10. Put the School Back in Sunday
School
ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, June tenth, 1953, the graduating classes of the Hollywood Presbyterian Church were presented in their annual graduation program. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the Sunday school, and Miss Henrietta Mears had been the Director of Christian Education there for the past twenty-five years.
When I was called in to the planning meeting for the graduation program, I suggested that we present a program around the theme "This Is Your Life — Sunday School of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood," reviewing the growth during the past fifty years and specifically the phenomenal growth that had taken place during Miss Mears' ministry. Then, since Ralph Edwards produced a "similar" program once a week, just a few blocks away from the church, I suggested that we invite him to be the narrator for "our" production.
We brought back members of the first Sunday school class, introduced key personalities representing the past years, and showed films and slides of the present-day Sunday school. Ralph Edwards accepted our invitation to do the narration. We showed films of the entire Sunday school of 6000 members coming out of the church, filling the patios, the sidewalks and out onto the street. As Ralph Edwards watched the film he leaned over and murmured, "Are they running the same ones through the doors? No, it can't be that; the children are getting bigger all the time." At a certain point in the narration, Ralph lowered
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his script, looked out at the audience and said, "I want to tell you that this is the most amazing 'This Is Your Life' program I have ever done. I have never brought a Sunday school to life before, and I just want you to know it thrills me to the depth of my soul."
That night, 114 graduates from the primary department were presented, over a hundred junior graduates, seventy-five junior-high graduates, and 210 high-school graduates. These figures just represented the graduates of each department and did not, of course, represent the hundreds and thousands enrolled in each department in the pre-graduation years, nor the college and young adult classes.
That night in 1953 was the last combined graduation program to be presented in the main auditorium; since that time the numbers have become so great that each department holds separate programs at different times and of different types. The time for each program is staggered so that the parents won't be "staggered" when they have to attend several programs due to their having several graduates of different ages in the same family.
The Sunday school of 6,000 members was not built overnight, and that is its most significant spiritual truth. It was solidly organized and built well, so that it is not a matter of fluctuating popularity; it has been the same "yesterday, today and forever," even as the Christ who is presented by the Sunday school. When Miss Mears approached the calling of building a Sunday school, she felt that her greatest asset was the years of experience she had had in teaching in the Minnesota public schools, and her aim was to build a Sunday school that would be as scientifically sound in administration as the finest school system. She knew that the first need for the framework of this Sunday school would be a strong, trained organization of teachers and officers. She made thorough preparation before she tried to attract the children on Sunday.
Immediately, the first Tuesday night of each month was set aside for the teachers' and officers' meetings. At five o'clock the executive committees met for planning and prayer; at six o'clock dinner was served in the "Royal Gorge," as Margaret labeled it, and at seven o'clock the formal meeting began. This was a time of challenging, inspiring, informative coordination with all the teachers and officers present, integrating the Sunday school and the church program to ensure a strong unity throughout the entire church. At eight o'clock the departments split up into their separate department groups for specific planning and discussion.
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But when Miss Mears walked into the first meeting she had called in her new ministry, she sensed a frigidity, a reserve, a sitting-back attitude, as if they were saying, "Now here's somebody else; here we go again! We'll have to set aside everything we've done, the way we're doing things, all our pet plans, change everything and do everything she wants."
Miss Mears smiled and nodded to everyone even as the "wheels" in her mind were turning rapidly. She thought, "I don't blame them. I know just how they feel. They've probably had a steady stream of people trying to make them over," and her sympathy and awareness of human nature took charge. When she was introduced, the audience settled back, arms folded, minds challenging her to move them. When she began to speak, she did not begin with passionate, oratorical appeal and flag-waving, urging them all to leap up and follow her. Instead, she looked over the edge of her glasses, giving an intimate smile and speaking softly, very much as though they were fellow conspirators.
"I believe I know just what you're thinking. You're thinking, 'Oh, now here's somebody else to tell us what to do! If I have to reorganize my class once more, or try out some fancy new theory, I'll just die. What does she know about Hollywood, anyway?' " By this time the group was laughing.
