July 11 - Mission to Far-Off California

Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Matt. 9:38, NKJV.

The first misson of the Seventh-day Adventist Church outside of the north-eastern United States was to far-off California-a state separated from the rest of the republic by more than 1,500 miles of desert, forest, and mountians. The intervening wilderness between the two parts of the nation was not only great in distance but also difficult (and at times dangerous) to travel.

In the nineteenth century individual Adventists or denominational printed matter generally arrived in a locale long before the church had any formal activity there. Such was the situation in California. In 1859 Merritt G. Kellogg (older half brother to J. H. Kellogg) arrived in San Francisco after a difficult six-month trip across the country by railroad, wagon, and oxcart. He was probably the first Adventist in the state.

Two years later Kellogg (a lay believer) preached a series of meetings in San Francisco and baptized 14. Four years later the group of believers there decided to send $133 in gold to Battle Creek to pay the travel expenses of a minister. But the church had no one to send.

Then in 1867 Kellogg returned to the East for a few months to earn an M.D. degree at Trall's Hygieo-Therapeutic College. While in the East he attended the 1868 General Conference session, where he appealed for a missinoary for California. But who should go? James White asked.

In response, J. N. Loughborough related dreams and told of strong impressions he had had relative to holding tent meetings in California. The leadership soon agreed that he should go. But should he venture alone? After all, Jaems noted, Christ sent them out two by two. At that point D. T. Bourdeau arouse and stated that he had felt convincted that it was time for a move, and that he and his wife had come to the session with everything they had already packed. They were ready to go wherever the church directed.

So it was that the two Adventist preachers arrived in San Francisco in July 1868. There they found a letter from Ellen White telling them not to be miserly in their work in California. "You cannot labor in California," she wrote, "as you did in New England. Such strict economy would be considered 'penny-wise' by Californians." That was good counsel. But where should they pitch their evangelistic tent? Rental for a lot in San Francisco was more than they could even think about. They prayed, and God would answer.

The dedication of those early believers astounds me. How many of us would attend a General Conference session with everything we have ready to move as the Lord directed? How is our "dedication quotient" today?