Publishing the Message Far and Wide Through the Newspapers
By Walter L. Burgan
WITHIN the last two weeks word has been received from several other brethren who are conducting or assisting in tent efforts, telling of their success in having extracts of their sermons published in the local newspapers. Quite a number of the States have been heard from this summer, and it is wonderful how the glorious doctrines held by Seventh-day Adventists, and which the Lord declares are to go to all the world in this generation, are being heralded over a very wide portion of the land through the secular press. This present tent season will stand out conspicuously as one in which a larger number of companies than ever before have been making use of the newspapers to help in spreading the light of the gospel message. Practically all the brethren who are utilizing this powerful medium have had encouraging experiences, and are urging others to engage in this important work. Experiences have come to some of the workers which have opened the way for them to gain entrance to the columns of the newspapers where they are laboring, and thus the gospel is being much more widely proclaimed than had they not met with such experiences. I shall now make known how a number of the workers who have given this feature more consideration this year than ever in the past, feel concerning the press work. One brother holding a tent effort in a city in Iowa says: "So far we have had from one-half to one and one-half columns in the daily paper for an outline of the sermon each evening, and people for miles around report that they watch for these sermons." Two other brethren writing from another city in Iowa say: "The city is alive with the message. We have two daily papers, and they use our reports each day, and the editors seem anxious to get them. The editors are very friendly, and say they will help us all they can." Elder E. M. Chapman, president of the Manitoba Conference, in speaking of a tent effort with which he is connected at Brandon, Manitoba, says: "The daily papers have very kindly printed outlines of each sermon so far, for which we feel very grateful. We believe this will be a great help in getting the truth before the people, and it also aids in advertising our meetings." A brother in Indiana has met with success in his efforts to have phases of the message published through the newspapers. In a recent letter he stated that the editor of the paper where he is laboring was very friendly to him. "He [the editor] published nearly everything I submitted to him," the brother wrote, "though I did not try to get him to take any more than I thought he would like. Notwithstanding the fact that the editor had the privilege of extracting any part of the synopsis I handed him, I asked him to leave it as near the original as consistent, and he published each article word for word." A brother in Wilmington, Del., says: "The four newspapers in the city, three of them dailies and one a Sunday paper, are reporting our meetings nearly every day, granting us from one inch to almost twelve inches of space, and in almost every instance giving us good headlines and a prominent place in the paper. This we greatly appreciate. We frequently hear of or meet people who are watching for these reports and reading them with interest. The reports have been instrumental in bringing some to the tent." From a brother connected with a tent company in South Dakota comes this word: "I am in a tent company here in15a town with three newspapers, and never found editors more friendly than these are. I have had more space than I dreamed of using. Three articles were in last week's edition, each one having from one to three illustrations. I am sure this work will be of increasing value in giving publicity to this message." A brother in Kansas, after the publishing of an article in his home paper about the camp-meeting to be held in his conference, says: "I think the article will do good. A gentleman spoke to me about the article soon after the paper was issued. He said, 'I had always understood that the Adventists were guilty of setting a definite time for the return of the Lord, but I see that you deny that very emphatically in your article.'" Thus we can see the many ways in which the newspapers can be used for the advancement of the Lord's cause. Not only is the message very widely proclaimed, but wrong impressions as to our beliefs and the extent of our work are corrected. The hand of the Lord certainly is guiding in the efforts put forth to sound the loud cry of the third angel's message.