Presiding Chairman: D. R. Rees
Panel Personnel:
Introduction—A. C. Fearing
Moderator—R. H. Nightingale
W. J. Cannon
B. J. Mondics
J. F. Coltheart
R. H. Pierson
D. S. Harris
A. H. Roth
L. C. Kleuser
W. M. Starks
G. D. King
J. L. Tucker
D. R. REES: "Is Paul's method still up to date where he spoke of declaring the Word of God publicly and from house to house? I want you to think of this statement as we go along with the panel: 'How can the great work of the third angel's message be accomplished? It must be largely accomplished by persevering, individual effort; by visiting the people at their homes.'—ELLEN G. WHITE in Historical Sketches, p. 150.
"Now with this in mind we are happy to have Andrew Fearing sound the keynote and give us the setting for the panel discussion that will follow."
ANDREW C. FEARING: "I'm sure that none of us on this panel has any intention of minimizing the power of public preaching, its stature and value in the soul-winning program. Nevertheless, our Master, in His dealing with humanity, has taught us very definitely the power and success of the personal touch. A number of years ago the large wholesale houses were having a difficult time financially. They eliminated the traveling salesmen. In the first six months their business fared so poorly that they had to put the salesmen back on the road to shake hands with the various storekeepers. The personal touch was necessary. They felt it was vital in their business. Politicians, even though they have the use of the radio and television to reach great mass audiences, still feel the need of getting down to shake hands with the people, to win their friendship, their love, and their support.
"Now I have had people slip out of the church right under my evangelistic and pastoral preaching, and I assure you that I was preaching as conscientiously and as sincerely as the Holy Spirit enabled me to preach. Yet one visit in the home of such a person has brought that man or his entire family back into the fold. I could have sat in my office and said: 'The man knows where I am. He has problems. He knows that I am a gracious man; that I will help him. Let him come to me.' While some might come to the office, the average man will not do so. Sympathetic listening is ministry of the highest order.
"The shepherd, in the story Christ told, could have stood in the doorway and shouted or blown a horn, thinking: 'Surely when that lamb out there realizes the hard times through which he is passing, he will come back into the fold. When he does, I'll graciously open the door.' But that is not the way the shepherd acted. With an anxious heart he left the fold, and even though it cost much, he found the lost one and brought him home.
"Beloved, if you make an effort, if you will get out of your comfortable chair, or out of your office or home, and go see a man personally, go demonstrating your friendship and your interest in his soul, that man is going to react. He is going to think: 'Now this pastor loves me. He has an interest in my life. He has a care for me. I believe that I may have confidence in him. He is my friend. I can trust him.' Such a man will open his heart to talk to you, realizing that you have the antidote needed for his soul sickness.
"'When a minister has presented the gospel message from the pulpit, his work is only begun. There is personal work for him to do. He should visit the people in their homes, talking and praying with them in earnestness and humility. . . . To my ministering brethren I would say, By personal labor reach the people where they are. . . . Sermons from the pulpit cannot do it. Teaching the Scriptures in families, —this is the work of an evangelist.'—Gospel Workers, pp. 187, 188.
"I used to think, when I was younger in the work, I couldn't be an evangelist unless I had a hall somewhere. But according to this statement a cottage meeting with the family is a definite part of the work of an evangelist. This right combination of home work, to be united with ministry and preaching, is the ideal. If the personal touch is omitted the preaching will be to a great extent a failure Again I read: 'Ministry means more than sermonizing; it means earnest, personal labor.'—The Acts of the Apostles, p. 526. It is easier perhaps for us to prepare a seimon, than it is to prepare a successful visit. And this I also read from the messenger of the Lord: 'If one entering upon this work chooses the least self-sacrificing part, contenting himself with preaching, and leaving the work of personal ministry for someone else, his labors will not be acceptable to God.' Ibid., p. 527.
"We have heard a lot -about Fordyce Detamore, and I agree with all the good things that have been said. We rejoice that he is a humble, conscientious man, but if you would know from whence his soul-winning power comes, then come with me to his evangelistic campaign in Houston, Texas. There is no question about the powerful preaching. His wise skill in organization is excellent. But if there is any one secret above another for his success, it is this: he is an indefatigable personal worker. I believe that in that campaign he visited nearly three hundred people personally. He -would start early, go right through the day, even eating a simple meal in his car to save time, and would visit until a few minutes before the evening meeting. There is the secret of his success. And not only himself, but others in his evangelistic team are doing the same thing.
