Perhaps the single most common admonition in Scripture is the call for God’s people to express faithfulness in their lives and in their relationship with God. Just as Isaiah encouraged Ahaz to “stand firm in the faith or you will not stand at all” (Isa 7:9), God demands the same from each of us. The Bible is full of examples of faith, but perhaps more than any other chapter, Hebrews 11 exemplifies and extols the life of faith. Cloud of Witnesses: Ancient Stories of Faith examines the spiritual role models highlighted in this Hall of Faith roll call, looking for what is exemplary about their lives and how their stories can help us be more faithful. Of course, not all the characters mentioned in Hebrews 11 seem like prime candidates for the title “spiritual role model” (Samson, anyone? or Gideon? or Barak? Or… take your pick), so it does no one any good to pretend that these people had no faults. But according to the writer of Hebrews, these flawed individuals show us what a life of faith in a hostile world might look like, and their stories help us “look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.