IT ALL began two years before it happened. This is the simple story of an evangelistic campaign that became a profound experience for a church.
For several years the Sligo Seventh-day Adventist church in Takoma Park has carried on continuous Sunday evening evangelism. The results have been good; the attendance has been more than adequate; but there was a large number of those who had not quite been brought to decision. In a staff meeting the ministers of the church—William Loveless, Floyd Strunk, and Melvin Tompkins —gave study to a different kind of evangelism. This evangelism would involve the careful training and preparation of the laymen of the church. It was decided with the help of V. W. Schoen, of the Home Missionary Department of the General Conference, to inaugurate a plan of lay training that would mobilize and train the laymen of the church for action.
In the fall of the same year, 1964, a lay training school was begun, staffed entirely by laymen. The school was an immediate success, with a graduating class of eighty. A second school was held during the winter, and a third school held in the late spring and summer. The solid preparation of more than two hundred laymen trained to give Bible studies and trained in the art of approaching people proved to be an invaluable service in the story you are about to read.
Through providential guidance of the Lord, that same summer one of Washington's major television stations was opened up to a local television program featuring Dr. Winton Beaven and the pastor, William Loveless, in a weekly dialog program entitied "Concept." Free Bibles were offered to all who would write in, and the Bible marking plan was used on television with a remarkable response. More than seven thousand Bibles were mailed to people in the Washington area, and the mail to the program astounded even the station.
In the winter of 1965 a meeting of the board of elders of Sligo church was called, and at that time the pastoral staff discussed in detail with them the needs and plans of evangelism for the fall of 1965. The lay training program was going well. The television program was in full progress. And it seemed wise, after prayerful deliberation, to invite in an evangelistic team for a short two-week reaping-type meeting. It was felt by the elders and the staff that by the fall of 1965 a solid base of good interest would be ready for a reaping program. So it was moved that an invitation be extended to Pastor William Fagal and the Faith for Today team to come to the Washington area for a two-week revival-reaping session in the fall of the year. Before the invitation was extended to Faith for Today the church board was asked for its approval and advice, and full agreement was given to proceed with the recommendations from the board of elders, and we here give you the simple story of the results step by step.
A number of important decisions were made early in the spring of 1965. The campaign was still a full eight months away, but already it was important to select and train leaders to organize the church into an effective advertising and follow-up .program. The home missionary committee of the church met several times during the months of May and June to select leaders and outline a program of action.
First and foremost it was necessary to collect and process the names of former Seventh-day Adventists and non-Seventh-day Adventists who had in previous times had contact in some way with the church or its programs. There was a mailing list of interests that received mail three or four times a year from the church. There was a large list of television interests, another list of those who had attended the Sunday evening meetings, and a number of former SDA's. For several weeks information sheets were put in the church bulletins to be turned in by the members, giving additional names. It was felt wise to continue promoting the lay training program even during the busy months of the summer. In July of 1965 a lay training program was begun which graduated over forty.
The evangelistic meetings were to begin on Sabbath, September 25, and conclude on Sabbath, October 9—two full weeks and three Sabbaths. It was felt, therefore, that it would be necessary for visitation teams to personally visit approximately two thousand key interests in the Washington area two Sabbaths before the campaign began. The conference ministerial department secretary, Orley Berg, was invited to come and participate in a training program for the visitation teams. The visitation was to be a simple, personal invitation to the opening meeting on Sabbath afternoon. It was not a visit designed to enter the home but simply to stop by and mention the meetings and leave a handbill and four tickets to the opening service.
Seven important committees were organized—the advertising, transportation, mailing, Bible, music, visiting, and clerical. The duties of the committees were as follows:
The advertising committee was to cover the meetings with news stories to the local papers, radio, and television stations; arrange for union paper advertisements to collect names, arrange for the sending of a pastoral letter to all the church membership list, to the television list, and to the interest list of the church; to arrange for window cards and placards, radio and television spot advertisements, and newspaper advertisements, and to work with Faith for Today in making sure that the letter from Faith for Today was received by all their interests in the Washington area.
The transportation committee was charged with the duty of arranging for transportation of those non-Adventists who needed transportation to and from the meetings.
