NINETEEN HUNDRED AND SEVENTY was a great year for soul winning! Two hundred and twenty-eight men each baptized between 90 and 150 persons. Fifty-six men baptized between 151 and 250 persons; twelve baptized between 251 and 350; and five exceeded the 350 mark. Two of these men were from the South American Division, and one each from the Far Eastern, Afro-Mideast, and North American divisions.
We are especially eager to see the work go forward in new areas. During 1970 there were 201 workers who entered new territory and opened up new work. Also, during the year there were 146 workers who launched out in their first evangelistic campaigns. We pay them special tribute, and wish for them many fruitful years of soul winning.
The conference administrators and departmental secretaries have also been active in evangelism, 132 of them conducting their own meetings. Two of our union depart mental secretaries, P. Pohjola, of Finland, and B. Gabriel, of the Netherlands, caught such a vision of greater evangelism that following their campaigns they tendered their resignations to enter full-time evangelistic work.
Brother Robert Samms, treasurer of the West Jamaica Conference, besides carrying on his responsibilities as conference treasurer, held an effort, completed and dedicated a church, and baptized 144 persons.
Pastor Raimundo Lima, while district pastor in Sao Luis, Maranhao, of the North Coast Mission in Brazil, baptized 440 persons without conducting any public meetings. When asked the secret of his success he confided that it was a result of "organizing the members of the church and preaching on justification by faith." Pastor Lima has since been appointed Ministerial secretary of the mission.
Many of our pastors are making their church programs increasingly evangelistic. Robert H. Carter, secretary of the North eastern Conference, calls our special attention to E. J. Humphrey, pastor of the Bethel church in Brooklyn, New York, who, as a result of his total church program and summer campaign, was blessed with 136 souls for the year.
Figures alone do not tell the full story, and at times can even be misleading. Still, a good report "makes fat the bones." We are pleased to send on this thrilling report. We recognize, however, that the success is greatly due to many others whose names do not appear, so we would pay tribute also to the untiring efforts of countless numbers of pastors, Bible instructors, and laymen who have faithfully gathered in the names and nurtured them for the harvest. And their active participation in the evangelistic campaigns have made them a success.
It is also recognized that some evangelists work with large teams; others work alone. It is impossible in rendering a report of this nature to take all these factors into ac count. Everyone will acknowledge that the work in some areas is far more difficult than in others. Consider the Southwestern Union Conference. Although it produced only a few men of the century, it claims the highest per capita baptisms in North America, as well as the highest per capita growth.
God alone is fully conscious of the end less hours of faithful ministry on the part of His servants in every nook and cranny of the earth. We rejoice together in that which has been wrought through His power, and we look forward to the future with expectations of far greater accomplishments. There is so much to be done and so little time. Let us offer special prayers that as a result of Laymen's Year, 1971, together with the major thrust of MISSION 72, we may see many thousands embracing the precious truths we love. Let us each be faithful in the work committed to us, always praying for that latter-rain power so needful for the completion of the task.