What One Church Did by G. R. Hawkins; E. Flo Hawkins

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 5, 1914

What One Church Did

By G. R. Hawkins; E. Flo Hawkins

SOME twenty years ago we enlisted in the work of the Lord, and during this time our splendid church paper, the REVIEW AND HERALD, has never missed its weekly visit to our home, bringing to us comfort and cheer. We read it from cover to cover, and should surely miss the encouraging reports from our workers throughout the world-wide field.

A little over two years ago we left the Iowa Conference, where we had labored for eighteen years, and crossed the Missouri River, settling in Omaha, Nebr. We have enjoyed our labors here, and through the blessing of the Lord about seventy persons have united with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in this place, and a number are now waiting for baptism.

In addition to our church and field work, we have conducted, on a small scale, a Bible training school for city Bible workers. There have been associated with us some noble young men and women, and much of our success is due to their untiring efforts. The members of the Omaha church also have helped us materially.

Our Missionary Volunteer Society is doing splendid work. We have excellent meetings, and meet each week to send out fifty copies of the Signs of the Times to relatives and friends not of our faith. We are giving these young people the same Bible training that we give our field workers, and they gladly enter with us into a vigorous soul-saving campaign.

We wish especially, however, to report our Harvest Ingathering work for the encouragement of the REVIEW family. During the 1911 campaign we set our stakes for not less than one hundred dollars. We passed this goal so quickly that we decided to make it two hundred dollars; and when we finished our work, the total amount raised was two hundred and fifty dollars. When we entered the 1912 campaign, we set our goal for three hundred dollars, but we raised over three hundred and fifty. Then we asked, "What shall we do for the 1913 campaign?" From many earnest hearts came the answer, "Five hundred dollars our goal for next year." But in making this reply, our people did not count on the terrible tornado that swept over Omaha on March 23, 1913. The residents of the city were solicited for aid in behalf of the sufferers, for rebuilding churches and charitable institutions, and for every conceivable purpose, until we felt that it would be almost a crime to mention foreign missions in Omaha. A faithful sister in our church, the best solicitor we had, was injured in the wreckage of a home where she was visiting at the time of the storm.

However, in face of all seeming hindrances, our members met, and by faith ordered twenty-five hundred copies of the Harvest Ingathering REVIEW. We said nothing about a goal; we just worked and prayed. When the time came for our Harvest Ingathering program, the church was crowded. The Lord worked upon hearts, and at the close of the exercises by the children we had a testimony meeting, for which no human being had planned. As our people rose to speak, each one ended his testimony by laying before the Lord a thank offering; for though most of our people live in the part of the city through which the tornado passed, not an Adventist home was wrecked, not a life lost nor a business broken up among our people. The neat little house where we meet to worship God stands as a monument to the watch care of our Heavenly Father. When the service closed, late in the afternoon, we had passed our five-hundred-dollar mark. Three hundred dollars was collected with the Missions number of the REVIEW, and the remainder came as our Harvest Ingathering thank offering. Truly God answers prayer, and seeming difficulties are only stepping-stones to success. G. R. Hawkins, E. Flo Hawkins.