Greetings everyone,
I offer my sincere apology to you in the International areas for not getting a preliminary update to you yesterday due to four full days of Council of Elders meetings this week.
Mr. Meredith opened the meetings with welcoming comments and news of the Work, followed by reports from the Regional Pastors Monday morning. Monday afternoon Mr. Meredith continued with a progress report on the move of Headquarters to Charlotte, N.C.
He described the remarkable events associated with the move, from the location search to the final closing of the purchase last week. The remaining sessions were devoted to administrative procedures and policies concerning the Work, Youth programs, the growth of the Work and how we can increase the effectiveness of the Work along with questions that have been submitted from the field on the practical applications of Church practice.
Mr. Meredith reported:
- Tomorrow's World subscription list is up 44% over a year ago, even though we have implemented subscription renewals that eliminated thousands of uninterested subscribers.
- We have reached 1.7 million with literature since the beginning of Living Church of God in 1999.
- In 118 countries people have received literature
- In 159 countries people have responded to our webb site offerings
- We are on 146 TV stations—a potential of 69 million households may receive our program, 3.4 million have viewed the program, according to ratings information
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- 127 TVstations in the USA
- 19 TV stations in international areas
- 18 Radio stations are airing the program
As you may know, we fully intended to publish our own hymnal this current year, but due to the cost and work relating to the move of Headquarters next February, publication had to be deferred. We appreciate your patience and understanding of the need to give first priority to acquiring an office and moving to it. God's people truly must put His Work before our wants!
Thank you for your prayers and unstinting support for the Work, and for God's servants. We appreciate that our strength is small, and as Zechariah was told by the angel of the Eternal, (Zechariah 4:6) God's Work is accomplished, "…not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."
FINANCIAL AFFAIRS
While the purchase of the property is now final and we have received the keys to the building, we are now proceeding to prepare the building for our needs and construction of a TV studio. We are excited about the relocation and we expect to move in early March 2003.
We thank you for your prayers!
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION
Due to the headquarters move to North Carolina, a number of ministerial moves will also be made next February and March. The following is our current schedule for the moves:
- Mr. Charles Bryce will move from Kansas City to Charlotte, N.C. to assume the office of Director of Church Administration—first Sabbath in Charlotte will be March 9, 2003.
- Mr. Rand Millich will move to Kansas City—first Sabbath in Kansas City will be March 2, 2003.
- Mr. Randy Kobernat will move to Kansas City—first Sabbath in Kansas City will be March 2, 2003.
- Mr. Carl Ponder will begin ministerial training January 1, 2003, and he will assume Atlanta, GA, with the associated churches & video groups—February 23, 2003.
- Mr. Larry Solomon will complete ministerial training and be reassigned by the end of February 2003.
- Mr. Phil Sena will complete ministerial training and be reassigned by the end of February 2003.
While moving to a new area is exciting, it is also costly to a family and to the Church. Therefore, we strive to keep ministerial moves to a minimum. Please pray for a successful move of headquarters personnel and for these men and their families as they make their moves in mid-winter. While we understand that the circumstances are different in today's moving of a household, Jesus said, (Mark 13:18) "And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter" because of the hardship associated with winter weather.
Concerning E-Mail Viruses (REPEAT announcement)
Several ministers have reported receiving viruses or odd messages from other ministers or HQ staff. In order to protect yourself from such problems, it is important to remember the following three points:
1) NEVER open an e-mail attachment unless you know the sender, and are expecting to receive the attachment. Most viruses come as attachments to e-mail messages, and most viruses will not affect you if you do not open e-mail attachments. Watch out especially for .EXE attachments, but this warning applies to all attachments, not just .EXE.
2) NEVER open an e-mail attachment unless your anti-virus software is up to date. Most anti-virus software requires regular monthly updates (some available for free, others for a few dollars a year) in order to protect you from the latest viruses. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAM, YOU SHOULD OBTAIN ONE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.
3) NEVER assume that an attachment is safe to open just because you THINK you know who sent it. Some viruses "raid" their victims' address books, and send virus-infected messages that were not really sent by the apparent sender. A message from "[email protected]" may have been sent by a virus, and not by J. Doe. Especially if the message contains gibberish or an unusual message along with the attachment, it was probably sent NOT by J. Doe, but by someone else who has J. Doe in his address book.
COMMENTS
Forgive me if I have told the following story before (from LEADERSHIP…with a human touch, a publication of Lawrence Ragan Communications Inc. and adapted from the Cyber Quotations Web site), but it illustrates the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and sense of humor—especially in a crisis in life.
"A successful restaurant manager was known for his positive attitude and sense of humor. He followed the popular wisdom of waking up each morning and consciously choosing to have a good day—and it seemed to work for him. Then he made a serious mistake that put his attitude to a real test.
One of the worst mistakes to make in the restaurant business is to leave the back door open, and that is exactly what the manager did. An armed robber took advantage of the opportunity, held him at gunpoint, panicked—and shot him.
The manager regained consciousness in the hospital as the ER doctors worked on him. He could tell from their faces that things weren't going well. They were looking at him as if he were a dead man. He knew he needed to act.
A nurse was shouting at him to get vital information. When she asked whether he was allergic to anything, he gather all the strength he could and shouted back, 'BULLETS.'
As the staff laughed, he said, 'I'm choosing to live. Work on me as if I were going to.'"
Have a great Sabbath! Keep warm or cool, depending upon the hemisphere in which you live!
Carl McNair