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BAPTISTS TO HOLD BIG MEETINGS The Great Tasks Of A Great People -State Mission Day In Sunday School Oct 3 Alex W. Bealer. September and October are red-let ter months in the Georgia Baptist year. In these months the District Associations meet and the Baptist t clans gather for their annual conclave/ giving' ample opportunity for greet ings and fraternal fellowship that can be had in no other way. -vx.-. ifak DR. ARCH C. CREE, The New Secretary. An Army Of Three Hundred Thousand There are three hundred thousand •white Baptists in Georgia. A major ity of them live in the country and have their membership in one of the twenty-five hundred Baptist, churches scattered from the mountains of Dade to the sands of Chatham. It is safe to say that four out of every seven churches in the country, and about the same proportion of church mem bers, are of the Baptist persuasion. Since the social life of the country is somewhat limited, the people wel come such opportunities of meeting their friends and brethren. The Biggest Meeting Of All The Year However, the great gathering of the year is the meeting of the District Association. The Baptist churches in a given territory, generally in each county, are banded together into an association, and once a year these associations meet for a session last ing two or three days. Here an oppor tunity is afforded of meeting friends from a distance and of getting in touch with the religious movements of the great denomination and of the rest of the Christian world. Visiting preach ers, men of big reputation and great eloquence, are in attendance to preach or to speak on the many questions in which the churches are interested. Great crowds generally attend these meetings, crowds larger than the house can hold. The Association is a social as well as a religious occasion. Family reunions and other social and fraternal events occur. No small amount of courting goes on among the young folks who have been “crowd ed out” and who have been ‘ forced" to find comfortable places in autos or buggies beneath the big trees in the grove around the meeting house. Georgia Hospitality Without Stint Then there is the dinner on the grounds to which everybody is invit ed. Such a dinner! A dinner for which the women of the community have been preparing for weeks, and for which many an innocent young life is sacrificed. Talk about groaning tables! If tables ever did groan they get down to business along this line when the Baptist women get out their boxes and baskets and trunks filled with the good things which have been carefully prepared for this occasion. There is fried chicken, baked chick en, chicken pie; ham, pork, beef, mut ton, kid, barbecued and otherwise ; potato salad, potato pudding, potato ■custard; pies without end. peach and apple, open-faced pies, strap pies, “kiv ered and un-kivered” pies, biscuits, cakes, home-made bread, fresh coun try butter, jellies, preserves, pickles, buttermilk, lemonade and coffee; and many other things too numerous to mention—things that will make your mouth water—things the women have prepared for that dinner on the grounds. When everybody is too full for utterance, even though five thou sand may have been fed, there are always baskets full left, enough to feed another hungry multitude. These Bap tists are scriptural, if anything. At the close of the day’s services the delegates and visitors are par celled out among the people who live near the church to enjoy Georgia hos pitality without stint. In wagons, bug gies, carriages and machines, they go from one to five miles to spend the night in the homes of their hosts. The Organization And Purpose To the uninformed these associa tions are strange bits of ecclesiastical machinery. They have no authority to legislate for, nor to direct, the church es composing them. They are the creatures, not the creators, of the churches; the servants, not the rulers. Eao'i Individual Baptist is a spiritual <den:jcrat owing allegiance in spiritual S-s only to his Lord. The church ch he belongs is an independent having but one law to govern it, w of the New Testament; and DUt one great purpose, to win men to God. This is the faith and prac tice of every well-regulated Baptist and, of course, every well-regulated Baptist church. The churches appoint delegates, or messengers, who come together as-an association to devise ways and means for doing this great work. The asso ciations and churches together elect representatives who form the State Convention and the different State Conventions make up the Southern Baptist Convention. The business of all these organizations is to hear re ports on what has been done during the past year and to plan for more aggressive work in the year that is to come. They are, “Simon pure,” unterrified and unterrifiable Spiritual Democrats. Thomas Jefferson Studied Baptists It is claimed by Baptist historians that Thomas Jefferson studied the practices and principles of the Bap tists and that in consequence he mod elled the government of the United States after the constitution of a little Baptist Church in the mountains of Virginia. It requires no stretch of the imag ination to see the Baptist practice and principle running like a scarlet thread from one end of this democratic gov ernment to the other. There is the individual citizen over against the in dividual church member, the commun ity corresponding to the local church, the county matching the district asso ciation, the State government side by side with the State Convention and the Congress of the Nation paralleling the general Convention of the denomi