It had been a surprise attack, a rear-guard action, and they were taken completely unaware. They realized it and appreciated it. She continued, "You don't like changes and neither do I. You've been getting along without me up to now and it would certainly be a great burden on me to have the responsibility of rushing in here and having to try to reorganize everything overnight. So here is my plan. We'll all relax for six months and use the time for observation and then we'll sit down and evaluate the situation and decide together what we want to do. You'll undoubtedly have some ideas and I might just possibly have one or two myself!" And she smiled merrily at them, eyes twinkling.
She couldn't have been more effective if she had given them a shower in ice water, and they knew they would have to go into action to keep from freezing. The effect was immediate. They had exactly what they had wanted, only now they decided they didn't want it! Immediately they began rushing to her: "Oh, Miss Mears, I just can't wait for six months to be over. My department is dying for attention. Don't you think we can get started right now?" In six weeks, the entire
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Sunday school was rejuvenated. The teachers' and officers' meeting became the highlight of the month; no one would dream of missing it. Everything was punctual and there was a great air of expectancy and importance. Everyone felt it was an honor and a privilege to have this important responsibility; there was a sense of teamwork and interdependency established. No one had the feeling, "Oh, they won't miss me." Each person knew he would be missed and, more important, that he would miss out the most. Some who had handed in their resignations quickly reclaimed them, saying, "We didn't know it was going to be like this! We don't want to miss the fun. Why, this is wonderful. It's the first time we've seen anything like this."
The first graduation program was dreadful. Teacher nearly died. Everyone stumbled all over everyone else. Her reaction was immediate and incisive: "We will not produce anything that isn't perfect. What we do is honoring the Lord Jesus Christ and our goal is to be perfection in all that we do."
A young girl in the College Department, Ethel May Baldwin, became her secretary. She has been her loyal assistant ever since, not missing a day. Many times through the years Ethel May was to wail, "Oh, why did you have to have the kind of mother you did, who made you finish everything you started?"
During the very first weeks there was a rush to get out mimeographed announcements for a special meeting. Several people from the College Department stayed up nearly all night getting the job done. In triumph they brought the finished product to Miss Mears, who took one look at them and dropped the whole batch of cards in the wastebasket. "Why, Miss Mears, what do you mean? Look how hard we worked!" Even the men were almost in tears. Very firmly Miss Mears replied, "But look how poorly the job has been done. I would rather they didn't go out at all. People will think that is the standard for all our work. We must be Christ-honoring in all that we do."
It was hard to set such a standard, but it caught hold quickly and was maintained with enthusiasm, and each in turn set the same standard for newcomers.
Shortly after her arrival, Miss Mears suggested to Dr. "Mac" that she organize a retreat for the teachers and leaders, and he liked the idea. About a hundred leaders of the church and Sunday school went up to Mt. Baldy. There in the close association of being together in informal fellowship, Miss Mears was able to really get acquainted and
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to establish her mission and purposes and ideals in their hearts in a much more real and rapid way than she could have ever done in the regular routine of the church. They met in prayer and heard her vivid messages on the challenge of Christian service; it was the best thing Miss Mears could have done to establish herself in their hearts. As a new, young leader, to have so much immediate and intimate fellowship with her leaders was the ideal way to launch her new program.
The amazing thing about the growth of this Sunday school has been the tremendous interest and enthusiasm that all the teachers and officers have put in their work. Someone commented on this fact to Miss Mears recently: "The startling thing is to see how they all go at their work. Why, they act as though they were making their living. It's more important to them than their regular jobs!" The teachers and leaders put in as much as forty hours of work a week in preparation and planning for their departments, and it is all a labor of love; they realize that here is a work with eternal significance, an influence on youth that will last throughout an entire lifetime and through eternity.
The work in the Sunday school has not been a one-woman program; if it were, it would be a failure. Every worker, every leader is giving a clear, consistent challenge for Christ, teaching, working, praying to the "nth" degree of his ability and giving attention to the smallest detail. That Miss Mears has inspired it, channeled the enthusiasm, pointed the way to Christ as the source of all their strength and inspiration, demanded the best for the work of the Kingdom, cannot be denied. But it is because this lasting loyalty of the many to Christ and His work has been inspired in all of them, that the work has flourished.
