STATISTICS.
| Churches | 112 |
| Missionaries, of which 89 are pastors | 119 |
| Members | 6,881 |
| Added during the year | 1,127 |
| Sunday School scholars | 10,569 |
In this department of our work we are permitted to report very decided growth. Heretofore, the average number of churches organized each year has been six. This year the number runs up to seventeen. This increase comes from the maturing of enterprises that have been nursed for a longer or shorter time, and also the fruiting of our school process and the enlarging of our mountain work. These new churches are at Pleasant View and Rockhold, Ky.; at Cedar Cliff, Melville and Johnson's, N. C.; at Jellico, Pleasant Hill, Robbins, Jonesboro, Grand View and Helenwood, Tenn.; at Rutland, Ga.; Ironton, Ala.; Greenville, Miss.; Abbeville, La.; and at Dallas and Austin, Tex. They have all been supplied with the ministry of the word, though several have been yoked two and two under one pastor. Eight of them have houses of worship, the others use school-houses or chapels of school buildings.
Of the 89 pastors who have ministered to our 112 churches, 30 were from the North and 59 were raised up in our own institutions at the South. The average membership of these churches is 61. Total additions for the year, 1,127, of which, on confession of faith, 883. Raised for church purposes, $12,394.78; for benevolence, $1,625.86.
The evangelist, Rev. J. C. Fields, accompanied by his wife, who aids him by song, has continued his service through the year. He has labored at Louisville; in our three churches at Nashville; at Meridian, Jackson and Greenville, Miss.; and at Athens, Tecumseh, Montgomery, Marion, Selma, Talladega, Birmingham, Ironton and Shelby Iron Works, Ala. As a result, between seven and eight hundred souls were hopefully led to Christ, and about one half of them gathered into our churches; while other denominations shared in the precious harvest. At several of the places visited, the religious interest assumed marvelous power.
At Marion there were 55 who professed Christ, the work spreading from our church into the State Normal school located there. Two-thirds of the converts were young men, ranging from fifteen to twenty years of age, who gave themselves earnestly to prayer and labor for the conversion of their comrades. A little girl, eight years old, was the first of a family to accept Christ. Her mother followed. The father, a drunkard, through the persuasion of friends, visited the church for the first time. When opportunity was given those desiring salvation to express their desire, the little child crossed over to where her father was, and begged him to come. He did not that evening, but a few nights later he yielded and gave his heart to the Saviour. It is a custom among the colored people to give the hand of welcome to those who have made up their minds to become Christians; and we can well believe, as an eye-witness describes, "it was a beautiful as well as a touching scene when this little girl stepped forward to welcome father and mother on the Lord's side."
At Talladega College there were 116 conversions, including every inmate of the ladies' hall, and, with a single exception, every boy in the Stone Hall. The meetings, as distinctively revival, had to come to a close for lack of material upon which to work, and take the form of praise and thanksgiving unto God for the marvelous display of His grace. It was a literal fulfillment of the Divine promise to "pour out a blessing that there should not be room enough to receive it."
At Selma there were 300 who confessed their Saviour. Gray-haired men, grandmothers, men and women in the prime of life, youth and children, were among the converts. "The most glorious work of grace," writes Pastor Curtis, "it has ever been my privilege to see."
Revivals have also been enjoyed in the Central Church and Straight University, New Orleans; in the Tougaloo University, where nearly all the students were led to Christ; at New Iberia, La., where, under the labors of the pastor, fifty-nine were brought into church fellowship; in the First and University churches, Atlanta, and at several other places. It has been a year of marked religious interest and progress nearly all over the field.