Abraham Vereide (October 7, 1886 - May 16, 1969) was a Norwegian-born Methodist clergyman and founder of Goodwill Industries of Seattle. In 1935, Vereide founded the prayer breakfast movement in the United States. In 1942, Vereide established International Christian Leadership, incorporated as Fellowship Foundation, in Chicago as the U.S. headquarters for the prayer breakfast movement. He was the executive director of this organization until his death. In 1953, Vereide started the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later called the National Prayer Breakfast or the International Prayer Breakfast.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Abraham Vereide was born in Vereide (in Gloppen), Norway on October 7, 1886. He was a sheep farmer in the Nordfjord district before emigrating to the United States in 1905.
Vereide was ordained a Methodist clergyman in Butte, Montana in 1906. He was educated at Northwestern University, Norwegian Danish Theological Seminary and Garrett Theological Seminary. Seattle Pacific College conferred on him the honorary degree of L.L.D.[8] He was the pastor of the Norwegian Danish Methodist Luthern Episcopal Church at the corner of Stewart and Boren Streets in Seattle, Washington.
In 1913, Vereide went to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. to research spirituality in America's heritage. He was aided by a librarian, Dr. Diserud, who introduced him to Senator Knute Nelson.
In 1916, Vereide founded Goodwill Industries of Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, while his friend and fellow Methodist clergyman, Edgar J. Helms operated an immigrant ministry out of Morgan Methodist Chapel in Boston, serving New England, which would become the national headquarters of a coast-to-coast movement known as Goodwill Industries of America. The name was inspired by a 1915 Christmas homily that Vereide gave referencing Luke 2:14: "and on earth peace, good will toward men".[9][10]
In 1918, Vereide founded Beulah Retreat Center and Farm on Vashon Island, Washington for the vocational training and occupational development of Seattle's unemployed, displaced immigrants, unwed mothers, unskilled men and homeless children.
In 1921, Abraham launched a Goodwill Store in Seattle, to sell surplus of refurbished furniture, household items and apparel.
In 1931, Vereide went to Boston to serve as associate general superintendent of Goodwill Industries of America and to work with Edgar Helms. Vereide also served as pastor of The Church of All Nations, Boston and as the executive secretary for Goodwill Industries of New England.[11]
In 1932, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt requested Vereide to speak at a conference concerning a social relief program for New York state. “He wanted me to take charge of a state program,” wrote Vereide, “and apply this principle of the Goodwill Industries in the expenditure of a fund of eighteen million dollars for the state. This I didn’t do, as the religious phases could not be included; but he also emphasized that what the state needed more than anything else was a spiritual upsurge."[12] Early in his governorship, Roosevelt had called James Farrell, president of the United States Steel Corporation, and arranged for Vereide to discuss the needs of the state, both spiritual and as related to unemployment and the potential assistance that Goodwill could bring.[12]
The relationship with Roosevelt continued into his presidency, as Vereide served as both a social relief advisor and as a spiritual counselor. In 1942, Roosevelt's second cousin, Marian Johnson, began to gather their New York society friends for discussions on spiritual vitality and Christianity. Johnson also invited Samuel Shoemaker, whose teaching had led to the birth of the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and its profession of the need for a "higher power". Shoemaker introduced Vereide to the national readers of his New York magazine, The Calvary Evangel. In the October 1943 edition, Vereide wrote of the Congressional and Mayoral Prayer Groups:
"This month we begin a series of studies on the subject of 'The Way'. We will seek to translate the truth we learn into character, conduct, and human relationships...a vital and continuous experience of Jesus Christ...and a revival of civic responsibility and cultivation of positive Christ-like leadership."[11][13]
After Franklin Roosevelt was nominated for president, Carl Vrooman, assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President Woodrow Wilson, gave Vereide a special appointment. Vrooman had been tasked by Roosevelt with forming a super-cabinet as the advisory body for his administration on national policy. Vrooman had found that he and Vereide shared a mutual concern to save America from the political and economic breakdown that then existed. He asked Vereide to head the social service portfolio. Vereide invited him to address the Boston Prayer Breakfast Group and to share both economic and spiritual insights regarding America.[1]
In 1935, Vereide founded City Chapel[14] at City Centre Seattle as a place for the city's decision makers to gather for prayer.[15][16]
In 1936, Vereide established Christian Businessmen's Committee which provided a daily luncheon gathering for leaders of the city's retail, trade and banking communities. His views on urban renewal were sought and implemented in San Francisco, Portland, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and New York. His recurring theme was that the head, heart and hand of necessity had to be actively engaged and energized spiritually to bring moral and economic recovery and transformation to the prevalent decay in the nation's metropolitan areas. Abraham addressed the U.S. Congress in 1936 and following that, launched a Governor's Prayer Breakfast in Richmond, Virginia.[17][18]
In 1942, Vereide founded Fellowship Foundation Inc. in Chicago as the headquarters for the growing prayer breakfast movement. In this same city, a young college student, Billy Graham, was invited to speak to some of the prayer groups. Years later, Vereide invited him to the rostrum of the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, a role which Graham would carry out for 49 years.[19][20]
Vereide returned to Washington, D.C., in 1942, to develop prayer cells among national leaders. Senator Frank Carlson and Judge Boyd Leedom joined him in this pursuit. Conrad Hilton, a fellow Norwegian, provided additional conference meeting spaces. President Franklin D. Roosevelt conferred with Vereide. President Eisenhower[21][22] became a proponent of this effort and Edward L.R. Elson, chaplain to the president and later chaplain to the U.S. Senate, encouraged the expansion of this ministry in government life. In 1943 Vereide established a legation on Embassy Row at Sheridan Circle, "Fellowship House", incorporated under the Fellowship Foundation as a center of prayer, study and international reconciliation.[23][24][25][26][27][28]
In December, 1951, Vereide spoke at the "Conference on Americanism" held at Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Speakers included the Council for National Policy's John G. Talcott, noted Southern apologist John Temple Graves II, South Carolina Congressman Joseph Bryson, North Carolina Senator Clyde Hoey (Joseph McCarthy's immediate predecessor), Freda Utley, and Baron Von Blomberg. The conference's purpose was to "'resell the fundamental principles of Americanism to this generation.'" Attendance for the school's students was mandatory.[29]
In 1952, Vereide's work spread internationally and was advocated by Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the former Queen, who became honorary chairwoman of International Christian Leadership (ICL).[30]
In 1953, Vereide established the Presidential Prayer Breakfast as a forum for members of all three branches of the U.S. government. The undertaking expanded to include governors of all fifty states, military officials, businessmen, clergy, ambassadors and later came to be called the National Prayer Breakfast. It spread internationally to over 170 countries and has since been informally referred to as the International Prayer Breakfast.[1][31]
In 1965, Vereide was nominated by Norwegian-American U.S. Senator Frank Carlson to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his global initiatives in humanitarian relief and international reconciliation. In 2001, a biography and a documentary movie, entitled: "Abraham Vereide" were introduced in the Norwegian Parliament by Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and a copy of the book was placed in the Norwegian Washington embassy by Ambassador Knut Vollebæk.
Vereide died of a heart attack on May 16, 1969,[32] the night following his return to Washington after giving the keynote address at the Louisiana Governor's Prayer Breakfast. He was 82 years old. His grave stone was inscribed "Abraham Vereide ~ Rejoicing with Jesus".[33][34][35]
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