In 1864, Stephen Haskell and his wife moved to South Lancaster, Massachusetts, USA, and joined the small company of Adventist believers. Not long after J.N. Loughborough arrived and organized the little group into a church. There were eight members at that time and Brother Haskell was chosen as the leader.

Stephen Haskell was very missionary minded. Although he had a secular job, the work of the Lord was always the most important to him. The company of believers in South Lancaster was warm in its first love and those who joined the church shared in the devotion.

After some time, four sisters in the church who felt a burden for their own children met for a season of prayer. They formed a prayer band. Others joined them, and once a week they came together for prayer and an exchange of experiences. Prayer led to activity. Soon they were writing to absent members and labouring with backsliders; they were calling on neighbors, sharing with them the blessed hope of Christ’s return, lending them papers, tracts, and books, and ministering to their every need.

The women carried out this ministry for many years and were now meeting in the home of Elder Haskell and his wife. They were faithfully carrying out their church and neighbourhood ministry. One day Elder Haskell encouraged the women, to organize themselves into a missionary society. On June 8, 1869, he met them for that purpose, and they took the name Vigilant Missionary Society. They were about ten in number; most of them being busy housewives with little schooling and no special training in methods of soul winning. But their hearts burned with the urge to share their blessings with friends and neighbours.

At 3:00 p.m. every Wednesday afternoon they met to pray and plan. Each member was assigned a portion of the neighborhood to visit during the week. They found joy in ministering to the sick, in sharing their temporal blessing with destitute families and in bringing good cheer to the aged, the lonely, and discouraged. Whenever the opportunity was favorable, they offered prayer, and they distributed many printed messages. The society also carried on an extensive missionary correspondence.

In the spring of 1876, word was sent out that there would be no New England camp meeting that year. Ministerial help was scarce. James White had written that he and his wife could not be with them. But the Vigilant Missionary sisters did not see it that way. A group of them engaged in special prayer that God would give them a camp meeting. When Elder Haskell heard of this, his faith rose to the occasion and he said, “Their prayers must be answered; we shall have a camp meeting this year.”

For a campground, a pleasant grove of oak and pine with the Boston and Main railroad running along one side, was selected at Groveland Massachusetts, about 60 km northeast of South Lancaster. As the time for the opening drew near, Haskell made out a list of special favours that he wanted the railroad company to grant and he went to see Mr. Ferber, the president of the railroad.

Haskell gave Mr. Ferber a long list of requests. Some of the things he asked for were: he wanted without charge, two carloads of freight transferred from the storage rooms at South Lancaster to the campground and returned at the close of the meetings. He wanted free

passes for the conference and committee men, and half-fare permits for the campers coming from a distance. Trains should be run on Sundays we well as weekdays, with extra trains during the week. A platform needed to be built beside the track by the campground, and water piped to the grounds.

Mr. Ferber looked at the list and frowned but a few pleasantries put him in a happier mood. He tapped a bell, and an office boy appeared. “Take these men to the manager’s office,” he ordered.

The manager read over the list, then looked up and said, “Gentlemen, why don’t you ask for the world?”

“Oh, we thought we would be a little modest,” said Haskell.

They ended up getting everything they asked for, except the train platform was not quite as long as they asked it to be.

The grounds were then made ready and soon campers came in more and more. So many people arrived that the camping area had to be enlarged twice. The New England newspapers carried notices of the meetings. Curious residents came to many of the meetings also. On the weekend there were so many people coming that extra trains had to run.

Food was supplied by the Winter Street Bakery. They were completely cleared of their stock, and they had just enough food for the event.

The local newspaper in Haverhill printed the following report on August 29.

“Sunday was a great day at the meeting in the woods at Bradford, by the Seventh-day Adventists, bringing together the largest assembly of people ever convened in this region for a similar purpose. . . The railroads were taxed beyond the utmost capacity of all their preparations for the occasion, and large numbers were prevented from attendance by not finding means of conveyance at the time the trains started. . .

“Two steam yachts were very busy, and omnibuses and barges were constantly running, while private carriages without number thronged the way. . . As it was, it was thought that fully 20,000 visited the grounds during that day.”

James and Ellen White did end up attending and they each spoke twice.

The camp meeting was a triumph. A number who attended were baptized and joined the church. And to think, there might have been no camp meeting that year, except for a consecrated group of women who believed that, “Prayer Changes Things.”