Sing praise to the Lord . Chris O live , a sophomo re f rom Fruitland Park , Florida , direc ts the singing service at the devo t ional f o r the campaign Homecoming weekend. Harding students had the opportunity to go to Wyldewood the weekend of Sep tember 6 to learn m ore about campaigns . - photo by Danny Mee ks . Campaigners cover world 0\A a Cetina, lo sai che Dio ti ama?" I can still see her tear-stained face and her cautious smile as we sat on the little Italian stoop on one of the tiniest streets in Catania, Sicily. I was actually telling her that God loves her , and she was listening! Last summer's campaign efforts reached thousands of hearts just like Cetina's . Hundreds of students travelled all over the world and to various parts of the U.S ., sacrificing six weeks of their summer to tell others that God loves them. What most of them discovered , however, was that what seemed like a sacrifice turned out to be a great blessing. The campaign in Italy, led by L. V. Pheiffer and Jay Young, a missionary in Florence , was held at four different locations and contacted many churches throughout the country. The results in Sicily were so overwhelming -that the missionary there was unable to respond to all of the contacts. In answer to the problem, Professor Bob Corbin directed a fund-ra iser last fall in order to buy the church in Catania a computer. They are now able to write personal letters to everyone, s~nd correspondence courses quickly, and still have time for personal evangelism. Like the Italian campaigns, the other European campaigns focused primarily on the distribution of literature . In France, for example , the thrust of the campaign was toward the distribution of free Bible correspondence courses. They also sang at the various Gospel meetings that were held. "We were a real encouragement to the churches there ," said John Madden, "but I also learned a lot about myself. Campaigns helped me see how much about the Bible I don't know, and since last summer , I've studied more than I ever have." Blessed with the same native language, the students in Australia were able to knock doors and offer Bible studies on a personal basis. According to Robin Wenger, "It was the best thing I've ever done. It was so effective that I don' t see why v re can't do the same thing right here in Searcy." In Eastern Europe, behind the Iron Curtain, the students stayed in camp settings, evangelizing by word of mouth . A group of 12 divided into groups of five and seven, traveling to Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Romania . None of the campaigners were able to speak the native rongues, but using German, most were able to communicate adequately . 'We were very, very successful, " said Craig Kisseberth , one of the group leaders. 'We made 10 to 12 very strong contacts, many of them through picking up hitchhikers." The workers in Venezuela had the opportunity to actually begin a congregation and watch it grow. The group, led by Ava Conley, was required to have at least two years of high school Spanish in order to go on the campaign. Without the language barrier, the work focused on one-on-one Bible study and correspondence course follow up. With the intent of starting a church in a city where there were only two Christians, the campaigners witnessed an incredible success. "By the end of the summer there were 25 Christians," said Conley, "and now 30 to 40 worship at that location." When asked if the campaigns in England were effective, Cindy Eisenberg answered, "Very! I don't think we should look only at the number of baptisms, though. Campaigns accomplish so much through the encouragement of existing congregations. Campaigns are really worth all the effort." At a campaign reunion at the Wyldewood Retreat Center in September, all of the students who participated in campaigns were able to share slides and stories of their summer experiences. 11tt Campaigns 153
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