As the work enlarged, the five-o'clock cabinet meeting enlarged. All superintendents of departments, club leaders, officers of the classes, missionary and education chairmen and policy-making committees met. The aim was to have the entire Sunday school as a unit. The superintendent of the beginners met with the president of the adult class, and a very close integrated relationship was established, a "working together" spirit. A spiritual fire was ablaze throughout the entire organization replacing a few feeble coals glowing spasmodically in a dozen different units.
Coming from a background of culture and beauty, Miss Mears has always trailed beauty wherever she went. Sunday school rooms were painted light, fresh colors. Old, dark upright pianos were painted the
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same light shade of the walls, colorful curtains blossomed immediately at any window that caught her eye, and any pictures used were attractive and of good quality, suitably framed. Flowers were everywhere. Nothing could look old or drab or rundown, shabby or unkempt in any nook or cranny utilized by Miss Mears in her ever-expanding program. Everything always had to be pleasing and attractive and as inviting as possible, so that the setting would be proper in which to lift up the Lord and Saviour.
She has always had the greatest appreciation for any talent or artistry of any kind and she gave everyone the opportunity to share that gift. It did two things: it kept the talented person integrated in the group, and it enhanced the occasion and made it more stimulating. Many have been the musicians, singers, actors and writers who have known the exuberant appreciation of Miss Mears. She organized the "Creative Club" and it met monthly at her home for twenty years; the group was composed of young people talented in a creative way, and each brought something he had created in art, music or prose to each meeting.
Music also started to flourish in the church. A junior choir was started to be used in the junior church which she soon organized to be conducted simultaneously with the main service. The worship service was tailored to the needs of the young people at a level they could participate. A college choir was formed for the College Department. Helen Bustard, a close friend of Miss Mears from northern California, came down to assist in the music of the church. She had trained in Europe, making her debut in grand opera in Milan, and she started many musical groups and organized large spring festivals of music for the church.
Another group that fell into Teacher's immediate jurisdiction was the Young Women's Auxiliary. Dr. Mac said, "They need direction; they don't have much purpose right now." That was all Miss Mears needed to know. Though unmarried, she knew the moods and emotions and needs of these young women. Her illustrations always fit. Her theology was never any high, vaunted, theoretical discourse but was always interlaced and illustrated by familiar, intimate and meaningful analogies from her own experience and knowledge.
One illustration she has always used with young mothers. There can be a whole roomful of young mothers listening intently to a speaker, while outside the room a large group of children is playing. Suddenly one of the children cries; just one. There may be a hundred
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mothers who listen for a brief second, but then just one mother gets up and leaves. All the others settle back in their places. "It's always a mystery to me," laughs Miss Mears. "All the children sound alike to me, but I realized that each mother can somehow recognize the particular cry of her child." Then in very gentle tones, she will bring the application: "Just as a mother knows the cry of her child, so our Heavenly Father knows and hears our cry." And she will recall, "When I was a little girl my mother would tell me, 'Now, Henrietta, if someone comes to the door and tells you it is your mother, you will know it isn't, for no one else's voice will ever sound the same to you as your mother's.' And through the years no one has ever said 'Henrietta' in just the same way my mother did. Just so, Christ says, 'My sheep know my voice.' And whenever I read that verse I can hear my mother's soft voice and the way she pronounced 'Henrietta,' like no one else on earth."
With such intimate, appealing touches she roused the hearts of her listeners. If she was addressing the college age, she spoke knowingly of their needs.
"The two important concerns of college young people are: what will I do with my life and who am I going to marry. You must deal with them in terms of those needs first. Help them to answer those needs, and you have won their hearts. That is why Christianity must be a complete way of life for them, not just a part-time Sunday philosophy."
Miss Mears has always been thankful for her teaching experience in high school, for there she saw in a realistic, first-hand way what was going on; she saw what the young people were like during the week and she knew they would be no different during the hour on Sunday morning when they came to church. This knowledge and experience has colored her ministry, giving her a reality and authority as she dealt with young people, for she knew what challenged them, and had felt their needs and desires. She could meet them on their own terms, knowing those terms better than they did themselves. She knew it wasn't a question of what they "ought" to do with their lives or what they "ought" to do at church; she knew this wouldn't appeal to them at all. She knew she would have to hurdle the obstacles and make them "want" to do what they "ought" to do. She knew the program for young people must be vibrant and alive and must answer their needs as Christ was presented to them. Fellowship and friendship have always
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been the key to her spiritual platform, the basis of which is that everyone is lonely.
