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Papers of David Morris Howard Sr. - Collection 484



[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent. Some or all of this collection can be borrowed]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Biography

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Contents)
    Paper Records
    Audio Tapes
Lists of Non-paper Records in This Collection
    Audio Tapes
    Photographs
List of the Contents of Boxes of Paper Records in This Collection
Papers 1968-1980 ; n.d.
Oral history interviews, paper records and other materials documenting Howard's childhood, Christian faith, education at Wheaton College (including a long discussion of his friend, roommate and brother-in-law Jim Elliot), work as: a missionary and administrator with Latin America Mission; missions director for Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, director of the 1980 Consultation on World Evangelization; and director of the World Evangelical Fellowship. The collection is especially strong in information on IVCF's Urbana conventions in the 1970s.
Vol.: 2 boxes (DC, .6 cubic feet), Audio Tapes, Photographs

Collection 484 [October 13, 2006]

Howard, David Morris Sr.; 1928-

Papers; 1968-1993

2 boxes (DC, .6 cubic feet), Audio Tapes, Photographs

Restrictions: None

Biography
 Full name: David Morris Howard
Birth date: January 28, 1928

Family:
Parents: Philip E., Jr., and Katharine (Gillingham) Howard
Siblings: Phil, Elisabeth, Virginia, Tom, Jim
Marital Status: Married Phyllis Gibson, July 1, 1950. Phyllis died September 7, 2003. David Howard for a second time to Janet Ann Kuhns on August 27, 2005.
Children: David, Stephen, Karen Elizabeth, Michael

Conversion: Age of 10, while listening to a sermon by Irwin Moon

Education:
1949 B.A. in Liberal Arts from Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
1952 M.A. in Theology from Wheaton College

Ordained: 1952

Career:
1949-1952 Inter-Varsity staff member, served as assistant convention director for Urbana 51
1953-1968 Staff member of the Latin America Mission, with which he served as missionary, rector of the Latin American Biblical Seminary, field director for Colombia (1958-May 1967), and Assistant General Director (1958-1968).
1968-1976 Missions Director, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, USA. This included serving as director of IVCF's Urbana 73 and Urbana 76 (conferences for college and university students on mission work). Technically, Howard was on loan from LAM to IVCF until 1973, when he formally resigned from the mission.
1976-1977 Assistant to the President of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, USA
1977-1980 Seconded by Inter-Varsity to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, where he served as director of the Consultation on World Evangelization (COWE) held in Pattaya, Thailand in 1980
1980-1981 Worked for Inter-Varsity with a roving assignment; although after 1981 Howard had in effect left Inter-Varsity, he was technically on leave and did not formally resign until 1986
1981-1982 Staff of Evangelism Explosion
1982-1992 International Director of the World Evangelical Fellowship
1992-1995 Senior Vice President of the David C. Cook Foundation
1995-1999 President of Latin America Mission
1999 Retired

Other significant information:
Books: How Come, God (1973), By the Power of the Holy Spirit (1973), The Costly Harvest (1975, originally titled Hammered as Gold), Words of Fire, Rivers of Tears (1976), The Great Commission for Today (1976), Student Power in World Missions (1979), The Dream That Would Not Die (1986), What Makes a Missionary (1987)

Howard served as trustee of Wheaton College. Latin America Mission (1965-1980, 1984-1987, 1993-1996), The American Leprosy Mission, and other Christian organizations.

Scope and Contents

 [Note: In the Scope and Content description, the notation "folder 2-5" means box 2, folder 5.]

