The Forward Movement in Nebraska
By A. T. Robinson
I AM glad to report that our people in Nebraska are responding nobly to the call of the hour. We ordered five thousand sets of the special Signs. We had them sent in bulk to the Pacific Press, Kansas City, asking our people to order from that place. A few days ago Brother Cochran, manager of the Kansas City Branch, wrote me that four hundred of the five thousand of the first number had been sent out, and that several hundred orders were being received from Nebraska every day. Very large numbers of the Southern Watchman, Life Boat, Life and Health, and our foreign papers are also being used. Our people seem to realize that this is not to be a spasmodic effort that will be over in a few weeks, but rather that we are entering upon the finishing of the work. In a letter received a few days ago, the writer asks, “When this effort with the special Signs is over, What next?” About the next thing Nebraska will be asked to do, will be to act her part fully in bringing the annual offerings to foreign missions up to the eighty thousand dollars called for. I believe that the determination to do this is being formed in hundreds of minds. There has never been a time in the history of this movement that has called so urgently for a spirit of loyalty to God and his cause as does the present hour. The fact stares us in the face that unless we do our duty fully at this time, there will have to be a retrenchment in our work in foreign fields. This fact should burn its way into the heart of every Seventh-day Adventist. Shall we not really be guilty before God if means are withheld which are needed to carry this blessed message of the gospel to the regions beyond? Elder W. D. MacLay and wife sailed from New York to Scotland, on Wednesday, November 9. Brother O. A. Hall and wife have recently left to engage in educational work in Manitoba. Sister Pearl West will sail for South Africa, on December 13. Thus, some of our dear fellow workers are leaving us, forming links which will bind our hearts more closely to the work in various far-away fields. We have been able to advance to the Mission Board, in the case of each of these workers, one hundred dollars for transportation expenses, also their salaries until December 31. The Mission Board have expressed their appreciation of this little help, in the time of financial strain that is upon the Board, to sustain the work in foreign lands. Brother Spicer writes that there has never been a time when the work has seemed to grow beyond the possibility of the Board to cope with it, with the means at command, as is the case now. As he expresses it in a recent letter, “We shall surely have to start in with 1905 under short canvas.” Our prayers will follow each of these dear workers as they take up their work in distant fields. O that the Lord may move upon the hearts of our brethren and sisters in Nebraska to be faithful in the payment of the Lord’s tithe, that we may be able to forward their support to them promptly; and also to make liberal donations to the Mission Board, that other faithful workers may be sustained at their post of duty. We are receiving some encouraging reports from the work in various parts of our own conference, for which we praise the Lord. A. T. ROBINSON.