The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 162

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162

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Twenty-Third Report of the Board
for Negro Missions.
July, 1924, to July, 1926.
(Concluded.)

87. Our Savior, Possum Bend, Wilcox Co.
(Rural charge. Founded in 1916. Missionary:
Edward A. Westcott,* since 1921.) Missionary

Westcott serves the four stations at Possum Bend,

Taits, Longmile, and Camden, 271 persons all told,
of whom 133 are communicants and 27 voting
members. The congregation at Possum Bend has
75 baptized members and 35 communicants. These
35 communicants, on an average, communed three
times in six months. Near the chapel flows a creek,
which overflows its banks when there are heavy

-rains. So it happens that Missionary Westcott and
his catechumens at times, during their instruction
hour, are seated on a fallen tree near the creek
opposite the chapel.

88. Zion, Taits, Wilcox Co. (Country charge.
Founded in October, 1919. Missionary: E. A. West-
cott,* since September, 1921.) Superintendent
Schmidt says in his report: “The congregation. at
Taits has grown nicely. It now numbers almost
100 persons. This station hasbeen built under
unusually trying circumstances in the face of what
seemed insurmountable obstacles.”

89. Our Redeemer, Longmile, Wilcox Co.
(Rural congregation. Founded in 1922. Mis-
sionary: E. A. Westcott,* since January, 1924.)
Baptized members, 64; communicants, 35. The
thirty-five communicants of this station communed
ninety-seven times during the first half of the
present year, or almost three times in a half year.

40. Cross, Camden. (Founded in the fall of
1924. Missionary: E. A. Westcott.*) Camden is
the county-seat of Wilcox County. Pastor Westcott
began the work here two years ago this fall. The
congregation numbers 19 communicants and 34
baptized members. Both the services and school
are held in a board shanty. As already stated, the
congregations in Alabama have collected $700 for
& chapel and school at Camden.

41. Hope, Kings Landing, Dallas Co. (Rural
charge. Founded January 17, 1924. Missionary:
Walter F. Carlson, since November, 1925.) Mis-

_sionary Carlson serves four congregations in three
different counties, which compels him to travel
& great deal. However, God is richly blessing his
difficult and faithful work. Hope Congregation
has justified the hopes entertained for its rapid

growth. The baptized membership has grown from
33 to 89. The other congregations in Alabama
have presented this young congregation with a
chapel costing more than $1,000. This was the
first church built in our Colored Missions without.
the help of the Mission Board. — Superintendent:
Schmidt relates an incident which most aptly
shows how the Negro preachers of the Black Belt.
deceive the poor, ignorant people. “Several years
ago,” so he reports, “while a revival was in progress
and the preacher could not get people to join the
church, he hit upon the following scheme: Two-
deacons were requested to post themselves in the:
steeple. The preacher, who had a crowded house,.
then prayed: ‘Lord, that the people may know
that Thou wilt have them join the church, ring the
bell? The deacons in the steeple gave the bell
a blow. The crowd in the church trembled. This
was repeated three times, and a great number of
frightened Negroes rushed up to the mourners”
bench and joined the church, convinced that the
Lord Himself had tolled the bell.”

42. Bethel, Rockwest, Wilcox Co. (Rural
charge. Founded September 25, 1924. Missionary:
W. F. Carlson, since November, 1925.) The work:
was begun at the request of a rich plantation owner,.
a white man.
382 communicants and 73 baptized persons. An
unknown friend of our Colored Missions, a lady in
the Far West, sent a gift of $1,000 to build a chapel
at this station. A site has been purchased, and the-
chapel is to be erected this summer. Superintendent
Schmidt writes in his report: ‘““When we think of”
Rockwest and other places in Alabama, where:
hundreds of souls are dying without the saving:
knowledge of Christ, we lift our voice and heart to-
God in the prayer:

O Christ, our true and only Light,
Enlighten those who sit in night;
Let those afar now hear Thy voice
And in Thy fold with us rejoice.

48. Mount Carmel, Midway, Wilcox Co. (Rural!
charge. Founded in 1916. Missionary: W. F..
Carlson, since March, 1926.) Voters, 8; communi--
cants, 30; baptized members, 70 (gain, 18). Super--
intendent Schmidt writes: “Ruth Chambers is.
instructing 39 children in the school. The following-
story will beautifully illustrate the fine results-
attained by the work in the school: The writer, with:
Director Drewes, one evening very late rode to the-
cabin of one of the members. As we approached the-
lonely home standing on the banks of the Alabama,.
the dogs barked loudly and fiercely. A little girll

The congregation to-day numbers. .