The Colorado Camp Meeting

The Colorado camp meeting was a memorable one. It was held near Boulder, on the beautiful and well-equipped Chautauqua grounds a mile or so from the city. A thousand church members from throughout the State stayed in the cottages and camped on the grounds. Ellen White was entertained at Boulder Sanitarium, and while there spoke to the workers of the institution. Three times she addressed the large assembly in the Chautauqua auditorium. (H. M. J. Richards, in Ibid., October 21, 1909). During the Sabbath-morning service there was a downpour of rain, about two inches. The auditorium had a metal roof, and the rain created a steady roar, which made it difficult for the audience to hear Ellen White's sermon. The people left the back seats and crowded to the front, many of them standing close to the platform. Radio Evangelist H. M. S. Richards, who was there as a teen-ager, gave his testimony that Ellen White's voice rang out above the storm.6BIO 215.4

After reading from the seventeenth chapter of John, and some from the first and second chapters of Acts, she said:6BIO 215.5

My brethren and sisters, we are not half awake. We do not half appreciate the precious time that is passing into eternity. We do not realize the value of the souls for whom Christ gave His precious life. We need to put on the robe of Christ's righteousness and work in harmony with Him, in harmony with His ministers, in harmony with all who truly believe the truth for this time.—Ibid., January 13, 1910.6BIO 215.6

Before closing her sermon she declared, “Instruction was given me in the night season that I must bear a decided message to this people. You greatly need to experience a deeper heart work.” And she admonished the need for earnest prayer, the acceptance of God's promises, and “to learn how to present the truths of the Word” to those around them “in all their binding force and in all their encouragement.”6BIO 216.1

Sunday morning she spoke again. The conference president, H. M. J. Richards, father of the well-known Voice of Prophecy speaker, reported in the Review and Herald:6BIO 216.2

At the close of a most clear and inspiring sermon she kneeled down and prayed with the people, offering one of the most earnest prayers that we ever heard. The Spirit of the Lord came very near, and there was a general move of the whole congregation to consecrate themselves to the Lord to work for Him everywhere and all the time.—October 21, 1909.6BIO 216.3

Young Richards, as he later told of the experience, declared that Ellen White just talked with God. It was an experience he could not forget.6BIO 216.4