FOR THE SAKE OF A DUCK. The Sabbath Recorder

Transcription

1 The Sabbath Recorder 510 Watchung Ave., Box 868 Planfeld, N. J Second class postage pad at Planfeld, N. J '. f,.. (,: f FOR THE SAKE OF A DUCK Poor Rngo the duck! Grubbng for food on the bottom of Grenade r. Pond, n Toronto's Hgh Park, the duck got a pull-rng from a beverage can clampe,d around her beak. As a result the d'uck could not feed properly and faced starvaton when the pond froze over. Concerned. people saw her plght, and set n moton varous attempts to capture the brd and remove the rng. Frst, a cannon whch fres a large net was set up on the shores of the pond. But no success! Then a skn dver tred to scare Rngo out from the bulrushes. Agan, no success! The Toronto Humane Socety tred to allure Rngo wth bread and corn, but that only drew sea gulls from mles around. Fnally, Canada's champon duck-caller was called n, but although he got the attenton of nearly every duck n the pond, Rngo dd not respond. All for the sake of a d1uck! Rngo smply dd not understf;md that all these atte~pts were not desgned to frghten her, but to free her from her plght. Let's transfer the story of Rngo to a hgher sphere. Have you ever grasped the fact that God approaches you not to hurt but to help you? The methods He employs may startle you and at the begnnng even scare you. But God s out to assst you and to release you from the sn that- would eternauy harm you. Centures ago the Lord had a message for Hs own people, who were fleeng from Hm. " have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellous people, whch walketh n away that was not good, after ther own thoughts" (lsa'ah 65:2). Through Ezekel He sad to the same people: " have no pleasure n the death of the wcked; but that the wcked turn from hs way and lve: turn ye, turn ye from your evl ways: for why wll ye de, 0 house of srael?/1 (Ezekel 33: 11). There's the q'ueston you. must answer: Why wll you de?, -The Prare Overcomer THE SONSHNE SNGERS OF THE DENVER SEVENTH DAY BAPTST CHURCH Chuck Smth, Joe Mller, Nancy Brannon, Elzabeth Compton, Fe Steele, Luellen Sdor, Katrna Compton and Sharon Ford. December 1, 1973

2 rr The Sabbath AVALABLE FLMS Reeorder Frst ssue June 13, 1844 A Magazne for Chrstan Enlghtenment and nspraton Member of the Assocated Church Press BANGLADESlf - 75 Mllon n Transton. Up-to-date sound color move of ths new naton's struggle, and how Chrstans are helpng... EDTOR'A"L j!! ~,, ~ John D. Bevs, Edtor Contrbutng Edtors- MSSONS...,... Rev. Leon R. Lawton WOMEN'S WORK... Madelne Ftz Randolph CHRSTAN EDUCATON... Rev. Davd S. Clarke ADVSORY COMMTTEE John L. Harr,s, Charman, 'Rev. Charles H. Bond, Florence B. Bowdeo, George Cruzan, Jonathan B. Davs, Charles F. Harrs, Charles H. North, ex offco, Owen H. Probasco, Rev. Albert N. Rogers, Rev. Herbert E.Saunders, (Mrs. Alton L.) Ethel M. Wheeler. Terms o'f Subscrpton Per Year... $5.00. Sngle Copes cents Specal ~ates for students, retred Seventh Day Baptst mnsters, and servcemen Postage to Canada and foregn countres' 50 cents p~r year ~ddt.onal. Gft and newlywed subscrptons wll be dscontnued at date of expraton unless reo newed. All subscrptons wll be dscontnued sx months after date to whch payment s made unless renewed. The Sabbath Recorder cannot pay for contrbuted artcles but. wll send the wrter, upon request, up to ten free copes of the ssue n,whch an artcle appears. Second class postage pad at Planfeld, New Jersey.. T~e. Sabb?th Recorder does not necessarly endorse sgned artcles. All communcatons should be addressed to t.he Sabbath Recorder, P. O. Box 868, Planfeld. New Jersey ' A Seventh Day Baptst weekly (two ssues omtted n August) publshed by the Amercan Sa~bath Tract Socety, 510 Watchung Ave., Planfeld, N. J PLANFELD, N. J. Volume 195) No. 20 Edtoral: Sprtual Starvaton Features: December 1, 1973 Whole No. 6) Book Revew... 4 The Day That Jesus Came to Washngton 7 Arkansas State Far Booth. 9 God's Love - t's Great..:::::::::::::::::::::::::: 10 Called To Be Many Yet One Growng Plant or Wtherng Vne?, Mssons: Hghlghts from Quarterly Mssonary Board Meetng... 5 Chrstan Educaton: Acton at Quarterly Sesson... 8 Accessons A CHANCE TO LVE Sound-color move showng lfe at Hoa Khanh Chldren's Hosptal n Vetnam. Folk snger wth gutar. THE MANY FACES OF VETNAM Sound-color move dealng wth cultural al1d personal aspects of the Vetnamese people. Avalable on a freewll offerng bass. from:. World Relef Commsson Box 44, Valley Forge, Pa LTERATURE REQUEST Does your church have back ssues of the Helpng Hand and other denomnatonal lterature gatherng dust n some cabnet? Would you lke to put them to good use? They can be used to further. the work of Seventh Day Baptsts n the Phlppnes. You may mal such lterature to: Pastor O. T. soto Phlppne Conference of Seventh Day Baptsts Albuera, Leyte The Phlppnes f!eue P'Ut'le't efjluwt Suggestons for Prayer Ths Week Pray for: 1) The tract mnstry of S~venth Day Baptsts n Soux Falls, South Dakota. 2) An expanded wtness of the Seattl( Area Seventh Day Baptst Church as : meets n ts new facltes.'. 