Prayer and prayer meetings were constant with every group, for every need, for every problem. Her prayers are real, vital, a conversation with God in the room. "People often ask me if the Lord actually speaks to me. All I know is that I keep answering back," she has often said.
When Miss Mears is told that she is partial to boys she always replies, "I know that if I can get the best examples of young men to attend, I can always get the beautiful young women to follow!" She has always wanted male leaders in the Sunday school to take positions of authority. For so long, Sunday school work has been dismissed as "women's work" and the Sunday school "sissy" idea has developed. But with outstanding men in charge of departments — builders, teachers, lawyers — the boys have an example and the girls will keep pace with the boys. There is a natural balance when men and women are working together, and it makes for a more successful program. There is always a close relationship between the attendance of men in a church program and a strong, virile, Christian message.
"If there are no strong men leaders in the church, you will wind up with twenty-two girls and perhaps three fellows in the youth groups. In the church of the living God, God has always called men to be leaders." So through the years, Teacher has always kept a close check on the rolls to see that there is an equal number of boys and girls in the Sunday school; camp lists have been checked to see that there are as many boys as girls going to the summer conferences. " 'Bring me men to match my mountains, Bring me men to match my plains, Men with empires in their purpose. . .' " Teacher has quoted. "That's the way it is in building spiritual empires. We need to see the vision of the living Christ, need to find men who will dare to be true to the calling of Christ, need men who will build an empire for God. There will always be enough work for the women to do as we follow in their steps."
When she began to organize the Sunday school she couldn't find the right man to be the leader in the junior high department. So she approached the best female leader and said, "Very frankly, I don't want a woman to take charge of this department. But would you be willing to take it over until I find the right man?"
The young woman accepted. As the months passed the standing joke between the two of them became, "Have you found the right man yet?" "No, not yet!" Teacher would reply. For twelve years the
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question was the same and the woman built the department into a huge success before the right man was found, when she moved to a northern city.
Miss Mears had been in Hollywood just three years, with the pressure of her work mounting continually, when one day in early summer she reached a point of near-exhaustion, and just put her head down on her desk and wept. "It's impossible. Nobody can do it!" To see Miss Mears give up the struggle was too much to bear, and Ethel May rushed her up to Dr. Mac's office. He was out, but Miss Mears sat there in quiet for a while reading the Bible on his desk. She found the verse, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be," and sitting there in the quiet study she realized the great truth that the Lord will never ask you to do one more thing than you are able to do. She learned to tend to the task that the Lord has given for today, trusting Him to give the needed strength, but knowing that if tomorrow's task is heaped upon today's burden, it will be calamity.
When she first surveyed the challenge of building a Sunday school and directing the Christian Education program in the Hollywood First Presbyterian Church, Miss Mears wrote down all the aims and desires, hopes and dreams that she had in her mind and heart for the work. It was a long list. She wanted to present a complete ministry, not just a part-time program; to have a department for every age group and a class for each specific year of age "from the cradle to the grave"; she wanted trained teachers of the same caliber as those in the public schools; she wanted a complete curriculum with a growing challenge; she wanted a group from the Sunday school who would be called to dedicate themselves to vocational Christian service; to have clubs for those of all ages and to have separate clubs for boys and girls from junior age through high school; she wanted a summer camp conference program which would teach and indoctrinate the young people and give them Christian training in living together; she wanted to maintain a social life in the church that would be fun-filled and Christ-centered, to create an atmosphere where people could make Christian friends, where businessmen could meet Christian associates and partners could be found; she wanted to present a missionary vision to each age level and have a departmentalized missionary program; she wanted a youth budget program so the young people would learn stewardship and have a sense of personal contribution to teams going out to many areas and to other churches and even
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throughout the world. This would strengthen the outreach of the church as well as give the young people an opportunity to give out part of all they had been taking in. She wanted a Sunday school with appeal for adults and young married couples, so that Christian homes would be established and a spiritual environment developed, so children would be nurtured in the admonition of the Lord and that the appeal of the Sunday school would not stop at the junior age. She wanted a teachers' and officers' meeting that would be commensurate with the caliber of the training they had for teachers in the public schools; she wanted a program that would meet the particular need of the hour in terms of the specific demands of each age group.
