Abraham Vereide

Abraham Vereide (October 7, 1886 – May 16, 1969) was a Norwegian-born American Methodist minister and founder of International Christian Leadership (ICL) group.

Early life Abraham was born in the Vereide home in Gloppen Municipality in the Nordfjord district of Norway on October 7, 1886, to Anders and Helene Vereide. He had four older sisters. Helene died when Abraham was eight years old.

Career In 1905 Vereide received a ticket to the United States from a neighbor who was unable to use it. He traveled to Montana and found ore mining work. Vereide became an itinerant minister at the age of 20, covering an area of . Later, he studied at a seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Vereide was first assigned to Spokane, Washington by the Methodist church. He was later assigned to Portland, Oregon and Seattle in 1916, where he started a local chapter of Goodwill Industries. On personal invitation from then-Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt, he attended a conference regarding the social relief program for New York.

In 1944, International Christian Leadership began in Washington, D.C. Vereide was the executive director of this organization until his death in 1969. He was part of a peace conference in San Francisco after World War II. In 1953, Vereide and the Fellowship started the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later called the National Prayer Breakfast or the International Prayer Breakfast. He was editor for "The Christian Citizen" together with Leonard Larsen.

Personal life Around 1905, at a tent meeting that came to town, Vereide met his future wife, Mattie Hansen, the daughter of a Danish pastor.