IN MY Bible is a prized possession—a bookmark printed long years ago by a Denver church in memory of its minister. Underneath the picture of this venerable man of God are the words:
G. E. Anglebarger
Forty-three years of Gospel Service
Three thousand Converts
Four thousand Baptisms
Three hundred Marriages
Six hundred Funerals
A multitude of Kindly Deeds
Most of the readers of THE MINISTRY have never heard of G. W. Anglebarger. He never held an administrative office; never held a city-wide and spectacular evangelistic effort. There were no D.D.'s or L.L.D.'s or Ph.D.'s, not even an A.B., after his name, yet he was highly educated, an indefatigable student of the Scriptures and other great books.
The name means much to me because I was one of the four thousand baptized. He was my "spiritual" father, my pattern preacher. A number of Denver Seventh-day Adventist churches, thousands of converts, including many ministers, are monuments to the ministry of G. W. Anglebarger. What made him the man he was? Why his success in soul winning?
1. He preached the Word of God—both the Incarnate and the Written Word. His sermons were Christ-centered, Bible-centered, carefully calculated to establish us in "the faith once delivered to the saints." He was a master in expository preaching.
2. He drank deeply at the fountain of faith. He loved the truth, proclaimed the truth. There was no place in his study or in his preaching for the Paul Tillichs or the Joseph Fletchers of his day. He had no time or place for speculative philosophy. He was not an extremist. The Bible was his textbook. A "thus saith the Lord" was his message. His sermons were not queered by questions or darkened by doubts. With positive authoritative preaching he proclaimed the "certainty" of the Advent message.
3. Every sermon was followed by a call. Thousands of feet trod the path to the altar in the churches of his pastorates. Four thousand baptisms in forty-three years averages almost two a week.
4. Pastor Anglebarger was a pastor-evangelist. At times he held a series of evangelistic meetings, but not often. Every Sun day night, however, there was a light in the church. Each Sabbath morning sermon was an opportunity for evangelism. Almost every night a Bible study was given. Day after day, night after night, Pastor and Mrs. Anglebarger could be seen on their bi cycles, then in their model-T, along the highways and byways of Denver. The result? First there was one church in Denver, then there were two, then three, then four, then five.
Why So Few Converts?
The expression "pastor-evangelist" is used advisedly. There should not even be a hyphen to divide the two words. Should not every minister be a "pastorevangelist"? We rejoice when men with extraordinary ability hold city-wide efforts, but most of us are "lesser lights." Is "average ability" a valid excuse for our not holding evangelistic efforts? Is not a call to the ministry a call to preach the message? Why do so many ministers have so few converts?
1. Some have been ordained without having given full proof of their call to the ministry. Is it too much to suggest that every intern, before ordination, should be sent into a "dark county" or a city with few believers, to win souls and gather together a company of believers? Are we not ignoring the counsel of the Lord when young men are placed in charge of churches, there to be overwhelmed with campaigns and church problems? Would it not be advantageous to give even our college and academy Bible teachers sabbatical leave, not to take classes in religion in some pagan university, but to go into an unentered city and "preach the Word"?
2. There are pastors who "fear" to hold an evangelistic effort. If a man cannot pro claim our great doctrinal truths in such a manner as to lead people to cry out, "What must I do to be saved?" how can he expect to have believers say, " 'Did not our heart burn within us' " as he opened the Scriptures to us in the Sabbath morning sermon? In other words, the Sabbath morning sermon may not be any more effective than his Sunday evening presentation. There are pastors who "pasteurize" a church with their tame, lifeless sermons, and are sent from church to church, and at long last to sustentation. There are literature evangelists who win more souls than do some pastors.
3. One of the tragedies of our times are working wives. A minister's efficiency is cut in half, or more, when his wife is employed in some other line of work. He cannot, without risk to his reputation, do daytime visiting in the homes. His wife, worn with the toil of the day, cannot go with him for nighttime studies. His children are neglected. What is the price we pay for fine homes, luxurious furniture, late-model cars? The cost is measured not in money but in the blood of lost souls, some of whom are our own children.
Since the days of G. W. Anglebarger the work has grown marvelously. Everywhere there are miracles of divine grace in the transformation of lives once darkened and degraded by sin. There are unsung heroes of faith who have given their all for the saving of souls. The Lord is working mightily through the ministry of pastor-evangelists in all parts of the world. A tribute to the men of yesterday who built so well the foundations! A tribute, also, to the young men of today, and their wives, who are consecrated, dedicated workers, building, ever building, placing living stones in the spiritual temple whose glittering dome is almost completed.
