We as leaders must not be content with making fishing tackle or pointing the way to the fishing banks, we must ourselves be actual fishers of men. I feel that my own soul must have constant, personal touch with needy souls. I cannot be a mere machine, grinding out minutes, writing articles, attending committee meetings, searching for appointees, arranging for furloughs, and doing a hundred and one things that a General Conference secretary must do, however necessary these all may be. I must keep my mind freshly alive to the warfare that is going on in human hearts all about me.
I desire to appeal to the workers of the advent movement to be examples in personal evangelism. The deadly canker of formalism, professionalism, and love of office ever seeks to attack the very vitals of our movement. And unless there is a revival of true godliness among ministers and people, a new and consecrated zeal for the salvation of souls which will grip the lives of all our workers, we shall not be able to stay the outward drift of our dear young people incident to these times. Neither shall we able to curb the lurking apostasy that seeks to prey upon many of the adults in our ranks. The need constitutes a constraining call to cultivate the personal touch.
Washington, D. C.