"I know a man who has an excellent reputation. Somehow it seems that in his evangelistic preaching he seems to know exactly how the audience is going to react. When he comes to the testing truths he answers their problems and solves their questions and their fears and gives them faith and courage, even before the problem has arisen. Do you know how he obtained this skill? This pastoral, evangelistic, and soul-winning psychology is learned through hours of personal contact with human minds and hearts in home visitation. Someone said of him: 'He is right down to earth; he touches us right where we live.'
"Incidentally, what good is it to preach if we don't solve something? And how can we solve something unless we know what there is to solve? And where will we gain such knowledge unless we have the personal touch with the individual? This statement from the messenger of the Lord is clear. Listen: 'It is highly important that a pastor mingle much with his people, and thus become acquainted with the different phases of human nature. He should study the workings of the mind, that he may adapt his teachings to the intellect of his hearers. He will thus learn that grand charity which is possessed only by those who study closely the nature and needs of men.'—Gospel Workers, p. 191.
"How good one feels inside after he has visited a home and felt the warmth, friendship, and love that was given him just because he was there! Have you ever gone to a home just to visit a child? Have you ever gone to visit a parent, to tell that parent that you have been over to the church school and have talked with little Johnnie? 'He is a good boy, and will make a fine man for God.' Oh, I tell you, it will develop a warmth in your heart and soul that will flow out to others in all your ministry.
"Spurgeon never forgot, even to his dying day, an experience that happened to him when he was just a little lad. He was staying with his grandfather at the time. A Mr. Knill came to preach in that territory and also stayed with the grandfather. The old preacher saw the boy and said: 'Son, where do you sleep?' The boy told him. He said: 'I will be up at six o'clock, and we'll go for a walk.' The boy was puzzled, for no one had ever noticed him before. At six o'clock the preacher was there. They went for a stroll. They talked about many wonderful things, and Spurgeon tells the story: 'In the sweetest way he began to tell me about Jesus and the love of Christ. And he knelt down at the end of the path and prayed with me. Three times he did that, and shortly before he left, he put me on his knee and said: "Son, if you're willing, God will make a great preacher out of you."' Spurgeon never forgot it. Years after, when he was sixteen, the Lord laid His hand on Charles Haddon Spur-aeon and all the world knows the result.
"Dwight L. Moody never forgot the man who went round to the back of his counter, put his arm around him, and talked with him about his soul. Moody puts it this way: 'Here was a man I hardly knew, weeping over my sins when I was not even interested or seeming to care about them at all. I don't know what the man said, but I still feel the power of that man's hand on my shoulder.' The personal touch!
"Oh, the rich blessing that comes to the man himself in personal work! I was having a difficult time in a certain period of my early ministry. I had no singing evangelist, no Bible instructor, no evangelistic budget, yet I had to conduct a full year's campaign and carry on my pastoral activities too. I was endeavoring to prepare something fresh and alive for the evening service. But my mind was barren of thought. I went to visit Mrs. West, a little Norwegian woman just recently baptized, seventy-two years of age. She had encountered many difficulties and perplexities because of her new faith. In answer to my knock, the door opened and Mrs. West smiled and said: 'Brother Fearing, Brother Fearing, come in.' She pulled up a chair for me, and drew up the little stool on which she usually sat when I taught her the message. I said (and, by the way, I want you to notice what few words I said in this visit), 'Sister West, what does Jesus mean to you?'
"'Oh, Brother Fearing, Jesus means to me . . .' And all the time she was talking, the sermons, and the ideas, and the warmth and joy of the love of God began going through my head like a covey of birds. And when she was through I asked: 'Sister West, would you pray?' She said: 'Yes, but you must pray too.' I said: 'We'll see, but right now, you pray.' And we knelt down and she prayed a simple prayer. There wasn't anything else that could have been said except 'Amen,' and we arose. As I was leaving, she took my hand warmly exclaiming: 'Oh, Brother Fearing, you'll never know how much good your visit did to me!' What had I done? I merely asked her what Jesus meant to her and she bore witness of that love in her heart.
"Arriving back home, I sat at the typewriter, and my wife called from the kitchen: 'It sounds like you're popping corn out there.' I enjoyed preaching that night. The personal visit will always do the preacher good. We have a wonderful calling. It is a great privilege to be a minister. And the most coveted title of all is the one that was given to Moses, 'A servant of God.' Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds' (Prov. 27:23). The Master said: 'I know my sheep.'"
The moderator invited those in the audience to join the panel with contributions. Then he introduced the panel members.
