The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1916-10-20
CONFERENCE DONATES
AMOUNT TO RELIEVE
SUFFERING Of Erwin
LARGE SUM SUBSCRIBED IN FEW
MlNUTEs-MINlsTERS CON.
TRIBUTE WITH TEARS,
MISSIONARY REPORT RECEIVLI
Money Given BY Sunday Schools
Should Not be Charged Against AS.
sessments of Churches-Ministers
Salaries Should be Raised.

VI NeF' ~ ID. ETWln, pastor or Elm
Street church, one of the best beloved
ministers in the Old Jerusalem Confer
ence, a subscription. fnud of over $3.50
was raised in a few minutes at the
afternoon session of the conference on
Saturday. Members, with tears in
their eyes, rushed to the table to de-
post token of the regard and affec-
ton in which Mr.. Erwin is held
The plea for the assistance of Mr..
Erwin was presented by DR.. W. B.
Taylor, presiding elder of the Nash
vile District. DR.. Taylor spoke with
tears in his eyes of the need of the
beloved pastor. He said that at the
age of seventy-two Mr.. Erwin had been
persuaded to ask this conference to
grant him the superannuate relation.
The best the joint board could do for
him, said Mr.. Taylor, was 500, and
! after many months of suffering this
sum would do the aged Nashville pas
tor little good. Bishop Atkins spoke
of the need of Mr.. Erwin. In a few
moments large sum was subscribed
by those attending the conference.
The afternoon session of the confer
ence was opened by singing that great
old hymn of Methodism, Sweet Hour
of Prayer" Rev. w. E. Edmonson,
chaplain in the United States Navy,
led in prayer.
The first order of business was hear.
ing the report of the Board Of Church
Extension witt, reference to the rep
resentative Methodist Church at Wash.
ington. The board recommended that
the $4,000 sought by the church be
paid in three annual installments,
which should be raised by free-will
offerings among the churches of the
conference.
The bishop was requested to appoint
a committee from each district to see
the churches in the district to aid in
raising the funds. The report was
adopted.
DIR. j. ]. Stowe, presenting the re-
port of the Board of Missions, said the
function of the board is two-fold:
Educational and Administrative. The
board, said DR.. Stowe, must give mis-
sionary information to the end that
facts may strengthen the missionary
conscience. He said that the admins
trative feature was required in order
that no needy territory might be over
looked. He said in part: Measured
by our record in the past, we are doing
very WE'LL But we have many mem
bers who care absolutely nothing about
missions. The great war has given us
more needy non-Christian lands to be
furnished with the gospel. We should
now have offerings far beyond those Of
the past.
due to the lack of money, the gen
eral board has been unable to strength
en- its far flung lines to the foreign
fields. Missionary Day must be OBJ
served in the Sunday schools In the
Sunday schools we have 60,600 mem
bers. If each of these should contrib
ute two and half cents month, we
should have an adequate amount fol
foreign missions. This statement indi
Gates how small is our contribution
The pastors should distribute the free
missionary literature, and few things
will count more than wide circula
ton of the missionary paper.
in both urban and rural communi
ties we are making many Of the mis-
sions into self-supporting charges. We
note with pleasure the absolute har
mony of the board and the presiding
elders, and are deeply indebted for the
work of the laymen under the leader
ship of John E. Edgerton.
1--WE are laying plans to hasten tn,
day when the pastors of the church
will Huin MO
ent eighty-nine preachers are receiv
ing $500 year or less; sixty-four, $500
or less; and fifty-two $500 or less. Tt
properly live, the ministers of the
church should receive greater sala
ries."
DR.. E. H. Rollings, Educational Sec
rotary of the Board of Missions, spoke
to the convention. He said in part
1--WE have plan for missions in the
Sunday schools, than which no church
has a better. But we find that the plan
produces culture, but no money. OF
| the $4,000 reported by the Sunday
schools for missions, but $4,000 ever
Preached the board. The $4,000 raised
in mission specials has been diverted
and has never reached the board at
all Only forty-seven per cent of the
amount raised is going for missions,
and the remainder has disappeared in
1.-THE shuttle We have a good plan and
great enthusiasm, but not penny has