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Collection 582 Oral History Interviews with Michael A. Cassidy

 Collection
Identifier: CN 582

Scope and Contents

Oral history interview with Michael A. Cassidy, South African evangelist and founder of African Enterprise, in which he describes his family background and childhood in Basutoland, apartheid, his friendship with Patrick Baker Duncan, the development of his faith and prayer life, leading up to his conversion while attending Cambridge University; the Cambridge Inter-Collegiate College Union (CICCU); comparison of his education at Cambridge and Fuller Theological Seminary; the influence on his ministry of J. I. Packer, Billy Graham, and John Stott; the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Cambridge Mission of 1955. The events described in the interviews cover the time period 1936-1955.

Dates

  • Created: 2002

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on the use of this collection.

Conditions Governing Use

The copyright to the oral history interviews in this collection is held by the Billy Graham Center Archives.

Biographical Information

Full name: Charles Michael Ardagh Cassidy. Commonly called Michael.

Birth: September 24, 1936, in Johannesburg, South Africa. Raised in Lesotho

Family:

Parents: Charles Stewart and Mary Crawford Cassidy

Siblings: 2 sisters, Olive and Judy

Marital Status: Carol Barn on December 16, 1969

Children: Catherine, Deborah, Martin

Conversion: October 23, 1955, while a student at Cambridge University

Education:

1950-1954: Attended and graduated from Michaelhouse, a private boarding school for boys in Natal

1955-1958: MA in Modern and Mediaeval Languages from Cambridge University, England

1959-1963: BD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, USA

Career:

1957: Received a call to evangelistic work during the 1957 Billy Graham New York City evangelistic meetings

Spring and Summer 1960: Began to develop the idea of an African evangelistic ministry and received a calling to this work

Summer 1961: Part of a two-person evangelistic survey team that traveled through Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Rhodesia, Malawi, Ethiopia, and Egypt

August 1962: Founded African Enterprise, an interdenominational, interracial, international evangelistic mission team working primarily in the cities of Africa

March 1973: One of the prime organizers of the South African Congress on Missions and Evangelism held in Durban

December 9-19, 1976: One of the planners of the Pan African Christian leadership Assembly (PACLA)

1979: One of the planners of South African Christian Leadership Assembly

September 10-12, 1985: One of the organizers of The National Initiative for Reconciliation

April 22-23, 2008: One of the organizers of The National Initiative for the Reformation of South Africa

Other Significant Information:

1993: Honorary Doctorate in Human Letters from Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California.

Extent

4 Audio Tapes

229 Minutes

Language of Materials

English