JOHN COLTHEART from Wellington, New Zealand: "For many years I have been tremendously impressed with the value of personal visitation and would place much emphasis on visitation in evangelism. I like to visit every person that the team visits, along with some personal names I have of my own. I can come in late at night just before the meeting, and feel refreshed as a result of the day's visiting. I agree with all Brother Fearing has said."
FORDYCE DETAMORE: "When I say anything I hate to say something that people know already. I do not like to call a man for surrender in the evening meeting unless I know him. You see, when you are in the home of the individual, you talk and have prayer with him and immediately there is a tie, and that is imperative during a call for surrender. Also you can look over an auditorium and say things specifically to guide the decision of an individual. For instance, here is a lady who is waiting for her husband, and with their heads bowed in prayer, you can say: 'Maybe you are waiting for a dear one. Well, you go forward in faith. God will use this in winning your dear one, but you can't be a soul winner yourself by remaining outside the fold.' You can make your call much more personal by knowing the individual.
"People are actually heartsick; they are lonely. The condition of our world today is sad. And just that little bit of kindness to let them know we love them will mean much toward their surrender.
"Visits do not need to be long. Suggest having prayer. We never leave a home without prayer, never! Faith for Today and Voice of Prophecy interests are just like a gold mine, and they are everywhere. We go to visit them, we write the names up and these are divided among the group.
"Brother Turner takes all the new interests. He works intensively with them and then gives me the cream of the names. These I visit so that I will know all the new interests that are coming in. Under this arrangement, when the campaign is over I will have known personally every individual considered an interest. In that way when the call for surrender comes, we know the people. You will see the men of our team out in the audience working during the call for surrender. They know which ones to speak to. But if you don't visit people, how can you know with whom to work?
"Not long ago Brother Lewis, our conference treasurer, went with me. After a day or two, he said: 'Is it this way in every city? Do you mean to say you can just drive a few blocks and find backsliders and new interests?' I said: 'Brother Lewis, they are everywhere. There is absolutely no exception. It doesn't make any difference if it is north, south, east, or west, they are everywhere, souls waiting only to be gathered in.' And the thing that amazes me is that ten or fifteen minutes investment brings so much in return. Someone clocked us one day—I didn't know he was doing it—but we made thirteen visits that day and the average visit took thirteen minutes."
MODERATOR: "Thank you very much, Brother Detamore. What about the effectiveness of personal evangelism in really indoctrinating the people? Brother Mondics, we would like to have a word from you on this."
B. J. MONDICS explained that he felt personal work was essential for proper indoctrination. He likes to use the newspaper to publish the great doctrines of the message. There are so many who cannot come out to meetings and this gives them a chance to read the message of God. "I have figured out if you reach as many as 5 per cent of a given area, you have done pretty well. But what about the 95 per cent whom you have not reached? I was thinking about that one night, and then I devised a means whereby we would put the message in the newspaper." He showed us a number of the advertisements containing the message of Bible truth tactfully presented. "The church members are liberal in supporting this newspaper plan. We found that even children will give for this project. We have had an offering of 8 cents from a child, and gifts of $100 and as high as $250 to pay for this. But to thoroughly indoctrinate a community one needs to stay long enough to become acquainted. I believe in becoming friends with all the ministers of all the churches. One can accomplish much good by just being friendly with the men and visiting them in their homes."
G. D. KING told of some overseas evangelistic problems. "In our evangelism we must meet the greatest need of the human heart which is, of course, peace and security, and this can be found only in Christ. I am tremendously inspired every time I come to America. This is my eighth visit, and on each visit I learn lessons.
"But recently I visited a country where freedom and opportunities are little known. There are many prohibitions. They have no possibility of public evangelism, no possibility of television, no possibility of radio, and no possibility of newspaper advertising. However, they are doing evangelism just the same. God's message has a way of breaking through all barriers. I attended the workers' meeting in that country where the men gave a testimony on their work. What they reported was astounding. My heart has never been so stirred with the challenge of personal evangelism as it was then. Think of all the things they do not have which you have! I urge you in North America to capitalize on your opportunities. But even without these things, souls can be won. One man had won fifty souls, another forty-seven, another twenty-nine, another twenty-seven, and so the list went on. And it was all done by personal evangelism!"
MODERATOR: "Elder Roth, what do you do down there in Inter-America? Do you rely solely on the evangelists or do the pastors and the laymen enter into this program?"
