p. 15 | The South Carolina Camp-Meeting

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 10, 1911

The South Carolina Camp-Meeting

By Francis McLellan Wilcox

THE South Carolina annual camp-meeting and conference was held at Woodruff, about twenty miles south of Spartansburg, July 20-30. Weather conditions were ideal throughout the meetings. Over one hundred were encamped on the ground, comprising more than one half the membership of the conference. Elders C. B. Stephenson, of Georgia, T. H. Jeys, of Alabama, J. N. Anderson and L. A. Hansen, of Washington, D. C., together with the officers and department workers of the Southeastern Union Conference, and the writer, constituted the force of laborers from outside the conference.

As a result of the conference deliberations, Elder W. H. Branson was chosen president; and Elder F. C. Webster, Brethren J. M. Swafford, R. M. Carter, and George Case were the remaining members of the executive committee. Miss Eliza Warner was reelected secretary and treasurer, and Brother R. M. Carter was chosen field agent, in place of A. L. Manous, who connects with the Southern Publishing Association.

The attendance on the part of the citizens of Woodruff was excellent, particularly at the evening meetings, the congregation numbering several hundred each night. The evening services were devoted to an exposition of doctrinal truth, while the day services were largely revival in character. From the first, an excellent spirit existed in the encampment. The people came with tender, receptive hearts, desirous of a greater fulness of the blessing of God. They therefore stood ready to respond to every effort made to bring in a deeper spirit of consecration to his service. They manifested their loyalty to the local work in that over five hundred dollars was quickly and heartily subscribed for the future prosecution of the work. Their interest in gospel work in the world-wide field was quite as manifest, so that altogether nearly one thousand dollars was given and pledged by this little meeting for the furtherance of the work at home and abroad.

This meeting marked also a revival of the interest in the circulation of our literature. A number dedicated their lives to this branch, and it is expected that eight or ten persons will engage in this department of the work in South Carolina during the coming year.

The last Sabbath of the meeting marked a deeper consecration to God, more than fifty going forward in an effort to find victory and overcoming power from sin in personal experience. The tender Spirit of the Lord was present in a marked manner, and the hearts of the entire congregation were melted in his presence. Twenty-three persons were baptized at the close of the meeting. Mr. Smith, superintendent of the Woodruff Cotton Mills, at considerable expense to himself, kindly provided a beautiful place for the baptism in an artificial lake owned by his corporation.

The laborers in this little conference are few in number, but we confidently believe that as they go forth in the power of the Spirit and with the earnest, united prayers of their brethren and sisters, God will abundantly bless their efforts to the salvation of souls, and the work in this State will be rapidly built up. Our brethren and sisters in South Carolina love God, and they are true and loyal to his work, and the Lord will honor this spirit of devotion on their part.

F. M. WILCOX.