A one-day mini health fair, along with house-to-house visitation and an ongoing children's Story Hour, led to a lay health-evangelistic series entitled "Reach for Life" in the Waterman Gar den area of San Bernardino. The project, conducted largely by laymen and sup ported by the lay activities council of the Loma Linda University church, com bined the health approach with an in tensive house-to-house visitation sched ule and resulted in baptisms.
This approach follows the clear in struction given the church that "it is well, in presenting the truth to unbe lievers, first to present some subjects upon which they will agree with us. The principles of health and temperance will appeal to their judgment, and we can from these subjects lead them on to un derstand the binding claims of the fourth commandment." Counsels on Health, p. 545.
More than one hundred local resi dents participated in a variety of health-screening tests during the oneday fair and received instructional ma terial and counseling by medical and other personnel from the Loma Linda University Medical Center and the nearby San Bernardino Seventh-day Adventist church. Health films were shown continuously throughout the day.
The goal of the follow-up visitation program was to visit every home in the designated area and determine the spir itual condition of each family. Health and inspirational literature was used along with follow-up invitations for guided Bible study courses. Every home was visited at least four times and, be cause of the general good feelings in the community from the Story Hour and health programs, the response in the homes was much greater than antici pated. The members of the lay visitation team, being fully employed otherwise at their jobs, found some difficulty in re sponding to all the interests aroused.
Each team member was assigned a block of homes and took the responsi bility of following-up interests and bringing them to the health-evangelism series that followed.
The series itself consisted of a twiceweekly, five-month public effort con ducted in a local hall, in which doc trinal, conversion, and health subjects were blended. Six months after the con clusion of the effort, follow-up is contin uing, with members of four families not yet baptized who are receiving studies.
