Evangelism, The Call of the Hour

Christ accomplished what He came for. He has taken the sinner's pun­ishment; He has lifted the sentence of death that was against us; He has brought in everlasting righteousness. Christ has saved us. The gospel is the announcement to men that what Christ came to do is a finished work, an accomplished thing, and we are the evangels of this good news. In order to offer this salvation to every man, there has been founded a holy com­munion, a universal brotherhood, called the church of God. The sole purpose in the organization of the church and in the divine commission to the church is to bear witness to the fact that Christ took the sinner's place, died in the sinner's stead, was buried, raised from the dead, and to­day ministers in the heavenly places as our High Priest. This is the chief business of the church in the world.

Regarding the purpose of the church, we read:

"The church is God's appointed agency for the salvation of men. It was organized for service, and its mis­sion is to carry the gospel to the world. From the beginning it has been God's plan that through His church shall be reflected to the world His fullness and His sufficiency. The members of the church, those whom He has called out of darkness into His marvelous light, are to show forth His glory. The church is the repos­itory of the riches of the grace of Christ; and through the church will eventually be made manifest, even to the principalities and powers in heav­enly places,' the final and full display of the love of God."—"Acts of the Apostles," p. 9.

"The church is God's agency for the proclamation of truth, empowered by Him to do a special work."—Id., p. 600.

"The church" of God is "made a channel of light to the world."—Id., p. 122.

The church is the advertising me­dium for giving to the world the truth that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost, and its chief business in the world is to make known the provision which has been made for man's salvation. Anything that pre­vents the church from making this in­formation known, anything that turns it aside from its chief duty, or any­thing that divides its attention, any­thing that hinders its witnessing, anything that in any way detracts from its supreme objective and the sole purpose of its existence, is work­ing against God's plan for the church and causing it to fall into the hands of the great enemy of righteousness. And just to the degree that this is true, there is delay in finishing the work of God among men.

There is always danger that the church will be turned aside from its supreme work of bearing witness to the truth of salvation,—turned aside to study issues, and many things of lesser importance. Watchfulness along this line is particularly needful just now. We are entering the cul­minating period of human history. A spirit of intensiveness is taking hold of the forces battling for righteous­ness in the field. You no doubt have been aware of that where you have been living.

In South America, ever since the signing of the Lateran Treaty with Rome, we have been aware of the fact that there has been a new tenseness in the whole situation in our field. There has been a closer drawing in of the lines, and a most pronounced determination on the part of the ene­mies of God's truth to destroy the work of this movement. But there has been a new intensity coming into the ranks of God's children as well. The developments that have been seen in the mission fields, the lining up of the two opposing parties in this world, is becoming more and more pronounced, until there has come a very profound conviction that God is shaking things in this world, and will soon finish the work. There never was a time, therefore, when it was more important for the church of Christ to be engaged in the business of evan­gelism,—the business of announcing what Christ has done, of presenting Christ to lost souls.

If Satan could at this time blind the church so that it would lose sight of its true objective in the world, and take away its vision of the one su­preme work of preaching the message of the truth of salvation, and center that vision upon its own development, upon its own growth, upon its own enlargement, upon it own organization, until it becomes so absorbed with it­self, so occupied with material things, that it would neglect its divine com­mission,—the salvation of souls,—then Satan would gain a tremendous vic­tory. This has always been the dan­ger threatening the church, and it is the danger now more than ever before.

A Model Church

God has given us a model for build­ing the Christian church. When God desired to establish the earthly sanc­tuary, He furnished a model for its construction. He took Moses up into the mountain and showed him how he was to build every detail of that structure with all its furniture; all the proceedings were outlined. And when, later on, the great temple at Jerusa­lem was to be built, God gave to David and to Solomon a model of that struc­ture. I believe that for the establish­ment, maintenance, and operation of the Christian church, God has sup­plied the New Testament ministry with a model for preaching, raising up churches, organizing churches, sup­porting churches, and for shepherding churches. We perceive the details of this church model in the commission given to the apostles as they went out to preach the gospel. They went from city to city throughout the Roman Em­pire, and organized churches. They established these churches on such a basis that when they had completed their work among them, the churches were able to stand alone, and do their part in helping to evangelize the world. Within a hundred years there were five million souls who were brought to confess the Christian faith.

