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a bit of history
The origin of Pebble Groups; Businessmen who undergird a ministry.
"One pebble dropped in the sea of history can produce waves of grace that break on distant shores hundred of years later & thousands of miles away…God had breathed on the waters and made the ripples into waves.”
– John Piper
In 1806 in Massachusettes, a small band of young men were caught in a thunderstorm on their way home from shool and took refuge under the edges of a chewed our haystack. They used the time to pray and pleaded for hte awakening of foreign missionary interest among students. This was was the initial impulse of what historian call "The Student Volunteer Movement" (SMV), an unprecedented missions awakening tht exploded with immense impact the first decades of the 20th century.
By 1861 there were 6200 student volunteers who had signed a statement that read: "It is my purpose, if God permits, to become a foreign missionary." Of these, 321 had already sailed for overseas service. The peak year of the SMV was 1920, when 2,738 students signed the pledge card and 6,980 attended the SMV convention. By 1945 at the most conservative estimates, 20,500 students who had signed the declaration reached the mission field.
I've been hearing about the SMV ever since I became involved in missions in 1993, but only recently did I learn that behind the SMV was a movement of businessmen who undergirded the students with their prayers and with their funding. These businessmen it was said, were as passoinate about the fulfillment of the Great Commission as the students–they viewed their secular calling and missionary vision as an integrated whole.
These businessmen were largely unseen, as I said, I only learned about them recently, they were like small pebbles – yet the ripple effect of their lives caused waves of grace to break on distant shores thousands of miles away and for ages to come.
We are in the midst of a modern day missions awakening that could become a movement – except this time its not just the individuals who are being stirred to reach the unreached, it is entire congregations... We are looking fora group of men and women, a Pebble Group, if you will, who will help Sixteen:Fifteen unleash these congregations to reach the unreached.
- Matthew Ellison
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