3) The work and wtness of the B:w tst Jont Commttee on Publc Affars. L:. us pray for those Who lead out n t progranls of ths organzaton.! j SPRTUAL STARVATON A few weeks ago a very sad artcle came across my desk. A three-year boy whose mother told polce he lved on chocolate mlk for three months after her husband ordered her not to feed hm, was dead of starvaton. The boy's father, gvng no reason for hs treatment of the chld, was charged wth manslaughter. The mother would not. take the chld to the hosptal for fear her husband would beat her. The famly had three other chldren who have snce been taken from them. The authortes descrbed the home as flthy and wthout furnture.. The lttle boy slept on a pece of cardboard on the floor wth a rancoat for cover. The other chldren stated they hadn't eaten for three days-and ths happened n Amerca. Ths artcle flls us wth horror ~rd perhaps ang~r. No doubt the parents were mentally unbalanced and one of the frst thngs the court dd was to order them to undergo psychatrc examnaton. Certanly none of us would deny our chldren f90d, and we crnge when we read such stores. Yet-. what about the sprtual food that our chldren also need? Do we see that they are well nourshed n the word of God?. We who are parents have a God-gven responsblty to see that our chldren receve ths sprtual food that they need. We read: "He establshed a testqlony n Jacob, and apponted a law n srael, whch he commanded our fathers to teach to ther chldren: that the next generaton mght know them, and the chldren yet unborn, and arse and tell them to ther chldren, so that they should set ther hope n God, and not forget the work of God, but keep hs commandments" (Psalm 78: 5-7). How often we are so busy wth the "mportant" thngs of lfe that we do not take the tme to really share the love of God and Hs wll for our lves wth our chldren. We convenently leave t to the Sabbath School and the yearly vacaton Bble school to nstll relgous concepts n our chldren. Yet we would not thnk of wthholdng physcal food from our lttle ones. Could t be that some of us are allowng our chldren to starve sprtually? t sn't too early for new year's resolutons. Wll you jon me n resolvng to spend more tme n the sprtual feedng of our chldren? DECEMBER 1,

3 " MSSONS-Leon R. Lawton t o ~ REVEW FOR THOSE TEARS by Nora Lam and Clff Dudley Wth only three mnutes to lve, Nora stood, blndfolded, be.fore a frng squad of eght men. She heard the death count.. She praye?, and wated for the bullets to ht. But none dd! For Those Tears S the movmg story of Nora Lam, her early years under Communst oppresson and her escape from a Red Chnese prson. Her story s one of extremes. There are tears of ~orrow and torment as she sees the Communsts kll her father... tears of JOY as she makes the perlous. escape nto free Chna, and gves brth to her "chld of pro~se" 'Yh!ch she had carred for almost twelve months. Nora Lam was educated n Chnstan schools n Shangha and receved her law degree from Soochow Unversty. She s.pr~sently engaged n Chrstan work. Ths book of 180 pages sells for $4.95. GOD HELP ME, 'M A PARENT! By Gordon McLean The communcaton breakdown n the home between parents and chldren s confronted here boldly and dealt wth n hard-httng realstc terms. Emphass s on preventng the young person (rom gettng nto trouble - drnkng, delnquency, drugs, sex Gordon McLean meets hs subject on ntmate terms as a mnster, probaton counselor drector of Youth for Chrst and Campus Lfe. From ths background, he sets f~rth the nne basc elements ~f character development that wll provde the home wth securty and love. For parents, youth leaders, pastors - young. Cloth $3.95. and the A COWARD'S GUDE TO WTNESSNG by Ken Anderson Ths dsarmngly honest and open dscusson of personal evangelsm confesses even the author's own cowardce n boldly wtnessng to hs Chrstan fath. Scattered throughout the text are clever and relevant cartoons pontng up typcal wtnessng "copouts." Ken Anderson, well-known Chrstan flm producer and wrter, shows that n spte of cowardce, perhaps because of t, we can all be effectve wtnesses. Our shyness, he ponts out, can act as a catalyst turnng us to dependence on God's strength; resources far greater than human confdence. and personal charm.. A Coward's Gude to Wtnessng opens up a new dmenson to the Chrstan's role. n today's world whle mantanng the dynamcs of New Testament Chrstanty. llustrated $3.95. Order from: Seventh Day Baptst Publshng House P. O. Box 868 Planfeld, NJ /. \ (;. n addton to hearng reports from offcers and commttees, the board, whch met on Sunday, October 28, 1973, took acton as follows: 1. Called feld evangelst, the ~ev. Mynor G. Soper, to servce on a proj~ct per dem bass for another year; 2. Voted that under the 1974 budget tem, New Felds, that the goal for desgnated gvng for suppor~ of work and workers n Burma and nda be $100 each per month, begnnng n January 1974;. 3. That because of health, Mrs. Leroy C. Bass and the two younger chldren return to the U.S.A. before the end of 1973; 4. Voted that a call to servce. at Crandall Hgh School,.Kngston, J amalca, be extended to Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Mackntosh, members of the Los Angeles, Calf., SDB Church;.. 5. Voted that a call to servce n Guyana, S. A., be extended to the Rev. and Mrs. Leland E. Davs, Los Angel~s, Calf., to serve up to two y~ars begmnno' as early n 1974 as possble; 6. That the board rejoces n the acton of the Guyana SDB C?nfe~ence callng Sam Peters to servce n ther churches followng hs graduaton from Jamaca Theologcal Semnary n June 1974'. 7. 'That we approve a) the mplem~ntaton of a dedcated servce Team Mnstry n 1974; b) the full use of personnel and funds n support of the Reach Out Now project;. 8. That the SDB Mssonary SOCety request membershp as an aff1ate~ ~o~d of the Dvson of Overseas Mnlstnes (NCCC) ; 9. That we approprate $3,000 fro? the Development Fund askng that ths be matched by a grant from the Memoral Fund and at least $1, OO~ be rased n Jamaca for a new SCence HGHLGHTS FROM QUARTERLY MSSONARY BOARD MEETNG.n classroom, 17'x44', at Crandall Hgh School, Kngston, Jamaca;. 