North Michigan Camp-Meeting
By William Covert
The North Michigan camp-meeting and annual conference were held at Mancelona, Mich., August 27 to September 6. All the conference workers, Elder Richardson, and the writer were present. Elder A. G. Haughey was with us one day. There were from two to three hundred people in attendance. This was the first annual gathering of the North Michigan Conference, as that conference was organized only one year ago. In many respects the meeting was a very good one. No excitement was manifested at any time, but in its stead there was a deep moving of the Spirit of God upon the hearts of the people, which brought light and courage to all in the camp. The first special revival effort was made at the sunset meeting with the coming in of the last Sabbath during the convocation. Then a short talk was given relative to the Sabbath question, in which the people were asked to consider what the Sabbath is to God's people, and how it is made a special factor in the third angel's message. This was given us as a topic for the social meeting, and the Lord blessed. At the close of this meeting many came forward for prayers. A number of these were making their first start in the Christian life. The next day (Sabbath) the sermon of the forenoon was upon the subject of baptism. When the sermon concluded, the invitation was given for those who desired baptism to come forward, and although15it was not previously known that more than seven were to be baptized, forty-three came forward. These confessed Christ, and desired to be baptized in his name. One or two persons had been baptized at an earlier date in the meeting, so forty-four or forty-five persons received the divine ordinance during the camp-meeting. This was very remarkable considering the small number of people in camp. By request of the conference, an appeal was made for cash and pledges to form a financial basis for the tract society, as the conference is new, and no appeal of this character had previously been made. In response to this call, $1,130 was secured. Three hundred dollars' worth of books was sold upon the ground from the book-stand. Four new churches were received into the conference. One brother was ordained to the ministry. The workers in this new conference enjoy the confidence of their fellow laborers, and we can confidently hope for good results to follow their work. We shall look for a large increase in the membership of this conference during the year to come, especially so since most of the labor is to be bestowed in new fields. The workers return to their labors full of courage.