Vivid in my memory was the story of the so-called 1806
Haystack Revival at Williams College in Massachusetts. It was so named because
the little band of five students who wanted to pray that night were afraid to
pray on campus. The hostility toward Christians was so intense that they even
kept the minutes of their meetings hidden. So they went off campus to a nearby
farm to pray for revival at their school. When a storm broke out, they burrowed
under a haystack for protection. But their prayers were answered; revival came
to Williams College not long afterward, and with it a powerful world missions
movement. The youthful leader of that prayer group, Samuel Mills, would later
become one of the founders of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions and the American Bible Society. Today there is a plaque on the site
with the inscription: The Birthplace of Foreign Missions.
Used with permission from Deepening Your Conversation
With God by Ben Patterson (c)1999 Bethany House Publishers, a division of Baker
Book House Company. All Rights Reserved, p. 11.
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