10. That the Mssonary Board sponsor a booth at Urbana '73 Ms~ona:Y Conference to be held at the UnverSty of llnos, Dec , A Resoluton of Apprecaton to Mss Sarah Becker recognzng her extend.ed servce beyond her regular term of servce was voted as follows: "The members of' the Seventh Day Baptst Mssonary Socety express ther heartfelt apprecaton for your devoted mnstry at Makapwa Staton, Malaw, durng the course of your regular term of servce and especally for your labor of love beyond the terms of your call (Aprl 1973). We fnd ourselves nspred. to deeper commtment to our Lord through your example. "We pray that you wll contnue to be strengthened by God's love and mght, that' your loved ones wll abde under Hs care, and that t wll soon be possble for Mr. and' Mrs. Menzo Fuller to arrve and take up your post.". Mr. and Mrs. Menzo Fuller, appontees to replace. Mss Becker as soon as ther work permts are granted by the Malaw government, attended the board meetng whch was adjourned at 5: 00 p.m. followng prayer by Mr. Fuller. The Mssonary Reporter wll carry the full mnutes of the meetng and wll be maled to all votng tn.embers of the socety. SABBATH. SCHOOL LESSON for December 8, 1973 WHO S THS JESUS? Lesson Scrpture: John 10:22-39 MEMORY TEXT " and the' Father are one." - John 10:30 4 THE SABBATH RECORDER DECEMBER 1,

4 THE DAY THAT JESUS CAME TO WASHNGTON Robert J. Hastngs Elephants, Anyone? see an elephant n your future. Lots of, them. They'll be makng the scene next March 13 (Wednesday, 8-9 p.m. EST) on the CBS-TV Network. Lvng wth Elephants s a fve-year flmed experence woven around the adventures of a famly dwellng among 500 elephants on the Manyara Preserve n the Rft Valley, Tanzana. Alaska Baptst Presdent Alaska became the frst state to elect a black presdent of a Southern Baptst State Conventon. Herbert Cotton, a graduate of Southern Unversty, Baton Rouge. La., s a deacon n the Anchorage 'church. There are twenty-thr.ee Southern. Baptst churches n our most northern state. JESUS N Washngton po' ~ ~ ~ Baptst Jont Commttee The offcers of the Baptst Jont Commttee on Publc Affars for 1974 are: Alton L. Wheeler, general secretary of the Seventh Day Baptst General Confernce, charman; Wllam F. Keucher, pas-. tor of Covenant Baptst Church, Detrot, Mch., frst vce-charman; S. S. Hodges, executve secretary of the Progressve N a tonal Baptst Conventon, nc., second vce-charman; Gerlad L. Borchert, academc vce-presdent of the North Amercan Baptst Semnary, Soux Falls, S. D., recordng secretary; James E. Wood, Jr., treasurer; and Mss na Lntz of the Baptst Jont Commttee staff, assstant treasurer and assstant recordng secretary. -Report from the Captal f J 4 dreamed that Jesus Chrst vsted our naton. Plans called for Hs plane to land at the Natonal Arport n Washngton at noon. Government, busness, a~d church offcals were to meet Hm at the arport, form a parade down Pe?nsylvama Avenue then hold a publc rally n front of the Washngton. MemOral. By d~ybreak, every road nto Washngton 'was hopelessly Jammed. By noon, traffc would come to a complete standstll on nearby nterstates 95 qnd 495 that rnged the cty, wth cars and buses backed up to Baltmore on the north and Fredercksburg on the south. ".. All motels were sold out. A tent cty was set up on The Mall, and Ctzens opened ther homes to thousands of vstors. Many slept n the: cars. Some spread sleepng bags on sdewalks along the p~rade route. Hosptals, and fre statons operated wth skeleton staffs," and all bus1l1esses ~nd. schools closed., Souvenrs and hot dog stands lned the streets. Best se1l1l1g,tems were Sall~an. s head of Chrst and medallons engraved wth the Lord's Prayer. Many brought pcnc lunches. ',.. By 10 a.m., two hours before Hs plane. w~s sche?~l.ed to land, author.tes saw the stuaton was oettno out of hand. Samtaton facltes and food suppltes grew crtcal. Downtow~ sp;ctators were so tghtly Jammed that.several plate glass wndows were broken. There were reports of Wdespread lootng. ' By 11 a.m., the Presdent began callng for mltary unts from Ft. Meyer and Ft. Belvor n Vrgna, and Ft. Meade n Maryland. Meantme, tenson mounted as the mputes tcked,away toward no~n. The~ as Hs plane fnally pulled up at the termmal, the Manne Band played All Hall the Power of J e~us' Name." As the last notes faded, a quet hush fell over the watn 0 throng. Every eye was rveted on one Person. Eve~ the delegaton headed by Presdent Nxon, ncludng hs cabnet, members of the Supreme Court, and Congressonal leaders, was overshadowed by the Presence. The slence was soon broken by an argument between two o~. thre~ of!he we1comn 0 offcals. Pushng and shovng broke out near the waltmg ltmousme at the he~d of the parade. t seems there was a dsagreement over who was to rde wth Chrst n the lead car., By the tme the controversy ended, Chrst was nowhere to b~, found. Some sad He just seemed to melt nto thn ar.. Others reported.h~ slpped through the cordon of polce offcers. Stll others satd He went back msde the plane. Now real pandemonum broke out. "Fraud!" cred some of the bystan?ers. "We knew Jesus Chrst would never come to Washngton. t's all a promotlonal stunt."., Slowly the crowds drfted away. Reluctantly, ~he.concessonar~s took down ther stands. Some sghtseers tore up ther souvemr pctures of Chnst. t was past mdnght before traffc agan flowed smoothly on nterst.at~ 95 and 495. Meanwhle, polce contnued ther, search for the mlssln.g N ~z~rene. About 2 a.m. an unndentfed planclothesman found Hm Stt1l1g O'n t~e curb of a deserted street n the nner cty. 'Wth Hs arm around a runaway delmquent, ' He was retellng the story of the Prodgal Son.,,'. "Where n the name of common sense have you been? demanded the rate offcal. Jesus smled, "They that be whole need not a physcan... am not come to call the rghteous, but snners to repentance" (Matthew 9: 12-13)., -' Assocated Church Press 6 THE SABBATH RECORDER DECEMBER 1,

