Our Story
The Herald of Faith was founded in 1958 by Joseph Mattsson-Boze, an immigrant from Sweden who travelled to the US in 1933. He faithfully served as pastor of the Philadelphia Church in Chicago until 1958. It was at that time that God spoke clearly about training village pastors in East Africa, so Joseph resigned the church to answer that call. During the first 24 years, he was aided by Henry F. Redman, from Belleville, Illinois. Henry became the acting director for several years, but in 1982 he passed the baton to Joseph’s son, Winston Mattsson-Boze. Winston, in turn, led the mission until 2008, when Steve Fitzpatrick was appointed as the President of Herald of Faith.
In the words of President Steve Fitzpatrick:
“Helping village pastors has been a dream of mine for many years. As a very young boy I used to lay on my backyard lawn and dream of the day I would fly on one of those airplanes passing overhead, and go to the four corners of the world. I clearly remember saying out loud, “Someday I’m going to ride you.” Little did I know that those God-inspired dreams would eventually take me around the world preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ…
“A few years back, Winston Mattsson-Boze and I started dreaming about what we could do to assist the many village pastors with whom we had dealt. They needed so much and we wanted to help; Bibles, reference books, concordances, biblical teaching lessons written in their own languages, and practical assistance with building projects and social programs. They needed encouragement and counselling and to know that they were not alone in this gigantic struggle against the forces of darkness.
“While visiting some village pastors in 1997 in the high Andes Mountains of Argentina, I felt the Lord speak to my heart, “If you will covenant with me to affect the world, then I will give you the resources.” I immediately gave my life to that Call. Since that time I have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars go through my hands and into the mission fields of the world.
“God has continued to deal with my heart about the great need worldwide to assist village pastors. So much so that when asked to succeed Winston as the President of the Herald of Faith in 2008, I felt it was the next step in fulfilling the dream. The dream of affecting the world for Christ by building strong local churches around the world. I want to come along side workers in every nation and assist with training in short-term schools, help with their construction and social projects and provide the literature they so desperately need.
“God has blessed the Herald of Faith with an incredible team of teachers, prophets and evangelists that are regularly teaching village pastors and leaders in Russia, India, Uganda, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Honduras, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Sudan, and soon we hope to be working in Papua New Guinea and with the aboriginals in Australia.
“I invite you to become a part of this incredible ministry.
Steve Fitzpatrick
President”