For years I was a confirmed believer in the five-nights-a-week plan for evangelistic campaigns. I had strong convictions that success could not be assured in any other way than by five nights a week for thirteen weeks or more. In the last year or so, however, we have seen revolutions in many fields, and it seems we must be able to adjust our methods to the times in which we live.
Because of gas and tire rationing and the overburdened transportation facilities in the city of Pittsburgh, we decided we would try three nights a week. We chose Sunday, Tuesday, and Friday nights, with a meeting on Sabbath afternoons during the latter part of the series. The result was worthwhile and gratifying. The audience was larger and the people happier.
We had been concerned, too, with the financial difference in returns between the threenights-a-week plan in contrast with five or six services a week, as it costs about the same for advertising and yet there are not as many offerings to be received. But over a seventeen-week period $2,500 was received in offerings, and book sales amounted to nearly $500. This took care of our needs acceptably.
At the present time we are starting a third campaign in this city. The people were questioned about what they desired—the concentrated five-nights-a-week program or the longer three-nights-a-week plan. The latter plan was overwhelmingly favored, as folks seemed to feel they could not attend every night, no matter how much they might desire to, and with the fewer nights they could support every meeting. Thus for the present at least, we are endeavoring to concentrate on three nights a week over a longer period of time.
The five-nights-a-week plan of evangelism may still be workable in smaller cities, and can still be followed where possible. But we feel that the three-nights-a-week plan is more feasible in large cities where there are long distances to travel.
