Report of the California Conference by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Mar 11, 1909

Report of the California Conference

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

OUR annual conference has just closed, and in many respects it was one of the most remarkable conferences that I ever attended.

There were present one hundred fifty-one delegates, representing fifty-two churches. Over twenty churches were not represented, as many were not able to come to the conference on account of the rainy season; many of the roads being almost impassable in certain portions of the conference not accessible by railroad.

Nine new churches were received into the conference the past year, representing an additional membership of four

hundred forty. This number does not include members taken in by letter.

There have been, during the past year, thirty-four series of meetings held in halls, tents, and churches; and as a direct result of these meetings, three hundred seventeen have united with the church. In addition to this number one hundred twenty-three have been received into the churches by the local elders, as the result of the distribution of our literature and other missionary efforts of the lay members.

There has been over twenty thousand dollars' worth of our periodicals sold, including Liberty, Life and Health, Signs of the Times, and Bible Training School. The complete sales of subscription books for 1908 were $15,035.40; the entire amount of the sales of our publications in the conference, as far as reported, is $43,324.64.

The conference has responded liberally to all the calls made. We know of about twenty-five thousand dollars that has been raised in this conference, outside the regular tithe, which has gone to sustain the work in foreign fields and in the South. Some very important resolutions were passed at this conference.

Our receipts of tithe have not been as large this last year as the previous year, which is owing partly, at least, to the financial pressure that we have passed through on account of this being the year of the presidential election, but more especially to the fact of our brethren not being able to dispose of their fruit. Many thousand dollars' worth of fruit is stored away, and our brethren are waiting for an opportunity to sell. Some of the brethren have told me that they are carrying on their farming this winter on borrowed money, holding their fruit for an advance in price, as the price offered was not sufficient to pay them for gathering it.

We feel very grateful to God for the prosperity that has attended the conference during the past year. The leading officers of the conference were re-elected to their positions. We look forward to this coming year, trusting that God will let his blessing rest on the conference, and that we shall see further progress. We do not attribute the success of the last year so much to the special management as to the special blessing of the Lord as we are nearing the end when the rank and file of our people should enter the work, and the printed pages containing the truth fall everywhere like the leaves of autumn.

S. N. HASKELL