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[Mary Griffin Webb and Edna Lenore Webb, Photographic Portrait of John R. Mott, 1914—Public domain, Wikimedia]

—1801 A week-long camp meeting in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, draws as many as 10,000, marking the start of the Second Great Awakening.

—1806 The Haystack Prayer Meeting inspires five Massachusetts college students to pursue foreign missions. 

—1812 The newly formed American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions sends out its first missionaries, including Adoniram and Ann Judson.

—1816 Richard Allen, already pastor of “Mother Bethel” Church in Philadelphia, connects with other Black congregations to form the African Methodist Episcopal denomination.

—1825 Charles G. Finney begins revival meetings in western New York.

—1843 Isabella Baumfree takes the name Sojourner Truth and preaches about Jesus and human rights.

—1857 The Businessmen’s Revival blossoms in New York City, spreading to cities throughout North America.

—1870 William Seymour is born in Louisiana.

—1873–1875 Chicago pastor Dwight L. Moody and his music director, Ira Sankey, hold evangelistic meetings throughout Great Britain.

—1880 Reuben Robinson, age 20, surrenders to Christ at a camp meeting and is called to preach. “Uncle Bud” travels for six decades, bringing thousands to faith with his homespun preaching style.

—1893 George Pilkington of the Church Missionary Society revamps his approach, seeking spiritual rather than political goals. He leads a revival in Uganda that has lasting effects.

—1901 Agnes Ozman speaks in tongues at Charles Parham’s Bible school in Topeka, Kansas. Many consider this the start of the modern Pentecostal movement.

—1904–1905 Revival erupts in Wales.

—1906 On Azusa Street in Los Angeles, revival services begin. These services continue for several years, expanding the Pentecostal movement throughout the world.

—1907 Pyongyang, Korea, sees a massive revival based on confession and forgiveness.

—1909 An outpouring of the Spirit is experienced at a church in Valparaiso, Chile, with all-night prayer meetings, much music, and holy laughter.

—1910 The Edinburgh Missionary Conference convenes in Scotland, chaired by US Methodist John R. Mott. The international gathering aims for “the evangelization of the world in this generation.”

—1913 William Wade Harris, sometimes called “The Prophet,” sets out to evangelize the Ivory Coast in West Africa.

—1918–1920 The Great Influenza Epidemic infects half a billion people (a third of the world’s population) and kills tens of millions.

—1920s Massive conversions occur in the Dornakal region of India among the Dalit caste (then known as “untouchables”). Bishop V. S. Azariah leads this countercultural outreach.

—1923 Aimee Semple McPherson founds the first Foursquare church, Angelus Temple, in Los Angeles.

—1927 John Greenfield publishes Power from on High, spreading the fame of the Moravian Revival that occurred two centuries earlier. 

—1928 Kathryn Kuhlman begins her own preaching and healing ministry. 

—1929 Simeoni Nsibambi meets Joe Church, and they pray together for revival in East Africa.

—1929–1939 The Great Depression brings a worldwide economic crisis.

—1931 John Sung addresses the National Christian Council in Shanghai. He goes on to have an influential preaching ministry, strengthening the Chinese church. 

—1936 Outpouring of the Spirit in Gahini, Rwanda, develops into the East African Revival.

—1938 Mahatma Gandhi argues with Indian bishop V. S. Azariah about the Christian conversion of the Dalit caste. 

—1941 Florence Spearing Randolph’s sermon, “If I Were White,” challenges patriotic Americans about their racial attitudes.

—1945 Billy Graham, age 26, speaks at a Youth for Christ rally in Chicago’s Soldier Field.

—1946 Duncan Campbell leads revival meetings on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides.

—1946 Faith healer William Branham launches a worldwide ministry with a campaign in St. Louis.

—1948 The World Council of Churches is established in Amsterdam.

—1950 Students at Wheaton College of Illinois experience a campuswide revival, which spreads to other Christian colleges.

—1951 Martha Yeremiah and Josiah Kibira get married in Tanganyika (now Tanzania), breaking social traditions. Josiah later becomes a church bishop.

—1954 A three-month crusade in Buenos Aires, Argentina, led by Pentecostal preacher Tommy Hicks, is wildly popular but generally opposed by local churches.

—1957 Bernhard Johnson, after receiving education and some pastoral experience in the United States, returns to his homeland of Brazil and becomes an effective evangelist.

—1960 Dennis Bennett tells his Episcopal congregation he has spoken in tongues, launching the modern Charismatic movement.

—1962 Pope John XXIII opens the Second Vatican Council, praying for a “New Pentecost” to come upon the entire church.

—1963 TV preacher and faith healer Oral Roberts founds Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

—1965–1969 Revival transforms the Indonesian island of Timor.

—1967 Students at Duquesne University experience an outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which quickly spreads to other Catholic college campuses.

—1967–1970 Nigeria experiences a spiritual revival among its youth.

—1967 Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, welcomes “hippies” to the church, an early event in the Jesus Movement.

—1970 Revival breaks out at Asbury College in Kentucky. Students share their experiences at other schools.

— 1971 Bishop Festo Kivengere establishes African Evangelistic Enterprise to spread revival across the continent.

—1974 The Lausanne Conference for World Evangelization brings 2,700 people together from 150 countries to discuss missional principles, plans, and problems.

—1974 Reinhard Bonnke senses God’s calling to serve in Africa, where he focuses his ministry of preaching, healing, and spiritual deliverance for more than three decades.

—1979 Entrepreneur Carlos Annacondia becomes a Christian and senses a call to share the power of Christ throughout Argentine society.

—1982 John Wimber teaches his “Signs and Wonders” class at Fuller Seminary, an early influence in the Third Wave of Pentecostalism. 

—1994 The Toronto Blessing begins at the local Airport Vineyard Church. 

—1995 The Brownsville Revival begins at an Assemblies of God church in Pensacola, Florida.

—1995 Revival starts in Cali, Colombia, as 25,000 gather for prayer at the city’s civic auditorium. 

—1998 Leaders of four major house-church networks in China agree on a United Appeal, asking the government for better treatment. They release it through Western media.

—1998 Pope John Paul II gives an important speech, saying that the charismatic dimension and the institutional dimension are both fundamental to the constitution of the Catholic Church.

By The editors

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