A. H. ROTH of Inter-America spoke of extreme opposition in many places. "Our workers are threatened by pastoral letters dictated by Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops and parish priests. The people who would come to listen are threatened with excommunication as soon as they darken the door of a public hall used by a Protestant evangelist. And in order to win souls our ministers must be exceptionally good personal workers. They must learn how to become friendly with the people; they must learn how to visit and know the people in their homes; to understand some of their personal needs. Why, those dear people are just as responsive as any in the world. I believe that the work in Inter-America is mostly the result of what our pastor-evangelists do. The pastors in the district are the best evangelists we have. We don't have any big-type evangelists in the Inter-American Division, nor do we have any big-type evangelistic budgets. We had one man who put on a tremendous campaign and won more than fifty souls and he had a budget of one hundred pesos, which is exactly eight dollars.
"How wonderful it would be if we could have some of these budgets and some of these halls and some of this advertising, newspapers, radio, and television that we have heard about this morning! Perhaps we wouldn't know what to do with it. But our folks go out with their eight dollars and get their lay brethren around them and send them out to visit in the homes of the people. They circulate a few Bible correspondence school enrollment cards, get names, invite the people to come personally, and that is the way they win souls.
"I am thinking right now of one of our most successful soul winners. Last year he won nearly two hundred souls, yet he is perhaps the least of all the public speakers. But he is a tremendous visitor. He goes right into the homes and is constantly where the people are, rallying the lay people. And he gets results. The last four-year period in Inter-America 41,549 souls were baptized, and I am almost sure that not less than 35,000 of these souls were won by this personal evangelistic approach."
R. H. PIERSON stated that soul ,winning must be the basis of all our planning in all of our programs, as far as our conference work is concerned. "I do not think that anything ought to be permitted to crowd out that which the Lord has made first. The regular church program does demand the pastor's attention, but the real task of the church is to share its faith with the community. If the pastor is not careful in budgeting his time, the ministry of the church could crowd out that which is foremost and which should occupy most of our attention—soul winning. I think that every pastor ought to be an evangelist. We rejoice that every one of our pastors is an evangelist, using the particular gift that God has given him. If he has the gift of public evangelism, he ought to begin early in the year to plan for his crusade, and if he is primarily a pastor, then he certainly ought to do everything he can to have a strong program of Bible studies and cottage meetings, and train his members in the art of visitation. Personal work is that which brings souls into the kingdom."
W. M. STARKS: "A minister must be all things to all people, such as a counselor, financier, builder, architect, promoter, et cetera. Yet Christ made soul winning His main business. The main qualifications for being one of His undershepherds is to be a personal evangelist; so the pastor must find time for this work. The pastor must be constantly alert in the homes, hospitals, and at public gatherings to get the names of interested ones for further follow-up work." Pastor Starks told several experiences illustrating this skill.
LOUISE C. KLEUSER was invited to give us a word about the place of the Bible instructor in this personal or home evangelism. She spoke from a rich experience when she said:
"Working with people in a personal way is not done just in our larger cities. While I have done much work in our big cities, some of my most profitable experiences came from contacts made with folks far from these urban areas, people to whom I had been sent by friends in the big centers. A few months ago, while working with Brother Walter Schubert in northern Massachusetts, we followed up Voice of Prophecy and Faith for Today interests in regular hinterland territory. The message had entered homes we would rarely reach in our usual city evangelism. Earlier in the series we could work these visits into our city program. This all points up the need for more personal evangelists. We do well to continue our training of church members to meet these people in a friendly way until the busy conference worker can provide added help.
"It is helpful for the Bible instructor to consider that her first visit to a home is to win new friends. Occasionally prejudice has to be broken down also. The worker must become winsome for truth. Another objective is to become a Christian friend, and so without being abrupt I watch for the opportunity to present Christ to the home. This means more than giving a Bible reading. The Word must be associated with the person of Jesus. After gaining confidence in both the messenger and God's message, I try to be a true Seventh-day Adventist friend to that family. From here on every visit should cause members of the family group to respect the teacher and look forward to regular Bible study. When once the Bible instructor has gripped the interest in a home, there is joy in her heart, as well as faith to believe that by God's grace souls will be led from truth to truth until the entire message is accepted."
A. SCRIVEN (from the floor): "A retired Bible teacher from one of our schools wanted something of value to do. The conference committee placed him as pastor of one of our churches. He didn't have any trouble putting over the various campaigns, but he was concerned what to do about evangelism. He was not a public evangelist. This became his method: he went from door to door, told the people that he was a Bible teacher and invited them to study the Bible with him. That man, with no assistant and no budget, baptized about fifty souls a year for several years. He was second consistently in baptismal results in the conference. Any man can make use of his own personality, with the Lord's blessing, in visiting the people and bringing them to Christ. After all, that is the objective of all our activities."MODERATOR: "I understand, Brother Rees, that you have a program you are working in your field in which you help the pastor in his great problem of getting the message to the people. Would you give us a brief word about that?"
