We Americans are suckers for the underdog. We ought to appreciate the story of Samuel Logan Brengle. Brengle gave up an opportunity to pastor one of the largest churches in Mid-America in order to join the ranks of the Salvation Army when that organization was just getting established in the United States. One of his early assignments was in Danbury, Connecticut, where Brengle’s entire congregation often numbered less than a dozen people.

Determined to reach Danbury with the Gospel, each evening Brengle marched up and down its streets singing, preaching, and praising God.

One night, while marching with only two of his parishioners at his side, a large, lame black man and a little hunchback girl, Brengle and his "congregation" were bravely singing a song, ironically entitled, "We’re the A…