These churches established by the apostles were far distant from the gen­eral headquarters; they were not sup­plied with any appropriations to carry forward their work, they were not vis­ited by specialists in the organization of departmental facilities, or leaders who could see that they were properly taken care of. The system upon which the church operated at that time did not involve an overhead expense which absorbed all the money and all the resources, so that evangelism was practically stopped. That was not the model plan which was given to us in the beginning. But under the opera­tion of that first church organization, the apostles were successful in raising up churches, numerous in number and thoroughly established, as the statis­tics of the early church show; and this growth and development and enlarge­ment came as the outgrowth of the impetus placed on evangelism.

But as time went on, the church drifted farther and farther into the danger zone, and gradually losing sight of her true objective,—the business of evangelism,—she began reaching out after material power. The result was a decrease in spiritual power, evangelism was greatly diminished, and conse­quently development and growth were stopped in proportion. Workers who might have been preaching the gospel were set to serve the church, and churches came to expect a far larger amount of personal attention than is anywhere indicated as being the de­sign of God in the founding of the church.

Paul managed to establish churches in widely scattered places, and to organize and instruct them in such a perfect way that when he left they were able to take care of themselves, and allow him to go on to other places. Somehow he managed to do that. I don't know whether or not we have lost the vision of doing what Paul did; but anyway we do not seem to do it.

It was exactly the same way in Luther's time. Those evangelists went out everywhere with the one thought of bearing witness to the truth of the salvation of men; that was their chief emphasis; and their work advanced and enlarged until the time came when it was weakened by dependence upon organization. It was exactly so in Wesley's experience. You have all read "Wesley and His Century" and other biographies of Wesley, and you will remember how mightily he was used in preaching the gospel of Christ which brings salvation, and changed the lives of tens of thousands of people. Then, after Wesley died, we find the church gradually settling down to place dependence on their growth and attainment, and consequently they lost the evangelistic spirit throughout the whole communion.

Our Present Danger

We are today at the same point of crisis. During the early years when this movement began, the thing of chief importance was evangelism,—go­ing out and telling the truth, bearing witness to the truth that Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost. The pioneers in this movement were soul winners; they were an evan­gelizing agency for the gospel of Christ. And that spirit of evangel­ism attending the giving of this mes­sage has borne remarkable fruitage, and has extended the message into every part of the world. Indeed, this very success, this very enlargement, is where our present danger lies. More and more workers have been called into the service, not for direct soul-winning endeavor, but to take care of the souls in the churches already won. There is danger, in this enlargement of our membership and in the extension of our work, that the result will be merely an enlargement of our administrative, departmental, pas­toral, and office forces; and if that should become a reality, then we would find ourselves in such a vicious circle that it would become impossible for us to finish our great world task.

As illustration, take the situation in the mission fields where we report the winning of a thousand new members. In the gaining of a thousand new members and bringing them into the church, you might think that there would be the tithe of a thousand new members to be added to our funds for evangelism, whereby to go out and win another thousand members. But it does not work that way, for the accession of a thousand new members makes it necessary to put on an addi­tional force of workers to care for that thousand new members, so that the tithe is completely absorbed on them­selves and is not available to use for evangelism.

I believe that evangelism is the call of the hour. Our entire working force should be released to engage in the greatest evangelical advance in the history of the Christian church. But right now, facing the most important time in all the history of the church, we find the great mass of our workers busy about many things which are not primarily evangelical in character. I think it would be interesting to ascer­tain accurate statistics on three points: (1) How much of the time and effort of our paid workers in this cause is being consumed upon believers; (2) how much is consumed in adminis­trative, departmental, secretarial, and pastoral work; and (3) how much of the time of our paid working force is actually devoted to preaching to lost souls and bringing them to Christ. But although we do not have these statistics in hand, it nevertheless is a clearly recognized fact that a very large percentage of our work is about many things other than direct soul winning.

It is generally considered today that our regular laboring forces cannot be expected to engage in evangelistic efforts, because of the many admin­istrative and departmental details. What I am appealing for is to have all our workers, no matter what the official position may be, become evan­gelists and engage more directly in soul-winning-endeavor.

Readjusting for Evangelism

I have proved to my own satisfac­tion that the president of a large con­ference can hold evangelistic efforts without neglecting administrative du­ties. And I have become firmly con­vinced that lacking experience in evan­gelistic efforts, the administrative du­ties of a conference president will be deficient, because evangelism is what he is ordained to do, and his necessary administrative duties should not be al­lowed to take the place of evangelism. I believe that departmental secretaries can engage in direct evangelistic ef­forts without making the interests of their departments suffer.

