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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S
May, 1938
• Boys and girls of Im perial, Calif., love to "Sing and Bring" as fhey gather regularly for children's B i b l e classes with Dr. and Mrs. Wilder.
Below: A California beach.
Photo above by Hetzel
evangelize the unchurched children of a Los Angeles parish. Upon moving to Im perial Valley, I discovered that the plan was blessed of God to the salvation of souls in a small town as it had been in the large city. K n o w in g th a t the ex tremely hot summer weather in Imperial Valley would necessitate our being away during the summer months,
God's Field for Child Evangelism Humanly speaking, it seemed a difficult task to go into a strange town, unannounced, to conduct a campaign that should reach the restless vacation throngs of children, but we were persuaded that the Lord would consummate that which He had begun. Per mission was sought and secured from the city council of Santa Monica to conduct classes on the sand. The councilman who replied to our request wrote, “When you arrive, we will be glad to go over the beach with you, and give you permission to hold your Bible classes for children.” A remarkable answer to prayer! When the time came, the city officials assigned us roped-off areas in two of the beach playgrounds. Each day, as soon as our party arrived at the beach, shouts of joy arose from the children: “ Here are the ‘Sing and Bring’ men 1” The word soon went round, and a crowd of boys and girls of all colors and creeds quickly gathered. Trumpeting our theme song, we soon attracted the interest of still greater numbers o f youthful listeners. Children from far and near came at the summons of the music. _“Mister, may I have one of the tickets? Are they free?” “ Certainly you may have one of the Sing and Bring Club cards. Everything is free at a Sing and Bring Club. When you get four punches on your card, you can get a Sing and Bring Club button. You get a punch for coming and a punch for each boy or girl you bring.” “ I’ll sure come. That’s a keen button and I want it. Somebody said there’s a prize for bringing the most kids. Maybe I can win it 1” Often there were nearly as many adults crowding around the outside of the ropes as there were children on the inside. The
C LARION tones of a trumpet were telling that something new had come to town I “Vot kind of a club is dees?” asked a Jewess who stopped the car in which two young men and I were cruising around our meeting place, trumpeting our theme song. Cordially we replied, “ A Sing and Bring Club for boys and girls.” The inquirer persisted, “But my girl is a Jewess.” “ That’s all right,” wq said. “ The club is for all boys and girls. Many Jewish children attend.” With smiling face and gesticulations she said, “ Very veil— she is dere.” She was there— happy to be welcomed in the crowd of eager children— and that very day she accepted Christ as her personal Saviour. Originally the Sing and Bring Club was founded as a pastoral attempt each week to \_Dr. Wilder, who is a graduate of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles of the Class of ’26, is pastor of the Imperial Community Church, Imperial, Calif. To many users of K in g ’ s B usiness Sunday-school lesson helps, he is well known through the object lessons which he has written regularly for the magazine for several years .— E ditor .]
our family began to pray that the Lord of the harvest would open a door of service in another part of His vineyard. God's Call to Child Evangelism Unknown to us, God had laid on the heart of a consecrated Christian layman a burden for the children o f Santa Monica, a California beach town. Soon we received a letter saying, “W e are looking for a servant of the Lord, trained in children’s evangel istic work, who should be called of God to spend four or five weeks in intensive work, to reach children with the invitation of the gospel.” After prayerful consideration we accepted the offer and made preparations for the summer’s work. The Lord led us to employ the same method of group evangelism that had been blessed by Him in the pastoral work. Prayer was made to God for guid ance as to the choice of colaborers. Tw o consecrated young men, students from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, were chosen. One of them, “Cy” Binford, played the fold ing organ, and the other, “ Bill” Lewis, played the trumpet— an excellent musical combination for outdoor singing. These young men, as well as being talented musicians, were possessed of a God-given love for boys and girls.
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