The Church: Its Organization, Order and Discipline

Mode of Procedure in Early Days

This instruction is in harmony with the “plan” adopted in the early times of our organized conferences. In the public meetings the requests for labor, and the “openings” for the same, were presented freely and fully, after which each and all the ministers were requested to seek God to learn for themselves where the Lord would have them labor, In a later session, experiences were related of how the Lord was leading and impressing their minds, so that when the respective fields of labor was finally assigned to the ministers it was evident to all, even to the entire assembly, that the Lord was guiding. The after results showed that the Lord had a work prepared for these laborers in the field to which he led them. It was after seeking the Lord for ten days in 1868, that the decision was made to send the first laborers to California. COOD 148.1