There she stands, 'way down in the cow pasture the old Model T! Almost hidden by brush and weeds, the old wreck is just a memory of days long past. Thirty years ago that antiquated machine was the pride and joy (and often the exasperation) of a young minister's life as he faithfully preached the Word from town to town. Today the old car is just a poignant reminder that times are continually changing. Even preachers must adapt their methods to meet the needs of the people among whom they live and work.
Dear old Model T! Once you were the popular family car of America. Now you are only a forgotten pile of scrap a mute reminder of days that are gone, never to return. But on looking back, we can admire much in those days. We can still see you chugging your merry way down those narrow dirt roads of the 1920's. The people of your time were good people. They were basically honest and independent. Many of them shared the hopes and aspirations of President Wilson. Prohibition was here, and so was bootlegging. World War I was over, and many people believed that the millennium was just about to dawn.
Back in those days no one worried much about income taxes. The dollar was really worth a dollar, and the pound was worth a pound. People were not looking for handouts from the Government. Farmers and workers were all free and independent. They stood on their own two feet and resolutely faced the world. People were not sophisticated. They were hungry for knowledge. Everyone was anxious to learn, and education was the great national quest.
Those were great days for evangelism. The young preacher, with his Model T and his startling beasts and his unusual message about the end of the world, was almost a sensation in any town. People then flocked to the meetings whether they believed the message or not. Often the whole town turned out, and the young preacher had the thrill of delivering his soul-stirring sermons to packed houses. They were wonderful days and nights, and the old Model T was a vital part of the team, sharing in the heartaches and the triumphs of that young preacher's life. That was back in the early twenties.
Let's take a closer look at the dear old Ford. Remember how that miserable crank handle would kick back on cold mornings when the spark was just a wee bit too far advanced? No self-starters in those days! And just look at those wooden wheels with the hard, narrow tires. Remember the sixty pounds' pressure that had to be pumped in by hand after repairing a flat beside a dusty gravel road? Talk about convertibles, that preacher and his passenger had to wear either dust coats or rubbers inside the car, according to whether the weather changed the "road" from dust to mud. Just look at the old buggy coughing and gasping in the dust and wallowing in the water and the mud!
Traveling was hazardous in those days. People expected that the preacher might occasion ally arrive late for his meeting, and that his hands might be grimy and covered with dust or mud. But aside from the inconvenience there was little to worry about. Someone would always start the song service for him. Back there people really loved to sing. On Sunday after noon they would meet in the city parks in groups of thousands merely for the thrill of community singing. It seems hard to realize this today, but it is true.
Evangelism Is More Difficult Today
How times have changed in these past thirty years! Back in those Model T days there were no great radio networks, no television. They had silent movies and squeaking, scratching phonographs with immense tin megaphones. Tone production was very poor. No wonder one phonograph company pictured a little dog with his head cocked on one side, trying to recognize "his master's voice"! People in those days had to entertain themselves, but they en joyed life to the full. There was a wholesome quality about their lusty, off-key singing. The young evangelist could always count on every one in his audience taking part in a rousing song service. Many people came to the meetings just to hear themselves sing. Actually there may have been less real interest in what the preacher had to say, for most people were inclined to believe that "all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
Today this picture is completely reversed. People in these days are deeply perplexed. Most of them are far more interested in the message of the preacher than in the old rousing song service. In their perplexity they are looking for counsel and for guidance. They are searching for security. Many of them have never had any religion. They are groping for light. They need a clear message of hope, a message that will mend their broken homes and heal their aching hearts. That is why so many of the syncopated "gospel songs" of the Model T age seem a bit out of place today.
It is true that the evangelist of today must still discuss the startling signs of the times. He must bear just as definite a message today as was borne thirty years ago. But he should re member that he is no longer dealing with a self-satisfied generation. It is his responsibility to reach people whose hearts are "failing them for fear" because of the dreadful events taking place in every part of the world today. Back in 1923 people were looking for excitement. In1953 they are looking for peace and security. The grim shadow of atomic warfare stretches across the world. At any moment thousands may be brutally blotted out and many more critically injured. People are not looking for entertainment in a gospel meeting. They are looking for some place to hide. Unless we understand this basic need, we will never reach the people of our day with God's last message of love.
Why Has the Song Service Lost Its Appeal?
