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TH E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
M em b ers of the International F ish e rm e n 's Club, No, 1, present at a recent m eeting.
Photograph by Putnam Studios
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Fishers of Men
I T WAS in the comfortable living room of a mission home in Tient sin, China, that the host intro duced two American missionaries to each other.1They shook hands cordial ly, relief and restfulness on their faces. It was not as comfortable outside. The city, little aware that it was soon to witness one of the greatest floods in recent history, throbbed with life, but fear lUrked in the dark streets. It was early summer of ,1939, and Japanese troops controlled all of blockaded Tientsin except the Foreign Conces sion. Even in the Concessions there was an atmosphere of tense waiting, a dread of the day when the troops might cross the barriers. The two missionaries had passed the barrier to get into the British Conces sion: one from north China, one from far Manchuria. Both of them had seen something of early war days. But, as far as they knew, there the similarity of their experiences ended. Mirrored on the faces of the two men as they shook hands was the friendly interest of those meeting others of like faith and occupation in a foreign land. Then, suddenly, each saw the tiny blue and silver pin on the other’s lapel. Instantly their eyes brightened, their handclasps tightened. “Which Club?”’ one asked quickly. “Club No. 1, Los Angeles,” the other replied proudly. “ And you?” “Club 2, Long Beach,” he grinned. The bond had been discovered— they were both members of the Inter national Fishermen’s Club and though they had not previously met either in California or in China, they discovered mutual friends at once.
It is a far cry from that teeming Oriental city in 1939 to the city of Los Angeles, California, as it was on the evening of May 7, 19Ò6. About 6:30 that evening a group of seven young men met at the Immanuel Pres byterian Church, located then on -the corner of Tenth and Figueroa Streets. They had come for the purpose of organizing a Bible class under the leadership of Thomas C. 'Horton. They did not know, at that first meet ing, that they were beginning what was to become an international club, its membership reaching out to the far corners of the earth. With that simple beginning, the class was later organized into an interdenominational Bible study club for young men ahd was -ealled “The Fishermen’s Club.” Later its borders were enlarged, and it became “The International Fisher men’s Club.” The Fishermen’s salute, “Praise the Lord,” literally has sounded round the world and has cheered countless hearts. From Many Waters If the roll of members, past and present, could be called, the response would come from many fields. The following is only a partial and in adequate-listing of the results which God has wrought through this fellow ship. Twelve members are ministering in Africa: In imagination one sees the steaming tropics; the villages, semi circles of mud-brown huts, set into a background of palm 'trees, climbing vines and* tropical verdure; the peo ple gathering around to listen to the white missionary tell of the true God;
and then the rare cry, “Ngai andimi!” (I believe) that brings joy unspeak able to the heart of the one who had labored to bring the gospel to that portion of the field. Five Fishermen are preaching the Word in South America: Guatemala! Brazil! Venezuela! Hungry, needy souls have been won for the Lord through the ministry of those who have been content to become “Fishers of men.” Fishermen are located in the moun tain fastnesses of Mexico: Among the Indians, the darkness of whose dwell ings is only surpassed by the dark ness of their hearts, W. Cameron Townsend and other Fishermen seek to translate the languages of the many tribes, so that each may have the Word of God in his own tongue. From Hawaii, two members answer. Before the war with Japan began, the Club was represented in the Philip-, pine Islands by Samuel Fisk, by Harry Hill in Korea, by Rowland Davies in Manchuria, and by Timothy Pietsch in Japan. In Bangkok, Thailand, Albert Siegle and his family have witnessed. From the shambles that is now Shanghai, China, comes the voice of John Yong, a Fisherman, who con tinues his witness in spite of acute privations and extreme danger. A t Home In America, two Fishermen preach the “unsearchable riches” of the gos pel to the Navajo Indians in Arizona. A Fisherman is Chaplain in .
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