# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1926_S165 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ers, _ preacher. i Superintendent Schmidt took occasion to tell the people in a meeting: “Our Lutheran Church has THE LUTHERAN PIONEER. 163 had been left home to take care of the baby. When our Director asked her, ‘Marie, aren’t you afraid to stay here alone? her answer was: ‘No, sir.’ Then Director Drewes continued: ‘Oh, you have the dogs for protection.’ Said the little girl: “Yes; and God, too, takes care of me.’ When it is remem- bered that this house stood on the banks of the Alabama River, far from help, human help; and when it is further borne in mind that many Negroes are easily frightened and very super- stitious, this answer of the little Lutheran Negro girl plainly shows what wholesome influence is exerted by our mission-school. God bless our schools and our pupils!” 44. Mount Olive, Tinela, Monroe Co. (Rural charge. Founded in 1916. Missionary: W. F. Carlson, since July, 1923.) Of all our Alabama congregations this one has had the slowest growth; but it is a good congregation, with a fine spiritual life. Baptized membership, 95 (gain, 26); com- municant members, 50; voters, 11. 45. Mount Calvary, Tilden, Dallas Co. (Rural charge. Founded in 1916. Missionary: John Thompson, since August 2, 1925.) Missionary Thompson was first a teacher in our Mission. Later he privately studied for the ministry and passed a satisfactory examination. He also serves Ingomar, which is about ten miles distant from Tilden, and teaches school in Tilden. Two female teachers help him in the school, which has an enrol- ment of 113. After a period of unrest there is now peace in the congregation, and its growth is very satisfactory. The congregation has 68 baptized members (gain, 15), of whom 44 are communicants and ten voters. The communicants partook of Holy Communion, on an average, three times during the first half of the year. 46. Grace, Ingomar, Dallas Co. (Rural congre- gation. Founded in 1919. Missionary: John Thompson, since August 2, 1925.) Ingomar is situated on the Alabama River. The nearest rail- road station is eighteen miles distant. Within a Tadius of five miles there are living only two white families. It is virtually a little Africa. There are in this neighborhood hundreds of Negroes who have no saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is therefore an enormous mission-field. However, there is no lack of preachers. Almost every male in the Ingomar neighborhood pretends to be @ After working here for five years, a stretched out the rescuing hand to you to save you from your ignorance; but you do not want to take hold of the saving hand.” These words touched the people to the quick, and they begged him to continue the work. Then a preacher arose and said: “I am going to find out whether the Lutheran Church is the right Church, for God will reveal it to me to- night in a dream.” Superintendent Schmidt, who well knows the character of these Negro preachers, writes: “Of course, this preacher would have dreamed that the Lutheran Church is not the true Church, and then he would have published his supposed dream near and far. So I told him: ‘If you dream that the Lutheran Church is the true Church, your dream is of God; but if you dream otherwise, the dream is of the devil” But the preachers have deceived and misled the people at Ingomar for so long a time that it has been very hard for us to gain a foothold there. To this must be added the fact that we have no building of our own. Under the circumstances it is not difficult to understand that we had a hard time in building the walls of our Lutheran Zion at Ingomar.” The children of the Northern Nebraska District were expected to contribute $1,000 for a chapel and school at Ingomar; but in their zeal they collected $1,774.89, which they laid on their Savior’s altar as a willing sacrifice. The new building was dedi- cated on Sunday, June 13, 1926, to the service of the Triune God. It is a combination building, the chapel and school being under one roof. A dwelling for a teacher is very necessary here, for which reason an appropriation of $550 should be made for this purpose. Concerning this teacher’s dwelling, Superintendent Schmidt writes: “The building in which we have held our services and school during the past five years is a long, three- room shack, not good enough for the Alabama Negroes to live in. We found this shack deserted, so we moved in. Teacher Dumas with his wife and two children used one room as living-room, kitchen, bedroom and classroom for about fifty children. In the second room the lady teacher lived. And in the third room the upper grades were taught. Teacher Dumas complained that living conditions seriously threatened the health of his family and moved, out last February. High water made it im- possible to leave the ‘chapel’ for a long time, except by means of a boat. Food had to be brought by means of a boat.’ The congregation at Ingomar has 26 baptized members, and of these, 21 are com- municants and 11 voters.