In South America we had one man carrying three departments, — doing three men's work, and doing it most efficiently,—and yet each year he car­ried on an evangelistic effort, not for two, four, or six weeks, but for three months or four months, or until his people were baptized and soundly es­tablished in this faith. And I can assure you that he made a far better departmental secretary than would have been possible without that evan­gelistic experience. That experience put life into all the departmental ma­chinery. In South America nearly all the executives and all departmental secretaries are engaged in public evan­gelistic endeavor. And this has made all the difference in the world in our work and in the spirit of our work. 

I am inclined to believe that union conference presidents and departmen­tal secretaries of union conferences can engage in public evangelistic endeavor without having their departmental du­ties fail in the slightest degree. Some one may say, "You have never been a union conference president, and don't know what you are talking about." I admit that I cannot speak as a union president, but I am convinced that a division president can do it; I have proved to my own satisfaction that it can be done, and that he can give time enough to the effort to carry people clear through every phase of this truth. I know it can be done.

Ministers who are not considered public evangelists, and pastors of churches, can profitably do evangel­istic work with their own congregations, for there are in every congrega­tion men and women who need to be converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't know of any more impor­tant work for the pastor to do than that. And when the church members have been won to Christ, they should be trained to become evangelists in their sphere, for I believe it is but a little step from a converted convert to a converted laborer.

And when the division president and all his force of workers give evangel­ism its rightful place in the program, there is seen the most gratifying effect upon goals and campaigns. Every campaign would go much easier than it goes now, if we would only lead all our forces in evangelistic endeavor, which would lighten the world with the glory of the third angel's message.

Theatrical methods are to be avoided in connection with the pre­sentation of the third angel's message, as we are instructed in the "Testimo­nies," Volume IX, page 142, yet "some of the methods used in this work will be different from the methods used in the past," and the admonition follows: "Let no one . . . block the way by criticism."—/d., Vol. VII, p. 25. It would therefore appear that evange­lists are not to be circumscribed in their efforts to advertise and present truth in an attractive manner.

One of the prime requisites in getting the ear of the public is to know how to advertise in such a way as to secure the attention of the people, avoiding anything of a sensational nature which would have a tendency to shock the finer sensibilities of cultured people, and without involving prodigal expenditure. Having spent considerable time in editorial and educational work, I would consistently be classified as a conservative evangelist, and it would be supposed that conservatism in con­servative Boston, where I am located, would be just what is required. How­ever, such is not the case when it comes to advertising, for in order to fill an auditorium of any size, as much time must be given to the preparation of advertising material as to the prepara­tion of the sermon.

"I don't like your Sunday night ad­vertising," said a parishioner to the pastor of a city church. "Neither do I," was his reply, "nor do I like the bait with which I catch fish; but the fish like it, and that is why I use it." When I entered the ministry, nearly three decades ago, our ministers were advertising topics such as "The Second Coming of Christ," "Home of the Saved," "Man's Nature and Destiny," et cetera. While we are today pre­senting these truths in a manner differ­ing little from that of our pioneers, yet the advertising methods which they employed with successful results, would not be effective at this time, due to the change which has taken place in the public mind. Successful adver­tising of today must be unique in its features, and yet dignified to a degree appropriate for announcing the stu­pendous and solemn message from the God of heaven.

Advertising Methods

A matter of first consideration is the location of the effort in a suitable locality and an appropriate building for reaching the people. Naturally the ad­vertiser will suit the advertising to the size of his auditorium, both as to style and quantity. If the auditorium seats a thousand people, there must be twice the amount of advertising requisite to fill a hall seating but five hundred peo­ple. There is a direct ratio of adver­tising and net results, which is espe­cially apparent in the attendance the first night of the meeting.

The second consideration is the method of advertising. The evange­list must decide which method will best serve his purpose,—handbills, bill­boards, newspapers, the telephone where an unlimited service is enjoyed, personal invitations, or ten-minute services on the streets, announcing the services and inviting attendance. Let us briefly consider these various meth­ods of advertising:

1. Handbills.—Personal experience has demonstrated to me that of all methods of advertising, the handbill produces the least result. This may be due to the fact that this method is largely employed by grocers and other commercial concerns. Possibly my ex­perience is of local application, as con­fined to the cities of Washington, Philadelphia, Providence, and Boston, and it may be that in other parts of the country the plan produces better results. I have found that, instead of handbills, a little more money invested in a neat blotter board, bearing the cut of the evangelist and the announce­ment of the place of meeting, brings the best returns. Do not crowd your advertisement. By this I mean do not put out what is called a "white" advertisement. Put as little on the card as possible to get your idea before the public. Some favor the plan of printing the subject of the immediate meeting in large type, and following it with a week's program. My ex­perience is that the week's program detracts from the special meeting, for people conclude, "We can hear him some other time, and need not bother to go tonight."