These were the dreams. Far-fetched? Fantastic? Not when you look back over the past twenty-nine years. Every single dream has been accomplished; one after another they have been turned into reality and checked off the list. Miss Mears believes in dreams, but, she says: "You shouldn't dream for such a long time that it turns into a nightmare!" She knew just that the dreaming of dreams was not enough, but that hard work was included. Her great principle has always been: "See where you want to go and then begin where you are, no matter what the circumstances." Her challenge is consistent in every area of Christian life: "Don't plan on going to Japan to be a missionary if you cannot start being a missionary right where you are."
The junior church enlarged and a primary church was developed and extended sessions were organized for every age. The church concept was carried even into the extended session of kindergarten. She wanted to get away from a nursery where children just have "sanctified baby-sitters"; she pointed out that whenever children are together in the church it is an opportunity to give Christian training and instruction, and no opportunity should be missed. Her spiritual care has always been very practical. For instance, it is a long stretch for the younger children to hold out physically from nine in the morning until past twelve, so the practice of serving orange juice and crackers to the toddlers was begun. During the war years, coffee and doughnuts were served before Sunday school in the College Department for the servicemen.
Dr. Stewart P. MacLennan was pastor of Hollywood Presbyterian Church from 1921 until 1941, and during the thirteen years of their joint ministry, he and Miss Mears worked together in a dynamic spiritual partnership. Dr. Mac was a genius in his own right, and a great enough genius to be able to coordinate the program of another
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genius in perfect harmony with his own. He allowed Miss Mears full scope in the complete fulfillment of her plans and projects. When he was called into another ministry in 1941, Dr. Louis H. Evans came to the church as senior pastor.
Dr. Evans came as an answer to prayer, as a prophet who came to speak to Hollywood, a great voice lifted to attract the multitudes. This great figure of a man, filled with personal magnetism, lifted his firm, strong voice as if to say, "Hear ye, hear ye, thus saith the Lord!" And the multitudes came. The responsibilities increased in the Sunday school as the morning services were doubled and often trebled each Sunday morning. It was impossible for Dr. Evans to have a teaching ministry in the pulpit and the full teaching responsibility was laid squarely upon the Sunday school. Dr. Evans loved youth and he wanted to be near them and encourage them. He always placed a great deal of emphasis upon them and their activities. His main ministry was geared to the pulpit, and many were the times when he said to his wife or his mother, who repeated it to Miss Mears, "Whatever would I do without Miss Mears?"
Teacher continued independently in the program she had outlined, but there was always the assurance that Dr. Evans would be there to encourage her and to push her along. If there were differences of opinion in the realm of youth work, Dr. Evans would give her full range, throwing up his hands with a smile and saying, "Lady, who am I to stop you?"
When Dr. Evans left the church in 1953 to become minister-at-large for the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., the eyes of many were turned on the church to see what would happen. Dr. Raymond I. Lindquist was called from Orange, New Jersey, and the change was made; there was not a missed beat in the stability of the church. The growth remained constant. Even with two major changes and the administrations of three different senior pastors since Miss Mears began her education ministry, the organization has been so well constructed that the heart-beat never missed. And when Miss Mears steps out of her ministry there, the real test will be if the organization is so well indoctrinated that it will still move along without missing a beat. It is my prediction that if the spiritual principles she has used in establishing the Sunday school in lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ are followed, there will be no flaw in the rhythm of the spiritual cadence. The excellence of the program has been maintained because of high standards in every phase of the program that has been presented in lifting
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up Christ to the children and to the community. The criterion has been "Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God." Miss Mears counseled one young minister, "Preaching can only be great to the extent that it glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. Always remember that!"
The summer that Miss Mears first visited California, she was asked to teach a group of people that contained several of college age. The first Sunday she appeared she taught the lesson from Romans 12:1-2. This day she wore a big pink picture hat covered with white roses, a pink silk dress, and white furs. The young people were intrigued with her appearance and with her lesson. One young man present that first morning, David Cowie, (now a Presbyterian minister in Seattle) said, "Not only do I remember the pink silk dress and the pink picture hat with white roses, but I remember her lesson practically verbatim. We had never seen such a vision of worldly beauty giving forth such spiritual truth."
