POSTERS THAT TRANSFORM PEOPLE By Hazel Thomson
T he California trolley came to a sudden stop and all its passengers pitched forward like dominoes. Among them was a young movie producer who grabbed for a sup porting bar to help himself to his feet. Looking up, he read the startling words: “ I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.” Abundant life! That was just what he was looking for! The young man had come to California in 1954 after graduating from the University of Maine. He had made the long trip from the east coast to break into the produc tion end of motion pictures.
delighted to see him and eagerly accept ed his invitation to dinner after which they talked for many hours. Late that night, following Phil’s de parture, the movieman sat at the edge of his bed smoking. He told God' t ha t if He was real to reveal it to him. “ It
really boiled down to daring God!” he reported later. The next morning he found himself on that crowded, pitching trolley with the verse offering him abundant life. There it was, the answer to his evening prayer. “ That verse was the sign for me,” he said. “ This was what I had been searching for. I accepted Christ com pletely and unreservedly. I am grateful—-very grateful, that Best Seller Publicity had made the Word available and had it in a place where God could use it.” The conversion of this promising young man is only one example of the transforming results of Best Seller posters. Miracles of transformation in numerous lives under varying circumstances have been attributed to these effective little posters. For twenty-two years these Best Seller posters have been silently and patiently presenting God’s Word to busy, careless, weary, and sin-burdened commuters on buses, streetcars, and highways. Their unconcious influence has touched innumerable lives around the world. Just to name a few, there was the young Japanese who saw the huge Best Seller billboard over the Fuji Motor Plant in Tokyo where he worked; there was the wealthy Canadian businessman whose only motive in life was to make money; the weeping mother on a Chicago streetcar facing the problem of a broken home; the post-graduate University student in the east, whose skeptical mind had rejected the old-fashioned gospel message; the drunken father who had escaped to Chicago for a week-end binge; the streetcar motorman on the verge of suicide. All of these— and many more met face to face with one of these heart-stirring posters. The results? Transformed lives. But where did these posters come from? Who was re sponsible for their appearance? It goes back to 1937 when Jo Peterson sat on a Chicago “ L” train enroute to work. As she idly scanned the colorful array of ads about her, she had no idea of starting a project for God. Being an artist and publicity director, she was naturally interested in posters, particularly the art angle. But Jo was most interested in spiritual things. Having been a missionary volunteer (she had been turned down for a reason of health) and a Wheaton College graduate,
Jo Peterson, founder "Best Seller Publicity” . “ I landed in Los Angeles with mixed emotions,” he later wrote. “ For many months, life, its meaning and purpose confused me. I came from a Christian home, but I had just figured that my folks were old-fashioned. What I wanted out of life was money, success, and happiness.” One night while enroute home from work, a young man by the name of Phil sat beside him on the streetcar and began to talk to him of Christ. He immediately began to argue, but the soul-winner refused to indulge. “ I have very little education,” he explained, “ and am not able to argue against your complicated philosophy.” Despite this lack, the movie producer recognized that his opponent had experienced the reality of salvation and seemed quite happy. This upset him more than usual and he spent many sleepless nights. Finally he determined to talk again with Phil and waited for him at the same trol ley stop the same day of the following week. Phil was
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