2. Theater Tickets.—Where meetings are held in the theater building, I have found that invitations printed on ticket-slip paper are very effective. Many people keep these ticket invita­tions, and present them at the theater door at meeting time. As such invita­tions are usually given out on Saturday night to people on the busy streets, care should be exercised that no law is violated by their distribution.

3. Billboard and Street Car Adver­tising.—If billboards are not too ex­pensive, they serve as a very effective means of securing attention. In addi­tion to the use of the large billboards, especially at the beginning of the ef­fort, street car advertising space is to be commended. A card suspended from a string hanging inside the car, which turns around as the result of the move­ment of the car, produces good results. Street car advertising space can us­ually be secured at a minimum figure.

4. Newspaper Advertising.—This is a method which must be influenced by local conditions. In cities of two mil­lion or more inhabitants, the front page of the newspaper (which is al­ways best) is not obtainable. But whatever page of the newspaper is used, it is well to get a position as near the top of the advertising pyramid as possible, remembering that two thirds of the distance to the top is the optical center of the page. The re­ligious page will bring the advertise­ment to the attention of the church-going people, and this may seem to be an advafitage, but it is well to bear in mind that while those who come to the meetings as the result of such advertising are usually more easily reached with the message, a large num­ber who read the advertisement in that position will not respond to the announcement because of their contact with other church services at that hour.

This may in a measure be influenced by the method of approach. In my work during the last few years I have made no effort to conceal the fact that

I am a Seventh-day Adventist, and for that reason I have at times chosen the theater page for my advertisement, knowing that a large number of people follow the programs of the various theaters. When advertising on the theater page, the announcement should be of a lecture, rather than a sermon, because lectures on Sunday nights, es­pecially where theater performances are restricted, are very common in theaters.

For years I did not favor the use of a personal photograph in connection with newspaper advertising, but it has been demonstrated that by the use of a good plain cut the advertising be­comes twice as effective.

I find that two thirds of my audience come as the result of newspaper adver­tising, while only about one third come as the result of other methods. If I were working in another part of the country, I would take a careful census week by week, to ascertain which was the most effective_. method of advertis­ing in the special community in which I was located. Different parts of the country require different advertising methods.

5. The Telephone.—In cities where a number of Seventh-day Adventists have unlimited telephone service, it is a good plan to apportion names from the telephone directory for personal telephone invitation. Having placed assignments in the hands of our people ­who have volunteered for such service, we instruct them as to when and how to proceed. We suggest that the telephone conversation be conducted as follows: "Good morning, Mrs. Jones! You, will pardon me, but this is Miss Blank, calling to inform you that a most interesting and instructive lec­ture is to be given by Evangelist Brown in the Old Church of the Mediator, at Cranston and Burgess Streets, Sunday evening at 8 o'clock. I am sure you will be interested in the subject, which is 'The Meaning of Modern Miracles in Malden.' This service will be preceded by an illustrated song service, begin­ning at 7:30. I shall esteem it a pleas­ure to meet you at that time. Thank you."

We enlisted a large number of our people in making this announcement during an entire effort, with excellent results, and without expense. Church members who were unable to give time to telephoning, lent their telephones to other members for such uses. 

6.  Personal and Formal Invitations. —By this I mean either a personal visit at the door of the home or a formal invitation neatly printed on a card and sent through the mail under letter postage. The formal invitation should always be signed by the sender, and is usually employed in inviting special friends. Either of these methods, if faithfully employed, results in a hand­picked audience. The latter is usually employed by professional people, who do not have time for other methods of extending invitations. The cost of printing invitations and envelopes must be met, but the person who sends them out pays the postage.

7.  Outdoor Meetings.—This method was employed in Boston by my pred­ecessor, Elder R. S. Fries, with ex­cellent results, and I have found it very effective in bringing people to attend our meetings in the church, many of whom have been led to make a favorable decision for truth. We have a car fitted out with a platform and a set of chimes. We conduct a brief musical program, which draws the peo­ple, and then give a sermonette, and at the close announce the evening serv­ice at a definite place and time. This is a method of reaching the people which is not met in any other way, and I would recommend it as a method for reaching the public ear in our large cities, wherever the people congregate in large numbers.