He and several others marched into her office upon her arrival and begged and pleaded with her to teach the college class. She had been planning to teach the high-school class, for she felt closer to that age, but finally she consented to teach the college class until she could find another teacher. She hasn't stopped teaching the class to this day; she is still looking for another teacher! Immediately the young people began to bring their friends, and the class began to grow. She set concrete challenges for the College Department. She first set a goal of fifty-five members. When that number was reached they set the goal at sixty-six and raised it progressively until the group numbered 666 young people, representing four or five different colleges in and near Los Angeles as well as the college-age young people who were already employed in their careers.
Young people like to be together; they want to be with their friends, and Miss Mears was quick to capitalize on this fact. Every holiday meant a party; a get-together was constantly being planned. "I've noticed," says Miss Mears shrewdly, "that we would much rather eat with our friends, even if it means going to the beach and eating weiners gritty with sand, than to dine in elegance at the Waldorf-Astoria if our friends aren't there. It seems that the important thing isn't so much what you see, but with whom you see it." And so interest was never over when she closed the Bible after the lesson; there were always countless numbers of fellowship hours after the class. After
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prayer meeting on Wednesday nights a large group would go to a restaurant in Hollywood for coffee and pie. After Sunday school a caravan of cars would drive to an inn up the coast or to Wilson Observatory, or to an interesting restaurant. After eating and relaxation, everyone would go back to the church for the afternoon fellowship hour.
How did the class grow to 666 members? By sensationalism and obvious Hollywood attractions? No. Because of earnest prayer, solid theology, and because the college people found answers to their life problems; because there was love, and warmth, and enthusiasm; they returned again and again because, "It was good for us to be there." Through the years every Saturday morning the twelve leaders have met at Miss Mears' house for prayer — at seven o'clock! She limits the number to twelve. Immediately at seven the group goes on its knees in prayer; there is no discussion of plans or projects, as this time is set aside strictly for the spiritual feeding of the leaders. They read the Scriptures for their challenge, and sometimes read from Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest. Very little time is spent in discussion. Miss Mears has made the meeting mandatory. She has told them that if they will not meet to pray on Saturday, she will not teach on Sunday. She tells them emphatically that the college age is the most difficult age, and that theirs are the decisions "that come not out but by prayer and fasting." She tells them that you cannot challenge the college age by any personal art or ability; it is done only by the power of the Holy Spirit and His guidance. So, sober and vigilant, the group goes to its knees in prayer.
Her constant challenge to the leaders is the abundance of God. As leaders, they must be leading lives filled with the abundant promises of God; their lives must be lives of adventure and awareness of the greatness of God. If a leader is negative and poverty-stricken in the realm of spiritual blessing, he will have no influence on others; he will be a hindrance to God's work.
So Sunday morning is marked by a College Department bubbling over with the enthusiasm of God's goodness. Here are no dragging feet coerced to do something they believe only half-heartedly. There is a warm welcome for the stranger at the gates. Everything and everyone has enthusiasm: the announcements, the singing, the receptionists who ask the members and the guests to sign the roll, the soloists, the prayer, and the challenge are geared to the first-time visitor as well as to the more mature Christian member. A successful
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teacher cannot continually be giving an evangelistic appeal aimed at the newcomer; if he does that, the rest of the class will die of spiritual anemia. There must be a constant challenge that will encompass the new Christian and the mature Christian.
The Sunday evening meeting is conducted by the young people, planned and presented exclusively by them. The Wednesday night prayer meeting is geared to Christian growth and thoughtful decisions. "Go home and consider this seriously, and come to an agreement with God." Miss Mears has always realized that college young people must make their own decisions; they must think for themselves, interpret the challenge for themselves. Nothing has ever been allowed to interfere with the college Wednesday night meeting. They have never combined with other meetings and they do not drop it for any reason, even during college exam week. No one ever has to call up and say, "Are you going to have a meeting tonight?" Everyone knows there will be a meeting.
