The importance of the statement, "The Lord has appointed the youth to be His helping hand" (Testimonies, vol. 7, p. 64), was demonstrated last summer in Burlington, Iowa. A youth-centered evangelistic campaign was sponsored by the Iowa Conference in this city of forty thousand during June, July, and August.
W. R. Holley, conference evangelist; Paul Fenno, song leader from Union College; Albert Weikum, ministerial intern; Raymond Beggs, and Marvin Stigge, youthful laymen of the local church; the local pastor; and the wives of these workers constituted the evangelistic company. The beautiful auditorium of the Oak Street Junior High School, overlooking the broad expanse of the Mississippi River, was secured for the forty nights of the campaign.
Newspaper advertisements, handbills, radio announcements, and the use of a mailing list of all senior and junior high school and college students in Burlington heralded the Youth Crusade. Many young married couples and other youth of our Burlington church worked faithfully throughout the campaign in the scores of routine tasks peculiar to a. city-wide effort.
One month before the opening night of the lecture series Elder Holley launched a radio program dedicated to the inspiration of young people. This half hour Sunday morning radio program was called the Voice of Truth, and featured an excellent male quartet developed by our song leader. To illustrate how this youth radio program was received, we cite a donation of one hundred dollars from a listener who was a total stranger to us. The station manager confided that the Voice of Truth was the finest religious program originating in his studio.
The interest created by the radio program enhanced the value of the radio announcements when the public meetings began. Though we had aimed to reach and attract young people primarily, we were happily surprised to witness that all age groups were about evenly represented in the auditorium throughout the campaign. The converts were also about evenly divided between young people and middle-aged folks. We were thus moved to conclude that a youth-centered evangelistic campaign will attract not only young people but those of more advanced age as well. We baptized one woman, seventy-three years old, who gave as her reason for first attending the Bible lectures : "I enjoy attending young people's meetings."
Perhaps two experiences will suffice to express the spirit of the campaign. One young woman braved bitter opposition from relatives to take her stand with this God-inspired movement. Two weeks after her baptism she enrolled at Union College to train for service as a Bible instructor.
A young man, whose height of six feet four inches made him stand out in the crowd, showed marked interest. When he left the city on an extended trip before the meetings had entered the last half of the series, we feared that his zeal would wane. But two months after the close of the public meetings he appeared at our church on the Sabbath and stated that he had begun keeping the Sabbath. Though strong and steady opposition from relatives and associates severely tried his faith,' he remained faithful to the Scriptures. He was dismissed from his job after refusing to report for work on the Sabbath. He soon secured suitable employment with complete freedom to keep the Sabbath, and to the time of this writing, he has been in attendance at Sabbath school and , church services for three months, though he has not yet received the rite of baptism.
Surely we need more of "God's helping hands" in all our churches. If we work for youth, the older ones will not be neglected; but I fear if evangelism is not youth centered, young people certainly will not be attracted.
