God's free gift of eternal life is yours for the taking -And it is ONLY FOR THE UNDESERVING.

Those who reach out with the hand of faith and accept it can know for certain that they have the gift of eternal life NOW!"And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life" (1 John 2:25). In view of such a promise, it is truly saddening to find so many Christians who are worried, anxious, even hopeless about their chances to be saved. And yet this. is true. Many very sincere followers of Christ have tried with all their power to "measure up" to the commands of God and the standards of the church. And they make the rude discovery that they cannot measure up, and so they become discouraged and declare, "It's hopeless! I'll never make it!"
Thank God for breaking through the despair with the Good News that eternal life is not a reward for effort, a payment for labor, or a prize for piety-but is a FREE GIFT!
It is one of the most moving experiences possible, to watch a person whose hope of salvation has been crushed, as the realization comes to him that he may even now rejoice in the full assurance of everlasting life. To most people, this comes as an overwhelming revelation.
Thank God also for the promise of obedience to help us reach His goals for us. And thank God for the promise of the Holy Spirit, to transform us into powerful witnesses for Christ. Yes, thank God for all of at least 3,573 promises in His Word!
This book begins by describing what happens when people go out into the homes of their neighbors to give away the free gift of eternal life. It is our sincere belief that the new way of witnessing described in the first part of this book is going to sweep over all of North America. It is the most thrilling soul-winning method we have ever witnessed.
In the last part of the book we share with you what God is doing for little prayer groups allover the world. We suggest how. prayer groups can add great power to the new witnessing plan just mentioned. And we include some of the most amazing true stories of answered prayer we have ever heard-all received by prayer groups.
Many of the names in this book have been changed to protect the anonymity of the -persons involved. We pray that what you read here will inspire you to ask great things of God on your knees together, and to make witnessing for Christ the all-consuming passion of your life.
. The authors.

"EUREKA 1" ("I HAVE FOUND IT 1")
"THIS IS IT! This is what the Lord has been waiting for! As soon as I heard about this program, I said, 'This is it. This is going to finish the work!' "
Mr. Tidwell was obviously excited as he stood before the microphone, describing to the large audience what had happened during the past week. His enthusiasm could hardly be contained; for you see, Mr. Tidwell had just learned a whole new way to win souls to Jesus Christ.
He quickly finished telling about the people he had seen led to Christ, because behind him a long line of others waited eagerly to tell their experiences.
''I had to be shown that this new method would work," Mr. Repp said as his turn came. "I'm hard-headed, I guess, because I've attended laymen's meetings and soul-winning classes since 'way back in the early.. 40's. I have seen them come and go. I've seen all kinds of gadgets and gimmicks. But brethren, this is it!"
Then Mr. Repp told how he had been present one night as two people had been led to the assurance of eternal life. "And one of them was me!" he exclaimed, with tears in his voice and a smile of joy on his face.
"This thrills my heart, to see us presenting Christ first in this new approach," said Mrs. Burris excitedly, as before her, thousands of happy faces reflected her enthusiasm. "As I have worked at trying to lead people into the church, and as I've observed others work, I have seen so many people stumble over the doctrines because they didn't know Jesus Christ. And I know, from my own experience, that if they had known Christ first, they would have accepted the doctrines."
Pastor Copsey stepped forward. "I have felt for years that something is too slow about our soul-winning. But you know, this program is going to finish the work! What a thrill it has been this week. When you take the simple gospel story into homes, the prejudice just disappears."
"You can't imagine," began Brother Stark, "how good I feel about this Break-thru program. I didn't know how to break through. I have given Bible studies for many years, and. I've seen comparatively little results. But this thrills my heart! I believe it has done more for me than for the people we visited!"
It was the month of June, 1971-Camp-Meeting time in the Texas Conference. All of the ministers, and thousands of laymen, had traveled from the far-flung reaches of the giant conference to the campground, located on the campus of Southwestern Union College at Keene, Texas.
Something thrilling and tremendous had happened during the past week. Soul-winning in Texas would never be the same. And at this climactic meeting on the final Sabbath of Camp-Meeting, the audience listened enthralled, as one member after another described the joy of discovering a whole new approach to winning souls to Jesus Christ.
And what seemed to be the subject of their excitement? A new program called Break-thru Visitation Witnessing. This is a soul-winning concept born of earnest prayer and careful study, blessed mightily by the Holy Spirit, and eagerly put into practice by the ministers and laymen of Texas.