When we are planning for large meetings composed mainly of non-Adventists, we might well ponder this important question of why the song service has lost its appeal. There is no doubt today that community singing has lost much of its appeal. The years of depression followed by World War II have produced wide spread social and economic upheavals. People are not the same today. There is a great deal of uncertainty on every side. Men and women are skeptical and fatalistic about the future. Powerful governments are steeped in graft. Money everywhere is steadily losing its value. With destructive forces at work in every land, the stability and optimism of the old Model T days have disappeared.
What has all this to do with the evangelistic song service? A great deal. A glance at some of the once-popular so-called gospel songs of the Model T days will reveal that many of them were based on rather shallow thinking. They no longer meet the needs and the heartaches of the present dark hour. This is easy to under stand when we realize that young people of every land are again facing military service. The future seems hopeless to millions. Even a casual contact with the young people of our colleges reveals this same depressing mood. Is it any wonder that youth is a bit cynical?
It is easy enough to sing cheap tunes like "Joybells" when you do not have to think about the draft board. But when your sons or your brothers or your boy friends are out on the front lines, huddled in Korean foxholes or in Malayan swamps, you are not likely to be favorably impressed by anything that even remotely sounds like "Jingle Bells." The cheap ditties and shallow verses of less-dangerous days no longer meet the needs of this dark hour. That is why community singing has largely lost its appeal, not only with the public, but with our own people as well.
What About Large Evangelistic Choirs?
Back there in the Model T days a large evangelistic choir was often a real asset. Much time was put into the training of the group. But sometimes these choirs were rather hastily thrown together, and the performance left much to be desired. No one cared very much in those days, for most of the audience had not been exposed to anything very much better. Few people were critical of amateurish performances. One might say that their tolerance was often rather commendable. This tolerance often helped in our evangelistic efforts. But those days have gone. Radio and television are here to stay, whether we like them or not. They have completely transformed the tastes and preferences of the public. People are much more critical today. It is so easy to turn a knob when you do not like what you hear!
Today we must reach a listening public. If we have a choir, it had better be very well trained and led by an expert, otherwise the choir and its leader may become a serious liability. Especially is this so in a large metropolitan effort. People can now see and hear the world's most outstanding artists by merely turning a knob in their own living rooms. They have no relish for untrained voices and unskilled performers.
Home Talent Not Always Acceptable
No evangelist should try to make the best of a so-called choir that has been scratched together and poorly trained if he wants to reach the metropolitan areas. Home talent, unless it is of the finest quality, is no longer acceptable to the general public. With our church groups it is far different. Home talent is more or less graciously endured even if it is not always enjoyed. But if we hope to hold the interest of educated non-Adventists, we must be satisfied with nothing but the best. An evangelistic effort is no place to experiment with untrained but well-meaning amateurs. Missionary Volunteer meetings should provide such opportunities for our youth.
Another mistake of song leaders is to try to "make the audience sing." That was all right twenty-five years ago. Today the audience will usually prefer to listen to some deeply soul-moving solo rather than try to sing the in appropriate choruses and tawdry tunes of the pre-radio age. These are truly signs of our times.
Recently I had opportunity to witness a well-known evangelist of another church conduct a large evangelistic campaign. Many thousands of people gathered night after night. The messages were good, and the delivery was forceful. But the preliminary song service was certainly no asset to the meetings. The song leader was undoubtedly sincere, but his arm-waving antics were more appropriate to the raucous days of the Model T age. He frequently had to wipe his face and neck. Most people endured the undignified and rather foolish performance without entering into the song service. But the rather drab beginning was amply redeemed by the magnificent voice and the deep consecration of the baritone soloist. People were conscious of a nearness to heaven when he sang such songs as "I'd Rather Have Jesus Than Silver or Gold." One could almost feel that vast audience sob as they were drawn by the soloist into tune with their Master.
Teach Your Church Members to Sing
This evangelist's large crowds were drawn almost entirely from the popular churches. Very few of those who attended were actually non-churchgoers. In this respect his meetings correspond somewhat to an Adventist camp meeting, with its delegations coming from all over the conference. Song services are always a vital part of all our camp meetings. It is very important that our people learn to "sing with the spirit, and . . . with the understanding."
But there is a vast difference between regular church services and the meetings of a large evangelistic effort. The majority of those who attend an effort are usually not Adventists. Many of them have never been regular attend ants at Sunday school. It is hard for these to understand the song service, especially some of the more flippant types of "music." In the large cities there are multitudes of Catholics and Jews and people who have no religious background. Upon these the impact of a rousing song service is usually not at all welcome. Particularly in the earlier days of a large metropolitan effort, they prefer to listen rather than to sing. People brought up in a modernist church are not prepared to understand the atonement. It is hard for them at first to comprehend such songs as "Power in the Blood." They must be led along step by step, rather than having to sing about doctrines they are not yet ready to accept.
