New Temperance Data Service

COMPUTERS and electronic data machines are contributing to the progress of the message by providing quick reference materials, analyzing data, and storing information for later reference. . .

-director of the General Conference Temperance Department at the time this article was written

COMPUTERS and electronic data machines are contributing to the progress of the message by providing quick reference materials, analyzing data, and storing information for later reference.

Pioneering a new data service, the General Conference Temperance Department has developed the Listen Fingertip Data Service on alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and general temperance topics.

It is the first such service of its kind anywhere in the world, and of particular interest to Adventists. Previously there has been a strong challenge from moderation forces pouring out information and scientific data in an attempt to bolster their position. In response, our access to current available data, which at least partially sustains our total abstinence position, was limited and spasmodic.

Listen Magazine reference files were possibly the best source we had. However, three years ago we began to develop the Listen Fingertip Data Service. It is unique in that the only other service of its kind, operated by an East Coast university, provides data cards six months after the year of tabulation. Their cards are also largely scientific and often not under stood by the layman. Our service, on the other hand, is adapted for popular use. Data cards are mailed monthly to subscribers to this service. They are identical to the cards placed in our master data bank. We mail approximately 1,000 cards per year.

Mrs. Dollis Pierson, a qualified educator and wife of General Conference president Robert H. Pierson, capably directs the service and the research. Assisting her is another educator, Mrs. LaVerne Beeler, wife of the Columbia Union public relations director.

We tabulate our data from approximately 200 regular publications, research papers, official government documents, and historical research.

This has also meant the strengthening of our own library, now named the W. A. Scharffenberg Library in honor of our late brother who headed the world wide temperance work from 1945- 1962.

Reviewing the cards each quarter provides us with a picture of trends and assists us in our public contacts through spoken or written presentations.

It has provided an authoritative background for our temperance work never before possible. This service is utilized today not only by our department but by Loma Linda University and Andrews University, and many of our other institutions, apart from non-Adventist educational, medical, and government organizations.

It has become particularly valuable to pastors and temperance leaders for local churches, health and social workers, and educators. We therefore believe your church could greatly benefit by having this data at your finger tips.

This service, on processed cards and monthly mailings, with data index, is available to Adventists and Adventist institutions at the subsidized price of only $100 per year.

If, of course, your church would like the data unprocessed on color-coded cards only, we provide this at $50 per year. Take advantage of this unique data service and be well informed on temperance issues as they arise in your community.


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-director of the General Conference Temperance Department at the time this article was written

April 1975

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