It was only through a providence of God that my wife and I were able to be present at the 1971 Texas Camp-Meeting. The Texas Conference had chosen June 11-19 as the date for their annual gathering. Months before, I had been asked to speak during that week for the evening meetings at a Camp-Meeting in another conference.
"Now don't forget your appointment with us, Elder Coon," they had reminded me. And a little later the conference sent me a card, again reminding me not to forget my commitment.
It must have been about early February, when I decided . to call the conference president to double-check the exact , dates. But almost unbelievably, I discovered that they had completely forgotten that they had asked me, and had scheduled another speaker for the evening meetings!
It was a few days after that, as I was savoring the idea of a few days of free time in our busy schedule, that the phone rang.
"Elder Coon?" a voice asked, and the background noise told me the call was long-distance.
"Yes?"
"Elder Coon, this is Elder Robert Rider calling from Fort Worth for the Texas Conference, and Elder Paul Kilgore is also on the line. We would like to know if you might be able to come to our Camp-Meeting this year and present your series on Path to the Heart soul-winning. Camp-Meeting will be June 11-19. Do you. think you could be with us?"
It turned out that the Lord had already decided how those few days of "free time" should be used. And we were never to regret it.
Another providence made it possible for us to arrive on the Texas campground several days before Camp-Meeting was scheduled to begin. The ministers, of course, had also arrived early, and were pitching the tents and readying the camp.
But we learned that there was something different about this camp pitch week. The ministers were up to something more than just pitching tents, hauling mattresses, and setting up chairs. Every morning before they began work, we discovered, they spent two hours in class and discussion. And then, after a hard day of work, they still had enough steam left to go out into the community to try out some new kind of witnessing program.
I had to find out what was. going on. And so it was that I followed the ministers the next morning to the lecture room of the beautiful Scales Science Hall on the SUC campus. As I came in, someone handed me a manual with a dark red binding, entitled New Testament Witnessing. I took a seat on the front row, and waited for the meeting to begin.
"Who is that man sitting over there at my left?" I asked the minister sitting next to me. I had seen the man's picture on the Camp-Meeting brochure, but could not remember who he was.
"That is the conference president," the minister replied.
As he rose to begin the meeting, I observed that he did not have about him the authoritarian aura, that so many executives have. He seemed to speak as though he were on the same platform with all the other workers. As he spoke, this impression deepened, and with it came also an impression a lot like a small army, beginning an invasion.
Dozens of cars were spreading out from the Texas camp ground, heading locally into Keene, west into Cleburne, north into Burleson and Fort Worth, and northeast 'into Arlington.
Each car contained three people and a large tan envelope. At six o'clock, the small army of witnesses had gathered to receive last-minute instructions from Elder Walter, and had prayed for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Just before leaving, each team leader picked up the large' envelope.
It contained a city map, interest cards, the Camp-Meeting brochure, and several copies of lesson one of the "Focus on Living" course from the "Voice of Prophecy."
The interest cards came directly from the interest files of the churches in the Keene-Fort Worth area. Most of the names were Gift Bible students, backslidden church members, or "It Is Written" viewers. Several weeks of telecasting "It Is Written" on WBAP-TV in Fort Worth had resulted in an avalanche of nearly 8,000 responses.
Also included in each envelope was a generous supply of a little leaflet entitled "The Way to Eternal Life," Many of the ministers had not yet mastered the gospel outline in the training manual, and this little leaflet was designed to be used in the home in presenting the gospel. In this way, the team leader could lead his listener step-by-step through the gospel as presented in the booklet, while the prospect followed along in his own copy.
It was my privilege to go out for three nights in succession during camp pitch week. As I listened to the simple gospel story as it was presented, and saw how eagerly many people accepted eternal life as a free gift, my heart was absolutely thrilled to see the amazing simplicity and effectiveness of this new approach to souls.
After each evening of witnessing, the ministers, their wives, and the literature evangelists who. had gone out, met to report their experiences. Their exuberance knew no bounds! Testimony followed excited testimony. And at the end of camp pitch week, gratitude to God and joy overflowed as they reported nearly forty led to Jesus Christ and His eternal life as a result of their witnessing. But this was only a small sample of what was to happen the next week, during Camp-Meeting
At the great testimony meeting on the last Sabbath of Camp-Meeting, Elder Dart, the conference president, described how Break-thru Visitation got started.
"It was born," he said, "at our junior camp--Lone Star Camp--at Athens, Texas. In the summer of 1970, I asked all of the conference departmental men to come in, and for two days we did nothing but brainstorm, making plans for all of 1971. This was the year that had been designated by the church leaders as the "Year of Our Laymen." .
