THE East Jamaica Conference, which is a part of the West Indies Union Conference, was privileged to have Robert H. Pierson, our world leader, in its territory for a week of evangelistic meetings held June 23-30. These meetings were specially arranged by our division president, C. L. Powers, as a prelude to the quadrennial union session of the West Indies Union and the fourth quadrennial division council, which was held in Jamaica for the first time.
These meetings were held in the large metropolis of Kingston, Jamaica. Kingston has a population of more than 500,000 inhabitants. The campaign began in the spacious and attractive North Street Temple and for the grand climax was transferred to the National Arena, with a capacity crowd of more than 7,000 people.
On the opening night approximately 3,000 members and visitors attended. There were as many in the courtyard of the church as in the inside of the building. The North Street Temple is the largest church in the Inter-American Division. It has a membership of approximately 3,000. Although many outstanding evangelists such as R. Allan Anderson, R. L. Boothby, and R. H. Robertson have preached the message at the North Street Temple, we never saw greater gatherings than during the Pierson evangelistic campaign.
All the workers and the fourteen churches in the city cooperated in helping to make these meetings a success. Each night a different choir from a church in the city rendered a message in song. This gave the preacher a great deal of inspiration. A mass choir of 300 voices sang for the weekend services at the National Arena to a capacity crowd on Sabbath and Sunday night.
This was an unprecedented week of meetings in attendance as well as in terms of results. We are happy to report that 321 decisions were made for Christ. A team of Bible instructors are following up the interest and Pastor C. S. Greene continues to follow up the campaign with meetings on Wednesday and Sunday nights. Dr. M. Fowler, director of the Andrews Memorial Hospital, is assisting by giving a health lecture each Wednesday before the sermon. The interest is still good. Three baptisms have been arranged. We anticipate baptizing 100 as a result of this one-week campaign.
The offerings for the week amounted to more than $1,200. We thank God for the great response and the full cooperation given by all of our workers and laity. Indeed Elder Pierson has made history. This is the first time a president of the General Conference has brought such a dynamic evangelistic thrust to our field.
As a climax to his visit, the leading radio station in Jamaica gave us one hour of radio time at a nominal fee to broadcast his Sabbath sermon, which was heard by more than 150,000 people all over Jamaica.
During the visit of Elders Pierson and Powers, courtesy calls were made to the Governor-General, Sir Clifford Campbell, the city commissioners, and the American ambassador in Jamaica.
A lasting impression for good has been made by these meetings. Many backsliders have returned to the Lord and we can truly say that our world leader, Elder Pierson, has set the pace for a great, sweeping, unprecedented revival of soul winning to take place in the days ahead. To God be the glory!
