King's Business - 1955-05

Adam Hunter and Shantyman Percy Wills: For the lonely, a message.

SHANTYMEN

Here's the story of how men who work in remote regions get to hear the gospel

By Dorothy C. Haskin

E d Johns had found that which seemed to him to be the best rem­ edy for all of mankind’s ills. Be­ neath his rough exterior, he had a soft heart which made him suscep­ tible to one of the most subtle philos­ ophies of the day, one that proclaimed equity but made slaves of men. Johns was a Communist. He be­ lieved the party program so thor­ oughly that he spent his time going M A Y , 1 9 5 5

from logging camp to logging camp in British Columbia, preaching Com­ munism, making converts. When he went from camp to camp, he kept crossing the path of a group of men who were fully as earnest as he and who, too, thought they had found the right answer to all of life’s problems. They were the Shantymen, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Johns was on Vancouver Island,

when he first ran across them. The Shantymen had brought in a couple of young people from a gospel boat, called the W illis Shank to conduct a Bible school for the children. Johns’ five-year-old son wanted to attend and though the father felt the school was a waste of time, he permitted the boy to go. Later,Johns was W A n c k up north , when A A O R E ^ 43

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