"And as we talked together, we didn't want to have just another year of programs, and congresses, and banners, and slogans, and all kinds of things that we could look to and report about. We felt that we wanted to really move into the area of true witnessing, and of finishing the work of God.
"And so, we took out the book Christian Service, and we began to read and study together. And I tell you, that was one of the most moving experiences I have had in many a time. We got on our knees, and we prayed, and we shed tears, and we asked the Lord to show us how to break through to the masses to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ.
"And from there, we just opened our minds and asked the Holy Spirit to guide us. We presented a program to our ministers at our annual ministerial institute in Athens, in the month' of August. This was about a month after our meeting with the departmental officers. There we presented a skeleton outline of a concept we called Break-thru Visitation."
The plan that was presented to the Texas ministers envisioned an organized visitation program that would involve every department of the church, and every willing and able member. The Sabbath School would be organized into visitation teams, with the Sabbath School teacher assigning names weekly to the various teams in the class. In addition to a period of visitation on Sabbath afternoon,. the weekly prayer meeting would become a visitation might, With all the teams meeting afterward to share their experiences.
A special Break-thru Visitation secretary would assist the local pastor in building up and maintaining the visitation file. Names would come from many familiar sources: "Gift Bible" students, "Voice of Prophecy" and "Faith for Today" students, and backslidden church members. They would also be gleaned from some rather unfamiliar sources. From the local newspaper would come the names of newlyweds, parents of new babies, accident or tragedy victims, and bereaved families. From the welcoming service would come the names of new residents. And if all these sources did not provide enough names, the teams could go door-to-door, distributing a specially printed brochure describing the local church, and inviting the people to church the next Saturday.
Break-thru Visitation was warmly accepted by the Texas ministers, and they were anxious to get it moving in their local churches. But of course, it took a while to. do that, just as it takes the auto manufacturers a while to re-tool for a new model. The churches of Texas had to spend some time re-tooling before the new soul-winning machinery was ready.
But by the end of 1970, it was becoming apparent that something BIG had happened in Texas. Churches all over the conference experienced a revival of spirituality as the members became active--many for the first time-in visiting others and inviting them to church. Backsliders who had drifted out of the church and lived within its shadow for years responded to the love, concern, and invitations of church members, and returned to full fellowship. And laymen expressed their joy at being able to do something more for Christ than to just be .a weekly postman, delivering one set of Bible studies, and picking up another.
Meanwhile, the Holy Spirit was directly leading the ministerial secretary of the Southwestern Union Conference to something that would add tremendously to the Break-thru Visitation LET'S SAY that across the road from my house is an empty lot. Empty, that is, except for a large sign near the road that says a new high-rise office building is soon to be built there.
By and by, some workers arrive. I assume that they are going to begin excavating to make a place for a foundation. But imagine my surprise when they begin boiling tar and spreading it all aver the ground. And then I can hardly believe my eyes as. they Begin to nail roofing shingles to the ground, where the tar has been spread.
The next day another crew arrives, and within. a few days, despite the rather odd beginning, the building actually begins to look like a building, as the first floor apparently is nearly completed. By now I can't contain my curiosity, so I cross the road and speak to one of the workers. "Well, it looks like you fellows just about have the first floor done!'
"Oh, no!" he replies. "No, what you see-there is the 42n4 floor!" And as I look more closely, I can see that he must be right. There are light fixtures mounted on the floor, and the ceiling is covered with beautiful carpeting. Sure enough they are building that whole building upside down! I walk away shaking my head in numb amazement. Finally after many months, several cement trucks roll up, and large bins of wet cement are hauled up 42 stories, by strong cables, to the top. They are pouring the foundation! A few finishing touches and the building will be complete. The workers go home for the night.
Just as I am ready to get in bed, I hear a tremendous crash, and the whole earth seems to be shaking. I rush out side and-you guessed it-the building has collapsed into a heap of rubble.
Well, you say, no one would ever think of building a sky scraper that way. You are probably right. And yet, for years I have seen sincere men and women going out to win souls, using this very approach. They begin by presentin an interesting doctrine 9r Bible prophecy to their student, and carefully build one doctrine upon another. Finally, after this tower of truth has risen to a height of 24, 30 or 36 stories, or lessons, the soul-winner crowns his efforts by laying the foundation.
And what is the foundation? The Bible says, "For other - foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 3: 11 ). And it shocks our workers when these newly-constructed church members often suffer a spiritual collapse shortly after being baptized.
