Getting the Ear of the Public

I believe it is in God's order for our min­isters to advertise. We are living in an advertising age, when nearly everything is advertised. Everywhere we look, we see ad­vertising on large signs along the highways and on the streets. If there is one technical matter above another that the Seventh-day Ad­ventist evangelist needs to study, it is effective advertising, not cheap advertising. We should advertise, and advertise well. Our advertising should be so arrestive that even those who rush by in haste must read it. In order to make it so, we must put much into a little. Just one or two penetrating facts, stated in a few words, are essential in getting attention.

Although advertising should be strongly ar­resting, it should also be true. And it should be of such a nature as to call attention to the mes­sage, not to the messenger. It grieves me when I see advertising something like this: "So-and-­So, Nationally Known Lecturer," or "So-and-So, a Lively, Interesting Speaker." • A Seventh-day Adventist preacher has no right to be "lively" in that way. If you have God's truth, you should, of course, be interesting. And anybody can be a lively speaker. But I tell you, friends, the man of God must be more than an interest­ing and lively speaker. Rather, he must be a powerful preacher of the Word, "a man with a message."

I have found the use of posters very effective. I am speaking of large billboard posters. You have to pay for space like that, and you will haze .1.43 study how to use it most advantageously. Otherwise you will only waste your money; and we must learn how to conserve the Lord's money. I use a poster ten feet in depth, and eighteen feet or more in length. Such a poster will attract attention. I think it is wise to have only one such poster in a town, but it should be placed in a position where it is not surrounded by other advertisements which de­tract from its dignity. Better have a poor poster and have it in the right place, than to have a large, attractive poster in the wrong setting.

Another thing I have found very helpful—but you cannot do it until perhaps the second week or later—is this: Have smaller posters or window cards printed, and ask the people in the congregation to take them and put them in their front-room windows. As people pass along, they almost always look at the windows, and the posters attract their attention. I find this a profitable and inexpensive method of advertising.

Then, too, I would have posters that can be placed on the streetcars. Another effective means of displaying a poster is to place one upon a frame twelve to fifteen feet long to be exhibited from a moving autotruck. Also, a push cart, with signs attached to either side, meeting at the top and practically hiding the man who propels it, is a method that can be used to advantage. The expense involved is not much, and it certainly attracts the attention of the people.

The first words of an advertisement are the most important. I think we ought to have a good quality of paper and ink, and we ought to have good cuts. Anything cheap and crude is out of date in advertising. If I use a handbill, I want it to be of such a size that it may be used unfolded. When people pick up a circular and find it folded right across the cut showing the face of the speaker, the first impression is not good. At one time I used the phrase, "Christ and the Crisis" as the first words of my advertisement, and employed it to good advantage. Everybody knew there was a crisis on at that time. I feel that we ought to have the word "Christ" or its equivalent, in the fore­ground of our advertising. Everybody is look­ing for a crisis to come in world affairs, and Seventh-day Adventists know the meaning of the crisis and have the responsibility of making that meaning known. Everything, therefore, in our methods and in our lives should be main­tained on the highest and best order.

2. The Open "Airdome"

R. S. Fries (Evangelist, Denver, Colorado): Some years ago, while conducting a tent effort in Berkeley, California, I converted the tent into what was known as an open "airdome" [wrongly called drome], where the people came and sat in the open. We left the walls of the tent in place, and made an attractive entrance. People enjoy sitting out in the open air on a warm Sunday night, and the plan became popu­lar. There is one disadvantage, though, and that is that you are subject to weather condi­tions. But there are several advantages to an open-air arrangement of this sort. One is.that you can secure a location in the center of town, where the fire regulations will not permit a tent to be erected. Sometimes a vacant lot can be secured between two good buildings, and this is an ideal location. Wherever the people are, there is where you ought to be.

L. E. NIER,MEYER (Evangelist. Salem, Oregon):

I, too, have found the open-air meeting very effective. When I first went to Indianapolis, I was asked to locate in a section of the city where we could not secure a hall or a theater.

