Opportunities in the South

Opportunities in the South OPPPORTUNITIES IN THE SOUTH
By Paul L. Wallace Of the estimated 300,000 members of the church of Christ in the United States, approximately 250,000 live in the territory denominated the South and Southwest. The section under consideration in this paper is then the most completely evangelized in the United States, and yet, after a correspondence with ministers living in these states, the writer was impressed with the seemingly unlimited field of labor. The hem of the garment has hardly been touched. For example, only 1.4% of the total population of Texas are members of the church of Christ, and Texas has more men and women worshipping after the New Testament order than any state in the Union, This will give an idea of the opportunity among the Anglo population in this area.

It is almost impossible to quote accurate statistics. The 1936 census bulletin and the “New Directory of the Churches of Christ in the United States” (compiled by Brother Leslie G. Thomas in conjunction with the U. S. Census Bureau) while very informative are
at best only summaries. Allowances for error must be made.

1. Texas.
Texas, with a population of 6,000,000 people, has nearly one thousand congregations established after the New Testament pattern. 85,000 men and women are members of these churches. Despite the fact that there are so many churches and despite the fact that the number of evangliste giving full time to the ministry of the word is legion, there are fifty counties in Texas (with a population of 750,000) in which there is no, or at least, very little, preaching being done. Of the 254 counties in this state, 121 county-seat towns have churches supporting a full-time minister; 76 county-seat towns have churches without a full-time evangelist; and 57 county-seat towns have no congregation at all. Among these towns are: Woodville, Coldspring, Rio Grande, Ft. Davis, Stiles, Guthrie, Boerne, Stratford, Hansford, Lipscomb, Canadian, Stinnett, Channing, Wheeler and Panhandle. Do not forget that this field of labor is at our very door—in the state that boasts more members of the church than any in the Union!

2. Louisiana.
Joining Texas on the east is the state of Louisiana with its far-famed city, New Orleans. Louisiana has
2500 members worshipping in fifty-two communities. Shreveport, one of the larger cities, has two very zeal-ous congregations; Monroe has a fine church; and many of the smaller cities (such as Haynesville) have thriving congregations. Upon the other hand, prosperous cities such as Lake Charles and Duncan Hill have no congregations. In Baton Rouge where there are fifty members, the Nashville churches are helping to support Brother A. W. Johnson. This promises to be a profitable work because the field is vast and Brother Johnson is an exceptionally capable young minister. New Orleans, the largest city in the South, has a population of one-half million. Brother R. W. Turner has been laboring in this city and its environs for more than six years. As a result the little band that began meeting in a vacant grocery store building in May, 1935, has now grown to more than a hundred active members and owns its own building in a very satisfactory location. This is a very promising foothold and yet as you can easily see, only 1/50 of 1% of the total population of New Orleans are members of the Body of Christ. In other words 99.98% of the people in New Orleans are still in need of the gospel.

3. Mississippi.
Mississippi is not altogether a neglected field as the gospel has been preached for many years in the north-ern section of the state. Brother J. F Doggett estimates that there are 150 congregations in this part though many of them are weak, numerically and finan-cially. Out of a white population of 900,000, only twelve preachers are devoting full time to the work and some of these receive outside help. Brother Doggett was not aware of a loyal congregation south of Natches, Hattiesburg, and Jackson. This would leave Biloxi, Gulfport, Pass Christian and other coastal towns practically untouched. These are all prosperous and rapidly growing centers. Mississippi is one of the few states that can be considered religious in the broad sense. It is strongly denominational but the disposition of its people, its climate, its roads, its many cities of ten to twenty thousand population and its closeness to stronger churches make it one of the better fields in the South for evangelistic work.

4. Alabama.
Alabama has 250 congregations with 20,000 members. In Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Florence, Sheffield, Jasper and many other of its beautiful cities and towns, the work has been firmly established due largely to Brother John T. Lewis, Brother Gus Nichols, Brother A. H. Maner and others who have devoted much of their preaching work to this section. However, southern Alabama has been neglected. Robertsdale, Bay Minette, Rosington, Brewton, Atmore and Coffeeville all have congregations but no minister. Towns east and west of a line drawn from Selma to Evergreen have no churches. All of these communities would be ripe for evangelistic work. Brother Gus Nichols thinks that Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties especially offer exceptional opportunities.

5. Georgia,
Most everything that has been said in a general way about Alabama and Mississippi might be said about Georgia. 5,000 members meeting in 50 places are hold-ing forth the word of life. Atlanta, Macon, Savannah, Rome and Columbus all have churches while Augusta, Athens and many other cities are in need of evangelistic work.

6. Florida,
Florida, because of the transitory nature of many of its residents, is a harder field than the average Southern State, but is still not as difficult as the average Northern State. There are approximately 100 congregations with 7,000 members and the church is growing rapidly. There are several congregations in St. Petersburg, Tampa and Miami. Among other cities having good congregations are Clearwater, Largo, Bradenton, Cortez, Sarasota, Dover, Plant City, Bartow, Winter Haven, Auburndale, Mulberry, Eagle Lake, Haines City, and Gainesville. Florida needs many more preachers and especially preachers who can devote all of their time to the work. Brother Fred B. Walker informed us through the Gospel Advocate a few months ago that Florida needs more than preachers who want to fish and relax during the week and merely preach on Sunday.

7. New Mexico.
During the past ten years the church in New Mexico has had an amazing growth. The church of Christ in New Mexico was first established under the preaching of Brother S. W. Smith at Bethel shortly before 1900 but at present there are more than sixty congregations with a population in excess of four thousand. Even with this progress there is yet much to be done. Of the thirty-one counties in the state, eleven county seat towns have no congregation and in some of them no serious gospel effort has been made. Only recently have efforts been made to permanently establish the cause in Santa Fe, Gallup, Taos, Raton and Vaughn. The places in New Mexico which may seem to be of very little importance because of their small populations are in reality very important because they are crossroads of civilization through which hundreds of thousands from all over the world pass each year. New Mexico is indeed a promising field.

Several of the states in the South and Southwest have been neglected in this paper because of the necessity for brevity, but this will be sufficient to present the unusual opportunity before us. May we fulfill our ob-ligations and receive in the end the blessed judgment, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant . . . enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”