Tom Skinner

*_{Handbill advertising Tom Skinner evangelistic meetings held in St. Petersburg, Florida from October 28 to November 4, 1973.}*

In celebration of Black History Month this February, the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives commemorates the spiritual legacy of Tom Skinner (1942-1994), Christian evangelist, social reformer, and persistent critic of racial divisions within American culture. Collection 430: Papers of Tom Skinner contains oral history interviews, correspondence, articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other materials documenting the development of Tom Skinner Associates and provides a fascinating glimpse into Skinner’s tireless efforts to challenge the white evangelical community to engage issues of systemic racism, while still prioritizing his call to Christian evangelism.

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*_{A publicity poster for the 1970 Urbana Student Missionary Convention. CN 300, Box 344, Folder 12.}*

This December, the Wheaton College Billy Graham Center Archives highlights the ninth triennial InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) Student Missionary Convention held 50 years ago this month. The traditional climax of IVCF’s ministry year, the five-day conference exists to mobilize college students for Christian evangelism, on university campuses across the globe. Since its first iteration in 1946, dubbed the “International Student Convention for Missionary Advance” held in Toronto, Canada, thousands of students from North America and around the world have dedicated themselves to the work of Christian evangelism and discipleship after hearing the likes of Billy Graham, John Stott, Stacey Woods, David Howard, Samuel Escobar, Elisabeth Elliot, and Francis Schaeffer describe the challenge and call of world evangelization. Today, significant numbers of men and women in full-time Christian service can trace their vocational inspiration back to an “Urbana” convention.

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