It is necessary to obtain permission from the mayor or the city council for holding outdoor meetings, and for a number of years we have held a permit to preach on Boston Commons. This is a place set apart for free speech, and every Sunday during the summer there will be found representatives of the Catholics, Federation of Churches, Mor­mons, Socialists, and Seventh-day Ad­ventists occupying positions assigned them by the park commissioner. The only specification in granting the per­mit, is that nothing of a seditious na­ture shall be presented.

We begin our meetings at three o'clock in the afternoon, and continue until six o'clock. Our location is at one end of the Commons, where we have first access to the people coming in through the gate. In addition to the chimes, we have a folding organ and two cornets, and it is not long after beginning our song service until the crowd begins to gather. We hang up our prophetic charts, and two or three speakers occupy the first hour and a half. Then we devote another hour and a half to an open forum, in which oral questions may be asked. Our audiences are composed of people of all shades of belief and unbelief,—Jesuits, Protestants, atheists,—all anx­ious to confute the Seventh-day Ad­ventist speaker. The attendance ranges from five hundred to a thousand, and we find that about half the number attending the outdoor meeting will be in attendance at the evening service at the church. I do not know of any way whereby so large a number of people can be attracted to our meetings, without any expense for advertising, as by the open-air method of reaching the public; and we find that these peo­ple are susceptible to the message, and many have fully united with us in church membership.

General Principles

We should bear in mind that no amount of advertising, of whatever na­ture, will hold the crowd if they are disappointed in what they hear on the first or second night of the effort. It is possible, by appropriate advertising, to fill almost any auditorium for any evangelist for the first night; but much depends upon the evangelist whether or not the people return the next night. He who is successful in getting and holding the ear of the public must be a student of human nature and able readily to recognize a lack of interest; and failure to know how to regain in­terest is fatal to success in public work. Any restlessness or lack of interest on the part of the congregation should serve as instant warning to the speaker that it is time to turn aside from the prosaic, to the use of illustration or parable. It is one thing to study ad­vertising and to attract the people to the service, but it is of still greater importance to be able to hold the interest which the advertising has created.

In the matter of advertising, do not be too careful about hurting people's feel­ings, and yet you must refrain from anything rough or coarse. Watch the trend of current events, and make any subject of general or local interest serve a good purpose. When public attention was being centered on the alleged cures in Malden, at Holy Cross Cemetery, we were able to fill our auditorium during a month's time by employing in our advertising, topics such as, "The Meaning of Modern Miracles in Malden," "Are Cures Made at Malden," "Agencies at Work at the Tomb of Father Power," etc. While there was nothing in our advertise­ments that would shock the finer sen­sibilities of Catholic people, and we were careful to avoid any personal thrusts, yet a deep interest was created and there was a large attendance at our meetings.

L.E. Froom (Chairman) : Elder get all our secretaries to co-operate. Haynes has set before us the urgency, But if by "evangelism" we mean soul-the necessity, and the demonstrated winning endeavor, then I think we are success in making of first consideration all agreed that this should be the one the true purpose and objective of evan­ aim in all our work, whether we are gelism. Elder Shultz has touched full-time evangelists in the broadest upon a few methods which the evange­ sense or whether we are conference list employs to get the ear of the pub­ presidents, secretaries of departments, lic. Now we turn to you who have or whatever we are. Now which is it? been listening to these presentations, Does it mean soul winning in that to tell us of your experiences along sense, or does it mean holding public these lines.   

F.D. Wells (President, Northern New England): I should like to know how we can get our departmental secretaries interested in and desiring to combine evangelistic work with their departmental endeavor. Some of our secretaries have conducted evangelistic efforts during one season, but for some reason it has been difficult to get them interested the second time.

N. P. Nielsen (South Brazil Union, S. A.): I should like to ask this question, in order that we may understand just what is involved in Elder Haynes' suggestion. When we use the term "evangelism," do we mean public speaking, or do we mean soul winning? If we mean public speaking, in the usual sense of the term, and expect all departmental secretaries to have the ability to give public lectures and to draw and hold large audiences, then I can see how it would be difficult to get all our secretaries to co-operate. But if by "evangelism" we mean soul-winning endeavor, then I think we are all agreed that this should be the one aim in all our work, whether we are full-time evangelists in the broadest sense or whether we are conference presidents, secretaries of departments, or whatever we are. Now which is it? 

Does it mean soul winning in that sense, or does it mean holding public meetings?

C.B. Haynes: It means soul winning. I hope nobody will get the idea from what I said this morning that I felt that all our workers should leave everything else and engage in public evangelistic effort exclusively.

L. E. Froom: Elder Boothby has the floor. He will pardon me when I say, by way of introduction, that Brother Boothby has just completed a tabernacle effort where his attendance was about 4,000 and which resulted in the baptism of 122 persons.

