# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1926_S20
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

20 Proceedings of the thirtieth convention

Drewes: 'Oh, you have the dogs here for protection.' 'Yes; and God
protects me too!' replied the child. When one considers that the
house stands on the bank of the Alabama River, far from help, human
help; and when one further considers that many Negroes are easily frightened
and superstitious, this answer of this Lutheran Negro
child readily shows what a wholesome influence the work of our mission
school exerts. God bless our schools and their pupils!"

44. Mount Olive, Tinela, Monroe Co. (Country congregation.
Founded 1916. Missionary: W. F. Carlson, since July 1923.) Probably
none of our congregations in Alabama has grown as slowly as
this one; but the growth was solid. The number of souls is 95 (increase:
26); of these 50 are communicant members and 11 voting
members.

45. Mount Calvary, Tilden, Dallas Co. (Country congregation.
Founded 1916. Missionary: John Thompson, since 2 August
1925.) Missionary Thompson was formerly a teacher. He studied
theology privately and then passed a satisfactory examination. He also
serves the congregation at Ingomar, about ten miles from Tilden,
and also keeps school at Tilden. Two women teachers help in
the school, which is attended by 113 children. After inner and
outer unrest there is now peace again, and the congregation is growing
again gradually. It has 68 souls (increase: 15), of whom
44 are confirmed and 10 voting members. The communicant members
in the first half of this year went on average three times
to the table of the LORD.

46. Grace, Ingomar, Dallas Co. (Country congregation.
Founded 1919. Missionary: John Thompson, since 2 August 1925.)
Ingomar is a district on the Alabama River. The nearest railway is
eighteen miles away. Within a radius of five miles live only
two white families. It is thus a little Africa. Hundreds of
blacks live here without any knowledge of the grace of God in
Christ Jesus. Here, then, is an enormous mission field. True,
there is no lack of so-called preachers. Almost every male member
of the Ingomar district is a "preacher." After we had
worked there five years, Superintendent Schmidt said in a meeting
to the people: "Our Lutheran church has stretched out the saving hand to
you to rescue you from your ignorance; but you
will not take the hand." The people were visibly moved and
asked him not to stop the work. Then a preacher stood up and
said: "I will find out whether the Lutheran church is the right church,
for God will tell me tonight in a dream." Our dear
Superintendent, who knows these Negro preachers well enough, says:
"This preacher would naturally have dreamed that the Lutheran church
was not the true church, and then he would have made the dream known far and
wide; so I said to him: 'If you dream that the
Lutheran church is the true church, then the dream is from God;
but if you dream otherwise, then the dream is from the devil.' But
the preachers have deceived and misled the poor people at Ingomar for so long
that it is difficult for our church to gain a foothold. Besides,
we had no building of our own. Under these circumstances
it is easily understood that we had a hard task building
the walls of Zion at Ingomar." Our children in the North
Nebraska District were to raise $1,000 for a church and school
at Ingomar; but in their praiseworthy zeal they have given $1,774.89 to their