While Miss Mears has always closed the prayer meeting with a fifteen- to twenty-minute challenge, it is a time of expression for the members of the class, a time of prayer and testimonies. People have asked, "Testimonies? In Hollywood? Really? Sophisticated young men and women of college age? Campus leaders? Really?" Miss Mears has always maintained a strong policy of watch and pray, and all get down on their knees for prayer. She has always been very discerning that the testimonies do not become maudlin and weak, full of pious "gobbledy-gook." There is nothing maudlin about faith in the great living God, in the Lord Jesus Christ. If a young person has had a real spiritual experience, his testimony will be real, a vital, honest witness to others. If Miss Mears finds the spiritual tone lowered in the meeting, she quietly goes to a few of the leaders to ask them, as the Holy Spirit leads them, to lead off in prayer and testimony to set the example and the spiritual tone for the others.
The College Department soon became a challenge to the whole Sunday school. Leaders for other departments and for the church have come out of that class. It has served as an example and a spiritual pattern to the other classes. Miss Mears considers the twenty-eight years of teaching the College Department the strongest link in the chain of her leadership. She has had the greatest personal influence on those who will emerge to take positions of leadership, working closely with her. It has been a ground for experimentation, and a vehicle for demonstrating principles. She feels that directors of Sunday schools
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should teach a class, so that they may know the problems involved in building a department and be able to prove that it can be done. "I know it works, because I've seen it done in the College Department. I've tried it and I know it will work." This is the comment Miss Mears has been able to make over and over to her teachers and officers, and they can see the evidence.
Miss Mears has always felt that ninety percent of the Sunday school success rests with each individual teacher. No matter how effective the organization is as a whole, the spiritual strength will drain out as through a sieve unless each teacher is a successfully functioning spiritual unit. She feels that the Bible has always been the most poorly-taught book in the world. "Often we blame the public schools for taking away the faith of our children. But I think the truth of the matter is that they don't have any faith to take away. We have made them despise the Word of God by our sloppy methods of presentation, or else they do not know it well enough when it comes to the time of a test."
Miss Mears is very practical in her approach to keeping the Sunday school functioning successfully in its Christ-appeal for the group. If a teacher is not doing a successful job with his class, he must be removed or transferred to an age group to which he will be better adjusted. Sometimes at an executive meeting when the new slate of officers is being planned, someone suggests that a certain person should be given an office because he has been "around so long." Miss Mears cocks her head on one side and says, "Listen! Length of time has nothing to do with it. If it did, then I should be the preacher, because I've been around longer than anyone else. Or I should be the organist because I've been here longer. No sir! The longer anyone has been around without doing anything, the more it means he hasn't pitched in or gotten into the swing of things."
It is the obligation of the director to see that people get into the place suited to their capacities, into one that will make complete use of their abilities. "Never put a contralto into a soprano's place; she will crack on the high C's," she says. She has found that it is better to compliment that which is good and point toward the dream of that which is better than to make negative criticisms. "Show me a happy person and he will be a success; and if a person is really a success, he will be happy," she points out. For in the final analysis, while the great growth of the Hollywood Presbyterian Church has rested to a great degree upon personal evangelism, even more it is
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due to the radiation of personal happiness and enthusiasm: not the long-faced, sense-of-duty sort of painful piety, but a glowing face and heart and overflowing joy. "Oh, we've got the most wonderful life; come and see!"
The program has changed, evolved and developed through the years; everything did not begin immediately. In Miss Mears' ministry she has always looked for the answer to the question: What is the special need of the hour and how can we meet it? Because of her insight she often saw the need before it was apparent to others.
A social hour was started on Sunday afternoons, as a lovely time of friendship and fellowship; refreshments were served, and it was a time the young people enjoyed and to which they were eager to bring their friends. After the social hour it was the most natural thing, if you wanted to stay with the crowd, to drift upstairs to the evening service, especially when all the young people were going to a rousing sing at the minister's house or to some large Hollywood home after the service.
