Willie Nelson's heroes may have always been cowboys, but mine have been the guys who went into dark places to shine bright lights. Folk heroes and mavericks have a dusty, rebellious charm to them, but the kind of heroes that I follow don't have that same appeal. They go into dangerous places with an unpopular message that gives rise to persecution instead of praise, armed with nothing but faith as their shield of courage. The Old Testament prophets were watchmen on the wall who had unctions from God to go into difficult places and drop God's word of warning. There are others, however, who go beyond that to not only bring the warning but continue to stand in the gaps with an unpopular gospel and press the message forward until repentance comes and a move of God breaks out. These are my heroes.There are a few names that we all know - Finney, Billy Sunday, Amy McPherson, Steve Hill - but most of them usually remain unsung heroes. Nobody knows who they are. And that is what makes it even more heroic to me. They took an unpopular message about righteousness and judgment for little or no reward and rose from lowly beginnings to shine the Light in the Dark. They are heroes that come with nothing but God's vision driving them to turn darkness into light, death into life, and apostasy into a true Holy Ghost revival. Simple heroes from humble beginnings. Common people with uncommon zeal and no ambition to be anything more than to be an effective witness for the Lord. Abraham confessed that he was merely "dust and ashes" - dust from the mud, and ashes from the fire. Mud and heroes. It's to those heroes that I honor and dedicate this book.