TENNESSEE by Olando Soule

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 30, 1876

TENNESSEE

By Olando Soule

SINCE my last report, I have visited the company at Bee Creek. Held several meetings with them, of much interest and encouragement to all. Organized a church of eight with the following officers: elder, P. D. Moyers; deacon, Wayman Vanwinkle; clerk and treasurer, sister Vanwinkle. The elder and deacon were then solemnly set apart for their work by the laying on of hands and prayer; after which I presented a letter and became a member of this little body of Sabbath-keepers, the first ever planted on the Cumberland Mountains. Systematic Benevolence was organized to the amount of $30.12 for the coming year; I also received presents amounting to $9.00. A vote was taken and participated in by all, discarding the use of tea, coffee, pork, and tobacco, also a vote recommending Bro. P. D. Moyers as a proper person to receive a license. This little company will be known hereafter as the Mt. Gilead church, and the address of all its officers is Mt. Gilead, Cumberland Co., Tenn.

The closing exercise was a celebration of the ordinances, which was truly a refreshing season. One sister who had passed the frosts of nearly seventy winters, while participating in this exercise praised God with a loud voice for the blessed privilege. Tears flowed freely, and it seemed that Heaven smiled upon its children.

This church occupies an important place. There are a number who will doubtless soon join their ranks, while on every hand there is a wide field in which to labor. If they keep humble and live near to the Lord, the Judgment alone can reveal the amount of good they will accomplish.

OLANDO SOULE.

Pikeville, Tenn., Nov. 12, 1876.