In 1886 Dwight L. Moody invited a group of college students to the Mt. Hermon conference grounds in Northfield, Massachusetts for a month of Bible study and teaching. Of the 151 students who attended 21 agreed to pray together for the mission needs of the world. After about two weeks a preacher named A. T. Pierson spoke to the group about foreign missions. He was followed by speakers from different countries who detailed the spiritual needs of their people. After the conference core members of the group, led by Robert Wilder, went to colleges around the country and shared the excitement they had felt at Mt. Hermon. They asked other students to join them. By the end of the following year, over 2,000 students had pledged their lives to missions. Led by John R. Mott and called the Student Volunteer Movement, the group’s motto was “The evangelization of the world in this generation.”
Impact: By 1915 over 5,000 missionaries had been sent to the field through the efforts of the Student Volunteer Movement. Mott was also instrumental in creating other outreach organizations like the World’s Student Christian Federation and the Laymen’s Missionary Movement.