The type of building or place in which a series of meetings is to be held should not be selected in a hurry. There are many factors which enter into the selection, and these may call for a different type of building in each city.
We might well ask, What is available? Can a suitable theater building be found and secured for a reasonable sum? Can a respectable hall be secured? Can a desirable lot be obtained for a tabernacle or tent or airdome? Are there any unused church buildings which are suitably located? All these types of meeting places can be used to good advantage under favorable conditions.
Before any move is made to secure one of these places for a series of meetings, it is wise for the conference president and the evangelist to look over the situation carefully and make a decision together. Let us consider each of several types of meeting places.
I. Modern Tabernacles. AS One who has used the modern streamlined tabernacle from the time when it was first introduced in the North Pacific Union Conference six years ago,
I would say that this type of structure is a fine place for an evangelist to hold his services and has many advantages over the old double-shed type. By a little foresight, the streamlined tabernacle can be made neat, clean, attractive, and at the same time very serviceable and convenient, with baptistry, choir loft, and room for the caretaker. When once the building is constructed, with very little additional cost it can be used as often as seems best and for as long a time as is wise. If of the portable type, it can also be moved from place to place at reasonable expense.
My own experience has proved that the number of souls won was most encouraging when held in the tabernacle. Never have I had to close a tabernacle meeting for lack of interest or bring the effort to a close without having given the city a good idea of what we believe as a people.
2. Representative Halls. I have been deeply humiliated as I have visited some of the places where our workers have attempted to hold a series of meetings. If they were not up some rickety outside stairs to a back upper room, they were down some cement stairs to an underground shelter.
Only recently a sister remarked to me when I was repairing some extra chairs for the services to be held in the church, "You are working as if you expected a lot of people out to your meeting." Then pointing to two small rooms about 9 by two feet she said, "When the last meetings were held in this city, there were no more out than could be seated in those two rooms." I asked her where the meetings were held and how large a place was provided for the services. She replied, "Well, there is an old building downtown, the oldest in town, seventy-five years old, and a little room was used in this building, which would hold about thirty people." I found out that we had held two series there at different times. When I tried to rent a good, respectable hall, I was told I should use this old building as it was the place where Seventh-day Adventists held their services. In "Historical Sketches" we read some timely advice:
"I am convinced that we might have had a good hearing if our brethren had secured a suitable hall to accommodate the people. But they did not expect much, and therefore did not receive much. We cannot expect people to come out to hear unpopular truth when the meetings are advertised to be held in a basement, or in a small hall that will seat only a hundred persons. The character and importance of our work are judged by the efforts made to bring it before the public. When these efforts are so limited, the impression is given that the message we present is not worthy of notice. Thus by their lack of faith our laborers sometimes make the work very hard for themselves."—Page 200.
3. Tent Limitations. We read in Volume I of the "Testimonies :" "It would be better, and accomplish more good, if there were fewer tent meetings, and a stronger force, or company, with different gifts to labor."—Page 148. When tents are to be used, let us be sure that we have a tent master who is responsible for the tent and can see that someone is always available to look after it in case of storm. More than one good tent has gone down in a storm and caused both financial and spiritual loss to the effort. A tent should be properly located and where possible should have an attractive board front which gives it the appearance of a building.
4. Airdome Opportunities. I have never personally used the airdome, but I have seen many attractive ones used in Texas and believe that we can make good use of them. Let us keep up with the changes and use any improvement which may be brought to our attention. The open-air moving-picture theater draws large crowds in the South.
5. Theater Advantages. I believe that what has been said about the large halls in our cities applies also to theater buildings. People will readily come to theaters, for they are very advantageously located. Theater men pay thousands of dollars extra a year for a certain preference as against another, even though the two buildings may be only a block or two apart. They know the importance of a strategic location. Usually the price is almost prohibitive, but when theaters are available, I believe we should use them.