In Break-thru Visitation Witnessing, the traditional message of soul-winning has been turned completely around. Instead of doctrines first then Christ, it is Christ first then doctrines. After the Foundation-Jesus Christ-has been laid in the life 9f a soul, it is easy and natural to build on this thrilling new love-relationship they are experiencing, by adding one doctrinal truth to another.
I have seen many dear people try to win souls by overwhelming their friends and neighbors with Bible evidence that our doctrines are true and right. The idea seems to be that if a person knows and accepts all the doctrines of the church, has been "warned" about the judgment and the end of the world, and has accepted the standards of the church in place of his bad habits, he is ready to be baptized into fellowship. But this means assuming that he is a born again Christian.
When the church was young, that was a fairly safe assumption to make, but not in the 1970's. And at the Texas Camp-Meeting, I watched what happened when ministers and laymen went out to present. a Person first, instead of information.
"What we are trying to do, and what is being done here, is not changing the Adventist message one iota. It is not a plan that will water down or make shallow the blessed truths that God has given in the Three Angels' Messages. What it is intended to do is to put back into its right place, the first message of the first angel of Revelation 14: 'And I saw another angel fly in the !midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth.'
"We have taken this gospel for granted for a long, long time. But we are approaching people with the Scripture that says the Bible was written so we can know we have eternal life: "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the. Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life. . ." (1 John 5: 13).
The second question followed: "Mrs. Douglas, suppose that you were to die tonight, and when you meet God He were to ask, 'Why should you have eternal life in heaven?' What would you say?"
When asked this question, many people reply that they should have eternal life because they have lived a good life and gone to church, or because they have kept the commandments to the best of their ability, or because they have tried to observe the Golden Rule. By this, it can be seen that they are trusting in what they are, or what they can do, for their salvation. And the door is open to tell them the simple gospel story-the good news that we can not earn or deserve eternal life, because it is a Free Gift! The door is open to lead them to an assurance of salvation. .
In our books on the ABC's of prayer, we had for years been teaching our readers to place their finger on a Bible promise such as 1 John 2:25, and Ask, Believe, and Claim eternal life. We had taught them to insert their own name instead of the word "us." For instance: "And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life," would . read, "And this is the promise that He hath promised [Glenn Coon or John Doe], even eternal life."
We had seen marvelous results! In holding ABC prayer crusades across America and in other lands, we had often been met by someone in attendance who would look into our faces and exclaim, "I have been a member of the church for years, and this is the first time in my life I can truly say I have the assurance of salvation!"
They had known the wonderful Bible doctrines of the millennium, the ,second coming of Christ, the state of the dead, the Sabbath. the 2300 days, etc. But they did not have an assurance of a personal salvation through a personal Savior. And now this Break-thru program was producing the same results! People were being led to the sweet assurance of eternal life! I was overjoyed!
A minister who had been a personal friend of mine for more than twenty years confided in me on the campground that finally, for the first time in all his .life, he could thank God that should he die tonight, he would have eternal life through Jesus Christ!
As a result of studying and using the new witnessing approach, many other ministers also, as well as laymen, experienced an assurance of salvation they had never really known before.
Can you imagine it? God is holding out to us the chance to live forever in perfect health and happiness-and the gift is free! Those who reach out by faith and take it may have it. "But," someone says, "I'm a terrible sinner. I don't deserve eternal life." Thank God, the gift of eternal life is only for the undeserving!
When a person, in a simple prayer, accepted Jesus Christ and His gift of eternal life, he was said to have made a "profession." But before the prayer of acceptance, the team leader always made sure that the person understood that accepting Jesus meant accepting Him not only as his Savior, but as his Lord and Master. Then after the prayer of acceptance, all three team members joined in welcoming the new son or daughter into the family of God.
One minister used a unique illustration that made the step of accepting eternal life very clear. One night Elder Dallas Young’s and his team stopped at a restaurant on their way back to the campground after visiting. When the waitress came by, Elder Young’s held out a dollar bill.
"Would you like this dollar bill?" he asked.
Elder Young’s could see that she wanted it, but she eyed it with suspicion.
"If you'll take it, I will give it to you," he encouraged.
"What's the catch?"
"Well, honestly, there is no catch-you just have to take it. Very slowly, she reached out her hand, then took the dollar bill.
"You know," Elder Young’s continued, "you can receive eternal Life from Jesus Christ, just as easily as you accepted that dollar from me!"
Break-thru Visitation Witnessing gives us a whole new approach in our soul-winning. It contains two points of emphasis that we have too often failed to stress before: 1) Christ first, then doctrines, and 2) the assurance of eternal life. This is truly presenting Righteousness by Faith in our soul-winning approach.
