In 1877, Luther Wishard became the first full-time staff
member for the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). He was a
missionary candidate, but the YMCA asked him to stay and serve as
secretary of the association. His job was to direct the YMCA's work with
students in the U.S. colleges.
In 1878, Wishard for the first time heard about Samuel
Mills and the College Societies which started the American Missionary
Movement. Soon after he went to Williams College, inspired by the
Haystack Prayer Movement. Before the monument, he surrendered himself to
complete the task Samuel Mills had begun. He beautifully prayed,
"Lord, do it again. Where water once flowed, let it flow
again." He also prayed, "I am willing to go anywhere at any
time to do anything for Jesus." Eighty years after the Haystack
Prayer Movement started, Wishard revived the vision.
Even though Wishard desired to go overseas, he saw that
he could make a great impact mobilizing students in the U.S. He wanted
to see a movement of students going overseas and thus make an impact
through thousands going rather than just himself.
Wishard continued to pray for a missionary awakening
among college students, and finally in 1886 those prayers came to
fruition. Along with Robert Wilder and John Mott, Wishard asked D.L.
Moody to help sponsor a summer Bible conference. In 1886, at Mt. Hermon,
Massachusetts, at a boys school, the conference lasted for 26 days and
had 250 men from more than 96 colleges attend. At the end of the
conference they had 100 men who signed a missionary declaration. In the
next year more than 2,100 men and women volunteered for missionary
service. In 1888, this movement was organized as the Student Volunteer
Movement for Foreign Missions (SVM). YMCA and YWCA students, through the
SVM, were put into local prayer and study groups for missions.
In 1888, Wishard and his wife started a touring
countries to help universities overseas develop Christian. He did not
want to establish YMCA's overseas because he wanted the movements to fit
the situation of the local universities. They spent forty-five months
traveling through countries such as Japan, China, Malaysia, India,
Arabia, Persia, Turkey, and many more. Wishard spoke publicly to
thousands of students, personally interviewed thousands of missionaries,
and spoke to many businesses and governmental officials about whether it
was the right time to launch evangelistic movements among students. This
kind of work helped him prioritize the student workers needs and
organize for American staff to come. When Wishard returned to the
states, he formed the Foreign Department for the YMCA and YWMA. Over the
next 50 years, this department sent around 400 laborers overseas to
pioneer movements among students.
Wishard's prayer at the Haystack monument began a
revival in missions that resulted in 20,000 missionaries being sent out
over the next 50 years. Wishard was what could be called at trail
blazer. He prayed and paved the way for student movements all over the
world.
<information
http://www.thetravelingteam.org/lutherwishard;
photo from http://japanschristianheritage.com/2011/06/mr-luther-d-wishard-of-the-young-mens-christian-association-visits-japan/>
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