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Minutes of the Sixth Annual Meeting
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of the
General Council of the
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in the United States of America, Canada and Foreign Lands
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Sept. 4-11, 1918
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Press of THE GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE 556 W. Pacific St. SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI
MINUTES OF THE SIXTH ANN AL MEETING OF THE GENERAL COUNCIL OF THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD Held at SprinO'field, Mo., September 4th to 11th, 191 OPENING MEETING, SEPT. 4th, 1918. At C) a. 1l1. on eptemLer 4th, the Diemer Theater on Commercial ~ treet, ,pring-field, ~ro .. re.ounded with the praises of God as many minister and delegate from different part of the country a em bled for the ixth Annual ession of the General Council. Elder J. \V. Welch gave a hort preliminary me age of welcome to thc brethren, directing their hearts and mincls towards the Lord, and then handed the devotional cxerci es over to Pa tor Jo eph Tunmore of Pittsburg, Pa. Brother Tunmore spoke from Deut. 6 A. 5. "Hear. Israel; the Lord our God i one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might." IJe gave us the keynote for the session; for the whole meeting from the first day until the last was marked for its wor hip ancl adoration of Him who i worthy of all Our love. Brother Tunmore appealed for a definite appropriation of the Lord .T esus Christ for all the needs of the Council. There was a long eason of most earnest, fervent prayer. and there was an appropriation of I1im \\'ho alone is OUr wi dom, and an expre sion from many hearts and li ps that in all thing He might have the rrc-C'minence.
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ROSTER COMMITTEE Before thc fir t es ion closed, thc Chairman Elder ]. W. \Velch, appointed the Ro tcr 0111mittec, naming th e following brethren: Fred Lohmann, ~'1alvern. Ark., E. L. Banta, Puxico, Mo., and John T. Wilson, Thayer, Mis ouri.
AFTERNOON SESSION, SEPT. 4th, 1918. After a rousing song SCI-vice led by Brother \Valter Higgins of \Vest Plains, Mo., there was a blessed sea 011 of fE' 110wsh i p. a the diFferent breth ren from many .1 ift'erent State told of the presence and power of Goef at their respectivE' as E'mblies. and testified of the goodness of Goel maniiested in their individual lives. Pastor R. A. Brown gave a strong appeal for a greater spirit of saerifice in the ministry. He praised God for the General 1
Council with its un elli h spirit of co-operative fellowship, anri urged all present who were not in line to join this voluntary co-operative association that was based entirely on the principles of unity and love.
RESOLUTION COMMITTEE The Chairman appointed the following brethren as a Resolution Committee: E .. N. Bell, Spril1Q"fiel(l, Mo .. Cha irm an; D. \V. Kerr, Cleveland, Oh io, and John T . Boddy, Youngstown, Ohio.
COMMITTEE ON SERVICES The Chair also appointed the followi ng brethren as a Com!11iUC'e on . en, ice')' Joseph Tunmore, Pittsbu rg, Pa., hairman; S. A. Jamie on, Tul a, kla . ;]' R. Jamieson, 'ew York. Pastor R. A.. Drown preached at the evening evangelistic service, and few who heard it are likely to forget that very powerful message.
THURSDAY, SEPT. 5th, 1918. At 8.30 a . 111. there was a special devotional se rvice held to pray for the Lord to guide in the deliberatio ns of the da . At 9 Ill. the Roster Committee made its report wh ich, on 111 tion, was adopted.
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THE CHAIRMAN'S REPORT
' Brother J. "v. Welch said that he was g lad of th is opportunity of again meeting the brethren in Counci/. He sound ed a note of pra ise for the goodness of the Lord during the past twelve months. He reported a good normal increase in the growlh of the fellowship, over One h undred new ministers having joined th e Council during th e past ye:H. The Cou ncil now has 728 minister on the field, 9 r of whol11 are missionaries either in the regions beyond or going' there. He reported sufficie nt fund had come in to the Genera l ounc il office to meet the immediate needs of the past year. The min iste r had sent duri ng the pa t year an average of $r .7:; each . That the General Counci l office m ig ht have a larger force of workers and a g reater efficiency in pres in g the battle in th e future, he recommended a further developmen t of the plan of co-operative upport during the com in g year. During the past year a g ift of Three Thousand, Five Hundred] oJlar s VIla received from a dear fri end of the work. The condition attached to this gift was that
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the COl1ncil pay to the giver the :U1l1 of $(,0.00 per quarter until the death of the donor. The gift W::IS thankfully accepted, anrl the ql1arterly returll arc being made. A further tll11 of three thousand dollars had been received as a loan. This loan lias made without intere. t. To protect the brother \\'ho made this loan. three notes had been give n to him [or olle thou sa nd dollars each, payable one on January 1st, 1919, another Janua ry I, 1920 ane! one payable January I, 1921. \ Yith these sum the new building in Springfield had been purchased as headqu a rter for the General ouneil, and as permanent quarters f()1 the Go pel Publi shing House . 1\ part of this sum hac! been re erved for paying the annuities on the first mentioned gift. and fo r the payment of th first thOLL and dollars of the three thousand dollar loan. 1'h last part of the morning was giy n to an interesti ng discus ion On the question of "deacon." and "elc1ers". Brother E. N . Dell proved frolll the \ \'o rc1 that t he appelati on "elder" is eql1al to that of a bishop, a 11(1 showed that in the early church that they were appointed to have charge of large companies of saint. One qua l ~ fication of an elder ,vas that he mLl st be "apt to teach". n e strongly depre atec! the practice of se lec li Ilg men qualified only for "deacons" and then calling them "elder " , and not having any deacon s al all. This practice, he said, was un 'c riplural and also led to confusion as to authority when these men had exactly the same title as that of the preacher. The preachers are the eldel-~. To this view lhe brethren "aid ".Amen".
AFTERNOON SESSION, SEPT. 5th , ] 91 ~ . REPORT OF GOSPEL PUBLISHING HOUSE Brother E . 1\. nell, the manager of the Gospel P uhli sh ing nou~e. made his report. I-:Te told that during the past twelve months there had been a sub ta ntial increase in the \'o lume of busi ness, the books show ing the v(;k1l1e of bll siness Or the gro receipts to have been durin ,.;' the year, in round figures, $23,000.00 as compared with $I7,000.00 t he p revious year, an increase in business o f $6,000.00. Against t his, however, the Publishing House had bee n to a la rge expe nse in mov ing, and the g reat in crease in the p ri ce of pape r, the price of books a nd Bibles, and other commod ities used had swa ll ower! up the increa e . But fo r thi s bl essed increase we would he badly in debt, whereas as it is we are not. A number of
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marked improvement have been made in the equipment of the Publishing House during the pa t year. A balance of about $.100.00 remained on hand after the payment of all bills, but against this it would be necessary to install a heating plant immediately, the cost of which will probably be from $1,500.00 to $2,000.00. Pray over this need.
THE MIS IONARY TREASURER'S REPORT The ::\lissionary Treasurer, Brother tanley IT. Frodsham, made his report. lIe stated that in I916, the sum of 4,8i