But if Break-thru witnessing gives us a new message, it also changes our method. Our favorite author once said,
"The work of God in this earth can never be finished until the men and women' comprising our church membership rally to the work, and unite their efforts with those of ministers and church officers."-Gospel Workers, p. 352.
So we know that the work will be finished only when the ministers and laymen begin working together to win souls. What a beautiful sight it was to see ministers and laymen teamed together at the Texas Camp-Meeting, working side by-side to lead men and women to Jesus!
In the past, many ministers have conducted soul-winning classes for the church members, and then sent them out to do missionary work. But very rarely did this prove successful, because a very important link was missing.
But all over North America, our ministers are beginning to find the missing link. And it is included in the Break-thru method of soul-winning. It is on-the-job training! "Soul winning," someone has said, "is better caught than taught." Just as a person can scarcely learn to swim or fly a plane by merely reading a book, even so, it is exceedingly difficult for one to learn to win souls by merely attending soul-winning classes.
After much prayer and careful consideration, a pastor beginning Break-thru Visitation Witnessing in his church chooses two or three teams of people who will commit themselves to a sixteen-week training course in the new method. Each team includes at least one lady. Once each week, the team meets, and after about half an hour of class discussion, . practice, and the assignment of homework in New Testament Witnessing, each team goes out into homes in the community. In the homes, the team leader attempts to lead his listeners to Jesus Christ and the assurance of eternal life by presenting the gospel. The other two team members observe closely, to see how it is done. A couple of hours are spent in various homes in this way, every week.
At the end of the sixteen weeks of training, most of the trainees become trainers. They choose other church members to train, and these in turn will themselves eventually become trainers. And thus the program, while starting small, mushrooms rapidly to include nearly all of the church members.
Satan does not worry too much if we merely have the right message, but use the wrong method to spread it. And he is not too concerned if our methods are the very best, and yet our message is not totally. the gospel. But he knows that when Adventists go forth to proclaim the right message, even in the very first approach using the most effective method-personal witnessing-the Holy Spirit will be poured out in Latter Rain power.
, As one conference officer said after the Camp-Meeting was over, "I'm sure we have had a touch of Pentecost!"
"MRS. SHARMAN, IF YOU WERE TO DIE TONIGHT. . ."
"THE HOLY Spirit, like Christ, is concerned with saving lost souls. And when we are not about that work we simply don't need any kind of special outpouring. To accomplish the kind of things we are spending our time doing, we don't really need the Latter Rain. . . The Holy Spirit works through those who are working for lost souls. When we get involved in the work that is the central burden of Christ and the Holy Spirit, the power will be poured out upon us to accomplish it."-New Testament Witnessing, p. 101.
If the Holy Spirit was seen in a mighty way at the Texas Camp-Meeting, there was a reason for it. Every part of the program was saturated with the idea of soul-winning!
At nine-thirty each morning, it was my privilege to present the Seven Laws of Successful Soul-winning, in the series entitled "Path to the Heart."
At 4 p.m., the ministers who had been trained during camp pitch week, each one now teamed with two laymen, met for class instruction in Break-thru Visitation Witnessing.
Between 5 and 7 p.m., nearly sixty of these teams went out into homes in the Keene-Fort Worth area, to witness for Jesus and present His gospel.
The evening services had been transformed into public evangelistic meetings, with Elder J. J. Millet, an experienced evangelist who had just arrived as pastor of the Houston Central Church, preaching the gospel.
After the evangelistic sermon, the Break-thru teams met on the platform of the main Camp-Meeting pavilion to tell their witnessing experiences. There were four of these report sessions: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, and the big testimony session on the last Sabbath afternoon.
As Camp-Meeting began, I began to wonder if the Lord might be able to use me in some small way to add to the success of this joyous new way of witnessing. I prayed earnestly and asked the Lord if there was anything I might personally contribute toward this marvelous program.
As I prayed, I felt impressed that I could write into a little book the thrilling experiences reported by the team members after they returned from witnessing. In this way, I could let others know what was taking place, and share with them some of the excitement I had seen and heard.
I asked Elder Dart about it, and he was enthusiastic about the idea. As the first man stood up to report on Monday night, I reached over and pressed the "Record" lever on my cassette recorder. . . .
After the first Pentecost, the apostles were so eager to witness they could not be kept quiet. As Peter and John explained; "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20). At each of the reporting sessions on the platform of -the pavilion, the 180 ministers and laymen seemed to share this apostolic attribute as they nearly interrupted each other in their eagerness to relate their experiences!
"I've never met an Adventist before!"