I recall an experience which shows that we can expect help from the Lord in financing our efforts. The place under consideration was a very beautiful high-school auditorium which seated over sixteen hundred people. The regular price was $6o a night. By careful, tactful work on the part of the conference president and the local pastor, the building was secured for $15 a night. The only disadvantage was that we could not have the building every night, but only at odd intervals. Although this proved to be a great loss to the effort, the fact that we had the building for the first week enabled us to get our work before a large, representative class of people and to secure the names of nearly four hundred persons to whom we sent a full sefies of papers.
6. Church Buildings. Under this heading let us consider both churches of other denominations and our own churches.
I have held series of meetings with good success in churches of other denominations. In one college town of three thousand a large church had been unoccupied for some time. We secured the use of this church, and put out our advertising. For the opening night 480 people were in attendance. The following day I was informed by the chairman of the church board, who was also the mayor of the city, that I would have to state in my advertisements that the meetings were being held by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, because many of their members were attending, thinking the services were being held by the Christian Church. I told the mayor that I would see to it that the people were no longer misinformed; so on the next announcement I stated, "These services are not sponsored by the Christian Church."
The crowds still kept coming, and many did not yet know what church we represented. The mayor again called me into his office and told me that I had to come right out and tell the people what denomination we represented. But before I called on him, I saw to it that the new weekly announcements were already on the way to the printer. I so informed him. By the next week the Sabbath question was presented, and no more was said. We were successful in our efforts in this church, and a goodly company of believers was raised up. After the effort a new brick church was erected on a main street in this city.
On another occasion I used a church to good advantage. This church was being used only once a week on Sunday evenings from seven-thirty to eight-thirty. We made arrangements to begin a service Sunday evening, after the other minister had dismissed his congregation. On our announcements we set the time for the service to begin at eight-thirty. We attended the other minister's service at seven-thirty. As the service continued, the people kept coming in until, when it came time to dismiss, the church was packed. Promptly at eight-thirty the minister pronounced the benediction, without making one reference to our meeting to follow, and announced that the service was ended. He immediately left, but before anyone else could leave, my song leader and I were on the platform. A word of welcome was spoken, assuring the audience that we were ready to begin our services ; the opening song was announced; and the singing began before some knew what was happening. It certainly pays to give heed to the admonition given through the Spirit of prophecy—that if we have any slow habits, we should break them.
At the end of seven weeks of services in this church, we were asked to move out, but not before we had baptized nearly twenty. Since our work was not yet finished, we erected a tent. Although it was in the early spring and two inches of snow fell the Sunday night we opened our services, a good crowd was in attendance. Nearly twenty more were baptized following this tent effort, and a new brick church was erected to accommodate the new members who united with us as a result of this work started in an outside church.
In this same city I later held another series in our new church building, which was located in the center of the town. I started these meetings on a Saturday night, and Sunday evening I presented the Sabbath question. It is obvious to all that we can use an entirely different set of subjects when speaking in our own church. Ordinarily I would not have presented the Sabbath question so soon, but I was away from my own district and did not wish to spend more than a month with the church. The Lord blessed in these services in our own church building, and twenty-eight more persons were added to the church as a result of these meetings. Some of these were those who had attended the first series held in the outside church two years before.
A successful series of meetings can often be held in our own church buildings, but if possible, we should first work the city in a large hall, theater, tabernacle, or tent. The church makes a good place for the pastor to follow up an effort with Sunday night meetings.
In summing up, I would say that under varying circumstances, services can be held in many different places to advantage. If the meeting is to bring in our own young people and others who are already somewhat interested, then a short effort in our church will do, although I have yet to see it disproved that an effort for the public will not reach as many of our own people as can be reached when the work is especially for them. I have always baptized a number of children from Adventist parents, and others whom the church has worked for, when I have held an effort for the whole city. In fact, these are the ones who make it possible for the evangelist to hold his first baptism early and thus help others who are contemplating the step, to make their decision. It also ties the local church to the evangelistic effort in a stronger way as they see new members coming in from the very first.
