Campaign Facts Ciudad Guayana is a tri-city area with a population of 500,000. The church that meets in Ciudad Guayana had 14 members. With one baptized on Saturday of the campaign, they now number 15. Campaigners included: 14 member of the church of Christ of Ciudad Guayana, 6 national workers from other congregations, 19 workers from South Baton Rouge Church of Christ, 25 from Harding University. Seven members of the Harding group will be staying until June 26 to assist with follow-up. Of the 19 members from South Baton Rouge on the campaign, only four members received trip assistance from the missions committee. The others attended on personal funds. 60,000 flyers (invitations to the campaign) were distributed in public places such as shopping malls, schools, steel mill, and parks. The 8 night campaign saw an average of 92 visitors per night. 165 correspondence courses were given to visitors that expressed a desire for further study. Names and addresses were obtained for further follow-up. English speaking Venezuelans were attracted because of the Americans. Several Bible studies were conducted in English.
"The campaign has been a success. We should have at least 15-25 people involved in serious Bible studies when we leave. We have sown thousands of seeds which will bear fruit in the future. The Church of Christ and Daniel and Mary Mata will now be recognized all over the city in a positive way. The choir from Harding was of great assistance in attracting large crowds. Those large crowds were necessary so that we could find the few who are truly open and interested. Having accumulated a large number of names and addresses for an ongoing list of interested persons we will now be able to draw on these resources for all future activities." Bob Brown
Ava Conley is a professor of Spanish at Harding University. She began to work with Bob Brown on campaigns in 1978. Serving as Bob’s "stateside" secretary, Ava was responsible for organizing most of the campaign.
"Campaigns are an excellent way to give a tremendous boost to a young congregation. Daniel and Mary Mata have now been in Ciudad Guayana a little over two years and have established a good base of members of the church of Christ. We’ve tried to avoid some of the pitfalls that can occur with campaigns. To minimize costs we primarily used campaigners who needed to visit Ciudad Guayana anyway (see list of additional reasons for the campaign being successful). To produce long term results we emphasized to the congregation the importance of following up on the most interested families and not to be overwhelmed by the number of contacts made. We praise God that we were able to provide encouragement to a young church, make many new contacts and expose more of our members to "Our Target City - Ciudad Guayana". Chuck Morris
* 2 members of the missions committee were able to visit the mission field (Chuck & Leah Morris). This contact is important for encouraging our Venezuelan members of the church of Christ and for providing additional exposure of the mission field to these two committee members. * 2 missionary candidates were able to visit the mission field (Gary and Fran Green). Gary and Fran will soon submit a proposal to the elders and missions committee asking if the SBR congregation can send them to work with the members of the church of Christ in Ciudad Guayana. * A member of our staff was able to have his first exposure to the mission efforts taking place in Venezuela. Clayton and Debbie Hartline were very effective on the campaign. It is so encouraging to our home congregation to see the staff members having missionary spirits!
* This was the second Venezuelan campaign for Jerry and Janice Ervin which helped solidify their long term goal of serving as missionaries in Venezuela. Besides the campaigns, they have made one additional trip to Venezuela. Jerry is currently attending International Bible College while supporting his family as a paramedic.
* Tanya Morris and Kaylene Brummett participated in their first Venezuelan campaign. It was inspiring to the other campaigners and to the local church to have people that young willing to sacrifice their time and funds to serve in a campaign.
Gary Green
Daniel Mata, Bob Brown, Chuck Morris
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Campaign Successful
Bob
Brown moved to Caracas in February 1977. At that time there were 8 members of the church
of Christ in Caracas and 8 members of the church of Christ in Maracaibo. There are now
approximately 1,500 members of the church of Christ in Venezuela meeting in about 53
congregations. About 500 of those Christians live in Caracas.
Additional
reasons for the campaign being successful:
"Christians
experience life on three axis, i.e., vertical with God, horizontal with one another, and
intrapersonally. On each of these axis the campaign was a success. God was glorified
through mass evangelism, many personal Bible studies, and hours of public praise in song
and preaching. The local congregation of 14 Christians was encouraged by hosting hundreds
of visitors and unity grew among the campaigners through shared experiences and worship.
Intrapersonally, I can only speak for myself. I was convicted about the sinfulness of man,
the power of God in bringing men to himself, and my desire to serve God in Latin America.
Thus I believe that this campaign was a success in very way."