A Flexible Witness

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. . .

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.


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October 1970

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H. M. S. Richards--Committed Evangelistic Preacher

It is most fitting that this issue of The Ministry be dedicated to H. M. S. Richards, dean of Seventh-day Adventist ministers, and for forty years a pioneer and peer among religious radio broadcasters. Dr. Richard's life has been totally committed to evangelism--the preaching of the good news of the gospel. His preaching ancestry reaches back through several generations. . .

If I were a Young Preacher. . .

I'D PREACH the Bible; preach it plain, simply, without frills, and let its mes sage cut deep, right to the heart of people. Nothing else will convict, convert, and con serve like the Word. It is the living Word of the living God, and therefore it is all-powerful wherever He directs it!"

Focus on Reaping

FOCUS ON REAPING, a Voice of Prophecy total evangelism reaping thrust, is designed to provide an opportunity for local pastor-evangelists, and conference and union evangelists to capitalize on the name and image of the Voice of Prophecy that has been built up during forty years of broad cast and Bible school evangelism.

A New Day in Electronic Evangelism

FACED with the complex, sophisticated problems of reaching the American teenager in today's chaotic society through a mass medium that changes almost weekly with radically new, different, and exciting advances both in machinery and programming concepts, the Voice of Prophecy began several years ago the painstaking process of designing a totally new radio evangelism thrust. . .

Wither Too or Whither To? No. 3

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This message was given by the writer at the recent General Conference Ministerial Pre-session in Atlantic City.]

Proposed New Theological Degrees

THE biennial meeting of the American Association of Theological Schools held in St. Louis, June 10-12, 1968, authorized the appointment of a special committee to study the question as to whether there should be a change in the nomenclature of the Bachelor of Divinity degree. . .

The Voice of Prophecy and You

Over the years, as the broadcast has built up a witness in hundreds of cities and tens of thousands of homes across America, we have always tried to do more than just teach the facts of the gospel to our listeners. Through our field service department we have, for years, referred the names of interested people who have completed enough phases of doctrinal study through the correspondence courses to local pastors. . .

Mystic Tongues Are Speaking (Part I)

I WANT to talk to you about the charismatic movement or neo-Pentecostalism, as it is also called. A movement that is bringing the so-called baptism of the Holy Spirit with all its concomitants, speaking in tongues and healings into the main line Protestant churches and Catholicism. "Charismatic," of course, stems from the Greek charisma., and refers to gifts of extraordinary power given a Christian by the Holy Spirit and for the good of the church. There are four reasons why I believe the charismatic movement deserves our attention:

Representing the Truth as It Is in Jesus

ALL evangelism may be summed up in eight words Jesus "the way, the truth, and the life." Regardless of what the sermon subject is, it should be as a highway leading to Christ. . .

The Public's Attitude Toward the SDA Church

THIS brief summary is prepared in response to the many requests for additional information about the recently completed study of the Adventist Church by the American Institute of Public Opinion (Gallup poll). This was a profile study to test U.S. public opinion regarding the church, the public's view of the church and attitudes toward its beliefs and activities.

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