nal ion. A Story Of Progress To Be Told Within the next two months about one hundred of these associations will meet in Georgia. There the people will be told what they have accom plished through their various mission ary, educational and eleemosynary or ganizations. It is a story of remark able progress. In 1900 there were 190,- 000 white Baptists in the State of Georgia and they had 2,000 churches. That year they raised for missions the sum of $42,244.00. The figures for last year show that there are now in Georgia 2,500 churches with a member ship of 300,000. Last year they rais ed for home purposes and for mis sions $1,250,000.00 —a positively mar velous advance in the space of one and a half decades. The Baptists of Georgia have made great strides in education. They own educational Institutions worth more than $2,000,000.00. Belonging immedi ately to the State Convention are Mer cer University at Macon, and Bessie Tift College for women at Forsyth, to gether with eight secondary or high schools. In addition to these there are Shorter College at Rome, Cox Col lege at College Park, and the La- Grange Female College, all Baptists, but not the immediate property of the Convention. Besides they own and operate the Orphans’ Home at Hapeville and the Baptist Hospital at Atlanta. DR. J. J. BENNETT, The Old Secretary. A Beloved Leader Who Will Be Missed The Mission Board of the Georgia Baptist Convention, located at Atlanta, is charged with the duty of encourag ing and directing the raising and ex penditure of money for missions and for educational purposes. When the associations meet the brethren will be greatly encouraged by the reports that will be made. These reports will show remarkable progress in the face of great drawbacks within and without. For eighteen months Dr. J. J. Ben nett, who was the leader of the mis sion work, has been laid aside by ill ness; but the feeling of individual responsibility among the leading .church members has helped to keep up the interest in the work, and there has not been so much of a let-down as might have occurred. Few men of his age have possessed the personal magnetism of Joe Bennett, and few men nave aroused ms people to make such heroic efforts for advancing the cause of Christ. He will be greatly missed at the associational meetings at which he was always a more than welcome visitor. Anew leader has been called to this work as Sec. and Treas. of the Geor gia Baptist Convention, in the person of Dr. Arch C. Cree. He will be heard with interest and enthusiasm at many of the associational meetings in the next few weeks urging his people to go on to still greater achievements in the future. The campaign for State Missions is already on and Georgia Baptists are rallying to do large things for State Missions. A Great Sunday Planned On Sunday, October 3d, the Baptist Sunday Schools of Georgia will ob serve State Mission Day in the Sun day School. A splendid program has been prepared. The Georgia Baptist Rally Song, “Redeem Georgia,” will be sung in all the schools, and a great offering will be made for Baptist mis sion work in Georgia. REVIVAL FIRES TO BLAZE IN GEORGIA A Great Movement To Win The State To Christ Alex W. Bealer. Georgia Baptists, under the leader ship of Dr. Arch C. Cree, the new Sec retary of Missions, are preparing to light the revival fires in Georgia and to keep them burning continuously for four months by a great revival cam paign that will begin in January and last through April, sweeping across the State from the sands of Florida to the mountains of Tennessee. Think of three hundred thousand Baptists martialed for a warfare against spiritual wickedness in high places as well as low. Think of a thousand preachers engaged in a thou sand meetings to win ten thousand souls and more into the Kingdom of Christ, and you will get some idea of the greatness of this undertaking. The War To Open In South Georgia It will open in a number of churches along the Southern bor der of the State. These meet ings will start in South Georgia and last for two weeks. A multitude of Baptists all over Georgia will be pray ing for them both in private and in public. At the end of two weeks the battle line will move northward to other churches and thus until the whole state has been covered. In the pjist there Ijave been many kinds of union meetings held in Geor gia and meetings that covered sections and cities, but this is the first move ment that has ever been inaugurated to cover the State with revivals. A Campaign That Has Been Well Planned This campaign has been well plan ned. It will be conducted under the auspices of the Mission Board of the Georgia Baptist Convention. The en tire evangelistic force of the Mission Board made up of preachers and sing ers, will be called into action, but there will also be many others, since this force is not large enough to carry on the war. The entire evangelistic force of the Home Mission Board, about forty preachers and singers, un der the direction of their leader, Dr. Weston Bruner, will be engaged* In addition to these more than 100 pastors have signified their willing ness to contribute generously of time and service to this campaign. The plan is to let some of the North Geor gia pastors come to take part in the South Georgia meetings, and when the North Georgia meetings are in progress some of the South Georgia pastors will be pressed into service. The New Secretary An Executive This movement was born in the heart of Dr. Arch C. Cree. He was elected Secretary of the Board in the early Spring to succeed Dr. J. J. Ben nett He was the Enlistment Secre tary of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, and