David Brainerd

On the campus of Yale Divinity School is a building called Brainerd Hall. It may be the only building on a college or seminary campus named for an expelled student. David Brainerd (1718-1749) was a third-year student preparing for the ministry. Several preachers of the Second Great Awakening visited Yale and made a deep impact on students like Brainerd. Tensions escalated among newly awakened students and a less enthusiastic faculty. Brainerd was overheard to say of his tutor that he had “no more grace than a chair.” Although Brainerd was an exemplary student, he was summarily expelled for his demeaning remark. Since only graduates from Yale or Harvard were eligible to become ministers, Brainerd had to start over. He became a missionary to Native Americans before succumbing to tuberculosis at age 29. The great Puritan Jonathan Edwards was so impressed by Brainerd’s devotion that he published The Diary and Journal of David Brainerd after his death. Despite sickness, depression and physical hardship, Brainerd displayed a vital, unquenchable faith. One quote from his diary grabs me, “Lord, let me make a difference for you that is utterly disproportionate to who I am.” God answered his prayer big time. Though he served as a missionary only four years, Brainerd exerted an outsized influence on future generations of pastors and missionaries through his diary. Here is an excerpt from his prayer diary: