The Campbell brothers (from left): Frank, Nestor, Nills, and Alvin
Feature
Faith of Our * Fathers
One stayed, one strayed
B
oth boys stood at the solemn baptismal service, excited as they contemplated the step they would soon take. But what would eventually cause Alvin, the older, to stay and Frank, the younger, to stray? Pastor Riley S. J. Caesar, Sr., was conducting a series of evangelistic meetings in a tiny rural community in Guyana, South America. Alvin and Frank were invited. It was late 1959, and Alvin remembers vividly that it was a Wednesday evening. The young men, now aged 79 and 75, tell of the fervor with which the pastor delivered the Sabbath message that still tolls in their minds like an old resounding church bell. Frank remembers the lucid message that distinguished Seventh-day Adventists from Christian Brethren, the congregation he’d been attending at the time. Seventh-day Adventists observed Saturday as sacred. This message intrigued him. ALVIN’S JOURNEY
Why did Alvin remain a Seventh-day Adventist? “I was well prepared for the Adventist life,” he says. Alvin fondly remembers Caesar’s undying efforts to ensure that prospective members were given a thorough theological perspective of this new church. Although Alvin was now beginning his new walk, he had previously encountered the Sabbath teaching in an extremely unusual manner. When asked where he first learned about the Sabbath, Alvin responds amid a hearty outburst, “My Sunday School teacher.” He had run home to report that a Sundaykeeper was teaching the seventh-day Sabbath during Sunday School. The response he received from his aunt confused him: “He’s right!” Confused because his aunt was also a devoted Sundaykeeper, Alvin was left with a myriad of questions. Why would these two role models in his life encourage him to keep the seventh day as the day of rest while they faithfully continued worshipping on Sunday? His aunt once received an invitation from “the Adventists” and decided to send all the children, but that Saturday morning Alvin deliberately tied one 22
March 2022 AdventistWorld.org
Photo: Courtesy of Messenger
of the stronger cows with a rotten rope. Learning from Alvin himself that there was a “runaway” cow that could damage farmers’ crops, his aunt sent him to locate the cow. “I knew where the cow was. Ruby was right near the house,” Alvin recounts. Alvin had spent Sabbath School time watching Ruby chew contentedly on some fresh grass. He was confused because of the mixed messages he was receiving, and that’s how his teen brain responded. On Saturday, December 26, 1959, both Alvin, who is my father, and my uncle Frank were baptized. With no aesthetically designed church pools back then, they were immersed in a canal. What caused my dad, Alvin, to stay? Dad remembers how he and his brother were allowed to take on important roles in the church. He became the Adventist Youth leader at 18. “Pastor was supportive and lent astute guidance to new converts,” he says. In addition, Dad talks about having conducted Bible studies with prospective members shortly after
