By Paola Mora Zepeda
As I grabbed my camera and jumped into the car, I did not know what to expect. Growing up in the Seventh-day Adventist church, I had heard of ‘canvassing,’ a practice by which students go do-to-door selling books. However, I had never actually taken the time to learn much about it.
Now, I was ready to record the “canvassers” and their activities, not knowing how the day would unfold. But right away, I was pleasantly surprised.
First, I noticed that participants in the Literature Evangelism Adventist Discipleship (LEAD) program were students, just like me, who actually had to muster the courage to talk to strangers. They spent hours trying to get individuals to purchase books but didn’t get discouraged.
Canvassing, I learned that day, requires a lot of walking, smiling and getting the door shut in your face.
Why would anyone put themselves through that? There are so many other job opportunities out there, why pick one that requires you to carry heavy books, meet all kinds of people and work for long shifts?
By working on this video project for my Interactive Journalism class, I learned the answers to many of those questions.
For a church to grow, it cannot confine itself to four walls. It needs to get out and reach the unreachable.
Canvassing, I realized, is not for the faint at heart, but it’s well worth the time and effort.