The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-05-21
LAYMEN'S
 MOVEMENT Important Conference of Alabama Methodists. THE WORK IS NAUGURATED President Pepper of Memphis
 Spoke. Judge W. H. Thomas Tn His Address or welcome Told Of The Great Force Exerted By Laymen
 Of The Churches.
THE WORK IS NAUGURATED

Delegates to the Laymen's Mission ary Convention of Alabama Methodist Conference assembled for their first session last night in the auditorium of the Court Street Methodist Church. The delegates together with the visi- tors including the membership of the Methodist Churches of the city as well as that of other denominations, filled the great auditorium almost to the limit.
 Throughout the session which lasted for over two hours, the large audience betrayed not the slightest impatience, on the contrary it's members seemed to hang upon the words of the speakers with unusual interest. The speakers were closely followed. as was evidenced by the character of the questions which were put to MT. Pep per, the speaker of the evening, at the conclusion of that speakers address.
 The session last night was the first of a program of which education or rather explicit information is the plan. Judge William H. Thomas in his welcome address to the delegates told of the history of great movements and the part which the laity took in mak- ing the history of the church. MT. Pepper told more explicitly of the lay mems movement, It's inception, its pur- poses and the growth which it has al- ready attained.
 The session was opened with a hymn, Stand Up. Stand Up. for Jesus" a song which the congregation knew and sang swellingly the harmony of the regular choir of the Court Street Church. The song was followed by a prayer by Rev. M. H. Holt presiding elder of the Montgomery district of the Methodist Church. In his prayer MT. Holt asked that the divine bless ing be poured upon the assembled del- egates and those attending the ses- sions, and that the cause in which the people in the church had assembled. It was prayed that a deeper interest in the salvation of souls would be taken by the laity both at home and abroad.
 Judge Albert E. Barnett, of opelIka, was chairman of the session and in- troduced the speakers fin turn. He told of the purpose of the organiza- tion of a Laymen's Movement in the South Alabama Conference.
 Tt is a new movement" said Judge Barnett, land 1t is in it's formative age. YoR are here that we may dis cuss this movement in all of it's phases. To this end we have prepared a pro- gram --zahieh 2@win -cover all of the phases of this york;
 We have both laymen and ministers
 
 and out of our conference, that the discussion will be presented from all points. Each of the sessions on the program Is so correlated that to get the full beneht of the discussion one must attend all of the sessions.
 T will now present to you one who needs no introduction either to you or to the Methodists of Alabama, Judge William H. Thomas, of Montgomery"
 Judge Thomas said: Life and lead ershtp of today gives welcome to the trained layman, not alone as a fol- lower of the ecclesiastic but as an. originator, the value of whose con- tributions to religious progress is be- ing more generally recognized and his partieipations enlarged.
 The world has ever heard the man with a message and followed the man with vision, little counting the rank from whence he came. Hebrew pro- phecy bears witness of religious ac- tivities of those born as laymen."
 Judge Thomas then gave an accu-