5 :.'.1.' '.1.". '",,1 :', ~ 7 CHRSTAN EDUCATON-Sec. Davd S. Clarke.. ACTON AT QUARTERLY SESSON Eghteen members of the Board ~f Chrstan Educaton attended the Drector's Meetng October 21, 1973 n the Alfred Parsh House. Mnutes of the last quarterly meetng n July were read, for nformaton. A resoluton presented. at that' meetng on our board's con-, tnung relaton to the Natonal Councl of Churches of Chrst n the USA was now adopted n lght of the SDB Conference's votng to remove tself from the Councl's membershp. The secretary reported cordal letters from NCCC staff nvtng contnung fellowshp and voce n the educatonal agences of the Councl. The executve secretary, treasurer and commttee charmen presented reports whch were adopted after dscusson n each case. ' The treasurer's nne-month report ncluded such ncome tems as $3,556 for Helpng Hand, $391 for Sabbath Vstors, and only $61 for Youth Fellowshp membershps. Total. recepts and balances were $26,436. Expenses for the nne-months nclude $5,378 for the executve secretary, $1,110 for hs, travel, $5,317 for prntng expense of the. Helpng Hand, $337 for Beacon. Persons nterested n more detal may wrte the board offce. The executve reported feld contacts at far booths, camps, and a leader lab at the Verona Church, besdes the Conference-related functons of August. Edtoral work ncluded the Helpng Hand Daly Bble Readngs,. correspondence, draftng plans for board and plannng Commttee programs and workshops" promoton of the' Renewal n Fath seres, etc. He reporfed meetng wth and servng the dfferent drector's commt- tees, aded by the effcent offce secretary, Mrs. ~ussell' (Jenny) Johnson. Consultng wth the Future of Church Educaton group wth Luan Ells, charman of Church School Program Comm~tee, brought opportunty for Sabbath wtness. Our board s ncluded n an ecumencal Chldren's Bble Seres plannng group wth Amercan Baptst educators as prme movers. Florence Bowden and the exec'utve are nvted to partcpate n meetngs. Camp plannng has been extensvely pursued n cooperaton wth the Memoral Fund and Colorado pastors. Specal thanks were gven to Jm Gardner.for dedcated servce and also to Dave Snyder and the Russ J ohnsons for producng the October Beacon. The secretary dstrbuted copes of the sxmonths reports, a workshop choce sheet, proposed feld contacts for the year, a summary of Plannng Commttee actons. Pror to the meetng copes of Conference actons by four nterests Commttees were dstrbuted to the drectors.. The Resource Development charman Ethel Dcknson reported her commttee had accepted responsblty for workng wth Kenneth Smth n publshng hs Conference lectures n booklet form. Acton s well under way on ths. Arangements wth the Tract Socety on use of Alton Wheeler's lectures s also under way.,plans were shared on lesson resource suggestons for' the Helpng Hand, and on the probable Chldren's Page n the Sabbath Recorder. The Youth Program charman, Ed Sutton, reported hs commttee had studed responses from Youth and Young Adult Pre-Cons, and the thanks receved from Regna Bruhn for her beng helped to attend Youth Pre-Con from Germany.,Plans were made for the Beacon and for meetng wth Natonal VF offcers n November. Drectors for the '74 Pre-Cons were chosen and contacted but no response was avalable as of ths meetng. The commttee hopes to make possble an SDB Natonal offcer's attendng \\ the Baptst World Youth Conference to be held July 31 - August 4 n Portland, Oregon. The Lfe Ventures Commttee reported meetngs to dscuss ssues relatng to Famly and Vocatons and preparaton by drectors and consultants of publcty durng the year. The Camp Program charman, Bob. Stohr, presented a report of consderatons along wth three recommendatons whch were adopted successvely. The board therefore voted to receve $500 offered by the Memoral Fund trustees for coordnatng a program of "creatve campng" whch would nclude securng experence and servce from the Amercan Campng Assocaton. Also voted was the extenson of plans for a natonally represented campng project enablng exploraton of several vtal Chrstan dscplnes n 'our outdoor learnng. Also voted was the plan for Pastor Elmo Randolph, Glen Warner and Secretary Clarke to attend the 1974 Amercan Campng Assocaton Conference n Atlanta, Ga., Feb ; The specal commttee on offce ste headed by Burton Crandall reported a good possblty for a longer lease offce n the vllage of Alfred. Ths matter was referred to the Executve Commttee. Of course, the board wll notfy you all. when and f offces are changed to Alfred.. Phone and postal changes wll be gven.. Nomnatons for offcers of the Board of Drectors were presented by Catharne Jacox, charman of the 1973 N omnatons Commttee. Opportunty was gven for further nomnatons. None were made. The present offcers are also the 1974 offcers, and Secretary Clarke was elected to a three-year term accordng to the plan presented n ARKAN'SAS STATE FAR BOOTH Seventh Day Baptsts n Arkansas sponsored a succes sful booth at the Arkansas State Far. One of the leaders n. ths evangelstc effort was the Rev. James Mtchell of Lttle Rock. He! states: " am happy to report a very good response to our far booth at the Arkansas State Far. had many nqures about Seventh Day Baptsts and the Sabbath durng the ten days at the far, and feel as though had preached a two weeks' revval" "We had tracts and specal ssues of the Sabbath Recorder on a table dsplay. The total peces of lterature dstrbuted at the far was 8,218. The theme of the booth was "Comfort, Assurance and Salvaton." A large banner read: "Seventh Day Baptst Church - Has a Message. We have hope and. COMFORT of the Scrptures. Romans 15: 4. We desre dlgence of everyone n ASSURANCE to the end, Hebrews 6: 11. God has gven us SALVATON by our Lord, Jesus Chrst (1 Thess. 