Iowa Conference Proceedings by Flora V. Dorcas

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jul 26, 1906

Iowa Conference Proceedings

By Flora V. Dorcas

The forty-third session of the Iowa Conference of Seventh-day Adventists convened on the camp-ground at Boone, Iowa, June 1-5. Five churches, with a membership of seventy-six, applied for admission, and were received into the conference. The following recommendations were adopted:—

“Whereas, The prospering hand of the Lord has been seen in bringing many souls to the knowledge of the truth, and in many other ways advancing the message in our conference; therefore,—

“1. Resolved, That we express thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for his blessing during the year, and that we pledge greater faithfulness to the promulgation of the message in the future.

“Whereas, Since last we met in conference session, death has entered the ranks of our workers, and removed from our midst our oldest and most respected laborer, Elder C. A. Washburn; therefore,—

“2. We recommend, That while we bow in humble submission to the will of our Heavenly Father, and while we realize that our brother sleeps and thus is permitted to rest during the last great struggle between good and evil, we express our appreciation of his many years of earnest public ministry and our regret at the loss of the kindly and wise counsel which his death has brought upon this conference; also that as our brother longed to live to see the work closed and our Saviour come, we only allow his death to be an inspiration to us to labor more earnestly and more energetically to hasten the day when Christ shall come, and the dead in Christ shall be resurrected, and, united with the living righteous, taken home to glory, nevermore to be separated by the great enemy, death.

“3. We recommend, That a man be chosen to take charge of the church-school work who can spend his whole time in the field.

“Whereas, The most active efforts are being put forth by the National Reform Party to secure the enactment of Sunday laws, and the enactment of other religious measures, by both State and national legislation, thus uniting church and state in this country; and,—

“Whereas, The constitutional liberty guaranteed to us by the fundamental law of our nation is thus being threatened; therefore,—

“4. Resolved, That an earnest and vigorous campaign be inaugurated in our conference to educate the people concerning the evils of this sought-for legislation, by means of the circulation of religious liberty literature upon the various phases of the question.

“5. Resolved, That we put forth strong efforts to give the new quarterly Liberty, recently started by the General Conference, a large circulation in our State.

“6. Resolved, That some person be chosen by this conference to be known as religious liberty secretary, who shall have special oversight of this work in our conference.

“7. Resolved, That we work for the improvement of our Sabbath-schools by encouraging earnest study of the ‘Testimonies on Sabbath-school Work;’ by continuing to encourage thorough, systematic study of the Sabbath-school lessons, by helping to increase the circulation of the Sabbath School Worker, and by working for the Home Department.

“Whereas, The Lord has said, ‘One of the most effective barricades against the incoming tide of evil is the cultivation of habits of self-denial and benevolence;’ therefore,—

“8. Resolved, That we keep before our schools the needs of the mission fields and the importance of planning continually that we may increase our contributions; and we recommend that all Sabbath-school contributions be devoted to missions.

“9. We recommend, That earnest work be done by all our workers and people for the salvation of our youth by establishing church-schools in our churches as rapidly as properly qualified teachers can be obtained. As a means of preparing such teachers, we recommend that the Iowa Conference bear the traveling expenses of its accredited church-school teachers to and from the Central Union Conference summer school and General Conference educational council to be held at College View this summer.

“Whereas, The workers in different departments of the conference are greatly inconvenienced by the failure of our churches, missionary societies, and Sabbath-schools to report; therefore,—

“10. Resolved, That a special effort be made by all officers of these organizations to encourage promptness and thoroughness in this matter.

“Whereas, The Lord has greatly blessed us the last year, and given us a substantial increase of tithe; therefore,—

“11. Resolved, That we appropriate from the tithe fund the sum of five thousand dollars for the mission fields; and we suggest that this donation be used to open a mission in Uganda, Africa.

“Whereas, Our resolution of last year that we deal on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ system has produced such good results; therefore,—

“12. We recommend, That this policy be continued with increased efforts; also that fourth Sabbath collections be taken up each month to be placed to the credit of the society.

“Whereas, The book, ‘Ministry of Healing’ has been set aside by the author for the relief of our sanitariums, and our Iowa Sanitarium carries a burden of debt,—

“13. We recommend, And urge, our workers and our people everywhere to purchase the book and make a strong effort to sell a sufficient number to relieve our sanitarium of all indebtedness.

