THE first time I saw the familiar placard was on the wall of the press-room at the Seventh-day Adventist Japan Publishing House at Hodogaya. Ever since, it has been called to mind when a particularly difficult task has confronted me. "The Difficult We Do at Once—The Impossible Takes a Little Longer" that placard read, and it certainly has much to say to Seventh-day Adventists all over the world whose way of life is a commitment to the accomplishment of the seemingly impossible.
To my way of thinking, possibly outside of the demands that daily confront an academy principal, there is no more seemingly impossible job in our denomination than that of being a full-time evangelist. The long hours, the many moves, the task of trying to do justice to the bringing up of children under these conditions, the struggle for cooperation of lethargic church members, the problems involved in coordinating a team of workers, the need for continual optimism and sparkling Christian witness in the face of the bitter est attacks of Satan, the nerve-racking wrestling for souls, the necessity of keeping in top physical condition in spite of all the demands on time—all these and many more such demands are well-known to anyone who has experienced the challenge of this calling.
Please understand, though, that what follows is not intended in any way to be critical of our hard-pressed evangelists, but is an attempt to actually find some answers to our needs in the face of the additional challenge of an unsurpassed explosion of knowledge and technical proficiency in this last decade.
Updating Those Notes
Since becoming a college Bible teacher, with the teaching of evangelism one of my chief areas of interest, it has been a source of real frustration to me to continually hear the adverse criticism leveled at our evangelists on the part of my fellow academicians. In our own Seminary as well as in our colleges, I have often heard evangelists and evangelism held up to ridicule by a teacher or group of teachers. Since most of these faculty members who engage in such criticism have never enjoyed the privilege of conducting even one evangelistic campaign, it would be easy to pass off their remarks by stating, "Well, they're down on what they're not up on!"
On the other hand, it is hard to justify the practice of evangelists who are still, in essence, preaching sermons prepared ten, fifteen, or even twenty years ago, in spite of the tremendous increase in all fields of knowledge in just the past few years. Illustrative of what I'm talking about are the following items still occasionally repeated:
1. There is a hole in the sky in the constellation of Orion.
2. Noah's ark has been found.
3. Russia is portrayed in Ezekiel 38 and 39, with some of her cities named.
4. The walls of Joshua's Jericho have been uncovered.
5. Government officials have ridden in flying saucers.
These, of course, are only some of the errors which can bring our message into disrepute among informed people. In areas such as historical dates and events, nutritional information, archeological discoveries, geology, biology, astronomy, con temporary theology, prophetic interpretation, textual criticism, and even current events, both evangelists and pastors often reveal that they are not keeping abreast of current thinking and of the most recent discoveries.
When the demands on an evangelist's time are taken into consideration, along with the fact that even the experts in each of the fields mentioned above find it difficult to keep up with all that is being discovered, there is certainly an understand able reason for the evangelist to be out-of-date. Take for instance the field of Biblical archeology, which I teach. In the last few years outstanding materials have been published concerning excavations at Sardis, Gezer, Shechem, Arad, Heshbon, Ai, Masada, and Jerusalem, to name just a few. Continual work is progressing at sites such as Ostia, Pompeii, Herculaneum, Corinth, and Ephesus. Thousands of clay tablets discovered back in the infancy of this developing science are still being read or remain to be deciphered. Texts of He brew scrolls found in the Dead Sea area are still not published. It is estimated that only 2 percent of available Biblical sites have been even partially excavated. The whole field of New Testament archeology is still in the process of development. Journals and reports contain technical jargon that the lay reader has difficulty understanding. How can a busy evangelist ever hope to keep up-to-date in a field such as this? On the other hand, there is such tremendous popular interest in this field, as is attested by scores of paperbacks being published on archeology, that the evangelist is neglecting a most effective tool if he doesn't use archeological materials.
Don't Believe the Press
Compounding the problem in the field of archeology are the inaccuracies of the popular press, which is so often the source of information used by the evangelist. A striking example of such misinformation appeared in a California newspaper last year reporting the work being done at Heshbon by the Andrews University team. The head line states "Americans Find Church of 6400 B.C." The article then describes the discovery of mosaic floors and vaulted walls of a Byzantine church "dating back to 6400 B.C." (If the errors involved in this statement aren't immediately apparent to you, you need to spend some time reviewing your archeological background!) The ancient city of Heshbon had different names at various periods, such as Heshcbon, Hesebon, Hesbon, Hesban, Husban, Esebon, Esbus, but this newspaper article came up with what was a new one to me, "Hasban."