5: 9)." The Amercan Sabbath Tract Socety was happy to be able to supply tracts for ths booth. Now s the tme for the churches to consder and make plans for ths type of mnstry for next year. Let us pray for all those who took tracts at the Arkansas State Far booth., SEVENTH DAY BAPTST WEEK OF. PRAYER BOOKLETS ARE READY Theme: lre pent and Beleve n the Gospel" by Rev. Antono Barrera Brazl SOB Conference. Place Your Order Now SOB Publshng. House P. O. Box 868 Planfeld,,NJ h 8 THE SABBATH RECORDER DECEMBER 1,

6 {J,/ GOD'S LOVE - T'S GREAT", New England Churches at Rocky Hll Far Seekng to, lsee thngs... ; from God's pont of vew" as those Thelma Tarbox!!,! ' j! ' d! :!.1 1,'11 :: :1 ' ' ;1 ", ~, ~ The nstructons are to tack the plastc sheet to top and sdes of the booth when leavng. The plastc s secured except for a flap large enough for the attendant to return nsde to gather her handbag and two grandchldren. t's late. A serous face young man practcally squeezes hmself nto the booth ahead of her and, anxous as she s to leave, she asks: "Do you want to sgn for the drawng of the Lvng New' Testa~ ment?" He no't only sgns, but makes a careful selecton of tracts 'and 'specal ssue Sabbath Recorders. Throughout the sx days. of the far, vstors show smlar nterest and all booth attendants reported that' ths year more~ people asked questons about the Sabbath and Seventh Day Baptst churches. Early plannng by the Rev. Dale Rood (Waterford) and Steve Saunders (Westerly) guaranteed a wellorganzed lterature booth. Bll and Hlda Harrson recruted workers from the Ashaway and Hopknton churches. The' booth, newly panelled,'" smply decorated wth colorful Bble slogan posters, proclamed by a roof sgn: GOlD'S LOVE - T'S GREAT.' And beneath the roof sgn, our dentty: SEVENTH DAY BA,PTST. nsde, a dscarded store dsplay rack for zppers dsplayed specal ssue Recorders and THE LVNG NEW TESTAMENT. A varety of salvaton and Seventh Day Baptst tracts, and some Davd Wlkerson pamphlets were spread on a table as well as bumper stckers whch proved to be very popular.., Those who manned the booth enthusastcally told' of ther experences. Passng by the booth on the way to the far ext, one worker had the feelng - STOP! The man sttng there was very much nterested n acceptng tracts..'... "Are you sure you're not just beng polte?"... He answered:, "Oh, no! 'm a Baptst and 'll take all the lterature you can spare!" One worker chershed the memory of seeng her fouryear old grandson stand on the char behnd the tract table and wth pencl n.. hand. askng: "Do you want to sgn for a Bble?" Then pontng to" a church pctured on the flyer whch descrbes the New England churches, and sayng: "Ths s the church where go!" All who have partcpated n and made possble ths thrd year of wtnessng at Rocky Hll Far beleve that God has rchly blessed us and the many people who vsted our booth. Accessons " DE RUYTER, N. Y. By Baptsm:' James Lynch Mchael Lynch Robert Lynch SALEM, W. VA. Rev. Paul Green, Pastor By Baptsm: Theresa Gray Kathleen Spencer By Letter: Nette Merrtt (Mrs. Ralph) Assocate Members: Dallas Baley Ann Baley '(Mrs. Dallas) Cndy Graffus Wllam Park Judy Park (Mrs. Wllam) Fred Sas Leon Wheeler Lnda Wheeler (Mrs. ' Leon) SEA TLE AREA, WASH. Rev. Duane Davs, Pastor By Testmony: Don Selby 'Mrs. Don (Vera) Selby t (.,1 CALLED TO BE MANY YET ONE Second Presentaton* Rev. Alton L. Wheeler "As the human body, whch has many parts, s a unty, and those parts despte ther J;tlultplcty, consttute one sngle body, so t s wth Chrst. For we were all baptzed by the Sp'rt nto one body... "God has harmonzed the, whole body by gvng mportance of functon to the parts whch lack apparent mportance, that the body should work together as a whole wth all the members n sympathetc relatonshp wth one another... "Now you are together the body of Chrst. and ndvdually you are members of hm" ( excerpts from 1 Cornthans 12: 12 ff - Phllps). n the ntroductory paragraphs of the frst chapter of Deuteronomy, we are told of how Moses challenged the sraeltes to move forward wth fath, courage, and antcpaton toward Canaan, the land whch the Lord had for many, many years promsed to ther forebears. Moses asserted, "!twas forty years ago) at Mount Horeb, that Jehovah Qur God told us, 'You have stayed here long enough! Now go. occupy.. the whole area... am gvng t all to you.' " Granted, n those forty years they had made progress? but n terms of normal travel speed n those tmes, Moses remnded them that they had advanced the equvalent of only "eleven days' journey." n these days, the Lord s sayng to us, as t were, "You have stayed here long enough! Now, go... move forward." We, lke srael, need to renew our efforts to move forward wth fath, courage, and antcpaton for the past s past, the present s passng, and the future s upon us! n the words of the apostle Paul, "Leavng the past behnd, wth hands outstretched to whatever les ahead, (let us) go straght for the goal, (our) reward, the honor of beng called by God n Chrst. All of us who are sprtually adult should set ourselves ths sort of ambton... "We 'are the ctzens of, heaven; our outlook goes beyond ths world to the hopeful expectaton of the Savor who wll come down from heaven, the Lord Jesus