Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love... Ephesians 6:24

*In 1732, John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman, both in their early twenties, left their jobs and families to become the first Moravian God's servants. These two young men had heard that three thousand slaves from Africa had been taken to an island in the West Indies to work on the sugar cane plantations. God had placed a burden on their hearts to go to the island and present the love of Jesus to these slaves who were forced to work there.

But there was a problem. The British slave owner, who was an atheist, would not let any God's servants on the island. He defiantly announced, “No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he’s shipwrecked we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God.” Since they couldn’t get on the island as God's servants there was only one other option. They had to be willing to be sold into slavery! Selling themselves to the British planter was their only shot, and they took it. If they were going to share the Gods love with the slaves, they had to become slaves themselves. This wasn’t a decision where they could come back in a few years. They would be working as slaves on the island for the rest of their lives and would never be able to return home. Their families were shocked and couldn’t understand why they had made such a radical decision. They had sacrificed their freedom and their entire future to serve Jesus Christ in a most unusual way. They wanted more than anything to answer the call of God to reach these slaves and please Him with their lives.

On October 8, 1732, their families stood on the dock weeping, knowing that they would never see them again. As the ship pulled away with the young men aboard, they linked arms together and shouted to their loved ones they were leaving behind, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering!”

These words became the anthem and inspiration for thousands of God's servants who would follow in their footsteps. Without realizing it, the two young men had birthed a  movement. Over the next 150 years, the Moravians sent out two thousand God's servants to various places over the world.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Isaiah 52:7

*selected.. The Jesus book