The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1924, Sheet 21

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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The Lutheran Pioneer.

families are willing to join the church. God is now
visiting King’s Landing with His grace.

And how did the news of the Lutheran Church
reach this section of Alabama? It is an interesting
story. Here it is briefly. Jere in Selma lives an
old grandma who, with more than seventy years
upon her head, was cast aside by a church to which
she belonged for many years. She had never found
true and lasting peace of heart and mind. Our
missionary found her and told her about the cleans-
ing blood of the Redeemer. The truth sank into
her heart. She learned to lean entirely upon the
merits of her Savior and thus found peace with
God. She is now decidedly happy.

It was this old “auntie” that carried the glad
tidings of the grace of God to King’s Landing.
While on a visit there, she told the people about
the Lutheran Chureh and its Gospel-preaching.
She witnessed for the Savior, and the result was
the call from the people there for such satisfying
Gospel-preaching. ‘Thus the Savior, through this
old grandma, has apparently opened a large field at
King’s Landing for our Lutheran Church.

To what extent will we succeed at this new
place? Will the Lord bring large numbers of pre-
cious immortal souls into the ark of His Church?
That, dear reader, depends to a large extent upon
you. Will you not approach the Throne of Grace
and ask the Savior to bless the work at this new
station? What a power if all the thousands of
readers of this paper will daily invoke God’s bless-
ing upon the poor, benighted people at King’s Land-
ing who for the first time are hearing the glorious
and saving story of the cross ! —

At the head of this article we have the figures:
$2.50 and $4.00. What is the meaning and what
the connection? It’s this. Here in Selma we are
carrying on our work in an old shack along the
banks of the Alabama River. More than 100 chil-
dren with two teachers are crowded into this tumble-
down hut of 15X25 feet! Rent? $4.00 a month.
We need say nothing more about that place. The
health of the children and teachers is endangered.
The work cannot make proper headway under such
conditions. — In Birmingham, a city of approx-
imately 200,000 people, we conducted services for
a time in a place that cost $2.50 a month rent.
Included in the contract was a promise on the part
of the owner to “remodel” the building if we would
but take it. We did. Under such conditions our
_ dear Lutheran Church has been carrying on her
work down here at places.

19

Dear reader, will you not help us? Unless we
take care of the places where work has already been
started, how can we reach out into new fields? The
people at King’s Landing are calling. They and
their children want to hear of Jesus and His re-
deeming love. And now the question: —

Shall we, whose souls are lighted
With wisdom from on high,

Shall we to men benighted
The lamp of life deny?

Shall we reach out into the darkness at King’s
Landing and other places with the light of God’s
eternal Word? Or shall we turn our backs upon
the cry of these poor people? We do not ask for
expensive chapels and buildings; we are merely
asking for places where we can without disturbance
carry on the work. (A chapel in Selma with school
will cost only $1,500.)

Will you not, moved by compassion for your
poor fellow-men who are still in their sins, and out
of love for your Savior, whose dying love saved you
from the flames of hell, help us quickly with your
contributions ?

And — pray for us! Pray for the success of the
work on our entire field. Pray for the work at
King’s Landing. G. A. Scumupr.

Eprror’s Nore. — It seems impossible that
Superintendent Schmidt will here make his plea in
vain. Surely the response to his touching appeal
must be such as to enable the Mission Board to
build in Selma and Birmingham in the near future.
And as for King’s Landing, we feel that our readers
will help there too. For the poor people’s sake and
for our’zealous missionaries’ sake let us help, — help
with our prayers and help with our gifts.

Winston-Salem, N. C.

This city is said to be one of the largest tobacco
manufacturing centers in the world. And with that
name goes all the lewdness and immorality that is
usually characteristic of a tobacco manufacturing
center. ‘Thousands here are dying in their sins, and
it is needless to say that thousands more will die
unless something can be done to bring them to the
knowledge of their Savior. The Colored population
here is nearly 30,000, the largest of any city in
North Carolina. What a pity that we have no Lu-
theran chapel in the midst of this mass of dying
humanity ! :