There are no trifling matters in the great work of soul-winning evangelism. As Michelangelo has said: -Trifles make perfection, but perfection is no trifle." Every detail in connection with an effort is important. The ushering, seating, lighting, and heating of the building, the music, platform arrangement, and all similar matters, should be given careful attention. Small details are easily overlooked, but these sometimes make all the difference between failure and success. If the building is not open and lighted in ample time, if hymnbooks are not to be found, if the taking of the offering is bungled, if the heating is not satisfactory, it causes confusion and inefficiency. But if everything has been properly organized beforehand, the plans will operate like a piece of perfect machinery.
Hall Arrangements for an Effort
1. Lighting. Be sure that the hall or tent is well enough lighted so that hymnbooks and Bibles with small type may be read. Have a stronger-light shining on the speaker's face, so that the audience is influenced by his facial expression as well as his words. Avoid lights behind the speaker, as they annoy the congregation. During daylight meetings, be careful never to have light coming in from a window behind you when speaking, for the congregation is dazzled by the light, and you appear to them like a silhouette.
2. Heating. Make sure that the hall is warm enough, and yet not overheated. It is very hard to get a man converted to the truth who literally has "cold feet." On the other hand, it is just as difficult to convert him if an overheated hall puts him to sleep. Look out for drafts, for the people will not come if they are afraid of catching cold. Note on which side of the building the wind is blowing, and see that the windows are closed on that side, and open on the other side.
3. Seating. The rows of chairs should not be too long. It is a good rule never to have anyone sitting more than six seats from an aisle. This helps the ushers in getting people seated, avoids too much disturbance from late-corners, and is a protection in case of emergency, such as a fire. When altar calls are made, this will enal-le the people to move to the front without difficulty.
4. Platform. The platform should be high enough to afford the speaker a view of the whole audience. Avoid the tendency to lean or lounge over the desk while speaking.
5. Music. Be sure that the piano is well tuned. The piano should be so placed that the pianist can see the song leader, and thus regulate the tempo at which he wishes the hymns or choruses to be sung.
6. Acoustics. Try to discover the peculiar acoustics of the hall. Sometimes you are told that a place is very bad for hearing, and are urged to speak loudly, when as a matter of fact, the place is really too resonant, having too much of an echo. In such a case, it is not loudness, but slowness, with clear and careful articulation, that is needed, with special care regarding your consonants. You will often find that a high-ceilinged hall has very good acoustics for music, bbut not for speaking. The acoustic properties magnify all the pure vowel sounds in such a building, but not a word is uncierstobd unless the people hear your consonants. If you speak slowly, sounding your consonants and enunciating the ends as well as the beginnings of your words, keeping much the same volume of sound on every syllable, then every word is heard distinctly and without any effort.
Order in Public Services
1. The Program. After deciding on your subject for the evening's address, it is time to carefully prepare your program for the whole evening. The utmost care is needed here. Many, services are ineffective because there is no cohesion of the various items. Hymns and choruses are chosen at random, and the whole thing is a hotchpotch instead of a mosaic. It may be permissible in a half-hour's preliminary song service to have some variety of songs, but the main service should be all of one piece.
Aim, therefore, at sequence. Let every item have its place in a consecutive and cumulative mental process, all leading up by stages to your closing appeal and the act of decision. Choose your hymns and solos yourself. Select your Scripture lesson to fit your message, and keep it as brief as possible. In general terms, so far as possible, let the hymns state the theme of the evening. Thus the one theme is dwelt upon throughout the service. There should be nothing irrelevant or out of place, and each item should contribute to the sum total of the impression created. Thus there is movement and progression of thought.
2. Preliminaries. By the preliminaries, I mean the conduct of the whole service, up to the address. Make this first part very informal, so that the people feel at home. With a small congregation, choose hymns or choruses that are well known or easily learned. It is generally easier to get the chorus going first, and then the stanzas can be learned. The pianist should be absolutely one with the song leader, not taking a long period to find a hymn, but playing a few bars instantly after it is announced.
3. Opening Prayer. Many a meeting is almost killed by the length and prosiness of the prayer. If it is too wordy, too theological, or too long, it means nothing to the man in the street, and has the effect of making it harder for the speaker to find his point of contact with the congregation. The aim of the prayer should be to create a sense of God's presence, to solemnize and bring the people to have some sense of the need of God. Let the one who prays be brief, and keep very closely to the immediate spiritual needs of those present.
4. Announcements. The announcements are usually far too long. Who is not guilty in this respect ? Yet they need to be clear and complete. It is best to have them written out, so that the vital things are not forgotten, and this also discourages sermonizing.
People today are used to the lively, never-adull-moment style of the radio program. We must grip and interest and attract the people if they are to be brought under the influence of the third angel's message, and soundly won for the truth.