PERHAPS the greatest tribute as a soldier of the cross that could be paid to H. M. S. Richards is today's multi-faceted complexion of the organization he founded forty years ago. Few men, young or old, possess the flexibility of mind that would allow the scope and diversity of operations embodied in the Voice of Prophecy of 1970.
From tried and true radio preaching that was as much in vogue in 1940 as it is in 1970, to the strictly contemporary sounds that characterize the Voice of Prophecy's outreach to teenagers, Dr. Richards has given both counsel and caution, but always the green light to move ahead in faith. He reminds associates continually of a man who is constantly looking over the horizon at what may pop into view at any moment.
Such godly flexibility allows the Voice of Prophecy to be of continually greater service to the Seventh-day Adventist faith generally, and to church workers in particular. Consider this quick survey of what the Voice of Prophecy now offers to church workers:
In radio programming, the once-a-week broadcast draws many of the more than one thousand two hundred letters that come to broadcast headquarters every day. The educated sophisticate, along with the unschooled, testifies to the effectiveness of the once-a-week broadcast, which is heard on hundreds of North American radio stations.
To make these broadcasts effective locally, pastors can advertise through news papers, through the distribution of logs that focus attention on the specific broad cast, and through community radio pro gram surveys that call attention to the broadcast.
Increasingly, the Voice of Prophecy is being sponsored as a daily program. Such programming, when coupled with intensive local advertising and promotion, invariably results in significant increases in church membership.
Adding to the effectiveness of the once-a-week and daily broadcasts are two public-service-type programs which the active pastor will try to place on the air. These are A Time for Singing, a fifteen-minute program of sacred music, with a prayer and a Bible promise by Dr. Richards; and The Living Word, a five-minute program of comment about a Bible verse. Audition tapes for both of these programs are available to pastors who wish to contact program managers of radio stations.
The Voice of Prophecy's Bible correspondence schools offer to the pastor a wide variety of courses in English as well as several foreign languages. The Faith course, long the basic Bible study series, is currently undergoing extensive rewriting and complete format change to meet the challenge of the 1970's.
A complete New Bible course, Focus on Living, is part of a total community evangelism program and is currently available to pastors who wish to follow an entire preplanned series of steps through initial community contact to reaping meetings.
Another addition to the Bible correspondence courses is The High Way, a colorfully decorated, contemporary-styled series of fifteen "Scenes" for teen young people. This course replaces the Bright Horizon Bible course and is part of the new Voice of Prophecy outreach for teens, The Way Out.
Aggressive pastors who lead their church members in Voice of Prophecy Bible course enrollment excursions into the community with newly designed, colorful VOP enrollment cards, are among those who continue to testify to the effectiveness of Voice of Prophecy Bible correspondence courses as a channel toward conversion.
"I've found that every Voice of Prophecy interest sent to me from the conference office is a golden opportunity," says one pastor. "I just pray at every door for God to help me bring this one interest on into complete church fellowship, and you know, it is surprising how often that happens!"
The constantly expanding operations of the Voice of Prophecy Evangelistic Association offer to pastors help of a most significant nature. Adding to these numerous services available to pastors is an entire arsenal of evolving projects, all designed to complement local ministries. The exploding 1970's finds the Voice of Prophecy almost literally exploding its witness.