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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, MAY 20, 1983
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74 attending the first lecture, 43 were new people. His second lecture was
attended by 88, of which 39 were new people.
Report From New Zealand March and April were reasonably good months for
mail, 6,511 and 6,585 letters being received each month respectively.
Major factors in the incoming mail are some fine responses being received
from ongoing PLAIN TRUTH and YOUTH 83 renewals. The insert card in the May
PLAIN TRUTH has also proved more effective than usual, with just under
1,000 responses coming during April.
After many months of fine income increases, there was a slowing in income
during March and April. Over the past year or so, the number of co-workers
has leveled off, although there has been a small increase in the number of
donors. As the month of April ended, concern over income trends prompted
Regional Director Peter Nathan to call on the brethren here to pray and fast
for God's Work.
Last year our average PLAIN TRUTH circulation (subscriber and newsstand
editions combined) leapt almost 100% higher than that of the previous
highest year ever (1981). We're now looking forward to seeing the fruits of
this
vastly increased coverage in terms of new growth in donations, visit
requests, etc., in upcoming months.
April's mail began to give a welcome indication of potential growth of this
type!
We received a very encouraging number of letters from people
expressing a deep interest in God's Work, and voicing a desire to contrib
ute and become more involved in it. Another promising indicator is the num�
ber of new visits conducted by the ministers here--up 71.4% over the first
four months of 1982.
Starting May 1st, "The World Tomorrow" broadcast began airing on Radio
Otago, centered in Dunedin, and its repeater stations (Radio Otago Central)
in Wanaka and Alexandra. Negotiations for two other major stations are
also currently in progress.
From Bonn, West Germany Brethren from the German-speaking area of God's
Work gathered in five separate festival locations on April 4th for the last
day of Unleavened Bread. The holy day offering for this year showed a 13.5%
increase over the offering taken up last year.
On April 11th, Regional Director Frank Schnee flew to Pasadena with two top
men from the Czechoslovakian government travel agency CEDOK, which works
with us in arranging our Feast of Tabernacles in Brno. One of the men, Mr.
Gebert, is the new director in charge of conventions in Czechoslovakia and
was able to visit the Ambassador College campuses in Pasadena and Big
Sandy.
He was very impressed with both campuses.
The second man, Dr.
Macourek, is the department manager under Mr. Gebert and has visited
Ambassador College before. During their trip they heard the good news that
the Brno feast site is filled to capacity this year. This was encouraging
news for them.
Mr. Schnee commented that "keeping the feast in Czecho
slovakia opens the door for us to be a light behind the Iron Curtain."
At the same time that Mr. Schnee and his Czechoslovakian guests were in
Pasadena, Office Manager John Karlson and Mr. Helmut Meier flew to Pasadena
to discuss installation of our Datapoint computer, so that we can be com
patible with Pasadena's Data Processing Center.
Mr. Helmut Meier is a