“Whereas, A large number of people have been converted to the truth through the canvassing work, and the Lord has told us through the spirit of prophecy that it is one of the best means for educating our people,—

“14. Resolved, That we do all we can to carry on a progressive campaign in this work, (1) each church doing everything in its power to furnish at least one canvasser, (2) all our workers, including canvassers, doing all in their power to encourage promising persons to take up this line of work, referring the same to the one at the head of this work, (3) holding institutes at convenient times, and calling for donations of food and cash to help carry them forward, (4) creating a good, substantial canvassers’ fund.

“Believing that the name of field secretary is more appropriate than that of State agent, and as a large number of other State conferences have made this change to their satisfaction,—

“15. We recommend, That the name field secretary be substituted for that of State agent.

“Recognizing the value of the work that has been begun in our conference for our young people,—

“16. We recommend, That all conference workers, church elders, and parents co-operate with the young people’s secretary in working for the salvation of the youth and in their organization for service.

“17. We recommend, To all our people the Educational Messenger, the organ of the educational and young people’s work for the Central Union Conference, and that all our young people be encouraged to take and read the Youth’s Instructor.

“We look upon it as a lamentable fact that so many of our young people are in secular schools or not in school at all, and, recognizing the great need of well-equipped workers for every line of work; therefore,—

“18. We recommend, That our church elders, ministers, and other workers urgently present to our young people the claims of God upon them, and encourage them to enter Stuart Academy or Union College and obtain a thorough preparation for the work, and that we pledge our support to all the young men and women of Iowa, who thus prepare themselves for the work.

“19. We recommend, To all our young people in need of an education the Stuart Academy and Union College scholarship plans.

“20. We recommend, (1) That as a conference we approve of the recommendation of the General Conference to raise the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; (2) that we concur in the general plan suggested by Elder Daniells that each conference raise a sum equal to two dollars for each church-member in the conference; and that a determined, persistent movement be inaugurated in our conference for this purpose, that we invite our churches to take up this matter at once to raise a sum equal to two dollars for each of their membership, and that we plan to have this task completed before the end of the present year; (3) that all funds raised in response to this action be forwarded through the usual channels.

“Whereas, We have received much of the blessing of the Lord during our stay on this camp-ground; therefore,—

“21. Resolved, That we take the blessing home, and endeavor to share it with those about us, and that we earnestly endeavor to present this message by scattering our missionary papers, the Signs, Watchman, etc., also by the use of our tracts and books, with greater faithfulness than ever before, striving to make this year the best one ever experienced in the service of our Lord and Master.”

Credentials were granted to L. F. Starr, N. C. Bergersen, J. H. Kraft, E. G. Olsen, Henry Rorholm; ordination and credentials to J. C. Clemens, F. M. Corbaley; ministerial licenses to Wm. J. Johnson, Floyd Bralliar, J. W. Dorcas, A. V. Rhoads, J. M. Moore, O. M. Kittle, A. F. Ferguson, J. T. Spriggs, F. E. Brotherston, W. E. Perrin, R. J. Bryant, A. V. Cotton, J. F. Piper, Edgar Swap; P. A. Field, C. V. Starr, E. Rosenwold, C. W. Hollingsworth, Mrs. Minnie Syp;

missionary licenses to N. L. McClintock, Mrs. Flora V. Dorcas, Della Wallace, W. H. Cox, Katie Earle, C. Juhl, Margaret Young, Mrs. Blanche Spriggs, F. J. Wilbur, S. B. Kephart, E. W. Wolfe, R. E. Burke, H. F. Meeker, Wm. Andress, Anna Camp, Mrs. Nettie Shaw, J. W. McComas, May Kephart, Edith Shively, Carrie Armstrong, Cora Quinn; church-school teachers’ certificates to Essie Ferguson, Bessie Scism, Bessie Stanfield, Maud Perrin, Emma Curtis, Anna Thermensen, Hattie and Ida Brown.

The following officers were unanimously elected: President, L. F. Starr; other members of the Conference Committee, C. Juhl, J. W. Dorcas, N. C. Bergersen, J. C. Clemens, A. V. Rhoads, J. H. Kraft; Secretary, Flora V. Dorcas; Treasurer and Secretary and Treasurer of Iowa Tract Society, C. W. Larson; Assistant Secretary, Mrs. Nettie Shaw; Field Secretary, R. J. Bryant; Superintendent of Young People’s Work, F. J. Wilbur; Religious Liberty Secretary, W. E. Perrin; Sabbath-school Secretary, Flora V. Dorcas; Trustees of the Seventh-day Adventist Association, L. F. Starr, C. Juhl, J. M. Whitney, N. C. Bergersen, J. M. Petersen, C. W. Larson, W. E. Perrin.

MRS. FLORA V. DORCAS, Sec.