NORTH OKANAGAN CRUSADE FOR CHRIST
As a pastor I was a member of the Vernon Ministerial Association which met monthly for a time of fellowship. I don't remember whether a letter had been received by the ministerial from Barry Moore or whether I introduced the idea of having Barry come to Vernon for a week of meetings, but it was discussed among the pastors and we formed an independent crusade committee.. By the mid 1960's Barry Moore had become a well known evangelist. Since I had known him from the days of Chatham Youth For Christ and also as a fellow student at Columbia Bible College in South Carolina, I was all for having him come to Vernon.
An eight day North Okanagan Crusade For Christ, Sunday through Sunday, became a reality January 9 - 16, 1966. All of the evangelical churches from Winfield in the south to Salmon Arm in the north supported this crusade. I was elected chairman of the crusade, an awesome responsibility and an honor and privilege. We had a packed out auditorium nearly every night. We also had to adjust to moving from auditorium to auditorium. The weekend services were held in the Clarence Fulton High School, as it was known in 1966, located at the north end of the Polson Park, with the week night's meetings in The Legion Hall.
Dan welcoming Barry Moore to Vernon
Much prayer and preparation went into this crusade. There was good co-operation and a good spirit among the supporting churches. As with all crusades, volunteers were recruited for ushering, choir, counselors, etc. The pastors and many of the Christian community were enthusiastic in their involvement and exceedingly happy with the responses to the nightly altar call.
Of the many decisions recorded in those eight nights, one that I have never forgotten has its roots in the Vernon Alliance Church. There was a faithful lady member of the church who was one of our Sunday School teachers. She and her children regularly attended the Vernon Alliance Church. Whenever Leona and I would go to their ranch to visit and the husband saw us coming, he would disappear out to a barn or the field.
Two evening services at the crusade were designated youth nights. This gentleman agreed to go to the first youth night at the request of his children. Following that first youth night he said nothing, but his wife sensed that he was doing some thinking. So she placed a copy of Billy Graham's book Peace With God on the coffee table. She learned later that when she was out of the living room, he would pick it up and read it, but if she was within sight, he wouldn't touch it.
The Friday night of the crusade week was the second youth night. He went again with his family. That night ninety-nine people responded to the invitation. He was not one of them. However, back at their home, following the evening service, he shared his thoughts and feelings with his wife. Late that Friday night he prayed to receive Christ as his Savior in the presence of his wife.
What made that story of his conversion at home after a service so interesting was that he was a sheep rancher. Ninety-nine people went forward. He was the one hundredth one that night, the one lost sheep rescued late at night. I had the joy of baptizing him some weeks later. He was much taller and bigger than me so that when I went to bring him up from the water, I got him part way up and he slipped and fell under again. Guess you could say that he was baptized twice or at least got a second blessing. I believe that was a turning point for me. From that point on, if I believed that the baptismal candidate was bigger than I could handle, I had someone else in the baptismal tank with me to help lift them up.
If you are wondering how soon his family saw a change in his life, let me answer by saying that the next Sunday, approximately thirty-six hours after he prayed to receive Christ, he was at the Sunday morning service at the Vernon Alliance Church. That's not all. In all my years of pastoral ministry I did not usually know what parishioners gave in the offering. The treasurer felt that I should know about that Sunday's offering. That Sunday morning there was a check in the offering for $150.00 from this new convert. The next Sunday he put in another check, that one was for $100.00. That was a lot of money. The internet says that $150.00 buying power in 1966 would have to be at least $1,140.00 today.
After many decades, Dan & Barry meet in 2011
A new civic center was being built during the crusade week which included a brand new auditorium seating one thousand people. One morning I took Barry and some of his team to view the construction. He was so excited and eager and willing to come back the next year for a second crusade week. We were given the dates for March 1967.
When I presented the idea to fellow pastors, they were interested, but only if I would serve as chairman. It was a heavy load being chairman in 1966 and much of my work at the Alliance church went unattended. The Vernon Alliance Church was growing. I still had no paid secretary. I continued with the radio ministry plus all the other responsibilities, prayer meetings, visitation, etc. I felt that it was too soon for me to be taking on this position. I declined the chairmanship. As a result, the pastors said that they would not be willing to participate. I was very disappointed that the cancellation of another crusade rested on my shoulders.
Barry and his team went to Kamloops in March 1967, the week that had been offered to Vernon. When I became pastor in Kamloops, almost twenty years later, I remember one couple who were members of the Kamloops Alliance Church who told me that they had prayed to receive Christ at Barry's crusade there in 1967. God keeps the books. I look forward to a heavenly meeting when I will meet others that received Christ at the Kamloops crusade.
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