When Elder Ray Osborn and his team introduced themselves as Seventh-day Adventists, Mrs. Sharman exclaimed, "Do come in! I've never met an Adventist before!" Soon Elder Osborne began to ask her the two questions.
"Have you come to the place in your spiritual experience, Mrs. Sharman, where you know for certain that if you were to die tonight you would have eternal life?"
"No, I don't think so."
"Well, do you know that in 1 John 5: 13 it says that the Bible was written so that we can know we have eternal life?"
"I didn't know that."
"Mrs.. Sharman, let me ask you another question. Suppose you were to die tonight, and when you were to meet God He were to ask you, 'Why should I give you eternal life in heaven?'-what would you say?"
"I'm not sure," she answered thoughtfully, "but I imagine I would have to say that I had tried to do everything that is right, and that I had obeyed the commandments."
The Break-thru team members listened then, as Elder Osborne presented the gospel to Mrs. Sharman, and to her husband, who was also listening.
"Would you like to accept Christ and His free gift of eternal life?" Elder Osborne asked, after the presentation. And both husband and wife .knelt with the team and made heartfelt professions. .
After the prayer of commitment, the Sharman’s asked the location of the local Seventh-day Adventist church, and immediately received directions.
"You know," Elder Osborne continued, "right now we are having a tremendous Camp-Meeting down at Keene, and we want to invite you to come!"
"I'd love to come to Camp--Meeting!" Mrs. Sharman replied. "I've heard so much about old-fashioned Camp Meetings!" .
After enrolling the Sharman’s in the "Focus on Living" course from the Voice of Prophecy, the three team members left, filled to overflowing with the special kind of joy that can only come from seeing someone accept Jesus.
It is surprising how little many people know about the Bible- and spiritual things today. As the Break-thru teams visited, they found many who were almost completely in the dark concerning the truths of salvation. Pastor John Baker and his team discovered such a man. . .
"Why did you come here?" Mr. Lester wanted to know.'
"Didn't you request a free Bible and Bible lessons?" Pastor Baker replied.
"No, I don't think so."
"Is your name Mr. Lester?"
"Yes," he replied. And then he brightened and said, "Oh, I remember! You're right! I did send in a card asking for a free Bible."
"Do you remember why you sent the card in?" Pastor Baker asked.
"Well, I don't have a Bible in the house, and I want to learn something about it. I don't know anything about it."
"Do you believe in God?" questioned Pastor Baker.
"Yes."
"Do you believe that He had a Son called Jesus Christ that He sent to this earth to save sinners?"
"Is that the promise that God made to Moses," Mr. Lester asked, "that He would send a Savior to the world?"
"Yes."
"Well I believe that!"
Then Mr. Lester called to his wife who was in another room "Honey come here! I don't want you to miss this . I" I want you to listen to this”
After she came in, Pastor Baker began to ask the two questions. But Mr. Lester did not seem to understand what Pastor Baker was talking about. Briefly, Pastor Baker explained to Mr. Lester the history of the plan of salvation. Again the first question was asked. But Mr. Lester had no idea what eternal life was. "That's why I wanted the Bible," he explained; "I want to learn these things.':
Pastor Baker then asked Mrs. Lester the questions, explaining that eternal life is a free gift.
"Yes I know," she replied.
How did you know that salvation is a free gift?" Pastor Baker inquired.
"Because," she answered, "I once read it in the Bible, and if the Bible says it, then I know it's true!" .
"Do you believe, Mrs. Lester, that Christ died for you sins?"
"Yes, because I read that in the Bible too!"
After finishing the gospel presentation, the Lester’s knelt with the team for a prayer of acceptance. Pastor Baker voiced a prayer which they repeated, phrase by phrase. As they rose from their knees, Pastor Baker noticed the changed expression on Mr. Lester's face. "You know," he said, "a strange feeling come over me as I was repeating that prayer after you. Something happened to me! I felt so bare and open before the Lord, and I realized that I needed help."
"That is why we came," Pastor Baker responded.
"'Together they praised the Lord for the assurance of salvation that had come to Mr. and Mrs. Lester. Just before the team left, Mr. Lester said, "I just can't wait to get that Bible, and begin studying God's Word!"
"What is eternal life? And how do you get it?"
Pastor Jere Webb and his team were seated in the living room of the Preston home. Mrs. Preston seemed to sense the nature of their visit, and resorted to a well-known evasion tactic-non-stop talking!
Finally there was an opening, and Pastor Webb asked the first of the two questions: Thirteen year. old Fred suddenly asked a question in return.
"What is eternal life, and how do you get it?"