D. R. REES: "Well, in one sense there is nothing really new in this program. We all know the clear counsel we have concerning assigning each member his post of duty. We don't have to be urged to recognize that. Not only do the pastors need to do personal work but our members also need to be put to work. And they can do much in evangelism if they are led. In our union we have selected a few pastors in each of our seven conferences and these have been asked to concentrate on this matter of assigning laymen to an over-all program of visitation. Now while they are doing that, these pastors are planning follow-up meetings and these have proved very, very effective. Since coming to this meeting here I have reports from some of the pastors telling of the success of the plan. One of them has baptized thirty persons already this spring. Others have baptized eight, ten, fifteen, and twenty. It is a thrilling story and I think that if we put into effect the personal evangelism program—Fellowship Evangelism as we call it—and get our members working closely with them, we will increase our baptisms mightily."
D. S. HARRIS expressed the thought that "when one takes the 'personal' out of evangelism it is no longer evangelism. There is an overlapping of the pastoral and evangelist gifts to a degree in all of God's men. One campaign should always be constant. In the Book we read there is a time to die and a time to live, a time to cry and a time to rejoice, but there is never a time to stop being an evangelist, whether it is public or personal. That is the reason the apostle Paul tells us: 'Be instant in season, and out of season,' when you are teaching the Word. Now the devil does not want the pastor to do personal work. He knows that if he does, he will be a successful soul winner. The enemy will try in many ways to distract the pastor from this task.
"Incidentally in looking after the interest of the sheep, it does not mean only those who are in the fold, for Christ made it clear that there are some outside the fold. One pastor watches the newspapers for the names of those having lost loved ones. A card of sympathy is sent to each of these names. Through this rather unique approach it was surprising how many people he actually reached and he was able to gain the friendship of many. When people are in trouble, that is the time they need help and spiritual counsel."
MODERATOR: "Now let us have a few statements or questions from the floor. Elder Tucker, what is on your heart?"
J. L. TUCKER: "In view of the hour in which we live we ought to 'weep between the porch and the altar,' crying, Spare not only my people but the people of the world, for they too are God's purchase. We ought to go from this meeting with a purpose burning in our souls that we are going to work more faithfully and lovingly for the winning of these precious souls. Let us all pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit. When the disciples received the baptism of the Spirit, the people came to them. We thank God for all these methods, but only under the baptism of the latter rain will the work be finished."
W. J. CANNON mentioned that this past winter was the first winter in twenty-seven years he has not conducted a campaign and he missed the joy of it. However, he suggested that as big as evangelism is, it is weak without personal work. "Think what would happen if an evangelist were able to conduct his members into personal work for others, and every member won one soul. If a pastor-evangelist can win fifty or sixty souls and every member wins one soul each in personal work, what a tremendous boost this would be to the church. Think what would happen to our work if we had win-one campaigns throughout the world for one winter.
"Then in addition to that," continued Brother Cannon, "we should comprehend the concept of the value of one soul. We are told that our Saviour would have left heaven and walked this earth and died on Calvary's cross if at the end of it He would have won only one soul. That is the value of a soul.
"There is one other thing I would like to mention, and that is the place of personal work in stemming the tide of apostasy, which is one of our tremendous problems. I remember Lionel E. Fletcher one time telling a story of how he found the great desire for evangelism that made him a successful soul winner. He said that it was while he was on a sheep farm. One night a storm came and one sheep was left out in the raging elements. His father called him; they went out on the hills and searched until two-thirty in the morning to find the one sheep that was lost. 'And there,' he said, 'I had the concept of the great love of God for those that are lost in the wilderness of sin.' "
ANDREW C. FEARING mentioned that a man may not need your speech as much as he needs your ears. The ministry of sympathetic listening should not be overlooked. It is not only what we tell the people but what they tell us that helps reach their hearts.
The MODERATOR concluded by affirming that the secret of successful evangelism is not having just a few outstanding individuals doing the work, but rather having every pastor, every teacher, every housewife, every boy and girl on the job. To be a soul winner is the most glorious, exalted work in all the world. Conference executives should do everything possible to protect and to build up the work of the pastor, and as one with them they can do much to shepherd the flock. "For the conversion of one soul we should tax our resources to the utmost."—Testimonies, vol. 6, p. 22.
