The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1923, Page 51

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The Iutheran Pioneer.

51

But, alas! what about us? What are we doing
to encourage them in their work? What are we
doing to cheer them on in their labors? What
are we doing to hold up their hands? Will our
Colored Missions have to share the fate of other
Lutheran missions which once were flourishing and
then had to be abandoned, not because there were
no missionaries willing to work, but simply because
the people at home refused to support the work
which God has commissioned the Church to do?

Brethren and sisters, I fear for the future of
our Synodical Conference! God is showing us the
work He wants us to do; He has given us an open
door throughout the fair Southland, but particu-
larly at Immanuel College. Do you think that He
will long continue to recognize us as His people?
Do you think that He will much longer leave open
the door of opportunity for us if we do not heed
His call? O Lord, give us the desire and ability
to do Thy will! : FE. J. L.

Alabama Notes.

April 15 will long be remembered at Buena
Vista as a day of happiness, for on that day more
than a score of souls were added to our little con-
gregation there by baptism and confirmation. The
little chapel was crowded with members and
strangers who wished to witness the reception of
the candidates into the communion of the Evan-
gelical Lutheran Church. And as the candidates,
infants in the arms of their mothers, others just
beginning to learn to walk, children from six to
twelve years of age, youths and maidens from four-
teen to twenty, mothers and grandmothers from

‘thirty-five to sixty, came forward to be received

into the kingdom of God, the members of the con-

gregation sang in their hearts “O Day of Joy and_

Gladness,” and the pastor forgot that less than an
hour before he had spent over half an hour in
prying his trusty Ford out of a mud-hole. As the
Sacrament of Baptism and the rite of confirmation

_Were administered to these blood-bought souls, the

pastor forgot that his clothes had become soiled
with mud and soaked with perspiration in liberat-
ing his Ford from a Monroe County mud-hole. All
this was forgotten because he rejoiced that over
a score of souls had been delivered from the bond=
age of sin. After the baptism and confirmation
over thirty persons partook of Holy Communion
and thus gave evidence of the faith that is in their

hearts. May the blessings of God continue to rest
upon St. James’s Congregation and keep all her
members in the faith which saves!

* * *

After the harvest at Buena Vista the pastor took
to the road once more and after an hour’s dfive
found himself at St. Andrew’s Congregation, located
at Vredenburgh. Here three souls were received
into the Church, one by baptism and two by con-
firmation, after which some twenty odd went to
Holy Communion.

When the pastor and the writer reached Selma
at half past three Monday morning, they were tired
and sleepy, but thanked God for the wonderful
harvest He had permitted to be gathered into His
garner. As we parted at the corner of Selma Ave.
and Lapsley St., Superintendent Schmidt remarked,
“T am glad I don’t have to get up early this morn-
ing,” and the writer began to envy him the hours
of sleep he would be enjoying while he, the writer,
would be plugging away in the schoolroom. But
he changed his mind, for besides taking the main
services the day before, the Superintendent had sat
at the steering wheel and piloted the “Gospel Ford”
over miles of tortuous roads. And so he deserved
a few extra hours of well-earned rest.

* * *

On the 22d of April another congregation was
made glad by an event for which the members had
been hoping and praying for months and months,
and which they will remember for years and years:
A little over fourteen months ago a small band of
people assembled in the bedroom of Sid McDowell’s
home at Long Mile Place, a few miles southwest
of Camden, and for the first time heard the pure
Word of God spoken by a Lutheran minister. From
that time on this little band assembled regularly
to hear the Word of God. In the course of time
this Word bore fruit, and a congregation was or-
ganized. More and more people came to the meet-
ings, and Brother Sid’s bedroom could no longer
accommodate them. They then moved into an old
log shack, which served as chapel and schoolhouse
for many months. | In this old shack the Gospel was
preached by Superintendent Schmidt, and the Cat-
echism and Bible History taught to a host of chil-
dren by Miss Annie M. McBryde. Here the con-
gregation talked and dreamed of a chapel in which
they could worship God in peace.

April 22 brought the realization of that dream,
for on that day the congregation at Long Mile Place
was permitted to dedicate its new chapel to the