Pastor Webb presented the simple way to eternal life, and in prayer both Fred and his father accepted it by faith. Fred especially was deeply touched, and broke into tears of joy as they rose to their feet.
"You Adventists don't eat pork or chicken!"
Before Camp-Meeting, Elder Ray West had never- presented the gospel as outlined in New Testament Witnessing.
But when he heard about the new plan, he was anxious to try it out. At Camp-Meeting, he presented the gospel to his unresponsive empty room several-times.
On the first night out, he and his team met a fine Baptist man who gave the right answers to both questions. He already had the assurance of salvation. So instead of presenting the gospel, the three visitors just spent some time getting acquainted with their Baptist friend. He said that he had an aunt who lived in Keene.
"And I do know a little bit about Adventists," he said.
"You don't eat pork and you don't eat chicken!" So Elder West had the opportunity of presenting him with our health message, . explaining that although Adventists recommend a vegetarian diet, they know from the Bible that chicken, is not one of the unclean meats such as pork.
The next night, they called on a lady who was taking the Gift Bible lessons, but she was not ready to make her profession.
The third night came, and Elder West began to get anxious, and prayed, "Lord, we are getting very close to the end of the week, and I have. not been able to make a presentation yet. I don't even know if I can do it or not. Help us to find someone who needs to hear the gospel!"
- They were greeted that evening by a retired Marine officer. As soon as he had asked the first question, Elder West silently prayed, "Lord, help him to say - no, so I can go through a presentation at least once before Camp-Meeting is over!"
"You know," the man answered, "I have thought about this several times, and I'll just have to say that I'm not sure if I have eternal life or not."
Elder West presented the offer of eternal life as a free gift, and the Marine officer made a solid profession. As the team prepared to leave, he said to them, "I'm just thrilled that you came tonight!"
EVEN THOUGH some of the teams traveled thirty-five miles or more from Keene to witness for Christ, amazing things were happening all week right on the campground. The mighty power of the simple gospel to change lives wherever it is heard was proven over and over. Conversions took place in tents, offices, pavilions, even in a shower room!
One evening as Elder Armour Potter entered the rear of the main pavilion for the evening meeting, he recognized a young man sitting in one of the seats at the back. It was John Stevens, who had nearly decided to be baptized into the church quite a while before, but had later lost interest.
Elder Potter walked over and sat down next to him and greeted him. They both sat and listened to the powerful message being delivered by Elder Millet. As Elder Millet began to make the closing appeal, Elder Potter noticed that John seemed to be deeply troubled.
Together they got up from their seats and walked to a quiet corner of the pavilion, where Elder Potter led John step-by-step through the gospel presentation, appealing to him to accept Christ and eternal life. John did, and found a new life in Christ.
For several months, the literature evangelists of Texas had been deeply concerned about a friend of theirs who had backslidden. Roger Collins had been a staunch Seventh-day Adventist literature evangelist. But he had become discouraged, and completely left the church.
The literature evangelists had been deeply concerned for Roger, and at Camp-Meeting they gathered together in the prayer room, and earnestly prayed, claiming a Bible promise that God would work to bring him back again. After the season of prayer, they felt impressed to send a telegram to Roger in Arizona.
They composed their message: "The Lord loves you, Roger, and wants you to come back to the church, and come to the Texas Camp-Meeting." Unfortunately, Western Union was on strike. But Roger's mother took the message, called him long-distance, and read it to him over the phone.
That very night he boarded a jet for Dallas. He was on the campground for three days. He knew what he ought to do, but somehow did not feel ready to make a decision. Thursday afternoon he decided to leave the Camp-Meeting and return to Arizona. The colporteurs were deeply disappointed to know that he would be going back without having made his decision for Christ. Earlier, Roger had mentioned that he hoped he would be able to see one of his special friends-Glen Turner- ! while at the Camp-Meeting. Later Thursday afternoon," Elder Ron Appenzellar, the Texas publishing secretary, was driving through the campground, when he saw Glen walking to a meeting. He stopped the car and opened the door.:
"Glen, get in quick! Roger Collins is here-let's see if we can find him!" Glen had not known that Roger was on the campground.'
They drove through the campground looking for him. And as the Lord would arrange it, they found him at the campus filling station. The three of them visited together, and discovered that Roger had prayed to God that morning, saying, "Lord, if I’m supposed to be baptized again, help me to see Glen Turner by noon today." Noon today passed, and no Glen. For over two hours Glen talked with Roger, presenting Christ to him and pleading with him to give his life once again to the Savior. But still Roger did not feel like making a decision. Glen was heartbroken. God had strongly impressed him to come to camp-Meeting on this particular day, and he had come not knowing he would meet his friend there.