The mailing committee was charged with the job of mailing out handbills and tickets to about 7,500 television contacts and names of interested persons in the Washington area, and during the meetings to mail the sermon offered each evening. Pastor Fagal used the These Times sermon series, which he wrote some time ago on the doctrines of the church, as a free give-away each night. Sermon request cards were used every night as a means of collecting names and taking record of those who were present. As soon as the mailing committee finished processing the non-Adventist cards during the meeting, the cards went directly that night to the clerical committee which took the cards and arranged them alphabetically and placed the date on a master card in an alphabetical file so that an accurate record could be kept of the non-Adventist attendance.
The clerical committee then reported to the pastors during the meetings those who were attending regularly so they could be visited by Pastor Dalrymple (of Faith for Today), the pastoral staff, and the Faith for Today team. The heavy visitation made possible by the careful work of the clerical committee cannot be overemphasized.
The Bible committee distributed Bibles each night to be used in the Bible marking plan.
The music committee arranged for musical items other than the quartet during the series. It was possible, therefore, to have a guest choir or the church choir for most of the meetings during the entire two-week series.
The visiting committee planned and organized the visiting of non-Adventists and former Seventh-day Adventist names, and the mass door-to-door visitation was conducted and arranged for by this committee. In addition to those who had graduated from the lay training course, a one-hour training session for all those who were in the visiting teams was conducted by the conference ministerial secretary and pastors. An estimated 240 Sligo members participated in the door-to-door visitation program, contacting personally 1,800 homes on two Sabbath afternoons before the meetings began. It was this sustained visiting program and emphasis on personal interest that paid off as the meetings progressed.
Important, of course, to the whole undertaking was the prayer life of the church. Various prayer bands were organized in the General Conference office, the Review and Herald office, the Washington Sanitarium, and Columbia Union College, as well as the church, for a special prayer at noon for the meetings. Many members pledged themselves to daily prayer for months before the meetings began, that God's Holy Spirit might use the organization set up to take care of the detail work.
The careful concern of Faith for Today's staff must be pointed out as an important part of the success of these meetings. Gordon Dalrymple, director of the Bible School and Public Relations for Faith for Today, was very active in working with the ministerial staff of the church to ensure adequate preparation, execution, and follow-up of the meetings. He came to Washington to meet with the staff at its regular Monday morning staff meeting to lay careful plans. All the handbill copy, tickets, announcements, and titles of the meetings were screened by both the Faith for Today staff and the Sligo church staff before they went to press. The experience of working closely and carefully with the Faith for Today staff was indeed a broadening and enriching experience for the ministerial staff of Sligo church.
What happened on Sabbath afternoon, September 25, 1965? In accordance with a plan already worked out, it was decided to begin the meetings on Sabbath afternoon rather than Sunday night. This proved to be a profitable plan. The opening meeting found the Sligo church full to the last seat, with many non-Adventists in attendance. The crowds were maintained throughout the two weeks, with the Sabbath afternoon meetings by far the most important in terms of non-Adventists attending and in terms of the subjects presented.
During the night meetings Sunday through Friday a Faith for Today color film was shown at ten minutes before seven, with the nightly program beginning promptly at seven-thirty. It was felt that it would be wise to close the meetings as near eight-thirty as possible. This also proved popular with those who came to hear and see.
Pastor Fagal began making urgent appeals at the second Sabbath afternoon meeting. Decision cards were passed out to the congregation at the close of every service, and those present were urged to indicate a decision in one or more of several categories on the card. This method of decision-getting was used in preference to a public appeal or altar call with great success. When the meetings concluded, 125 people indicated a desire for baptism. Sixty-eight non-Adventists indicated a desire to follow the Lord Jesus and keep His commandments. On the final Sabbath morning service nineteen precious souls were baptized at the eleven o'clock service. There were many wet eyes and happy hearts in the Sligo church at that moving service when several of the candidates gave a personal testimony. Interestingly enough, of the young people who participated in the first baptism, all were going to a public high school or university.
A class in the prophecies of the book of Revelation is being held on Wednesday nights as a follow-up to the series, along with the pastor's Bible class on Sabbath morning. The Faith for Today reaping campaign has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that public evangelism is not dead when properly planned. The Lord, in adding His blessing, added the greatest blessing of all—a deepened spiritual life for a congregation of God's church.