Arresting Public Attention
By Extraordinary Methods—In the cities of today, where there
is so much to attract and please, the people can be interested by no
ordinary efforts. Ministers of God’s appointment will find it necessary
to put forth extraordinary efforts in order to arrest the attention of
the multitudes. And when they succeed in bringing together a large
number of people, they must bear messages of a character so out of
the usual order that the people will be aroused and warned. They must
make use of every means that can possibly be devised for causing the
truth to stand out clearly and distinctly.—
Testimonies For The Church
9:109
(1909).
Devise New and Unusual Plans—Let every worker in the Mas-
ter’s vineyard, study, plan, devise methods, to reach the people where
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they are. We must do something out of the common course of things.
We must arrest the attention. We must be deadly in earnest. We are
on the very verge of times of trouble and perplexities that are scarcely
dreamed of.—
Letter 20, 1893
.
Christ Used Various Methods—From Christ’s methods of labor
we may learn many valuable lessons. He did not follow merely one
method; in various ways He sought to gain the attention of the multi-
tude; and then He proclaimed to them the truths of the gospel.—
The
Review and Herald, January 17, 1907
.
Simple Sincerity Attracted Large Numbers—His messages of
mercy were varied to suit His audience. He knew “how to speak a
word in season to him that is weary”; for grace was poured upon
His lips, that He might convey to men in the most attractive way the
treasures of truth. He had tact to meet the prejudiced minds, and
surprise them with illustrations that won their attention. Through the
imagination He reached the heart. His illustrations were taken from
the things of daily life, and although they were simple, they had in
them a wonderful depth of meaning. The birds of the air, the lilies of
the field, the seed, the shepherd and the sheep,—with these objects
Christ illustrated immortal truth; and ever afterward, when His hearers
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