was engaged in some meetings down in Louisiana at the time of his elec tion. He took charge of the office on the first of May and has already demonstrated that he is the man for the place. Asa young man he had splendid business training which has been used to good advantage since then in his ministerial work. He was well prepared for the minis try when he entered it, having receiv ed his education at Wake Forest Col lege in North Carolina, where he took the degree of Master of Arts, and from there he took a course at the South ern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Ky., receiving his doctor’s degree. Since then he has been pas tor of a number of prominent church es and the Enlistment Secretary of the Home Mission Board. In all of these places he demonstrated his ability to handle big movements and to lead men in doing great things for God. A Great Task Is Now Confronting Him Without doubt the greatest task that has ever confronted Dr. Cree is the one in which he is now engaged. The Board of which he is the Secretary is charged with raising the money that is needed to carry on the mis sionary and educational work of the Baptist denomination in Georgia. It is now under the pressure of great needs and is overloaded with responsi bilities and indebtedness which must be met to clear the way for a greater Efficient Service The efficient man is he who sees the obvious, who does the duty nearest him —and does it we an keeps on. The secret of efficiency is no secret. It is simply the possession of imagination to know rig t and the will to do it. The efficient man is he who possesses the power that accomplishes a designed work; who as the quality that produces the beSt business results an renders the most effective service. Efficiency is a habit and a habit is consecutive, not spasmodic. The efficient man is the ever growing man. The same may be said of an institution. When you find a self-dubbed 100 POINT MAN, you will find a man who has ceased to grow. He is satisfied with himself; and is the limit, all right. Efficiency means evolution, growth, devel opment. It means eternal vigilance, ceaseless endeav or, stretching upwards, going forward, getting out of the ruts. The desire of every officer and director of this bank is to be efficient, to give the customers of this bank EFFICIENT service. We have a board of directors that diredt, that insist upon efficiency. In view of the reasons set out above, we feel, that in order to give our depositing customers the most EFFICIENT service and the consideration due them, we are duty bound to operate our bank on the moSt conservative basis possible, in order to preserve our credit and good name, thereby enabling us to render our customers better and more EFFICIENT service; therefore we give out the following notice: On and after September 15th we will discontinue the practice ef allowing over drafts. Our reasons for this will be stated in anoth er issue. Jackson Banking Company work in the future, me cianon can of the Board under the new leader is “REDEEM GEORGIA.” We can help to Redeem Georgia by blotting out the debt, and with this end in view Dr. Cree has begun his work and pitched his program for victory. During May, June and July he held conferences with the leading men in thirty different associations and pro jected campaigns to enlist all the churches in a campaign for State Mis sions. In August, September and Oc tober, he has planned to visit thirty other associations in their annual ses sions to rally the Baptists to the task. Sunday School Rally Day October 3rd In addition to this a State Mission Rally Day has been arranged for every Baptist Sunday School in the State. On this day, October the third, the children will be enlisted in the work of State Missions, and will receive an educational and inspirational uplift with a practical application to paying off the Mission debt. This will be a red-letter Sunday in the 1915 calendar of Georgia Baptists. The Sunday Schools aim to break their record for Sunday School attendance and to raise at least $10,000.00 on that day. Many Churches Are Doubling Up In this hour of stress and strain the churches are being asked to double up in their offerings for State Missions. Many churches are responding to this appeal by raising in cash an amount in addition and equal to their regu lar offering for State Missions. This money will be devoted to liquidating the debt on the Mission Board. Thus the campaign to wipe out the debt on the Mission Board is being vigorously pressed and in spite of the war the collections for June, July and August were a good bit larger than for the same months last year. There is an expressed determination on the part ol the denominational leaders to win a great victory by October 3 let. GOING AFTER BUSINESS Attention is called to the ad vertisement of Etheridge, Smith & Company in this issue. The firm in addition to a page of dis play is using some locals to let the trading public know the busy season has arrived. Dont forget that the coming year will probably again be one of high-priced stuffs. Lets prepare now to meet the situation with an immence crop of fall grain, both for fall, winter and spring pasturage and for feed next year. And while we are about it, it is well to remember that in nearly all parts of the South the sooner these crops are sown after September first, the earlier and better the grazing will be. Don’t wait until winter to plant, and then report that ‘ ‘small grains don’t pay in the South.”— The Progressive Farmer. Friday night at the audi torium, the Me chants Carnival. Admission 15 and 25 cents.