W. M. Vories, the Founder of Omi Brotherhood Groups And His Personal History William Merrell Vories, the son of devoted Christian parents, was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, in the United States of America in 1880. While he was college student , he heard a lecture at the 1902 convention of the Student Volunteer Movement which changed his life completely. The call to build the Kingdom of God on earth experienved by one young man led to the birth of the Omi Brotherhood in Shiga prefecture, Japan. Omi Brotherhood Groups