Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-02-23
WORK OF THE LAYMEN.

An unusually large congregation,
made up Of all denominations repre-
scented in Yorkville, filed the First
Presbyterian church to it's. capacity
last Sunday night to participate in a
special union service called for the
purpose Of listening to Echoes from
the Laymen's Convention held in
Charlotte last week, and altogether the
occasion was Of the most interest
ing and enjoyable that the community
has known for many a day.
Rev. DR.. E. E. Gillespie, pastor Of
the church, presided, and was assisted
in the conduct Of the service by Revs.
Tracy Walsh and j. L. Oates, the form
er reading the scriptural lesson from
l Peter, l, 3-13, the latter offering the
opening prayer.
The speakers of the evening includ-
ed visitors to the convention, three
ministers, Rev. Dr.. Gillespie, Rev. F.
Ray Riddle and Rev. ]. l.. Oates, and
the following laymen: ]. S. Mackorell,
d. T. Woods, G. H. O'Leary, Geo. w.
Brown, M. L. Carroll, Howard Smith,
L.. r. Williams, ]. A. Marion and ]. G.
Wardlaw, and while most Of the lay
men were quite brief in what they had
to say, each " helped to impress up
on the congregation some idea Of the
magnitude, TIE earnest zeal and the
inspiration of the great convention.
Rev. Mr.. Riddle said that while the
convention was a big thing in itself, in
point Of numbers, arrangements, the
convention hall, notices on the walls,
decorations, including flags Of all ma
tons; yet the one thing that impressed
him poncf mo- tho nroSanNa nf IN YnQnv
laymen-business and professional
men of all walks and avocations-and
the deep interest that everybody took
in all that was said and done.
Rev. MI. Oates, the last speaker, ex-
planned that DR.. Gillespie had assigned
him the task Of covering the things Of
Importance overlooked by the other
speakers; but since Mr.. Smith had
taken what he had been framing in his
mind to say about the remarkable zeal
and earnestness, Mr.. Riddle had COW
cred the personnel, and Mr.. Williams
remarked about the singing, there
seemed to remain little else than to
give his impressions Of the services Of
the evening. He was particularly
pleased with the n in which the
different speakers, especially the lay
men, had presented their varied m
- OooAOilob In 1CtN kAioS LAG 90 VIVA oo
the other pastors of the town, had a
right to feel thankful for the able as
sistance they had in their respective
congregations. AS impressive as was
the personnel Of the big convention
generally, he thought the laymen rep
re~sentation from our own churches
would measure we'll up with the others.
At the close Of the remarks by the
various convention visitors, DR.. Giles
pie presented some statistics relative
to local churches and their contribu-
lions for foreign missions. According
to the statistics as read, the five white
churches Of Yorkville have 979 men,
bers. Last year the combined contri-
buttons to foreign missions was S1,64O,
an average Of $1.67 per capita annually,
or 81 cents per week. The statistics
Of the various churches were as fol-
lows:
Methodist-160 members; SIS con-
tributed; average per capita, AZ cents.
Episcopal-97 members; $45 con-
tributed; average per capita, 48 cents.
Associate Reformed-1S9 members;
1854 contributed; average per capita,
81 cents.
Baptist-107 members; $111 contrib
uted; average per capita, S1.03.
Presbyterian-427 members; $1,255
contributed; average per capita, 1924.
A feature Of the evenings services
was the congregational singing Of the
hymn, The Kings Business" this
hymn having been frequently sung
during the convention in Charlotte.