Chrst" (Phl. 3: 13-15; 20-Phllps). n Reuel Howe's book Survval Plus, ths s hs openng statement: "Lookng back on the past two decades, what we now see to have been the major factor n our Jves s change - change of an allpervasve krd,whch has touched and transformed every aspect and department of lfe, both personal and socal." Alvn Toffer's rather popular book ttled Future Shock elucdates on what happens to people when they are overwhelmed by change. t calls attenton to ways n' whch ndvduals adapt or fal to adapt to the future. "Change," he says, "s the process by whch the future nvades our lves." "Future shock" s a term whch Alvn Toffer coned n 1965 to descrbe' "the shatterng stress and dsorentaton that we n- *The Prologue to these reflectons on and excerpts from three presentatons made by General Secretary Alton L. Wheeler at General Conference n August appeared n the September 15 ssue, pages 3 and 4. The frst presentaton appeared n the October 13 ssue pages "\<10" 10 THE SABBATH RECORDER DECEMBER 1,

7 ." duce n ndjvduals py subjectn~l! ',1 too much change n too short d whch f affected at too rapd ~ may lead to what he terms as "mass\<.' adaptatonal breakdown." n contendno" that there are numerous ways n whch;e mght well brng ~bo.ut, or adjust to changes others are brngng to pass locally and regonally, personally and corporately, sprtually and structural ly, we are not advocatng ch~ge for change's sake. We are not contendng that. makng of changes nevtably means makng mprovement or prog~ess. Nor w0l!ld we aggravate an epdemc o~ "massve adaptonal breakdowns" pleadng for too, many changes n too sho~t a span of. tme.. We are ratb.er pleadng for more and lllore of us as God's people and as good stewards of the gospel, to "seek to see thngs, as t were, from G?d's pont of vew," ncludng our changng tmes. Whether we lke t or not, "constant change s here to stay.". Recognzng Bene~ts Accrung from nterdependence n explorng further our beng "everyone members one of another," let us call to mnd a few of many local, regonal and natonal stuatons whch may well challenge us to advance more rapdly through our exercsng of nterdependence \ rather than merely layng clam to the tradtonal concept of local autonomy. A. Exercsng of nterdependence proved a blessng to our deno'mnatonal ~o~rds and agences, as well as to our mssons at home and abroad, as unted and coordnated efforts were developed and as unted funds were rased through the. draftng and adoptng of a unted budget, now known as Our World Msson. n prevous years, each board and agency had tended to fend for.tself. promotng ts own program and projects and solctng ts own fnancal support. B. The recognton of nterdependence has been dramatzed by the Commsson, whch s prmarly concerned wth polcy ssues,' and the Plannng Commttee, nvolved more prmarly wth coordnatng and projectng of programs. Aspratons of cooperatve' endeavors led to the organzng of a coord~atng councl whch 12 \ clded n form to the current CPC '. -lt meetngs of the Commsson and )':, 1:111 l ~ COlnmttee wth the agreement l h ~ t they can mutually proft by meetng together or consecutvely, as frequently as possble. C. The recognton of nterdependence has been.evdent as a sgnfcant number of our churches have taken advantage of partcpaton n the }Mlssona~y-~astor plan admnstered by the MSSOnary Board. Through such plan~ churc~es whch envson beng located n potental growth areas and whch beleve t~a.t they could grow numercally and srntu~lly to the pont. of beng self-suppor.tve Wthn an estmated ten-year. penod, may apply for matchng or s~bstantal fu?ds to enable ther employng a full-bme pastor. Ths plan has proven so popular that approxmately one out of ~very fve churches throughout our naton have applcatons pendng or are r~cevng such fnancal ad. Ths support S made possble,' however, only becaus~ the. M~ssonary Board has such an tem ~n. ts budget whch ncludes Our World MSSOn support f adopted by our General, Conference and tf gven adequate.!suppo~t by cooperatve gvng. on the part of ndvduals and - churches throughout our naton. D. The recognton of nterdependence has been ncreasngly' evdent as groups, churches boards, and agences ha:ve appealed' for loans or grants from our denomnatonal funds ncludng endowment earnngs admnstered by our Memoral Fund trustees.. t s our asserton that our sprtual and numercal growth can be further accelerated f we aggressvely explore and devse addtonal strateges of nterchange and securng of needed leadershp as well as allocatng addtonal funds and offerng expertse, as. small groups, churches, assocatons, boards and agences, jon n seekng to help advance or extend. the work of _ the Kngdom as. "laborers together wth God.". Supportng of Natonol Thrust Efforts For several years the Plannng Commttee has, through ts perodc publcaton of a "suggeston packet," sought to THE 1 " l j 1 1 '! stmulate ntatve beng asserted both. on the local and natonal levels. Respondents to the questonnare ssued last sprng stated ther preference three to one n favor of aggressve natonal promoton of programmng concepts' whch may be adapted on the local level. Helpful suggestons ncluded:. -Promote more natonal-thrust programs such as Key '73, BWA World Reconclaton Through Chrst, Worldwde Wtness flmstrps and tapes, etc., through the current. publcaton of the accumulatve "Era of Acton" project and program packet, for where there s unty there s strength.. -Realgn prortes and hghlght fewer sele<1v~ program concepts rat.her than to publsh an annual tfty- or Sxty-page "suggeston smorgaspord" packet.. -Encourage board and agency representatves