The Story of an Institutional Evangelistic Effort

The men and women who make up an institutional force are trained to prompt, efficient service. This was evi­dent as our organization swung into shape in the early autumn, and the steering committee, together with the committees on distribution of litera­ture, ushering, music, art, newspaper write-ups, ads. and handbills, platform arrangement, transportation, and Bible readings and visiting, got under way. No detail was left unplanned for.

It was decided to hold our effort in Alexandria, a conservative old/Virginia city just across the Potomac from Washington, D. C. For six weeks pre­ceding its beginning 3,000 copies of Present Truth were mailed to a se­lected list of names chosen from the telephone directory. On the sixth Sab­bath afternoon the office family turned out almost en masse, and working in band formation, rang every doorbell in the city. Thus the people were given personally an attractively ar­ranged handbill and a cordial, friendly invitation to attend "the Bible Chau­tauqua, opening at Elks' Hal] tomor­row night." Newspaper notices also appeared in the local Saturday issues, thus spreading the announcement to the farm and village homes over all the countryside.

For eight weeks these meetings were held four nights a week—Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Special music and chalk talks were fre­quently featured, and a special effort was made to choose subjects of wide general interest for Sunday evenings. It was a long pull, but not once did the efficient organization fail to func­tion properly and on time. Each indi­vidual responsible was in his appointed place on the specified minute of the specified night.

As the interest grew, we invited our friends and neighbors of the Washing­ton Sanitarium and Hospital to share our joy of service. The general public is interested in such things as food, high blood pressure, and nerves. Doc­tors and nurses of the staff gave lec­tures and demonstrations which were much appreciated, and greatly assisted in drawing and holding our audiences.

The eight weeks of intensive lec­tures were followed by four weeks when lectures were held only on Satur­day and Sunday nights. Each Sabbath afternoon for these twelve weeks, every doorbell in the city of Alexan­dria was rung, and a personal invita­tion to the lecture was given, accom­panied by a handbill and a copy of Present Truth. At the close of this series we continued Sunday evening services for eight weeks more, complet­ing an effort of twenty weeks. All ex­penses connected therewith were care­fully budgeted, and we closed without deficit. Our Review and Herald treas­urer dispersed the funds, and held the purse strings very efficiently.

What were the results? Fifteen new believers and six of our own church youth were baptized in two baptismal services. The small Alexandria church of thirty-seven members was thus^, strengthened by twenty-one additions. In the twelve months immediately fol­lowing the beginning of this evangelis­tic effort, the tithe of this church in­creased 50, per cent over the twelve months immediately preceding the ef­fort. This good record is continuing, and their sixty cents a week and Sab­bath school offerings are going well "over the top." At this writing a sub­stantial little church building, costing $5,000, is just being completed in Alex­andria.

Did this Review and Herald evan­gelistic effort pay? Put to our office family when late summer rolled around in 1931, the answer was unani­mous: "Yes, a thousand times, YES!" So once more we planned; once more our board and the Potomac Conference pledged their co-operation; and once more, as employees, we gave, in cash and service, even mere than  the–year before.

Our second effort was held in Hyatts­ville, Maryland, a suburban town within ten minutes of Takoma Park by automobile. The same committees once more swung into action, and the same efficient service that contributed so largely to the success of the Alex­andria effort was cheerfully given over approximately the same period of time.

There was, however, this added fea­ture: In Alexandria a small church already existed as a nucleus around which to work. In Hyattsville there was no organization of any sort, and only a few Seventh-day Adventist families. Therefore, the first of Jan­uary, 1932, some thirty of our office force led the way, and joined by oth­ers from surrounding churches, formed a Hyattsville company of forty-two members. The church services were held in the same Masonic Hall where the Bible Chautauqua had been fea­tured, and those interested, especially those receiving Bible studies, were in­vited to attend. Subsidized by only the small sum of $35 from our other effort funds, this company has from the first been entirely self-supporting. Their tithe, Sabbath school, and mis­sion offerings have increased surpris­ingly as new believers have become more and more firmly grounded in the Bible truths of the third angel's mes­sage. So on. the first Sabbath in May the Hyattsville (Seventh-day Adventist church was organized, with forty-seven charter members.

On Sabbath, May 25, twelve persons —the first fruits of this second Review and Herald evangelistic effort—re­ceived baptism. A number of other interested persons are faithfully at­tending Sabbath services and studying with the Bible worker and her assist­ants, and another baptism will take place soon.

Not only has the light of present truth thus been brought to many per­sons hitherto unreached, but our own souls have been blessed. It is planned to hold a third effort in the early au­tumn this year.