The Inter-Mountain Conference and Camp Meeting by G. W. Reaser

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 19, 1916

The Inter-Mountain Conference and Camp Meeting

By G. W. Reaser

THE first session of the Inter-Mountain Conference was held in connection with their annual camp meeting, in Salt Lake City, Utah, August 17-27. At the time of the last autumn council of the North American Division Conference, held at Loma Linda, Cal., it was recommended that this new conference be formed by the uniting of the Western Colorado Conference with the Utah Conference. Soon after this the initial steps looking toward this union were taken at a joint meeting of the committees of the two conferences, held at Grand Junction, Colo., and attended by Elder E. E. Andross and Brother Claude Conard, representing the Pacific Union Conference. At that time Elder E. A. Curtis was elected president, and Brother J. F. Gaster secretary-treasurer of the new conference.

The membership of the conference thus formed is approximately seven hundred and sixty, and about one third of this number were in attendance at the meeting at Salt Lake. The territory of the conference is so great in extent that it was scarcely to be hoped that a larger percentage of the membership could meet at any given point.

During the conference session the same executive officers who had served since the organization of the Inter-Mountain Conference were reelected, and the only change in the conference committee was the election of Brother H. C. Holloway, of Salt Lake City, to take the place of Elder W. M. Adams, who has been transferred from Utah to the Northwestern California Conference.

At the evening meetings there was an encouraging attendance on the part of the public, who manifested deep interest in the subjects presented. Elder M. A. Hollister and a group of associate workers had just held a series of meetings on the same grounds, and the camp meeting formed a fitting conclusion to the effort. Doubtless the Mormon population in the inter-mountain section of the United States are as difficult to reach with the threefold message as almost any other class of people in the country. They attend our meetings, but they seem content to remain Mormons when the meetings are over. However, there are exceptions to this rule, for we have some excellent people who have come out of the Mormon Church.

On the part of our own people, the Salt Lake meeting, like all the ten camp meetings held thus far in the Pacific Union Conference the present season, was characterized by an ardent desire for deeper spirituality, which we take as an indication that we are living “when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord,” which just precedes the coming of the Redeemer back to our world to gather his people home.

During the first three days of the meeting, Elders I. H. Evans and E. E. Andross were in attendance and took the leading part in conducting the meetings. Nearly all our people reconsecrated themselves to the Lord, and to their numbers were added fifteen who received the ordinance of baptism.

Other visiting laborers who were in attendance a portion or all of the time were Elders N. P. Neilsen, H. S. Shaw, and A. E. Place, Brethren F. E. Painter and Ernest Lloyd, and the writer. Brethren Painter and Lloyd took an active part in furthering the work of their respective departments.

A spirit of harmony prevails among both the laborers and the rank and file of our people in the Inter-Mountain Conference.

In order to make it possible for others of our people to enjoy the benefits of a camp meeting, another gathering was held at Dolores, in southwestern Colorado, September 13-19. The town of Dolores is in almost the same altitude above sea level as the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains at the point where the range is crossed by the Southern Pacific Railway, or about 7,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean. However, the weather was delightful during this meeting

but after the tents were safely packed away, a rainstorm drenched that section of the State.

While the attendance was much smaller than at the Salt Lake meeting, the company of isolated brethren and sisters greatly enjoyed the rich blessings of the Dolores meeting. This meeting followed a summer tent effort conducted by Elder J. T. Spriggs and his wife. An interesting incident of the meeting was the acceptance of the truth by two brothers aged respectively sixty-five and sixty-nine years. They expressed a desire for baptism.

Brother Orno Follett, who has been spending some months in northern New Mexico to regain his health, was with us at the Dolores meeting, and reported that under the direction of our North American Division Conference, he had been making a thorough investigation of the southerly portion of the territory of the Inter-Mountain Conference, and that as soon as a suitable location can be secured the Division Conference will look with favor upon the idea of establishing a suitable mission station for beginning work for the numerous tribes of Indians of western America. It is probable that in the near future this long-neglected work will be inaugurated, and that the first station will be established among the Navajo tribe, which numbers about thirty thousand. These are located on a large reservation in the northwest part of New Mexico. We are sure that our people generally will watch this movement with keen interest.

We believe that all left the Dolores meeting with a deeper consecration of their lives for service than they have hitherto known, and with greater determination to share in the glorious triumph of the remnant church.

G. W. REASER.