BUSINESS PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNESOTA CONFERENCE.
By H. F. Phelps
The thirty-ninth annual Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists of Minnesota was held in connection with the camp-meeting at Anoka, June 7–17, 1900. The business occupied the time of five sessions, the first being called at 9:15, June 12. The president, Elder C. W. Flaiz, was in the chair. Only forty-eight churches, out of eighty-four on the Conference record, were represented, by one hundred and fourteen delegates. These meetings were made occasions of spiritual interest, and were instructive in their nature. A fair measure of success has attended the laborers in this field. Besides an increase in the membership of several churches, four new churches were added to the Conference. The report of the Conference treasurer showed that $20,179.73 tithe had been received during the year. The amount received on foreign missions, including a small sum on hand, was $8,425.82; on the orphan’s home, $778.07. The report of the mission secretary showed that the increase in the contribution to the foreign mission work was more than double that of last year; and that a good sum had been placed to the credit of the South, while the home work had been well sustained. The work of placing our literature in the prisons has given encouraging results. The force of laborers was increased by the ordination of Brethren J. F. Pogue and J. C. Christianson to the gospel ministry; and by an increase of those receiving licenses. By vote of the Conference the Helping Hand Mission in St. Paul was discontinued. It was voted that a school be maintained at Anoka, during the coming winter, with the purpose of training workers; that greater efforts be put forth in our large cities; also that the Conference laborers and Union College continue to work in harmony in seeking out and preparing laborers. The officers for the ensuing year are the same as last year, except that a representative of the German work, Elder J. J. Graf, is placed on the Executive Committee. Harmony and brotherly love prevailed throughout, and the Conference enters upon the fortieth year of its history with every promise of God in its favor. Experience has verified the statement of the Spirit of God, made many years ago, even before a Conference was organized, that Minnesota is a good field for labor.