Procurement of Nazarene Antiquities

I have a hobby that has developed & some might think it strange. As a result of my academic research & the inspiration of Dick Willis, Stan Ingersol and others I have been collecting Nazarene stuff. Dick Willis was a member of L.A. First Church of the Nazarene and San Diego First Church. He helped us in our birth and infancy as well. Stan Ingersol is Denominational Archivist for the Church of the Nazarene.

Some of this stuff will be saved for personal research, some will go to the Nazarene Archives at HQ and some will be given to living relatives of those mentioned in the materials.

Today I received the book, "The White Slaves of America: A Book on Rescue Work" by the Rest Cottage Association. We are going to celebrate the Centennial of the Church of the Nazarene in October. In October of 1908 several merging bodies from the four corners of the US and points in between joined forces in Pilot Point, TX to form the Pentecostal Church of the Nazarene. This book has a copyright date of 1909 and a printing date of 1910 in Pilot Point, TX. It talks about the rescue work being done to pull prostitutes from their plight. Take a trip on El Cajon Blvd. – the next main street to the north of our church on University Avenue – day or night and you’ll see this work is still needed. One day a friend of the church who had completed community service here for a DUI came to the office escorting “Cookie”. Her needs were apparent – medical, food, housing. We went through the normal list of resources and got to G.R. (General Relief). Cookie said I need to go to the Welfare Office. I recommended she go to the one at 70th Street and El Cajon Blvd. She came back, "I can’t go to that one – I was told if I’m seen on El Cajon Blvd. again I’ll be arrested." There’s a great need for something to be done in this area. I’m at a loss for now as to what could be done except to commit it to prayer for the time being.