Soul Winner Won by Newspaper Report by W. L. Burgan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 21, 1914

Soul Winner Won by Newspaper Report

By W. L. Burgan

Attending the biennial session of the Southwestern Union Conference, which was held in Keene, Tex., April 1-12, was a young sister who embraced the truth just two years ago, having been attracted to it through the reading of a report in a newspaper in her home city. The remarkable part in connection with this sister's experience is not only that she embraced the truth, but that she has been an instrument in the hands of the Lord in winning others to the gospel.

This sister, who resides in Oklahoma City, did not know until two years ago that there was an Adventist in her part of the world. At that time she heard her father read an article about one of our meetings which was held in Keene, Tex. The Lord opened the columns of that newspaper for the publication of this item just at the time when our sister was at the deciding point of being a Christian. Several years before, she had heard some phases of the truth in another city, and was convinced that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and upon hearing her father read the article, she decided to obey. Three weeks later she learned of the location of the Adventist church in Oklahoma City, and attended services. Soon after joining the church, she became a Bible worker, and from November, 1912, to January, 1914, reports that nine of her readers have joined the church, and nine others are keeping the Sabbath.

In the tent effort during the summer of 1912, our sister, who was one of the workers, visited and instructed some of those who as the result of that effort accepted the doctrines we teach. A talk with our sister, who is of a sterling Christian character, demonstrates that it is worth the while to use the newspapers for the advancement of the message. How many others attracted to the precious gospel truth through newspaper reports, will become efficient Bible workers and win souls to the cause of Christ, the Lord only knows. Who knows how many there are hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and longing to engage in missionary endeavor, who might be won to the Lord by the efforts that we could put forth through the agency of the secular press? It pays to use the newspapers. We ought to take courage, and write for these papers at every opportunity. They are to take a prominent part in closing up the work of God on earth, and we cannot be lax in writing for them.

The mother and sister of the lady already mentioned have since joined the church, and her father is favorably impressed with the truth.

Another interesting incident was related at the recent meeting in Keene concerning the effectiveness of the newspapers in reaching people with the message. Elder V. B. Watts, president of the New Mexico Conference, and another brother held a series of meetings in the city of Albuquerque some months ago, and the papers there were quite liberal in publishing extracts of their sermons. The Albuquerque papers have an extensive circulation in New Mexico, as is evident by the fact that when Elder Watts visited a place in the mountains over four hundred miles from Albuquerque by the railroad line, and forty-five miles from the nearest railroad station, the ranchers there, upon hearing who he was, told him that they had been reading his articles in the papers. Elder Watts said that some of those who accepted the truth during his effort were first attracted to his meetings by the reports in the papers.

Other brethren in different cities in the Southwestern Union said that they have been using the papers in their neighborhoods with good results. They told how friends would meet them on the street and tell them how interested they were in reading their reports. The secular press is an excellent medium for the planting of seed that some day will spring up and bear precious fruit for the Lord's kingdom.

The convention recently held in Keene

was quite widely advertised in newspapers in different places. The Cleburne papers published reports, as did the larger dailies in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, and Austin.

W. L. BURGAN.