When Miss Mears first suggested the sings be held after the service for the various groups of young people, Dr. Mac was enthusiastic. "Splendid!", he said. "Bring them over to my house." And so the sings began, and the most "singinest bunch of Presbyterians" resulted. Undoubtedly many fragile floor-lamps teetered perilously as big-shouldered football players pushed closer together to make room for others on the floor. But if by chance an occasional lamp were lost (though I know of none) it couldn't have been lost for a more sanctified purpose. Through the years, hundreds strong, campus leaders and other talented young people in Hollywood have crowded into the living rooms and hallways to join in rousing Gospel choruses and then with voices subdued and prayerful, to sing the meaningful words, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross." Then Miss Mears would smoothly and tenderly lead them into a little devotional and a time of prayer.
During the war the social hour turned into a servicemen's hour, with the women of the church supplying refreshments. Many a serviceman, having come to Hollywood and Vine to see the sights, wound up sitting on the floor in the minister's house singing his favorite hymn, and found himself mentioned in a special way in Miss Mears' warm, closing prayer; and when Miss Mears prayed for him, he really
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felt prayed for! Many of them are now in vocational ministry because of just such an experience.
When Sunday was over, hundreds of young people had spent the entire day within a stone's throw of Hollywood Boulevard but no one had wanted to leave the church because of the fun, fellowship and friendship that Miss Mears had provided. Mention Hollywood and Vine to anyone in the world, and not many will think of it in terms of prayer meetings and Bible study; but mention it to Hollywood Presbyterians and it means that they are getting close to the church they love. As one young pilot wrote to Miss Mears during World War II, "I love that pile of bricks on the corner of Gower and Carlos. It was there I met my friends, there I met my wife, there I met my Saviour!"
During the war years the servicemen's list lengthened on the church roster to include as many as seven hundred. To keep in touch with them, the Christian Education Office began to write letters to the servicemen and to send them special programs, Christmas cards, and news of everything. They would write back to the church and the news of their whereabouts was included in the next general letter. The letters helped them all to see and remember the church, though they were "as sheep scattered without a shepherd." But whether they had first learned the words and lisped them out in the primary department, or had been challenged for Christ for the first time in the College Department, to a man they knew the words, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want . . . Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil . . . " Men in foxholes do not want a stained-glass religion or an impersonal code of ethics; they want a Personal Saviour, a constant companion, and that is the Christ they had met through Miss Mears.
On Sunday afternoons, Connie Haines had a radio program just a few blocks from church that was very popular with the servicemen. After it was over, she would invite the servicemen in her audience to go with her to the servicemen's club at Hollywood Presbyterian Church, and in eager enthusiasm a large group came trailing behind her. Then in the church basement they heard her sing, "I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today!" After the program, the youth pastor would follow with a brief pointed challenge. In the back of the room, sandwiches and cookies were supplied by eager hostesses, and cards were passed out so the men would be sure to write home and tell their families where they were spending their afternoon in Hollywood. The "fishermen," the men of the church who
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had gone out on the Boulevard to invite the men to come, had filled their cars and now hovered prayerfully in the background, seeing in the varied uniforms the shoulders of their own distant sons — at any rate, seeing souls who needed a smile, a song, a sermon, and a Saviour before they were sent on their way to sacrifice.
However, Miss Mears has never dispensed a "wartime religion" but has maintained through the years a constant program which has been Christ-centered and consistent in ministering to the needs of youth. There has been a club for weekday activities for every age in the church. Robert Ferguson, a minister now in Sacramento, told Miss Mears, "You didn't know it, Teacher, but we used to race each other to church from Hollywood High to see who could get there first." After the clubs, a supper was served in the basement and they stayed for the prayer meetings at night. There was a program of light entertainment around the tables and Roger Arneberg, who later became the city attorney of Los Angeles, usually led during this program.
Matthew Craig, caretaker of the church for many years, who had come directly from Scotland and who had a thick Scottish burr, had wearily watched myriads of small boys as they progressed through Sunday school, club work and church activity, and had seen many seat-shoving, book-banging, and chair-collapsing maneuvers. He said to Miss Mears, after he had watched these same boys at a later date standing in the muted light of the main sanctuary as they were being ordained into the ministry, or bringing their children to the Lord in dedication services, "Miss Mears, how did ye ever know how they were going to tur-r-r-n out so well?"
"I didn't," replied Miss Mears with a warm chuckle. "But the Lord did."
