p. 37 | MISSOURI MATTERS by George Ide Butler

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jul 25, 1878

MISSOURI MATTERS.

By George Ide Butler

As the time is drawing near when we must consider our fall camp-meeting, I will write a few words concerning it for the benefit of our brethren. This meeting will probably be held about the second or third week in September. Our brethren have generally expressed a desire to have our meeting for the whole State, and for the election of officers and the transaction of Conference and T. and M. business, in the fall this year; hence we expect there will be a general rally. Our meetings this spring were so good, in spite of the wet weather in the southern part of the State, that we expect our brethren will be all the more anxious for a general meeting for the whole State this fall. We expect this will be by far the largest camp-meeting ever held in the State. In many respects it will be the most important meeting ever held here. New officers are to be chosen for the Conference and T. and M. society. It is well known that I accepted office here merely for a time, because of a peculiar combination of circumstances. My term of office has been several months longer than I expected it would be, on account of putting the Conference off till fall. My successor will be installed at the camp-meeting.

There are many reasons why a large attendance is demanded at this meeting, prominent among which is the selection of officers for the coming year, and the consideration of the interests of the Conference and the tract and missionary work. We want a general rally of the oldest and most experienced brethren in the State, as well as of all others.

This meeting, in all probability, will be held near Sedalia, Mo. This is the most central point in the State, a railroad center. There is a general interest stirred up all around here, and we greatly hope for a good church of Sabbath-keepers here before the camp-meeting. The prospect seems very fair now.

A general rally of our friends throughout the Conference will strengthen and solidify the work here. We expect a good field of labor will be created throughout this section by our meetings this summer, and that the camp-meeting will greatly benefit the cause all around here. We earnestly hope that some member of the General Conference Committee and Bro. Farnsworth, of Iowa, will be with us.

The time of the year will be the very best for our people to get out, and if they do not make a general rally we shall conclude that the efforts we have been making the past year have accomplished very little indeed for the cause in the State. It is time now to begin to make plans to attend this meeting, to provide tents, etc. If any wish to obtain tents through me, correspond with me at once. If such have the money, I can have the tents on the ground and they can pay me at the camp-meeting.

I wish to say a word to our brethren generally throughout the State concerning our systematic benevolence. This fund is very low in Missouri. We have been making special efforts on the T. and M. work, and our S. B. has not received as much attention from our brethren as it has deserved. I have felt so anxious that our tract work should go ahead. I feel thankful there has been so much improvement in this branch of the work. But the time of our annual settlement will soon be upon us, and I greatly fear we shall come much behind in funds to settle up all our accounts. Should such be the case, and our worthy ministers who live in the State be left without a reasonable support or recompense for their labor, I shall feel that this is very good evidence that it is not duty for those like myself, who have come here from other States, to continue here longer and encroach upon the means needed to support the force of ministerial help belonging to the State. I wish our brethren in Missouri to carefully consider and thoroughly weigh this statement. I cannot consent to be a party to deprive worthy laborers who are poor of the meager support they have received. The brethren generally in the State should consider these things.

Our camp-meeting will be a point of the deepest importance in the history of the cause in Missouri. Steps have been taken and plans set on foot during the past year, which, if carried out, promise the most beneficial results to the cause in Missouri. My term of office is about to expire, and some one must be selected to carry this work forward. If there is a feeling of carelessness and lack of interest among the Sabbath-keepers of Missouri at this critical point, the cause will fall lower than it has ever before been in this Conference. But if there is a general rally and a determination to carry the work forward at all hazards, a glorious triumph will be gained. There are many good omens of success in connection with the cause here. Things are working well in many parts of the Conference. We have no discouraging words to offer. Our hearts are full of courage. But, on the other hand, we would not shout before we are out of the woods. We would have all the friends of the cause determine that there shall be no go back to this work, but that Missouri shall take her stand among the wide-awake Conferences, and be as earnest as the best.

We appeal to our General Conference Committee not to desert us at this juncture, but to help us with their best counsel and labor.

Personally, I can say as my official term here in Missouri is about closing, that I have formed very pleasant acquaintances with the brethren in this Conference, and I feel the deepest interest in the prosperity of the cause here—such an interest as I cannot express. I want to see all the friends of the cause together at this meeting. I may not ever have such a privilege again. Come, brethren, plan to attend this meeting. Let us have the best meeting ever held in the State. Let the leaders of our churches read this in the Sabbath meeting to the churches. Some do not have the REVIEW.

GEO. I. BUTLER.

Sedalia, Mo., July 18, 1878.