Series: Paper Records
Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title, some of the titles supplied or revised by the archivist
Date range: 1967-1987
Volume: .6 cubic feet
Boxes: 2
Geographic coverage: United States; Urbana, Illinois
Type of documents: Reports, memos, correspondence, activity reports, brochures, texts of speeches, manual, travel schedules
Correspondents: John Alexander (IVCF), H. L. Fenton (LAM), Billy Graham, Keith Hunt (IVCF), John Kyle (IVCF), Gordon McDonald (IVCF), James McLeish (IVCF), John Pollock, W. Dayton Roberts (LAM), Lois Thiessen (LAM), attendees of Urbana '76
Subjects: Inter-Varsity Student Mission Conventions, especially Urbana '76; place of college students in Christian missions; the 1981 commemoration of the Haystack prayer meeting; Howard's work as an IVCF staff person; Howard's schedule and travels for Inter-Varsity, the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, and the World Evangelical Fellowship
Notes: The bulk of the paper records deal with Howard's participation the planning of, program of and response to Inter-Varsity's triennial Student Missions Conferences, held at Urbana, Illinois. Closely related are the memos, speeches, minutes and other materials in folder 1-6 which document a debate within Inter-Varsity over how much emphasis to place on missions in their ministry to college students and the materials in folder 2-1 which contain the texts of speeches Howard gave on the subject. Howard's own responsibilities and achievements as an IVCF staff person are documented in folders 1-2, 1-7, 1-8, and 1-9.
Exceptional items: Folder 1-1 contains documents about the plans for a 175th anniversary celebration of 1806 Haystack prayer meeting that led to the first student missionary society in America. Folder 1-6 contains xeroxes of minutes and other documents going back to Inter-Varsity's first student missions convention in 1946. All these documents were intended to illustrate IVCF's original commitment to getting college and university students involved in missions.

*****
Series: Audio tapes
Arrangement: Numerical as assigned by archivist
Date range: 1977-1993
Volume: .25 cubic feet
Geographic coverage: United States, Colombia, Costa Rica
Type of documents: Oral history interviews, speeches to missionary groups
Subjects: Evangelism Explosion, Billy Graham, Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, Latin America Mission, Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, Wheaton College, World Evangelical fellowship
Notes: The following are detailed descriptions of the contents of the oral history interviews:

T1 (62 minutes) Parent's work with the Belgian Gospel Mission, 1922-1927; Donald Barnhouse; his parents' life in Belgium; thoughts about missionaries as a child; his mother; spiritual influence of his parents in the home; his father; father's humor and use of words; influence of his parents upon him; father's work as editor of Sunday School Times; Philadelphia as a center of Fundamentalism; Carl Macintire; the Hyman Appelman meetings in Philadelphia; McIntire at the 1974 Lausanne meeting; grandfather Philp Howard, Sr., and great grandfather Henry Clay Tremble; editors of The Sunday School Times; other family members; a family rift because of a split in the Episcopal church; family connections with Wheaton College; relations in the family when David was growing up; sister Elisabeth Howard; letter writing in the Howard family; David's positive outlook on life; siblings' struggles with inferiority complexes; attendance at Hampton-DuBose School and influence of Pierre DuBose; influence of Wheaton College's dean of students Charles Brooks; David's conversion at the age of ten while listening to sermon by Irwin Moon; total commitment of life during a Keswick conference at the age of sixteen

T2 (65 minutes) Importance of Wheaton College as an influence; friendship with Jim Elliot; differences between them on how to live the Christian life; Howard's call to be a missionary; Elliot's attitude toward missions; Howard's and Elliots' Wheaton wrestling experiences; professor Merrill Tenney; Howard's thesis on ecclesiastical separation; the Foreign Missions Fellowship; WWII veteran students at Wheaton; Bill Henderson; E.W. Hatcher; campus Peniel group's extreme views on the leading of the Holy Spirit; influence on his later ministry; the 1948 revival on campus led by Stephen Olford and Bob Mumford; opposition to the spiritual movements on campus; beginning of Jim Elliot's and Elisabeth Howard's dating; Howard's involvement in sports and work for coach Gil Dodds; more on Jim Elliot's and Elisabeth Howard's dating and marriage; things he loved about Wheaton; changes in Wheaton over the years; Stacey Woods and Inter-Varsity; Charles Troutman and his influence on Howard

T3 (10 minutes) Counseling by Troutman and Woods about marriage; Howard's work at the 1951 IVCF Student Foreign Missions (Urbana) convention; leading Inter-Varsity's work at Northwestern University; learning about the sovereignty of God

T4 (63 minutes) Stacey Woods; early administration of Inter-Varsity and changes over time; John Alexander as an administrator; staff orientation in 1949; David Adeney; description of early Urbana conferences; Paul Little's orientation at Urbana '51; Cleo Buxton; turmoil on Wheaton's campus 1948-1949 because of the firing of professor C. Greg Singer by President V. Raymond Edman; Howard's early intentions as a missionary; deciding on the Latin America Mission (LAM); Kenneth Strachan; reorganization of LAM and making of Howard an assistant general director in 1957; Strachan as an administrator; resolving tensions between the mission and the national church in Colombia in 1962; Strachan as a correspondent; orientation as a new LAM missionary; the missionary paternalism of the previous generation; six months language school and orientation in Costa Rica

