seek equal rights for African Americans and women.
One famous quote of Rev. Jackson is: “We must not measure greatness from the mansion down but from the manger up.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)
Dr. King’s birth name was Michael Luther King and he later changed his name to Martin. He followed his grandfather and father as pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. This strong Christian and civil rights activist led peaceful marches in several southern towns where Negro Americans were unequally treated. He was the youngest man ever to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and he donated the over $50,000 prize money to further his civil rights cause.[4] He was assassinated in 1968.
Dr. King was best known for his civil right activism, which cost him his life.
Dr. King was founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, GA, and Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL.
Dr. King once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Dr. John Vernon McGee (1904-1988)
Dr. McGee pastored churches in Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas before settling at the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles, California, where he first aired “High Noon Bible Class” on a little radio station. When he retired from the church, his radio ministry exploded and he began teaching “Thru the Bible,” reaching more than 400 stations in the United States and Canada daily. It soon was broadcasted in more than 100 languages and available worldwide on the Internet. His good ol’ fashioned expository teaching is as relevant today as it was in 1967 when he began the broadcast.
Dr. McGee is best known for his deep southern drawl as broadcasted on the “Thru the Bible” radio show.
Dr. McGee, better known as just “J. Vernon McGee,” is founder of “Thru the Bible,” and even though he has gone on to be with the Lord, his voice continues to broadcast the 5-year Bible study program.
Dr. McGee once prayed: “Oh, God, help me to always preach so that it can be said, ‘I never knew Jesus was so wonderful.’”[5]
Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899)
Mr. Moody was a visionary and his success came because of his ability to choose the proper people to put into leadership. He had great dreams of getting rich in shoe sales, and as a young man was approached by his Sunday school teacher with the gospel of salvation. He accepted Jesus as Lord and from that time on devoted his life to serving the Lord. He was involved with the YMCA, Mission Sunday school, and even evangelized Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was a turning point in his devotion to God; it was that event that helped him to know that he needed to preach the Word of God to the world. His approach was nondenominational, and because of this, he was able to reach all peoples, regardless of religious ties, with the Gospel of Christ.
D. L. Moody is best known as the Founder of Moody Bible Institute formerly known as the Chicago Evangelization Society
D. L. Moody also opened Northfield Seminary for Young Women; Mount Hermon School for Boys; and Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions to reach Europe and South Africa [6]
D.L. Moody once said: “Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moodyof East Northfield is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all, out of this old clay tenement into a house that is immortal- a body that death cannot touch, that sin cannot taint; a body fashioned like unto His glorious body.”
Evangelist Lester Roloff (1914-1982)
Brother Roloff was saved when he was fourteen years old. He paid his way through Baylor University with four gallons of milk per day from his beloved jersey cow “Marie.” He became the Pastor of People’s Baptist Church in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1969 where he began his outreach to troubled teens and adults. He fought the state of Texas for eight years because he did not want the state to control his church ministries. He won that battle and the Lester Roloff homes continue today as an outreach of People’s Baptist Church.
Brother Roloff is best known for his battle and protection of the People’s Baptist Church’s ministries in Texas.
Brother Roloff is the Founder of Rebecca Home for Girls, Anchor Home for Boys, Lighthouse for Men and Boys, and the Jubilee Home for Women.
Brother Roloff once said: “This is going to be the greatest day of my life”and it was — as his plane crashed and he went home to be with his Father in Heaven on November 2, 1982
Evangelist George Whitefield (1714-1770)
Pastor Whitefield was a clergyman at the Church of England. He was small in stature but known for his huge preaching voice. He is said to be one of the greatest evangelists of all time[7]. He was the spark of America’s 1st Great Awakening. If you do not know the history behind George Whitefield (pronounced “Whitfield”), you should read about it to learn that he had an amazing way of simplifying the message of Christianity to a very large population. He is a great contributor to our heritage.
George Whitefield is best known as an aggressive evangelist who was the fire behind America’s Great Awakening.
George Whitefield was the Founder of the movement called Methodism
George Whitefield said: “The reason why the Son of God took upon him our nature was the fall of our first parents.”
