“The young people of this generation do not apologize for worldwide
missions. They believe in it as has no preceding generation of young
people. Let us rise and resolve that, at whatever cost of self-
denial, that live or die, we shall live or die for the evangelization
of the world in our day.”
John R. Mott said that — in 1901. Mott led the Student Volunteer Movement, launched in 1886, which helped spur the “second wave” of modern missions: the spread inland from coastal cities by missionaries searching out the lost. Of the 100,000 students who participated in the Student Volunteer Movement, 20,000 reportedly went overseas to spread the gospel.
Church historian Kenneth Scott Latourette describes Mott as possessing “a simple faith … a complete commitment to Christ … (and) worldwide vision.” That pretty well describes, too, many young people today spreading the gospel among unreached peoples of The Last Frontier — the “third wave” of missions.