From Cow Pasture to Church Property

Nine months ago there were no Seventh-day Adventist members in Highland County. It was one of the dark counties in Virginia. Today there is a new congrega­tion worshiping in a new white-brick church with wall-to-wall carpeting and cushioned pews.

The congregation of twenty-nine members (one has passed away) saw this church dedicated eight months and one week after the first member was baptized. It stands as a new memorial shining for God along a country road in Highland County. This county is called the Switzerland of Virginia because of its many mountains. It is west of Staunton and touches the bor­der of West Virginia.

This new memorial is unique in that it was occupied before the congregation was officially organized, about four months after its first members were baptized. And it was dedicated 140 days after it was organized. It has a seating capacity of 150 and is valued at more than $30,000.

The Highland Seventh-day Ad­ventist church is a twentieth-cen­tury story of faith, work, and prayer. It actually came to the day of dedication in three steps.

The first step was taken in Oc­tober, 1961. Pastors Elmer Malcolm and Herbert Broeckel held four Sunday night meetings in a vacant Presbyterian church called Bethlehem. The response was so good that it inspired plans for another series.

The second series was conducted by Pas­tors Elmer Malcolm and Robert Clarke with laymen from Staunton assisting. These meetings began in the month of May, 1962. The attendance was so good that they continued every Sunday after­noon for one year. When attempts were made to secure a new lease for the use of the church building, the board in charge informed Pastor Malcolm that a new lease could not be granted and that he must close the meetings.

Here is where a portable airatorium came to the rescue. At the close of his last sermon in the Bethlehem church our brother announced that he had been forced to close his meetings in the church, but that the following Sunday meetings would continue across the road. It made the people wonder, because there was nothing across the road except a cow pas­ture.

The very next day the Potomac Con­ference air tent was inflated on that spot. And May 19, 1963, the doors of the cloud tabernacle were opened to Highland County for the Bible Speaks Evangelistic Crusade. The Bible Speaks evangelistic team was comprised of John Kuhn, evan­gelist; Albert Ellis, director of music; Mrs. Lucy Gattis, Bible instructor. Mrs. John Klim was organist and chalk artist, and Mrs. Albert Ellis sang with her husband and did secretarial work. Pastors Elmer Malcolm and Robert Clarke and their wives joined with the team.

Again the response of this small rural community was magnificent. The interest was so strong that the crusade originally scheduled for two months was extended to seven months. More than 200 non-Advent­ists were present every night for the first twenty nights. But when plans were made for the first baptism, the opposition began to thunder. There was the usual campaign to distort and misrepresent. One minister visited many of our baptismal candidates in an effort to block them. The same min­ister also arranged for a woman minister, who was a former Seventh-day Adventist, to hold four revivals in churches all around the Cloud Tabernacle. The organ­ized opposition did very little to hurt the attendance of our evening meetings, but it did cut off a number of good families who were attending our Sabbath services.

When the first Sabbath worship serv­ice was held about forty non-Adventists were present. No building in the com­munity was available for Sabbath services. This brought to focus the need for a new church building for these people. But new church buildings don't automatically spring up, especially where there is no organized congregation. It was recom­mended that a little chapel or wing be built that could later be enlarged into a complete church building.