October, 1939
THE3 K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
377
Four Hundred Simultaneous Introductions
in the field of Christian education. Eternity alone will reveal the influence of the Institute upon the children of this entire region, as it is exemplified in the lives and teaching of the Insti tute young people. As a further aid in the practical training of the students and in the defi nite proclamation of the gospel, many other types of testimony are conducted. Through the Music Department,, stu dents are conducting choirs in many of the Southland churches. Students are also employed as directors of young people’s work, superintendents of vari ous departments in Sunday-schools, and assistants to pastors, In Street Meetings, Missions, Hospitals The young men in the student body conduct several street meetings a week in strategic locations, where thousands of men congregate throughout the year —most of them without employment ana having very little of a constructive na ture to think about—men among whom the seeds of atheism and other destruc tive isms constantly are being sown. As a result of the testimony of Biola students, men have been saved, others have been restored to fellowship with the Lord, new hope has been given, new determination has been instilled in the minds of those who were about to give up, and most wholesome results are constantly.being recorded. Groups of students go regularly to various missions in the Los Angeles area, and there conduct services in which Jesus Christ is exalted, and where the power of the Holy Spirit is felt in convicting men of sin and bring ing them to a saving knowledge of our Lord and Saviour. Each Sunday afternoon finds many of the students- carrying on work in the Los Angeles County General Hospital, which is the largest institution of its kind In the country. These winsome young people carry flowers, with ap propriate Scripture verses attached, to give to the patients, and wherever the opportunity is presented, the message of Jesus Christ, the Great Physician ani Saviour of the world, is given. Gospels, Testaments, and tracts are freely dis tributed. The results have been most gratifying, and in giving out the Word, the young people themselves have been greatly encouraged and built up in their own faith. Helping Pastors and Churches Gospel teams, quartets, and other mu sical groups are testifying practically every' Sunday evening in v a r i o u s churches throughout Southern Cali fornia. Fifteen or. more services of this kind are held each Sunday evening. This testimony is proving to be most helpful among the young people of the churches visited. Many pastors bear testimony to the fact that these eve
ning services in their churches have marked the beginning of a greatly in creased spiritual interest among tbe young people and older members of the church as well. A number of the small churches in the Southern California area are being served by Biola students who are pre paring themselves for the gospel min istry. This plan serves a twofold pur pose. It means that the churches which are being served have an opportunity of getting the gospel, which would oth erwise be denied them because of insuf ficient funds to support a resident pas tor. It also means that the young men themselves are receiving invaluable ex perience in the course of their training which will serve them well in the years to come when they are engaged in full time Sipastoral positions. The Institute recognizes the value of this training and encourages churches throughout the en tire Southland to obtain the services these zealous young men wherever the need is realized. Many Fields— But a Single Message Space does not permit giving a de tailed account of the numerous avenues of Christian service in which the stu dents engage. Regulaj weekly shop meetings, the group attending Juvenile Hall and other similar institutions, the hundreds of students who are out regu larly distributing the Word of God in tract form, the personal work that1is done ainong the children on the street, the week-day Bible classes, -and the many other forms of Christian activity in which the Biola students engage, all point to the fact that the students are doing their best in meeting the chal lenge of today in a way that brings honor and glory to Him whom we love, and seek to serve. To get an adequate view of the work being accomplished, one must, visualize more than four hundred fifty young people who are enthusiastic and in tensely active and zealous in the service of Jesus Christ, out witnessing for Him in most interesting and unexpected places and under most varied circum stances. The forms of service are ex tremely many—the message is one. That message is found in the Word of God, and tells of a loving, dying, risen, com ing Saviour and King of Kings who died for the world, but who also died for the individual, and who is soon to return to claim His own. Your Testimony To the present time, we have been training students without tuition charge. Your gifts have made this privilege pos sible. .Perhaps you cannot give as you once did. Have you asked some one else to make up the amour1 you now lack? Will you not give so you may continue to send forth laborers into His vineyard ?
Praising God Unitedly for the open ing of another school year at the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, the school’s student body, faculty, and, trustees joined the Church of the Open Door’s làrge congregation in a great “Biola Day” on Sunday, September II. Three services were held under the leadership of Louis T. Talbot, president of the Institute and pastor of the church. The Institute young men and young women formed a chorus choir under the direc tion of Herbert G. Tovey, chairman of the music department. At all three meetings the school chorus was aug mented by the regular choir of the church. Kenneth M. Monroe, dean of the school, formally presented the 130 new students and more than 230 returning students to the assembled friends, an nouncing that this was the largest group to have enrolled at Blola In sev eral years. , Dr. Monroe reminded the congrega tion that this was the last Sunday morn ing service at which the full student group would be present, for during thé school year they scatter to witness for the Lord Jésus Christ in more than one hundred Southern California church es. .(The story of this and other min istry carried on by these young men and young women is told on these pages.) Student testimonies and a message from John A. Hubbard, for nineteen years a member of the Institute faculty, were features of the morning hour. The speakers told of the deep gratitude of students and alumni for the Biola train ing provided without tuition chargé. The Biola Alumni Association, repre sented by their president, Peter F. Wall, ’21, were special guests at the after noon session. At this time Dean Mon roe, who returned from Europe on the “Bremen” just after the war broke out, spoke on “Why Has the Peace oi Europe Failed Again,- and What Will the End Be?” In' all, the Biola Day which marked the public presentation of the new stu dent body impressed the three congre gations with the constructiveness of Biola’s program and with the necessity for its extension in these days of gospel opportunity. churches throughout S o u t h e r n Cali fornia. More than 115 churches are now using Biola students as Sunday-school teachers. Thus thousands of children are listening each Sunday to the Word of God being explained and illustrated by these Biola-traineci ycuag people. 1Many of the students are specialists
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