Abraham Vereide (October 7, 1886 – May 16, 1969) was a Norwegian-born American

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

minister and founder of International Christian Leadership (ICL) group.

Early life

Abraham was born in the Vereide home in

Gloppen Gloppen is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in the Counties of Norway, county of Vestland, Norway. It is located in the Districts of Norway, traditional district of Nordfjord. Gloppen is generally subdivided into three areas: Hyen ...

in the

Nordfjord Nordfjord (—in contrast to Sunnfjord) is a traditional district in Vestland county, Norway. Geography The region is located in the northern part of Vestland county in Western Norway. It centers on the Nordfjorden and it comprises Stad Muni ...

district of Norway on October 7, 1886, to Anders and Helene Vereide. He had four older sisters. Helene died when Abraham was eight years old.

Career

In 1905 Vereide received a ticket to the

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from a neighbor who was unable to use it. He traveled to

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and found menial work. Vereide became an itinerant minister at the age of 20, covering an area of .Grubb, N. (1962). ''Modern Viking''. Zondervan Publishers: Michigan. Later, he studied at a seminary in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

. Vereide was first assigned to

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

by the Methodist church. He was later assigned to

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

and

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in 1916, where he started a local chapter of

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. On personal invitation from then-Governor

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, he attended a conference regarding the social relief program for

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. Vereide's main form of proselytism consisted in organizing the prayer breakfast movement across the United States for political leaders and businessmen. This movement led to the yearly National Prayer Breakfast. In April 1935, he founded The Fellowship, in opposition to Roosevelt's

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

. In 1942 he moved his operation to Washington, DC. In 1944, International Christian Leadership began in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Vereide was the executive director of this organization until his death in 1969. He was part of a peace conference in

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after

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. In 1953, Vereide and the Fellowship started the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later called the National Prayer Breakfast or the International Prayer Breakfast. He was editor for "The Christian Citizen" together with Leonard Larsen.

Personal life

Around 1905, at a tent meeting that came to town, Vereide met his future wife, Mattie Hansen, the daughter of a Danish pastor. They married in 1910. He and Mattie had one daughter, Alicia, and three sons, Warren, Milton, and Abraham. The family moved to

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1931. Vereide died in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

on May 16, 1969.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vereide, Abraham 1886 births 1969 deaths People from Gloppen American Methodists Norwegian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Methodist ministers