Unfortunately, some of the most read able and popular sources of archeological information are of the superficial and sensational type which lead the uninformed reader to such conclusions as chariot wheels have been discovered in the Red Sea. Many still misuse old legends of the discovery of Noah's ark or contemporary portrayals of Christ's appearance.
Even archeological material published in the Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary is out-of-date and, in some cases, no longer considered valid. Dr. Horn would be the first to point out, as he has done in published articles, that Garstang's claim to have uncovered the walls of Joshua's Jericho and also the claim that Solomon's cop per refinery near Ezion-Geber had been found are no longer considered valid as a result of more recent archeological work on these sites.
What, then, is the evangelist to do who may not have the time or the expertise to sift through sensational or contradictory archeological reports? Should he steer away from using these materials, which contribute so much to our understanding of Bible times and the support of Biblical accuracy? Obviously, when there is such popular interest in archeology in many areas today, he must be able to intelligently use this material.
What should be done, then, to accomplish the seeming impossibility of keeping abreast in this important field, as well as in the other fields previously indicated, in the light of the extremely limited time the evangelist has to study?
Obviously, in spite of the outstanding efforts of the editors of THE MINISTRY to help evangelists, pastors, and Bible instructors to keep current, not enough is being accomplished as yet in this area. Perhaps part of the problem is that either some of the articles are not being read carefully or they are not taken seriously. One example in point is Dr. A. F. John's articles on the interpretation of Ezekiel 38 and 39 in the August and September, 1962, issues of THE MINISTRY. The case he presents is so clear that anyone desiring to preach on Russia in Bible prophecy would do well to read them carefully first.
Pooling Our Resources
One suggestion that might prove helpful would be to ask experts in each field to suggest from time to time the most relevant and authoritative sources currently avail able that can provide a busy evangelist with easy-to-understand materials, and to print these in a prominent spot in this journal.
But the urgency of the problem seems to me to call for even more drastic measures. We have resource personnel in our denomination who can contribute immeasurably to the work of our evangelists. Unfortunately, most of these men have never in their lives been involved in direct public evangelism. On the other hand we have developed a sort of a "star" system among evangelists that often seems to lead the evangelist to consider himself the only one capable of providing what the public wants and needs.
Why not combine these talents in teams that would prove mutually beneficial? Why not take a teacher of history or archeology or nutrition or textual criticism or biology or a combination of such teachers and give them a year's sabbatical leave to work with an accomplished evangelistic team or teams in a field training program, giving these teachers actual experience in developing and presenting their materials in such a way that their field of interest would be made understandable and interesting to the general public. This association would also acquaint the evangelist with the most recent research available and give him some insights in the use of such materials in his future ministry. It would also break down some of the present misunderstandings between teachers and ministers.
Then the teacher, upon returning to the college or university classroom, could unite with ministers and workers for workshops in his own union and present field-tested materials that would be of much greater value to the workers attending such institutes.
From this might develop regional or nation-wide evangelistic conferences that were devoted not to promotional or organizational items but to the actual sharing of information and ideas developed from field experience.
If this is too much to hope for, certainly knowledgeable persons in the specialized field could keep the Ministerial Association posted on the latest discoveries, or results of research, so that they in turn might pass them on through the pages of THE MINISTRY. Too often the voice heard is the one that raises objections without offering constructive alternatives. Evangelists and pastors alike would appreciate and benefit much from current information that can be used in a positive manner to undergird the truth of the three angels' messages.
A good example of this being done is found in the great flood of information that Armstrong comes up with in support of Creationism as it relates to the Bible Sabbath, both in the Plain Truth magazine and in his many radio broadcasts. He must have a very extensive research team at work gathering the latest facts and figures. Why can't we have the same through the eminently capable and dedicated scholars we have in our church? Vast sums of money are being expended in some of these fields, but how much of the results are being used directly to augment our supreme mission, that of reaching the masses with the special positive truths for this time, truths that are to prepare a people for the second coming of the Lord?
In these days when evangelists are con fronted with the challenge of an ever-in creasing explosion of knowledge and technical efficiency, yesterday's methods and materials and second-best efforts are not representative of the great message God has given us. By the pooling of resources a vital new dimension might well be added to our evangelistic mission.
