THE city of New Orleans in the summer of 1968 was the scene of an evangelistic campaign conducted for twelve weeks in the center of the city. Night after night I opened the meetings by quoting Revelation 14:6, 7, which fact accounts for the title of this article, "Three Angels Over New Orleans." At the conclusion of this meeting 229 people were baptized, with an additional thirty reclaimed to the faith.
W. J. Cleveland, my older brother, was the sponsor of the program as the pastor of the New Orleans church. It was my privilege, after twenty-five years, to work with him in the evangelistic campaign and be the principal speaker.
The meetings were well attended from the beginning and closed with more than a thousand people in attendance. On some occasions the attendance went as high as 1,500. We were granted the unexpected privilege of having one hour of advertising on television free of charge. It happened quite accidentally. You see, channel 8 in New Orleans has a weekly program on Tuesday night called Equal Time. The sponsors called and requested the privilege of filming my services, which request was granted. A week later I received a telephone call from them inviting me to participate in a one-hour panel, during which my work was to be exhibited to the public.
Upon my arrival at the studio, imagine my surprise to find a Catholic priest, an Episcopalian rector, the head of the city of New Orleans Disciples of Christ, and a reporter from Ebony magazine.
When we were on the air the moderator announced that the subject that evening would be, "What Place in the Twentieth Century Is There for Old-fashioned Fire and Brimstone Revivalism?" He gave me the privilege of speaking first. I told them of the broad spectrum of the operation there under the big tent; of our medical endeavors, which included bringing a van all the way from Nashville, Tennessee, and flying in a doctor to give free clinical examinations to those who should desire them. I told them that more 'than one hundred people had passed through that van on a single afternoon. I told of the educational program we were pursuing there by bringing little children in from the neighborhoods to teach them singing and other things. I told of the educational program by which we were sponsoring about seven or eight young students there. I told of the vast welfare program through which three hundred families or more were fed, including about nine hundred children. I told them of the Adventist operation world wide. When I was through, the moderator was taken aback, for he had not anticipated that such a well-balanced, far-reaching program was really going forward.
He turned to the Catholic priest and asked him what he had to say about that, to which the Catholic priest replied, "What Mr. Cleveland has described is not an old-fashioned fire and brimstone revival program but a well-balanced, comprehensive, modern church operation," and he said that I was to be congratulated for it.
Well, the moderator was stumped, and for the rest of the hour we had one grand commercial of the good being done by Seventh-day Adventists around the world. Andrews University sponsored this campaign as a field school, and for six weeks fifteen students from the college, representing five nations, were in attendance at our classes.
New Orleans is a staid old Catholic town, picturesque in its beauty, and full of American history. However, none of this diverted hungry souls in their search for truth. It was a high day in the city of New Orleans when in the baptismal pool, in one day alone, 139 new believers were immersed by the authority of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Our audience was interracial in nature, and our baptisms reflected the same.
Seeing my tent pitched right downtown next to the city auditorium, a gentleman walked up to me and asked, "Whom do you know in this town that you could have your tent pitched in this central location?"
My answer was, "I know Jesus." Yes, He was our sufficiency from beginning to end in that memorable campaign.
Since I left New Orleans an additional baptism has been held, bringing the total baptisms to 239. The pastor of the church envisions a baptism per month for many months to come. Ministers from as far away as Australia spent some time in our campaign with us, and the church membership of New Orleans and all the pas tors were highly cooperative in this enterprise. Racial barriers meant nothing in this great campaign for God. Members of our Saint Charles and Franklin Avenue churches came freely to the campaign and brought interested people. Everybody shared in the results.
Outstanding music was heard through out the campaign. F. F. Fordham of New York City was our music leader. Gerald Pennick and Celia Cleveland played the organ and piano. C. L. Brooks and Marshall Kelly provided special music, and in the latter stages Brenda Spraggins was our special musician.
Again we say, "What hath God wrought!" as we witness the miracle-working power of divine grace.
