More than thirty-three hundred persons were baptized in the Caribbean Union Conference in 1967. This was an all-time record in soul winning in this area. The union baptism goal had been set at three thousand for several years, but the goal was always illusive. But during 1967 our ministerial forces and office workers, backed up by a zealous laity, launched out into a massive evangelistic thrust, and God prospered their efforts with a large influx of souls.
In compiling this record we found ten of our district pastors had joined the elite club of Men of the Century. Many of our pastors stood on the threshold of the century.
The three-thousand achievement represents wonderful successes for the South Caribbean Conference, with 1,820 baptisms, and the East Caribbean Conference, with 1,062 persons baptized.
Under the dynamic leadership of S. L. Gadsby, conference president, the South Caribbean Conference planned an evangelistic campaign that took in every pastoral district. First, George Rainey, from the Ministerial Association of the Atlantic Union Conference, was invited to conduct a citywide campaign in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
With the cooperation and help of a team of fourteen workers, more than four hundred persons were baptized. The other fourteen hundred were the fruits of small crusades held in rural and suburban areas by district ministers who pastor five and more churches each.
Young ministerial workers in their first and second years of internships who had received their baptism of fire during the E. E. Cleveland Field School of Evangelism held in Port of Spain during the last quarter of 1966, using the methods and techniques taught them by the great preacher, conducted their first campaigns with tremendous success. One baptized seventy, two won fifty, and one led forty to Christ in single crusades.
In the East Caribbean Conference, G. Ralph Thompson, president, coined the slogan, "The Year of the 1,000," and challenged his men to reach this goal. With workers and laity cooperating in an all-out drive, this conference for the first time in history baptized more than one thousand converts.
This evangelistic breakthrough has resulted from the torrential blessings of God poured out upon His church, the inspiration generated by the big E. E. Cleveland crusade, and the determination and commitment of the ministry and laity to attempt greater soul-winning feats for God.
Already there is much evangelistic activity in 1968. The young men are holding forth during the first quarter, and will join the senior ministers in the second quarter in drives that will include every island of this archipelago. Our sights are set far beyond the three-thousand mark, and with God's great power we are determined to reach new soul-winning heights in 1968.