The television personnel smile at our gimmicks, as they call them. We have them— visual aids or object lessons for the eye and ear. For example, a set of stairs—which we label "CONVICTION," "CONTRITION," "CONFESSION," "CONVERSION," "ADOPTION"—is displayed, one label added to each consecutive step weekly. Building blocks are mortared together and labeled, "WORD OF GOD," "FAITH IN GOD," "COMMUNION WITH GOD," "OBEDIENCE TO GOD," and on top of them all we place a cross. Or perhaps it will be a cup and saucer representing the heart, waiting to be filled with the "breakfast drink" of God's Holy Word, enriched with the cream of faith and sweetened with prayer. A row of Bibles may be before us on the desk. We discover the cross of Christ in Old Testament prophecy, and stand a cross on top of each Bible as we read from one Old Testament prophet after another. An artist has the texts printed on the easel and one by one forms the outline of a cross around each reference as we read. We must always have action! Action!
Here are old-fashioned balances, in which we weigh the motives of "FEAR," "SELF- INTEREST," and "LOVE," against "OBEDIENCE." The obvious results say more than words. Call them gimmicks if you wish; they are visual devices that teach truth effectively. The simple object lesson works well on television. We must have more of them. Men who are interested in this method should pool their ideas for the common good. Charts and ply- board images can be used with effectiveness. The blackboard is out. Set up an easel with suit able-sized newsprint sheets, and use charcoal crayon. The contrast is much preferred to board and chalk. But better than charts are miniature, objects on a long desk top which can be placed one at a time, with eye-attracting power. Use a helper to arrange these while you talk with him. Let the audience watch you explain your message to him. Use three-dimension objects where possible. Since the eye teaches more than 80 per cent of what we know, we must search for the finest methods of presenting truth.
Pictures on television will save many a head ache to the evangelist and station program manager. They can take the place of live figures where necessary, and prove most helpful. Silent films can be.used while you narrate the message. Be sure to have a receiving set before you in this case, so that you can talk in tempo with the film speed. There is great need for films varying in length from one to fifteen minutes— films that teach the message. Sound films will speak for themselves. But remember this, your audience can instantly detect filming from real- life action. Do not deceive yourself into believing that they will not know the difference. The film is your crutch, not your motive power. Use it sparingly.
Slides are needed too. They present a problem, however, for many slides that are excellent on the projector will never do on television, since they lack the necessary contrasts in color, or in the black and white that the TV screen demands. Color slides with predominating reds, light greens, pinks, and yellows make weak showings on television. Sharp black-and-white slides are best at present. Cloud scenes look more like smoke from grass or forest fires. There is a dearth of suitable slides for television use. The full or half-tone print in black and white is very fine. Color prints in 9" by 12" are good, provided the colors are sharp and deep in tone. Blues add strength to the color print in this work. Pastel colors and hand-painted slides are ineffective. Standard Bible Art Pictures are good. They will make the beginnings of a good picture library. For television use, the picture should have horizontal length and vertical dimension to fit the camera frame. The station has its own projection room with movie and slide projectors, and also balopticon facilities. Use it and save the cameras much hard "shooting."
With fast-moving, live programs of human interest we try to make the work of the camera men as easy as possible. Too much camera work tangles up the presentation and causes unavoidable blunders. Our programs tend to contain too much, we fear. One must work for simplicity to please the production men, but we cry for action. Between producer and evangelist perhaps a happy medium can be reached.
What about the "fan" mail ? Yes, we have it. It varies with the presentation and interest it arouses. It may drop to fifty or seventy-five letters weekly, or it may rise to three hundred. If we get one hundred and fifty pieces weekly we are doing average work. We are striving for better than that. Mail, telegrams, special deliveries, phone calls, and personal appearances come to us according to interest. Mail gauges, in part, the size and interest of the audience. Mail gives the personal touch to the work. Mail is our means of contact and provides the major portion of our mailing list. Never a letter goes out without a piece of literature in it and a Bible school enrollment card.