to make more frequent and more extended contacts wth churches and pastors solctng suggeston and observng nnovatve. projects and strateges whch mght well be consdered for future natonal unted thrust cooperaton or adaptaton.. -Remember that "everythng must catch on n the local church or YOl!l~an prepare all you want' to (n offerng project and program concepts ) yet nothng s gong to happen!". Establshng New Wtnesses n New Areas One of several phenomenal changes whch have taken place snce the turn of ths century has been an acceleratng shft of masses of people -n our country from rural to urban and rurban areas. Whereas half a century ago, some threefourths of our total populaton lved n rural areas, n ths current ndustral and technologcal era, over three-fourths of the people resde n urban or rurban area& wth less than sx percent of our employed populaton now agrculturally employed. Furthermore, n many a communty~ the. average famly moves once n every four years or less. n pleadng for the organzng of a proportonately greater' percentage of fellowshps and churches n urban and rurban areas, we are not proposng DECEMBER 1, 1973 change for mere. change's sake, nor a strategy for survval, but for the Church n the name of Jesus Chrst to seek zealously and aggressvely to mnster n Hs redemptve love where the people are, wtnessng as nspred, led and empowered by the Holy Sprt. Even as n almost every European smaller hamlet and larger. cty, there s a church edfce wth ts transcendent steeple strategcally located as the centrum, so throughout our country, there should logcally ard deally be the transcendent mnstres of a church of, our persuason n the heart of every oommunty. Snce we have been nspred by the apostle Paul to realze that we are a part of the body. of Chrst, and thereby "everyone members one' of another," t would seem logcally to follow strategcally that whenever and wherever there appears to be an opportunty to extend a wtness sharng the redemptve love of Chrst and to establsh an addtonal fellowshp or church, any and all effort should be made on natonal and regonal as well as local levels to jon n seekng wthout delay to provde the bascally needed resources of leadershp, wtnesses and fnancal support. V. Educatng Further n Fnancal Stewardshp t was nterestng to note that nearly all of the questonnare respondents ndcated that they are tthers, and that they urged more aggressve promoton of tthng on an educatonal bass rather than as a legal requrement. Such passages as Levtcus 27: 31 ff, Malach 3: 8-10, Matthew 23: 23 and Luke 18: 12 nterpret tthng as ordaned of God; and the apostle Paul, as noted n 2 Cornthans 9:6, makes the ob-. servaton that "poor sowng means a poor harvest, and generous sowng means. a generous harvest" (Phllps). n seekng to be nvolved n fnancal stewardshp, nterpretng t "from God's pont of vew," we would do well to make the observaton that f God ordan'ed that a mnmum of a tthe should (Contnued on page 16) 13

8 M 3, GROWNG PLANT OR WTHERNG VNE?" By Dee McCall A chapel on the hll 'and the clear blue' of Lake Geneva, what a perfect' place for Youth Pre-Con Despte the ran on Wednesday afternoon, at three o'clock the man floor of the lodge was flled by over one hundred campers and ffteen staff members. The ran ddn't dampen the antcpaton for the days ahead or the exctement of seeng our old frends once agan.. There were many actvtes to fll the few days that we would be spendng together - and do mean fll - each actvty worked together wth all the othtrs to fll us full and overflowng wth the Sprt and love of God. A bg part of our day was spent n study. Each class dealt wth a dfferent area of our Chrstan lfe. The class on worshp and prase helped us to fnd answers as to why we should worshp God and how we should, worshp, the types of prase and the results of prase. n the class on prayer we learned how to prepare for prayer, what a prayer nvolves, nnd most mportant of all, to pray n fath - belevng and expectng results. The class on personal.evangelsm, brought out several ways we can share our fath and lead others to Chrst by the use of our testmony and through God's Word. The class on the Holy Sprt led us to dscuss how we could know the Sprt, also the gfts and the fruts of the Sprt. The class on fndng God's wll n our lfe brought out the desre that each of us has for our own lfe. ", Last, but not least, was a class on the Second Comng of Chrst. We searched the Bble for the sgns leadng to the second comng, the events of the comng and the results.... n short, the Bble' s a great gudebook for every area of Chrstan lvng. Not to be forgotten are our hours of. musc practce -"- they seemed to pass very quckly. We all receved a great 'blessng practcng together and an even greater one when, we learned that God 14 does answer prayer. When you hand over to a hundred people a muscal that most of them have never heard before and tell them they have four days to practce an~ to work out the art work -' well, t takes a mracle! When Sabbath Day came we were all eager to share some specal thngs as we, came to our afternoon worshp servce. After worshp we had free tme, when we could do.anythng that would make Sabbath more specal to us. Sabbath nght we went for a hke besde Lake Geneva. After the hke, t was back to the campfre for a celebraton servce. We were celebratng the brth of new Chrstans as well as the rededcaton of old ones. Ths year we wer.e blessed to have a young lady, Reg~na B~uhn, from ~ermany wth us. n shanng wth her, dscovered that Chrstans n Germany are few and far between. Gna says that most of the churches are dyng out and