A New Day in Southern Asia

A tonic power is not the only giant let loose on this generation. One of God's special gifts to twentieth-century evangelism is the mod­ern method of mass communication provided by radio, television, and the Bible correspondence school. Truly the power of such mediums for molding public opinion is unprecedented.

These mediums are a specific aid to today's evangelist. But most remarkable is the manner in which the Voice of Prophecy radio broadcast and Bible school are uniting their strength with the able efforts of our evangelists in the South­ern Asia Division. It is there that the division president said:

"I want you to know that we here in the division consider this great program of radio and correspondence school work to be one of the greatest blessings that has ever come to the Southern Asia Division."

It is there that another division leader said:

"We have noticed that as the number of Voice of Prophecy graduates and students in an area increases, attendance at evangelistic services has grown proportionately in those places."

It is there that a union president said:

"We used to work hard trying to find those interested in our message. In order to get our folks out to our meetings we knocked on many doors to arouse interest. But now our work is easier. Names are sent to us, and they are names of people who are already interested. They have already studied the message. From the bottom of my heart I say, 'I believe in the Voice of Prophecy!'"

Public Evangelism and Radio

We checked our itinerary again. Yes, next Sunday evening our round of Voice of Prophecy rallies throughout Southern Asia would take us to Madurai, where evangelistic meetings were being conducted by Andrew Farthing. That evening as A. E. Rawson and I approached the neatly constructed wood and thatch audito­rium, we were simply thrilled by the sight that greeted us. The tabernacle was filled, and al­ready scores were jamming every available open­ing—doors and windows. Among the thousand or more who were already eagerly awaiting the evening program, sat some of the finest citizens of the community.

Another feature significant to mention here was the order and decorum in evidence—an achievement not readily attained in all meet­ings in these so-called non-Christian lands. We looked for the reason, and thought we had at least a partial answer as we noted the well-organized group of usherettes greeting and seat­ing each arrival with friendliness, grace, and dignity. But more than that, they were all smartly and uniformly dressed, in the attractive garb of the East. As we were introduced to the evangelist's wife and the Bible instructor, Miss Ada Warhurst, we became immediately aware that they, too, were uniformly gowned, as were the usherettes, and that they, too, were busy making those in attend­ance feel comfortable and wanted. (See pic­ture on opposite page.)

Now, all of this would not be unusual in Amer­ica, but it suddenly dawned upon me that what I was seeing was unique in these Eastern lands. Later I was as­sured it was. In fact, I was told this was the first time that usherettes had been substituted for the usual male ushers in our evangelistic meetings in India. The people in attendance seemed pleased, and I was certainly most fa­vorably impressed.

Following the meeting, as we were preparing to leave for the railway depot, our gracious host, Evangelist Farthing, generously reiterated the glowing and grateful tribute he had paid the Voice of Prophecy work during the meeting, _s in his introduction of the guests for the eve­ning. Then he added:

"I want to be very frank and tell you that most of my baptisms are the result of the initial work done by the Voice of Prophecy broadcast and Bible schools."

Immediately there flashed before me the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:6, "I have planted, Apollos watered." But more than that, the words of verses 8 and 9, "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. . . . For we are labourers together with God."

We left Madurai with a feeling of grateful­ness to God for workers like Evangelist Far­thing, who are working with such passionate fervor and who are keenly alert to the grand area of cooperation to be found as the evan­gelist links his efforts with the powerful postal and broadcast endeavors of the remnant church.