General Conference Committee in Council by W. A. Spicer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jun 17, 1909

General Conference Committee in Council

By W. A. Spicer

FOLLOWING the General Conference, the Committee has held day and evening sessions, and still much business remains to be considered. Some of the actions, of general interest, may be given here. It has been voted:—

ASIATIC DIVISION

That the territory of the Asiatic Division be as follows: The Chinese empire, Japan, Korea, Straits Settlements, and Malay Peninsula, India, and the Philippine Islands.

CANADIAN UNION BOUNDARIES

That, on request of the delegates of the two Canadian union conferences, the boundary line between them be extended eastward to the eighty-ninth meridian, giving Port Arthur and all territory west of Lake Nepigon to the Western Canadian Union Conference.

THE BAHAMA ISLANDS

That the Bahama Islands be transferred from the West Indian Union Conference to the Southeastern Union Conference.

FORMOSA

That the island of Formosa, which belongs to Japan, be made a part of our China Mission territory.

NEW SPANISH PAPERS

That a Spanish child's paper be published in Mexico, and a Spanish health journal in Argentina.

NORTH AMERICAN FOREIGN DEPARTMENT

That the appointments of this department, of which O. A. Olsen was elected secretary by the Conference, be as follows:—

German superintendent; G. F. Haffner; Swedish superintendent, S. Mortenson; Danish-Norwegian superintendent, L. H. Christian; corresponding secretary, A. Boettcher.

Advisory committee: G. A. Irwin, E. W. Farnsworth, E. R. Palmer, B. F. Kneeland, M. L. Andreasen, W. A. Spicer, E. T. Russell, R. A. Underwood, A. Moon, Wm. Covert, A. T. Robinson, W. B. White.

German advisory committee: G. F. Haffner, Henry Shultz, C. J. Kunkel, G. A. Grauer, and the director of the German work in the Eastern States.

Swedish advisory committee: S. Mortenson, August Anderson, G. E. Nord, J. F. Anderson, A. J. Stone.

Danish-Norwegian advisory committee: L. H. Christian, L. Johnson, M. L. Andreasen, M. S. Reppe, Lars Nielson.

NORTH AMERICAN NEGRO DEPARTMENT

That the members of the department shall be the departmental secretary, the presidents of those union conferences having the organized missions, a certain number of men appointed by the General Conference Committee, a representative to be appointed by each union conference in the North and Canada, and two representatives of the missions in the Southern union conferences having missions.

The members thus far appointed are as follows:—

Secretary of department: John W. Christian.

Presidents of union conferences having missions: C. F. McVagh, W. A. Westworth, Clarence Sautee.

Appointed by General Conference Committee: C. P. Bollman, J. E. White, F. R. Rogers, W. H. Green, D. E. Blake, M. C. Strachan, T. H. Branch, J. K. Humphrey.

Representatives, one from each union conference in the North and Canada, not yet appointed by those unions.

For Southeastern Union Mission: Sydney Scott, Page Shepherd.

For Southern Union Mission: Thomas Murphy, S. A. Jordan.

For Southwestern Union Mission: To be nominated by that union.

DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR

Not many of these recommendations can as yet be published. Following are a few:—

W. J. Blake, of Alabama, to Canadian Union Conference.

B. E. Manuel, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to Ontario.

I. M. Martin, of Eastern Pennsylvania, to Southeastern Union Conference.

C. B. Haynes, of the Chesapeake Conference, to Georgia.

A. Grundset, of New York, to Abyssinian Mission.

V. E. Toppenberg, to Abyssinia.

B. Berglund, to the Northland Mission, Scandinavia.

H. Toppenberg, of Nebraska, to Denmark.

C. Juhl, of Iowa, to Denmark.

F. Hinter, of the German Union Conference, to the Russian Union Conference.

D. P. Gaede, of the Russian Union Conference, to the German Union Conference.

Edgar Hartman, of the German Union Conference, to Syrian-Egyptian Mission.

J. Seefried and F. Scior, of the German Union Conference, to Turkey.

O. Reinke, of New York, to the German Union Conference.

H. A. Kristal, of California, to Russia.

H. Tonjes, of New York, to Brazil.

J. P. Novak, of Mexico, to Argentina.

Max Trummer, of Union College, to Argentina.

G. E. Hartman, of Philadelphia, to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

W. R. Pohle, of the Chesapeake Conference, to Peru.

E. T. Wilson, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to Peru.

F. A. Stahl, of Ohio, to Bolivia.

Otto Schulz, of the Foreign Mission Seminary, to Bolivia.

Dr. Vasenius, of the Washington (D. C.) Sanitarium, to Abyssinia.

F. Oster, of Walla Walla College, to the Levant Mission.

Henry Dirksen, of Walla Walla College, to the German Union Conference.

O. H. Maxson, of the Washington Sanitarium and the Foreign Mission Seminary, to Peru.

G. B. Starr, of Australia, to New York City.

Miss Ella Burrows, of British Guiana, to West Africa.

W. H. Lewis, of Takoma Park, to West Africa.

W. W. Fletcher, of Singapore, to China.

Important Action

An action that means much to the mission fields and that should lay a burden upon every believing heart, was that by which the Committee recorded its inability to send out any further workers—not even those mentioned above—until larger gifts flow into the mission treasury. A halt must be called and workers held back from the needy fields. It is a situation that ought to appeal to Seventh-day Adventists to do something unusual. The opportunity is afforded in the coming July offering, concerning which the Conference adopted the following:—

“Whereas, The midsummer offering, of Sabbath, July 3, is right upon us, at a time when the mission treasury is in great need and unable to provide the means to send to the fields many consecrated workers who are ready to go in response to the Macedonian cry; therefore,—

“Resolved, That we urge all our people to pray and work with special earnestness at this time to make the midsummer offering the largest we have ever received at the midsummer season, in order that laborers may be hastened forth to fields white for the harvest.”

The gifts of fives and tens and hundreds and thousands must surely flow in to meet the call. There is no money to send the messengers of hope to the perishing, and nearly a hundred thousand Seventh-day Adventists believe that the Lord is at the door, and that we have committed to us the last message to give to the world. The call will surely be answered, and these workers, some of whom must temporarily take up the first thing at hand while waiting, will be sent on to the fields. No other course can be conceived. But the time for action has come.

W. A. SPICER, Secretary.