The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1927, Sheet 92

Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

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‘90

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

(not very unlike a goodly number of Northern
sectarian preachers) employ all kinds of means to
draw the crowd. They appeal to the flesh and the
pocketbook. Blind leaders of the blind!

' While visiting the unchurched, I heard the fol-
lowing announcement -by megaphone: “Monday
night, at Mount Zion [Baptist] Church, a lecture ; —
a bobbed-haired girl, —a big laugh for everybody !”
One Sunday afternoon I heard a “sermon” on the
“Dry Bones in the Valley.” The whole “service”
was a comedy. The preacher, a questionable char-
acter, kept the people in good humor. Some wo-
men became hysterical, claiming to be “full of the
Spirit”! At the conclusion of this farcical service
the “pastor” had the impertinence to say, “Now I
want five dollars in ten minutes.” He himself as-
sisted in collecting the money, going from bench to
bench. Another (Baptist) church in our com-
munity had engaged nine “jubilee singers” from
some other town. The place was packed. The
audience was very noisy; the whole “service” was
a genuine frolic. “Money” was the topic of the day.
I saw how the people jumped and were encouraged
in letting the “Spirit” have His sway! The preacher
did his utmost to keep the audience in an uproar.

The climax of blasphemy are the so-called Holi-
ness people. But I cannot go into details describing
the almost “immoral” worship of those “saints.”

In closing, let me state that in this section of
Greensboro a new hospital for Negroes has been
built; a new Negro high school will be built soon;
many’of the professional men have bought lots, and
the future of the residential Negro district is near
where we hope to locate permanently.

We trust that our venerable Board will consider
our proposals as to the future of Luther Memorial
favorably. Hundreds of the unchurched may be

-won. The field is ripe; we need a suitable building
to assure a bright future for our beloved Lu-
theran Zion. :

Pomona.

One day, while passing a small colored church,
I noticed the pastor, dressed in a long coat, mowing
‘grass. I secured the information I was looking for
from him, and he told me to visit an unchurched
Negro settlement about five miles out of Greensboro.
I went to that community the next day. There was
no church to be found; the public schools are far
from where we established ourselves. Not until last
Easter could we secure a building free of charge,
a large log house. We put the building in order and
‘made it attractive. Mr. Felton Vorice, one of our
theological students, rendered very valuable assis-

tance in building up our Lutheran Zion. This is
a very hard field. Mr. Vorice conducted the first
Lutheran service. Good audiences greeted us. Last
summer Mrs. H. Naether opened a Christian day-
school; she taught about five weeks. The writer
and Student Vorice canvassed the field several times.
There was no question as to the need of aggressive
church-work. All the families own their homes.
Not one has ever attended a genuine Lutheran ser-
vice, nor did they feel the need of attending services
of the kind described in the first part of my article.
Mrs. Alvorado Brooks Johnson, a graduate of Im-
manuel, opened the day-school last fall. The enrol-
ment is thirty-five. Our teacher is a good mis-
sionary. Believing in cooperation of home and
school, a number of women meet on Friday after-
noons in the schoolhouse.

At this writing we have just closed night meet-
ings lasting a week. Besides Professor Beck, the
students aided in the work. We had fair audiences.
The influence of the school is noticeable. We use
the full liturgy; the singing is good; the children
know the story of our Church. We hope that the
Lord will soon give us visible fruits of our labors.

We need also a suitable building here to carry
on our work successfully. More houses are being
built, and a large silk-mill is going to be established
near by. This will mean a larger field of our
activities.

May God awaken many hearts to the truth of
His holy Word! H. Naerner.

It Won’t Be Long Now.

The new home of the 1000-watt transmitter of
Station KFUO, St. Louis, one of the pioneer
stations in the Mississippi Valley, will be dedicated
soon. The new plant, including giant transmission
towers and a radio building, which is modern in every
detail, stands on the grounds of the new Concordia
Theological Seminary of the Lutheran Church of
the Missouri Synod, just outside the city limits.
Sunday, May 29, has been tentatively set as the date
for the dedication. The Lutheran Laymen’s League,
a national organization, which has erected the new,
splendid broadcasting plant at a cost of $50,000,
will celebrate its tenth anniversary in connection
with the dedication of the radio building. Since the
dedicatory program will be broadcast through the
new transmitter, the people who will gather on the
ground for the open-air service will represent only a
small fraction of the multitudes who will participate