I believe that we are entering upon a time when in many cases we shall need to hold double sessions in our evangelistic services in order that all the interested may have opportunity to hear God's great message for this hour. It is surely a thrilling sight to a herald of this message to see hundreds passing out from the first session, while other hundreds are coming into the hall to hear the same discourse at the second session.
One of the first steps in arranging for such a double session is to be prepared on the first Sunday night to state that you see a hundred or more people cannot find seats in the hall, and you regret that many could not obtain a seat; but in order that all may be assured of a seat the next Sunday night you will conduct a double session; the first session will be held from seven to eight, and the second session from eight to nine; that on Thursday and Friday nights of the current week, reserved seat tickets will be given out at each session, so that each person may on these nights receive a ticket for a seat at whichever session he prefers to attend. Also that there will be some unreserved seats for those who may not have tickets.
Then the next step is to get the regular weeknight hearers to co-operate with you in accept ing tickets for the first session. This they will gladly do in order to give the general public a chance to hear your message at the later hour in the second session. The reserved seat tickets for the first session will thus be quickly taken by your regular week-night hearers, and so will assure you a good audience for the first session.
Then the reserved seat tickets for the second session can be given out to those who prefer to attend the second session, and these, together with the transient public that will come to the second session at the regular hour, will give you a good audience for the later session.
This is one of the best publicity features that can be introduced into your meeting. The news spreads all over the town that so many people want to hear the subjects presented at your hall that two sessions on the same subject are necessary on Sunday nights. This will stir others to attend, for people are somewhat like a flock of sheep when once they get started. A crowd always gathers to itself.
The psychological effect of this double session on your hearers has a decided advantage. The thought comes home to them that here is something well worth the hearing; that it must be something important, in view of the fact that such an arrangement must be made in order that they may hear it.
The paragraph which follows is taken from the regular weekly announcement card, and so informs the audience throughout the week of the proposed plan for the double meeting on the following Sunday night:
"On account of the fact that many could not get a seat in the auditorium last Sunday night we will hold two sessions this Sunday night, so that all may have seats. Doors open first session 6:30 P. M. Doors closed 7:10 P. M. Doors open second session 7:55 P. M. If you come to the first session, be there by 7:05 P. M. If you come to second session, you need not come till 7:55 P. M."
If your hall seats five hundred, you can well give out three hundred reserved seat tickets for each session. This number, with the extra hearers who will come without a ticket, will provide you with a good audience at each session.
The tickets to each session should be printed in different colors—such as green for one and red for the other, or yellow and blue—so that the ushers can tell at a glance for which session the ticket is intended. Here is the type of ticket I use:
(See PDF)
The tickets for the second session read just as those for the first except that they say "second session," and the change in the time when the doors will be opened for this second session is noted, together with the time after which this later ticket will not be valid for a reserved seat.
When the time stated on the ticket arrives, after which the tickets are no longer good for a reserved seat, then the one leading the song service announces that reserved seat tickets are no longer valid, and that any seats in the reserved section now vacant may be taken by those standing or by those sitting in the back of the hall.
Raleigh, N. C.
*The plan of giving the same subject twice in the same evening because of the crowds, with admission by ticket, is a feature in evangelism worthy of detailed description, including the phrasing on the tickets. This recital, that will grip the heart of every evangelist, deals with a series of meetings now in progress. Writing on November 17, Elder Shuler says:
"Here in perhaps the most conservative city of the South the message is being sounded for the first time, and wonderful is the response. The auditorium is filled every night, with scarcely any variation in the attendance. On November 10 after a sermon on the 'Mark of the Beast,' 110 persons came forward to signify that from then on they would observe the blessed Sabbath of Jesus. Fifty-five is the largest number I have ever had respond to a similar call in other efforts. There were at least 15 absent that night who have begun to keep the Sabbath in this effort. It is safe to say that already 125 new Sabbath keepers have been called out. Our Sabbath school—only two weeks old—numbers 150. We hope to see the school grow to 200 in two more weeks.
"Our donations will exceed $530 for the first nine weeks, and we will be able to cover all expenses of rent, advertising, etc., without using one penny of conference operating funds. The prospects are that we shall establish the largest church in the Carolina Conference, and the largest church ever brought out in a single effort held in the South. Surely this is a latter rain experience. We expect that this new church will supply the Mission Board with over $1,000 every year from 1933 till the Lord comes. If we had a thousand men doing this kind of work, we could stir this entire country."—Editors.