most of' the people refuse to. even ~a~k a~out Go~. would ask that you JOn Wth me n prayer for Gna and the ch.urches.n Germany. (Remember, pray wlth a POS1- tv@); atttude).. t seemed lke Sunday came too fast. After thngs were packed and ready to go, we gathered together for o~e last practce of "Love" and one last tme of sharng at Camp Augustana. Pre-Con had ended, but the sprt had not. We carred t wth us to Conference, especally on Wednesday nght. when we were prvleged to share "Love" wth the people at Conference. As we sang, each of us could feel the love of God swellng n our hearts and really felt a love for all who were there. feel that can safely say that the results of Pre-Con 1973 are growng plants. We have God's love and sprt wth us. Even though there may be thousands of mles separatng us, "we are one n the bond of love. We have joned our sprts wth the sprt of God, we are one n. the bond"'of love." THE SABBATH RECORDER ) 1 OUR WORLD MSSON OWM Budget Recepts for October 1973 Treasurer's Boards' Treasurer's Boards' October 10 mos. 10 mos. October 10 mos. 10 mos. Adams Ctr NY $ Mlton Jct W Albon W Montetey CA Alfred NY , New Auburn W Alfred Sta NY , New Mlton WV Ashaway R... -_ , New Orleans LA Assns & Groups , North Loup NR_ 2, Battle Creck M 5, Nortonvlle KS 121. SO 2, Bay Area CA Oho Fellowshp Berea WV Pant. Rock AL Berln NY , Planfeld NJ , Boulder CO._ , Rchburg NY , Brookfeld NY Rversde CA , Buffalo NY Rockvlle R Chcago L , Salem WV , Daytona Beach FL , Salemvlle PA Denver CO... -_... 1, , Schenectady NY De Ruyter NY Seattle WA Dodge Ctr MN 1, Shloh NJ , Farna L Stonefort L Fouke AR Syracuse NY Hammond LA Texarkana AR Hebron PA Verona NY , Hopknton R Walworth, W , Houston TX Washngton DC , ndcpcndenc~ NY Washngton ndvduals People's DC - rvngton NJ , Waterford CT , Kansas Cty MO Westerly R -_.. -_.. 3, Leonardsvlle NY 65, Whte Cloud M , Lttle Genesee NY , Lttle Rock AR Totals $7, $117, $10, Los Angeles CA , Non-Budget Lost Creek WV 2, Marlboro NJ 85_00 M etalne " LA Total M'l 1 ton W 1, , To Dsburse $7, OCTOBER DSBURSEMENTS Board of Chrstan Educaton $ Hstor cal Socety., Mnsteral Educaton Mnsteral Retrement Mssonary Socety Tract Socety.. Trustees of General Conference Women's Socety World Fellowshp & Servce General Conference , , $ 7, SUMMARY 1973 Budget, $176, Recepts for ten months: OWM Treasurer $117, Bpards. 10, , To be rased by December 31, 1973 $ 49, Percentage,of year elapsed 83.30/0 Percentage of budget rased 71.97%. Ten months: Due. $147, Rased. 127, Arrears, 20, Gordon Sanford OWM Treasur r

9 ".. The Sabbath Recorder 510 Watchung Ave., Box 868 Planfeld, N. J Second class postage pad at Planfeld, N. J (Contnued from page 13) be returned to Hm by the sraeltes who sponsored no extensve mssonary efforts, much more than a tthe.s needed n our tme as we endeavor to be good stewards n sharng the gospel wth others around the world. Hence, the dedcatng of offerngs voluntarly n addton to the basc tthe should seem to be one of several evdences of a maturng fath as well as a fervent desre to help n every way possble to extend the sharng of our fath. n Chrst wth others. n addton to churches' "observng Stewardshp Sabbath" annually n N 0- vember, ndvduals as fnancal stewards would do well to nterpret the tthe as the frst tenth rather than the last tenth to dedcate and to return to the Lord. Husbands and wves can be sprtually blessed by makng a "jont return" of ther tthes and offerngs. Parents. should teach tthng to ther chldren both by exemplary practce and by precept. Chldren. from year one n recevng allowances or n earnng ther frst dmes or dollars, should be taught to tthe. As we teach tthng, let us not stress computng one's ncome and movng the decmal pont one place to the left. Rather let us nterpret t as one of several expressons of the prvlege of beng "laborers together wth God," respondng to the constranng love of the compassonate Chrst who was ever senstve to personal needs of persons as ndvduals and as masses of peoples around the world. n Reuel Howe's book Survval Plus he speaks of communty as' beng "orchestrated ndvdualty" and as'serts that "communty s always n the process of beng renewed and redscovered." He makes a further observaton that "the human soul s restless when t has to lve wthout co.mmunty, because t Cannor be satsfed wth sngenessl whle ts very nature cres out for beng n relaton, beng a part of a larger growng process." ndeed,., "orchestrated ndvdualty" connotes recognton of nterdependence as well as harmony. n the words of the apostle Paul, "God has harmonzed the whole body by gvng mportance of functon to the parts whch lack apparent mp~rtance, that the body should work together as a whole wth all' the members n sympathetc relatonshp wth one another."" "Beng a part of a larger growng process" may well challenge us to realze. as never before that n the realms of purpose and convcton, of servce and wtness, we need to be "laborers together wth God.", We are called to be many yet one - one n the Sprt, one n Chrst's outreachng and reconclng love! Man Goes to Prson for Good Usually men are not sent to prson for good unless they have commtted serous crmes, but Jm Y orgey of Montreal went to the maxmum securty prson for good -for the good of those who had been convcted. He was sent there by the Lord and by admnstratve authortes to take the assgnment of Protestant chaplan. He went to. prson after servng as head counselor at Montreal's Sermons from Scence pavlon. Others may well seck to be sent to prson for good and receve the approval of our 'Lord, " was n prson and ye came unto mey December 8, 1973