And how do we get our mail? We ask for it repeatedly. We promise literature to those who write for it. We offer pictures, magazines, booklets, and even books, free of charge. Our prayer list brings our finest mail, as does our Bible school. The weekly Bible quiz draws real attention. People always like to prove that they know something, and know it better than do others. We let them demonstrate in this way. Most answers are correct, and everyone gets a book let, while the first correct answer may receive a copy of Bible Readings or a children's story book.
The "book for the month" also draws mail and phone calls. Many people write just to tell how the program inspires them, and of the blessings they receive from it. Our telephone calls are of special interest. Folks call in while the program is closing, and for thirty minutes thereafter, to ask for our book-for-the-month offer. Our secretaries are on the job and make short visits over the wire, inviting them to enroll in Bible courses, or listening to them tell of their enjoyment of the message. These personal conversations very effectively give us the pulse of the audience.
Music on television is a subject of its own. Here is real strength or painful grief. We have tried a wide variety of musical talent. From experience we conclude that we need an electric organ, a baritone or tenor soloist, and also a contralto voice. Add to that a ladies' trio and a male quartet, and we are ready to go to work. Choirs do not lend themselves well to our work. Cameras have never done justice to our choirs. They lack action and do not appeal as strongly as do the smaller musical groups. Instrumental music must be given in very small doses, because it lacks the desired action. The audience may watch an orchestra momentarily, and then long for the next thing on the program. Words to interpret music are lacking in instrumental music, and with a shortage of action, instruments must take a lesser role on the sacred program.
The average Adventist evangelist will always need more music; therefore we will have to emphasize the message above all else and with varied methods, to take the place of what he lacks otherwise. This is wise from all viewpoints. We are on the air to give the message. Music is perhaps like the frosting on the cake, but it is not the cake itself. Musical numbers should be short—from one to two minutes at most in length, and that means one or two stanzas only.
Seventh-day Adventists will discover that effective television programming will demand something in vocal interpretation that few possess today. For a gospel singer to stand before a camera and sing with little vocal expression, no facial emotion, and nothing of the legitimate dramatic art about him, is to put sacred music in a most unenviable light, since TV audiences are accustomed to seeing the worthless popular airs of the day made to live with expression. We have a great need here that must not be overlooked. Music must not dominate the program. We find that from seven to ten minutes of music on a half-hour program gives us the desired balance.
Television is a time-consuming task. It demands all the ingenuity that a man can muster. One needs to be filled with ideas that work. The question is not so much, "What shall I pre sent?" but rather, "How shall I present my message?" Television is a full-time job. Are you a pastor ? One cannot do both tasks well at the same time. A thirty-minute program will demand the full time of a script-writer-director. And if he puts his best into it, he will be over worked.
Does television pay? It pays immediate dividends in the removal of denominational prejudice. It makes the public conscious of Seventh- day Adventists in a way never before possible. It convinces of truth beyond anything that radio has ever done. People see you; they think of you as an acquaintance; you obtain easy access to hearts and homes. It acquaints the community with the beliefs and practices of the church. It lays the ground work for more effective public efforts and for larger personal evangelism.
Television is here to stay, and we are convinced that God has provided it for the hastening forward of the third angel's message. No channel of communication has ever compared with it as a means of getting into the homes of the people. Simply because the devil has distorted its purpose should not delay us in putting it to work for God. May God bestir our denominational leadership to the adaptation of this miracle of communication to the giving of the gospel. This means that we must from the first identify ourselves openly, which we have done. The result is that ministers, doctors, and professional men are watching with interest and are in communication with us. The announcement affected our Bible school enrollments for a time, but the mail came in as heavily as ever, and now our Bible school is increasing regularly and consistently. Three months of TV Bible school promotion increased the conference Bible school 30 per cent above the enrollment for the entire preceding year.
A good program filled with the Spirit of God will hold an audience and win souls. Television is not radio. Radio is work; but television is slavery. Do not enter the field unless you have untold energies, time, and talent for the task, and strength beyond your years. May God raise up men who will make television one of God's great soul-saving instruments for the finishing of the gospel task.