We selected a desirable lot in that district, just around the corner from a theater. I took the side wall of our large camp meeting pavilion and arranged for a rectangular enclosure. In the rear of this we built a platform. We cov­ered it on three sides and the top with flies from family tents, and left the front open. It was similar to the pavilions we see in pictures of African camp meetings.

In this enclosure we placed the pulpit, chairs, and piano. Later we arranged it so that we could drop a fly from a large family tent over the door in the daytime, thus completely en­closing it and making it waterproof. I took other flies from family tents and arranged them so as to cover several rows of chairs. Thus, in case it rained, the chairs would not get wet, and we did not have to take them in every night.

The best plan is to arrange the lights so high or so far out that the mosquitoes will not bother. The "air dome" is something new. People have never seen anything like it, and they really enjoy sitting out in the fresh air. One disadvantage is that there is no place to hold meetings in the daytime.

3. Six Points in Securing Interest

R. L. BOOTHBY (Evangelist, Pittsburgh, Penn­sylvania) : I wish to present six points which I believe are fundamental in obtaining an in­terest in an evangelistic meeting:

1. Expect to do something.

2. Secure a proper location.

3. Have someone of prominence introduce you the opening night.

4. Make the sermon details attractive.

5. Secure names of interested people by offer­ing free copies of sermons and lectures.

6. Convert the heart, and you will have an interest.

In my experience it has never been much of a problem to secure an interest. The problem has been how to handle that interest—how to take care of the interest with the facilities at hand.

Expect to do something. If you are going to have an interest, you must expect to do some­thing. It was John Knox who said, "0 Lord, give me Scotland, or I die." I believe that we as evangelists ought to go into these cities and towns with the same determination to win that town or city for God. If we have that intense passion to win souls to God, I am sure the Lord will give us the interested people. At one time in a town of six thousand people we made preparation to take care of an audience of a thousand. When we went to a lumber company to secure lumber for the seats, we stated how much we would need, and the man said, "It must take a great deal of faith to expect an audience like that in a town of this size." But during the entire campaign the place was filled, and people stood up at the sides and in the back. The Master said, "According to your faith be it unto you." There is a difference between faith and presumption. God wants us to have a vision and really to do something. And I believe that God will help us to do that something when we have the vision.

The conference said they could not furnish the money for the campaign, and they left it for the church to work out. We called the church members together, and the brethren said they wanted to have a campaign. I said, "Well, we will hold a campaign on certain conditions. We will have a committee of five to handle the offerings, and I will counsel with them before any money is spent, and place plans before them from time to time in order that there may be full understanding." As a result, we finished the effort with $50 in the treasury, and a good harvest of souls added to the church. The Lord helped us to secure a free location in the heart of the town, and lumber was obtained for a small rental fee. We were in the midst of a coal-mining district, and our coal was donated.

I try to get the mayor to introduce me on the opening night. In San Francisco, the mayor sent a representative to introduce me; and that man became interested in the campaign and proved to be a great help to us. In Topeka, Kansas, we had the mayor give the speech of welcome on the opening night. If you can get some one of influence to introduce you and give you a welcome, it makes the people feel that there is something worthwhile in store, and this attracts them.

4. Forty-Corner Campaign

1. M. HEALD (District Leader, Greater New York Conference): In New York City we car­ried on what was known as the "forty-corner campaign," in which brief ten-minute gospel meetings were held on regular nights at forty corners. On a platform which was built on an automobile, we ran a brief film on a little screen. We had good music and brief ad­dresses, and then the workers scattered through the crowd and secured names and addresses of people who were interested. These names were followed up by personal visits or literature. This has proved to be a very good method of securing interests.

5. Press and Radio

1. J. COON (Evangelist, Los Angeles, Cali­fornia): There are many ways of advertising that contribute to the success of evangelism. Announcements in the daily papers are valuable just preceding an effort. Make friends with the editors, and get in some short state­ments as news editorials. A well-worded an­nouncement, coming over the radio for several successive nights, helps greatly. The advertis­ing should be conducted in such a way that it does not answer the questions that we are try­ing to arouse in the minds of the people. In­stead of satisfying interest, it should create interest. If in our advertising we answer every question a man may ask, he will conclude there is no need to hear the sermon.