Roger decided to drive back to Arizona. He got in the car and headed west. He had just passed the city of Cleburne, when a voice seemed to speak to him.
"Roger, you are leaving Camp-Meeting without doing the thing that you should do.”
He continued to drive. But the voice spoke again. "Roger, you are leaving Camp-Meeting without doing the thing you should do!"
He stopped the car, turned around, and headed back to Keene. That night he attended the evangelistic meeting by Elder Millet. When the appeal was made, Roger took his stand!'
He wanted to be baptized right away, since he had to return to Arizona the next day. But the Camp-Meeting baptistery had just been painted and could not be used. So at ten-thirty that night, in the private swimming pool of an SUC faculty member, Roger was baptized! The next day he began the return trip to Arizona, rejoicing in the Lord, and exceedingly happy to be a Seventh-day Adventist once again!
One minister excitedly told how it had been his privilege to lead a lady to Christ right in one of the Camp-Meeting tents. She was not an Adventist, but had been visiting the church every Sabbath for two-and-one-half years. She made her decision for Christ after hearing the gospel story.
She said her two brothers would not be happy about her decision, but that with the assurance of salvation in her heart, she was not at all afraid.
During the Camp-Meeting, Elder Dart'!' the conference president, maintained a temporary office in the rear of the main pavilion. One morning a young man named Don came into the office with fire in his eyes. He was separated from his wife Gloria, and somewhere he had heard that Elder Dart long had counseled his wife to leave him. So he had come to tell Elder Dart just where meddling preachers should go.
Elder Dart assured Don that he had never counseled Gloria to leave. And then the impression came to him that this was the time to present the gospel!
“Don," Elder Dart began, "a reconciliation between you and your wife can only come about if each of you is willing to go 100% in the opposite direction from the one you are going now. If both of you are willing to go 100%, you are bound to meet somewhere in the middle. How much do you want to change the direction of your life?"
"I want to change," Don replied, "but I don't know how."
The door was open, and Elder Dart stepped right in, presenting the simple gospel story. With tears streaming down his face, the young man who had come to give away his hate, instead gave away his heart-to the Lord Jesus Christ! Elder Dart, with tears in his eyes, welcomed a new son into the family of God! Don left the office radiant with happiness.'
Later Elder Dart met Gloria. "What did you say to him?" she asked. "He has really changed!" The last weekend of camp-Meeting, Don and Gloria were re-united to try a new and happier life together
One morning during Camp-Meeting, one of the Texas ministers was taking a shower in the men's dormitory. He began talking with another man there, who had been a Seventh-day Adventist for twenty years.
The minister discovered that this man had no assurance of eternal life. So there in the shower room, the minister presented the gospel story in this new way to his fellow church member. The man walked out that morning, rejoicing in his salvation!
"There were two young men who have been here all week at Camp-Meeting. They are kind of 'long-haired' young men. They took one of the tents. They had a record player with them, and had rock and roll records. They even smoked cigarettes. At night they would play the rock music, and throw their cigarette butts outside. A couple of times, a girl was seen coming out of their tent.
"Well now, at an Adventist Camp-Meeting, the murmurings go around that there are 'Philistines' in the camp, and that shakes everybody up! So I got the word about this from several of the brethren, who were concerned for the souls of these boys, but who were also concerned for the camp! They asked if maybe there was something I could do. I said 1 wasn't sure, but that if they stayed, maybe something could rub off on them. We prayed about it together, that if the Lord would direct me to be able to speak to them in any way, that He would do that.
"The situation got worse, and finally they told me that something would have to be done very, very soon, or else the young men would be asked to leave.
"Well, that very evening, I had the opportunity to sit on the back end of a car out in the parking lot, and just talk to one of those young men. And before very long, I asked him the two questions that are in this program. When I asked the first one-did he have the assurance of eternal life-:-he said, 'No way.' And you know, through this program, the Holy Spirit helped me to lead him to the assurance of Jesus Christ and eternal life!
"Now, this young man accepted Jesus into his life, and expressed a wish to be baptized. And then he said, 'You know, we've got to help my friend.' The next morning his friend came to the tent where this young man and I were talking. I asked him the question. 'Do you have the assurance of. eternal life?'
And you know what he said? 'Yes, 1 do!'
1 said, 'How can you?' He said, 'I found this little folder called The Way to Eternal Life lying on the ground, and 1 read it, and 1 gave myself to Christ!' Those two young men were baptized last night!"