T5 (62 minutes) More on language school; the house church in Santo Domingo del Heredia; illness of the Howard's' son; teaching at the Seminario Biblico Latinoamericano; upgrading the educational level of the seminary students; staff at the seminary; Howard as sub-rector of the seminary for two years; international character of the student body; a student strike over the food; problems with hypocritical students; highlights of his time in Costa Rica; W. Dayton Roberts; disappointment over a convert who severed contact and returned to Catholicism; discipling of a seminary graduate who was splitting his church; transferring to Colombia in 1958 as field director; trip in 1955 to Colombia with Strachan; duties as assistant general director; Amy McQuilken; Victor Landero and the movement of the Holy Spirit in central Colombia; Bob Reed; development of gifts of the Spirit among the new churches and the reaction of missions and the older churches; Howard's's part in the reconciliation of the churches in Colombia at the annual general assembly of the Association of Evangelical Churches of the Caribbbean in 1964; receiving a word of prophecy through a prayer spoken in tongues; examples of extreme behavior among the churches; attitude of the mission to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Colombian churches; responsibilities as field director in Colombia; story of a missionary who tried to pretend she was a Colombian and not a foreign missionary

T6 (59 minutes) Conclusion of story about missionary from T5; problem with one missionary's control over a church; relation of the LAM field director with field council and interfield council and the General Executive Committee (GDX); counseling role with missionaries; problems finding roommates for single women missionaries; the difficulty of being away from home for extended periods; the lessening of Catholic antagonism toward Evangelicals in Colombia following Vatican II; description of several prominent Colombian pastors; Howard's relationship as field director with Colombian pastors; transferring legal ownership of property in Colombia by the mission to the church; the evangelical Confederation of Colombia; growth of the church schools; influence of Donald McGavran on Howard; refusal to subsidize the local church; problem of missionaries serving as treasurers in local churches; LAM and Howard's involvement in the 1958 BGEA Mexico City Crusade; threats to the crusade from the Knights of Columbus; humility of Billy Graham; the roots of Evangelism-in-Depth (E/D) methods; emphasis on mobilizing the laity; Kenneth Strachan's and W. Dayton Robert's development of Evangelism-in-Depth; additions to E/D that grew out of expereince; Juan Isais and E/D in Mexico; slapping of Amy McQuilken by a priest and other violence against missionaries; divine protection for missionaries; Victor and Gregorio Landero; impact of Kenneth Strachan's death on the mission; Dit Fenton's administrative style

T7 (62 minutes) Transition in leadership from Strachan to Fenton; frustrations of leadership by consensus; effect of the 1967 move back to Costa Rica on Howard and his family; offer to become mission director of IVCF; frustrations of his administrative work in Costa Rica; beginning to be drawn to working among students; Charles Troutman, Dit Fenton; W. Dayton Roberts; frustration of LAM's division heads with the slow administrative structure (1967); administrative changes in LAM after he left; reaction at LAM to Howard's leaving; reactions of his family to the change; Howard's service on the board of LAM; changes Howard observed in LAM under Mike Berg; comparison of Berg, Strachan, Fenton, and Paul Landrey as public speakers and leaders; the process of finding a successor for Dit Fenton; end of the GDX during Berg's presidency; type of people attracted to LAM as missionaries; relationship between LAM and the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in the 1950s and 1960s; Charles Troutman's leaving Inter-Varsity; the Troutmans as father and mother figures to the new missionaries of LAM; Paul Pretiz; Mike Berg; W. Dayton Roberts; furor over the closing the LAM clinic in Costa Rica in the late 1960s; Marian Chapman; Juan Isais and Liz Fletcher Isais; the Mexican Latin American Mission

