Church Dedication at Cooper, Oklahoma Territory
By Frank H. Westphal
Sabbath, May 9, the church at Cooper, O. T., was dedicated. The building was once the public school house of the village. It was bought by our brethren at a low price. They remodeled the building, painted it, and seated it for a place of worship. It is truly a neat, clean, and respectable house to worship God in. We could offer it to the Lord with thankfulness. There is no incumbrance upon it. It is located in the vicinity of other German Seventh-day Adventist churches. One of these could be seen from the church we dedicated. Elder N. P. Nelson, president of the Southwestern Union Conference, Elder H. Haffner, president of the Oklahoma Conference, and the writer conducted the services. The writer spoke first in German, which was followed by a talk in English by Elder Nelson, after which Elder Haffner offered the dedicatory prayer. Three hundred persons were in attendance, and gave good attention to what was said. In the remarks the thought was presented that the church building as a memorial can be an honor to God only when the members are faithful to the Lord in their services. If they are hypocrites, then the house itself becomes a reproach. The Lord could not permit the Jewish temple to stand when the people had turned to idols. It became a reproach to him, so he permitted it to be burned. The duty of paying a faithful tithe was also presented. Some of the brethren took homesteads in Dakota, which cost them but fourteen dollars. They sold these farms for five or ten thousand dollars. Of the increase above fourteen dollars they never paid tithe. If the brethren within a radius of twenty miles of this place would give an honest tithe, there would be an inflow of ten thousand dollars into the treasury. This tithe ought to be brought in. How much is kept back that really belongs to God!18 We called attention to the foreign mission fields and the work of the Lord in these fields. There were many hearty amens. We could see that many are willing to give of their means to help sustain the missionaries in these fields. When I saw the large fields of wheat that promise an abundant harvest, I prayed that our brethren might devote a good share of it to foreign missions. We have but a little while longer to work; soon our work will be done. We felt especially interested in the young people, of whom there are a large number. We hope that many of them will prepare to work for the Master. There ought to be many to attend our schools. There is room for a large number in the wide harvest field. May the Lord lay the burden of the work upon many of these dear young souls. We felt greatly blessed in our visit to that field. We can truly say that the Lord blessed the word spoken.