R.L. Boothby (Kansas): I believe that the important thing, in getting the ear of the public, is first of all a real desire to get the ear of the public. If our expectations are small, and we are satisfied with an audience of 300 or 400 people, that is about all we shall reach. If we want a crowd, we will work for a crowd. A few years ago I conducted a series of meetings in a town having a population of about 6,000. We started in by fitting up a hall that would seat 1,000 people. The lumberman, from whom we obtained our lumber to make the seats, said, "You are exercising a lot of faith if you expect to fill this hall." But we had the hall packed to the doors. People will come where there is something to draw them; but unless we expect to do something, the people will not expect very much. They expect just about what we expect. If what we have to offer them does not make it worthwhile for us to put forth a tremendous effort, then they consider it is not worth very much to them.

When I go into a city or town to hold a series of meetings, I go in there with the feeling that I have the biggest thing that has ever struck that city, and I believe I have. When we went to the city of Wichita last October, we had a tabernacle seating about 4,000 people. I went in, confident of the fact that we had something that those people did not have. Mr. Billy Sunday came to Wichita to hold a two weeks' revival while we were there, and people said, "You will probably lose the crowd, and will have to close your meetings during that time." But our attendance kept up just the same.

Now the first thing that I do when I begin work in a city is to get in touch with the biggest man in the town. When we were in Topeka I got in touch with Senator Arthur Capper, and asked him to give the dedicatory address for our tabernacle. My asso­ciate workers did not believe that the Senator would do such a thing, and con­sidered it utterly useless to try. But I made an appointment, through his secretary, to see him, and when I made known my wants, the Senator said, "Where is your tabernacle?" I told him. And he said, "Yes, I will be glad to come out and give you a little talk." He did so, and because of that we gained a prestige in that city that resulted in filling the tabernacle to over­flowing, and enabled us to reach the very best class of people. At the end of the tabernacle campaign, one man gave us a check for $1,700 tithe, and an­other man gave $300. Later, when we were erecting our church building, a lady gave us a $700 diamond, which we sold for $400. I speak of this to show that we reached an influential class of people; and I think the best way to do that is to get in touch with men who have a standing in the city. In Wichita, the mayor of the city came to our tabernacle and delivered an address.

I was sent to the town of Eaton Rapids, Mich., to hold a series of meet­ings, but I found our church members in a very pessimistic mood. They said, "You will never be able to get a crowd. We have had two efforts started here, and they closed up before they were through, because the people would not attend the meetings." But we decided we would make another attempt, and rented the largest hall in the town, the Masonic Temple, and made use of the calliope. I have used the calliope with good results. I got a vision of the advantages of the calliope during an election campaign, when people were out campaigning on the streets, and playing jazz music on the calliope. That was the first I had thought along that line, and I said to my wife, If we can play sacred music on the calliope, we can make good use of it in our work for drawing the crowd. And so we tried it. We packed that building in Eaton Rapids, and I have used the calliope ever since. I attach large signs to the sides of the car, and drive up and down the streets, playing those good old sacred hymns such as "Take Time to Be Holy," "Nearer, My God, to Thee," "Abide With Me," "Blest Be the Tie That Binds."

I find that the calliope accomplishes two things: First of all, it is an ad­vertising method that never fails to reach the people, just as a brass band on the street always draws a crowd. The sound of the music causes people to come to the windows, to look out of the doors, in order to see what is happening. In the second place, the calliope music has an effect on the city at large which is similar to the effect of a song service on a congregation. The sound of those sacred hymns directs the attention of the entire city along religious lines, and that is the thing that we are anxious for and which we seek to accomplish by scat­tering our literature before the evan­gelistic effort begins. And so, in my experience, the calliope has proved to be a very effective means of adver­tising.

I believe that God wants us to cap­italize the inventions of this day for the finishing of His work. And I do not believe that just because the devil has made use of the moving picture machine, the calliope, and other inven­tions, we have to let him have the whole thing. I believe that we can turn these things to the finishing of God's work in the earth if we will put them to proper use in a dignified way.

Good music is one of the most effec­tive means of reaching the public to­day, and it is worth while to give due attention to it. In Wichita I visited a music store and asked the proprietor if he would furnish us two pianos free of charge. He said he did not believe they could do that, so we rented the pianos of him. He was present the opening night of the campaign, and at the close of the meeting he came to me and said, "I have had my eyes opened since I came in here. You come up to the store tomorrow. I believe we can do something for you in regard to those pianos." When I called at the store, he gave me a written authoriza­tion to use the pianos during the campaign, without any expense what­ever.