T8 (62 minutes) Wilton Nelson; changes at Latin American Seminary caused by liberation theology; John Stam; LAM's reputation as a "leftist" mission; reaction to Ruben Lores' divorce; Orlando Costas; Jonas Gonzalez; impact of Ernie Fowler's death on Howard's son; effect on Howard of the death of Jim Elliot; comparison of reaction of American Evangelicals to deaths of the Jim Elliot and the Stams compared with the death of other missionaries; the beginning of Howard's work with Inter-Varsity in 1968; Inter-Varsity's move to Madison, Wisconsin, in 1969; commuting from Wheaton to Madison for eight years and the strains on his family; Kay Barton; 1960s upheaval among university students in the United States; duties as mission director of IVCF; Paul Little and Urbana '70; attacks on missions among Inter-Varsity staff; Eric Fife and missions; Herbert J. Taylor's contribution of Cedar Camp for mission training; the development of the idea for the Overseas Training Camp (OTC); OTC in Costa Rica and Guatemala and the later development of the idea; development of Student Training in Missions (STIM) by Dick Crespo in the mid 1970s; changes made at Urbana '76 by Howard; the three purposes of Urbana conventions; developing a slate of speakers; Billy Graham and Urbana, Graham's hesitation about speaking to students

T9 (27 minutes) Graham's apprehensions about talking to students; memorable participants at the conference: Edward Clowney, Helen Roseveare; Elizabeth Elliot, Bernie Smith; the Urbana hymns by Margaret Clarkson; John Stott; his negative view on the charismatic movement; debate in the United States in the 1970s over the gifts of the Holy Spirit; Intercristo and the use of computers to match student interests to mission boards; student opposition and threats against Urbana in 1970; Tom Skinner and Bill Pannell at Urbana 70; black student opposition to Urbana 73; advice from Bill Pannell

T10 (61 minutes) John Alexander; reunion of the Howard brothers and sisters at Urbana 73; Alexander as director of Urbana 79; comparison of management in IVCF and LAM; Jim McLeish; Howard's move from director of missions to full time director of Urbana; Paul Little; Urbana 81 and its difference from previous meetings; Howard's being seconded to the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE); selection process for Lausanne conferences; selecting Thailand for the Consultation on World Evangelization (COWE); cross-cultural sensitivities in planning COWE; Roman Catholic observers at the conference; Emilio Castro of the World Council of Churches at the conference; discussion of evangelism and social action at COWE; the consultation for pastors from Thailand; development of the idea of "people groups" in evangelism; involvement of Billy Graham and the BGEA in COWE; disappointments about the consultation; Leighton Ford's style as chairman of the conference; other people who made decisions about the consultation; A. Jack Dain; rejection by the LCWE of the World Evangelical Fellowship proposal that LCWE become the evangelism commission of the WEF (1980); impact of the 1974 Lausanne conference; Ralph Winter; return to Inter-Varsity in 1980 and lack of anything to do; joining Evangelism Explosion in December 1981 in the midst of organization upheaval

T11 (62 minutes) More on Evangelism Explosion; move to WEF in 1982; support of Billy Graham for Howard's work at WEF; loose knit nature of WEF organization; Waldron Scott; Inter-Varsity and LAM as administrative models; financial hardships at WEF and Vergil Gerber's contribution; Harry Genet's contribution to WEF; the Wheaton 83 missions conference; Howard's frustrations at WEF and the organizational changes of 1985; the move of WEF's international headquarters to Singapore; strengthening the WEF's ties to its non-Western members; the appointment of Jun Vencer as general director in 1992; Vencer's strengths as leader of WEF; the process of selecting a new WEF director; Tokunboh Adeyemo; Theodore Williams of India; Howard's plans to visit every member fellowship of the WEF; effect of the collaspe of Communism on WEF; Howard's last address at the 1992 General Assembly

T12 (37 minutes) The relationship between WEF and the Lausanne committee; John Stott's view on the relationship; reasons for the continuing of two separate organizations; their different views on ecumenical cooperation; difference in structure and accountability of the organizations; reaction to Howard's stand on not seeking union with Lausanne; effect on the Howard's marriage and family of the changes and moves in his career; the move to Singapore in 1986; Howard's thoughts on the writing of his books; changes in the student attitudes toward missions since the 1970s; the relationship of Evangelical with the rest of Christendom; Howard's experience with the Secretaries of Christian World Communions; the impact of his brother Tom's Catholicism on him; the book of letters Howard received when he retired from WEF

*****
Provenance

The materials in this collection were given to the Archives of the Billy Graham Center by David M. Howard in 1993 and 1995.
Accession: 93-44, 93-51, 93-70, 93-114, 95-131
November 8, 1999
Robert Shuster
R. Williams

LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 93-44, 93-51, 93-70, 93-114
Type of Material: Audio Tapes
The following items are located in the AUDIO TAPE FILE:

T1 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 62 minutes on one side only. Interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on March 24, 1993. The interview is continued on T2.

