We have found that having the Daily Broadcasts on the air over the local stations for at least twelve months results in a more effective follow-up crusade and more definite interests. Some time before the crusade is to begin, the members of the church participate in a radio survey of the community, getting acquainted with their neighbors and finding out their listening habits in general, and their interest in the Voice of Prophecy broadcast in particular. Those who have not listened or tuned in are invited to do so. Those who manifest an interest are encouraged, and notation is made on the survey sheet. Some who have been reached during these surveys have requested the Bible correspondence course.
Radio and the Bible Marking Plan
It is advantageous at this time to introduce the eight weeks of our specially prepared Bible-marking broadcasts with the offer of the beautiful Friendship Bible. As the requests come in, the members and workers deliver the Bibles to the interested radio listeners, and instruct them how to find the Scripture texts by page number as well as by Scripture reference. To facilitate further call-backs, we have prepared a Bible-marking outline that the visitor uses for the first four weeks. This is to make the radio listeners better acquainted with, and more interested in, the Bible marking, and to provide them with further source material when the first four weeks of Bible marking has been completed.
A printed copy of the references for the second four weeks of the Bible marking is also available, so that actually three visits can be made to the homes.
How to Advertise Public Meetings
Soon after the Bible marking has been completed, the Voice of Prophecy radio crusade begins. Preceding the follow-up crusade the members of the participating church have been praying earnestly for the success of the meetings. Prayer band groups have been organized, and in some areas around-the-clock prayer has been ascending in the interests of the radio crusade. Spot announcements on radio, and sixty-second spots on television are used to announce the coming crusade, which should be held in a neutral place, such as a civic auditorium. This avoids loss of attendance through prejudice.
A half-page ad is placed in the newspaper a few days before the opening night. The layout of the newspaper ad is similar to the handbill, window card, and billboard layout, resulting in more effective advertising. Three or four strategically located billboards on the main highways and arteries of the city are most effective, and many thousands of persons view this form of advertising who would never notice it in any other media. Telephone calls are made by the members of the church, attempting, if possible, to call every name in the telephone book.
An "interest questionnaire" is supplied to members of the church, on which names of former Adventists, backsliders, new interests, are turned in to the pastor with full information. Bible school names are procured from Faith for Today, Voice of Prophecy, It Is Written, and Signs of the Times offices. An invitation to attend the meetings is sent to those on these lists by the sponsoring organizations.
Teamwork
Teamwork is essential in following up the Daily Broadcast. Various committees are organized, such as the welcoming committee, the music committee, decorating committee, Friendship Bible committee, ushering committee, transportation committee. A large percentage of the church members can have a definite part in the follow-up effort. Many people would like to attend a meeting such as this if they had transportation. It would be the duty of the transportation committee to arrange transportation for these individuals.
A nursery is provided to care for the smaller children, so that the parents may be able to listen undisturbed and to participate in each service.
The Voice of Prophecy team—consisting of the local pastor, the Voice of Prophecy guest speaker, the soloist, any guest pastors brought in for the follow-up, Bible instructors, laymen—meet every other morning at nine o'clock for a special season of prayer on behalf of the interest names received during the crusade, and those with whom members of the team are working.
Most of the time each day is spent in an intensive visitation program by which every person is reached. It is most interesting to search out the many interests in every town that has had the Voice of Prophecy Daily Broadcast on its local station for a year or more. Such a three-week crusade as this is most effective because of the "saturation" the population has had through the Daily Broadcast. It certainly is very different from holding a three-week "cold turkey" crusade.
Let's Go to Church on Sunday
An integral facet of the Voice of Prophecy follow-up program is the visitation every Sunday morning of the various Protestant churches in the community. The team members fan out and attend several churches, getting acquainted with the pastors, and inviting them to attend the Voice of Prophecy services, and to offer prayer if they are willing to do so. As this invitation is given, the pastors are sometimes surprised that Seventh-day Adventists would desire their participation. During the second week and on, the Voice of Prophecy crusade speaker, with the local pastor, should visit as many of the non-Adventist pastors as possible in their own homes, thus getting acquainted with their families and having Christian fellowship and prayer with them. As a result of this friendship and willingness to pray and fellowship with those of other faiths we have found much prejudice broken down. In many places from the pulpit some of these pastors have invited their members to attend the Voice of Prophecy crusade. The Voice of Prophecy team members should also visit the local Ministerial Association meetings, if they are held during the time of the crusade.
The format for the actual meeting, of course, is flexible. A film series, such as The Life of St. Paul, is usually shown from 7:00 to 7:30 P.M. From 7:30 to 7:45, a quick-moving musical program. The music must be top notch, for today we are competing with Hollywood and professional musicians.
From 7:45 to 8:00 is the opening prayer, announcements, offering, distribution of the Friendship Bible, and a special solo just before the sermon. From 8:00 to 8:45 is the sermon.
The sermon, of course, is combined with Bible marking. (See THE MINISTRY, March, 1964, for details of Bible-marking program.) Approximately eleven to fourteen texts are presented for the congregation to follow and look up and mark in their Friendship Bibles. During the services various means are used to obtain names of the interested persons present. The Friendship Bible is offered for use each night. Those who are able to attend ten or more of the twenty-one nights may keep the Bible. After the tenth night we announce that the Friendship Bible may still be worked for, since there are plans in the making for a Voice of Prophecy Bible seekers' class that will follow the crusade. Those who attend some of the crusade meetings, plus the Voice of Prophecy Bible seekers' class, will still be able to earn their Friendship Bibles.
Of course, some will not participate in the Bible-marking program. A second method is used to reach them. On various evenings when the attendance is up, plain No. 10 envelopes are passed down each aisle and offered to every person. From the platform the speaker displays a Voice of Prophecy sermon booklet, written by the Voice of Prophecy speaker, H. M. S. Richards. He announces that he would like to send one of these sermon booklets to each one, and asks those who would like to receive it in the mail to fill out the envelope, giving their names and mailing addresses. This will help so much in getting this booklet to them promptly. He makes a point of it being so much easier to put the booklet into the addressed envelope and the stamp on the corner than to have to type in all the names and addresses from cards or slips of paper. This is an excellent method of obtaining names.
After the Crusade
When a Voice of Prophecy radio crusade has been completed, actually it is just the beginning. The Voice of Prophecy speaker is guest of the host pastor and his church on the fourth Sabbath of the crusade. Baptisms are planned for the third and fourth weekends of the series. Near the close of the crusade, an announcement is made of the Voice of Prophecy Bible seekers' class, which will meet Saturday mornings at ten o'clock in the pastor's study.
The crusade closes on a Saturday night, with a call for surrender. This is not simply an altar call. Early in the service each person is given a card on which he is asked to sign his name, but he is not told exactly how it is to be used. After the sermon comes the call for surrender, and the appeal is made for those who want to keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath and to study in preparation for baptism into the body of Christ, the church. The speaker asks each such person to put a check mark on his card and turn it over. Then all cards are passed to the aisle where the ushers gather them up.
On this last night a special "afterglow meeting" is announced for Sunday night, when something unusual and unique will take place in the auditorium. It is called a Voice of Prophecy university-type roundtable discussion. Tables are brought in and placed in a wide V form with chairs on both sides of each arm of the V. The Voice of Prophecy guest speaker, and the host pastor sit at the apex or point of the V. Opportunity is given to those present to ask questions about what they have heard at the crusade meetings during the preceding three weeks, or over the Voice of Prophecy Daily Broadcasts. People are invited to bring their friends and even their pastors to these discussions. On the table in front of each chair are the first two lessons of the Voice of Prophecy Faith Bible Course.