That is why so many of them tend to come into the meetings after the song service is over. Some of these will frankly state that they prefer to hear the preacher's message without the part that they consider as entertainment. This is particularly the case when we are working in a predominantly Catholic city. If we would win the men and women of our generation for God, we must meet them where they are. We must slant our message and our methods to reach them in their need.
Let's Bring Our Methods Up to Date
We smile as we look at that dear old "gal loping bedstead" Henry Ford's masterpiece of exasperation! Those hard square lines, the quaint old brass radiator, and the carbide lamps are reminiscent of high collars and cutaway coats. Verily the dear old chariot hath served its generation well. But it belongs to an age that is gone, and gone forever. We would not wish it back again.
And what of the vigorous young preacher? He is a capable conference president now. He still preaches that same grand message a mes sage that is literally "flying in the midst of heaven" in an age of jet planes and atomic power. Yes, he still drives a Ford, but it is a Fordomatic now. His taste in cars has progressed with the times. Never for a moment would he exchange his sleek modern car for that cold, dusty, and uncomfortable contraption down there in the old cow pasture. And can we, as heralds of the last message from God, afford to content ourselves with methods of evangelism that belong to the days of the old Model T? May God help each of us to adapt our methods to the days in which we live. And may His Spirit enable us to be as efficient in reaching our generation as were the great evangelists of the Model T days in reaching theirs.
Evangelists and Newspaper Editors HOWARD B. WEEKS Assistant Secretary General Conference Bureau of Press Relations
Contrary to the unbounded optimism of some evangelists prior to an effort, editors somehow do not become particularly excited when an itinerant preacher comes to town to conduct a few meetings. And contrary to the abject disenchantment of these same evangelists after the effort, editors seldom are the hide bound anti-religionists they seem to have turned out to be.
Often the difficulty with an evangelist who has this experience is that he figuratively tries to pull the editor into his own comparatively restricted sphere, supposing that he will become as stimulated and absorbed as the evangelist in the magnitude of the proposed meetings.
What the evangelist should do is make a real effort to project himself, with all his concern for the meetings, into the area of complex and important events with which the editor must deal everyday. He will thereby develop a more sympathetic understanding of editorial problems and, more important, be able to take an objective look at the news values inherent in evangelistic campaigns. He will consequently be able to make an intelligent selection of those elements that will be considered news in com petition with other information crossing editorial desks.
No person seeking publicity should seem to be doing so and, above all, should never demand it. Editors do not give publicity they report news. It is therefore the publicist's job, be he press agent or preacher, to discover in his own particular interest those factors that are of sufficient general interest to he passed on by editors as news. The editor is not in the promotion business. Should that be the evangelist's hope in approaching the man with the blue pencil, he would do well to face about and head for the advertising department. If, however, in the process of reporting the day's news, the editor should chance to promote a campaign, he will rejoice with the evangelist without malice or grudging. Malice will arise only if pressure is exerted upon the editor, either directly or through the advertising department. In most cases, if the evangelist even once resorts to this devious channeling of news to the editor, he will become a marked man and will have forfeited for the future the most valuable possession in all publicity practice an editor's friendship and good will.
Some evangelists are intrigued with the idea of "influence" in the newspaper office. They believe that if Brother So-and-so, head deacon of the church, is a third cousin to Mr. Blank, the second assistant to Mr. Somebody, who hap pens to be head maintenance man down at the Daily Eagle, well, they are on the inside track at last. Actually, the possibility of influencing publication of news by such connections, how ever close they may be to the editorial sanctum, can be discounted about one hundred per cent. Sometimes the higher-ups on the newspaper do pass down instructions to give some event good coverage, but such action is rarely taken and then almost exclusively in behalf of community events or events in which many church groups are participating.
Even the most astute public relations men depend for publicity almost entirely upon the one thing that will consistently influence a newspaper editor a well-planned news release. This, fortunately, is a kind of influence that is available to any evangelist who is willing to devote some thought and intelligent effort to the problem.
In an editorial office, at least, no evangelist can afford to pose as a mystery man. Who he is, what he is, where he is from, and who is backing him must be clear and reportable. Editors have seen and perhaps been fooled by many evangelistic frauds, and they are hypersensitive on the subject. But if the evangelist is completely forthright, considerate, and objective, he will be doubly rewarded: with editorial trust and confidence, and also with column inches in gratifying abundance.