T2 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 65 minutes on one side only. Continuation interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on March 24, 1993. The interview is continued on T3.

T3 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 10 minutes on one side only. Conclusion of interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on March 24, 1993.

T4 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 63 minutes on one side only. Interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on April 5, 1993. The interview is continued on T5.

T5 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 62 minutes on one side only. Continuation interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on April 5, 1993. The interview is concluded on T6.

T6 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 59 minutes on one side only. Conclusion of interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on April 5, 1993.

T7 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 62 minutes on one side only. Interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on May 21, 1993. The interview is continued on T8.

T8 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 62 minutes on one side only. Continuation of interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on May 21, 1993. The interview is continued on T9.

T9 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 27 minutes on one side only. Conclusion interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on May 21, 1993.

T10 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 61 minutes on one side only. Interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on October 7, 1993. The interview is continued on T11.

T11 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 62 minutes on one side only. Continuation of interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on October 7, 1993. The interview is concluded on T12.

T12 - Reel, 3/3-4 ips, 37 minutes on one side only. Conclusion of interview of David M. Howard by Paul Ericksen, recorded on October 7, 1993.

T13 - Cassette, ca. 60 minutes on both sides. Talk given by David Howard, possibly at Moody Bible Institute, on Urbana '76. January 1977.

T14 - Cassette, ca. 45 minutes on one side. Talk by David Howard to a luncheon meeting during a conference of the Evangelical Foreign Missions Association on "Missions and the Student World." February 23, 1977.

T15 - Cassette, ca. 60 minutes. Talk by David Howard to the Association of Church Missions Committees on "Interpreting Student Interest in Missions." 1977. For more information on this talk, see folder 2-1.

T16 - Cassette, ca. 30 minutes on both sides. Taped report by David Howard on Urbana '76. The tape includes excepts from the conference, such as comments by Billy Graham. N.d.

*****
LOCATION RECORD
Accession: 95-131
Type of material: Photographs
The following items are located in the PHOTO FILE; request by Folder Titles (in bold) at the beginning of each entry below.

INTER-VARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP - URBANA MISSIONARY CONVENTIONS - URBANA 73. Scenes of the convention, including David Howard, John Alexander and Howard moderating a plenary session panel. 6 b/w.

INTER-VARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP - URBANA MISSIONARY CONVENTIONS - URBANA 76. Scenes of students at the convention, a picture of the Assembly Hall where many of the events were held, pictures of the speakers including John W. Alexander, Edgar Beach, Edmund P. Clowney, Eric Frykenberg, Billy Graham, David Howard, Samuel Kamaleson, Festo Kivengere, Elisabeth Elliot, A. Donald McLeod, Isabelo Magalit, Luis Palau, John Perkins, Helen Roseveare, John R. W. Stott, and Lemuel Tucker. 32 b/w, 1 color.

INTER-VARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP - URBANA MISSIONARY CONVENTIONS - URBANA 81. Scenes of the students at the convention, group shots of a reunion of people who attended the first student missionary convention in 1946. 4 b/w. 4 color.

CONTAINER LIST
Box Folders Description
1 1 Haystack 81; 1980-181
2 IVCF - DMH's relationship with; 1968-1986
3 IVCF - Kyle, John; 1984-1987
4 IVCF - McDonald, Gordon; 1985-1986
5 IVCF - McLeish, James; 1984-1985
6 IVCF - Mission emphasis in the organization; 1972-1979
7 IVCF - Monthly Activity Reports; 1969-1973
8 IVCF - Monthly Activity Reports, 1974-1977
9 IVCF - Monthly Activity Reports; 1980-1981
2 1 IVCF - Talks students in missions; 1970-1979
2 Travel Schedules; 1969-1986
3 Urbana '67, 73; 1968-1973
4 Urbana '76; 1976-1977
5 Urbana '79; 1977-1980
6 Urbana '81; 1980-1981

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Last Revised: 3/25/01
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