But in conclusion I would like to emphasize what I said in the begin­ning, and that is that if we expect to reach the public in a large way, we must lay our plans accordingly. And then, after we have advertised, and carried out well-laid plans, and have gained the attention of the people, let us not fail to give them the pure gos­pel, which is able to save their souls, and make them wise unto salvation.

E.D. Sharps (Idaho): I find that lectures on astronomy are effective in creating interest. We have in our con­ference a practical mechanic who has assisted us in operating an observatory in connection with our tent effort, and we have a telescope about twelve feet in length. Business men and members of commercial clubs can always be in­terested in viewing the mysteries of the heavens, and we make a special effort to inform them of our services. Our program for the first four weeks combines the use of the observatory of the heavens with the exposition of Bible truths, and always enables us to secure large audiences, and after that length of time, we have no diffi­culty in holding the interest.

We find the telescope a very effective medium in reaching the ear of the pub­lic, and I believe that this is a method that can be very appropriately em­ployed in evangelism. After featuring the telescope for a month, we give special prominence to the great world calendar movement, and find that we can thus hold our crowds during a three-month period, in a very satisfac­tory manner.

I believe in newspaper advertising, and also printed card announcements. I use a cut of the telescope, which helps to draw the people; and when we once get people to our meeting, we try our best to hold them through the entire series.

M. G. Conger (New Jersey) : I be­lieve in street car advertising and the use of large posters placed in front and in the rear of the street car. I have also used the theater ticket plan for printed invitations, and make use of newspaper advertising. I have used handbills, but prefer a handbill of the folder type, which is a little higher class than the ordinary commercial sheet. I aim to make all my advertis­ing attractive and forceful, and use cuts to quite an extent.

J. G. Mitchell (Florida) : In the South people do not read advertising so much in these days, and we do not have much money to spend in adver­tising. When we use printed hand­bills, we choose the kind which can be tied to doorknobs, for the people will tear them off, and cannot fail to notice the announcement. With per­sonal invitations to prepare the way, the newspaper is the best method we have ever found. In distributing the personal invitations, we depend upon the help of our church members. We assign to each church member a sec­tion of territory,—say twenty-five houses,—and we expect that person to become acquainted with each family in those twenty-five houses. When we pitch the tent, these twenty-five or more people are given a personal in­vitation to come to the meeting. From the very first I tell the people that we are Seventh-day Adventists, pass out our literature, and tell them that they are reading Seventh-day Adventist lit­erature. We have had no difficulty in always securing a full house. I believe that "according to your faith be it unto you;" and the larger your au­ditorium, the larger crowd you will get, if you ask the Lord to give it to you.

H. F. De Fluitter (Southern Califor­nia): I like that ringing note of Brother Mitchell's talk, about telling folks that we are Seventh-day Advent­ists. We should never be ashamed of what we represent. In the efforts with which I have been connected, the usual plan has been to advertise, a week or two in advance, that Seventh-day Ad­ventists are going to begin a series of meetings, and we have never failed to get a packed house every time.

I am interested in the various meth­ods for reaching the public that have been presented here, and I frankly con­fess that I am not strong for the hand­bills. In one effort we used handbills to a large extent, and they were dis­tributed by our faithful church mem­bers, but I am convinced that this method of advertising does not yield results commensurate to the expense involved. Printed announcements on advertising blotters are quite effective, because this is something that people make use of daily in their homes. But the blotter is more expensive than the handbill. We have seldom used win­dow cards, as that is an expensive prop­osition. At one time when we began work in a small town we got about a hundred cards printed, and placed them in windows in the business dis­trict, and they served to good ad­vantage

We recognize the value of securing influential backing, and usually suc­ceed in getting the mayor of the city to give a brief address at the opening of our meeting. It doesn't make any difference what he talks about. The fact that the mayor gives his personal recognition impresses the public with the importance of the meetings.

But I am still up in the air as to what is the most effective method of advertising. Much depends upon the size of the city and local conditions, but almost any method of advertising will bring the people the first night. It depends upon the man and his mes­sage as to whether or not they will come the second night.

C.C. Ellis (Southern California): I would say with Brother DeFluiter that we have not been able to settle down to any one method as the best. I think all methods ought to be used to fill your building to capacity. If you find your crowd becoming smaller, then try some other method. I be­lieve the main thing which should con­cern us is not so much how to get the people to come in the first place, for I have seldom seen the time when we could not arouse the curiosity of the people by some means, but the point I should like to have considered here is how to present the message in such a way as to keep the people coming every night, and how to lead them to become real Christians, as well as to become thoroughly indoctrinated. That is the big thing that we are facing night after night.

