The 1944 Southern Baptist Convention authorized the Centennial Evangelistic Crusade by the following resolutions:
“We recommend–
“That an all-out south-wide evangelistic crusade be launched for 1945 with the Home Mission Board as its special promotion agency.” Executive Committee, Page 41.
“That this Convention appoint a special committee on Evangelism representing all the cooperating states, to work with the Evangelistic Department of the Home Mission Board and leaders of our Sunday School Board in planning a great South-wide Evangelistic campaign for our Centennial year of 1945. Machinery should be organized, covering the entire Convention, that would sponsor the ideal of at least one revival in every church throughout the South in 1945. This committee would be instructed to call upon all agencies of the Convention and all State Boards to join in the promotion of this campaign.” Evang. Com., Page 79
Pursuant to this authority Dr. J. B. Lawrence, Secretary of the Home Mission Board, after conferring with other denominational leaders, requested me to assume the responsibility of organizing and promoting this Crusade.
I sensed at once a call to one of the greatest opportunities for service that has ever come to me.
After considerable consultation with brethren and friends in all parts of the Convention territory, and after making it a matter of much prayer, I felt led to the Lord to say to Dr. Lawrence and the brethren that I would accept this responsibility on a temporary basis, provided the First Baptist Church of Shreveport, of which I have been pastor since April, 1912, approved. Dr. Lawrence addressed a communication to the church presenting a request from the executive heads of all the Convention agencies that the church release me on leave of absence for this service.
After due consideration, and upon joint recommendation of the Boards of Deacons and Directors, the church voted unanimously to accede to this request, provided they should be allowed to continue the payment of my salary in order that our service might not be any charge to the denomination.
EXPENSES
The Home Board was requested by the Convention to sponsor the Crusade by providing the necessary expenses incident to its promotion. Offices were set up in the First Baptist Church, Shreveport, without any charge. One secretary with occasional extra help, has done all the work of the office. Expenses of the Crusade have been kept to a minimum consistent with maximum service, which expenses the Home Board has generously and graciously provided.
ORGANIZATION
The Convention resolutions authorized the setting up of such organization as should be necessary to conduct the Crusade. It was resolved, however, to utilize as far as possible existing organizations and have a very simple general organization, all of which should be on a volunteer basis.
By virtue of their office and in harmony with specific action of the Convention, Dr. J. B. Lawrence, Secretary of the Home Mission Board; Dr. T. L. Holcomb, Secretary of the Sunday School Board; Dr. W. H. Knight, Chairman of the Convention Committee on Evangelism, were designated as the General Staff who would map out the plans, policies and programs of the Crusade. These brethren have rendered immeasurable and invaluable services in this regard.
I began active work on the Crusade in June, 1944, by first conferring with State Secretaries, State Editors, Convention Executives and Secretaries for suggestions and commitments of what they would and could do to promote the Crusade. There was the warmest and most generous response.
After blocking out a rough draft of plans to be pursued, it was submitted by correspondence to leaders in every state for addition, amendment or subtraction. A composite draft of plans was made from all these suggestions and submitted to some 300 leaders in a meeting at Ridgecrest, who gave a half day to discussions and proposals. The plan that came out of all this was sent out as follows:
Plans and Programs
That the state organization should consist of, (1) the State Executive Secretary, (2) a State Director, (3) a State Convention Crusade Committee:
That the Associational organization should consist of, (1) the Moderator, (2) the Association or City Missionary, (3) an Associational Crusade Committee:
That the Church organization should consist of, (1) the pastor, associate pastor and staff, (2) the Church Crusade Committee, (3) a band of personal soul-winners as prayer partners (Matt. 18:19), and working partners to go two-by-two (Mark 6:7).
Calendar
JANUARY and FEBRUARY of the Centennial year were designated as preparatory months, (1) by taking a religious census, (2) by conducting all-church schools of evangelism, (3) by holding special seasons of contrition, confession, consecration and prayer.
MARCH and APRIL were designated as a period for city-wide simultaneous crusades with the object of having at least 100 such crusades.
MAY and JUNE were designated as months for meetings in the one-church towns and communities.
JULY, AUGUST and SEPTEMBER were designated as the time for rural crusades and 15,000 extension meetings.
