D. L. Miller of Mount Morris, Illinois, was a world traveler among a people who didn't travel much. He was a Dunker, one of the Plain People, who lived in the late nineteenth century. He wore a dark coat and dark pants and a long beard without a mustache. When others bought cars, the Dunkers kept their horses and buggies. If you were a believer, then you dressed like everyone else in your church, and acted like everyone in your church, and made a point of never standing out. His people made a point of keeping themselves separate and unstained from the world — and that meant no missionaries.

The rest of the Christian world was getting caught up with missionary zeal but the Dunkers were a little cautious. What if their young people went out on missions and came back different?

Maybe the wo…