The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1926, Page 163

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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.