Greetings everyone:
I hope that all has gone well with you and your family this week. Everyone here at headquarters seems to be in good health with the exception of Mr. Richard Ames, though his condition has improved considerably, and he has been back to work.
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION:
We enjoyed teleconferencing with the members of the Council of Elders on Tuesday of this week. We were able to discuss the upcoming ministerial conference, administrative matters and other items that have accumulated over the past few months. These conferences afford us an opportunity to discuss these matters with men in the field, and for them to give us input from the field. While tele-conferences do not provide opportunity for "brain-storming," they are an inexpensive means of discussing targeted items. As Proverbs 24:6 says, "… in multitude of counsellors there is safety."
Headquarters Sermon Tape Delays — by Don Davis
Some have asked why there is a delay in sending headquarters sermon tapes into the field. The sermon given in San Diego January 6 must go through a process of editing that includes any edits the speaker may wish made. Editing may include the deletion of sneezes, coughs, bumping of the microphone and the addition of music and title. Once a master tape is prepared it is sent to the mailing department and held there until four (sometimes five, if there are five Sabbaths in an upcoming month) weekly sermons are accumulated
Tapes are then sent to the Duplicating Center of San Diego, an outside vendor which mass-produces them for us in the quantity needed for the congregations and video groups. The tape made January 6 may therefore be forty-five days old before the copies are delivered back to mailing for distribution to the field. Delivery may then take an additional two weeks before the recipient receives it.
There also may be a further delay because the local minister chooses to hold back a tape for a later service. It is possible that the January 6 tape may not come up for viewing thirty to forty-five days after it arrives in the Pastor's hands. Therefore, a tape made in early January may not actually be played until sometime in late March or early April.
Bulk shipping of four (or five) tapes is a significant cost saver for the Work. It costs very little more to ship four tapes at a time than it does just one. The mailing department needs only to handle two hundred packages once a month instead of two hundred packages every week.
I hope this information will help you to understand and explain to others why there are delays in viewing videos from headquarters.
REPUBLIC OF South Africa — Mr. Syd Hull reported the following on the growth of the Work in South Africa. "Two new churches started in the Republic of South Africa last year. Pretoria started on November 11, 2000 and Pietermaritzburg started on December 02, 2000."
Furthermore, Mr. Syd Hull will announce Elder ordinations in the next issue of the Living Church News, where a new regular feature "INTERNATIONAL CORNER" will appear. Watch for it!
CANADA — Mr. Charles Bryce's report to CAD on his recent Maritime visit:
I visited the Maritimes this past weekend. We had Sabbath services with 23 brethren in Sussex and Fredericton. I drove to Halifax for a Bible Study with 6 brethren on Sunday. Mr. and Mrs. Arnaldo are doing a fine job in the Maritime Provinces.
While we have lost five members to another group, other members of the same family are very strong and do not agree with the family members who left our fellowship, nor does anyone else in that area.
We had three new people in Fredericton from the Worldwide Church of God who feel they have "come back home." They are so excited, they can hardly contain themselves! In Halifax, six hardy Canadian souls came to the Bible Study during a howling blizzard! One of them had attended the Worldwide Church of God for years. She was so nervous at first, but with reassurance she finally settled into the group so completely that I think she did not want to go home! She was so starved for fellowship with brethren holding to the Truth that she shed tears of joy.
On the trip, I experienced two blizzards, three services and one very touchy landing made in a snowstorm at the Fredericton airport where an Air Canada jet ran off the end of the runway a few weeks earlier. A passenger sitting in front of me said we were on the same type of plane, in the same weather conditions, landing at the same airport, with the same pilot at the controls as when the aforementioned mishap occurred. This time, he shut it down so fast on landing that he must have had 1/2 of the runway left. Guess he learned how to do it! But I can't get any more gray hair over such incidents, so I suppose now it will just start falling out!
P. S.: The trip was a resounding success.
PHILIPPINES — from Mr. Rod McNair's January 25, 2001 report to the brethren:
What a turn of events the last few days have been! It was quite an ironic twist that at almost the same time as we were inaugurating our new President (George W. Bush), you were inaugurating your new president! The Sacramento Bee on Sunday, January 21, 2001, carried the story:
"…Gloria Macapagal Arroyo began her term as the 14th president of the Philippines with a call for national healing to overcome the tumult that forced President Joseph Estrada from office Saturday and had deeply divided the country for weeks […] Prosecutors alleged that Estrada […] had secretly amassed tens of millions of dollars in bribes since becoming president in 1998. Estrada finally agreed to relinquish power early Saturday after most of his Cabinet had resigned, top military officials had withdrawn their support and tens of thousands of protesters had massed in the streets… As pressure mounted for Estrada to step down, the Supreme Court ruled Saturday morning that he should be stripped of the presidency and authorized the chief justice, Hilario Davide, to administer the oath to Arroyo without Estrada's resignation. About two hours after Arroyo was sworn in, Estrada and his family left the presidential palace at 2:15 p.m. Local journalists said the president looked drawn and gaunt, but said he tried to smile as he waved goodbye to palace employees. He hugged some Cabinet officials who were in line to say goodbye to him. In a farewell gesture, Estrada said "thank you" and gave a final salute to his guards."
God instructs us to remain uninvolved in the politics and maneuvering of this world, since we are ambassadors for Christ. But while we wait for the perfect government of Jesus Christ, we still live in this world, so we must remember to pray "for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty," (I Timothy 2:2), and not "meddle not with them that are given to change" (Prov 24:21). David wrote: "For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Ps 75:6-7). Mrs. Arroyo has pledged a noble goal — to reunite the country, rebuild the economy, and restore credibility to government instead of corruption. We pray that she can achieve some measure of stability, for the sake of the brethren, and for the sake of the Work.
Mr. de Guia reports that Mrs. Marcelo Caballero suffered a mild stroke last Sabbath morning. He anointed her, and she is feeling much better. He also reported that Mrs. Maria Dengay was sick when he went to Baguio.
Conclusion:
From all of us in San Diego, we wish you a great Sabbath, and a safe weekend. Travel carefully and let us remember Christ's admonition to the disciples, as He was facing trial and death:
John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another."
John 15:12 "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
John 15:17 "These things I command you, that ye love one another."
Carl E. McNair