The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-09-13
BAPTISTS DESIRE
 CHURCH EXTENSION Will Work for Larger Scope In
 the District ASSOCIATION CONCLUDES Local Option Approved-committees, Messengers, Delegates and conven- tion Preachers Appointed-At
 Bessemer Next.
ASSOCIATION CONCLUDES

 ton of the Birmingham Baptist assoeia- tion was held in the Woodlawn Baptist church yesterday with congregation that overfowed the seating capacity of the building. The Rev. J. L. Kinney op- ened the session with prayer and praise service.
 The first matter taken up at the morn- ing session was the discussion of the mis- sionary reports led as follows: State mis- sion, J. W. veasey: home missions Austin Crouch; foreign missions, J. M. MeGord. These reports brought out interesting facts as to the present status of the mission work in it's various branches, and outlined briefly the needs in the differ ent fields.
 The discussion of the report of the church extension committee oeeasioned probably the greatest enthusiasm and 'n- terest that was aroused during the course of the entire convention. This question has been repeatedly touched upon by the Baptist ministers ip the district, and at the morning session yesterday some of the most prominent local ministers in the denomination spoke eloquently of the need of the spread of the Baptist doctrine in tn territory of the association A eollec- ton of s1OOO for building new churches was raised and J. B. Gibson of Wood lawn was appointed to visit every Baptist church in the district for the purpose of augmentiBg this fund and of arousing and maintaining interest in the cause gener- ally.
 On an appeal of the Rev. J. H. Long crler, a collection was taken in behalf of the Moundville church for the purpose of helping to pay off the present indebt- edness. This also met a generous response on the part of the congregation.
 Dr. A. J. Dickinson, J. W. Minor and M. C. Reynolds were appointed. by Mod orator Ratcliff as a committee on the Judson college library fund.
 Annual Sermon.
 The feature of the morning was the an- nual missionary sermon by the Rev H. P. Mccormick, pastor of the southside Baptist church. The lesson was taken from the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis dealing with the dying charge of Jacob to his sons and his admonitions and warn- ings concerning the problems of life. He brought the application down to our own lives, and ably discussed the different phases of the missionary question.
 During the course of the morning the Woman's Missionary and Aid society of the association was in session at the Woodlawn Methodist church. Most of the .4.t..4 represented, and the reports from the diff ferent sections showed the work to be in a prosperous condition. Miss Alice Huey of Bessemer occupied the chair and Mrs. J. w veasy of East Birmingham was elected secretary of the society for the en- suing year.
 At the conclusion of the sermon of the Rev. Mccormick a recess was taken and bountiful luncheon which the women of woodlawn had prepared, was enjoyed by the visitors on the lawn in front of the church. A pleasant social mingle was indulged in at the conclusion of the meal, friends meeting friends from different parts of the district and making new ac- quaintances from other sections
 The afternoon session was begun at ? o'clock with a prayer and praise service conducted by the Rev. A. E. Burns.
 Liquor Traffic.
 The Rev. Brooks Lawrence, state su- perintendent of the State Anti-Saloon League of Alabama led a spirited dis cusslon of the report on temperance and moral and spiritual conditions. He se- verely arraigned the liquor traffic and declared that the churches must com bine to preserve the form made in the image of God from debasement He said that there is a fight on in this question between the kingdom of God and his righteousness and the prince of this world and his iniquity. The Rev. MT. Lawrence spoke with commendation of the stand being taken at Montgomery in favor of local option and urged his hearers to give the representatives from Jefferson county every encouragement to stand firm for the passage of such measure. Among other things he declared: eve are going to make as strong fight as any state in the union ever made
 Under the discussion of the report on religious literature and education, the ittN. AuSlll 01OuCn OI the " OOulaWn church made a talk in which he urged that we should be more careful of the class of literature we read, as accord ing to his contention, this is a source of great evil when care is not exercised. The Rev. Dr. Dickinson took another stand when he said that reading never hurt any man. He declared that the time has come for good old fashioned study of the Bible
 The night session was begun at 7:3O o'clock with a prayer and praise service conducted by the Rev Wallace Ware. These services were made features at the opening of each session.
 The chairman of the committee led discussion on the report on the digest of church letters. The central thought of his talk was the necessity of stronger local organization. The Rev. w. S. Brown of the Fountain Heights Baptist church also spoke upon a kindred theme. He | argued that according to- conservative es- innate, the Baptists ought to have 2o,OOO of the population of the Birmingham dis trict, and he contended that one of the main drawbacks to success was the failure | of the pastors to thoroughly understand | all the phases and stages of their church work. He advocated house to house can- vas from Bessemer to East Lake. Under the head of the report of special committees, the committee on nominations made report recommending: | l. That the next meeting of the associa- tion be held with the Bessemer church. | beginning with the second Tuesday in