I find that in the Greek, the word "enthusiasm" is given as "God in a person," and I think that is the secret. If God can possess us in such a way that everybody can see that there is a mighty difference between this mes­sage and everything else that comes to them, I believe we shall have no trouble whatsoever in our advertising.

P.E. Brodersen (President, South­ern California) : I am in favor of any method of advertising which properly maintains the dignity which this mes­sage carries with it. There are several methods employed in our field which are to be commended. One is the method used by Brother H. M. S. Rich­ards and his company, of sending liter­ature and workers into the city three or four months in advance of the open­ing of the effort, informing the people that a tabernacle effort will be held there at such a time, and asking them to read a periodical which is sent out by the tabernacle company. Usually this is the Signs of the Times, and the workers secure all the way from five hundred to a thousand readers of the Signs. When the evengelistic effort begins, the people in the community know that it is conducted by Sev­enth-day Adventists, and many have become quite well acquainted with the message. I like that way very much.

Brother Philip Knox works along the plan of giving lectures on astronomy, in commercial clubs, high schools, and he is often invited to lecture in churches. Under this plan he does not announce at the start that he is a Seventh-day Adventist, but by building up a strong interest through his lectures on astron­omy he is able to hold the interest to quite an extent through a series of lectures on our doctrinal subjects.

G.R. West (Missouri): I would like to ask a question: When beginning an evangelist series, how many follow the plan of making known at the very beginning that you are Seventh-day Adventists?

(Chairman requested response by show of hands, which revealed that the opinion of those present was about evenly divided,—part in favor of and part for withholding until the meet­ings were well established.)

W. H. Hurlow(Africa): That is a matter which depends upon the cir­cumstances and the prejudices in the place where we are to work. In South Africa it would be just about suicidal for us to announce at the outset that we are Seventh-day Adventists. Plans are now being made for me to conduct an effort in the university headquarters city of the Dutch Reformed Church. That church brings out in its church paper, about every second week, an ar­ticle against the Sabbatarians. If I went into that town and told them that I was a Seventh-day Adventist, I would never get a hearing, a hall, or space for a tent. So there are circum­stances where we cannot tell the peo­ple what we are until at least we have a hearing. I believe that once we have a hearing and the people listen to the message, it becomes quite evident who we are, whether we tell them or not.

In our evangelistic work in Africa, we use about every method that has been mentioned. We use handbills very largely, but we try to use a high-class paper, and put our advertising out so that there is a very clear dis­tinction between our handbills and handbills put out by the dry goods stores. We advertise in the street cars quite largely, use the newspapers, and about every method that has been suggested. I do not know just what method has brought the greatest re­sult. I have never attempted to find that out, but I think it would be a good thing to make a survey to find out.

S. E. Wight (President, West Michi­gan) : I think, my dear brethren, that this question of getting the attention of the public is quite simple. I believe in the methods that have been spoken of here. But the secret of success lies in the men back of the effort,—in their ability to hold and develop the inter­est. I am convinced that we ought to put forth great effort to train men to hold congregations. It can be done. First, the man must have the vision, as has been stated; then he must be educated to believe that he can reach the masses. There is need of study­ing the best methods of getting at the people in a public way, but I am in­clined to think we should not put all the emphasis on that, but that our young men, at least, should be edu­cated to hold the attention of the larger congregations. There comes to my mind the experience of a young man in the West Michigan Conference. We looked around for some time for a man to put into a certain city where we greatly desired to see the message proclaimed with power. This was a city which Sister White had often visited in the early days of our work, and where one of our oldest churches in the denomination had been estab­lished. But many changes had oc­curred during the years, the church membership had become scattered, the church building was neglected and in a run-down condition, and although it stood right in the heart of the city, it was about to be abandoned and sold for a small sum. Repeated attempts to conduct evangelistic efforts had failed, and it was considered a very unprom­ising field.

But we found a young man who we thought should go there, and he went. When this young man got there, he persuaded our people not to sell the " church, and he immediately went to work fixing it up, and then he began a series of meetings; and with the help of his Bible workers, and the help which he secured from the church members, widespread interest was aroused, and there was a good attend­ance at the meetings. We now have a thriving church in that city, all due to the fact that a man of God went in there with a vision, and rallied his forces for conquering a most difficult situation. They didn't have a lot of money, they did not have great facili­ties, but they did the work.