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Successful Scattered Brethren Contact
by Sandy Kile
(Palisade, Minnesota)
It's a long story how we found our way to Swanville, Minnesota, to the home of Jim & Patt Steinle to meet for Sabbath services on Feb. 4, 2006. The story actually began in the summer of 2005 while web surfing when I ran across a service I thought I could use: Called "Scattered Brethren Contact," I found it in
Servants' News," Norman Edwards' newsletter, in print (and online) and this is how it worked: In the scattered brethren program, you send a group of postcards in an envelope to them at Servants' News." The only address you put on the front of the cards inside the envelope is your return address, plus the words "Scattered Brethren Contact," and the city, state and zip code of the place(s) where you hoped to find someone, leaving room for the Servants' News newsletter people to complete the rest of the address of someone in that location on their mailing list. I sent out 8 or 9 postcards, maybe more, to go to places across the state (but I don't remember putting Swanville on any (or Rogers), but perhaps Edwards' crew improvised (or God intervened?), not wishing any card to be discarded, and on the back I wrote a message of wanting to find someone to meet with. So you see, we didn't really have the name of the family who got one of the cards and called us up to invite us to keep the Sabbath with them, but Servants' News did. Sort of.Let me explain. Part of what makes the delivery of that postcard to Jim & Patt so extraordinary, or even a small miracle is the card was FIRST SENT to their FORMER HOME in Rogers, Minnesota, and LATER SENT to them with a handwritten address to Swanville where they've lived for three years since moving from Rogers, but the post office quits forwarding mail after ONE year, and you are extremely unlikely to get a handwritten address done by them at any time, so here is what we think happened: the card arrived at Rogers with Jim & Patt's old address because that was how they were listed on the
Servants' News mailing list, but the people at that address who had bought the house in Rogers from Jim & Patt wrote their new Swanville address on the card and sent it on. Had those people chucked it into the round filing cabinet, or had they moved out and some new people who didn't know the Steinles moved in, that card probably never would have been delivered!But it was, and after our initial phone conversation, then emailing back and forth for a while, and charting our course, the first Sabbath in February we headed down the highway almost straight south; a beautifully sunny but chilly day. We started out earlier than usual since we were exploring some unfamiliar territory. We made a few wrong turns, had to do some backtracking, but all in all it wasn't too hard to find. Our host Jim had said, "if you see the blue turkey barns you've gone too far." Truth is, we sailed right past the barns without realizing it, and did not see them UNTIL backtracking.
Once we found our hosts, Jim & Patt Steinle, we were welcomed into their lovely home and church family with open arms. After the opening prayer, Bryn Hendrickson and Jim conducted a Bible reading and open discussion. The study focused on I Samuel. There was also a joyful song service. The following dinner of Chicken Pot Pie, Coleslaw, Cherry Fruit Salad, and Apple Crisp was delicious, and a perfect ending to a day that had started almost a year earlier when I saw the words, "Scattered Brethren Contact" online.
Edwards says this unique program has been very successful, connecting brethren who would never have gotten together otherwise. If you want to try it go to (
http://www.servantsnews.com/docs/scatbreth.htm) for instructions or write "Servants’ News," PO Box 474, Port Austin, Michigan, 48467-0474, Phone: 989-738-7700. E-Mail: Info@ServantsNews.com Internet:www.servantsnews.com May you have as much success as we did!
