While several hundred students formed lines outside of the Kohl Center to purchase Badger basketball tickets last night, another hundred or so were at St. Paul’s Catholic Center on Campus, worshipping God and learning about Student Power in World Missions. The presentation was given by David Howard, former missionary and former missions director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. It was the second evening of the What Next Conference, marking the 200th anniversary of the Haystack Prayer Meeting.
David Howard lived in Madison for several years while directing InterVarsity’s 1973 and 1976 Urbana Student Missions Conventions. His best friend was Jim Elliott, one of the five missionaries martyred by Indians in Ecuador, 60 years ago. His sister, Elisabeth, was married to Jim Elliott. For more information go here.
University of Wisconsin students were invited to the talk after their regular Thursday evening fellowship groups, which included InterVarsity, Navigators, Campus Crusade for Christ and the Alpha-Omega group from St. Paul’s Center. Howard encouraged the students to realize that they hold more power than they realize. Because, as he told the students, "in every forward movement in missions, students have played a key role or the key role."
Howard reviewed many of the student misions movements, including the one that began with the Haystack Prayer Meeting, that was held 200 years ago last month in a field near Williams College in western Massachusetts. The Haystack Prayer Meeting not only launched the North American missions movement but one of its key figures, Samuel Mills, was responsible for forming a number of evangelistic groups. During the 12 years between the time he entered college and his death on a ship returning from the mission field, he launched a handful of missions organizations, including a predecessor to the American Bible Society.
Another meeting of students was held in Massachusetts in 1886, out of which came 100 missionary volunteers as well as the formation of the Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions.
David Howard’s own college generation included a lot of former GI’s who had traveled the world fighting World War II and were anxious to return to many of the places they’d seen abroad to take the Gospel back. Dozens, if not hundreds of new missions organizations came out of that generation, which is now at retirement age.
David Howard said he was thankful that God had allowed him to live through a very important time in the advancement of world missions. His prayer is that God would allow major advancements again for the present generation.