My work in Jacksonville, Florida, began in March of 1958. The first meeting was with the building committee. All realized that a new church sanctuary was badly needed and agreed to go ahead as quickly as possible. About a year and half later we were in the new church.
With the new church to invite the people to we were fully committed to putting Seventh-day Adventism on the local map. One of the first things we did was to run a series of news articles on the beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists in the local newspaper, the Florida Times Union. I wrote the articles and the missionary committee of the church sponsored the project at a cost of about $650.
Sunday night evangelistic meetings were soon begun. These have continued without interruption except for about six weeks during Ingathering and for the summer months during camp meeting, vacations, et cetera. The congregation has been educated to expect these meetings and to support them.
Every effort is made to make the regular Sabbath morning services evangelistic in nature, with a definite appeal to nonmembers who may be in attendance. We enjoy having a large number of non-Seventh-day Adventists at our service each week. These constitute a great potential that is too frequently ignored. One means we have of searching them out is by the use of the Registration Certificate. It is a perforated stub on the regular church bulletin. One side is for members to register their attendance and the other side is for visitors. There are various places where different interests may be checked. Good prospects for membership are frequently picked up through this means.
Sabbath morning sermons are often of an evangelistic nature, frequently closing with specific appeals for decisions to keep the Sabbath and unite with the church. Sermons that may be especially helpful in winning others to the message are sometimes duplicated and made available to all who wish them. This helps to magnify the influence of the sermon.
Another important feature of the Sabbath morning program is the pastor's Bible class. For many years I have followed the plan of conducting such a class. Attendance is limited to new members of the church and nonmembers.
It doesn't do much good to have a program unless the people know about it. To help promote the program of our church we publish our Church News each month. It is sent out at 11/4 cents a copy to all members of the church and to prospective members. It is now going into almost 500 non-Seventh-day Adventist homes in Jacksonville. Whenever an interested person is found, his name is placed on the mailing list.
The Church News promotes the Sunday night meetings and the Sabbath morning services, listing the sermon topics for the month. It occasionally mentions the pastor's Bible class. It does much of the promotion that would otherwise take valuable time from the Sabbath worship hour. Promotional material to be distributed to members of the church is sent out with the Church News. This material is usually not included in the mailing to nonmembers.
Important to the organization and promotion of the soul-winning program of the church is the missionary committee, which meets at a regular time each month. It plans the phase of the work to be promoted at the missionary period each Sabbath of the month, usually centering around the particular program or needs of our own church.
Last year several thousand of the centenary number of the Review and Herald were distributed from door to door. Each copy contained a two-color folder featuring our local church, listing the various services and inviting folks to attend.
The committee studies ways of doing more through the various departments of the church. In conjunction with the MV Society, it sponsored a successful youth effort in a tent at Jacksonville Beach during the summer of 1961. One of the committee's special concerns at present is the completion of the welfare building across the street from the church.
Basic to our church organization for both soul building and soul winning is the geographical plan that we follow. The greater Jacksonville area is divided into seven geographical divisions with an elder of the church in charge of each division, as an undershepherd. Each of these sections is then divided into smaller units, each consisting of about ten families. A deaconess is in charge of each of these units. She is charged with the responsibility of visiting, and of looking after the needs of those in her unit. Detailed instructions are given her on a mimeographed sheet. A meeting is held with all the deaconesses each quarter, at which time the work is reviewed and any special problems discussed. Their work is reported on a printed report card covering a three-month period. During the first quarter of 1962 the deaconesses reported on their cards a total of 237 missionary visits to members of the church, 4011/2 hours of time devoted to their work, 241 items of food given away. and 103 members helped. This is, of course, in addition to work done through our welfare society for nonmembers. This plan is vital in conserving our membership and cutting down on apostasies.
This geographical organization is also used for Ingathering, the Every-Member Canvass, and many other promotional activities. It was used successfully in connection with the Review and Herald campaign last year. Through the small units every family in the church can be reached in a short time, with no one bearing too much of the burden.
This program has proved fruitful in helping us to build up the spirituality of our members and keep apostasies to a minimum, and also to bring in new members. In 1960, the first year in our new church building, we had 52 baptisms. Early in 1961 the Detamore evangelistic team held a successful three-week campaign in our church, resulting in 75 baptisms. This was followed with regular Sunday night meetings, and by the end of the year another 27 had been baptized, bringing the total to 102 for the year. Thus far this year 24 have been baptized, and the number of those interested gives us good reason to believe that the figure will be well above 50 for the year.
Except for the Detamore meetings, this program is carried on at little expense to the conference. This doesn't mean that little was spent. For the Sunday night meetings last year we spent about $1,000 for advertising and for the many books given away. However, the offerings amounted to more than $700, leaving less than $300 for the conference to pay. The meetings thus far this year have cost about $700 and have been practically self-supporting.
One great saving we enjoy is in our printing bill. We have in our church a regular offset printing press—the Model 1000 Addressograph-MuItilith machine. With this we are able to print our own handbills, church bulletins, school bulletin, sermons, tickets, letterheads, forms, Church News, et cetera. The press is operated by the secretary of the church, who works full time without salary. She is my right hand, keeping up all the records and carrying many responsibilities for me, thus leaving me free to carry on a heavy visitation program, which I believe to be important. Working with me in the soul-winning program is a wood Bible instructor, Mrs. Rena Mae Clark Cutuli.
The financial burdens of our church are heavy, especially with the new building to pay for. However, the primary concern and responsibility in meeting these needs rests in the hands of the finance committee, which is under able leadership.
Working with the officers and other laymen of the church, we make a team that has succeeded, at least in a measure, in making Seventh-day Adventists known in this large area with its 450,000 inhabitants. One of the clerks in the Baptist bookstore said to me, a while back, "Say, you folks are surely doing things at your church. It seems that something is going on at your church all the time."
We thank the Lord for what has been done, but we realize that this is only a small portion of what it should be. Our great desire is that the work may continue to grow until it is finished around the world and the Lord returns to take us to be with Him.
