The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Sheet 77

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

In September, 1926, however, the people once
more sent a delegation to Pastor Thompson, be-
seeching him to return to them and preach the pure
Word of God as proclaimed in the Lutheran Church,
as they had come to love it. To show that they were
sincere, they promised to pay the rent of a shack
which could be used for both school purposes and
church services and to pay Pastor Thompson’s trav-
eling expenses to and from their place. As their
plea favorably impressed the Mission Board, it gave
Pastor Thompson leave to begin work at Ackerville,
hoping that his efforts would not be in vain.

By the grace of God Pastor Thompson’s efforts
were productive of good results. We are happy to
report that on March 20 the mission-station was
organized into a congregation. The occasion was
a joyful one. The little room in which the event
took place was packed to capacity. Not only people
of the community had come, but also Lutheran
friends from Tilden and Hamburg were present.
Pastor E. A. Westcott preached to the gathering on
“The Lutheran Church,” showing the people that,
although it is a much-misunderstood Church and
therefore finds much opposition wherever it sends
its messengers, it, nevertheless, brings that message
which the world needs, and they in particular,
namely, Christ and Him crucified for poor sinners,
and brings it in unadulterated form. After the
sermon Pastor Thompson had the joy of. admitting
twenty-five people into the congregation by baptism
and confirmation. The ages of these people varied
from infants in their mothers’ arms to old aunties
and uncles sixty and seventy years old.

And so the Lutheran Church has come to stay
in the Ackerville community. Daily since October,
1926, a goodly number of colored children have not
only been taught to read, write, and “figure,” but
they have also been instructed in God’s Word and
Luther’s doctrine pure.

And what about the future? Pastor Thompson
is confident that we have again stepped into a large
field. He says that on his trips to Ackerville on
Sundays the sad spiritual condition of the people
there touches his heart. Young and old just lounge
about all day, attending no Sunday-school, no
church service, and when they do go to their so-
called churches, they are “as sheep without a shep-
herd.” He voices the plea that all who read these
lines would remember his young congregation in
their prayers and ask the Lord to crown his efforts
at Ackerville with success to the salvation of many
souls. God grant that you, dear reader, may do this
with joy and devotion! i. A. WESTCOTT.

Director C. F. Drewes in Texas.

When we heard that Director Drewes was to
lecture in Texas, we were pleased. We want to
thank the Walther League and especially Rev. K. G.
Manz, of Austin, for the treat of hearing Brother
Drewes lecture on our work among the colored
people. The months of January, February, and
March are not the most favorable time of the year
to travel over Texas. We live in the “Sunny South,”
but let us not forget that down from the North
come some very cold “Northers,’ and then we
Texans are not so lively as when the good old sun
shines.

Sunday night Pastor Drewes was to lecture for
us, and Saturday night a cold blast from the North
swept over us. In our morning services we had
a handful of people, and we almost decided to call
off the lecture altogether. However, at the last
moment we concluded to announce that, if it would
stop raining, we would have the lecture. And the
rain did cease. The crowd that gathered in the
church was greater than was at first expected, as
the collection shows.

And now, what are the impressions made by the
lecture? People who heard the lecture are asking,
“How did you like the lecture?” And the answer
always is, “It was fine.” To begin with, the lec-
turer himself at once impresses the audience with
the fact that he is exceedingly interested in his sub-
ject and is thoroughly at home in the work of Col-
ored Missions. He has a dry humor, which crops
out at unexpected places, and the audience likes it.
So when the name of Rosa Young appeared on the
screen head down, the lecturer remarked, “A per-
son must understand Hebrew in order to be able to
read that name.”

Another impression we get from the lecture and
pictures is that the work we are doing among the
colored people is most necessary. When we hear
what their own preachers teach them, our heart is
filled with extreme pity. Surely those “pastors” are
blind leaders of the blind, as the lecturer remarked.

What furthermore impresses the hearers is that
the colored people, many of them at least, take such
great interest in the Lutheran Church and love to

.sit through a long service to hear two or three ser-

mons and still be ready to hear more, and that old
people, who can walk only with the aid of a stick,
come for miles to attend our services. Would to
God all our white people showed such a zeal!

But the best impression undoubtedly is made
when one hears of the great change wrought by the