LYONS CAMP-MEETING by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 9, 1879

LYONS CAMP-MEETING.

By James White

The Lyons camp-meeting was held near the village of Lyons, Michigan, Sept. 25–30. This was the third meeting in the State the present season. A large gathering was not expected, and preparations were made according to expectations. The center of the mammoth tent was left at Battle Creek, under the impression that it would not be needed.

The suffering endured by the congregation on Sunday, and the risk of life to the speaker in consequence of the intense heat in the crowded audience, may suggest to the minds of our good camp-meeting committee that great risks should not be run in the line of comfort to the people, and the life of those speakers attending their twelfth camp-meeting for the season. That portion of the tent on the ground was literally packed, and a dense wall of men stood around, excluding the least breath of pure air from without, shutting up both hearers and speaker to impure air, literally hot, which had been breathed over a hundred times. Mrs. W. risked her life to address the audience. We refused. With this exception, ample preparations were made for both speakers and hearers.

Sabbath was a good day on the Lyons camp-ground. At the close of Mrs. W.’s discourse in the afternoon, not less than four hundred came forward for prayers. It was an occasion of deep feeling. After prayers were offered, testimonies, brief and to the point, were given by those seeking the Lord. This service reached to nearly dark, when it was closed to spend an hour in the family tents where the same work of seeking God could be carried on in scores of distinct congregations. The results were excellent.

The preaching at the Lyons camp-meeting was generally practical and close, and the social exercises were free and spirited. As usual at such meetings in Michigan, harmony prevailed. The Sabbath-school, the temperance movement, and the tract and missionary work, received their proportion of attention, and moved off in an encouraging manner.

In the business reports, Michigan appears to great disadvantage. Michigan is really one of the most destitute fields in point of laborers. We read in the list of the preachers of the Michigan Conference the names of Waggoner, Byington, Van Horn, Burrill, Smith, Corliss, Sawyer, S. H. Lane, J. White, and Mrs. E. G. White.

But Eld. Waggoner has labored in California since the last General Conference. Eld. Van Horn is president of the Oregon Conference, and has not labored in Michigan for several years. Eld. S. H. Lane has labored in Indiana a number of years as president of that State Conference. Elds. Corliss and Burrill are laboring in Colorado, and have labored out of their Conference much of the time for several years. Eld. Sawyer labors among the Swedes from Maine to Kansas. Eld. Byington, at the age of eighty, does his work well, and counts one among the ministers of the Michigan Conference. Had Eld. Canright not been transferred to Ohio, he would count only one. Eld. Smith is nearly shut up to his labors in the REVIEW Office and at the College, and Eld. White and wife have spent only two Sabbaths in Michigan during the past Conference year.

Noble Michigan has parted with her most efficient ministers, and last year gave the General Conference the sum of $3,000 to support them in other fields. In this, Michigan has done well; but there is such a thing as doing wrong in loving neighbors better than self. The Michigan Conference is waking up to the importance of the State where most of our institutions are located, standing ahead in point of an able ministry and a devoted, thorough-going membership. In this respect the Michigan Conference should be a model for others.

This subject was quite thoroughly canvassed at the Lyons camp-meeting, and the wants of the cause were carefully considered. The subject of dividing the State into three Conferences received considerable attention. But it was finally decided to elect an executive committee of five, instead of three as is usual in our State Conferences, four of them ministers, three to preside over as many divisions of the State under the supervision of a president of the whole. It may be thought best, at the next annual Conference, to divide this large Conference of more than one hundred congregations of S. D. Adventists.

The auditing committee claimed much of our time; and we were glad to see that the following measures were regarded with favor by the several members of this committee:—

That those ministers who are wearing out with successful labor should be well supported.
That young men of promise should be encouraged by proper remuneration for what they do accomplish.
That those ministers of ability belonging to the Conference, who are laboring in other Conferences, be encouraged to labor in Michigan so far as consistent.
That if Michigan be drawn upon for ministerial help for less important fields than at home, where our institutions are located, if any are spared, it should be those who can leave with the least loss, and who are better adapted to posts of duty of less importance to the general cause than those at or near head-quarters.

Twenty-five were baptized, and Brn. Sisley and Wellman were set apart to the work of the gospel ministry at the closing morning meeting on third day. Thus closed the good camp-meeting at Lyons, Michigan. J. W.