Basic HTML Version
nothing like it ever has been done---YET.
We even had found a way we could finance the building of our
great bowl, to seat 150,000 under one roof. But after much counsel
together, and prayer for guidance, we concluded it was not
practical.
It is one thing to TALK about "all of us being TOGETHER, in
ONE PLACE." That sounds nice---but, brethren, we came to realize
that we simply WOULD NOT BE "ALL together." A city of 150,000
population is not a big town---it is a real CITY. How many people
do you see, and know, and actually visit and fellowship with, in a
city of 150,000? You'd have a terrible time searching out some one
you know---almost like hunting a needle in a haystack! And how
about HOUSING, and FEEDING? How about enough WATER? How about
SEWAGE DISPOSAL? No, brethren, God has shown us it would be
altogether TOO MANY in one place---altogether impractical!
So, what God led us to decide as a PERMANENT SOLUTION of our
great problem of growing attendance is this:
We are going to try to jam ourselves in like sardines, this
one Festival, this coming fall (1964), in the same three places as
last fall. We will be overcrowded, but we feel we can do it.
Then, by the fall of 1965---NEXT year---we will have ready a
big new tabernacle at Big Sandy, approximately TWICE the size of
the present one---one that will seat 15,000. We will then turn the
present big tabernacle into an enlarged DINING HALL, just as we
turned our first tabernacle into a dining hall when we outgrew it.
The present dining hall building is already under process of
an entire rejuvenation, and will be turned into the new auditorium,
dining hall, and lounge for the new COLLEGE. After this present
year, it will not be used for the Feast of Tabernacles, but will be
one of our main COLLEGE BUILDINGS. The present tabernacle will
serve the college as a gymnasium and Physical Education Building
---used also by the Imperial Schools.
The giant NEW tabernacle will take care of the increased
attendance for 1965 and, we hope, 1966. If we increase by only 30%
each year, we would expect 22,000 this year---1964, and about
28,600 next year---1965, and 37,200 in 1966. This is an increase
of about 15,200 over the expected attendance this fall.
Brethren, when you figure a 30% increase every year, the
figure becomes almost frightening, as we approach the 1970s! And,
actually, we have averaged a great deal MORE than 30% per year
increase. From 1953, through 1958 when we first met in the NEW
tabernacle, at Big Sandy, the increase averaged 40% per year. Since
we have been in the new big tabernacle, however, the increase was,
for 1959, 37.5%; for 1960, 33%; for 1961, 39%; for 1962, 30%; and
for 1963, 30%.
So WHERE DO WE GO, after 1966? We have decided on the
following policy: We will search out and purchase favorable sites,
as God guides us, at certain locations CLOSE TO one of our