OCTOBER and NOVEMBER were designated as a period for a second meeting in at least 10,000 churches, and for meetings in churches which had not found it convenient to hold a special crusade previously.
DECEMBER was designated as a time for enlistment of all old and new members in support of all the work of the church and denomination.
This program contemplated at least 50,000 individual evangelistic Crusades.
In addition to these, Dr. Homer L. Grice, Director of Vacation Bible Schools, set up a program for 10,000 schools with an objective of winning 50,000 children to Christ.
The 1,064 Southern Baptist Chaplains, serving our armed forces, accepted a goal of 100,000 to win to Christ during the centennial year. The Sunday School forces, the Brotherhoods, W.M.U.’s, the Training Unions, Baptist Student Union were all requested to render special service, and responded with alacrity and have cooperated thoroughly.
Promotion
In promoting this Crusade, 25,000 general letters were sent to all pastors and denominational workers, associational, statewide and south-wide.
Sixty thousand copies of a “Two Win One” folder were printed in two colors and distributed to pastors and others who occupy positions of responsibility and leadership in church or denomination.
Fifty thousand copies of an 84-page “Two Win One” booklet giving information, instruction and inspiration on every phase of evangelistic work and relating it to this Crusade have been printed and distributed.
More than a thousand personal letters have been written to individual leaders regarding various phases of the Crusade.
More than 100 articles containing upwards of 100,000 words have been written for various denominational papers, journals and magazines.
Fifty thousand copies of the tract “The Spirit Filled Life” were distributed to pastors and leaders. Orders for 500,000 copies of the Gospel of John have been placed and are being distributed. These are provided by volunteer gifts. We hope to be able to distribute 500,000 more before the end of the year.
I have traveled more than 30,000 miles in all states, except two, from Baltimore to Los Angeles (difficult as travel is in these days) to confer with pastors’ conferences and denominational leaders, and to address groups of workers from all departments of our denominational work, state conventions and mass meetings, having addressed some 200,000 of our people face to face and spoken to millions of others on the radio.
During the spring I directed six city-wide crusades and am scheduled for two others during October. During the summer I am scheduled to conduct four individual church meetings, one of which is in a remote rural district.
Never in my forty years of denominational interest and activity have I seen Southern Baptists more united, more hearty, more enthusiastic or more cooperative than under this Centennial Evangelistic Crusade. This indicates that Southern Baptists are, as they always have been, evangelical in faith and evangelistic in fidelity.
We would make grateful acknowledgment of the generous and gracious cooperation which all the denominational executives, agencies, institutions and departmental heads have given to the Centennial Evangelistic Crusade.
Reports on results at the present moment are incomplete and inadequate, but the general trend on evangelism is definitely upward and there are many indications of unusual achievements. One village church in Louisiana, which had a goal of 50, reached that goal on March 10, and is still evangelizing and baptizing. A large city church in Tennessee, which baptized 70 last year, had baptized 165 by March 15 of this year. A church in Virginia, under the ministry of the State Director, baptized twice as many in ten days as they baptized last year. A city-wide simultaneous crusade in Texas had as many baptisms during that period as they had last year. The Associational Minutes for 1944 show an increase of more than 1,600 baptisms over 1943.
Similar reports are coming from all sections of Convention territory. We are grateful for these mercy drops which are falling but for the showers we shall continue to pray.
Records reveal that evangelism has its hardest time during a war period. This is probably due to the fact that evangelism is the highest expression of spiritual idealism, while war is the deepest expression of materialistic humanism. Further: Records reveal that evangelism surges upward following war periods. If we do well, therefore, during this war period and keep the fires of evangelism aglow, we may reasonably and expectantly hope for a brilliant, blazing forth of evangelistic zeal and results at the end of this war.
To this end the Home Mission Board has elected a secretary of evangelism in the person of Rev. J. Fred Eastham, who is cooperating fully in the present crusade and will carry on a continuous evangelistic program following the temporary period of the Centennial Evangelistic Crusade.
Evangelism is the proclamation of the good news in Jesus Christ, with a view to winning others to faith in Him as a personal Saviour and fidelity in Him as Lord and Master.
To this task Southern Baptists are committed by the law under which they operate, by the faith which they profess, by the history which they have made and by the future to which they look, until Jesus comes.